Number Three: Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Let me first start of by clearing something up. This is the first movie I have on the list (and there will be others to be sure) that is seemingly out of chronological order. Well it's not! Even though Quentin Tarantino's Reservior Dogs made the rounds of the festival circuit in '91, and I'm sure many of you had seen it before me, I had my first taste in 1994 on Superchannel in my parents basement. I clearly remember walking by as Harvey Keitel was telling us about Madonna's big dick coming out of his ear and I was entranced. I sat down and devoured the entire experience as though there no other options available.

Being fourteen, I'm quite sure the violence and foul language was attractive, but there was something more. While many could rightly point out the clever dialog, or rich characters, marvel at the clever use of scene chronology as the narrative jumps from the present to the past in one monologue where Tim Roth recites his "commode story", or even the wit of a heist movie that never shows the heist and in fact only refers to it in past tense, I had a wholly different experience. I finished this fantastic story, (as if I could leave halfway through!) and faced my parents who had somehow materialized during the film. (I didn't notice when, they could have been there the entire time for all I knew!) My mother turned to me and said in an incredulous tone, "You liked that?" What a question! Of course I had! Didn't she? Had she missed something? And this was an awakening. I could see clearly that something had quality where my parents could not. Sure, when you're a child, you're enamored with all kinds of fun that adults allow with a smirk or a dull nod as you try to fill them in on your afternoon exploits in the woods behind your house. This was something else. This was adult fare that they couldn't seem to relate to, but I could. It spoke to my generation and not theirs.

I'm sure a person could make this same list with music albums, and while music holds a special place for me as well, this list could only be movies for me. Reservoir Dogs showed me that dialog could be more effective than explosions. In a world where actions speak louder than words, Tarantino proved otherwise.

Number Two: The Crow (1994)

Let's jump ahead a couple of years. Hostage on one of those bizarre vacations your parents drag their children to, I'm holed up in some hotel in a town that is now completely unmemorable and as evening loomed and dinner was ordered, choices flashed across the screen of which Pay-Per-View movie we would choose. There was no actual choice of course. In fact, none of the other movies even register in my mind anymore. I saw a preview for the Crow! That was the only movie we could watch. And watch I did. It had everything; the tragic hero, the emotional core, the timeless dialogue and music that I couldn't believe was in the world and I was missing it! Now, even though I loved comic books, at fourteen, I had yet to experience the personal journey that is the original source for the movie, the graphic novel by James O'Barr. It didn't matter. Alex Proyas (the director) had perfectly captured every nuance of what a comic book hero was. His graphic sensibilities, gave the visual nature of the Crow a comic feel more potent than Sin City and without using any of the CG technology we rely on today. Sure as a more mature film buff I now know that Proyas's rain soaked dystopia was heavily influenced, like so many, by Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, but I had no idea. To me, this was a revelation. I had no idea you could make a movie like this. (Perhaps this is a phrase I should refrain from using here on out as any movie that failed to do so would not be eligible for this list. Unlike Batman this movie didn't feel like a movie at all. Keaton and Nicholson were larger than life, but the movie had so many winks and nods to the audience, you couldn't help but know it was a Hollywood blockbuster. This was different. Sure I know who Brandon Lee and Tony Todd, Michael Wincott, etc. are now, but at that time, these weren't actors. I hadn't seen them in twelve other productions. These were characters and their rich world of cool, tempered by pain and suffering was something I had never seen before and I was hooked. I still love the Crow for all these reasons. It holds a special place in my heart, introduced me to heavy, rock, alternative music and a brilliant smash of kung fu, superhero, voodoo and the thick bleary eyed haze of revenge that will never leave me. As an aside, Proyas' second effort Dark City took his aesthetic to an entirely new level for me and is, I think, the stronger movie, but the Crow was the only movie that could have made this list.

The Top Ten Movie That Changed My Life

Before I take you through what is surely one of the most self-indulgent lists ever devised by a critic, I think it would be only pertinent to share a little of the person who has picked these movies. After all, a review is only worth its weight when viewed in the context of the man or woman who wrote it. Why would you care if I did or didn't like Transformers unless you had some insight into who it was that was telling you the sub-level of quality it strove for.

Warning:If you have little stomach for nostalgic masturbation, you may skip the following paragraph if you wish.

