NINTENDO QUEST (review) - Forces Of Geek

There were 678 Nintendo games releases for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America.

This is the story of lifelong friends issuing a challenge to one another to collect them all in 30 days.

Jay Bartlett is a super-fan of Nintendo and Star Wars, already has most of these games but must start from scratch using his own money and no online purchases in a race against the clock.

Nintendo Quest is the documentation of that journey and the hero’s challenges along the way as real life and anxiety set in as stumbling blocks toward achieving the goal.

Jay Bartlett and friend Rob McCallum (writer/director) have been friends for 30 years.

To channel the thrill of the hunt and also to showcase some great Nintendo trivia and history, Rick started a Kickstarter under the name NES Club. Nintendo Quest is the successful product of a crowdfunded movie, at the very least. They incorporate some great original 8-bit graphics for titles as well as an 8-bit soundtrack to set the mood.

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FINDING NEIGHBORS (movie review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Judy Korin, Jennifer Day Young
Written and Directed by Ron Judkins
Starring Michael O’Keefe, Catherine Dent, Blake Bashoff,
Julie Mond, Sean Patrick Thomas, Mike Genovese

Do you ever feel stuck?

I’m sure some of us (speaking for myself of course) reaching middle age feel that way all the time. Even when stuff is going well, it’s never going anywhere it seems. Or, at least that’s how it is on the bad days.

When Sam Tucker (Michael O’Keefe — Caddyshack, Michael Clayton), a working cartoonist feels stuck he looks for his neighbors for some inspiration, support and a change of pace.

This independently released film was a great exploration into realistic characters and their lives intertwining. While dealing with somewhat mundane routines, Finding Neighbors never itself feels that way. This is a colorful portrait of Sam, his sensitivities as an aging man in a relationship and his relationship with his work and other people’s expectations of him.

Sam struggles with his ever straining relationship with his wife Mary (Catherine Dent, The Shield, Auto-Focus) and befriends his gay neighbor Jeff (Blake Bashoff, Lost) and gets intimate with the details of Jeff’s own ennui. Another neighbor Sherrie (Julie Mond, Exit Speed, General Hospital) plays the temptress next door whom Sam can see showering outdoors from his drawing studio window.

Will all of these complications make things better between Sam and Mary, and will Sam follow up his latest graphic novel with something — daresay anything? Mostly he’s stuck on his story and can’t get anywhere with it.

This is where Jeff comes in.

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SALAD DAYS: A DECADE OF PUNK IN WASHINGTON DC (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Wishing for the days
When I first wore this suit
Baby has grown older
It’s no longer cute
Too many voices
They’ve made me mute
Baby has grown ugly
It’s no longer cute

But I stay on, I stay on
Where do I get off?
On to greener pastures
The core has gotten soft

— Minor Threat, Salad Days (1985)

Reflecting on these lyrics thirty years later, the documentary Salad Days: A Decade Of Punk In Washington DC serves as a backstage pass to one of the most explosive and important hardcore punk scenes in this country. 

One could argue that Ian MacKaye’s bands and Dischord Records label defined the look, attitude and stage behavior of East Coast hardcore and straight edge kids from up in Boston down to Gainesville for years to come. 

This documentary puts the spotlight on McKaye and Jeff Nelson (Minor Threat, Dischord Records), Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Dave Grohl as well as horror comic writer Steve Niles (Gray Matter) among many others to patch together a decent image of D.C. punk in the 80s.

I was pretty stupid back then.

Well, let’s say uncultured. Let me go back. I was a teenager once.

Like many teenagers, I needed to rely on older siblings to clue me into my next move. It wasn’t my sister (Guns-N-Roses fan) that got me into punk rock. Rather, it was a complex web of a social circle and older siblings that circulated mix tapes of everything cool from Violent Femmes (who’s ‘Add it Up’ connected with me the way it could only connect with a virgin’s sex drive) to Minor Threat, we had it figured out. 

And then we started our bands. The rest as they say is a rather boring personal history that means nothing besides that it was real. Real to us. Music, expression, Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedys and the through line to McKaye’s later band Fugazi and $5 shows was very real. 

