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The Geek Beat: Junk Food Films
Filed under: The Geek Beat
I love to study fandom as much as I love to participate in it. The culture of obsession is a fascinating one, and as a college student I harbored delusions of grandeur that I'd be able to crack it -- and not only would I solve it, but I'd do it with a single project in American Culture I. Oh, how easy everything seems when you're 19! Obviously, I failed to plumb the depths of fandom in a single semester, and after years of trying to figure it out, the only thing I'm sure of is that everyone is obsessed with something. It might be anime, it might be the reenacting the Battle of Borodino, but everyone's got their quirk. While you may be able to make a strong case that one is a little more relevant than the other (historical reenactors do have a useful place in terms of education), but I'm not sure you can argue that one is healthier than the other. When you're obsessed, you're intense. It's ok. We all are.
One aspect of film fandom has been nagging me for some time, though, and that's the widespread devotion to bad films. I've been itching to explore it, but have found myself unable to really get the heart of it. However, the heady combination of Best Worst Movie and Troll 2 has given me a little more bravery and inspiration to try and understand just why we watch what we do.
That's a dumb question, right? We watch what we enjoy. We want to have fun when we go to the movies. But I think I speak for everyone when I say that a really good film -- a Martin Scorsese, a Darren Aronofsky, a Peter Weir -- is just as satisfying as a bit of pulpy popcorn. When I've seen something really solid and original, I walk out feeling like that was the best money I've ever spent. So why on earth do we revel in bad movies?
The Geek Beat: Rated M For Mature
Filed under: Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, The Geek Beat
Due to it being a quiet news week thus far, I decided it might be fun to discuss a little ruckus that's been brewing in Lexington, Kentucky. Two library workers became obsessed with Alan Moore, and not in the way familiar to those who found him via Swamp Thing or Watchmen. It seems the Jessamine County library got a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume IV: Black Dossier as many self-respecting libraries have. Employees Sharon Cook and Beth Boisvert saw it (it's not clear how) and decided it was unfit for public consumption.
After challenging its shelf place and failing, they debated "spilling tea on it" before taking the less destructive measure of checking the book out. Ms. Cook kept it out of circulation for an entire year until one library patron said "Holy crap, my library has Volume IV! I shall check it out immediately!" and put it on hold. Using her employee privileges, Cook discovered the Moore fan was an 11-year-old girl (way to go!) and took matters into her own hands. She took the patron's hold off. When their censorship was discovered, they were fired, but have subsequently earned a lot of support all over the world. One Flickr stream even has "the naughty pages" up for your perusal with the stern question of whether or not children should be allowed to see such things. One of the pages is headlining this column, with a stupid joke from me.
The Geek Beat: High and Lowbrow
Filed under: Comic/Superhero/Geek, The Geek Beat
Late last week, news broke that Anthony Hopkins had joined the cast of Thor as the Nordic paterfamilias, Odin. As I was writing up the news, I could practically see the Thor coverage that will titter across USA Weekend, Entertainment Tonight, and the local newspapers that are still landing on your driveway by 2010 and 2011. There will be so many articles shocked (shocked!) that an actor of Hopkins' caliber has chosen to embrace the pulp of the colored panels, smirking at pervasiveness of the geek trend, and engaging in shallow cultural criticism. It will look remarkably like USA Weekend's goggle-eyed look at the ladies of Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and The Incredible Hulk back in 2008.
Now, there's no doubt that the pages of Marvel, DC, and all the Dark Horses in between are being taken far more seriously than they once were. I think it's also becoming a bit of a Hollywood trend, and that many A-List actors want a little piece of the superhero pie, to permanently become part of the Marvel or DC universe. I believe a very similar trend sprung up around Disney animation in the 1990s, when everyone longed to voice a Disney character of their own and be permanently installed at the Magic Kingdom. Nowadays, animated characters are so superfluous that even McLovin' has a CG-3D flick to his resume, and the characters are forgotten as soon as the next Burger King tie-in comes out.
When I first began writing this column, I believed that comic book adaptations would reach such a point of saturation as to eat its own tail. But then Disney bought Marvel, and DC ballooned into something equally huge, and there's no end in sight. We're rapidly reaching a point when superheroes are going to become casual mentions on an Oscar winning resume. But you know what's really surprising? That's not new.
The Geek Beat: Better Red and Semi-Dead
Filed under: The Geek Beat
With Halloween upon us, we're visiting our last comic book villain here on The Geek Beat. I really really wanted to end with symmetry, and focus on a DC villain from an upcoming film so that each universe had two villains. But unfortunately, The Green Lantern is the only DC project that we have a definitive villain for. Some that are in pre-production (The Flash, Green Arrow) have such an enormous rogue's gallery that I'm at a loss as to who a screenwriter might pick. Others (Superman) have been shelved, and the most exciting (Batman) have been beaten to death in the Christopher Nolan rumor mill. There are others I can't talk about because I'd get in serious trouble. So with big apologies to DC fans, we're going to return to the Marvel Universe to meet the monstrosity that I suspect could torment First Avenger: Captain America. His eyes are currently drilling holes into your soul from the top of the post: The Red Skull.
