Blog Archive

• March 2018
  • Mar 23, 2018 IMHO: Fave Five Ginger Rogers Movies Mar 23, 2018
• January 2018
  • Jan 1, 2018 January 2018 Movie A Day Blog Jan 1, 2018
• December 2017
  • Dec 2, 2017 December 2017 Movie a Day Blog! Dec 2, 2017
• August 2017
  • Aug 13, 2017 Blog Archive Aug 13, 2017
  • Aug 9, 2017 My Influences #4 - British TV Comedies! (a continuing list) Aug 9, 2017
  • Aug 1, 2017 August 2017 A Movie A Day Blog! Aug 1, 2017
• July 2017
  • Jul 5, 2017 July 2017 31 Movies in 31 Days Jul 5, 2017
• January 2017
  • Jan 5, 2017 My Influences #3 - Sitcoms (a continuing list) Jan 5, 2017
• October 2016
  • Oct 31, 2016 My Influences #2 - Gail Simone (a continuing list) Oct 31, 2016
• September 2016
  • Sep 30, 2016 My Influences #1 - Dwayne McDuffie (a continuing list...) Sep 30, 2016
• August 2016
  • Aug 22, 2016 Comic Con San Diego 2016 Reflections Aug 22, 2016
• June 2016
  • Jun 29, 2016 BLOG #1 - Why Not? Jun 29, 2016

My Influences #4 - British TV Comedies! (a continuing list)

British comedies!

Growing up in Canada, we got quite a mixture of pop culture thrown at us.  Where I lived our cable TV channels consisted of the big four US networks, NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox, filtered through the local Seattle affiliates, plus PBS and two main Canadian channels, CTV and the government funded CBC.  Our Canadian cable stations, such as TSN (The Sports Network), gave us Canadian (and American) sports, Much Music gave us Canadian (and American) music videos while YTV (Youth TV, I think the "Y" stood for) gave us cartoons from all over the world.  In Canada we got CNN before we had our own 24 hour Canadian news channel.  Canadian "culture" consists of a lot of American influence, but also a TON of British influences as well.  Thanks to PBS, A&E and also late night YTV, which was a kids channel during the day and at night showed, well, seemingly whatever the hell they wanted, we got a lot of British shows too.  I remember watching great British TV shows such as The Avengers (Steed and Peel!), Fawlty Towers, Cracker, Lovejoy, The Good Life, As Time Goes By, French and Saunders, Chef, Yes, Prime Minister and others, some I'll be kicking myself later for forgetting (my dad's favourite was "Are You Being Served?" and lately I've been meaning to binge those shows).  But this list is the best of the best, ones I go back to often and re-visit (with one exception, as you'll see).  And they also influenced me and shaped my brain to what it is today.

1- Red Dwarf
*PBS, or for me it's Seattle affiliate KCTS 9, wouldn't show Red Dwarf often.  They would, once a year or so, do Red Dwarf marathons all weekend and when they did, it was a reason to celebrate.  Discovering Red Dwarf and it's brand of sci-fi humour was an awakening for me.  I was very young when I was introduced to Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Kryten and didn't know sci-fi was something that was, or even could be, funny.  I hadn't yet found Douglas Adams and the like.  In fact, Red Dwarf goes so far back in my memory it may be the first British TV show I ever watched, even before Monty Python even though chronologically of course it came much later.  Some very British references went over my head, such as a kipper or smeghead, but since I discovered this show as a kid, I was used to things going over my head and just rolled with it.  I remember being fascinated by concepts such as "future echoes", "polymorphs" and "parallel universes". 

And then Series 3 changed without so much of an explanation, other than a Star Wars style crawl at the beginning of the 1st episode that you had to slow down to properly read.  Kryten was added to the cast full-time, they changed Holly to a woman and ignoring the fact Lister ended the last series as having just delivered twin babies.  They could have taken one episode to explain everything properly, but they just didn't feel like it, so why bother?  Once that five-some were united, the show really found it's stride, using Kryten in particular as a middle-man caught between Lister and Rimmer's battles for the upper hand.  I remember Series 4's "Justice" and "Meltdown" as well as Series 5's "The Inquisitor" being particular favourites.  But I also remember my mind being blown by Series 5's finale "Back to Reality", where the crew seems to die and then are awoken all at the same time, as they had apparently been playing a virtual reality game the whole time and weren't actually the crew of the Red Dwarf.  So many great memories from this show and even watching the show, in particular when KCTS 9 would do the marathons in later years they would fly over the stars to take part and chat in between episodes, something that is kinda common now on cable and the internet but at the time to me was pretty amazing.  I think the last time they did this (or one of the last that I saw anyway) Joel McHale, an unknown Seattle comedian at the time, was one of the KCTS 9 hosts and was geeking-out talking to Lister and The Cat, a far cry from his character on "Community" who would have made fun of that guy.  I remember having to search through my old VHS tapes, looking for tapes with enough space on them to record a few episodes at a time (in SLP we could record, like 6 hours on one tape, right?).  I drifted away from Red Dwarf when new episodes were few and far between, but apparently they are still making them to this day, so I need to go back and get caught up on what those "Smedheads" are up to.

