Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Poppins Returns

I’m watching the original Mary Poppins as I write this.  I put it on first thing when I got home from its sequel.  I haven’t seen it in a while, though I listened to the soundtrack a couple of days ago.  It’s clearly in my top ten movies ever. (I should put that list together at some point.)  There’s no way Returns could live up to it, but I hoped that it would in even some small way capture the joy and emotion of its predecessor.  

First of all, Emily Blunt is glorious.  I don’t think anyone else could have pulled off this role with such unqualified success.  She captures the spirit of Julie Andrews without mimicking her. It’s a performance all her own, while staying unmistakably Mary Poppins.  Her head tilts, disbelieving huffs, and knowing smiles - perfection. And a beautiful singing voice, as well. (It’s no Julie Andrews, but there’s literally no one better than her.)  

I so dearly wish that the movie did the same thing - honor the original without resorting to every little wink wink that it could muster.  Epic fail in that column. Some of them were sweet, others not so much:

The paintings during the opening credits were a clear tribute to the beautiful matte work by Peter Ellenshaw:

Karen Doltrice, the original Jane, has a welcome cameo, but her, “Many thanks, sincerely!” is too on the nose.

How is Miss Lark still alive?  Sadly, Andrew has passed.

Dyke ex Machina - I’m never going to complain about Dick van Dyke reprising a Mary Poppins role, but aside from the blatant “whack you in the face with the tuppence from the first movie” reference, he completely defeated the main conflict of the movie with a wave of his hand.  “Your money was inside the bank all along!”

There are so many times where the score pushes the limit of how consecutive notes it can string together without infringing on the Sherman Brothers’ original tunes.  Considering the lackluster songs, it was a welcome relief whenever strains of the old melodies actually burst through. I wonder if these new pieces would be as beloved if I’d first heard them as a child.  I doubt it. They’re too...what am I looking for?

The lyrics aren’t as clever, and each line set up the most obvious of rhyming couplets.  Would Lin-Manuel Miranda have done a better job? I would have liked to see what he’d have come up with.  

Miranda, by the way, is fine.  His accent is just as bad as Van Dyke’s, an homage I completely support.

I love the costume design.  Emily Blunt looks impeccable and is so sharply dressed.

I am smitten with Emily Mortimer after this movie.

WTF is up with Meryl Streep?  So unnecessary. Uncle Albert was an equally slow drag on the first movie.

I think that Returns fails in two places.  In the first movie, Mary Poppins was far more subtle in her influence on the story, which added to her mystery.  She masterfully tricks Mr Banks into bringing the children to the bank, setting off the entire second half of the movie.  After that, she has zero influence on anything that happens with regards to the story. She’s not even present for any of it - The riot at the bank, George’s confrontation with the bank board, and kite-flying in the park all happen without her.

In this movie, she’s an active participant, turning back Big Ben (also rendering the lamplighters’ efforts moot) and blowing open Colin Firth’s window.  It makes her feel common, something that I do not like. She interacts with ‘regular’ people like the men at the bank, further taking away from her magical nature.    

And at the same time, the film also relegates Mary Poppins to the role of bystander.  She just stands there during the final confrontation with Firth, and tags along at the end as everyone walks to the park.  Mary Poppins does not belong in the ensemble.

At the end of the day, it’s worth watching for Blunt’s performance.  It’s a shame in so many ways that the movie surrounding it can’t come close to matching it.

Regret Watching: No

Would buy on DVD: No

Would watch again: Yes

Rating: Fine. The Emilys are Really Good.

That smile...

Pearl, Cover, Moth & Whisper

Movies usually don’t linger in my consciousness for more than twenty-four hours, but Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is still bouncing around in there.  I worked to the soundtrack today - it’s so catchy, despite not being the kind of music that I normally listen to.  

New comics!