I'm very glad I encountered the Red Skull after I overcame my childhood fear of skulls and skeletons. Given the nightmares that spawned from exposure to the They Live! poster (a permanent fixture on the wall of our ghetto video rental place), I can't imagine what effect the above image would have had on me. Come to think of it, I didn't need to see it. He's exactly what I thought lived in my basement, and lurked around the hallway outside my bedroom.
But when it comes to Marvel lore, the Red Skull isn't the kind of villain my young brain would have imagined. His picture conjures up slaughterhouse horrors. He seems like the kind of monster that will peel you and eat you to sustain his lifeforce, but he's actually far more terrifying because he stems from real horror. He's a Nazi.
The Geek Beat: A Bad Guy Named Sinestro? No Way!
Filed under: The Geek Beat
This week, it's time to give DC their villainous due, and look at Sinestro, the yellow-bellied scoundrel you'll meet in The Green Lantern. (Let's give a hand to the rumor mill and Jackie Earle Haley for helping narrow down the choices. Gossip's guiding The Geek Beat this month, and I love it.) His name may be painfully obvious, his color palette a bit hokey, and his manner poshly British, but Sinestro is not a man to be messed with. Unlike other comic book villains, Sinestro isn't in the bad guy game for chaos, personal gain, or fun. He's in it purely because he believes fear and despotism is right, and the only way to maintain order and control in the universe. He opposes the Green Lanterns not because he dislikes their mantra, but because he thinks they're weak and irresponsible. He'd probably be best friends with Magneto.
Sinestro began as a humble academic on his planet Korugar. He was an anthropologist, and his expertise was in historical preservation. He recreated and restored the ruins of lost civilizations. That's a mild occupation, but playing with all those bones and ruins can unsettle a man. They can remind him of the cost of war, and the impermanence of everything he holds dear. He could begin to dwell unhealthily on what might become of his own civilization, and wonder if there will be an anthropologist reconstructing his hometown. Or he could just realize "Damn, my name is Sinestro. What the hell am I doing rebuilding lost civilizations? I should become a power-hungry villain!" (This is why you should really take care to name a kid something like solid and whole-wheaty Peter Parker, or Clark Kent. Those kids never become supervillains.)
The Geek Beat: The Scary Skrulls
Filed under: Comic/Superhero/Geek, The Geek Beat
As you might remember from last week, I've decided to delve into the complicated and convoluted pasts of the Marvel and DC villains we may (or may not!) be seeing in the superhero years to come. Last week, we tackled Loki and his uncanny abilities, and this week we're going broad -- we're going to meet the green and pointy people known as the Skrulls. Speculation is rampant that these will be the big baddies in The Avengers, as they're one of the few things that could unite a Nordic god, an alcoholic playboy, a thawed-out WWII hero, and the unpredictable Hulk. (Whether Hulk will actually be an Avenger, or just someone they're forced to fight, remains to be seen. I'm convinced there's still time to add Wasp or Ant Man, and though we'd see The Avengers delayed a bit longer, I like to look at the half-full glass on these things.)
The Skrulls are certainly the threat that could unite our disparate heroes. They've played Marvel continuity for years, though not always to the best effect. They're mean. They're ugly. They can shape-shift. All they really want to do is conquer Earth and subjugate us like they have with so many other planets. But they forgot to factor in that we have a planet full of bitching superheroes, and their best laid plans fall apart again and again. They can't even win if they impersonate our heroes, as witnessed by the recent Secret Invasion crossover.
The Skrulls are certainly the threat that could unite our disparate heroes. They've played Marvel continuity for years, though not always to the best effect. They're mean. They're ugly. They can shape-shift. All they really want to do is conquer Earth and subjugate us like they have with so many other planets. But they forgot to factor in that we have a planet full of bitching superheroes, and their best laid plans fall apart again and again. They can't even win if they impersonate our heroes, as witnessed by the recent Secret Invasion crossover.
The Geek Beat: Silly Thor! Tricks Are For Loki!
Filed under: The Geek Beat
As you may have noticed, the bad and the ugly is our Halloween theme of 2009 here on Cinematical, and I thought I'd celebrate by giving up the next four weeks to Marvel and DC's wretched hive of scum and villainy. At least that's the plan. I assure you that if anything amazing happens in the land of geekdom, I'll suspend it and talk about whatever that awesome thing is -- but I thought it'd be nice to look into the future, and discuss the villains we'll be meeting on the silver screen. Maybe you're meeting them for the first time, maybe they're old foes to you, but ideally we'll all learn something and be carried away in speculation. But in the meantime, let's talk about Loki, chosen purely because of Thor adding Stellan Skarsgard as "an unknown character" to its roster.
I have always found Thor a difficult title to get my fandom around. I studied a lot of Norse culture and mythology, so the Thunder God should be a familiar guy to me. But there's something about the Thines and Thous paired with the ridiculous outfit that made it seem utterly preposterous. Apparently, I can only handle the posturing of gods when it's in a stuffy academic book, and not in glorious color. But I'm eagerly awaiting the movie adaptation -- not just because it's lined up some true talent (even if it did skip over casting a little True Blood), but because I'm dying to see how they pull it off. As if the stakes weren't high enough for the Thunder God, the Marvel Universe might just hinge on a trickster: Loki. Given what a sinister, shifting piece of work he is, I don't envy Kenneth Branagh or Tom Hiddleston.
