Inglourious Basterds
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Universal Pictures, 2009

By Bill Walsh

Tarantino’s been worrying me lately. The last Tarantino flick I saw was Death Proof and a fan I was not. Death Proof came off like one of those “I Know What You Did Last Summer” movies that anyone could have directed, and the only thing that made it seem like a Tarantino flick were the long, drawn out dialogues about everyday situations.

To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of Kill Bill either. While Kill Bill oozed with style and kung-fu (which is awesome), some of the dialogue went a little too long — and if I’m supposed to be watching a super-cool kung-fu movie, I want to see super cool kung-fu.

Now, this movie. Oh, this movie. It’s great. Inglourious Bastards is about a squad set up in France during the Nazi occupation basically to scare the hell out of the Nazis by first killing them in horrendous ways and then scalping them like the Apaches in the old days of the Wild West. Nice simple plot just like mom used to make.

It has Tarantino’s style all over it. Tarantino’s drawn-out, long dialogue is best suited for use as build up to a really freaky scene. Take Pulp Fiction: Jules and Vincent have a long conversation about Read the rest of this entry »

I kinda feel like I’ve spent my entire life at Fan Expo at this point. My life before it kinda seems like a distant fairy tale. That’s both a good and bad thing. Three days of con is a lot of con.

1. Marvel Super Hero Squad. This is super cute. Joe Quesada screened two episodes of the forthcoming Super Hero Squad cartoon. First they showed the pilot, which was screened in San Diego this year, and then episode four, which had never been shown to an audience Basically it’s a manic kid-centred adventure with lots of fart jokes — and it’s a lot of fun. All the characters are drawn in an adorable manner — you never want to go back to menacing Dr. Doom after seeing this — and the plots do not take themselves seriously. There are lots of great jokes for the adults in there too, especially if you know your Marvel a bit. Highlight: Thor saying “So say we all” as a clear nod to the BSG fans.
2. Sunday Conversation with Dan Didio. I figured I should probably cover at least one non-Marvel comic panel and the only one I could fit in was Didio’s conversation with the fans. Basically, it’s a really nice fan out reach panel where Didio asks the attendees why they love comics, what gets them excited, what pisses them off. Read the rest of this entry »

Today felt like two days tapped together.

1. Marvel Digital Comics Panel. I think out of everything this weekend I was the most excited to see this. There were promises of screenings of the Spider-Woman motion comic and the Astonishing X-Men motion comic. And these promises were kept. The Spider-Woman motion comic wasn’t as bad as I fear or as good as I hoped. I would argue that it got better as it went along: the animation, the dialogue, the all of it. The Astonishing X-Men sure moved a lot more. This is more of a straight-up adaptation with an attempt to make the animations look more three dimensional. It worked in some places, but looked really odd in others. However, you could really tell that Whedon had a career in television and Bendis in comics: Whedon’s words just worked so much better. Highlight: learning that Spider-woman will be released as a motion comic in Canada in September.
2. The line. Okay, I shouldn’t complain because I got to jump the line for ticket purchase, but the line to get it the exhibition space was ridiculous and show some of the worst planning ever. Highlight: the pair behind me who flirted endlessly behind me. Geek flirting, lots of him being a joke-ass and her playfully punching him. I almost turned around to tell them to start making out already.
3. The costumes. Highlight: hot people cosplaying takes the edge off of everything.
4. Uncharted 2. I dropped by the Sony booth for a taste of the game I’m most looking forward toin 2009, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. They had a level playable and, man, that game looks great. Read the rest of this entry »

So I got a late start on Fan Expo 2009 today. Comics are great and all but they don’t pay the bills like my real job does. I did get in some quality nerding though, so here are the highlights.

1. Media pass. Getting one is all kinds of sweet. Highlight: they thought my name was Mike.
2. Marvel’s Dark Reign Panel. This was a bit of a let down. Mostly because Joe Quesada was listed as attending but only made the end of the panel, with his daughter in tow. I dig why, but I was looking forward to it. Other than that it was a re-hash for nerds like me who devouer comic news. Highlight: during the Q and A, a fan in his 30s said that he was unhappy Peter Parker recently had sex with Michele Gonzales, his female roommate. He said something about how it made him uncomfortable and then confessed that he was a virgin. There was a surprising lack of laughter at this announcement, thankfully — just a lot of people sharing the most awkward moment ever.
3. The Floor. The floor was nice because I ran into a surprising  amount of friends. Highlight: seeing MONDOcomics regular Sandra Yao at the Life and Level table. She’ll be there all weekend, drop by and say hi.
4. Tron Legacy. I’ll confess, I’ve only ever seen Tron with the sound off — it’s  along story. But the promise of some cool behind-the-scenes stuff and some initial hype about how it was awesome brought me to the very long line to get in. I’m happy I waited because the presentation was pretty neat. One of the co-producers showed some of the concept art, some of the test footage they created to sell the film, and a whole scene from the film. Highlight: The proof of concept trailer that’s been floating around the interent recently. It was huge and looks awesome. Also, no one confessed that they were a virgin.