Pearl 5

A nice bounce back after last month's weak showing.  Bendis strings some very nice scenes together - A strong opening sequence with a quirky topic (a classy porn mall), a riveting text piece explaining how Pearl got her tattoos (which was horribly spoiled in the recap on the inside cover), a beautiful photo-manipulation by Michael Gaydos (who I still get confused with Alex Maleev), and a cliffhanger that has be wanting to buy the next issue.  They’ve got my money for another month. Well done, gentlemen.

I live in SF.  I really need to make it up to this view at some point.

Cover 4

So little continues to happen.  Essad beats up Max for four pages.  Max dreams for seven pages. Max talks to Julia for six pages.  Max recovers for seven pages and reads a colleague’s comic for another two.  The plot progress can be summarized by “Essad lets Max go.” Scintillating. (It actually is, with Bendis’ dialogue and Mack’s art.  Let’s look at some.)

I love the two page sequence below.  I’m always in awe of how a talented artist can make a couple of squiggles into an amazing work of art, and Mack illustrates that process beautifully here.

It's just a bunch of curves, and all of a sudden it's hair!  How??

Moth & Whisper 4

Continuing to enjoy the heck out of this series.  I’m not sure what it is that made me pick it up in the first place, or what’s keeping me happy month in and month out.  Niki’s disguise tech is neat, but that’s not it. The art is fine, but not particularly noticeable. The overarching plot is a standard “revenge for killing my parents” boilerplate.  And yet it all works so very well, and I’m having a ton of fun.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Red Wing, Reload

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

I saw the first trailer for this, saw some headlines saying this was an awesome movie, and managed to stay away from any other information about this.  (Well, I knew about the other Spider-Beings that were going to show up.) I wanted to everything to be fresh.

This was so so fun.  This is one of those pure joy movies.  All of the Spider-People are pitch perfect, from their looks to their movement to their voices.  The animators did a phenomenal job here. The action is breathtaking. I literally touched my chest after a chase scene to feel how fast it was pounding.  

You can’t do this with a live action movie.  It’s works of art like this that make me so very thankful for the existence of Creativity and Imagination in this world.

Spectacular.

I love her.  Give me a Spider-Gwen movie.

Perfect, perfect casting.

Great promo poster by Bill Sienkiewicz.  Also love that they used his Kingpin design.

Regret Watching: No

Would buy on DVD: Yes

Would watch again: Yes

Rating: Pure Joy

Red Wing 1-4

I don’t know how many more times I have to say the same thing about another Jonathan Hickman-penned comic book.  The hook: Top Gun, but the planes travel through time as well as space. It reads like a twelve-issue series that got cancelled four issues in.  The ending is abrupt and makes no sense. I’m so tired of his half-baked stories. He more of an ideas man, he should find someone who can take them and whip up something that actually tastes good.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Reload 1-3

This feels like something that Warren Ellis whipped up in an afternoon.  Secret government assassin kills everyone in the White House because it’s been completely infiltrated by the mob.  It’s one long action scene with conspiracies in between each set piece. No substance whatsoever, Ellis-lite. Keeping it because it doesn’t suck, but it’s telling that I read this and Red Wing in 30 minutes.  

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Fine

Reborn, Red One

Reborn 1-3

I don’t read everything that Mark Millar writes.  Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl were never interesting enough to make their way into my buy pile.  But I usually see the Millar titles that I do buy through to the end, because he’s a good writer and I like his stuff.  Reborn is the rare exception.  I quit buying it at the halfway point.  

The art was more than adequate.  I haven’t really kept up with Greg Capullo since his X-Force  days (where I loved him).  I didn’t read his Spawn, Batman (aside from the Death of the Family arc), or whatever else he worked on.  His art’s evolved a decent amount in that time, but the progression is quite clear.  He’s still good.

Unfortunately, as fantastical as the things he’s drawing are, there’s still something generic about the world he and Millar have created.  Same with the story - People are reincarnated into a fantasy world. Good guys fight the bad guys. Bonnie’s on a quest to find her husband.  Some generic villain is out to kill her. Yawn. Did nothing for me. It’s as ho-hum as I remembered it, not a tough cut.