So a bit about me; I could regale you with the crazy number of DVDs adorning my walls, or that I review movies for a podcast site, shamelessly plugging my efforts on a weekly basis. I could tell you about how I own my own business selling comics in a well to do store in Metrotown Mall and spend most of my day talking about toys, comics and the great unifying force of cinema. As impressive as you might find all of these tawdry facts, the only thing that really should matter is how much I love movies. I'll watch two movies a day, one with my wife and one after she falls asleep. I'll annoy the crap out of friends and family with steady over-analysis of any movie I've recently seen and as sad as it seems, I quietly feed my broad love of genre films of which I can't seem to find peers to share with. Sure, I have friends who love horror flicks and I know a character or two who can wax enthusiastically at a myriad of kung fu movies, but I find people who love blaxploitation, noir, or have a frothing appreciation for the films of Steve McQueen few and far between. How enamored I am with film could possibly be due to my parents, as most things deeply rooted in one's self usually are. Both full time workers, and myself being a latch-key-kid, I would while away the hours from three-thirty to six in front of the TV. Sure, I would go out if there was someone to play with, but being an only child, come rain or shine, I could always rely on the boob tube to be there and take me to other worlds, where the rules of cliched friendships backed by soppy scores and riotous laugh tracks showed me what the moral majority thought we should all aspire to be or not to be. This is starting to sound like the Cable Guy now, right? Well my "babysitter" didn't take my sense of self away from me. This isn't some sad story of an abandoned child, neglected and left to fend for himself in front of a television. Come six-thirty, my parents would be home and dinner would be made and more often than not, we'd repair to the living room to watch a movie. My parents were avid renters and I can still remember our first VCR (also rented) that had the remote still attached via a six foot chord across the room. My father has taught me many valuable things in his lifetime, but one possibly unintended value I gleaned was the enjoyment of movies. After VCRs became the household staple for everyone, my father had already jerry rigged two together and started bootlegging copies of anything that came into our house. Then with the advent of "SuperChannel" the whole process became even easier. We had hundreds of movies. Everything from Hollywood blockbusters like "Ghostbusters" to long forgotten gems like "Crossroads" (and shame on you if you're thinking Britney Spears and not Ralph Machio). By the time highschool rolled around I was skipping school and staying at home to watch movies all day. Sure I got into all the other trouble that teenage boys do at the right ages, but there was always time for a movie. It wasn't until the end of high school and beginning of real life that I started to appreciate movies for all they could offer. I was raised on the action flicks of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Van Damme and comedies of John Candy and Dan Aykroyd and while these movies were surely great and entertaining films, there were other elements of film that I was missing. Key elements that separated me from the sick and deviant cinephile I've now become. The artistry of my father's favorites weren't fully appreciated until later in my life. Blade Runner was a lot of talking and too dark and mature for me to understand. Aliens was a great ride, but the technical achievements in creating the world it did, or the strength in the story and characters were certainly all enjoyed but not yet analyzed and fully understood.

So as I sit back now, admiring my extensive DVD collection, I wondered which are the films that brought me to where I am today? This is the heart of essay. It's not meant to show the world how encyclopedic my knowledge is by referencing little-known movies. Nor is it intended to run down the easily over hyped "best" of anything. These movies can have their flaws and their strengths that may or may not be addressed herein, but what this list covers are the movies seminal films that brought me along my way to appreciating movies the way I do today. Each one stands out in it's own way, teaching me something about the craft of movie making or about myself. There will be movies that most people would think are sorely missed off a list for someone from my generation, such as Star Wars. Who wasn't influenced by this supernova of a film? While it may be on your list, it won't be on mine for the simple fact that Star Wars is a part of who I am. It's a part of the world and is inescapable. I'm not trying to be unique, but for as long as I can remember, there has always been Star Wars. I was too young to remember the first time I saw it and therefore while I'm sure it has shaped me and my appreciation of movies, Star Wars is as the Earth. It was always there and will always be.

On the flip side, I considered putting Phantom Menace or Batman and Robin on the list. Both certainly had their effect on me and I can remember both experiences of watching them for
the first time in the theater and wondering how these things could have come to be. In Batman and Robin I saw for the first time how wrong a film maker could be in their vision. How every decision they made led them down a darker road and how sad it was that it could not be undone. In Phantom Menace I saw the awesome legend of of film hero George Lucas reduced to facts that should have been apparent to anybody. He is just a man. And like anyone else he is capable of mistakes. There was no way a new Star Wars movie could have been disappointing until the credits rolled and I found myself wondering what had just happened. Obviously, these feelings have since occurred time and time again, but those were the first. That's what this list is about, sure, but I want to stay on the positive side and share with you the movies that enriched my life and carried my love of movies to a deeper place than it had been before. So here we go in a roughly chronological order to keep things orderly.

Number One: Batman (1989)

I'm nine and going to the movies for the first time. I had never experienced anything like it before. The grandeur, the scope, the snacks or popcorn and fountain pop. A lobby filled with colorful posters for other movies, but mostly promoting the movie of the year, Batman!

