THE DYING OF THE LIGHT part 4! Twilight’s last gleaming! The end is nigh. No chance of escape. No last-minute reprieve. But nothing loosens the tongue like imminent death, and the crew of the Lost Light use their final hours to say what—until now—was unsayable.
This issue is all about goodbyes and preparations. The preview for issue 54 says not everyone will make it out alive. This is the last time to enjoy some of these characters before they go into battle against an enormous enemy force with no back up in sight. For this, the fans will have to excuse the lack of any action because the next issue will be overloaded with it.
The issue isn’t without its charm though. There are a lot of good character moments, such as Nautica saying a special goodbye to all those who meant something to her, Cyclonus and Whirl having a frenemy talk together, and Rewind solving the mystery with his lost love. The last one comes out of nowhere but not really in a bad way and seems to blend well with flow of the story. James Roberts really is setting things up to make the fans feel something big in the next issue. Of course he does deliver something big this issue by providing Ultra Magnus with a very impressive upgrade.
Alex Milne’s and Hayato Sakamoto’s artwork works so well together at times it hard to tell who did which pages. They are able to draw some very emotional and worried characters who are tired and not sure they are going to make it out alive. Joana Lafuente’s color work is the last piece which helps to bring it all together. Their teamwork makes for a very engaging visual comic.
Given how much built up to the battle next issue there is if someone in the main cast doesn’t die it’s going to feel a bit of a let down. Still, the way things are set up, it’s a guarantee the fans will lose a member of the cast they have come to love. Ready the handkerchiefs everyone as next month heroes maybe lost.
Since the release of Victoria on the festival circuit, it has become a critical darling because of its technical ambition – a movie that was made in one continuous shot for the run-time of two hours and 10 minutes. It is now out on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK.
Victoria (Laia Costa) is a young Spanish woman new to Berlin. After a night of partying she meets four local men, Sonne (Frederick Lau), Boxer (Franz Rogowski), Fuss (Max Mauff) and Blinker (Burak Yigit) and they promise to show her the real Berlin. After a fun time with the men, Victoria ends up being sucked into the local underworld.
Unlike other movies that were shot to look like one continuous shot i.e. Rope and Birdman, Victoria was shot in one long go – there were no edits, hidden cuts or jumps in time. Director Sebastian Schipper and his cast and crew shot the movie in the early hours of 27 April 2014 – it took three attempts for it the filmmakers to make Victoria. This was extremely risky because of the logistics that were required, making things like lighting from exteriors to interiors and all the choreography that would have been required. The script for Victoria was only 12 pages long, so the actors had to improvise most of the movie and it was shot in real-time. Cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen deserves the awards he received for his work.
Victoria is an audience surrogate – she is an outsider to both the criminal world and Germany as a whole. She goes from cafe worker to bank robber in less than two hours. She is unable to speak German, and half the movie is English – this disqualified the movie from being nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. When people around Victoria speak in German, she can only understand what’s going on by the tone of voice and the body language of the people around her.
Due to the filming style used for the movie the actors gave raw performance throughout Victoria. It made the movie more naturalistic because the actors had to keep going, they couldn’t do a retake. Costa was excellent in the lead role going from dancing young woman in the club (in a great opening shot), letting out her own wild side when with the men and showing her pain and panic when drawn into the criminal world. When she is upset or panicked it felt real as tears, sweat and slip stream from her face.
The main German actors were strong in their roles, particularly Lau as Sonne, who gets the most characterization of the four while Rogowski was good in the role as the more volatile Boxer. Yigit and Mauff as Fuss and Blinker were more like background characters, especially Fuss who was the less memorable. The four were perfect at playing four drunken dicks because it was true to life as they egg each other on, do stupid acts and pretend to be innocent when bystanders or the police come by. It sadly reminded me of some events in my past.
