By Jimmy Palmiotti
This week, a bunch of movies, a tribute or two and some more silliness… as expected. Amanda and I had the pleasure of taking a full day off and hanging with two of our favorite people, Billy Tucci and his stunning wife, Deb. We went out to the beach, drank a few too many drinks, had some nice meals and got to swim for a bit… a perfect summer day in my eyes, with perfect company. We spoke about how excited I was that Billy was going to finally illustrate an issue of Jonah Hex for Justin and I. It’s what I love about comics… getting to work with friends on a project. As for the rest of the week finished the translation on the first TORPEDO book for IDW and I got to tell you, I forgot how wonderful these books are. It was a real treat to be included in this event.
And last… got time finally to catch up on some movies, Some good, some bad… and all featuring an opinion from me… I would love your feedback on these reviews, so don’t be shy. Anyway, here we go…
UP: Well, forget it is animation and understand that most movies with animation are written 50 times better than live action any day of the week. This movie was funny, silly, sad, and heartbreaking and didn’t have a boring minute in it. Run to see it… and personally, while watching it in 3-D… I forgot it was 3-D, so I think its cool to see it in regular 2-D as well. I will not ruin a thing other than to say I laughed my ass off watching it and to its credit, the theatre was filled with kids, and they didn’t talk a bit during the entire film, which is amazing if you ask me.
THE BROTHERS BLOOM: Really enjoyed this movie as well… clever scripting and direction takes us on a silly adventure about con men conning. Sure we have seen all this before, but presented here, it’s fresh with great character development and a tight script that tries its best to satisfy on all levels as well as some clever directing. It’s a perfect summer film with a brain. In limited release, so hunt it down. Oh, and Rachel Weisz is simply stunning here. What a terrific actress she is.
$200 MILLION FOR WHAT? Land of the Lost had a budget of $200 million and made $19.5 million over the opening weekend and people are blaming WILL FERRELL? My God, is there a constant lack of oxygen going through Los Angeles? Do reality checks cost more than Beverly Hills real estate? What the hell? Am I the only one that sat through that movie and wondered what the hell were they thinking? Looking at the numbers, it seemed a lot of people left the theatre telling other people not to see it, and they were right to do so.
It’s so simple to look at this movie and see what was wrong with it. Not the casting, not the effects, although I thought green screen was suppose to save money, and not the crew involved. It all fell apart at the story level. Let’s look at why they would even think to remake this. When it was on, it was a semi-serious TV show for kids about a family that gets lost in another dimension with dinosaurs and aliens. The heart of the show was the connection between the father and the children, their struggle to survive and find a way to get back to their home. Simple… all heart, father protecting his children in a strange new world and all of them banding together to look after each other, discovering new things about each other and the world around them, and finally, the hope that one day they would get back to their home and loved ones. And what does the movie do?
The movie makes it motivations about an insane scientist that wants to show up a talk show host, invent a machine that can go to other dimensions and get back once there to do what? Save the Earth from a ridiculous alien invasion and get to show the talk show host up and ridicule him and brag about his new book. Was there even a single scene with the character thanking God he was back home, back to the place he supposedly missed? Not a one. What’s wrong with this? It’s childish on so many levels and not the good ones. These are now grown adults that act like retarded people… all three of them… and their only other theme is about getting laid. The main character hooks up with the girl, and the other main character finds a city of available women. Wow, big stretch there… I didn’t see that coming… not.
