WW 2.2, Roaming

WW 2.2 1-7

I randomly found these issues online, translated from their original French.  Ideated by writer David Chauvel, these comics posit a reality where Hitler is assassinated in 1939, right at the beginning of WW2, before Paris falls to the German blitzkrieg.  It makes for a great counterfactual, and it leads to some intriguing scenarios: Germany allies with the Russians, and the Japanese join forces with the Americans.  The new Axis successfully invades the UK and drops an atomic bomb on Paris.  Lots of interesting stuff.

Unfortunately, I find the straightforward facts a lot more interesting than the person-level tales that the creative teams tell here.  I’d like a history book telling all of the events, rather than the slice-of-war stories that I get here.  It’s the same thing as Chuck Dixon’s Storming Paradise.

Roaming

The other Mariko Tamaki graphic novel I borrowed from the library.  Am I just ruined for high school/college romances?  I can’t remember the last one I really moved by.  And I want to be emotionally touched by them.  It also is looking more and more like Tamaki peaked with Supergirl: Being Super, at least for me.

Library comics

Stuff I borrowed from the library

Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier

Word for word.

Hidden Systems

Dan Nott does an amazing job describing various infrastructure systems that I’ve never thought about - water, electricity, and the internet.  He breaks them down in just the right amount of detail, and I learned a bunch.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me

I was in the mood to read some more Mariko Tamaki after thinking about her work on Supergirl: Being Super.  This was available at the library, and it won three Eisners in 2019.  

It’s not bad, but it’s the latest in a line of “relationship comics that I probably would have loved if I were younger and more depressed about the state of my love life.” 

Movies

Bunch of things I’ve been watching:

Past Lives

I’d really been looking forward to watching this; the reviews have been glowing, and I’m always up for a melancholy romance.  This wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, but it’s certainly a well-executed, well-acted film.  And the ending is sublime; She finally found someone else that she can cry to.

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? Yes

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Pretty Good

Kelce

Documentary about Jason Kelce.  An entertaining look at a player I only knew as Travis’ brother up until now.  It’s certainly gotten me to watch clips of his podcast on Youtube.

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? Yes

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Nice

Little Mermaid

The live action movie.  There’s simply zero reason for any of these remakes to exist.  

What I liked:

• Giving Ariel’s voice the siren song ability is a nice addition; It gives Ursula a legit reason for wanting it, and better explains Eric’s bewitchment.  

What I didn’t like:

• The humor from the original doesn’t translate at all.  So much of it involves the facial expression of the characters, and there’s nothing an animator can do when Flounder, Sebastian, and Scuttle are supposed to look photo”real.”  Thank god they didn’t try to do Les Poissons.  

• That god-awful Scuttle rap.

• Eric doesn’t need a song.  

• None of the songs are better than the originals.  Kiss the Girl is a travesty w/ the changed lyrics.

I’m done spending time thinking about this.  I immediately put on the animated movie after this to cleanse my soul.  Talk about classics.  

Regret watching? Yes

Would watch again? No

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Stupid

Love at First Sight

A super cute Netflix movie starring Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy.  They meet cute at an airport, fall in love on the plane ride over (some aMAZing chemistry in that sequence), and figure things out after they get separated at their destination.  The second half is definitely weaker after they meet up for the second time, but there are scenes that I’ll actively want to go watch again.

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? Yes

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Nice

Love Again

Priyanka Chopra Jonas is luminous and Celine Dion is funny (but I really wonder if she’s in on the joke), but the rest of it is completely cookie cutter.  (For future reference, this is the one where Priyanka keeps texting her dead boyfriend.  The guy who gets his cell phone number falls in love with the texts and then the girl.  What ever will happen when she finds out?)

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? No

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Fine

Godzilla vs Kong

This totally reminded me of the Michael Bay Transformers franchise: Humans running around struggling to make a difference while massive beings beat the crap out of each other.  Is how I feel about this how other people feel about Marvel movies?

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? No

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Didn’t suck

Beckham

I love watching documentaries about sports that I know very little about: Cricket, soccer, Formula 1, etc.  This in-depth series provides an engrossing look at one of the few soccer players whose name I actually recognize.  One thing it completely succeeds in conveying: No one should have to deal with what David Beckham had to deal with.  Imagine the hate Steve Bartman had to take, but magnified from a city to an entire country.  Who could live through that?  Add on top of that all of the other scrutiny he and his family have had to endure.  Another argument for why I hope I’m never famous.  It can’t possibly be worth it.

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? Yes

Would buy on DVD? Yes

Rating: Good

Long Shot

I’ve already reviewed this, but wanted to say that I just saw this for the third time.  (It showed up on Netflix.)  I still love it, and just purchased a hard copy.  It’s that good.

New comics

New comics!

Avengers 5

Very little actually happens here, but it’s still all very exciting.  And it ends w/ a very nice “Not today” moment, even if it does rip off Syrio Forel.

Birds of Prey 2

Setting up the next issue.  Kelly Thompson uses the time to build characters and relationships.  Lots of fun, looking forward to next month.  Such an interesting color palette choice by Jordie Bellaire.

Danger Street 9

I got this after iFanboy gave it a good review as a bottle issue.  Sure, I dropped this title earlier as a rare Tom King misfire, but I was up for a good one-shot.  Manhunter and some nameless assassin fight and philosophize on a rooftop for a whole issue.  It’s not the best single issue ever (King labeled it one of the best things he’s ever written), but I applaud the boldness.