I’ll say this, though.  Giant dragons with lion heads eating flying elephants is freaking awesome.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: No

Rating: Fine (Cutting)

Red One 1-2

An excuse for Terry Dodson to draw a hot heroine.  He belongs in the same school as Adam Hughes and Frank Cho, and I’m never going to complain about that.

Hughes

Cho

Dodson

The story by Xavier Dorison is an odd one.  Vera is a Russian spy posing as an American superhero in order to kill a Puritanical maniac who’s been murdering gays and porn stars amidst a wave of self-righteous conservative extremism that’s been sweeping the nation.  (I’ve been enjoying these one-sentence run-on summaries.) Vera has the positive enthusiasm of Neil Gaiman’s Death, but with considerably more sexual appetite. It’s a lot of fun.

I stopped buying after it went on extended hiatus after two issues.  Only two issues have come out since. I might pick them up.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Nice

Rat Queens

Rat Queens 1-15

Rat Queens: Braga 1

Rat Queens vol 2 1-2

Amazingly (or not), today’s reading of my Rat Queens collection completely mirrored my memory of my original experience.  After the first two trades, I thought, “Why in the world did I stop buying this? It’s so fun!” One glance at the art in the third trade gave me a good hint, and although a new new penciller gave volume 2 a bit of a boost, I’d lost my initial enthusiasm for the title as a whole.  It ran out of steam. I was ready to quit at about the same time past-me did.

Back to the beginning.  Kurtis Wiebe gives us a wonderfully off-color collection of D&D tropes - The halfling (‘smidgen’ in this universe) thief, dwarven warrior, human cleric, and elven/demon mage.  His deviations from business-as-usual expectations warm my heart. All the party members are female. They cover the gamut of sexual preferences and gender identity. They don’t shy away from extreme violence or the extreme debauchery that ensues in celebration of their victories.  

And they’re hilarious.  They’re irreverent, give each other plenty of shit, and love what they do.  It makes for a thoroughly entertaining read.

So what went wrong?  Real life drama.  While I certainly don’t pretend to know all the details, the following seems clear: Roc Upchurch, co-creator and original artist, was arrested for domestic abuse and removed from the book.  Stjepan Sejic stepped in, but left for health reasons soon after. Tess Fowler took over before leaving due to differences with Wiebe. The book went on hiatus, and then returned with Owen Gieni as the new artist.    

I don’t know if the drama was the reason for the drop in quality, but I do know that I do not like it nearly as much as Upchurch or Stejic.  

Upchurch

Sejic

Fowler

At the same time, Wiebe’s story about Hannah and her father feels unfocused and incomplete. (Wiebe must have agreed. He didn’t even finish the story after issue 15 of the first volume - while issue 16 was published, he went so far as to shift it out of canon and refuses to ever reprint it in trade.  Volume 2 starts with a leap forward in time, leaving the reader to imagine how it all worked out.)

The volume 2 reboot lacks the spark that I loved so much from the beginning of volume 1.  Past-me quit after two issues, and present-me completely agrees. I’m keeping the first two trades (Issues 1-10) and dumping the rest.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: Yes for Vol 1 1-10, No for the rest

Would read again: Yes for Vol 1 1-10, No for the rest

Rating: Pretty good for Vol 1 1-10, Didn’t suck for 11-15 (the Fowler issues), Fine for the rest.

Some more Sejic, because I love his art. Can't wait to write about Sunstone.

Promethea

Promethea 19-32

This was a tricky one to rate.  (It’s one long story, so I’m giving one rating for the whole series.)  J.H. Williams III set a whole new standard for an artist’s run on a title.  The amazing breadth of art styles that he covers across thirty-two issues is stunning.  Just about every one of his covers is an homage to a master, and the interior art continues the diversity of techniques.  

Love me some Mucha

Ross Andru

Van Gogh, obv.

Not a homage, just pretty.

After an issue and a half of building up the horrible things that would happen if Promethea were to return to the living world, the three pages that lead up to her climactic re-entrance is glorious rendered and satisfying.  