There were moments of fun in the film, but it fell flat every other scene and the trailer was no help in this department, honestly, if it weren’t Will Ferrell in the film, no one would have seen this mess. Add to this a $200 million budget that is wasted on a bunch of scenes that felt strung together, and you got a mess… a mess with no heart at all…which the original children’s show had. See, it was all about heart. And connection… people connecting between each other and banding together and so on…which leads me to the other movie I saw this week that actually gets it right for a $35 million budget…
THE HANGOVER: Some spoilers here…This was a movie MADE for adults [thank you “R” rating] that took the time in the script for us to understand and get to know each character… and then took us on a roller coaster ride adventure to hope they can find and save their missing friend and at the same time we wanted them to overcome their obvious problems. Simple, funny and smart… just like the audiences who came to see it and have spent a lot of time recommending it to others. This is a real wake up call for these big budget flops to take a good look at the crap they are passing off for screenplays these days and start to understand its not always about the effects and flash and explosions… but it can be, if you give us well-written characters. Land of the Lost, Terminator: Salvation…
On a personal note, other than the wild animals and shooting, I have been to a few bachelor parties that rival the events of this film. I even have the photos to prove it, but I am saving them for that special day when blackmail will be the order of business.
PHIL MORRIS IS THE MAN: There is a nice interview with him on this site this week about the Hex/Batman Brave and the Bold animated show. We actually met not long ago in NYC and had a few great conversations. His love for comics and the material is just fantastic and the amount of energy this man has for his craft… well, its contagious. We really need more people like this outside our industry and I love that he is out there talking up the material and plugging it as well… it’s a nice thing to see and refreshing after reading about directors and writers being proud … almost arrogant, to say they never looked at the original source material their project is based on. I urge you all to support anything he is involved with to show him the true power we, the comic book fans, have in and outside our little world. I would like to think that we have the power to make or break projects… and in this case, I would like nothing better to be able to promote and propel Phil Morris to superstar status. Make it so!
DAVE SIMONS, R.I.P: It’s a little bit funny the memories that come flooding back to a person… hearing about Dave’s passing got me to really reflect on not only him, but also how much we take for granted that people will be around forever. When you get my age, you start to see people leave this planet more often… and a lot not from old age, as is the case with Dave who was in his 50’s. Got me thinking about another Dave we lost, Dave Stevens… another super talented sweet guy that left us too soon. Man, I really hate this death thing. Anyway, back to Dave Simons… when I was in the High School of Art and Design, I met Dave Simons and gave him a hand on some backgrounds and whatnot on a bunch of titles including Howard the duck and some DC science fiction and war comics. He was working with a few other guys at the time and they were doing their best to just pay the rent, eat and get drunk. They had like 5 books to ink between them at all times it seemed, thus the background help from me after school. Funny thing… this hard living made me not want to get into comics, but I appreciated the fine work they were doing.
When I went to college I took advertising art and worked “at a real job” in advertising for 10 years… ’til I realized that I can actually make comics work for me in a different way than I watched these guys do it.
Dave was a prince and sweet guy and talented as hell, and I have good memories about him… watching him work taught me a lot about how to work a brush and such, and these are good memories. He would always take me aside from the other artists and give me advice.
Last year, before the NY Con, a friend said he was in financial trouble and was sick… so I Pay-paled some money to Dave’s account and didn’t hear anything back. A few weeks later Dave comes by my table at the N.Y. Comic Con and says hi… he looks great, and I ask him how he is feeling…and he says very good. I ask him if he got the money, and he gave me a blank stare… well, I just told him its a little to help with the bills and a thanks for being nice to me when I was younger and he smiled and said that he had a bundle of commissions to get to and that he would talk to me later.
Well… no later now… and a shame all around because we really hate losing someone so young… and such a nice talented guy.
Rest in peace, Dave.
WIZARD WORLD PHILLY: Amanda Conner, Kristanna Loken and I will be at the con next weekend and please, if you read this madness each week, come by and say hi. Even better, when meeting Kristanna, let her know how much we all appreciate her coming down and taking the time to meet the fans. Last, I want you all to know FRANK TIERI will also be at the show and will be around signing books all weekend. Frank and I are good buddies and you will never meet a funnier guy… go say hello to frank and tell him you did his mom. It’s fun, trust me. Below is a photo of frank with Liam Sharp and Nelson Decastro and some friggin road show attraction Elvis. We cant wait to meet and greet all of you… it’s gonna be a blast.
