Greetings, Copper Tops!

So, there’s this little superhero flick that came out last weekend that you may have heard of – The Dark Knight? Some of you may have even seen it. In the off-chance that you didn’t, I sucked it up and took a bullet for you all.

That’s right, I watched the latest Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan, and I passed the savings onto you.

I’ve run into a slight problem with this review that I haven’t run into with my movie reviews so far. Problem is, this film has had a butt-ton of hype surrounding it. A lot of that has been due to the unfortunate demise of Heath Ledger. But that alone has caused almost everyone under the sun to spew gallons of hyperbole about The Dark Knight. The past few months have been nothing but Oscar buzz about Ledger’s final full performance. And since I am a consumer whore (and how!), I’ve been soaking in pretty much every ounce of it – from reviews to interviews to behind-the-scenes stuff. All of that makes it hard to right a proper review without it being tainted.

That’s why I’m going to approach this review a little differently; I’m only going to touch upon certain key elements that I really liked or hated.

Ready?

Here we go…

The Plot:

Likes - I feel it was a lot tighter than the plot of the first film. Obviously, part of that is due to the fact that we’ve gotten the origin out of the way. The plot is grim and gritty. In fact, it feels more like a crime film with a couple of loons dressed as weirdos than a superhero film. I think that’s one of the things that makes it incredible.

Dislikes – At two hours and thirty minutes, the movie just feels too long. There is some fat in there that could have been trimmed. There are points where the plot feels like it’s plodding at a turtle’s pace. The scenes themselves were great. Just wish they had gone faster.

The Acting:

Likes – Do I need to say it? Everyone else already has. Heath Ledger’s Joker kicks ass. He nailed every nuance of the character. I read one reviewer say that Ledger’s Joker makes Nicholson’s from the first Batman film look like Cesar Romero from the ‘60s TV show. I think that is an accurate description. That’s not to say that everyone else did a bad job. Far from it. Every actor in The Dark Knight is fantastic. Another notable performance was Aaron Eckhart, whose performance as Harvey “Two Face” is the most accurate portrayal so far. Even Maggie Gyllenhall impressed me with how much better her Rachel Dawes character was over Katie Holmes. Still, all of these great performances are dwarfed by Ledger. He steals the show here.

Dislikes – To be honest? I really don’t have anything to say here. But if I have to say something… random street witness number three was horrible. Who screwed up on that casting?

Characters:

Likes – There have been complaints that there isn’t enough Batman in his own movie. I disagree. See, the thing about Batman is part of what makes him tick – what makes him who he is – is his Rogues Gallery. Batman wouldn’t be Batman without his villains. Kind of like how clothes make the man. Okay, nothing like that, but you get the idea. Other people groaned at the fact that yet another Batman film has two villains. While I do agree that, in the past, cramming two villains in your Batman flick has often been that film’s undoing, that isn’t the case here. Dent’s transformation is very organic, and serves the Joker plot perfectly. It’s not like before where you have two separate villain plots vying for screen time and then BAM – the two join forces to pee in Bruce’s oatmeal. The Joker uses Dent as a means to an end. And in that lies the brilliance. As for the other characters, each one continues to be captured perfectly by its particular actor or actress. And I was especially impressed by how Rachel Dawes was better used in this film. She wasn’t just a love interest. She was given a lot more to do that helped further the plot.

Dislikes – Like above, not much negative to say here, though I will agree that I wish Two Face had a little more screen time.

Action Sequences:

Likes – Holy crap! The action in this flick makes the first film look like Daddy Day Camp. There were some beautiful sequences in this film.

Dislikes – I would have liked it if the slower portions of the movie hadn’t spread the action scenes out so much.

Odds and Ends:

Likes – The cameos and actors that I was pleasantly surprised to see in this movie – Anthony Michael Hall, Nestor Carbonell (Batmanuel (<=== how funny is that?) from the live action Tick TV show), Eric Roberts. It was great to see these underused and underappreciated actors get some decent screen time in such an awesome movie. Oh, and Cillian Murphy returns as the Scarecrow for a small scene near the beginning of the film; the fact that this movie really felt more like an action/crime drama than a superhero film. No kidding. I felt like what I was seeing on the screen could have been going down in the middle of another film, like Heat. And I loved that.

Dislikes – I’m not one of those folks who can’t stand the gravelly voice Bruce Wayne puts in his Batman persona. I think it’s pretty cool. But, I have to admit that even I was starting to get annoyed by Bale’s throaty verbalizations by the end of the film.

