Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor #1 Review!

Titan Comics has debuted the Thirteenth Doctor in comics, really it was the Free Comic Book Day 2018 which was a sneak peek (hope you got that one!, I picked up on ebay), this one features writing by Jody Houser who also writes Stranger Things for Dark Horse and the Poe Dameron Annual #2 for Marvel Comics, everything is turning up Jody Houser!  The artwork is by Rachael Stott, who has worked on The Twelfth Doctor Year Two and Three and DC Comics Bombshells.  There is a number of variant covers of course, I chose the painted cover of The Doctor’s face by Alice X. Zhang!  Just you didn’t catch the pilot or the first episodes of The Thirteenth Doctor there is a summary of the characters.  It is 1999, in a museum, alarms are blaring. Two shadowy people, Doctor Schulz and Perkins, are in the art gallery in futuristic suits.  It seems they are time travelers and scientists.  A security camera captures them.  

It shifts to 3912, there is a multi-colored sky, beautiful props to colorist Enrica Eren Angiolini.  On a hill, Team Tardis watch the Sentient Nebulae of Beclplam Two and a Half.  Then, we see the Doctor, Ryan, Yaz, and Graham with floating insects like fairy creatures.  Yaz thinks the bursts are aggressive, but the Doctor tells her this life played out in micro-seconds.  Graham points out a swirling, light mass and the Doctor scans it with her sonic screwdriver.  A hand reaches out to them from the light.  Yaz asks the Doctor about having seen the light display before and she explains it was with other eyes.  The Doctor runs back to the Tardis.  Once inside, the Doctor is on all sides of the control console trying to track the light.  Then, we get a two page splash with the Tardis and all of the characters, The Doctor is next to a Stegosaurus, and the hands reaching out from the light portal.  

In a massive treasure house that looks right out of Smaug’s hoard, a mysterious wealthy lord is displeased with the crack in the painting’s frame brought in by Perkins and Dr. Schulz.  Strange, gem-encrusted shelled aliens bring Dr. Schulz her shot.  Revealed, the lord is in red robes, wearing jewelry, and has blue skin with horns.  He asks for another thing.  The Tardis appears on a. Another planet, the Doctor walks out to see stranger fungal growths, and then we get another splash of the Tardis with moons in conjunction.  These are great visuals.  They wait and the portal appears, the Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver to stabilize it, the hand reaches out.  Ryan takes it.  The rest of the team helps pull a man in the same suit.  It is Schulz and the Doctor thinks his vortex manipulator is damaged.  This is the personal time travel device.  Yaz hears something.  There is the stomping of boots.  Rifles are pointed at them from the Grand Army of the Just.  Everyone is forced into a circle with Schulz in the center!  Questions! Questions!  Everything is mysterious.  I’m ready to see where this story goes!   

Four Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

#DoctorWhoTheThirteenthDoctor, #JodyHouser, #RachaelStott, #EnricaErenAngiolini.   

Re:tro Re:view - My Neighbor Totoro!

The Studio Ghibli Fest is on going with My Neighbor Totoro out this past September 30th and October 3rd.  The next film is Castle in the Sky which will come out in theaters on November 18th and the 20th.  My Neighbor Totoro is the best animated movie period.  What makes a good animated movie?  Incredible visuals, an elaborate world, and fun characters.  A good number of Disney films fill these criteria.  Studio Ghibli films go beyond these and give a gentle pace unlike the quick jumps of Disney and Pixar films.  It is a swing on a summer’s day not a race car slam with characters.  Writer and director Hayao Miyazaki-san is brilliant in not only capturing childhood worlds and creatures, but also the feeling.  If you ever wonder what was it like to be a kid and would like to be one again, then you have to see My Neighbor Totoro.  

The other part of Studio Ghibli films is that they are sometimes filled with strong themes and dark moments that are the true part of fairy tales ignored by Disney, but they are still fit in the wonder that is throughout the films.  The opening is a slow drive through the Japanese countryside with a father, his two daughters, headed to the village of Matsugo. Tatsuo Kusakabe (voiced by Tim Daly) reassures his daughters, the eldest Satsuki (Dakota Fanning who is currently in The Alienist) and Mei (Elle Fanning who has the upcoming film Teen Spirit). The voice cast is incredible, you can see the sister bond working with the Elle and Dakota, it is far superior than the sisters in Frozen. The scene where Mei is frustrated about her mother’s condition, angry, insulted by her sister and then just makes mewling sounds before crying. Great voice work! 

They pass by a boy, Kanta (Paul Butcher, who was in the Zoey 101 series) who sees Satsuki and is embarrassed. This reminds me so much of the meet cute at the end of Inside Out, “Girl! Girl! Girl!"  Tatsuo is excited about the new house, it looks rickety, and Satsuki rocks one of the weak posts for a trellis. He sends Satsuki to find the stairs and she opens up a room that scatters “soot sprites” called susuwatari in the original.  They are basically black bristles with goggly eyes.  I love the girls screaming to try to scare off the soot sprites.  This fantasy aspect is the magical realism of the Studio Ghibli world.  Mei and Satsuki find acorns around the house. Tatsuo loves the idea that the house may be haunted.  Mei is startled by the appearance of their neighbor, Granny, voiced by the incredible Pat Carroll.  She knows all about the wondrous things around the house, Granny was the caretaker of it before it was bought, and brings a calmness to a house without a mother.

Studio Ghibli Pop-up at JapanLA, 2017, photo by the author. 

Mei warms up to Granny and all alone she chases after acorns. They are being collected by two, tiny forest spirits, Blue and White Totoro.  Mei follows them into a path made under a massive camphor tree. She ends up on the belly of the giant Totoro voiced by the talented Frank Welker!  He roars at wakening, blasting Mei, but she doesn’t have fear which I think is a powerful lesson for young ones.  They can see that scary animals may seem frightening, but can understand them as animals, not scary.  Slowly, we are drawn into Totoro’s world, he likes Mei and Satsuki, there is a wonderfully absurd scene where they are waiting for a bus in the rain.  Totoro is just standing there with a leaf on his head!