Transformers 1

I was all in once I heard that Daniel Warren Johnson was going to write and draw one of my favorite childhood franchises.  This is a surprisingly by-the-numbers retelling of their origin story, but the art is dynamic in that Johnson way, and I’m certainly going to read more.

Fantastic Four 12

The Fantastic Four travel to an alternate universe where the Avengers (and everyone else) are dinosaurs.  It was about time, given Ryan North’s claim to fame as the creator of the stellar Dinosaur Comics webcomic.  This is inspired, hilarious, amazing stuff.  And then there’s the last page:

Brilliant.

Penguin 2

Penguin recruits the retired, 85-year-old The Help.  Given the mystique Tom King built around this guy, I don’t buy that he’s so easily broken by Cobblepot.  This sudden show of competence by Penguin doesn’t quite work for me.

Batman: Brave and the Bold 5

Tom King’s chilling Joker title finally returns to this title.  This show of competence totally works for me.  And Mitch Gerads draws one of the scariest Joker’s I’ve ever seen.

Jesus.

New comics

New comics!

Wonder Woman 1

Tom King starts yet another title.  (He’s really quite prolific.)  Things get extreme pretty fast as America pretty much declares war on the Amazons.  There’s a rapid escalation that immediately brings Doomsday Clock to mind.  (The part where things go nuts with Firestorm and Superman.)  As always, no idea where King’s going with this.  Also no idea how this exists in the main DC canon, it feels way more like a Black Label kind of story.

Titans 3

This is the “one more issue” that I said I’d give Titans, and Tom Taylor and Nicola Scott don’t do enough with it.  I think it’s the Titans team itself.  They’ve never clicked with me.  Donezo.

Nightwing 106

Thank goodness Taylor’s as good as ever here.  It’s the start of a new story, and apparently Dick goes all pirate.  I’ll keep an open mind.  I hope Bruno Redondo comes back soon, but Stephen Byrne is a decent substitute.

Superman 6

Speaking of sub artists, I hope Gleb Melnikov isn’t permanent.  He doesn’t suck or anything, but his style is so different from the so good Jamal Campbell; There’s an Ed McGuinness/ Humberto Ramos hybrid quality to it.  

The story’s also fine, but nothing super memorable.  I might have one issue left in me.

Rare Flavours 1

Ram V. and Filipe Andrade team up again, and after the joy of Laila Starr, I wasn’t going to let it stay on the shelf.  (Kudos to the distinctive cover, I wouldn’t have checked it out otherwise; I didn’t know about this comic beforehand.)  It’s off to an intriguing start, I’ve already put this on my pull list.

Movies

Tar

Cate Blanchett is truly magnificent in this film.  I can’t say that I liked the movie, but she can (and does) hold the camera like few others.  This film doesn’t work without her.  

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? No

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Nice

Blue Beetle

Definitely enjoyable.  It treads familiar ground with the “young down-on-his-luck kid discovers new powers and learns a bit about himself at the same time” bit, but does it with some nice wrinkles.  The Latino take is nice, and while the family focus is a little heavy-handed, it’s still done with genuine heart.  Other notes:

• The grandma’s (Adriana Barraza) pushed a little too hard.  I get what they were going for, but it just crosses over the line from funny to eye-rolling.

• Xolo Mariduena is fine as Jaime Reyes, but he lacks the extra something that someone like Tom Holland brings to what’s essentially the same role.

• As love interests go, Bruna Marquezine is better than most.  She’s got an honest to god arc, and does more than just get into peril.

• George Lopez ain’t bad as the crazy uncle, but making him the tech wizard/guy in the chair is way too much of a stretch.

• Susan Sarandon’s wasted in this bland villain role.  Lump her in with Sigourney Weaver (Defenders) and Glenn Close (Guardians of the Galaxy) in the “generational actresses completely wasted in comic IPs” list.

• Harvey Guillen’s mistreated doctor subplot might have had a point in the original script, but it got truncated to the point of uselessness on screen.

I wouldn’t mind seeing more of this cast, but it also wouldn’t be the worst disappointment if we didn’t get a sequel.

Regret watching? No

Would watch again? Yes

Would buy on DVD? No

Rating: Nice

New comics

New comics!

Penguin 1

Tom King brings back Agent Espinoza (and presumably The Help, if the solicited covers are accurate) from Batman: Killing Time.  But the star, of course, is the Penguin, playing the retired/reformed mob boss that we’ve seen so many times with Marvel’s Kingpin.  We’ll see what twist King brings to the proceedings, I have faith in him.

Barnstormers 3

A completely predictable ending, but Tula Lotay’s art makes it all worth it.

Fantastic Four 11

An excellent Thing solo issue.  Ryan North reminds everyone that as a former test pilot, Ben Grimm would have had to have an excellent grasp of science/engineering, something that I’d completely overlooked in the entire time that I’ve read FF stories.  

Dark Knights of Steel 12

Not one of Tom Taylor’s strongest works, this is closer to Dark Ages than DCeased.  Maybe it’ll read better in one go.

Birds of Prey 1

Kelly Thompson moves over to DC with another girl group, something I strongly endorse.  Things are off to a promising start, even if it’s not the lineup I would have gone with.  (Harley is completely overused and Zealot has no personality (which leaves a lot of room for Thompson to work, I suppose).)  It needs more brains, but we’ll find out why Barbara isn’t on the team soon enough.