It takes 50 minutes for the crime plot in Victoria kick in. It gives the movie a certain sense of realism and it allows us to get know the characters, but it was not the interesting viewing as characters go from place to place. It too detailed for its own good. When the crime part of the movie does happen it is an intense thriller as the characters have to drive around Berlin, meet crime lords and do the bank job with Victoria going in over her head. There is a shootout sequence that is frantic and chaotic, filled with shaky-cam. This is acceptable because of the continuous shooting style, and we are seeing the action from Victoria’s eyes – a woman out of her depth.
Despite the realistic look and time frame, there is an issue with Victoria plausibility. We see a woman willing to hang around with men who shoplift and steal cars and, out of desperation, the men ask Victoria to help them – bringing her into danger. It requires a big suspension of disbelief.
Victoria is a technical marvel and deserving of the praise it has received for its cinematography. Costa was fantastic in the lead role, but it does suffer its slow first 50 minutes and ridiculous plotting considering it was striving to be realistic.
ALL HAIL OPTIMUS part 4! It’s all-out war as OPTIMUS PRIME’s forces move on GALVATRON’s DECEPTICONS—with Earth caught in the middle! Unusual alliances have formed… and secrets will be revealed.
This issue really is all out war. A four way battle erupts between the combined forces of Optimus’ Autobots together with Soundwave’s Decepticons, against Galvatron`s war monger Decepticons, while the forces of Earth attack, and Starscream sends the Cybertronian news to cover it all to make Optimus look bad. If the situation sounds intense it should because a lot happens all at once. It’s a very fast paced issue but a lot of things get looked over because of the rush to get the battle started. One of the biggest examples is Tracks and Needlenose, the brothers on opposite sides of the conflict who don’t have enough time to discuss how they are now fighting together. It’s a small complaint but at the same time the last time they tried to work things out Needlenose shot Tracks. A little nod to the idea the two of them might need counseling would be nice.
The art by Priscilla Tramontano and Josh Burcham feels a bit out place in this issue. Its very good but Tramontano’s art is more animated and Josh Burcham’s color work feels a bit softer in tone and this combined style detracts from the intensity of the building drama in the issue. It’s not bad art it just seems the darker style of Livio Ramondelli would have been a better choice for such an intense battle.
The issue is still good and helping to move the story of All Hail Optimus forward but it’s not without its problems here and there. The aftermath will be very interesting. Starscream has succeeded in making Optimus Prime look foolish to the public and the human of Earth have really caught him at a bad time. It’s starting to look like even if Optimus wins he may come out a loser.
The story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko is an incredible one – she was a Ukrainian Soviet sniper who fought in the Crimea during the Second World War and had 309 confirmed kills, making her one of the most deadly snipers in history. This story has been adapted into a solid Russian-Ukrainian war flick.
The movie follows Lyudmila “Lyuda” Pavlichenko (Yulia Peresild) during her time on the frontline, her relationship with three men and her time in America promoting Lend-Lease, as well as her relationship with the American first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Joan Blackham).
Battle for Sevastopol is at its best when it is showing the events on the frontline even if the title is misleading because the actual battle only played a partial role in the movie. In the Ukraine, the movie was called Indestructible which would have been a more fitting title. Battle for Sevastopol was directed by Sergey Mokritskiy, and he follows the Saving Private Ryan model of shooting war scenes – going for gritty realism. When Lyuda first enters combat during the Battle of Odessa, it is a rude awakening for Lyuda as the troops have to dig trenches and hold their ground against the advancing German forces. The scenes are bloody as limbs are blown off, bullets go through soldiers and dirt flies around when bullets and artillery hit. One of Lyuda’s first kills lets us follow the bullet and will give people reminders of the Sniper Elite games.
The battles are small scale compared to other war movies, both Hollywood, and non-Hollywood films. For the most part, this is fair because Lyuda and her comrades are snipers so have to go out and scout ahead, shooting important officers and soldiers. Even when it is meant to be a bigger battle the movie has a concentrated viewing – focusing on Lyuda and her platoon. The biggest set-piece is when Odessa is evacuated by sea and the Luftwaffe attack the ships. It is an expensive sequence as ships explode and warplanes dogfight in the skies above – it can easily match anything Hollywood productions can offer.