Hot summertime basements were filled with our bands. We scrawled giant X’s on our hands one week and then asked the same older brothers to buy us beer the next. We played next to washing machines and bicycles in the cellar and waited for the cops to come.

We bought army jackets, paint, sewed patches and made our own version of ‘The Sound of Punk to Come’. We weren’t very cool, but that’s what we were.

90% of what we were TRYING to do every day was to be like Minor Threat.

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JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Doomed planet. 

Desperate scientists. 

Last hope. 

Kindly couple. 

Superman.

— Grant Morrison, All-Star Superman

Grant Morrison is most certainly capable of distilling Superman down into a few words, especially when introducing what has since become considered one of the greatest stories of all time of the iconic character.

Another master of the DC Universe  is Bruce Timm, the mastermind behind Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Batman Beyond (to name a few).

Timm is back in with his latest project,  an alternate reality version of Justice League with Justice League: Gods and Monsters, which debuted on Machinima last month with three shorts and has been released this week as a feature length animated movie.

These new interpretations include Superman / Hernan Guerra (Benjamin Bratt, 24, Modern Family), the spawn of General Zod and Lara Lor Van’s DNA (in vitro, you pervs) raised by a Mexican farming family.

Batman is the creature of the night we know in our world as Man-Bat, Kurt Langstrom (Michael C. Hall, Dexter).

Rounding out the un-holy trinity is Bekka, granddaughter of Highfather from New Genesis aka Wonder Woman (Tamara Taylor, Bones, Lost).

With a reimagined DC Universe including dozens of Easter Eggs and a President Amanda Waller calling the shots, Alan Burnett (Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond) and Timm’s PG-13 alternate reality gets a little racier thanThe Animated Series ever could. A member of the new guard for DCAU Sam Liu (Batman: Year One, All-Star Superman) directs.

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SPY (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Paul Feig, Jessie Henderson,

Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping

Written and Directed by Paul Feig

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham,

Rose Byrne, Miranda Hart, Bobby Cannavale,

Nargis Fakhri, Allison Janney, Jude Law

Melissa McCarthy’s latest movie Spy is a treat.

Director Paul Feig graduated McCarthy from supporting player in 2011’s Bridesmaids, to co-star in 2013’s The Heat and now, badass leading lady in Spy. 

The comedic sendup of the classic James Bond formula goes back at least as far as the original 1967 Casino Royale and Get Smart but also was reinvented in the ‘90s by Mike Myers in Austin Powers.

Gadgets, plane fights, prat falls and cat-lady sweaters are what populatesSpy.

Next year, Feig will take McCarthy into her next showbiz tier with Ghostbusters, where she’ll get her doctorate in ‘ensemble cast’.

Susan Cooper is a CIA Agent, working as an assistant to field agent Bradley Fine (Jude Law). She witnesses Fine’s brutal murder via a very unrealistic ‘contact lens camera’ as she’s guiding him through his final mission. 

When the CIA is made aware of a possible leak, the only thing left to do is send someone after his murderer Rayna Boyanov (Rose Byrne). Hothead agent Rick Ford played by Jason Statham is a braggart and bumbling parody of the usual roles the actor plays. 

Ford goes rogue when the agency picks the unassuming analyst Susan Cooper to go out into the field to Paris to gather intel on that “Thundercunt” Rayna, her bosses and a nuclear bomb!

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BATMAN UNLIMITED: ANIMAL INSTINCTS (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

The strange Batsuits with angular black and yellow emblem we’ve been seeing at Target from Mattel have been finally been brought to life by Warner Bros Animation and DC Comics. If you were off-put by the Batman and Robin (1997) look of the things, you are not alone.

My expectation of an eventual animated property were that of a Joel Schumacher ice rocket, plummeting further into the abyss.

Expectations mean a lot to Batman fans, and we especially take note when they are exceeded. 
Bat-fans may be surprised by this with the latest offering, Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts.  

Keep in mind though, this isn’t New 52 Batman, this movie is geared toward a younger all-ages crowd.

