Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for the Week of 9-19-2012


The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live every week at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics and gaming store, located in West Berlin, NJ.

Co-hosts Ed (Silky Smooth) Evans, Allison (Amethyst) Eckel, and Glenn (Shazam) Walker discuss the new comics out this week in wicked high definition video, and also available on the YouTube. See it here!

Discussion featured in this week's special creepy old man episode includes: Ed's silky smooth radio voice, Green Lantern Corps: New Guardians #0, Sword of Sorcery #0 featuring Amethyst, sooo much Allison love for Amethyst, Beowulf, Wonder Woman #0, Justice League #0 featuring the little bastich, The Super Cool Secret Word Contest, the rest of the DC zeroes, rushing through Marvels, New Mutants #49, Ultimates United We Stand, The Walking Dead #102, Ed's indies, Ghost #0, Star Treks and red shirts, Allison's kids comics, and Ed's trades.



Be sure to check out the wild new All Things Fun! website, and the All Things Fun! Blogs, by Allison and Glenn, now featuring The Vidcast Drinking Game so you can play along at home, and ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

And be back here every Wednesday (or Tuesdays at midnight) to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

Don't forget to get your secret word in to feedback@allthingsfun.net by Friday!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

They Might Be Giants


They Might Be Giants ~ In the wake of other recent successful updates of Sherlock Holmes; "Sherlock" and "Elementary" (don't forget to check out my review of "Elementary" at Biff Bam Pop! this week) placing him in present day and the cinematic version with Robert Downey Jr. Giving him a steampunk makeover, I thought it might be time to give They Might Be Giants from 1971 a second look.

The film, based on the play of the same name, is set in present day United States. George C. Scott plays Justin Playfair, a judge deluded into believing he's Sherlock Holmes after the loss of his wife. While Playfair demonstrates an unbelievable mastery and skill set as the Holmes identity, and remaining relatively harmless despite some paranoid delusions about his mythical enemy Moriarty, his brother tries to have him committed to gain his fortune.

Enter Doctor Mildred Watson, played by Joanne Woodward, originally signed on to commit Playfair, but is quickly drawn into his world by virtue of her name and an interest in the case. The two proceed on adventure after adventure as Playfair attempts to piece together ridiculous clues sent by his enemy Moriarty.

While an enjoyable farce with these two Oscar winning masters of the screen having good chemistry, this is so not their best work. I would single them both out for calling this one in. Still better than most performances of most actors, They Might Be Giants is only adequate for Scott and Woodward in my opinion. Not helping this is the fact they're surrounded by a who's who of 1970s and 60s sitcom actors who are nowhere in their league. Worth a watch, but don't hunt it down, you've seen this before.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

When Film Incites

The recent nonsense in the Middle East with the murders, attacks, and protests against American Embassies is not the normal fodder for content here on Welcome to Hell, but it kinda is when it's caused by a film. The film, and I use the word loosely, is called Innocence of Muslims by filmmaker, once again a term I'm using loosely, Sam Bacile, who we have since learned is an alias for Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Based on what I've seen of the man, and the film, he is a hate criminal, and responsible for the deaths so far in our embassies. And that's not just because it's a bad movie. It's more and less than a bad movie. Horrible acting, sets, and writing, and created specifically to incite the Islam world to violence. This is something even Uwe Boll never did.

Notably this is not the first time film has been used as a mind weapon. The gangster films of the 1930s were said to bring about, among other things, juvenile delinquency. Violent movies have always been said to make kids more violent. The trend continues today. I think the documentaries of Michael Moore have fanned the fires, if not lit them initially, of the bipartisanism that threatens to tear our nation apart.

I think this will be a first. We've had music and videogames supposedly make people kill, we've had books do it, most notably with "The Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie, now I guess, it's film's turn. Still these things bother me.

While I do wonder what Ozzy song was Genghis Khan's favorite, and what Call of Duty game Hitler played the most, this movie was a deliberate assault on a faith, in my opinion. I hope this furor dies down soon, and people realize that this was just a bad movie…

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Revolution


I recently had the chance to view the pilot episode of "Revolution" via OnDemand. Apparently it's also on Hulu and NBC.com, so I have to wonder if anyone will watch this when it airs Monday night. After the last few television projects from J.J. Abrams, I was prepared to be unimpressed, but I gotta say, I might give this a shot. It actually seems like it might be fun, conditionally, that is.