Maybe it was the sugaring sweet snacks or maybe the thrilling dive into deep caverns and trenches that the camera takes in the opening sequence only to pull back and reveal the monolithic bat-symbol, but the whole experience seemed too much and I spent half the movie in the bathroom, being motion sick. But that didn't stop any of the impact coming through.
Here was a real superhero movie! A costume like none I had seen. In fact, a costume that set a standard still followed by superhero movies today. That was the last time anyone took the idea of spandex seriously, if they ever had. The art direction, the score, the darkness and yet still maintaining the ability to communicate with this nine year old boy. The world acknowledged the movie rightly for what it was: a classic and it left it's mark. Sure I didn't dare go back to a movie theater until '92 when the sequel came out, but I also never forgot that feeling of seeing it for the first time.

Stuck In Maui!!!

I had some stuff I wanted to post while I was shanghai-ed by life to Maui -yeah, I know, what a drag! I wanted to post a top ten list of movies that changed my world. It would have covered all ten days that I was out here, but due to an annoyingly stupid business center here that does not seem to allow copy and paste functions, I'll have to wait until I get back!

Until then, you'll all have to suffer with the meager leavings I have set up for the A3U Podcast site itself. There should be another kick ass movie review with Mike and Sean Yang up in a couple days and I just posted a DVD Vault review on Rogue. I'll post another DVD Vault review in a day or two.

Sorry for the crappy blogging!

Amazing Spiderman: Brand New Day (Marvel)

Did they really do it? Has Marvel actually delivered on their promise to bring Spiderman back from the land of “Who Cares”? The events of One More Day were so controversial and many still know if they agree with such a DC-like continuity screw up situation, but now with the first so many new Amazing Spiderman issues out, we can all judge for ourselves. Let’s over view:

So in One More Day Peter has Mephisto change history and wipe out his relationship with MJ. Why? Cuz the mutherfucker deals in human suffering, that’s why! It was a trade to save Aunt May’s life. Not a decision many would make, but it serves to bring us to where marvel editorial wanted to be; a brand new day for Spidey! Now he isn’t and has never been married, he still lives with Aunt May and is a photographer for the Daily Bugle again or still… whatever.

The choices made by Marvel and Peter have been weak and quite frankly disappointing for fans who have invested in ol’ Web Head for the last twenty or thirty years. Many would have preferred to see clever writers finding ways to make Spidey cool again without simply taking him back in time to when he was at his most popular and copying that shtick. More interesting however is this; the lame shtick works! It’s been a long time since a Spiderman book felt like a Spiderman book and it looks as though those days may be back. Cancelling the other Spider-titles and consolidating them all into one book that comes out three times a month is a brilliant move. Pete’s soap opera style life is something that people want to read every week and now they have it. The new format of the book brings more of the regular supporting cast of characters back into play and already has a mystery brewing amidst the constant myriad of sky high action scenes! Once again you’re getting caught up in Pete’s life and caring about all the nuances of what makes his life work, from his friends to his work to his family and love life, it simply feels like Marvel has injected life back into Spidey’s book.

As much as I wanted to read this book and shake my head in disgust of what they’ve done to the Wall Crawler, I simply couldn’t. In this case the ends justified the means, I have my Spiderman back! And if anyone dares to doubt the direction of the writers and whether or not they know what they’re doing, there’s a six page Spider-mandate by Editor Tom Brevoort outlining to the writers what makes Spiderman great and how they should use those elements to bring him back. This document is a holy grail for Spiderman and any writer thinking of putting pen to paper on this book should be forced to adhere to its sage council. Thumbs up!

Green Lantern: In Brightest Day (DC)

With “In Brightest Day”, DC squeezes a unique collection of ring slinging adventures between two covers. With all of Geoff Johns epic GL tales lately and his next big arc “The Blackest Night” poised on the horizon to take the DCU by storm, one might think this is the newest book of Hal Jordan’s exploits. Not so. The greatest stories told about the Green Lantern in decades are easily Johns’ resurrection of Hal Jordan in “Rebirth” and his subsequent battles in “the Sinstro Corps War” books. With that in mind, it makes complete sense to tap into that and bring readers a book like “In Brightest Day”.

This is a book comprised of thirteen Lantern stories handpicked by Johns’ that span the entire history of the Corps itself. Each story has a commentary by Johns that precedes it, to tell you why he picked it and if any, it’s significance in the Green Lantern mythos. From the charming stories at the beginning of Hal’s career, to the birth of each of the Corps greatest heroes, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Mogo, etc. this book gives old fans a great tome of the best collected adventures and fan favorite moments, while newer fans can see some the history of the book and fill in gaps in their knowledge to see some of what has come before, what makes the series great. Throw in some Alan Moore stories and you’ve just kicked up to some next level shit!