Roger Craig Smith reprises his role as Batman/Bruce Wayne from the video games Lego Batman 3 and Batman: Arkham Origins. Charlie Schlatter returns to The Flash role from Superman: TAS and The Batman, Green Arrow appears alongside Nightwing, Red Robin, and Alfred for an alliance that is more Outlaws than Justice League to face down Penguin and the ‘Animalitia’.

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Slamdance 2015: BATKID BEGINS: THE WISH HEARD AROUND THE WORLD (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno
Produced by Liza Meak, Dana Nachman
Written By Dana Nachman, Kurt Kuenne
Directed by Dana Nachman
Featuring Miles Scott, Natalie Scott , Nick Scott,
Teresa Clovicko, Audrey Copper, Katie Cotton,
Ama Daetz, Mike DeJesus, Ej Johnston, Sue Graham Johnston, Mike Jutan


Having just returned from San Francisco, I can safely say that the city is intact, largely thanks to a brave little boy named Miles Scott aka Batkid.

By thwarting The Riddler and The Penguin and saving not only a lady on the trolley tracks but also SF Giants mascot Lou Seal, Miles was given the Key to the City from Mayor Ed Lee on November 15, 2013.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation made Miles’ dream come true and in turn, a city was transformed into a heroic playground for the leukemia survivor.

Batkid saved the day, took over our social media for the afternoon and everyone from fellow Batmen Affleck, Kilmer and Keaton to President Obama thanked him for his service.

Batkid Begins documents the small town of Tulelake, CA family’s battle with cancer and the redeeming qualities of community based action. What was meant to be perhaps 100 volunteers turned into an entire city playing a small background character in a real life Batman Movie starring our Batkid, a five-year-old Miles Scott.

I remember ‘Batkid’ Day.

We’re three hours ahead so here on the East Coast this was prime twitter time for me. It was unavoidable. Even Facebook’s algorithms couldn’t stop that which was the heart of this thing.

It was all over everywhere, and I shared and retweeted as much as I saw from #SFBATKID on Twitter, reading about this amazing story.

Batkid Begins tells the story of Miles and his parents and their struggle since Miles was diagnosed at 18 months. Can cancer just stop it already? I mean that villain goes after a young kid that just wants to play with his toys all day and run around in a cape. Actually, as clarified near the beginning of the movie, 18 months is old enough to qualify for the amazing work of Make-A-Wish, but the parents smartly waited until he was a bit older and he fought his own battles and became more of a person before asking Miles what his wish would be.

Naturally, putting anyone, let alone a kid, through countless draining hours of treatment can take its toll. Steroids, chemo, the whole stinkin’ lot of it is the pits. What comes out of that is a spirit of being a fighter. And that is around the time Miles’ Dad Nick introduced him to Adam West on TV as Batman. Our little Bruce Wayne fell head over heals for the Caped Crusader and demanded his own cape for dress-up.

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AMERICAN SNIPER (movie review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Bradley Cooper stars in the Clint Eastwood directed American Sniper. A sure-shot for Oscar winner, with a total of six nominations, this heartbreaking war picture astounds with it’s scale.

From hearing the sniper’s heartbeat quicken to the plucked the heartstrings on the home-front, the true life story of Navy Seal Chris Kyle’s life brought to the big screen may be a crowning accomplishment for both Cooper and Eastwood. The story unfolds between tours as ‘The Legend’ returns home and Kyle is forced to adjust to civilian life and the effects of the thousand-yard stare of a true American hero.

Sienna Miller costars as Taya Kyle — Chris’ wife forced to stay at home and raise kids while her husband — the greatest sniper in the world — agrees to multiple tours fighting the War in Afghanistan.

Eastwood and Cooper were highlighted in two of my favorite films of last year, Jersey Boys and Guardians of The Galaxy. These movies, one a musical and the other a comic book action romp could not have been more different a movie than we are given with American Sniper.  

Sniper marks the first time these strong leading men worked together, and markedly this is a very serious film and shift in tone for both.

As a director, Eastwood has been taking audiences on a more introspective and serious ride in his later years with movies set in the present day like Million Dollar Baby, Gran Turino all the way back to Mystic River to name a few. He’s taken on the horrors of war with period pieces Iwo Jima and to some extent in J. Edgar.