The concept of "Revolution" is a world where all the power has gone off. Logic dictates some sort of electromagnetic pulse possibly, but who knows really what it could be in a J.J. Abrams show? Didn't he make up that island you could drive on "Lost"? So the power goes off, and our story begins fifteen years later. America has devolved into small villages of folks living off the land and warring militia states. Still, nobody has gotten the power back on, or even had the know-how to build a simple generator. Did no one pay attention in high school science class?

Logic aside, it does have its moments that set it slightly above other scifi fare currently on TV. I like our reluctant hero Miles, played by Billy Burke, who is like a mild-mannered badass with a sword. I also like our middle management villain Neville, played by Giancarlo Esposito, Fring from "Breaking Bad." He plays the baddie with the same quiet deadly charisma of The Operative in Serenity.

"Revolution," created by Abrams, and with this pilot episode directed by Jon Favreau, also depends a lot on its potential genre nerd cred. One of the best moments in the pilot is when Charlie, played by Tracy Spiridakos, and someone who has lived most of her life without power, reveals her secret stash - in an Empire Strikes Back lunchbox, and we hear a few notes of John Williams movie score. Moments like that elevate this show, and make me want to keep watching.

The only thing that would keep me from watching, and it's the condition I spoke up at the beginning of this review, is that plot device that the show revolves around. What caused the black out? If that will be the carrot on a stick, that keeps viewers watching, yet never gets revealed, I think I'm out. I don't want another "Lost," and I certainly don't want another "Flash Forward" or "Journeyman" where we never find out what happened.

Now watch the following preview at your own risk. It's one of those that pretty much tells you everything that happens in the pilot, right in the preview. Stupid television executives…



Thursday, September 13, 2012

Sucker Punch


Sucker Punch ~ At first glance, and from previews, this appears to be an explosion of imagination. Writer/director Zack Snyder makes it seem as if he has constructed a film around the concept that with motion capture, green screen and CGI nothing is impossible. I mean, come on, you can't get any more genre chill than hot chick samurais and steampunk Nazi zombies. And at first glance, you might be right.

The problem is that only about twenty minutes of the film's one hundred and ten minutes takes place in the hyper-reality of the story's fantasy world. The rest happens in a dreary, depressing and relentlessly violent mental hospital reality that makes the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest seem like a house party. Nothing good happens in the hospital. It is painful to sit through, even worse if you watch. In the theater, I hated this majority of the flick, and at home, fast forward was my friend.

The fantasy scenes are amazing, truly stunning - I could watch them over and over again - and alone well worth the price of admission/rental. The sexy actresses and killer soundtrack are also formidable as well. I fully recommend the movie just for those reasons, but there's a lot more going on.

On further viewings and discussions with other film fans I have discovered a whole different level to this flick. Pay close attention to the dialogue and the visuals as well, as everything is a metaphor. If you don't want to get that deep, there is also the Pink Floyd factor. Much like The Wizard of Oz, if you play Dark Side of the Moon parallel to watching Sucker Punch, it lines up much the same way.

So no matter how you watch Sucker Punch, I recommend you give it a second chance, finger on the fast forward button or not.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast for the Week of 9-12-2012


The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live every week at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics and gaming store, located in West Berlin, NJ.

Co-hosts Ed Evans, Allison Eckel, and Glenn Walker discuss the new comics out this week in wicked high definition video, and also available on the YouTube. See it here!

Discussion featured in this week's episode includes: Feedback, Batman #0, the Amanda Waller Diet, different Crisis, Young Justice, Demon Knights #0, The Shade #12, He-Man #2, AvsX #11, Ed does the X-Men, Spidey and Deadpool in high school, Ed's indies, Crossed Badlands #13, whole different Primus, Valiant comics of the week, Allison's kids comics, and Ed's trades.


Be sure to check out the cool new All Things Fun! website, and the All Things Fun! Blogs, by Allison and Glenn, now featuring The Vidcast Drinking Game so you can play along at home, and ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

And be back here every Wednesday (or Tuesdays at midnight) to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

Prince Adam: "Who would have thought changing my pants would make such a difference?"

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Lost Hits of the New Wave #18


"What Do All The People Know?" by The Monroes

The Bride loves the New Wave, and the Alternative. In many ways, she's still living in the 1980s. So I was quite surprised some time ago, while we were in the ShopRite, and this tune was on the overhead speakers, she had never heard of it.

