I didn’t walk into Your Highness with high expectations, that would have been silly, but I was looking forward to it in a way that defies my general like of good taste. A stoner-fantasy genre hybrid suddenly felt like exactly the nosh I was hungry for. But there isn’t a formula for this sort of subgenre as much as there is a vibe, and I’m sad to say no matter how much you tint your eyes rose coloured before entering the theatre, Your Highness doesn’t do a great job flowing with it.
Much like the original Arthur with Dudley Moore from 1980, director Jason Winner's Russell Brand starring remake is a film perfectly befitting of it's main character. It is a film that coasts by so effortlessly on the charm and wit of the actor at the centre of it, that it is a hard film to dislike. It also really isn't that great of a film, and much like the billionaire, alcoholic playboy at the heart of the film, it has a lot of problems that are either never addressed or are dealt with too late in the film to have much of an impact.
Once upon a time, a triumvirate of local talent assembled in an attempt to create something. That something is Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP, as much an interactive art installation, music album and bit-nostalgia trip as it is an Apple iDevice game. No one was entirely sure what to expect from Sword & Sworcery, but the fact now remains that the "brave experiment" undertaken by Superbrothers, Capybara Games and Jim Guthrie is nothing short of a stunning success.
Grant Morrison’s Batman Incorporated explodes in issue #4! One of the two titles featuring the returned Bruce Wayne, I found the previous three issues to be incredibly weak. Thankfully that all changes with issue #4.
Green Lantern - both the character and the series - has reached phenomenal new heights of popularity under the guidance of superstar writer Geoff Johns. For me though, the comic has become a victim of its own success. The title seemed trapped in this never-ceasing loop of mega-events that required buying ever more series to stay involved. So, after Blackest Night, I dropped it from my reading list. Not because it was bad, but just too sprawling in its scope.
Part of me actually toyed with talking about the social and political ideologies at the heart of Hobo With a Shotgun. But chances are, if you are going to see a film like Hobo with a Shotgun, you are not going to care in the slightest about any of that. Every time my brain was about to make a connection to something I read about, a bot of film theory, or anything I learned in university, the film pistol whipped me and told me to stop being such a pussy.
Xombi #1 was a surprise for me. An awesome surprise! My random pick from the comic shelf, the art just grabbed my attention, being almost Baroque in its richness and visual impact. I was, and to a certain extent still am, unfamiliar with the character, but that didn't prevent me from enjoying creator John Rozum’s new take on this formerly languishing DC Comics character.
Mark Millar is back in perfect writing form with this latest issue of Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates. Returning to the Marvel Universe he was instrumental in shaping, Millar had the daunting task of trying to salvage the wreck that his once-great masterpiece had become under Jeph Loeb’s direction. And while the first two Ultimate Avenger titles were a good start, the third one left me cold. Ultimate Avengers vs. New Ultimates #2 though, is Millar at his best.
Last week two DLC characters for Marvel vs Capcom 3 were released. From the Capcom side was Resident Evil’s Jill Valentine, who’s been having trouble with mind-controlling parasites lately. On the Marvel side is Shuma-Gorath, a sassy one-eyed tentacled monster who few people who work at Marvel Comics, let alone read them, have ever heard of. Except for a handful of encounters with Dr. Strange and the Fantastic Four in the 1970s and 80s, he barely exists at all.
Limitless is a story about smart people who make bad choices that turn them into even smarter people, who then make worse choices. It’s a light, well-made action-thriller about kickass unearned power and privilege, which brings the fun but never quite shows us the dark side that it keeps threatening to.
The masterful cinematic combination of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost have oodles of talent on their own; but bring the three of them together, and they hit a whole new level of brilliance. Separate the trio, and while the work is still very good, it doesn’t quite reach the same peak. Scott Pilgrim is one example of this; and now Paul is another. Not a great film, but a very good one.
So what is Bulletstorm? Originally hyped up due to the presence of developers Epic and People Can Fly, many folks expected a heinously cheeky, violent slaughterhouse that only a name like Bulletstorm could suggest. But as time went on, evidence started to mount that there was going to be something special about Bulletstorm, once again hard to pin, but unmistakably present.
With every comic book movie adaptation, there is a flood of new titles that showcase the soon-to-be silver screen hero. Captain America: The First Avenger will be no different, and in addition to the regular on-going series, this week saw the arrival of three different comics with the star-spangled hero headlining.
I enjoyed Sigil #1, but having never read the original series - published by CrossGen from 2000 to 2003 - I found the comic’s plot a bit thin and somewhat confusing. Still, Leonard Kirk’s attention-grabbing artistic style more than made up this, and has me eagerly awaiting issue #2.
Do you like modern war movies, gritty action, alien invasions, Aaron Eckhart and (most importantly) do you really really like over-the-shoulder shaky cam? Do you not care for things like original dialogue, plotting, or characters? If this describes you, then Battle: Los Angeles is what you should be watching right now.