By basing this film on the autobiography of Chris Kyle (American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History - with Scott McEwen & Jim DeFelice), the realism is ramped up to such intensity that only seeing the film in theaters will do it justice.

From the accuracy of the SEAL sniper training to the small moments at home where men can not express feelings or emotion about doing their job abroad will chill you to the bone.

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BLACKHAT (movie review) at FORCES OF GEEK

BLACKHAT (review)

Review by Clay N Ferno
Produced by Thomas Tull, Michael Mann, Jon Jashni
Written by Morgan Davis Foehl, Michael Mann
Directed by Michael Mann
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Tang Wei, Viola Davis,
Ritchie Coster, Holt McCallany,  Yorick van Wageningen,

Chris Hemsworth leads the cast as convicted white collar hacker Nicholas Hathaway enlisted by the FBI and the Chinese to take down a globe-spanning network of criminals threatening the safety of the world’s economy and nuclear energy in Blackhat.

Divisive director Michael Mann (Heat, Public Enemies) gets on the cyber-hacking bandwagon nearly twenty years too late, but the movie does have some great action moments if you can start to follow the logic of the thing.

Co-star Tang Wei (Lust, Caution) delivers a great performance as Lien Chen, partner to the furloughed Hathaway, though she could have easily been given more to do as a female leading lady by Mann or the story architects.

Blackhat is a named after a hacker term for someone who can decode high level security. How that translates to the screen is often hum-drum and at times this is where the movie dictates its own very slow pace. Close-up shots of USB flash drives, 1’s and 0s scrolling across the screen a la The Matrix all look cool — for a second — but this sets the tone as being a bore from the intro.

The movie opens on one computer terminal, follows the signal down to the Tron-like circuit board and into a CPU.

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THE GAMBLER (movie review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Irwin Winkler, Robert Chartoff, 

Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, David Winkler

Screenplay by William Monahan

Based on The Gambler by James Toback

Directed by Rupert Wyatt

Starring Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, 

Brie Larson, Michael K. Williams, Jessica Lange, 

Emory Cohen, George Kennedy, Richard Schiff

Mark Wahlberg stars in a remake of 1974’s The Gambler directed by Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Escapist). No, not Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, that came out in 1980!  Wahlberg takes on the role of Jim Bennett, a college professor with a knack for getting in deep with the wrong kinds of people while feeding his gambling habit. 

The rest of the cast features heavy hitters Jessica Lange as Jim’s long-suffering rich mother, John Goodman as Frank the whale and one of our favorite actors from HBO’s Boardwalk Empire and The Wire, Michael Kenneth Williams.

Brie Larsen (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) is Amy Phillips, a literature student working off her student loans nights at an upscale underground Hollywood casino. Amy knows her professor’s secret but is not the only student to be affected by the Bennett’s actions—mirroring points in the original film.

There is more than debt resolution and distracted teaching in this film, however. Wahlberg delivers a serious performance of a man bordering on being out of control with his habits but not an addict.

There may be more to what we see behind Jim Bennett’s blackjack face.

Some other reviewers and I were all invited to what could best be described as a meet and greet with director Rupert Wyatt when he was in town. There, we cozied up and in the least formal way imaginable—over tea sandwiches and soup in the lobby of a Boston hotel—to take advantage of a rare opportunity to talk to the director in an intimate setting. Being on the opposite coast of such regular occurrences, I took full advantage of this and broke bread with Mr. Wyatt and we all picked his brain about working with hometown Hollywood anti-hero Wahlberg his experiences making this movie. Martin Scorsese was once attached to The Gambler, but Rupert was the final directorial choice.

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BIG EYES (movie review) - at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Tim Burton, Scott Alexander, 

Larry Karaszewski, Lynette Howell

Written by Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Directed by Tim Burton

Starring Amy Adams, Christoph Waltz,

 Danny Huston, Jon Polito, Krysten Ritter, 

Jason Schwartzman, Terence Stamp

Set in the sixties, Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, is based on the life of artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) and her shyster husband, Walter (Christoph Waltz). This is a sidestep from Burton’s previous work while still maintaining some of his signature weirdness. Supporting cast includes Jason Schwartzman, Krysten Ritter, Terence Stamp, Danny Huston and a host of others. 