They give him their father’s umbrella and he calls for the catbus.  The catbus is one of the most fun creations in animation; a wide eyed cat face, several legs, bus back and tail.  Totoro gives them a gift of acorns wrapped in bamboo leaf which they later plant in a garden.  Again, if kids get excited about planting a garden or later eating fresh vegetables, this is the best thing in an animated movie!  We find out that though that their mother, Yasuko (Lea Salonga who also voiced Mulan), is hospitalized.  Her condition keeps her from returning home and this causes Mei and Satsuki to worry.  There is no cause for worry though "And you'll be with To-to-ro, Totoro! To-to-ro, Totoro!"  Totoro is the mascot for Studio Ghibli.  It is available now on Blu-ray and DVD.

Five Acorns out of Five!

#MyNeighborTotoro, #HayaoMiyazaki, #DakotaFanning, #ElleFanning 

Stranger Things #2 Review!

It’s Stranger Things Day so we have a review of the comic book!  We just beginning to explore Will Byers time in the Upside Down with the first issue from Dark Horse Comics.  The second issue also has a photo cover of Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) holding a tangle of Christmas lights.  The creative team of Jody Houser and Stefano Martino continue “Chapter Two.”  In the dark reflection of his bedroom, dark with blue shades and filled with green vine-like forms, he hears the sound of his mother on the walkie talkie, but the Demigorgon enters the room.  Will is able to get his rifle and shoot the Demigorgon, his rifle clicks empty, and he finds himself alone.  He tries to use the house phone and hears his mother in the choppy static.  Will heads back to his bedroom and doesn’t see the lights that follow him.  

He hears fragments of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (1982).  Will sneaks under his bed and drags in his backpack.  When he sees that there is no Demiogorgon around he walks the streets of Hawkins, Indiana searching for a signal on his walkie talkie.  Then, he hears a scream.  It shifts to the D&D game where Dungeon Master Mike explains that villagers may be in trouble and devil swine are rumored to be there.  He hears a voice call out Nancy’s name so Will checks out the house and finds a pair of glasses on the bottom of a pool, Barb! She disappears in “Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street” (2016). 

Will returns to his home and then hears the voice of his mother who asks him to blink.  He does so activating Christmas lights.  Will falls asleep and when he wakens he finds his mother strings Christmas lights along with letters so he can communicate! This was in “Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly” (2016).  He hears the movement of the Demigorgon and forms the word “RUN” on the wall.  Will sees the Demigorgon try to work itself through a wall.  He throws a book, William Sleator’s science fiction novel, House of Stairs (1974), to get the attention of the Demigorgon.  Will runs into the night.  We get Will as scared, but he can turn out to have brave moments.  We see the use of the rifle and get a hint of Barb.   

Four Walkie Talkies out of Five!  

#StrangerThings, #StrangerThingsDay, #JoyceByers, #BarbHolland

Happy Birthday Emma Stone!

Happy Birthday Emma Stone!   One of her first television roles was in the “Sweet Dreams” (2005) episode of Medium. Emma’s first film was the comedy Superbad (2007).  She was also Natalie in the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority for the 2008 comedy, The House Bunny.  She was next in Zombieland (2009) which has a promised sequel.  Emma was also the lead in the comedy Easy A (2010). She was next in the drama The Help (2011) adapted from the book by Kathryn Stockett. 

Emma Stone at The Amazing Spider-Man panel, Wonder Con, 2012, photo by the author. 

In 2012, Emma took the role of Gwen Stacy in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).  She reprised the role in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Emma voiced Eep in the animated movie, The Croods (2013). Alejandro Inarritu directed Emma in Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (2014). Emma had great success playing Mia in the musical romance La La Land (2016) directed by Damien Chazelle.  She received an Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie. The following year Emma ported Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes (2017).  She is currently in the sci fi Netflix series, Maniac, playing Annie Landsberg opposite her former Superbad co-star Jonah Hill.  Happy Birthday Emma Stone!      

Star Wars: Resistance, “The Children from Tehar”, Review!

Colossus Base, Day, Neeku and Tam are working on an acceleration compensator.  Kaz is not happy being left out.  Tam works with them together, but Kaz breaks the part so she throws tools at him.  A light comic moment, but it is Tam’s fault since if it is a delicate operation she should be crystal clear in what Kaz should be doing and repeat what he should do.  Kaz goes to Aunt Zee’s bar and he gets a water and Neeku gives him some credits.  He hears mention about a bounty of 20,000 credits.  Two kids in a hologram are watched by a Gotal and Rodian bounty hunters. Kaz notices a symbol of one of the kid’s bracelets.  He of course gets into this misadventure.  The two kids are hungry and go to steal some food from an Ugnaught vendor.  The boy knocks down the crate the Ugnaught was on.  He leaps and rams into burly Klatooinian, Bolza Grool.  The kids coincidentally run into Kaz, Neeku, and BB-8.  He recognizes the symbol on the boy’s bracelet and tries to chase after them.  Kaz gets help from Neeku.  What doesn’t make sense is that Kaz doesn’t ask Yeager what he should do, he was right there with the accident.  

STAR WARS: RESISTANCE -- “The Children from Tehar” -- Disney/Lucasfilm. 

Neeku is getting help at the engineering level.  There are aliens that look bearded turtles called the Chelidae (Frank Welker). I think these new aliens are interesting. He introduces them to Kaz.  Neeku gives them his comlink.  A droid, 4D-MIN (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn), from Captain Doza brings them to the High Tower.  Captain Doza asks about the children.  He shows the wooden symbol the boy carried.   She gets a hologram of Captain Phasma and he tells her about the children.  She explains they are from a “high-ranking family” in the First Order.  The symbol is from a New Republic family?  Captain Doza reminds her that it is his station.  The girl, Eila (Nikki SooHoo), talks to her brother, Kel (Antony Del Rio) when a shadow falls on them.  Tam is impatient about the compensator and Neeku gets the message from the Chelidae that they are found.  Eila explains to Kaz that they ran away and her leg is broken. She says that Kylo Ren destroyed their village.  Kylo Ren’s shuttle arrives.  Kel leads them to herbs to help his sister.  A stormtrooper in gold armor, Commander Pyre (Liam McIntyre) asks an alien about the runaways. He seems a more interesting villain than Major Vonreig.  

