Great Signing at Pulp Fiction Culver City

More Capsule Reviews

Brooklyn

I’ve wanted to see this film, starring Saoirse Ronan, since its release in 2015. After I missed it in theaters, it never seemed to show up on one of my streamers (yes, I probably could have rented or purchased it digitally, of course). But recently, I happened to be on Max, looking for something to watch, and there it was.

My patience was rewarded—set in the 1950s, it’s a quiet but emotional and touching film, about a young woman who immigrates from Ireland to the U.S.—specifically, Brooklyn where she is aided by an Irish immigrant community—in search of opportunities for a better life. She meets a young man and marries, but briefly questions her decision when she returns to Ireland for a visit.

There is nothing earth shattering or deeply traumatic here—and though people have their foibles, most mean well—but it nevertheless is a wonderfully warm human drama about a young woman's immigrant experience.

Long Way Round

After recently seeing Ewan McGregor during his recent appearance at the L.A. Comic Con, I was inspired to watch the first season (from 2004) of his travelogue series, Long Way Round, where he motorbiked around the world with chum and fellow actor Charley Boorman, after the series came up during his panel conversation.

The series reminded me of a wonderful book, Lone Rider, by Elspeth Beard, that I read and reviewed here several years back, who undertook a similar journey, alone and much less heralded, as well as other excellent travelogue shows like Michael Palin’s journeys and even the original British television series, Top Gear, that frequently embarked on journeys to places both touristy and remote. 

It’s a fascinating series, partly because time is spent on the logistical planning for the trip. And there are some amazing moments, particularly as they traverse areas with literally no roads, sometimes with the help of random Russian truckers. 

I partly enjoy these shows because I’ve found them to be beneficial for the “globe trotting” aspects of my comics work, showing remote, nearly inaccessible places and first hand experiences that don’t come up in ordinary research, that sometimes even inspire my stories.

My Adventures with Superman (Max)

Finally finished the second season of My Adventures With Superman—thought it was terrific. When I went into the first season, I thought it was going to be an episodic villain-of-the-week series, but it turned out to be more ambitious than that with a season-long arc involving Superman learning about his Kryptonian/alien identity. Season 2 builds on that as Superman learns more about his roots, deals with the fears that the public (and government) have for him, and the show opens up into space and science fiction.

I don’t know whether season 2 was based on any of the recent comics, but frankly, I thought the story arc was impressive enough on both an emotional and thematic level to serve as the basis of a full-length live action Superman film, bringing in Supergirl, Brainiac and even touching on the existential threat AI potentially poses to civilization. 

Bad Monkey (AppleTV+)

This series has been a fun watch. Set in the Florida Keys, this black comedy crime drama features a diverse cast of characters, many with their own secrets, flaws and agendas, but all driven by a central mystery set up in the very opening scene involving a severed arm. Although the “mystery” of that arm is revealed early in the series, the twisty storyline never loses its momentum.

At the center of it is a demoted and suspended police detective, played by series’ lead Vince Vaughn, whose distinctive persona and improv chops serve to elevate and distinguish the character and the series. In some ways, Bad Monkey is a shaggy dog story that is as much about the journey and character arc of suspended police detective Andrew Yancy as the mystery—indeed, the final payback of the main villain, almost a deux ex machina ending, seems almost like an afterthought and could easily have felt like a bit of a cop out and unsatisfying, had the other loose ends had not been tied up so satisfyingly.

Jeeves and Wooster

I recently re-watched the British Jeeves and Wooster television series. My wife and I discovered the series when it first aired in the 1990s, which not only introduced us to the world of P.G. Wodehouse, but also made us fans of the series’ leads, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Fry and Laurie were already known in Great Britain—particularly due to their comedy sketch show, A Bit of Fry and Laurie—but this series introduced them to American audiences. Indeed, we were so taken by the series, with both actors so perfectly cast, that we became fans and delighted in following their careers. 