Yulia Peresild is a well-known actress in Russia and gives a fine performance as the war hero. The arc Peresild played was one of a young woman who has a father that is impossible to please and showed a willingness to sign up for the war effort. But the war takes its toll on Lyuda – she becomes more traumatized showing signs of PTSD and becomes physically scarred: Lyuda’s face turns more pale and gaunt and she exhibit’s unusual behavior on the battlefield. This lead to memories of the excellent Soviet movie Come and See.
Battle for Sevastopol uses a duel framing device – the first being in 1957 when Mrs. Roosevelt is explaining who Lyuda is to an American official during a visit to the Soviet Union; this coincides with Lyuda’s tour of the United States to garner war funding. This was just an attempt to make the movie appeal to international i.e. American audiences. But this was unnecessary, as it served no purpose to the plot. The only highlight is when Lyuda hears a loud noise with Eleanor and her reaction shows her psychological scars.
Despite some of the movie being set in America, only one actor was able to speak English, Joan Blackham, who is English. The rest of the cast were actors had to be dubbed over by actors speaking in American accents, and it is hilariously bad – undercutting the serious tone of the movie.
The film also gives Lyuda three love interests when in real life she was married and had a son before the war started. It raises the question – did the filmmakers not have faith in the story of a woman fighting in a war and reaching a high rank in a male dominate world becoming the face of the Russian war effort. Giving Lyuda three love interests made her seem very fickle and Battle for Sevastopol looked like Russian remake of Enemy at the Gates.
At times the movie fast forwards over plot points – just introducing something and resolving it within the next scene. The worst offender was when the Germans sent one of their best snipers to kill Lyuda and Lyuda had to kill him first. But this could have led to a repeat of Enemy at the Gates.
For a Russian movie Battle of Sevastopol was surprising balanced. The Germans were shown to be the enemy but from a compassionate viewpoint – simply soldiers doing their duty, they celebrated Christmas and when Lyuda did sadistically shoot a German soldier she was chastised for it. The movie also did not attempt to whitewash the Stalin Government: showing them favoring party officials and leaving the rest of the population to rot.
The story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko deserved to be told, and her bio-pic had potential. The war scenes were well done and should please fans of war movies, and Yulia Peresild gave a strong performance. But the love story and American subplot distracted from the core of the story.
The new trailer for Mickey Keating’s Carnage Park doesn’t appear to take place in any sort of park you’d like to be in; but there is guaranteed to be quite a bit of carnage.
Here’s the trailer:
And here is the synopsis:
It’s 1978 and a bank robbery gone wrong leaves Vivian (The Last Exorcism’s Ashley Bell) the hostage of two criminals on the run. But things go from bad to off-the-rails berserk when she and her captors wind up on the sun-baked desert outpost of a deranged ex-military sniper (Pat Healy), who ensnares them in his deadly game of cat and mouse. Rising horror auteur Mickey Keating (Pod, Darling) directs this gritty, grisly homage to the glory days of grindhouse cinema.
It’s like Rob Zombie’s Devil’s Rejects, but with some restraint and skill. And the great Pat Healy. And that sheriff is none other than Cameron himself, Alan Ruck.
I have a confession to make, which seems like a fitting way to start a review about a show called Preacher, I know absolutely nothing about it. I mean zero. Until the news broke last year that Seth Rogen and his pal Evan Goldberg were making a television adaptation for AMC, I’d never heard of Preacher.
But I was intrigued for three reasons:
I love The Walking Dead (TWD), Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul so every AMC show gets the benefit of the doubt to begin with as far as I’m concerned.
I really like the first half of This is the End, the Rogen/Goldberg collaboration dealing with God and religion in a humorous way, so I thought they might do a good job with this.
Finally—I thought there’s a good chance that everyone else reviewing this will compare it to the comic the way people often compare TWD or Game of Thrones to the source material. I won’t have anything to compare it too, so I’ll be a completely fresh set of eyes.