Kaz finds a way for them to escape, Commander Pyre spots the kid, and they run with stun rings fired from the troopers.  BB-8 closes a hatch and then a Chelidae closes another one.  Neeku uses the bag of herbs on Eila’s leg.  Kaz opens a grate to the bottom of the base as the First Order cuts through the blast door.  The children jump into the sea and one troopers gives an update to Captain Phasma.  She explains that with the children gone the First Order can be safe from the Resistance.  The children are in the underside of the base with Kaz, Neeku, and BB-8.  Neeku explains that the two Chelidae who fell slowed down their life signs. The shell folk, they speak in groans, invite the children to stay.  One Chelidae has the fixed compensator. 4D-MIN informs Captain Doza that the First Order has left.  Kaz brings Tam the compensator with the help of some friends.  Kaz contacts Poe Dameron and instead reaches Ello Asty (Matthew Wood), the Abednedo pilot who was in the Battle of Starkiller Base.  I really like that Kaz finally, finally, finally reports in and there is a strong connection to the Resistance. Poe is on a mission.  Kaz gives the update.  Ello says that Tehar may be in the Unknown Regions.  He reports about Kylo Ren as the leader of the First Order army.  Ello thinks Kaz has done great work and will file the report with General Organa. The start was so weak I thought this might be the weakest episode, but it was saved by the rest of the episode.  

Three Lightsabers out of Five!      

#StarWarsResistance, #TheChildrenofTehar, #Eila, #Kel 

Archie Meets Batman `66 #4 Review!

Batman has finished the case involving the Bookworm to be informed by Robin that the United Underworld has taken over Riverdale!  The Joker has Jughead captive and starving for burgers and brings in a plate of burgers!  Can Jughead possibly resist? Answer: no.  One of the covers for issue 4 is by Rebekah Isaacs which has Batman startled that Archie is sharing a milkshake with Catwoman, love it!  There is also a painted cover by Billy Tucci with Archie and Batman’s face with pop art socks behind them.  Which ever cover you pick up, there’s ton of fun inside by the creative team of Jeff Parker, Michael Moreci, and Dan Parent!  Batman is racing the Batmobile to Riverdale talking to Alfred.  There is the spinning Bat symbol with the Riverdale “R” and then we pick up the Joker tempting Jughead with the burgers from Pop’s, sinister! In a splash page, Joker gets inside Jughead’s mind, we see the Joker’s face transforming into a police officer, a professor, and Archie!  Still, Jughead shrugs it off and plays a monkey banging cymbals to weaken Jughead.    

Riverdale High, Archie,Reggie Mantle, and Moose Mason are swooning for the new teacher, Miss Kitka. They ignore new students, Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon, who tells them about the new teacher.  They rush off when they hear her name.  Miss Kitka appears in class with a beehive hairdo, glasses, and black dress.  She gives commands to the assembled boys and is interrupted by Batgirl and Robin who know she is Catwoman!  Miss Kitka was the identity Catwoman took in the Batman (1966) movie played by Lee Merriwether and she almost had Bruce Wayne wrapped around her finger.  She has several boy thugs who are thrashed by Robin and Batgirl.  Miss Kitka tries to get help of Archie and the others.  Batgirl and Robin are overwhelmed by the thugs and Archie and the heroes are knocked by a gas. Batgirl revives to the sound of the monkey cymbals.  They are in the basement with Jughead who brings them up to speed.  

At a Riverdale country club, Bruce Wayne is in a tux and meets with Hiram Lodge.  Bruce is a little confused and then realizes it is Siren in her silver dress!  Again, I didn’t recognize Lorelei Circe played by Joan Collins, in “The Wail of the Siren” (1967) episode.  Bruce has some earphones to cancel out Siren’s song and finds Archie stumbling into the party with Betty, Veronica, and Reggie.  He gets the Riverdale gang to stay at the party wanting to talk to them about the Wayne Youth Foundation.  Betty and Veronica fawn over Bruce and he drops a hint that Betty Cooper might be related to Aunt Harriet!  There is an announcement of the new leaders of Riverdale, Superintendent Catwoman, Police Chief Riddler, Mayor Penguin, and uh, Clown Prince Joker?  Bruce and his group are not happy at these unelected officials.  Mayor Penguin calls for a vote and it is unanimous.  Archie and friends take notice to something outside - the Jughead Signal! This is more Gotham/Riverdale fun!  

Five Milkshakes and Batarangs out of Five!   

#ArchieMeetsBatman, #MissKitka, #Siren, #JugheadSignal.  

Doctor Who, “The Tsuranga Conundrum”, Review!

The Tardis has a arrived on a wasteland planet, Team Tardis is out with metal detectors reassured by the Doctor that what they are looking for is there.  Graham thinks the task is impossible and then his detector has found something.  The Doctor inspects it and tries to use her sonic screwdriver, they have uncovered a sonic mine, it sends out a white blast!  The Doctor hears muffled voices and wakes up. The faces of two medical personnel are there.  She finds Graham, Yaz, and Ryan in hospital chairs.  The doctor, Astos (Brett Goldstein) has seen sonic mine injuries, The Doctor seems out of it, and she starts to take a walk and takes a fall.  The Doctor is worried about the Tardis.  They interrupt a meeting with General Cicero (Suzanne Packer), The Doctor is impressed to meet Eve Cicero, she introduces her brother, Durkas (Doc Brown), and android, Ronan (David Shields). General Cicero knows the Doctor from the Book of Celebrants.  The Doctor leaves them and feels pain from her spleen.  A male patient, Yoss (Jack Shalloo) is seen and he reveals he’s pregnant! The Doctor checks the vibrations in the floor and realizes they are on a ship!  