Though the series ran four seasons of six episodes apiece, there were a few episodes I didn’t recall. Watching the series in their entirety made the reason fairly obvious—the PBS series didn’t air about three of the episodes, partly I’m sure due to the use of black face in some of the episodes (including the finale). Nevertheless, the series—capturing an era that  never really happened—remains a delightful and hilarious watch.

The Feminine Mystique 1

This is part of a series of posts about the characters, storylines and universe of Rob Hanes Adventures, under the label RHAUniverse… 

Here are a few of the women Rob has crossed paths with in the series (with more to come!)

First up is Tiffany Lance, reporter from Find Magazine whose pursuit of a story often takes priority over her personal safety, as well as, occasionally, her friendship with Rob. Though her reporting and his troubleshooting work often put them at odds, off the clock and on the road, they’re FWBs—and, as long as a story isn’t involved, the one person Rob can trust. 

First appearance: “The Assassin” (collected in The Rob Hanes Archives trade paperback), where Rob is hired to protect her from a hired killer but she mistakes him as the hitman. Most notably, she wrote a cover story about Rob for an issue of Find magazine (RHA #13). She’s slated to return in upcoming issue 26!

Caroline Cromwell (nee Wilde) is Rob’s unrequited crush—a spoiled heiress Rob met on one of his earliest assignments, who showed her true mettle when the chips were down. Though Rob eventually develops feelings for her, her family marries her off to crooked Anthony Cromwell, a narcissistic two-bit grifter from an otherwise prominent family, after they squandered her trust fund. Out of a misplaced sense of duty, she remains committed to the marriage and redeeming Cromwell. 

First appearance: Way back in Rob’s first published story, “Meet Rob Hanes,” collected in The Rob Hanes Archives. Usually appears whenever Cromwell pops up on Rob’s radar, involved in yet another criminal scheme. Fun fact—Caroline and her story arc were inspired by a similar love triangle involving the characters of Pat Ryan, Normandie Drake and Anthony Sandhurst in Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates (in the RHA universe, Cromwell is Sandhurst’s grandson).

Lorelei Thornfield, niece to the two Lady Agathas, is yet another spoiled rich girl. Though her adventuresome aunts dote on Rob and often try to match her with Lorelei, she remains immune to Rob’s charms. 

Lorelei and her aunts first appeared in “The Two Lady Agathas,” also collected in The Rob Hanes Archives. They returned in “Death on the Moors” (RHA #7), a drawing room murder mystery. Most recently, she appeared solo in issue 23. Fun fact—Lorelei’s look was initially inspired by actress Mia Sara (Ferris Buehler’s Day Off). 

Still to come: Isabel Corbeil; Irina Taushina, Suzette French; Julianne Love, Katya Vilnius, and Madame Minx! 

Live from New York!

We saw the film, Saturday Night, over the weekend and thought it was terrific. 

Set in the 90 minutes leading up to the premiere of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, the story is told with an energy and edginess that captures the chaos behind the scenes as an unproven producer, and a largely unknown new generation of performers and writers, prepare to bring a new comic sensibility to network television and the pop culture landscape. 

SNL debuted when I was 13 years old and I started watching it with that very first season. (Monty Python’s Flying Circus began airing on PBS in New York City around the same time, so I was at the perfect age to discover these shows.) 

Given my memories of SNL in its early days, it’s amazing to see the actors capture the essence of those original cast members, sometimes simply with a look or a line delivery that gave me deja vu—the entire cast is outstanding from top to bottom. Seeing the re-creation of bits from those early seasons, or the first inklings of classic skits backstage, also triggered my memories. 

The film viscerally conveys what was at stake for those involved in the show and how groundbreaking it was at the time. Producer Lorne Michaels' journey as he battles the old guard at the network and struggles to define the show forms the spine of the story, but the arcs and challenges of many of show's cast members are portrayed as well. The film ultimately ends with great energy, immediately segueing into a nifty end credits sequence—I was buzzing when we walked out of the theater! 