I love how Mick Gray inks her in the splash below.  He doesn’t go with the stark black of the other images, using a softer brown that emphasizes her compassion and otherworldly nature.

So I love the art.  A+ on that front. But then there’s Alan Moore’s writing.  I thought that things would get better after issue 23 with her return from the Grand Tour of the Spheres.  (By the way, totally weird that the lovers Barbara and Steve reincarnate as twin babies.) And for a while, they did.  Sophie-Promethea fights Stacia-Promethea, then there’s a fun mini-arc with Tom Strong. But then Sophie-Promethea reawakens and it gets all meta and preachy again.  Moore’s efforts to ground things with the FBI agents, the Painted Doll, and the screwing former and present mayors feel completely pointless. The incomprehensible final issue reads like an acid trip VH1 Pop Up Video in comic book form.  

Sidebar: I speculated previously about the point of the Margie and Bob running gags.  It turns out neither one has much of a payoff. Bob dies in between issues.  Margie gets verbally bitch-slapped one last time, and that’s about it.

So how do I rate something that’s Really Good on art but Stupid/Boring on writing?  I’ve decided to give it a Huh. The gulf between the two is just too wide to split the difference and give it a Nice/Fine. Only previous granted to Spider-Man/Black Cat, which was just too...disturbing/confusing for anything else.

I’d totally cut this if it wasn’t so damn beautiful to look at.

Regret buying: No

Would buy again: No

Would read again: Yes

Rating: Huh.

Superman, Mage, Skyward, Magic Order, Unstoppable Wasp, Spider-Man

New comics for the week!

Mage 14

Inertia kept this on my buy pile.  Only one issue to go. In for a penny, in for a pound.  Nothing memorable about this issue (or the series as a whole, I’m afraid), but nothing offensive, either.  

Miles Morales: Spider-Man 1

With the surprising awesomeness of the post-Bendis Jessica Jones and Ironheart, I decided to give this a shot.  As an added bonus, Saladin Ahmed wrote this. I’d heard good things about his run on Black Bolt, so this seemed like a good opportunity to give him a try.  

Meh.  Very paint by numbers.  It all approximates the Miles Morales that I love, but it’s missing the je ne sais quoi that makes him shine.  Javier Garron’s art is similarly fine but unremarkable.

Superman 6

Ivan Reis’ art would be spectacular if it weren’t illustrating a story that I find utterly pointless.  With post-Bendis Spider-Man as lackluster as I expected and actual-Bendis Superman continuing its absence of emotional resonance, does good-Bendis exist anywhere anymore?  

Love the fat O's in the lettering by Josh Reed.

I don't care!

Hopefully the return of Jon will lead to some of the interpersonal magic that Bendis can weave so well.  Because if it doesn’t, I’m feeling pretty good about cutting this from my pull list.

So three duds, which are thankfully balanced out by three excellent issues:

Skyward 9

Once again Joe Henderson takes the story in an unexpected direction - Instead of siding with the oppressed freedom fighters, Willa recognizes the ethical issues with their position, and set out in a direction of her own devising.  It means siding with her mortal enemy, but it seems like she’s got a plan.

Less a fan of Edison’s jealousy, but if it leads to a brisk resolution one way or another (Willa isn’t so occupied with more important matters that she doesn’t notice his petulance), I’ll let it slide.  

Magic Order 5

I’m usually okay with the finite nature of Mark Millar’s creations, but this is one of the titles of his that I’d love to see as an ongoing series.  This world of magicians is dark, fantastic, and brutal, and it’s just different enough from the standard formula of his usual fare that I want more.  Oh wait, he’s writing volume two next year.  Sweetness!

And dude, I can’t believe they got away with that cover.

 

He’s blowing his brains out with a wand!  This would never pass muster if it was a gun, how is this any better?  A haunting, striking cover.

Unstoppable Wasp 3

Fun action, squee character development with Lashayla and Ying, and art that perfectly suits this title.  I’m one satisfied reader. Next issue, please.