DOCTOR WHO -- “The Tsuranga Conundrum” -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

Astos says they have been traveling on the Tsuranga for four days.  The Doctor uses her sonic screwdriver to access the navigation and Astps tells her altering the course will be an act of hostility. The ship is entirely automated.  The Doctor apologizes and then some object attaches to the ship. She takes out a stethoscope and applies it to a panel, whatever it is, is inside the shields.  The invader is in the life pod. Astos gives the Doctor a comm device to check out the port side. Mabli goes to check on Ronan who needs an adrenalin blocker.  Graham sees Dirk trying to access the ship systems. He sees his sister as hiding her condition and admits he’s an engineer.  The Doctor is checking the darkened corridor as Astos looks in a bright corridor.  He finds the invader in the life pod.  The door closes on him and he puts running of the ship in Mabli’s hands.  The life pod bears away and explodes.  The Doctor sees the tiny alien like a baby with four antennae.  She tries to scan the alien with her sonic screwdriver and it eats it.  Mabli starts panicking, but accesses the cameras to identify the alien as a Pting. The Pting is busy eating everything in an access corridor.  

Ronan injects the adrenalin blocker in General Cicero and they are seen by Durkas.  Yaz and Ryan are trying to get Yoss to a meeting.  Yoss is eager for them to feel the child in his belly.  His species and gender only gives birth to boys.  Yoss wants to give away his child feeling he can’t protect him in these dangerous times.  Ryan feels the situation is the same as his own.  Yaz asks him about his father who he had seen a year ago.  His mother had a heart attack when he was thirteen.  The Doctor tries to work out what to do with the Pting with General Cicero.  The ship is trying to avoid an asteroid field.  The Doctor enters the debriefing.  General Cicero says a Pting destroyed her fleet. This is an intergalactic threat that the Doctor has to discover how to counter.  The general and the Doctor go to check the antimatter drive.  The patient has his water broken and takes Ryan and Graham to help.  Mabli warns the Doctor about General Cicero.  The Doctor runs up to the anti-matter drive and asks what century it is and they answer 67th.  She explains to Team Tardis about the technology of the drive.  The General wants Ronan to stay and the Doctor has Yaz protect the drive with him.  The general explains she’s a neuro-pilot and confesses she has Pilot’s Heart.  Yoss is about to have his baby, Graham and Ryan talk him through it with Mabli assisting.  

DOCTOR WHO -- “The Tsuranga Conundrum” -- Ben Blackall/BBC Studios. 

A white crack appears in the floor startling Yaz and Ronan, they hit the Pting with stasis rays and then Yaz covers it in a blanket.  Durkas prepares his sister and The Doctor realizes that it didn’t kill Astos, it was feeding on energy.  The general has control of the ship and accelerates it.  The Doctor rushes off, she checks her spleen, it seems to be ok with her running.  The Doctor updates Yaz and Ronan and finds her sonic has self-rebooted itself.  The Doctor removes the bomb, to fill the Pting with energy?, General Cicero tells her brother she was worried about dying in battle.  The Doctor sets the bomb in an airlock.  She has Yaz give a number that she sets for the bomb to explode.  The Doctor also mentions that she saw all 900 casts of Hamilton!  The baby is about to be born, Mabli is going to cut open Yoss to remove the baby.  Yaz shows the Doctor the lil’ Pting that looks at the bomb.  Ryan gives reassurances to toss that he will be a goo father.  The Pting eats the bomb and the Doctor closes the airlock and sends the Pting out.  The ship rocks under General Cicero’s control, Durkas says he loves his sister.  The baby is delivered and begins crying.  Graham and Ryan cut the baby’s cords together.  Durkas now has taken control over from his sister and flies to the Reeses-1 station.  Yoss decides to name the baby Avocado!  He decides he will be a father!  Ronan is going to shut down and Durkas apologizes to him.  They have a service for General Cicero.  This is a great episode of life and death.  It has an alien creature, but really hits at human relationships.  

Four Sonic Screwdrivers out of Five! 

#DoctorWho, #TheTsurangaConundrum, #SuzannePacker, #JackShalloo

The Titans, “Doom Patrol”, Review!

Kory has found Rachel and takes her away from the Nuclear Family to St. Paul’s Convent.  The sister there recognizes Kory and she goes to a bowling alley where Garfields meets Rachel, and then Dick who takes Rachel and Kory back to the convent.  Kory steals Dick’s car and he finds her at a storage room looking over clues to Rachel.  They both see an explosion as Rachel escapes the convent into the woods.  It opens with a military helicopter in the Congo two years ago.  Hospital workers are in environmental suits.  Garfield is a patient and gasps in his bed.  The workers are evacuated leaving their patients behind. Garfield tries to plead for their help, but they leave him all alone. A man in another environmental suit (Chief?) is startled to see Garfield alive.  He checks out Garfield’s vitals and finds his arm is scaled and green.  Garfield is injected with a green serum in his neck and starts to Hulk out.  The origin of Beast Boy, he first appeared in Doom Patrol #99 (1965) before joining the New Teen Titans.  Rachel is running into the forest.  She hears growling and then turns to see a green tiger.  The tiger transforms into Garfield Logan. He takes her hand and leads her away.  Dick drives his Porsche up to the convent surrounded by emergency vehicles.  He flashes his badge and examines the ruined wing of the convent.  