Overall, I think this movie is miles ahead of the first film. A lot of reviewers have been comparing The Dark Knight to The Empire Strikes Back or The Godfather, Part II. It’s definitely a darker film, as almost everything built up in Batman Begins is systematically torn down in The Dark Knight. But this is one of the main reasons why I love this film. That, plus all of the other positives I’ve listed are enough to make the negatives almost unnoticeable. I will say that The Dark Knight is probably one of the best films of the year. I definitely plan to see it again, only this time in IMAX.

Now, if the IMAX showings would quit selling out.

The Don thinks this town needs an enema. Of hugs.

Share This

Otherwise known as the first day of the convention!

Hey readers, coming to you live from after the convention!  It’s 2am, Thursday morning of SDCC, and ALREADY it looks to be a phenomenal event.  The best of comics, animation, illustration, video games and more are front & center in sunny San Diego for — and I’m really avoiding hyperbole here — an epic, auspicious event for all of geekdom.

[0] San Diego itself deserves mention for being an absolutely BEAUTIFUL piece of real estate.  I’ve been to many, many conventions; this one is loooong on looks.   Also — and bear in mind this was the exception, not the rule — most of the registration lines were very quick and despite the sheer scale of it, for a pre-registered guest, the wait never exceeded an hour’s time.  Most of the convention center staff; much less the staff for SDCC itself seemed pretty open and receptive.  If there was a place to be, they’d point it out.  If there was somewhere someone wasn’t authorized to go to, it was handled quickly and fairly.  Kudos to San Diego for making the show a true EVENT.

[1] Did you know, I have an entry in the Street Fighter Tribute artbook by Udon Comics & Capcom?  Please ignore the shameless self-promotion, and pay attention to an encyclopedic, 320 page monster of an artbook, with nearly EVERY notable artist in the world today — from Udon’s inner circle, to most online artists, to even the likes of Jorge Gutierrez (El Tigre!)  Simply marvelous!

[2] It’s telling that the video game creators man one of the main entries to the convention floor.  Capcom, Square/Enix, Konami, Activision, Sony, Microsoft, all within spitting distance of each other, and it isn’t until you’ve plowed through the first five or so minutes of people that you reach the television and animation venues.  Just an interesting note — by all means, there are enough people to really, REALLY fill in  the space.

[3] There is no number 3.

[4] This will be a day-to-day update affair.   I’m VERY excited to upload and post pictures for you all to see!  This is more or less one of the great geek Mecca of the world, so it’s not just one minor day’s post worth of material.   I’ll be back tomorrow night with more on SDCC!  If there’s any questions you all want to ask, I’m all ears!

Share This

Hello, loyal Spwug readers!

Katy and I apologize for not posting much recently, things have been crazy at home.

This is not a post saying that Spwug is ending, because it’s not. Nor is it a post saying that Katy and I will be posting more, because that’s in the air.

However, it IS a post saying that in a week or two, there will be a call for writers! If you’ve ever wanted to write for a geek culture magazine, here’s your chance!

Just keep an eye on this space, and I’ll have the details up as soon as I can.

Thanks!

Share This

San Diego Comic Con is a week from today, and DOODI’MSOEXCITED!  Got a lineup of artists to meet, apparently Seth Green stalks the halls in a Spidey costume… I’m sure there will be some big announcements, and the hallways will be chock-a-block with cool folks.  I also get a copy of the Street Fighter Tribute artbook that I submitted to!

Next week, I’ll give you the pregame show and maybe a few words from San Diego, as it’ll be the first time I’ve ever visited.    Look for me next week, on Wednesday (seriously!)

Share This

Greetings, Hong Kong Cavaliers!

You know, I really enjoy our time together.  It’s just you all and me.  Long, lingering stares.  Romantic whispers.  Tender touches.  Restraining orders.

Hey!  What the Hell?!?

What the Hell indeed.  Hellboy, that is.  As in, I saw Hellboy II: The Golden Army this past weekend, and I wanna tell you about it.

Hopefully, the five of you who read my articles are familiar with the character Hellboy and the self-titled comic book series he comes from.  But just in case, here’s a quick rundown:

Hellboy is a demon who was summoned as an infant by Nazi occultists to help them win World War II.  He was “rescued” by the Allied forces and raised by the US government, eventually becoming the top paranormal investigator of a secret, US government agency.