To that end—I tried to stay away from any pre-show build up. I avoided any spoilers or interviews that might give too much away. I wanted a clean slate as I kept a running diary while watching the pilot episode. So here we go…
The Preacher Diary
This space scene (complete with meteor) looks like it should be the open to Lost in Space not Preacher. This is an interesting start.
Cut to a priest in Africa giving an impassioned sermon when he’s hit by the aforementioned meteor. He’s now apparently possessed. Maybe he’s the villain?
Maybe not, he just exploded all over his congregation. This is what I would call a tone-setter.
Now we get another preacher in black and white, cut to Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) waking up. For a preacher he seems to have a lot of scars on his back. You get the feeling he’s hung over.
Oh he is, there’s the alcohol to prove it.
Ass and holes. Funny sign.
So he sucks at giving sermons. Not exactly inspiring as a preacher.
This young boy fills in the back story by letting us in on Jesse’s past of doing bad things asking the Preacher to hurt his dad. For Jesse’s part he says he doesn’t do those things anymore. Sure he doesn’t.
Don’t try to shove your PC Prairie Dog down this town’s throat!
The sheriff is more concerned about the mascot than the preacher who’s obviously about to drink and drive. OK.
Cut to… The Wolf of Wall Street? A bunch of suits (bachelor party maybe) doing lots of drugs and drinking on a plane, listening to a pretty amazing story from this Irish guy, who’s name tag says Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun).
Uh oh… Cassidy finds a bible in the bathroom with weird writing. His level of concern means either everyone on the plane is a devil worshiper or he’s some kind of demon.
It’s Kill Bill on a plane! Where did all the weapons come from? You’d have thought the ax sitting with the magazines would have been pretty noticeable.
The old half bottle stuck in someone’s chest and used to drain them of blood trick. Seen it a million times. (OK, I’ve never seen that). Between that and the neck bite I assume Cassidy’s a vampire?
Cassidy grabs an umbrella before jumping out of the plane. Please let him be some kind of messed up Mary Poppins.
Looks like some guys are investigating the priest explosion from the top of the show. Gonna be a tough autopsy.
Preacher now checking on a guy on the couch. Oh, there’s a woman in the bathroom and Jesse ain’t having it. Afraid to be tempted by the flesh perhaps?
Flashback!
Damn, this lady just killed a man with a cob of corn. And then offered to do arts and crafts with the witnesses who also happen to be small children.
Oh I just realized that Raina (Ruth Negga)! I loved her on Agents of Shield.
My arts and crafts projects were never that fun. Who knew you could make a bazooka from some empty cans.
Raina (now called Tulip) has some history with Jesse. She wants him to do a job. He says no.
Guess that umbrella didn’t help Cassidy keep his intestines on the inside.
Jesse meets with the abused wife. At the start of the scene I didn’t see it coming, but as they went on I just knew the wife was going to say she and hubby were into Fifty Shades kind of stuff.
Now to Russia…. OK. Guess another religious guy exploded there. It’s hard out there for a priest.
The young Howard Stark and Raina are parked in a dark car. “I created Captain America!” “I turned into a Porcupine that can see the future!” “Touche!”
I did know there was a character in this called “Arseface” and now I know why. This has to be a terrible role to play. Nobody will recognize this guy without the makeup.
Anyway—this kid seems to have some real guilt about something.
Tom Cruise Explodes! Talk about an excellent Easter egg type thing.
A vampire and a preacher are in a bar…
Do dive bars still have payphones?
Finally—I think we’re going to see what the Preacher is all about as abusive husband/Civil War Reenactor isn’t pleased with him.
Preacher is putting the hurt on these confederate soldiers. Oh snap… I mean he literally snapped that dude’s arm right through the skin. Ouch.
Preacher tells the woman who clearly has a thing for him he’s leaving, so she breaks her kids’ iPad?!?! That’s messed up.
Are you there God, it’s me Preacher?
Oh wait, there is something there. Watch out that thing killed TOM CRUISE!