They find the wounded sister who pleads they only wanted to keep her safe.  Garfield starts a fire to warm Rachel in an abandoned shack.  She says that she is dangerous.  They hear a gunshot. Two hunters have shot a deer.   Rachel runs and shouts to protect the deer.  The hunters turn to see the green tiger.  The hunters fall and one shoots his rifle into another’s shoulder.  Rachel checks on the deer as Garfield transforms back to human form. She cries at the death of the deer.  Garfield says she isn’t evil.  They leave and the bullet wound heals with the deer coming back to life.  Garfield leads her to a mansion in the snow.  He leads her down the steps to turn on the power to a parlor filled with a pinball machine, Space Invaders, and a refrigerator filled with soda. Rachel calls him a geek.  She sees a picture of Garfield and his parents and he says they died.  They hear a scream, “Gar!” and Garfield tries to hide Rachel in a closet.  He puts on headphones as heavy boots clump into the room.  He turns to see Cliff, who thinks he was talking to someone, Garfield tries to go back to fake playing his video game. Cliff with his robotic voice and robot hands is worried that Garfield slipped away without the Chief knowing.  The relationship between the two reminds me of Beast Boy and Cyborg.  Cliff walks away and Garfield thinks everything is now safe when the face of Robotman (Jake Michaels) bursts into the closet.  For some reason, trying for comics accuracy, makes me think of The Tin Man in The Wiz (1978).  Brendan Fraser voices Robotman and his picture is seen on the mantle.  The actors from the series seem to have voiced their characters in this episode.  He escorts them upstairs, Garfield explains that they are the “conventionally challenged”, Robotman tells Rachel to go home.   

THE TITANS -- “Doom Patrol” -- Christos Kalohoridis/2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.  

Garfield tells Rachel that Cliff was a race car driver and got into an accident so Chief placed his brain into a robot.  Garfield says Chief saved all of them. He argues with Robotman as Rachel wanders off.  She looks at the kitchen as a meal is being prepared by a man wrapped in bandages, Negative Man!, played by Dwain Murphy and I think voiced by Matt Bomer from the series.  He dances and sings as he prepares the meal.  Rachel enters, but is caught by Robotman, Negative Man invites her to dinner after she asks him if he is invisible underneath the bandages.  Negative Man takes a vote with Garfield and considers the matter settled.  Dick has driven his Porsche to the police station worried about Rachel.  He tells Kory that she’s wanted by the police. At the station, Dick gets a report by the hunters who saw a green tiger and a girl with purple hair.  Dick asks about the hunter’s name.  Garfield walks the hall of the mansion. He walks up stairs calling for Rita and then knocks on her door. She doesn’t answer and Garfield takes away her finished tray of food.  Inside the room are the pictures of Rita Farr and her movie poster, the Crimson Lady, this is old Hollywood.  She seems to be reduced to Norma Desmond watching old movies of herself.  Rita watches her black and white movie on the television screen.  A quivering mass is on the bed.  Rita Farr was known as Elastic-Girl, but of course that name has been taken by Helen Parr in The Incredibles even though Rita came first.  I think they will go with Elasti-Woman.  

Negative Man brings in a tray of food while the dinner table is filled with burgers, corn on the cob, and a Negative Man made of onion rings.  Robotman stares at Rachel wondering about the taste of the waffles, he can just remember the taste of food. Down the steps, comes a woman.  Cliff misses dancing and Rachel offers to dance with him showing him the Robot. Entering the room is the elegant actress in a red dress, Rita Farr (April Bowlby), who takes a giant slab of steak and heaps of spaghetti. Larry’s kiss the cook remark gets laughs.  Rita’s face starts to melt.  Rachel touches her gloved hand and sees flashes of Rita’s past; flashing from a bridge, yelling in an asylum.  Chief (Bruno Bichir) enters and says he has a new patient sending everyone after him.  Chief’s name is Niles Caulder.  In the series, he will be played by Timothy Dalton.  Rita dresses in a white hospital gown while Chief says the patient’s name Is Arani Desai.  Rachel watches from the top level.  Chief gets all of the members working to help with the patient.   They pull back the sheet and find a burned body of a woman (Hina Abdullah).  Chief explains that she was in a tanker fire of liquid nitrogen. He injects a purple serum.  Robotman sees the alarm.  Arani is now causing the room to go cold.  She starts to panic and speaks in a foreign language.  Rachel is there with demonic eyes saying she can help with the pain. Her face goes normal and Arani’s vitals stabilize.  She becomes the hero, Celsius, who was in the second Doom Patrol team introduced in Showcase #94 (1977).  Later, Chief says he is disappointed in Garfield.   He wants to know about Rachel’s powers and Garfield tells him about the convent. 

THE TITANS -- “Doom Patrol” -- Christos Kalohoridis/2018 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.  

Dick has driven up to the house of the hunter and asks about the girl.  The hunter (Kevan Kase) tries to close the door and go for a gun, but Dick knocks him down.  Dick starts to punch the hunter until his fist turns bloody, he is stopped by Kory.  The hunter’s son (Evan O’Donnell) checks on his father.  The hunter says the only place would be the Caulder house on Danny Street.  This is a clever reference to the Grant Morrison creation Danny the Street.  Kory apologizes and gives him some money.  At the dinner table, Chief says he helps the helpless, he explains there was a toxic gas that made Rita’s body unstable.  He says Larry was a pilot who crashed his jet and was exposed to negative energy 50 years ago.  Garfield explains that Chief cured him of a rare primate disease and he can shapeshift. Chief says the mansion is a sanctuary, this is really a home for all of the unusual like the X-Men, and he says he can help Rachel. The Doom Patrol first appeared in June 1963 and the X-Men came later in September 1963.  Unusual persons with powers feared by the outside world, living in a mansion, with a leader in a wheelchair?  Doom Patrol came first.  Night, Dick drives and Kory asks him about his rage, like Rachel. Kory says they can’t work things out alone.  Robotman looks at the photos of the Doom Patrol before their changes.  Dick uses bolt cutters to get through the gate of the mansion. Chief has strapped Rachel tightly to a table.  He asks for his case from Garfield.  The Chief is brought the case and removes the serum. He wants to take out whatever is inside Rachel and she starts to panic.     