Now, I further hope you’ve seen the first movie.  If not, I’ll wait here while you do so…

 
…

 
*checks watch*

 
…

Good Lord, could you hurry up?  I haven’t got all night.

Okay, so the first flick was a pretty fun-filled romp of awesome, right?  It took what we love about the Indiana Jones flicks (hero versus Nazis with the world at stake), injects it with some supernatural kick-assery (that is so a word), and adds a big, red demon with a big, not red gun as its hero.  Then it ups the action and adventure up several notches.  Bake for a half hour.  Serves several million in box office receipts.

Now, how does the sequel measure up?

It’s like Guillermo del Toro (the director) opened up the floodgates of the imagination and forced it to spew all over film stock.  Then he handed it out to theaters and smoked a huge cigar in celebration.

The basic plot is this:  Long ago, the inhabitants of the realms of fantasy and the jerk humans of reality waged war.  The King of Elves had an unbeatable Golden Army made to eliminate the humans completely.  The bloodshed was so severe that the King regretted his decision.  A truce was made, and in a small bit of Lord of the Rings double-taking, the King of Elves split the crown that controlled the Army into pieces, giving one to the humans and keeping two for himself.  The terms of the truce gave the cities to the humans and the forests to the mystical creatures forever.  This did not sit well with the Prince, and he went into self-imposed exile.  Present day, and the Prince has returned to seek vengeance after seeing how destructive and greedy the humans have become.  He plans to recover the pieces of the crown and control the Golden Army, wiping out humanity for good in order to save the creatures he feels need protecting.  There is one problem – a certain large, red demon with a large, not red gun plans on stopping him with the help of his team mates.

This film was quite the ambitious project, larger in scope and in story than the first film.  This is just one of many ways that it surpasses its predecessor.  Characters are fleshed out and given more to do.  Even perennial favorite Abe Sapien gets more screen time than the first one.  And this time he even gets a romantic sub-plot.  There is just so much going on in the area of character development that I never felt like anyone got short changed.  Every character - villain, hero, and minors – had their chance to shine.

All the actors hit their marks on this go round, and they do it well.  Ron Perlman is Hellboy.  He’s a natural at it, and it shows.  Selma Blair gets more to do and we get to see some incredible growth in her character.  With Abe Sapien, Doug Jones proves that he is the only man in town to go to when you need an actor in a suit.  He even gets to do his own voice this time!  And many of you may try to gag yourselves upon learning that Seth MacFarlane does the voice of new team member and ectoplasmic entity Johann Krauss.  Better to direct those efforts at laughing, because MacFarlane is perfect for the character.  He even has some of the best funny lines in the film.  Even the minor characters, like Jeffry Tambor’s  BPRD director Tom Mannin, make the best of the screen time they are given.

Let’s not forget the villains.  Luke Goss and Anna Walton are amazing as Prince Nuada and his sister Princess Nuala, respectively.  Goss, in particular, brings intensity and nobility to his character.  Walton manages to hold her own as well, giving us a character that not only provides a romantic foil for Abe, but also serves as a centerpiece to the main conflict.

That’s one of the great things about Hellboy II – del Toro doesn’t give us a standard villain.  What this film has is a character that exists in a grey area, much like Magneto in the X-Men comics.  Prince Nuada isn’t evil.  He’s just trying to protect his fellow mythicals; save them, even.  He is a tragic hero in his own right.  It’s this complexity that is another key ingredient to what makes the sequel exceed the first installment.  The lines are not clearly drawn, and even Hellboy finds himself torn.  He’s just like the creatures he’s fighting against, trying to defend a people that reject him and are frightened by him.

Del Toro handles all of this beautifully, combining the social commentary with a well-paced plot, incredible special effects, character development, and some gorgeous fight and stunt scenes.  It’s those ingredients and the execution that make this film an awe-inspiring spectacle.  They are also what make Hellboy II better then its predecessor.  Don’t get me wrong - I love the first film, but the second one just outperforms.

Plus, it taught me one valuable lesson:

Humans suck.

 
The Don has fought his inner demons.  Then they made up and had pie.

Share This

Honey, I’m home! The gig at PiQ magazine didn’t end up working out, so it’s time to come back to the gig I love - dissecting the sprouting and burning of the anime/game/manga world.

This week’s topic is one that bridges the burning and sprouting worlds. As Gainax co-founder and master of bounce Yamaga Hiroyuki told a Fanime panel introducing a fresh Guren Lagann, “Boys love drills.”