I remember it quite well, and even remember seeing this segment from the Merv Griffin show back in 1982, not lipsynced, rare for that time. Back in the day, before MTV, or before everyone had it, Merv was one of the ways to see new music and new bands. I think on Fridays, the legendary Friday Morning Quarterback, Cherry Hill native, Cal Rudman would come on and introduce new bands.

The Monroes were a San Diego synthpop band who only had this one hit wonder, and toured throughout the eighties with folks like Rick Springfield, Toto, and Greg Kihn. Band members left one at a time until they broke up completely in 1988.



Monday, September 10, 2012

The Funhouse


The Funhouse ~ Okay, confession time. You might not believe me, but I never really got to go to the movie theater all that much until maybe the senior year of high school. There was none of that stuff or hanging out at the mall until I had friends old enough to drive. Oh, sure, I'd been to the drive-in once or twice to see kids movies, and my cool big sister and her husband took me to see Star Wars when it was out, but no real movies until 1980. That's when my friend Bobby started driving. And the first movie I got to see was The Funhouse.

I know, fifteen years old and I started big, trying to catch up for lost time. Not only a Tobe Hooper horror film, but R rated with nudity in the first few minutes. I remember my father was angry when he found out, but it was worth it. It was the beginning of a love affair with going to the movies that still enthralls me.

I recently had a chance to see The Funhouse again on HBO. It's not a great movie but it is a good horror flick that still holds up well after three decades. There is a charm about it missing from horror movies now, an innocence, a naïveté. Today we live in the Scream era where everything is referential and meta. I think it was better back then. That said the film begins with a sly homage to both Halloween and Psycho. I still like it.


The story has two couples on a double date to the carnival. They decide to hide out in the funhouse to stay overnight for a romantic interlude. While there, they witness a murder and more, and end up hunted by the carnival barker's deformed and monstrous son. Hilarity ensues. There are some genuine scares and the drooling monster is scary and disgusting.

The only real standout from the cast is the carnival barker, played by Kevin Conway, who was Dr. Haber in one of my favorite PBS productions, "The Lathe of Heaven." Here, he is a more obvious and grounded kind of sinister, but still a terrific actor. And of course, no matter how you cut it, this is still a Tobe Hooper film.

A slice of the good old days of slasher flicks, still worth seeing after thirty years or so. The one that started it all (for me at least), The Funhouse, check it out.

Friday, September 07, 2012

The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast


The All Things Fun! New Comics Vidcast is shot live every week at All Things Fun! - the South Jersey/Philadelphia area's best comics and gaming store, located in West Berlin, NJ. The store celebrates its Eighth Anniversary this Saturday (the 8th of September), so come on down, there will be free stuff, prizes, Batman will be there, and everything will be on sale!

Co-hosts Ed Evans, Allison Eckel, and Glenn Walker discuss the new comics out this week in wicked high definition video, and also available on the YouTube. See it here!

Discussion featured in this week's Special 8th Anniversary Sale Episode includes: The 8th Anniversary Sale, obscene hand gestures, Action Comics #0, two from the Batcave, two from Earth 2, Green Arrow #0, Green Lantern #0, Rotworld comics, Phantom Stranger #0, Smallville #5, Matt Fraction goes Marvel Method, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #14, Avengers Academy #36, Dark Avengers #180, First X-Men #2, Thanos Quest, Road to Oz #1 (of 6), Spawn of the Dead, Bronies unite, New Crusaders Rise of the Heroes #1, The Boys #70, Army of Darkness #5, Archer and Armstrong #2, Zenescope comics of the week, Flash Gordon Zeitgeist #6, Ed's trades, Star Wars hats, and manga.



Also this week we have this year's last installment of our special kids comics segment, featuring Thomas giving us the ten year old's perspective. The discussion included: Thomas is not a Brony, the Snarked trade and The Muppets #3 by Roger Langridge, Scooby-Doo at MonsterCon, Garfield superheroes, Phineas and Ferb Magazine #12, Amelia Rules, Winx Club, the 8th Anniversary Sale, and hats galore.



Be sure to check out the fantastic All Things Fun! website, and the All Things Fun! Blogs, by Allison and Glenn, and ATF! on YouTube (don't forget to subscribe to the channel while you're there, and leave a comment or two on the Vidcast as well!).

And be back here every Wednesday (or Tuesdays at midnight) to watch the new broadcast, and thereafter throughout the week!

Don't forget the All Things Fun! 8th Anniversary Sale Saturday!