She pleads for help from Garfield, he’s conflicted, Chief tells him to sit. Garfield refuses.  Chief tells him to leave and Garfield begins his transformation. Chief hits him with a tranquilizer dart.  Garfield falls unconscious.  Now, Rachel’s eyes turn demonic, and threatens to hurt Chief after he hurt her friend. The Porsche stops at the mansion and Kory and Dick step out.  The Titans vs. Doom Patrol?  Rachel expels the darkness and Chief wonders at it. Dick and Kory enter the mansion with flickering lights.  The darkness lifts up Chief and slams him around. Kory and Dick look around the mansion and are warned by Rita who is joined by Robotman and Negative Man.  Chief is slammed against a wall and the darkness frees Rachel. Kory tells Dick to find Rachel while she takes on the Doom Patrol!  Dick moves through the darkness as Rachel opens a portal!  She warns him and Dick says he isn’t going to leave and hugs her.  Kory and the Doom Patrol see the darkness and portal fade.  Later, the Doom Patrol see the Titans off to Dick’s Porsche.  Robotman tells Garfield to go with the Titans.  Negative Man says that the Chief’s back is broken again.  He hugs Rita and then says farewells to Negative Man and he hugs Robotman.  The Doom Patrol see them off. I think they have Crazy Jane as the young member of the team.  Morning, Chief is in his wheelchair, watches the sun though the window.  This is my favorite episode of Titans, it is a little bloody with language, but brings to the heart of superhero teams with the dinner table interaction. No fight between teams, much of the story is burdened with the hunters, but I think the origins of the Doom Patrol.  

Five Wing Dings out of Five! 

#TheTitans, #DoomPatrol, #AprilBowlby, #BrendanFraser 

Heroes in Crisis #2 Review!

Heroes in Crisis continues with the mystery of all of the heroes killed at the refuge called Sanctuary.  In charge of the facility was Booster Gold and Harley Quinn and they later get into a brutal fight.  The shocking revelation was that Harley Quinn says she didn’t save them, but Booster Gold killed them.  The Trinity, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are on the site and together they hope to solve the mystery.  The cover for the new issue by Clay Mann has Batman trying to rise up with the Lasso of Truth around his neck and Harley Quinn stepping on his neck.  This seems like a nod to the cover Wonder Woman: Hiketeia (2002) which had Wonder Woman’s boot on Batman’s face.  We get the interview of Poison Ivy, the nine panel grid, with Harley Quinn interrupting her with a touch to her cheek and a “Boop.”  This story, “Then I Became Superman” is by Tom King with art by Clay Mann and Travis Moore.  It opens up to a two page splash with penguins overlooking a wounded Harley Quinn dragging herself in, very cinematic.  This is the club, the Iceberg Lounge, of the Penguin who is about to have a fish dinner while a captive is being held with a gun to his head.  The Penguin looks like the deranged Danny DeVito Penguin from Batman Returns (1992), pale and twisted.  

Harley Quinn asks him for a safe place to hide from everyone.  Batman admits he doesn’t know who killed the residents as he examines the body of Commander Steel with Superman and Wonder Woman.  Superman suspects that Batman had a way of checking on Sanctuary and that he also has Kryptonite in his utility belt.  Batman checks Commander Steel and finds his invulnerable body is not damaged, but finds that he swallowed something and draws out a wind-up pair of teeth, the Joker or Harley Quinn using the trick?  Batman makes his confession without his mask, this is shocking!, he admits that he takes on partners and that they die.  The flying robot, Skeets, checks on Booster Gold waking up in a field.  Booster Gold is confused about the events and says that Harley Quinn was the killer and she says he is the killer.  Then, we get reaction shots of a Southern Rockhopper penguin.  The rest of the page is a splash of Harley Quinn in her jester outfit playing Go Fish with the penguin!  Interrupting the game and shattering the wall is Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman.  Booster Gold flies and wonders if he should turn himself in and Skeets replies that he should turn himself in.  Harley Quinn hugs Wonder Woman to take hold of her Lasso of Truth.  She uses it to lasso Batman by the neck and holds him in a lethal grip while singing.  Harley Quinn forces Batman to admit he has Kryptonite in his belt, unleashes it and leaps away while saying that Booster Gold is the killer. 

Wonder Woman’s confession was as a young girl dreaming that she had a sword cutting her.  She runs to her mother, Queen Hippolyta, who has a golden arrow in her side.  This is all to explain that Wonder Woman just takes the pain.  Who is the person taking these confessions?  The killer?  The Flash is busy knocking out a street of Samuroids while communicating with Booster Gold.  He wonders if he killed Arsenal, Blue Jay, and Ivy with Sketter saying “Shut up.”  Then, ends with Wally West, Flash runs off, and then returns in a splash page he gives Booster Gold a right hook!  Superman says that Harley Quinn is as good as Batman which he denies.  He is watching Harley Quinn’s progress, but sees Flash and Booster Gold and flies away.  Harley Quinn is on the top of a bridge.  She drops a rose and says that she shouldn’t have followed her, Poison Ivy?, and has regrets over the Joker.  Harley Quinn says she shouldn’t have let anyone hurt her.  At the Daily Planet, Lois Lane is busy working on her story when she hears the message from Sanctuary signed by The Puddlers which gets her attention.  Then, we get Superman’s confession, taking off his Clark Kent glasses and struggling with his identity, but no reference to the issue’s title.  The confessions of the Trinity seem separate from the confessions of the Sanctuary residents.  There are clues, but the mystery deepens.  Incredible artwork and the story seems to be taking is to a dark side of the DC Universe!  

Four Pieces of Peach Pie out of Five! 

#HeroesinCrisis, #HarleyQuinn, #BoosterGold, #PoisonIvy 

Nutcracker and the Four Realms Review!

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is directed by Lasse Hallstrom who infrequently makes films like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and Chocolat (2000), and Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (2009).  It was co-directed by Joe Johnston who directed many visual effects films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), The Rocketeer (1991), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).  The film is of course based on ballet usually performed during Christmas choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  It is the score that is most memorable for me not having seen the ballet.  It sneaks into the movie’s score by James Newton Howard.  