It’s true, too - going all the way back to Getter 2 with Drill Missile and up to Guren Lagann on the burning side. Some time in the last few decades of anime, drills became a staple of the sprouting side of anime, too - attached not to robots, but to hair. It’s a fascinating crossover phenomenon that appeals to both sides of a growing young Japanese boy.

Drills on robots are relatively easy to explain - they were easy to animate in the old days. Draw a few frames of a drill spinning, and you’re set for the next 26 episodes. It’s also very dramatic to see a drill kicking up a storm of sparks against the armor of an enemy robot. Plus, it’s a surrogate penis, and boys love those things.

Drills on girls, on the other hand, take a bit more explaining. For example, take a look at a couple of girls with different forms of iconic drill hair: Houjou Reika from Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (whose hair isn’t nearly as drill-heavy as that of others, but is important for the sake of discussion later), Karin from Street Fighter Alpha, and the Archer from Disgaea (who is so identified with her drill hair that in Disgaea 3, she actually says “Doriru!” as one of her combat noises).

Aside from being visually interesting and physically impossible short of wigs wrapped around foam, drill hair has three major features that lends itself to frequent use in character designs. First, it implies that the character spends a hell of a lot of time working on her hair in the morning, implying certain levels of leisure time combined with vanity. Second, the pointed nature of a drill and its resemblance to colonial European wigs adds to a general look of sharpness and nobility to a character design. Third, the standard drill is an upgraded cousin of the Twin Tail hairstyle, which has long been associated with tsundere. Add these three together and you have an easy route to the ojou-sama character archetype, the haughty character who looks and acts like a queen.

Pretty much every drill-haired girl will fall into this character type, from the above-mentioned Reika and Karin to Yurika from Project Justice and Char from Shuraki. Drill hair is character design shorthand at this point, giving you a bunch of character information in just a character’s hair and a little flag for ojou-sama or tsundere fans just like glasses are a giant flag for the tastefully named Richard Kim.

As a random note, Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun also included a highly amusing bit about how anime drill hair is made - Reika wakes up late one morning, and has to manually drill up her hair by sticking her finger in her tails and spinning it at about the speed of an egg whisk. It’s more than a little silly, and wholly hilarious.

Are you a fan of the drills? Do you wish I’d talked about something else? Didja miss me (or not miss me?) Let me know in the comments!

Share This

OMGOMGOMG Thunder Force VI for real, no lie! October is the revival of THE synth butt-rock shmup!  “I saw the messenger of the new god there.”

But thinking about that, consider there’s been announcements at the start of summer of TWO Bionic Commando games for the XBOX360, a Castlevania 2-player versus fighting game in the works (what?!), and a classic style 8-bit side scrolling Mega Man 9 for the Wii — and the last 8-bit game of the series (MM6) was fifteen years ago! 

Share This

Greetings, Wonder Hamsters!

I’ve been a big fan of “Weird Al” Yankovic (not Yankovich, thank you)  since his first major chart hit – “Eat It” – started making the rounds when I was eight years old.  I was a trailer park kid, so I wasn’t able to get any of his albums in stores.  Nope.  But, I had plenty of friends who made me copies of his releases on tape.  That’s right - I was playing it illegal waaay before NAPSTER.  I did what I wanted!  I robbed and pillaged!  I pretended real life problems and video game problems were synonymous!  And I ruled the world!!!  MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*ahem*

Sorry about that.  I guess the spirit of the Al is infecting me a little.

Anyway, to make a long story short (too late), I’ve been a fan since I was eight.  Last night I had my first opportunity to see him live in concert with my wife and a couple of friends.

In a word – WOW.

To say I went to a concert is an understatement that makes calling a HUMVEE a gas-hog an accurate assumption.  When you go see “Weird Al” perform, what you attend is a multimedia experience.

For two and a half hours, we were subjected to his Royal Weirdness on stage performing a lot of his hits (most of them from his latest album, Straight Outta Lynwood).  During that time, this man – who is pushing 50 – exuded an energy and limberness I’ve never seen in a human being before.  Incredible!  There were a lot of costume changes, but this is where the “multimedia experience” comes into play.  During his costume changes (sometimes they came after each song) a three-screen display would show clips from several of his “AL TV” specials, as well as clips from movies, cartoons, and awards shows that he has been featured in.  With all of this bombarding your senses, there was not a dull moment.

And the performances for each song were mind-blasting!  As I said before, he had all this maniacal energy not typical of a 48 year-old man.  He never wavered, never faltered.  Even when wearing layers that would have dropped a lesser performer from heat exhaustion, Mr. Alfred Matthew Yankovic brought the crazy.

