Entertainment Roundup for 2024

Not much to say about this year, but I certainly watched plenty! Saw a record number of films in the theater and plenty of live shows. Though it partly started last year, I also re-discovered to a degree network TV with shows like Ghosts, Elspeth, So Help Me Todd (since cancelled), and the return of the Law & Order mothership. Among the best overall on tv and streaming were Blue Eyed Samurai, Franklin, Julia, Time Bandits, The Mick (the latter three also since cancelled), 

I always say that I'm not a good bellweather for films since I don't see everything and have gotten a bit more discriminating about what I see. That said, among my favorites this year were Saturday Night, Fly Me to the Moon, Twisters, The Boys in the Boat, Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim,  and Brooklyn (though that film was a 2015 release. 

Films

Gone With the Wind – Culver Theater (12/30/24)
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – Howard Hughes Center (12/23/24)
Conclave – Monica Laemmle (11/29/24)
Wicked – Culver Theater (11/25/24)

Saturday Night – Culver Theater (10/13/24)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – Culver Theatre (8/26/24)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – Culver Theatre (8/19/24)
Babe – Culver Theatre (8/10/24)
Iron Giant – Culver Theatre (8/3/24) - rewatch
Deadpool & Wolverine – Culver Theatre (7/31/24)
Twisters – Bruin Theatre (7/20/24)
Fly Me to the Moon – Culver Theaters (7/13/24)
Fall Guy – Century City AMC (6/1/24)
Spy x Family Code White – Century City AMC (4/27/24)
Argylle – Culver Theaters (2/3/24)
Boys in the Boat – Culver Theaters (1/11/24)

Streaming Films/DVD/BluRay

Wham: Last Christmas Unwrapped – Netflix (12/29/24)
Music by John Williams – Disney+ (12/8/24)
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story – Max (12/6/24)
School of Rock – Paramount+ (11/30/24) – rewatch
Dear Santa – Paramount+ (11/30/24)
March of the Wooden Soldiers – YouTube (11/28/24) – rewatch
Amelie – Max (11/6/24)
Dave – YouTube (11/4/24) - rewatch
See How They Run – HBOMax (10/21/24) - rewatch
The Party – Prime (10/16/24)
Snack Shack – Prime (10/15/24)
On Chesil Beach – Max (10/11/24)
Brooklyn – Max (10/10/24)
The Banker – Apple+ (10/4/24) - rewatch 

Go for Broke – Prime (10/1/24) - rewatch 

Django & Django – Netflix (9/12/24)
Big Fat Liar – Netflix (9/9/24)
Muriel’s Wedding – Netflix (9/6/24)

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Twenty-Five Years Ago this New Year's Eve...

Last Year Watch: Gone With the Wind

Last night, at the last minute, my wife and I decided to catch an 85th anniversary screening of Gone With the Wind at the local Culver Theaters, the last film in its 100th anniversary of MGM Studios film series (tickets were only $7 apiece!)

I've seen it twice on the big screen and numerous times on the small screen, but this was my wife's first time in a theater, though she's seen it several times as well. The very opening credits opens with a shot of the Selznick International Pictures sign then pans out to reveal its iconic studio building (seen at right)—the audience applauded because the theater we were sitting in is only a few hundred feet from that still-standing building. 

As such, I've also included below a photo I took of the building earlier this year—it's been known for many years as the Culver Studios, but has been home to RKO, Desilu and several others (there's a commemorative plaque nearby that lists them). It's now under long-term lease with Amazon Studios, which made renovations on the lot—you can see the Amazon logo from the street on top of many of the new soundstages. The building is easily visibly accessible from a pedestrian plaza that includes the theater, as well as new buildings and the historic Culver Hotel. 

Anyway, seeing the film on the big screen with an audience was terrific. A local film historian spoke a little before the film and it included a film introduction by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz. The showing included the music overture before the film begins and Intermission. The film also opened with a title card with its new disclaimer, concluding that it is presented as it was created, which I think is important to acknowledge and does not detract from the achievement of it as a film and work of art.

78 Years Ago Today...

As many people know, the comic strip that initially inspired my own work is Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates. Caniff created the strip for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate and worked on the strip from 1934 until 1946. He left Terry to create a new adventure strip, Steve Canyon, for full ownership and creative control.

On this day, Dec. 29, in 1946 (a Sunday like today!), Caniff ran his final strip—reproduced below, it’s a beaut and an amazing culmination of his work on Terry. Caniff had announced that he was leaving Terry many months before, but made a point not to let up in the home stretch. (Canyon would debut on January 13, 1947.)

I’m partly running this because I missed the opportunity to mark the 60th anniversary of Terry's debut on October 22, 1934. Building on some groundbreaking work by others—most notably Roy Crane (Wash Tubbs) and Caniff’s studio-mate and friend, Noel Sickles (Scorchy Smith)—Caniff started a whole school of cartooning whose style influenced several generations of cartoonists.  I’ve included a strip from Caniff’s first year to demonstrate how much he had grown artistically. At the point of oversimplifying, much of it was based on the use of heavy black, chiaroscuro/impressionistic effect, rather than for decorative purposes.

In issue 25 of Rob Hanes Adventures, I paid homage to Caniff, as well as to Terry and Canyon, and to many of his peers and their characters, by having him travel back in time to the 1940s and team up with dopplegangers of the soldiers of fortune and other characters from the era. And I carried over this tribute in my recent holiday greeting where a sign in the image reads, “Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New” as Caniff cleverly did in the final panel he drew in the Terry strip on the eve of a new year. 

Cartoonist George Wunder picked up the reins on Terry and continued the strip to its end in 1973. Canyon ended its run with the passing of Caniff in 1988.