Batman and Robin #3
Grant Morrison (w), Frank Quietly (a), Alex Sinclair (c). DC Comics.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly wrap up this arc of Batman and Robin in a way that speaks to the true mastery of their storytelling abilities. Together they’ve introduced to Gotham another villain, albeit one a little more sick and twisted than usual, just a little. I think they’ve got the creep factor down pretty well. There was something about Professor Pyg’s “sexy disco dance” that had me intrigued and slightly disturbed for enjoying it so much. The art is just amazing and the pacing of the story is quick and action packed. Quietly’s fight scenes have seamless transitions, with each image capturing the precision and accuracy of every hit. Morrison’s writing is just…awesome. It’s great to see two masters of their craft come together and create something so good. — Sandra Yao

Sandra’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
Isaac’s rating: 4 out of 5

Dark Avengers #8
Matt Fraction (w), Luck Ross (a), Rick Magyar and Mark Pennington (i), Dean White (c). Marvel Comics.

Well, this addressed all the problems I had with the last issue of this crossover. I shouldn’t have doubted you, Matt Fraction. The plan that Cyclops has been talking about for four issues finally becomes more than posturing; double-crosses abound, as does villainy; and we get lots of chest stabbing. Though, I must admit, I feel pretty bad for people who like the Dark Avengers. Daken aside, they only appear on two pages of this comic. It’s really all about the X-Men, and I’m fine with that because they’re my crew. — Miles Baker

Miles’ rating: 4 out of 5
Owen’s rating: 3.5 out of 5 Read the rest of this entry »

District 9
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Key Creatives/Sony Pictures 2009

By Brian Last

Due to a scrapping of the Halo film, Peter Jackson gave director Neill Blomkamp financing to make whatever he wanted. The result is District 9, and while Halo fans may be upset, I couldn’t be happier because it gave us this great film. While Blomkamp is no stranger to the biz (he has been in VFX on major Hollywood projects), this does mark his first sit in the director’s chair for a feature.

What starts out as a simple documentary turns into a story of struggle, for both man and alien kind. In this film, a race of extra terrestrials arrives on earth. They hover above Johannesburg and after three months of zero activity, the humans decide to take action by cutting into the ship. It is here that they find the aliens, who appear to be malnourished. The aliens are pulled from the ship and forced to live in a camp. Read the rest of this entry »

Trick ‘r Treat
Directed by Michael Dougherty
Warner Bros, 2007

By Sean Kelly

Trick ‘r Treat is a Halloween-based anthology-style horror film that was originally scheduled to be released in theatres in October 2007. For whatever reason, Warner Bros. pushed the release date back. I was waiting for it to turn up again during the next two years, so I was a little disappointed to find out that the film was going direct-to-DVD on October 6th of this year. So, when it was announced that the film was going to be shown as part of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, I jumped at my only chance to see it in a movie theatre.

After seeing the film (in a theatre full of cheering horror fans), I can say that it really was worth the wait. Trick ‘r Treat is one of the most original horror films that I have seen in quite a while. Read the rest of this entry »

By Jake Shenker

It’s hard to believe, but they just keep coming back. This week brings us the absolutely unnecessary new release from Collective Soul. At this rate, I expect to see a Chumbawamba album drop in September.

Here’s what’s new this week:

Collective Soul – Collective Soul (Roadrunner)
The new record from this 90s alt-rock band really does beg the question “why?” It’s really not bad, I guess — it sounds just like every other Collective Soul album. But two breezes through the entire disc left me with the same feeling I get after watching back-to-back cooking shows on the Food Network: what the hell have I been doing for the last 2 hours? Collective Soul has no standout tracks and no serious stinkers, no departures in style and no surprises. Fans will buy it (it’s selling for 10 bucks — clearly the record execs have high hopes); the rest of us will yawn and ask “who cares?”

Imogen Heap – Ellipse (RCA)
Ellipse is everything I want from a new Imogen Heap album: a full disc of staggering vocal harmonies, trippy synthesized beats, and damn fine songs. Beyond those superficial features, though, lies a flawlessly-conceived follow-up to Heap’s 2005 breakthrough album Speak For Yourself. Although songs like “First Train Home” would fit in well with Imogen Heap’s back catalogue, new gems like “Earth” and “Bad Body Double” establish the British singer’s uncanny ability to evolve.