The title comes from Margaret’s ‘waif’ paintings, you’ve seen these and knockoffs for years, perhaps in your grandma’s sitting room.

The unfortunates look sad and look through you, and Big Eyes means to set the record straight about who is behind the brush.

I’m surprised at the PG-13 rating for this one, as the subject matter is tame and a bit of a departure from what you might expect from a Tim Burton movie. Other reviewers have been comparing this to 1994’s biopic Ed Wood. Needless to say, where Burton shines are in locations where you may expect to see him — in Halloween Town or Wonderland. The only real fantasy we get is in the supermarket where everyone is taken over by Big Eye syndrome among 60’s pop art exaggerated product branding straight from the cover of The Who Sell Out.

The styling, costumes and the set pieces are very much of the time — we’re trained to expect a certain throwback to the same era after seven seasons of Mad Men — and the overall palette of the picture is as bright as you may expect. 

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SHE MAKES COMICS (movie review) - at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Karen Green, Patrick Meaney, 

Jordan Rennert, and Marisa Stotter

Executive Produced by, Julian Darius and Mike Phillips

Directed by Marisa Stotter

Starring Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins, Karen Berger,

Joyce Farmer, Karen Berger, Kelly Sue DeConnick, 

Becky Cloonan, Wendy and Richard Pini, 
Jenette Kahn, Marie Severin, Paul Levitz

She Makes Comics is the latest film by the Sequart Organization funded by Kickstarter and available for sale and digital download for comics fans of any gender.

Marisa Stotter directs this documentary produced in association with Respect! Films that delves into the history, present and future of female fandom, lady creators and what it means to be a fan of comics today. A true celebration of the medium, She Makes Comics puts the spotlight on key contributors, editors and cosplayers to encourage young girls and women to embrace what they love.

It seems like you can’t swing a longbox these days without running into some internet discourse or open letter about gamergate, cosplayers at conventions or fan backlash about new costume designs for female heroes (looking good, Batgirl and Spider-Woman)!

As a straight white male (boring, I know!) checking my privilege seems to be something I do without such reminders but I’m grateful to have the opportunity to review great films like this.

We need more movies like She Makes Comics! 

Not only are we given a history lesson about comic books, a subject that I’ve quite literally worn the leather of my armchair reading up on, but we get to learn and listen to important lessons in this documentary. I watched this with my girlfriend, also a comic book fan and we were high-fiving throughout! Mostly when Kelly Sue DeConnick was speaking, because she’s just so cool.

Scanning the indicia (you know, the tiny print on the inside of comic books, usually page 1) and the credits was something I always did while reading comics as a kid (didn’t everyone? No?).

Some of my favorite books were by ladies and I thought nothing of it, I mean anyone can write and draw a book, right? There were Mary Shelley and Anne Rice for example. Until I grew into an adult, I had NO IDEA what kind of struggle an Ann Nocenti, Louise Simonson or Lynn Varley might be dealing with just because they were female. I saw them just as creators — and most of the time I thought they did a better job than their male counterparts.

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HORRIBLE BOSSES 2 (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Brett Ratner, Jay Stern, John Morris

Screenplay by Sean Anders, John Morris

Story by John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, 

Sean Anders, John Morris

Directed by Sean Anders

Starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, 

Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Chris Pine,

Christoph Waltz, Jonathan Banks, Kevin Spacey

Hollywood returns to the well once again for another sequel that questions it’s own existence!

Thankfully, the familiar television and movie stars making up the ensemble cast do have their moments, and Horrible Bosses 2 isn’t a complete waste of time.

Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day reprise their roles as Nick, Kurt and Dale and become their own bosses unleashing a new product “The Shower Buddy” onto the world.

Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Spacey return as well, along with mastermind “Motherfucker” Jones — Jamie Foxx.

Added this time around are the father/son team of leading man Chris Pine and Basterd Chrisopher Waltz. 