REVIEW: Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

I hadn’t really planned to see The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim in the theater, but I had some time to kill yesterday and decided on the spur of the moment to check it out—and I’m glad to say I enjoyed it! (This review is spoiler free btw.)

Made as an anime film by a noted Japanese anime director, the animation in the trailer didn’t particularly impress me which partly tamped down my enthusiasm to see it, but it was better than I anticipated. There was great attention to detail in the film, from the intricate costumes (not easy in hand animation!), to the lighting and the creation of a grounded environment that enhanced the mood and drama. And though not overused, it was interesting to spot where computer animation was utilized; at times, it looked like they even used some rotoscoping, mostly in a few long shots with figures (which frankly gave me a sense of deja vu with the Bakshi films—I'm not kidding).

Of course, it helps that the film is very much part of the Peter Jackson/Lord of the Rings universe, so the filmmakers had full access to and use of the film trilogy’s visual and production designs, as well as Howard Shore’s score. And though Jackson wasn't very involved in the development of the film, one of his writing partners on the original trilogy, Philippa Boyens, a Tolkien obsessive well before the films, helped develop the story. Scenes in the film clearly evoke the film trilogy, particularly in the staging of some scenes/battles, and the use of many of the same locations and settings from the original movies (particularly, The Two Towers)—down to camera angles—very much connect this movie with Jackson's films. So audiences get to see Rohan’s capital city of Edoras, Isengard, and Helm’s Deep, exactly as they looked and were shot in Jackson's films.

That said, the story is a bit circumscribed, taking place entirely in Rohan, 200 years before the events of the trilogy, involving a civil war among its tribes/factions that encompasses vengeance, ambition, pride, spurned love and historical grievances. In addition, they have made a young woman—a princess, daughter to the Helm Hammerhand, King of Rohan—the main protagonist. (Helm is voiced by Brian Cox, a great choice since Hammerhand is a true badass lol.)

My only slight disappointment was that since the film is entirely focused on Rohan, there are no elves, dwarves, hobbits or even Gondorians in sight. But you get to see a few Middle Earth creatures, such as the elephant-like Mumakils. (I’ll keep it at that, to say more would be spoiling!) There are a few shout outs/references to the trilogy, but they are actually very sparing and the film very much tries to be its own story.

Though I’ve loved the books since I first read them and, of course, the films (even the ill-fated Bakshi adaptation), I must confess that I have found The Rings of Power series on Prime to be a slog and too drawn out. (This is a complaint I’ve had with most of the Star Wars series as well, so make of that what you will—I’ve bailed on almost all of them.) In contrast, being a tight two hour film, The War of the Rohirrim has a narrative urgency that kept things moving and engaging, and swept me up. But your mileage may vary on whether the film will actually fulfill one's need for a Lord of the Rings fix.

All in all, though I went in with fairly low expectations (in fact, I was prepared to be disappointed), the film completely surprised me and I found it very entertaining and well executed.

Once Upon a Mattress at the Ahmanson

Falconry at the Getty

CAPS Farewell

Back in September, I mentioned that CAPS (the Comic Art Professional Society, founded in 1977) had announced that it was calling it a day. 

Earlier this week, as promised, the outgoing Board organized a farewell meeting and gathering at the Animation Guild in Burbank, CA, where the group had held its monthly meeting for many years. In truth, given the low participation of recent years, I wasn’t sure what the turnout would be like. Due to the pandemic, in-person meetings had disappeared and Zoom meetings gradually attracted less and less participants—I attended one Zoom CAPS meeting where it was literally just me and another member (though we had a great time!). I also volunteered in an effort to create an in-person component of the meeting where some members could gather together at a site to Zoom in on the meeting with others, but this also didn't gain any traction.

But happily, people turned out in fulil force. In fact, it reminded me of a CAPS meeting from the old days! It was the first time the group had gathered together in person since before the pandemic, with longtime and more recent members in attendance. I saw people I hadn’t seen in years and, in at least one case, more than a decade. Some new members told me that, having recently joined, this was the first time they had ever attended a meeting and seen so many other members!

The centerpiece of the evening’s program included the participation of two of the three founding members via Zoom—Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier (the third founding member, Don Rico, passed away in 1985). There was lots of reminiscing, expressions of appreciation and laughter. 

In its later years, a highlight of the group’s activities was an annual banquet that featured the presentation of the Sergio Award, named for founding member Sergio Aragones. Since there were several statues left, the award’s namesake was given the honor to present the remaining trophies to deserving members of the group—in this case, he made the awards to members who were there at or near CAP's founding and played key roles in raising the group's profiles, often serving as early presidents: Mark Evanier, Scott Shaw, Bill Stout and an honorary one to Stan Sakai. (Though I'd seen the award statuette at banquets in the past, I'd never held one. As show in the photo below, after the meeting, I took the opportunity to inspect it up close. I also picked it up and found that it was surprisingly heavy!)

While everyone expressed regret for the group’s demise, people were clear eyed and philosophical about its passing. Pandemic aside, the industry has changed greatly in recent years and the group's demands made it difficult for working professionals to commit the time and effort needed to sustain the group and its activities. And with so many opportunities like multiple comics conventions, shows and other activities that give people a chance to see each other, perhaps CAPS’ time had passed. 

The event also reminded me of another reason I found CAPS so beneficial—after socializing with other pros, talking shop and sharing work, I always left meetings feeling incredibly energized. That feeling was there when I drove home afterwards as well. It was the perfect send off for CAPS. 

(That said, no doubt due to the positive energy at the event, people raised the possibility of the group getting together again in the future in some form in more informal ways—so we’ll see!)