Seems the mystery blob didn’t killed Jesse… but turned him into Kilgrave?
Seems he’s also more dedicated to the church, but the way he’s saying it is sort of creeping me out.
Is this guy going to literally open his heart?
Yes he is.
Does this mean Jesse is the bad guy? My guess is they explore the moral dilemma of how the power of persuasion. If nothing else, he’ll have to watch what he says or at least how he says it.
Looking forward to the next episode. I have to wait two weeks?!?!
Final Thoughts
It’s not at The Walking Dead‘s level, but TWD wasn’t at TWD’s level until mid-season three so there’s plenty of time. It’s also much lighter in terms of tone than TWD so I don’t feel depressed after watching it. The cast is really good and after one episode I’m certainly curious where it’s going from here. I’m in.
DARK JEM part 5 of 5!
Silica’s band The Sickness take over the Misfits’ Tour—and the Holograms have to work with the Misfits to stop her! And just as things look hopeless, an unexpected guest shows up in appropriately dramatic fashion to help save the day… or maybe bask in their destruction!
Between Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye #53 and Jem and The Holograms #15, there is a lot of teams preparing for battle against strong opponents this month. It weird though if you think about it as the Transformer comic went with the more emotional character moments while Jem and The Holograms has Tech Rat return and bring some very interesting technological dialogue. You’d think those would be the other way around. Either way, both issues are fantastic.
The return of Tech Rat really helps this issue a lot. Writer Kelly Thompson is Is able to give some interesting bits of dialogue to explain how Silica is able to mind control those who listens to her music. There also is a page with Jerrica remembering her past where Thompson is able to truly capture an awkward parent conversation.
It’s also shown, The sickness (Silica’s band) isn’t just holograms but are real people who are being corrupted by her. Given she should be able to use holograms just like Synergy, it was hard to tell what her band was in the previous issue. As the Holograms and Misfits find a way to deal with Silica, she is free to roam around and control her minions as she sees fit. Makes you feel bad for the poor band members she has under her control.
The art is fantastic as ever. Sophie Campbell’s art and M. Victoria Robado’s color work haven’t diminished their quality from previous issues. The panels where Silica is present are truly memorable thanks to the dark and edgy colors used. The team also employs lighter colors when a flashback is happening so people are able to recognize it’s a dream sequence. With a series where life like holograms can appear any moment, a way to distinguish reality and fantasy is very helpful.
With a late arrival to the issue, it looks like the Misfits and the Holograms will be ready for a showdown against Silica. Issues like this leave the creators with a promise of something big to happen in the next issue. Now all the team has to do is deliver a battle which really resonates with the readers. I’m sure the fans will be crossing their fingers for the conclusion to be truly epic.
Ahead of the release of X-Men: Apocalypse, thecrew over at Screen Junkies the seminal X-Men: the Animated Series an Honest Trailer. This show over twenty years remains one of the greatest superhero cartoons ever made, even if the censors prevented Wolverine from truly being able to let loose. So if you are a child of the 90s, why not check it out.
Comics are weird. So often we forget the joy that comes with the bizarre nature of the medium. The joy that such oddities bring is why we love this form. Yet, it also is a barrier to entry for many. Sometimes, however, we get wonderfully wacky creations like Scooby Apocalypse ; a dystopian take on everyone’s favourite crime-solving gang and their dumb dog. Having already teamed up with Vincent Price, encountered extraterrestrial life and engaged in a monster derby, the only logical place to take Scooby and Mystery Inc. was the end of days itself.
Scooby Apocalypse follows books like Afterlife with Archie and the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina in putting classic cartoon/comic characters, in scenarios that starkly contrast their light-hearted origins. The conceit here is that each character, while retaining their core characteristics, is radically re-invented from their iconic counterparts. Scooby, for example, is presented as a genetically engineered experiment (loving branded subject 24602) as a way of explaining his limited intelligence and speech ability. Velma is the one character who differs substantially from her original form as the quirky, nerdy sleuth is turned into a near nihilistic Oppenheimer; scared of her own creations. There is a limit to when concept encroaches on character and this book tethers on the edges of style over substance.