For schlock value, if you like to tune out here’s a movie for you, with some funny moments but the spark isn’t as bright as the original concept or the director Sean Ander’s last effort behind the camera, Adam Sandler’s That’s My Boy.

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LEGENDS OF THE KNIGHT (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Brett Culp,Tricia Culp, 

Matt Andrews, Josh Costella, Ian del Carmen, 

Vasilis K. Pozios, 5th Element Events, Sultan Saeed 

Al Darmaki, Sultan Al Saud, Southeast Psych

Written and Directed by Brett Culp

Starring Michael Uslan, Denny O’Neil, 

Lenny B Robinson, Jill Pantozzi, Kye Sapp, 

Petaluma Batman, Rabbi Cary Friedman, 

Dr. Travis Langley, Gotham Chopra, 

Brian Elliott, Patrick O’Connor, Daniel Scott

As a side dish to your binge-watch of Batman ’66 DVDs we present to you Legends of the Knight from Virgil Films. The documentary takes a look at people passionate to a fault about the Caped Crusader on his 75th Anniversary.

From Batman film franchise executive producer Michael Uslan’s story, to the one-legged breakdancing Daniel Scott to Lenny Robinson — “Maryland Batman”, each vignette tells the story of people making the world better as if Batman were real.

Brett Culp’s touching documentary shows the side of fandom not exploited by cosplay press, but the human side of using Batman as an inspiration to make the world a better place.

As an avatar of justice for the past seventy-five years, Batman has meant a lot to a lot of different people.

This documentary explores how a fictional character like Batman is a real life role model to kids and adults across the world. Sure, Adam West, Christian Bale, Michael Keaton and the rest are all very different models on the screen, but the essence of Batman as a hero is always the same.

Like a perpetual “It Gets Better” campaign, Batman is lurking in the shadows to show kids that the impossible is possible and to do what is right.

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Birdman: Following The Superhero Actor’s Trajectory - at JIMSULLIVANINK.com

I had expected Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman to be a little on the nose as far as following the career of Michael Keaton. I was pleasantly surprised to find out this was not the case. Keaton has continued to act and be successful since his Batman of 1986, and remains a respected and relevant actor even if not as active as he once was. Keaton plays Riggan Thompson, once famous for his roles inBirdman I, II & III (presumably things went down hill for Riggan when he refused to cash in on the opportunity to do Birdman IV — analogue to the Batman franchise and the Schumacher bombasts to follow the gritty Tim Burton Dark Knight interpretation. Riggan finds himself struggling to stay in the spotlight on Broadway, producing, directing and starring in his own play “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” by Raymond Carver.

Another superhero movie actor, (arguably three, all told) stars in the film, Edward Norton. Norton’s own relationship with his Marvel superhero, The Incredible Hulk (2008) is complex as he was replaced unceremoniously by Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers (2012). Norton’s arrogance off screen is perhaps a reason he was replaced, and here in Birdman he plays a well known stage actor Mike Shiner, struggling to inject realism on the stage playing opposite his girlfriend Lesley (Naomi Watts). Shiner drinks real gin on stage, throws tantrums and is just a real dick to everyone. Perhaps it is because he can’t get it up!

Zach Galifianakis plays Riga’s agent and astraight man this time around. As comic artist Ray Hueston in HBO’s Bored to Death, he played the alter ego of Super Ray — a hero that can fight with his enlarged penis!

[READ MORE AT JIMSULLIVANINK.COM]

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GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Review by Clay N Ferno

Produced by Kevin Feige

Screenplay by James Gunn, Nicole Perlman

Based on Guardians of the Galaxy by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning

Directed by James Gunn

Starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, 

Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, 

Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, 

Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin

Marvel Studios, James Gunn and Kevin Feige have done it.

They’ve taken sci-fi to a new level, brought humor to the game and among the accomplishments too many to list have made unknown characters to the spotlight with great actors to get Marvel Cosmic into movie theaters across the globe.

The ensemble cast, one who is a raccoon, another a tree, spark on the screen and the space battle action triples from the previous epic-scale Marvel movie, The Avengers. 