The ballet was based on Alexandre Dumas’ The Nutcracker (1844) which was in turn based on E.T.A. Hoffman’s story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” (1816). Before the opening night at the El Capitan theater was a performance by Los Angeles Ballet with a Pas De Deux danced by Bianca Bulle & Eris Nezha.  It is of course very beautiful, I don’t understand it, but feel that it is something missing like a part of my soul.  The performance and the ballet sequences in this film make it worth watching as well as the sumptuous visuals, the production design is by Guy Hendrix Dyas, and incredible costumes by Jenny Beavan, but the pacing is very slow.  Anything that introduces ballet is a good thing.  The story is by Ashleigh Powell and this is her first movie.  

The film shifts from the Disney castle logo to a city in winter, it is Christmas Eve, an owl flies (which would be a good 3D-effect).  The owl tries to snatch up a mouse that scurries in the attic of the Stahlbaum house.  The mouse nibbles at some cheese bait and Clara Stahlbaum (Mackenzie Foy) activates her Rube Goldberg-type trap that drops on the mouse. Foy provides the voice of The Little Girl in The Little Price (2015), she was also in The Conjuring (2013), and Interstellar (2014).  Her brother, Fritz (Tom Sweet) is impressed by her clever engineering feat.  A servant opens the attic door which frees the mouse and they are called by their father, Mr. Stahlbaum played by Matthew Macfayden. He mentions that he wants his children to be ready for the Christmas Eve ball.  His older daughter, Louise (Ellie Bamber), combs Clara’s hair.  Their father has gifts for them from their mother who has passed away; toy soldiers for Fritz, dresses for Louise, and a decorative egg with no key to open for Clara.  She has an inquisitive mind, misses her mother of course, but seems lonely and sad, even though Clara lives a life of privilege.  Mr. Stahlbaum says he only wants a dance with his daughters at the ball.  At the ball, Clara slips away to check on the workshop of her godfather watched over by his owl.  

Bianca Bulle and Eris Nezha from the Los Angeles Ballet, El Capitan theater, photo by the author.  

Clara sees her godfather, Drosselmeyer with a distinctive eyepatch, played by Morgan Freeman.  He of course is known for Dolphin Tale (2011), playing Lucius Fox in Batman Begins (2005), and The Shawshank Redemption (1994).  Drosselmeyer had a nephew who looks like the Nutcracker Prince in the ballet.  He says Clara has potential like her mother.  The movie is about her connection to her mother and her own identity, but I found it strange that Louise and Fritz are left out.  Clara’s father is angry that she went missing since he wanted the dance with her and Clara angrily tells him that he is being selfish.  Drosselmeyer announces the gifts for the children, they follow ribbons leading all over the house and outside, looks like fun!  

Fritz shows Clara his gift a nutcracker soldier toy, all interesting to see the living counterparts, still Clara follows her ribbon up stairs past red wallpaper with owl and mice images. It leads to a dark hall and then through a a tunnel of a fallen tree. She emerges from the roots of the tree to a winter wonderland, The Land of Christmas Trees.  It reminded me of Chronicles of Narnia, but that story was in another season so it was wondrous while this film stuns with it’s visuals.  Clara follows the ribbon to a tree that seems to be lit by fairies.  She finds inside a key, but this is taken by a mouse.  The chasing of the mouse makes me think of the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.  

Clara eventually comes across a bridge since the mouse crossed a river covered by ice.  Next to the bridge is the booth with the Nutcracker Prince, played by Jayden Fowora-Knight, he was earlier in Ready Player One this year.  He is a loyal character, brave, and believes in Clara whom he says is a princess.  The Nutcracker Prince introduces himself as Captain Phillip Hoffman, his name is new to the story, and a nod to the writer of the Nutcracker story.  Clara orders him to help find the mouse.  Phillip has his horse, Jingles, and rides to the spooky Fourth Realm.  The mouse has help from his fellow mice that combine into a massive Mouse King.  He is portrayed by Lil Buck, who is an incredible dancer, he has an end credit dancing scene.  

The towering form of Mother Ginger as a porcelain doll taller than trees chases them from the Fourth Realm.  Phillip brings them to a castle with waterfalls pouring at it’s side, this completely beautiful, they are stopped by guards. There are two soldier named Harlequin, played by comedian Jack Whitehall, Cavalier, Omid Djalili, who also had a comic role in The Mummy (1999).  Once Clara is identified, they are led in.  Clara sees Hawthorne (Eugenio Derbez) who rules the Realm of Flowers, his Victorian-era hair looks like a bouquet of flowers, and Shiver (Richard E. Grant), ruler of the Land of Snowflakes, with a mess of snowflakes for hair and hanging from his chin in an icicle beard.  Nice parts, but they are really cameo roles.  

The ruler of the Land of Sweets is the Sugar Plum Fairy played by Keira Knightley.  I thought her high pitched voice would be grating through the entire movie, but it is easy on the ears.  Her pink hair is spun like cotton candy and her purple dress has a mass of ruffles.  She flies at times with iridescent wings. Knightley of course is known for the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Pride & Prejudice (2005), and Atonement (2007).  She informs Clara that Mother Ginger is dangerous and wants to take over the Four Realms.  The Sugar Plum Fairy shows Clara the machine built by her mother that transformed the toys of the Four Realms into people.  

It just needs the key taken by Mother Ginger.  Clara also sees the story of the Four Realms with a performance that starts with the conductor, played by Gustavo Dudamel, reflecting his scene in Fantasia (1940).  I loved it!  Then, comes the Ballerina Princess played by Misty Copeland, principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. I would urge moviegoers to see this film for this sequence and the other at the end credits. She dances with Sergei Polunin as the Sweets Cavalier.  Clara leads the soldiers with Captain Phillip to the Fourth Realm.  

They are confronted by the clown-like Polichinelles who unfold from each other like Russian nesting dolls.  Clara sneaks into the Mother Ginger automaton to find the key.  She sees Mother Ginger played by Helen Mirren.  Mother Ginger has red hair and a face with some cracks.  One of Mirren's early roles was as Morgana in Excalibur (1981), won an Academy Award for The Queen (2006), and she was in this year’s Winchester.  Clara has to save the Four Realms like her mother, Marie, played in a flashback by Anna Madeley. This is a film with beautiful visuals and ballet scenes in this holiday fantasy!   