My favorite performance was when Al came out to do “The Saga Begins”.  Why?  Ask the Star Wars geek within me, as he was screeching the entire time when a small squad of Stormtroopers came out with Darth Vader leading them to center stage.  Then, the coily-coiffed one and his band came out in Jedi robes to perform the song (with the exception of keyboardist Rubén Valtierra, who was dressed as the Emperor).  At that point my inner geek fainted, and I had to slap him around to get him out of his stupor.  Geek side revived, I was able to enjoy the rest of the song.

The rest of the concert was nothing short of exuberant.  All five of us walked out of there last night hopped-up on all of the raw energy that was flying around that venue.  I’ve been to plenty of concerts in the past few years, but I have never been to anything like that before.  I left The National (in Richmond, Virginia) invigorated, giddy, and it felt good.  It was like a roller coaster – intense, fast, and exhilarating.  And it was over too quickly.

Next time he’s playing nearby, I’m going for another ride.

The Don dares to be stupid, much to his wife’s embarrassment.

Share This

No no, get your mind out of the gutter, I’m not talking about THAT sort of dungeon. I’m talking about that bastion of geekery, Dungeons and Dragons. Now, I don’t play myself, but many of those whom I have been privileged to call friend over the years have played, so I am somewhat versed in the culture that is the role-playing game. However, even if I was coming to it cold, unaware of any of the language or cultural touchpoints involved, I would still have enjoyed the book “Confessions of a Part Time Sorceress” by Shelly Mazzanoble.

This book follows the birth of a brand new gamer- a woman who works for Wizards of the Coast and yet has never rolled a 20-sided die before in her life. She takes you with her from her initial spark of interest (’hmm, maybe I should learn something about this thing we do here’) to her attempt to force her newfound passion upon her friends (ok, so homemade chocolate volcano cake is a pretty good bribe, I think.)

I really enjoyed this book, I have to say. I liked her sense of humor about the whole thing, and her attempts to dispel the myriad stereotypes that swirl around this game. My S.O. (who has played so far as to even DM games himself) even found it amusing to read through, so there seems to be something to satisfy even experienced players while being a pretty good read for those who perhaps have someone in their lives that they love, but don’t quite understand when they go on about loot drops and tanking. Hey, it might even spark enough interest to inspire conversation- I know I actually managed to deepen my understanding of the game, which has helped strengthen my knowlege base for my WoW playing.

So there you are, an actual book review. If we get really energetic over here at Chez Spwug, the next book review will be on the new 4th edition books…. Once I get my DM, I mean my sweetheart to explain them to me.

Share This

Waugh!  Yesterday was Wednesday wasn’t it?!  Don’t you hate it when one day transposes itself over another?

Anyways, quite a few things going on worth mention:

 -The Demon Mages, Issue #2 is on the threshold of completion.  Took a little extra time, but significantly less OT than before.  Look for that in and around the time of…

 -SAN DIEGO COMIC CON!  I’ll be happy to give you readers the extended post-con coverage (August 2nd.  Let’s be fair; jet-lag) , but in the meantime, a few lead-up articles will get passed around, starting next week.  There’s not much to say here, except that packing for ten days in two bags will be… interesting.

-Almost directly afterwards is Otakon 2008.  This blogger lives moments away from it, so like the event horizon of a black hole, it seems many individuals may be drawn into it’s vortex.  Convention roundup on that one as well will be posted, come August 13th. 

-Pixiv.net & Nico-Nico Douga are neat!  Even if your Japanese is lackluster, it’s easy navigation & content abounds!  I’m there most every day!  Google searches readily turn up non-native registration instructions, so there’s little chance of getting lost.

-BONESAW IS REA-DY!!!  Tough as heck with a keyboard, a little imprecise, but still an impressive game and I chuckled at most of the humor.  A cool homebrewed time waster.

-In the spirit of our nation, I watched Paul “John Adams” Giamatti in probably my most favorite role I’ve seen him play — as the whip smart, buck-nasty Mr. Hertz in Shoot ‘Em Up.  Funny to me to see commercials for his HBO special, and super-impose Mr. Hertz’s cellphone ringing.  Or maybe an extended gunfight with Ben Franklin. 

And now, some new art!  Both done by hand, with markers & pens — the second from back on June 13-15th for the Anime-Mid-Atlantic weekend.

That’s all for now!  See ya next week!

Share This