FREE CRAPPY SKETCH: If you are at Philly, bring me a Philly cheese steak sandwich with a tiny hint of onions, and I will do you a free crappy sketch. Yeah, doesn’t sound like the best deal… but I figure let’s make the show fun, and at the same time I can feed the people around me… you know, all those starving artists. At the very least, the people of Philly will thank you for your business, and we will be well fed. Just a warning, my sketches are not great… but they aren’t the worst either… just don’t ask me to draw Spiderman or Deadpool… I like my characters to have eyes and a mouth.
POWER GIRL #2: Yeah, it’s out this week, so please give it a try. I think it’s one of the best jobs Amanda has done in a long time… and while we are on the subject, I would like to thank the comic community for giving issue one some crazy nice reviews and especially for giving the book a chance. We are doing our best to give you the best book possible each and every issue and thank you all for your support. Let me know what you think of issue #2. A full-blown preview will be featured on MySpace on Monday.
Talk to you all soon.
- Jimmy Palmiotti
June 15th, 2009 at 11:56 am
“Up” was excellent, although the ending was a tad pat and there should have been more of Dug the dog. The visuals are breathtaking throughout though.
I can’t wait for the next issue of Power Girl. So when are you going to honor my request and have her kick the crap out of Guy Gardner? Doomsday and Lobo too while you’re at it.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Nice words about Dave, Jimmy. Well said. I’m pretty disgusted that his passing seemed to warrant such little - if any - mention from the popular comic news sites, including Newsarama.
Kudos for once again including some fine images, Rachel and Kristanna are both hot.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
“Nice words about Dave, Jimmy. Well said. I’m pretty disgusted that his passing seemed to warrant such little - if any - mention from the popular comic news sites, including Newsarama.”
Neither Newsarama no CBR mentioned Dave’s passing, which is apropos as they also blew off The Inkwell Awards that Dave was a member of. It’s that Wizard magazine mentality, I guess,…we simply don’t rank as cool or ‘inherently notable’ enough. Not even for sidebar notes. Only validates our existence more. Jimmy is the only reason I even come to this site. Thanks for mentioning Dave, Jimmy. When any of our time is up one day, it’s comforting to know that someone in the community will recognize our work and contributions to the community. It’s the least we can do.
June 15th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
You know, I realize that you can’t exactly show the nipples in the photo of Rachel Weisz, and I’m actually not to keen on seeing them, but the airbrushing job just looks wrong, and incredibly uncomfortable…
June 15th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
YOTA…i think its a bad scan is all…but i think she looks stunning in this shot…and the movie was a total blast.
BOB and SIMON: got to agree…the idea that comic sites didn’t cover his passing is a sad one…some did and some didn’t. I don’t begin to know why honestly.
ELORY: Until that time…check out myspace for a preview of powergirl 2 on myspace comics.
June 15th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I shall be checking out Power Girl each and every month it comes out, anything Amanda touches on art and certainly any project that a supporter of Jonah Hex mentions and follows. That is great about Phil!! An unprompted supporter of the comic series.
Too bad I can’t make it to WW: Philly. I wish Wizard would up the efforts to get you guys back in Chicago and the midwest.
Power Girl and Jonah Hex forever!!!
June 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I was pleased to see Power Girl #1 fared well on the May sales chart. DC hasn’t really had a lot of success with new ongoings for a while, but this looks like it’s got a good chance.
June 16th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Hopefully, by word of mouth and pure awesomeness month after month, it’ll increase it’s standing still. Oh and great covers please.
Jimmy could you guest star Ice? Just for one issue please. I want to see her drawn by Amanda. My 3 fave ladies of DC. PG, Ice and Amanda in one comic.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:22 am
UP was fantastic and THE HANGOVER was hillarious!