Saturday Night is also a solid film that stands on its own. While both my kids know and watch SNL, they’re 21st century babies and don’t know much about the history of the show. But they’ve seen Saturday Night with friends separately from us, and they and there friends were wowed. 

By the way, a great companion piece to this film is a season-by-season history of SNL being serialized at the Saturday Night Live Network YouTube Channel that we've been watching. Below is the first episode.

L.A. Comic-Con

Though I didn’t table at this year’s LA Comic Con, I received a pro badge and attended with two goals: To watch the premiere of the documentary on cartoonist and longtime friend/colleague Mike Vosburg and to catch actor Ewan McGregor on the main stage, both on Saturday. And mission accomplished!

The documentary, Recipe For Talent: A Visit With Mike Vosburg, produced by the Dads from the Crypt Podcast, is primarily a visit and interview with Mike at his home, where he shows off his impressive collection of art by cartoonists and illustrators he admires. (I’ve visited with Mike and it’s great to see the pieces up close.)  Though the documentary’s jumping off point is Mike’s work drawing the Tales from the Crypt comic book covers that appeared in the opening credits of each episode of the 1989–96 television series, it also covers his broader career, both in comics and particularly in Hollywood, as well as his influences, and his love of comics and films. Mike is a great storyteller, so the documentary is always engaging. (Mike won an Emmy working on the Spawn animated series, so you get to see that at the house as well!)

Ewan McGregor appeared at the convention’s main stage in the late afternoon. Although the convention center has meeting rooms that are used for programmed panels throughout the show, what I love about L.A. Comic Con’s guest appearances is that their main stage for big panels and interviews is simply on the convention floor—so no waiting in line or trying to get into a full room. As I posted last year, I saw Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan together on stage celebrating the 20th anniversary of the completion of Lord of the Rings film adaptation trilogy, which was a great thrill.

McGregor was great fun, sitting down one on one with an interviewer. He has a great sense of humor but also gave thoughtful responses. While he he talked about and told funny anecdotes about working on Star Wars, his other work came up during the interview too, such as Trainspotting, Moulin Rouge and Down With Love (a personal favorite). Among other interesting tidbits:

• One of the greatest differences between the original prequels he first appeared in and the Obi Wan series he appeared in was the use of The Volume filmmaking process in place of traditional green screen—The Volume is a 360-degree immersive panel display that allows rendered 3D backgrounds to be projected in real time.
• 
  He still loves musicals and would do one if offered—there are just not that many that are made.
• Asked about his Apple+ travelogue series where he and companion Charley Boorman, have traveled immense distances on motorbike, he said it initially began because, after completing a movie, motorbiking was a way to decompress and get back into the groove of doing things himself, versus being catered to in all aspects of his life while shooting a film. (Due to this interview, I began watching the show!)
• He said he was surprised to find out how much he enjoyed talking and connecting with fans at conventions like the L.A. Comic Con. He hadn't done conventions until recently, with the release of the Obi Wan series. When he was first asked, he reluctantly agreed, not believing it would be his cup of tea. But once he did, he came to greatly enjoy it. (Actor Hayden Christianson also made an appearance at the show on Sunday, with both doing signings that day.)
• Asked what advice he had for young actors, he mentioned that they should become familiar with older films. In follow up, he was asked what films and actors he enjoyed—he mentioned Jimmy Stewart and '70s films, and personal favorites like The Great Escape. 

McGregor was great interacting with the audience. I even got in on it—when talking about actors and films he admired, he spoke at length about the 1979 film, Breaking Away, and proceeded to tell much of the plot. At one point, he forgot the state the movie takes place in, so I yelled out, “Indiana!” which he immediately picked up and repeated lol. (I would have remembered this anyway, but I also visited the city where it was shot—Bloomington, where Indiana University is located—for a friend’s wedding in the ‘90s.) 

While there, I also saw a bunch of friends exhibiting, many of whom you’ll see among the photos. This included Craig Miller, Barbra Dillon, Javiar Hernandez and Tone Rodriguez.

Click here to see the full photogallery.

Comics at Amoeba

Batman in Hollywood