One is left wondering if the story itself would have been better served if the classic version of the gang faced the end of the world. This inaugural issue marks the first time that these versions of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby meet. Instead, we are presented with facsimiles of the iconic characters who we have little relation with. Continuity may not have been one of the franchise’s strong suits, but it would give a weight to the series that it currently lacks.
There is a lot of exposition in this issue, in order to explain how the Umbrella Corporation Complex created a nano-tech virus that turned humanity into Scooby’s rogue gallery of monsters. This style of information dumping isn’t something that the Scooby Doo franchise has ever shed away from. Indeed, the series is premised on characters explaining another’s motivations in a master-class of show don’t tell. Having Velma becoming self-aware of her tendency to monologue to herself, is in many ways, a loving tip of the hat to continuity, but it is also a clear of example of the writers trying to be a bit too clever for their own good. The dialogue, therefore, ranges from clunky world-building to compelling Whedon-esque character moments which is a shame because it truly excels when it gives the gang breathing space to allow their personalities to manifest. It is in those quiet moments that we remember why these characters have endured for nearly 50 years.
Howard Porter’S interior artwork presents our heroes in a photo-realistic style that ground them in a semblance of reality. It does so to great effect, even if the sight of Shaggy as a modern-day hipster rather than his more traditional beatnik is quite jarring. Meanwhile, Scooby manages to retain his cartoonish charm even with his revised mad science origins. This style, much like Afterlife with Archie, serves to distinguish this iteration of its predecessors. Rather than present itself as cynical “not your father’s Scooby Doo”, the art serves to highlight the cruelty of this new world and the challenges that Mystery Inc. will face. Rather than the cheap, stock-footage cartoons of the past, they are real flesh and blood characters. For the first time, they are as fragile and mortal as the rest of us, something that not even the live-action movies were able to achieve. For the initiated, eagle-eyed Hanna-Barbara fans may also catch references to Dyno-Mutt among others in the backgrounds, though as the title suggests they may not be long for this world.
If it feels like Scooby Apocalypse was a book designed by committee then you aren’t far off the mark. Although Jim Lee is credited with the initial concept, Keith Griffin handled the plot and breakdowns while J.M. DeMatteis handled the dialogue. The term “too many cooks” springs to mind. The result is as mixed a bag as one might expect which makes this quite a difficult comic to review. I am slow to call this a bad comic by any means because when it focuses on these characters and their relationships, it does to tremendous success. It certainly suffers from a sever case of “set-up syndrome” where the weight of establishing it’s own concept overpowers the more personal tale it wants to tell. There is potential here for a compelling narrative about a group of meddling-kids way in over their heads. It longs to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but often forgets that it was the characters and not the concept that made that series work. This has the bones of the classic Scooby Doo underdog story and the talent to execute it, but they need to return to first principles. The creative team has a way to go if they want to earn themselves a Scooby Snack.
A review copy was kindly provided by the publisher; DC Comics.
With DC Rebirth around the corner, Geoff Johns, DC’s CCO and writer of the upcoming mini-series, has stated that he will personally buy back any copies from fans disappointed with the story.
This news came from comicbook.com, in an interview with the longstanding writer. Johns stated in the interview, “If anyone wants to check out comics, wants to check out DC Universe Rebirth #1 and doesn’t like it, they can mail [the comicbook] to Warner Bros., to me, and I will send them a check, I literally will, for both postage and for the book. I will buy all these books back because I believe in this issue a lot. I think it’ll do very well. I hope it does well. But I seriously will; I’ll buy back this book.”
This will also be Geoff Johns’s last writing in the comic book as his recent promotion to co-heading DC’s film division, as well as running the television projects already on the air, will take too much time to attend to the writing of several comic book franchises. However, Johns is more than excited for this storyline, stating that this would help bring back the sense of hope and optimism missing from the comics following the New 52 introduction. This is also something he is hoping to fix in the DCEU as soon as possible.