June 16th, 2009 at 8:50 am
we are hoping the word of mouth and retailers get behind the series…as well as fans of powergirl and amanda conner as well. we got such fun stuff coming up in the book…and MORE TERRA than you can shake a stalactite at.
the new one is out tomorrow…let me know here what you think.
June 16th, 2009 at 8:52 am
and the frank tierri, liam sharpe, elvis and nelson pic i finally up!!!
June 16th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Power Girl is already in my pull-list.
And concerning, what Pixar do best is not 3D animation but plain, ol’ good movies. Simple as that. I really can’t wait to see Up. Even if my pupils found it mostly sad (they’re 5 year-old and they haven’t spoiled me the movie. Good kids !
).
June 16th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Good on you for calling out bullshit special effects movies. It’s got to be about good writing, emphasis on characters and story, or no budget will save it. Movies were better when they were cheaper and more human.
I’m really looking forward to TORPEDO. I have a feeling a lot of American readers are completely unaware - I’ve only sampled a bit myself. Is there a set release date? (Semi off topic: Speaking of foreign-language classics, I wonder if an American publisher will ever do a new, English-language reprint of DIABOLIK?)
You can post as many photos of Rachel Weisz as you like, by the way. The more, the better.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Okay, Palmiotti. You’re disappointing me!
SPOILERS FOR POWER GIRL #2!
I know writers ridiculously have to plot arcs for the trade paperbacks now, but this issue really felt like it was half filler. Two whole pages devoted to characters holed up in Starrware Industries when two panels would have been fine. Two whole pages devoted to the JSA for no real reason at all. And how does a gorilla beat up a Kryptonian? If it takes the force of the planet Earth to hold Karen down, I don’t think a gorilla’s punching her is going to have much effect. Have him give her a psychic whammy or shoot her with a whole bunch of energy weapons, but Humanite should have broken his hands trying to punch her out. And writers often have characters conveniently forget their powers but if Humanite’s going to put a big machine over Power Girl’s head, her forgetting she has heat vision to melt the thing seems pretty crazy. Humanite’s origin was okay, but it didn’t make me feel anything different for him after it was over. Instead it seemed like a lot of pages to devote to a beastiality joke. I still have faith in you though, and you can redeem yourself when PG kicks the crap out of Guy Gardner!
June 17th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Since you asked people to post their impressions of Power Girl #2, I have to say I liked it a lot, and love how the series is shaping up. Amanda’s art is fabulous; it was very cool seeing her draw the JSA and I also love the way she draws Ultra-Humanite. Hope you don’t mind honest feedback, but there was a few pages of establishing Karen’s supporting cast at her company, which is all well and good but it seemed a little forced and didn’t pay off (at least for now). Maybe it will come together in a future issue as these characters are fleshed out. Perhaps I’m being nitpicky; Karen does need a supporting cast and the scene did help establish the characters. What bugged me a little was your revision the origin of the Ultra Humanite to make it so that he’s a more modern villain that’s only been around awhile, and the story now goes that he immediately transferred his brain to the white gorilla out of his original body. Now that’s OK, as the history of the DCU is totally up in the air since Infinite Crisis, but one of the cool things about Humanite to me is that he’s been around since the 40’s, fighting the Justice Society and All Star Squadron switching bodies like crazy along the way from then to now. But again, that’s me.
Jimmy, my wife Maureen and I are all geared up for Philly and are super stoked to meet you and Amanda. We’ll try to bring you a cheesesteak, but if nothing else, we’re hoping we have something for you that is worth a small sketch.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Jimmy -
There’s a bit of discussion going on regarding exactly who this Ultra Humanite is - is it a new character (Crimson Avenger killed the U-H in JSA), a new post-IC origin for him, or some other permutation? A good origin nevertheless, just a question-raising one.
The discussion is here… http://www.newsarama.com/common/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8142
June 19th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
Beastiality, Jimmy? Really? At least the Adam Hughes cover was amazing.