Comic-Con 2008

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 6:00 pm

comic-con logo.gif I’m getting ready for one of my favorite events of the year, Comic-Con in San Diego.
It began in 1970 with a few dozen comic collectors swapping comics and stories. This year, all 125,000 passes were sold out long before this evening’s opening night. I always refer to it as the Iowa caucuses of popular culture and the LA Times calls “the World’s Fair for pop-culture aficionados” and “the Super Bowl of popcorn cinema.” This is where everything that will be cool a year or two from now in comics, gaming, movies, television, and music begins. The people who buy comics are a tiny fraction of the entertainment marketplace but they are hugely influential because they are fiercely independent — they don’t wait to see if something is considered cool before making up their minds — and even more fiercely passionate — if they like something, they will get the word out. I am always touched and inspired by the way so many of the attendees are completely comfortable in their fanboy geekdom and wear it proudly, knowing that next year the people who didn’t talk to them in high school will be following whatever trends they help to determine this year. But that may be because I am such a fangirl myself.
Everyone will be there — from Deepak Chopra with his Virgin comics line to the people who come dressed up as superheroes and movie characters and collectors of arcane memorabilia to the stars of the new Watchman movie and the scholars from universities who write about what it all means and the people behind and on screen from all the biggest upcoming movies (including “The Hobbit.” “Clone Wars,” Disney’s next big animated release “Bolt,” and “City of Ember”) and television shows. Celebrities in attendance include the Mystery Science Theater guys, Seth Green, the original voice talents from top cartoons including the original Charlie Brown kids, Tori Amos, author Dean Koontz, Bill Murray, Steve Coogan, Method Man, Matt Groening (of “The Simpsons” and “Futurama”), and Triumph the Wonder Dog.
Keep checking, because I’ll be posting about my adventures. In the meantime, check out my pictures from 2006 and 2007.

‘Lord Save Us From Your Followers’

Posted on July 23, 2008 at 9:00 am

My good friend Brandon Fibbs has a characteristically thoughtful review in Christianity Today of a new documentary called Lord Save Us From Your Followers from writer-director Dan Merchant.

Merchant’s documentary turns on a deceptively simple question: Why is the gospel of love dividing America? Christianity, he contends, is far more interested in the “gospel of being right” than the gospel of Jesus Christ. Fed up with the strident language and angry rhetoric that have come to define modern Christendom, Merchant, a veteran of the entertainment industry, set out to explore the flashpoint of faith and culture in America.
Fibbs says that
What makes the film so powerful is its intractable ability to embrace both the baby and the bathwater. This is a film made by a follower, and therein lies its unique musculature….”If the first half of the film is showing how we’re missing the mark,” Merchant says, “the second half is really an examination of who we’re trying to be. If (the world) wants to criticize (Christians) for the things we do wrong, we should accept it and apologize. But let’s also be honest that that is not the whole picture….” also reveals Christians acting in ways that bring honor to the God they serve, earning the respect of all those around them. Rather than using the Bible as a weapon, these believers use it as a salve, and the response is as simple as it is astonishing. Suddenly Christ and Christians are synonymous again. Says Merchant, “Let’s be so like Christ that others say, ‘You can always count on the Christians when they come around.’ I’d love for us to be that. That’s how Jesus did it.”
I was very touched by Fibbs’ description of Merchant’s open and honest communication and spiritual generosity and look forward to seeing the film.

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Spiritual films

21

Posted on July 22, 2008 at 8:00 am

The real-life story of a group of MIT math whiz kids who won millions playing blackjack gets the glossy Hollywood treatment here — a poor but worthy son of a single mother who needs money for med school tuition makes a better movie than a bunch of smart alecks who just want to make some big money. 21%20sturgess.jpg
The result may not be real, but it is solidly entertaining. If it were a hand at blackjack, call it an 18. Jim Sturgess (“The Other Boleyn Girl,” “Across the Universe”) is enormously appealing as Ben, the honest, shy, hard-working kid with the brain of a supercomputer who finds himself a high roller in one of the world’s most glamorous settings. Kevin Spacey, who also produced the film, is the charismatic but enigmatic professor with the system. Blackjack is the only game in Las Vegas that can be reliably beaten. The trick is card-counting, which requires memorizing both every single card that is played by any player and doing constant calculations according to a meticulous formula. The group improved their chances by working together, which required the use of various signals and disguises. But casino owners do not like card counters, and since they have the authority to ban any individual from playing, the real gamble for the MIT hotshots was winning enough to make it worthwhile but keeping a low enough profile to be able to come back.

(more…)

Batman

Posted on July 21, 2008 at 8:00 am

B+

Lowest Recommended Age:	High School
MPAA Rating:	PG-13
Profanity:	Some rude language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Social drinking
Violence/ Scariness:	Comic book violence and mayhem, some disturbing
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	1989

The critical and box office success of The Dark Knight is a reminder to take another look at the last re-booted Batman and Joker, Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s broody re-imagining of a character then best remembered for the campy 1960’s television series. Ledger is sensational in “The Dark Knight,” but so is Nicholson in a performance included in the American Film Institute’s list of the 50 all-time best movie villains. The visuals, the music, and most of all the performances make this movie a very worthy precursor to the current re-imagining of the enduring story.

Dr. Horrible — This Weekend Only!

Posted on July 19, 2008 at 10:30 am

Until midnight tomorrow you can watch a new three-act musical from Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly”) online. It is the story of Dr. Horrible (a sensational Neil Patrick Harris) and his nemesis, the very manly Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion of “Firefly” and “Waitress”). And of course there is a girl, Felicia Day as Penny.

Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon says:

So you’ll have to forgive me if I lapse into slavish overpraise here for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the utterly brilliant singing, dancing, Web-only action-adventure you and your brothers have cooked up. I hope it doesn’t sound like hyperbole when I say that Dr. Horrible is better than kittens and sunshine and cheese. Doled in three tantalizing, quarter-hour-long nuggets (the first two went up earlier this week, the conclusion debuts July 19), “Dr. Horrible” stars an impeccably dorky Neal Patrick Harris as a would-be supervillain who pines for his lovely laundromat crush, Penny (a luminous Felicia Day), while battling nemesis and rival Captain Hammer, a musclebound jerk played with idiot bravado by “Firefly’s” Nathan Fillion. Will Horrible create his freeze ray and earn his way into the Evil League of Evil? Will he get the girl? Tuneful, hilarious and, in typical Whedon fashion, unabashedly tender, the only thing wrong with Dr. Horrible is that the damn thing isn’t a regular series.

It has already inspired responses like this one from a would-be sidekick:

After Sunday night, it will be available only on DVD, so watch it online while you can! (NOTE: Brief mature material)

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Musical Satire Shorts Superhero