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

I Saw What You Did


I Saw What You Did ~ Back in the old days, before video rentals, before OnDemand, even before cable television, there was only one way to see a particular film - you waited and waited for it to finally show up on standard six channel television. When it was a movie you'd never seen and only heard about, it became sort of an event, and a special memory. I saw The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon this way, and also Mothra and the Matt Helm films. There was a certain mystique to the movies you had to watch and wait for each week by scouring the TV Guide.

The original 1965 (it was later a terrible telemovie in the late 1980s that is best forgotten) version of I Saw What You Did was one of those movies, and in recent times it has been made even rarer by its on-again-off-again video and DVD releasing. In an age where almost everything is available, this is indeed a rare film. It's a lucky thing that occasionally TCM gives it a run, usually when honoring its star Joan Crawford, or its genius director William Castle.

Its full title gives a bit of a hint what it is really about. Two teenage girls on a sleepover amuse themselves by making random prank phone calls and saying to the answerer, "I Saw What You Did! And I Know Who You Are!" You can imagine the bedlam that ensues when they call the man who has just murdered his wife. There's the set-up and trademark William Castle hilarity and horror follow. You can understand how the plot of this one can become whispered legend among those watching the TV Guide every week.

In a role originally meant to be only a cameo (although she got top billing and pay) and originally offered to Grayson Hall, later to be known as Dr. Julia Hoffman on "Dark Shadows," Joan Crawford eats up the screen like the film goddess she was in every scene. Her appearance, dressed for flash in the middle of the night, is kinda odd, but then again she's Joan Crawford after all. She proves without a doubt she could easily be the kooky neighbor in a sitcom from any age, and do it with pizzazz.

The two girls, and one's little sister, are terrible, but their kids, so give them a break. John Ireland as the killer is stone-faced and fierce, his looks alone inspiring scares. Some of the shocks and the violence are a bit over the top for the time, and surprising when you think about it in hindsight. It's not Friday the 13th, but it's a bit much for 1965. The initial killing is an ironic turn on the shower scene from Psycho and actually quite well done.

This is, despite what others may tell you, William Castle at his best. I love this flick, and watch it whenever it presents itself. Must see for horror fans, movie fans, and camp fans - funny, scary, quirky, what more could you want? So keep a lookout, just like in the old days, for the next time I Saw What You Did airs, it's worth it.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Lost Hits of the New Wave #17


"Shelter" by Lone Justice

Lone Justice, fronted by Maria McKee, was formed in 1982 as part of the Los Angeles cowpunk (I bet there's a word y'all haven't heard in ages) scene. With help at different times from Tom Petty and Steven Van Zandt, they managed to chart with "Shelter," but were unable to have any higher charting singles.

Maria McKee went on to have a solo singing career but has been much more successful as a songwriter, penning hits for Bette Midler, Feargal Sharkey, and the Dixie Chicks.




Special thanks to my Twitter buddy Cathi for reminding me of this one. Sadly, I had forgotten.

Monday, September 03, 2012

RIP Michael Clarke Duncan


This one hit me kinda hard because I always liked this guy. Actor Michael Clarke Duncan has passed away from complications of a heart attack suffered almost two months back. He was way too young at 54.

Whether you know him as Bear from Armageddon, or his classic role as John Coffy in Stephen King's The Green Mile, or my favorite, crossing color lines as the villainous Kingpin in Daredevil, Michael Clarke Duncan was a phenomenal actor whose talent and presence was hard to match. A sad passing, the man will be missed.

The Barrens: Thoughts on the Trailer




There's never been a really good movie about the Jersey Devil, and there are damned few good books. "The Pines" by Robert Dunbar is really the only fiction one that springs to mind. "The Jersey Devil" by James F. McCloy and Ray Miller is probably the best among the non-fiction books on the legend. And as far as movies go, there have been a few, all awful, the worst of the bunch about a decade ago was called 13th Child and struck a new low in cinema.

This one, The Barrens features "True Blood" star Stephen Moyer playing a man who takes his family camping and finds himself convinced he's being stalked by the Jersey Devil. Even the trailer, just a few seconds over two minutes long, is already full of inaccuracies about the legend. I'm a South Jersey boy, I should know.

The worst mistake of all is in the title itself. The Barrens referred to are the Pine Barrens, so called because of the short stunted trees in the region, not at all like the ones we see in the trailer depicting the Ontario, Canada location. As yet, the film has no release date.