The book is thoroughly enjoyable and has ties and hints as to what lies ahead in the Blackest Night. Johns’ commentaries give great perspective of why you’re reading these particular stories and more insight into his feelings of the Corps and the various characters. This book packs a lot in and doesn’t disappoint, unless you were looking for more Geoff Johns stories. The only thing missing was a good Kilowog story!

Friday the 13th Recap (Wildstorm)

Friday the 13^th Vol.2

More mutilation and savage murders fill the second book of Wildstorm’s Friday the 13^th series! Rather than a standalone story collected from the issues of one miniseries, this book is a collection of smaller stories, comprised of single or two issue arcs. These stories range from greatly stylized and fun to poorly conceptualized and bizarre, but they all share two things; the man in the hockey mask and bloody violence!

The first story is one that sheds light on Mrs. Voorhees’ history of how she got to where we find her in the first issue. It shows Jason’s father and young Jason himself and while this is supposed to give us more insight into what makes them killers or give us more psychological reasoning behind their reign of terror, instead it serves to actually discredit Jason’s story and the tragedy of their motives. For instance, while Jason is a boy, he’s shown as being cruel to animals and torturing them to death. This is written by someone who doesn’t understand that Jason is actually the hero in his story, back from the dead on a misguided quest for vengeance against those who helped cause his drowning through their negligence. Mrs. Voorhees may be crazy, but it is an insanity brought on by grief and anger from the loss of her boy. She’s on a similar path for retribution, but showing that she was always crazy, simply takes away from the tragedy of their story. When you watch a Jason movie, you root for him to kill people, this story is simply ridiculous.

As the other tales go on they get better. There’s a one issue story nicely stylized by artist Andy B. even if the story is a little silly and misplaced in a Friday the 13^th book. In “Badland”, the third story, writer Ron Marz and artist Mike Huddleston tell a two issue story that flash back and forth between a snowy Jason story of today and a similar revenge tale a hundred years ago. The lines in the art are as crisp and solid as Marz’s storyline. This story lends credibility to the theory that the lake is the source of evil or retribution.

In the last and best story in the trade, Jason Aaron and Adam Archer spin us a wicked tale called, “How I Spent My Summer.” Over two issues we see a similarly disfigured boy set upon by Jason at another camp and spared. Jason recognizes their shared pain and takes care of the child in his own way. There’s much more to the story, but it is a perfect demonstration of a writer understanding the mechanics of Jason Voorhees. Unlike the first story, Aaron gives Jason sympathy and makes him the hero. This is perfect because while watching the Friday movies we all cheer for a homicidal maniac and that is the same dynamic that is needed in these books. Adam Archer who previously drew the first volume in its entirety is the perfect artist for any Jason book. His rendering of Jason takes him beyond being simply “a man in a hockey mask” and gives him the spirit of Kane Hodder. This story is worth the price of admission alone.

From good to bad, this book should have something for everyone’s sensibilities. Always welcome around Halloween, I hope Wildstorm has more in store for us by next year. Despite any distaste over the first story, it’s undeniable that, this book becomes more enjoyable as you read it!

Friday the 13^th Volume 1

How completely sweet is it when all the right components come together at the right time and place with such synergy that a miracle is born? I’m not talking about the birth of old JC, far from it! Jason might actually be the anti-christ, but good god I love him! The event I’m talking about is a horror comic based on a movie franchise “getting it right”!

In the kitchen, the chefs; writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist extraordinaire Adam Archer cook up a culinary delight with all the right ingredients. Let’s see, a splash of blood here, a pinch of nudity there, a simple and yet pitch perfect plot of stupid teenagers boiled to perfection in a hot pot of tension and terror! Point of fact, I won’t even touch on the plot of this book, if you’ve seen a Friday the 13^th movie, you don’t need a recap of these events; teenagers fixing up a camp for the next year’s brats? Been there, done that! But that’s what a Jason movie is about! Within that basic framework are the characters that pull you along with the story and make this such an interesting read. Well, that and the nudity.

Machetes in the face, brains bashed out and severed heads flying around will keep all hard core gore hounds with their eyes glued to the page! With artwork, that has already been covered when I reviewed the second volume, by Adam Archer you have what will possible the best Friday the 13^th graphic novel to ever come out. Now while I know that the competition isn’t too stiff, any fan of the movies would be remiss to pass it up!