Matisyahu – Light (JDUB)
I’m over the shtick. Back when Youth came out, everyone was fixated on Matisyahu, the Hasidic Jew who rapped and sang reggae music about God and religion. Putting aside the persona, Youth was an impressive album with a chunk of memorable songs. But Matisyahu’s newest disc, Light, is a step in the wrong direction. Abandoning the minimalist reggae sound of Youth in favor of more polished in-da-club-style hip-hop production, songs like “Smash Lies” and “We Will Walk” are neither fresh nor catchy, and border on irritating. Matisyahu’s once endearing faux-Jamaican singing accent has been replaced with high-pitched rapping and monotone speech. Although standout tracks like “So Hi So Low” and “I Will Be Light” echo the favorable sound of Youth, Matisyahu’s own lyrics articulate the main problem with this disc: “I’ll say to you / this is nothing new.”

Julie & Julia
Directed by Nora Ephron
Columbia Pictures, 2009

By Brian Last

Often in television, films, and real life, people bond through food. If not through cooking together and realizing you are in love with this person who is cramming sauce down your throat, it’s over a nice meal with friends or family. Food definitely brings people together, but rarely does it inspire. Well, for one Julie Powell (Amy Adams), food changes her life. In this charming and inspired film, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep (as Julia Child) star opposite each other — literally at opposite ends of a fifty year gap. And in spite of the fact that they don’t appear in a scene together, their parallel stories coalesce into a creation as rich as any of Child’s. Read the rest of this entry »

The Nick Drake Project
By Matthew Heiti
Directed by Ryan Ward
Featuring Julian De Zotti, Melissa-Lynn Dozois, Jonathan Seinen, Justin Tilley, Ryan Tilley, Ryan Ward
SummerWorks Theatre Festival
Factory Theatre Mainspace

By Matt McGeachy

I have no idea who Nick Drake is. Perhaps I’ve been living under a rock — it wouldn’t be the first time.  Because I don’t know who he is (well, now I know he is/was a musician) and I didn’t know what to expect from The Nick Drake Project.  Despite no expectations, I left rather more disappointed when I left than when I entered.

This is not to say that what happened on stage wasn’t interesting or that the actors, designers, and team were not talented: quite the contrary, in fact. The problem is that a bunch of talented people doing Read the rest of this entry »

Batman: Streets of Gotham #3
Paul Dini (w), Dustin Nguyen (p), Derek Fridolfs (i), John Kalisz (c). DC Comics.

Hush, posing as Bruce Wayne, basically tells the new Robin (Damien Wayne) to drop him to his death, and he just does it. “Lousy chess player anyhow.” Sure, Batman swoops in and saves the guy, but this is hilarious. The back-up is a gross fight between Kate Spencer and a skinless Jane Doe that references Turner and Hooch. Clearly, much to love in this book. The inclusion of the Outsiders and what remains of this incarnation of the Justice League is weird — it always is when they show up in a Bat book — but I rather appreciate the economy of dealing with this Hush story like this, so we can get on to what Streets of Gotham should be about. Some classic style Batman stories, beating up Penguin with a hilarious Robin. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 3 out of 5
Miles rating: 3.5 out of 5

The Brave and the Bold #26
John Rozum (w), Scott Hampton (a), Daniel Vozzo (c). DC Comics.

I saw the cover and thought “Great, another lame Milestone character (Xombi) thrown at us. And they didn’t even spring for a cool team-up to push him, we got the Spectre.” The first page didn’t impress either; the lack of backgrounds gave me a poor impression of the production values on the art, and we’re given the life story of a purely evil man, nothing particularly riveting. Then you turn the page and the Spectre appears and it’s a whole new ball game. Suddenly the art makes sense, is even beautiful — like when Spectre becomes a giant white tiger (it makes sense in the story, it’s vaguely ironic as all Spectre’s actions tend to be). Then we’re introduced to Xombi and what he’s about — ah! So they teamed up Xombi and Spectre for thematic reasons to tell a fantastic story — it’s a new approach, I’ll give ‘em that. — Isaac Mills

Isaac’s rating: 4 out of 5 Read the rest of this entry »

Montparnasse
Created by Maev Beaty, Andrea Donaldson, Erin Shields
Directed by Andrea Donaldson
Performed by Maev Beaty and Erin Shields
SummerWorks Festival
Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace

By Matt McGeachy

I first had the pleasure of seeing Montparnasse performed at Buddies in Bad Times as part of the Rhubarb Festival, where it was one of the smashing successes. A slightly longer and perhaps less edgier version graces the stage at Theatre Passe Muraille for SummerWorks, and the result is no less delightful.

The story centres on friends Ameila (Maev Beaty), an aspiring painter, and Margaret (Erin Shields), a painters’ model and bon vivante, as they strive to realize their artistic dreams in 1920s Paris. Paris, as always, is as much a character in the play as Margaret and Amelia, and the city, as well as many of its notables (including James Joyce, Sylvia Beach, and Henry Miller, among others), are brought vividly to life by Read the rest of this entry »