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DIAGRAM FOR DELIQUENTS (review) at FORCES OF GEEK

equart takes on the Senator McCarthy of comics, Dr. Frederick Wertham in their latest deep dive into comic book history.

Longtime fans of comics are familiar with the Comics Code Authority stamp on nearly every comic book cover until very recently, and those with a sharp sense of comic book history are familiar with Wertham’s damaging 1954 book,Seduction of the Innocent.

The book blamed comic books and other media for the rising problem of juvenile delinquency in the United States and spearheaded regulation for the funny books.

1954’s comic book hearings in front of United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency had Wertham as the key witness. 

From censorship to juvenile delinquency to the severed heads in EC Comics,Diagram for Delinquents looks at the tarnished side of the Silver Age and how one man changed the face of comics and book publishing forever.

This documentary explores the nature of the censorship in the 50s and the lasting effects of how the Comics Code continues to ripple into how publishers make decisions to this day. 

Wertham’s motivations are explored and his little known contributions to the African-American Civil Rights Movement are also spotlighted, showing that the man was complex, compassionate and not as much of a demon as everyone may perceive.

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A BRONY TALE (Review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

Ashleigh Ball is a voice over actress and singer for Canadian indie pop band Hey Ocean! who played at my nightclub in Cambridge, MA last year. Another performer to grace the same stage last year was the twenty-one year-old Silva Hound, an Atlanta, GA DJ that spins Brony remixes on a tour with Brony musicians as Musiquestria.

A Brony Tale tells the story of Ashleigh going to her first BronyCon as the voice of Applejack and Rainbow Dash, main characters on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic animated TV show. 

This is the second documentary about the Brony subculture to cross my desk, and the second to make me visit the show again as we see fandom’s most picked on rise above the negativity outside and embrace community inside. 

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THE IMAGE REVOLUTION (review) AT FORCES OF GEEK

‏Twenty years ago, the comic book industry’s top guns took their pen nibs, pouches, flowy capes and big eyes away from the Big Two and started Image Comics. Creator ownership and the comic book industry fundamentally changed that day when McFarlane, Larsen, Liefeld, Silvestri, Lee, Valentino, and Portacio took control of the business of comic books and the rights to their own characters. 

‏Written and directed by Patrick Meany and produced by Seqart in association with Respect! Films, The Image Revolution interviews the guys, plus Sean Howe (Marvel Comics: The Untold Story), Image publisher Eric Stephenson, Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Nick Spencer (Morning Glories) and many more to tell the tale of the early ‘rock star’ days of Image Comics and takes us through today. With the success of The Walking Deadand Image Comics dominating the creator owned market and business model, the impossible dream became real.

We get another great inside the bullpen look from Respect! Films here, highly recommended for fans of these superstar creators but mostly for people of my comic book reading generation. The early ‘90s were an amazing time to be reading the books coming out from Marvel. 

‏The split happened right before our eyes, and like many things no one was sure if it would work.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]

JERSEY BOYS - (movie review) - at FORCES OF GEEK

Produced by Clint Eastwood, Graham King, 

Robert Lorenz

Screenplay by Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice

Based on Jersey Boys by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Starring John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, 

Michael Lamenda, Vincent Piazza, Christopher Walken

John Lloyd Young stars as Frankie Valli in the Clint Eastwood directed movie Jersey Boys, based on the jukebox musical of the same name.

This retelling of the origin of the Four Seasons flips from being Goodfellas to Bye Bye Birdie, adds a bit of previously unknown dangerous element to the pop groups’ origin, and offers another outlet for Eastwood’s directorial oeuvre. 

The talented cast are triple threats in the classical show-biz way, and the romantic notion of cutting a record and shopping it around to labels is illustrated in the musical as the quartet finally gets a name and a ‘sound’.

Told partially by having each of the members of the Four Seasons break the fourth wall and narrate the story, we start out with Vincent Piazza (Boardwalk Empire) as founding member Tommy DeVito. His criminal activities, black market dealings and revolving door at the state prison make for a very Henry Hill intro to the movie.

[READ MORE AT FORCES OF GEEK]