The Geek Beat: Dreaming of Paper Prequels
Filed under: Comic/Superhero/Geek, The Geek Beat
Back in May, Boom! Studios announced that they would be bringing you a story you never knew you wanted: Die Hard: Year One. Penned by Howard Chaykin and illustrated by Stephen Thompson, it promised to tell the story of John McClane in his rookie year of 1976, during the heady time of the Bicentennial Celebration. If we know McClane like we think we know him (and after four Die Hard movies, I think we do), nothing is going to go very smoothly, peacefully, or without a Yippie-Ki-Yay Motherf******. The comic goes on sale this Wednesday, and I thought I'd use its fine timing to kick off a discussion about paper prequels. They're becoming more and more of a presence on comic book shelves, though they're generally tied into an upcoming release. This summer had a lot of them, as Star Trek, Terminator: Salvation, and Transformers all received a prequel comic. There's more to come, such as IDW's tie-in to Legion and Astro Boy.
But Die Hard: Year One is an entirely different sort of animal. I don't think it's the first of its kind, though it might be -- but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if this high profile book sells well, it'll spur on a whole bunch of comic prequels. In the best case scenario, they'll add a little something to the character, or simply be a fun collectible for fans. Worst case scenario, they'll be grounds for a flurry of cinematic reboots. (That was Erik Davis' prediction back in May.) But I decided to jump on the bandwagon, and offer up a few movies I'd like to see comic prequels to. You'll probably roll your eyes at how obvious my selections are (and oh, some are painfully obvious) but I offer them purely to inspire you to make a list of your own.
The Geek Beat: The State of the Geek
Filed under: The Geek Beat
It's another quiet week in the land of geek, and the mental effort it cost me to review a book entirely in Regency English has me a little strapped creatively. I'm hoping to bring you some interviews soon, but everyone has been swamped with film festivals and travel, and so I decided to bring in Entertainment Earth's Geek Girl Diva for a discussion on the State of Geekdom.
In the last year and a half I've spent writing The Beat, there have been a lot of changes to our niche entertainment. We're now living in the shadow of the Marvel / Disney deal, and wondering just what might come of the newly formed DC Entertainment. It's too early to write conclusively about these things and what they might mean for movies, comics, and television. All I know is that it's a brave new world out there, and what was once a fad is now going to saturate our culture in a way that's both exciting and exhausting to contemplate. As we watch two corporate juggernauts form to do battle, I can't help but think that the "geek" world is about to become nonexistent.
Of course, geeks aren't limited to the universes of Marvel and DC. It's World of Warcraft, Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Firefly, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Battlestar Galactica, and so much more. As Cinematical is a movie site, I've had to restrict the Beat topics to sci-fi, fantasy, and comic book movies. Naturally, there's been a lot of focus on the latter because there's been so much more to talk about, something that this sci-fi drenched summer has really helped change.
The Geek Beat: More Sense & Sensibility ... Less Sea Monsters
Filed under: The Geek Beat
As the authoress of The Geek Beat had professed a desire to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the publishing company of Quirk Books of Philadelphia did thoughtfully send a copy with their compliments, and expressed their desire that I review it if it should please me to do so. I had the highest of hopes that the novel would be excellent sport, and make for a fine adaptation should an honorable gentleman or lady of fortune wish to option the work. Lud! I was to be disappointed in this regard, and should any of my readers wish to inform themselves as to my thoughts and feelings on the honorable Seth Grahame-Smith, they may do so here.
As Pride and Prejudice and Zombies proved to be a veritable success at its coming out, and as Regency satire is all the crack, Q has looked to repeat itself with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. The publisher again showed great charity, and sent your humble authoress a copy in the hopes that I might find it agreeable to my tastes.
Lawks! Desist, dear authors and publishers! Stop these bacon-brained notions. I warrant that such ideas were conceived with much mirth, and I confess freely to entertaining such fancies in my spare hours after English class. But amusements that seem so very droll while bandied in idle chatter are too often spent by the time one realizes them fully, and such is the case with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I confess, I could not even finish the novel, so weary was I of the joke. For your pleasure, I have embedded the book's "trailer" below the jump, for I am certain that if you are amused by it, you will not tire of the book's conceit.
As Pride and Prejudice and Zombies proved to be a veritable success at its coming out, and as Regency satire is all the crack, Q
Lawks! Desist, dear authors and publishers! Stop these bacon-brained notions. I warrant that such ideas were conceived with much mirth, and I confess freely to entertaining such fancies in my spare hours after English class. But amusements that seem so very droll while bandied in idle chatter are too often spent by the time one realizes them fully, and such is the case with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I confess, I could not even finish the novel, so weary was I of the joke. For your pleasure, I have embedded the book's "trailer" below the jump, for I am certain that if you are amused by it, you will not tire of the book's conceit.
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