Four Mice out of Five! 

#TheNutcrackerandtheFourRealms, #LasseHallstrom, #MackenzieFoy, #JaydenFoworaKnight 

Re:tro Re:view - The Greatest Showman!

Ok, here’s another movie that I passed up, this was not because of reviews, but I really didn’t like Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables (2012). The musical is one of my favorites that I got to see on Broadway and his vocals were not strong enough for the part. Yes, he has performed on stage, but the only good parts in the movie were the actors who were from the stage; Samantha Barks (Eponine) and Daniel Huttlestone (Gavroche). 

The director, Michael Gracey, has this movie as his first film and unlike the awkwardly directed Les Miserables, Gracey injects a speed and sweep that works as a musical. The screenplay is by Jenny Bicks, who has written mostly television including The Big C, and Bill Condon who could have directed the film, he directed Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Dreamgirls (2006). The lyrics to this original musical are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul who also worked on La La Land (2016). It seems like a passion project for Jackman and Gracey who make an introduction at the beginning of the film thanking audiences. It had an Academy Award nom, but just kinda held on at the box office. 

The film pulled in $171 million compared to Les Miserables’ $148 million. This is not the best musical, but works, superior to Les Miserables which is miserable. Of course, I went to the circus, I knew the name Barnum & Bailey, P.T. Barnum is world famous, Bailey a little less so. The film begins with the “Greatest Show” song with Barnum (Jackman) walking from the darkness to the center ring. The song fades and we get the flashback to young Phineas (Ellis Rubin) and his father (Will Swenson) who is a tailor for well-to-do families including the family of young Charity Hallett (Skylar Dunn). 

His father wears a top hat that Phineas inherits as a connection to his father. Charity is busy taking etiquette lessons from a tutor under the stern eyes of her father (Fredric Lehne). Phineas plays around making Charity spit out her drink. Charity’s father is angry at Phineas and forbids him from seeing her. Phineas is alone at a beach when Charity walks up to him and they break into the “A Million Dreams” song with Phineas’ vocals provided by Ziv Zaifman. He writes letters to Charity and slips it into the mailman’s bag. Then this shifts to the older Phineas singing with the older Charity (Michelle Williams). She is a surprise as a singer joining in on this song and others.

We find out that Phineas is working to provide for his wife and two kids, Caroline (Austyn Johnson) and Helen (Cameron Seely) working as a clerk in New York. He has ideas, but finds the company has gone bankrupt with the sinking of the company’s ships. Phineas goes the next day to the bank, sees a little person (Sam Humphrey) who gets rejected, and then finds he can’t get his museum started without collateral. On the rooftop of his apartment, Charity is doing laundry while watching over her kids, Phineas arrives and tells her the news.  

Phineas has a gift for his daughters, a spinning box that projects stars, so we get a reprise of “A Million Dreams” and this resolves Phineas to make his dreams real.  He uses the deed of the sunken ships as collateral to open his museum filled with animal statues. Phineas has his family promoting the museum, but no tickets are sold. He reads Tom Thumb to his daughters who tell him he needs something alive like a mermaid, a reference to one of his biggest, popular scams the Feejee mermaid which was a monkey sewn to a fish. I think the movie leaves this out to keep Barnum from being a con man.

Phineas starts putting up flyers around town looking for unusual people. He goes to the house of the little person and gives him dreams of being important, riding on a horse as a general, and he agrees. I really like Humphrey as an actor and will have an eye for his next project. Next, as Phineas goes on his recruitment, he hears a beautiful song, he goes up to the tailoring shop and the women try to send him away. Phineas finds behind a sheet the voice belongs to Lettie (Keala Settle) who is the bearded lady. It is of course nice of this film, that Barnum is bringing unusual people who were in the shadows out to be the stars, but I keep wondering if he was more exploiting their differences for his own payroll. 

Settle was in the Meryl Streep film, Rick and the Flash (2015), she’s another actor I’d like to see in other films. The Bearded Lady is my gauge in how the performers are treated and how they feel. The other was that Jackman is fine, but I was waiting for Zac Efron’s character to show up in the movie. Phineas has his museum filled with performers, one of my favorites is the Huge Man, played by Daniel Everidge who says he weighs five hundred pounds. Barnum instantly changes that to 750 lbs. and adds padding to his costume! Of course, the other star act is an acrobatic duo with Anne Wheeler played by Zendaya. Surprisingly, she has only one song in the film.  Anne and her partner join Barnum’s circus to not only show their talents, but also to escape racism.

Phineas sings “Come Alive” joined by the rest of the ensemble and his museum is renamed as a circus to get back at a journalist, James Gordon Bennett (Paul Sparks) who doesn’t like anything he reviews. Barnum moves his family into a mansion even though Charity is happy at their run down apartment. He is also unhappy when his daughter’s ballet classmates look down on her for her association with the circus. Phineas wants approval from high society and tries to get it by talking with playwright Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron) he later says his middle name is Bailey. He doesn’t want to be connected to the circus, but finds his half-empty plays give him no satisfaction. Phineas sees Carlyle at a bar, sings a duo with him in “The Other Side”, and he agrees to be a partner. 

Carlyle arranges a meeting with Queen Victoria (Gayle Rankin) and brings along all of the circus performers. There he meets the “Swedish Nightingale”, Jenny Lind (Rebecca Ferguson), Loren Allred provides her singing voice. She’s the key to entering the upper class and he of course turns his back on the circus. So, the rest of the movie deals with his choices to get him back to the traveling circus. The film has some good songs, including Settle's lead song, "This is Me", and faced some criticism that the movie was not reflective of the real life P.T. Barnum. Seriously, if anyone believes in anything in the movie, then they fell for one of the greatest Barnum scams. It is pure entertainment. One of Patton Oswalt’s bits was about the circus and why it’s still around; the answer is the legend built by Barnum.

Four Top Hats out of Five!

#TheGreatestShowman, #MichaelGracey, #HughJackman, #KealaSettle