2- Black Adder
I recently re-watched all these shows in a binge session (all are available on Youtube, btw) and yes, that first series still isn't good.  But series 2-4 are still amazing and get better and better, which is rare for any series.  I talked about this show's influence on me during my August 31 movies in 31 days Blog after watching a 90 minute retrospective documentary on the show.  I just love this show and seeing how it changed so much after Ben Elton came along after the first series.  Going to a studio audience format and swapping the personalities and intellects of the characters (Baldrick was actually the smart on in the 1st series…that just seems wrong doesn't it?) really shook up the series and both the cast and crew are legendary. 

Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Tim McInnerny, Robbie Coltrane, Jim Broadbent, Rik Mayall, Brian Blesses…the first episode even featured Peter Cook…plus Richard Curtis and Elton behind the scenes.  Also interesting was that McInnerny was supposed to play the Prince Regent in Series 3 but left the show and Laurie took over and was spectacular. 

Then it all came together for the final series, Series 4, set during World War I in the trenches of No Man's Land (hear that Wonder Woman movie fans?), with the final few minutes of the last episode being part of tv history.  I loved that the show changed every series, able to re-invent itself every time, almost kind of like Dr. Who in a sense, in that they weren't bogged down creatively.  That's something I've wanted to incorporate into my writing and hopefully someday I can in way that doesn't suck too much.  Rowan Atkinson is known the world over as Mr. Bean, and while I do like Mr. Bean (well, early Mr. Bean…), but Edmond Blackadder should be his comedic legacy.

3- Spaced
This show launched some shining stars into the entertainment world.  Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright, for starters.  The show starred Pegg and Jessica Stevenson as two roommates and their friends and lives and other things.  It was filled with pop culture references, some of which stand up and some that don't.  I re-watched these recently and (surprisingly) almost didn't get the Sixth Sense reference.  But of course the homages to The Matrix and Phantom Menace all hold up.  I have to admit that this show was hyped big time to me, with me buying the big box set when it came out, having never watched a second of the show, but saw that there were commentaries by Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino and knowing Pegg/Frost/Wright for their movies (I prefer Hot Fuzz to Shaun of the Dead, just like I prefer buddy cop movies to zombie movies, but I still love Shaun too, so calm down...) and figured it was a can't miss. 

But then I admit that the first time I watched the show, I didn't get it.  But something made me try again and that second time the lightbulb went off and I loved it.  Also a treat, on the DVD, is a documentary about the show, not just with talking heads and retrospectives (they do have that though) but also Pegg, Stevenson and Wright actually go back to where the series was filmed and even to the house where the filming took place and have a fun encounter with some Spaced fans who just happen to show up that day.  They all come across as cool people who you would like to hang out with and be happy for their successes.

4- Monty Python
For obvious reasons…I remember knowing who John Cleese was at an early age, and I probably saw Fawlty Towers first…and I remember one Sunday afternoon flipping the channels and this movie came on called "Monty Python and The Holy Grail" and loving it.  After that I tried to know everything I could about Monty Python.  At my local video rental store, they had "Best of Python" VHS tapes I could rent, plus I found out about other Python films like "Life of Brian" and "The Meaning of Life", plus any books or documentaries I could find (and luckily, there isn't a shortage of those).  Then one day Bravo in Canada started showing Monty Python's Flying Circus from the beginning and I was blown away.  While I still think of "Holy Grail" as the best Python's ever done (they say "Life of Brian" is their masterpiece, I respectfully disagree), watching the show, episode by episode, series by series, I think this is quite simply masterful.  I know -  news flash: Monty Python is good! 

If I had to pick a favourite episode, I'd almost have to say the first one…nearly all the sketches are burned into my brain.  The first two sketched in particular, with Graham Chapman and Terry Jones discussing the possible benefits to sheep aviation and then them transitioning to John Cleese and Michael Palin, in French no less, talking about a new design for an Airplane made out of Sheep.  And that was kind of their brilliance, every episode had a loose theme and sketches carried over, not necessarily needing a big finish.  SNL sketches needed a way out, a big punch line to wrap it up before they headed to commercial.  The Flying Circus had no such limitations.  My all-time favourite sketch (today) is probably the sketch where Eric Idle comes home to his parents and is treated like a traitor by his father and you assume the father is a labourer and the son is an artist, but it's flipped and the skit ends with the father crying out in pain cause of his writer's cramp.  As a writer with family that didn't quite get what I did, I always found that skit hilarious. 

I still break out the huge DVD box-set of Circus every once in a while to re-watch those great episodes.  Even after Cleese left the show, while the quality did go down a bit, there are some still amazing bit there.  I know, again - news flash: Monty Python is funny!  Recently watching their Reunion Special, seeing Spamalot live and then even more Monty Python docs (the doc "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (Lawyer's Cut)" in particular I've watched several times) and having listened to as many audio books as possible about the subject, it truly never gets old.  And it's got me looking back further to check out their influences like The Goon Show, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore too.  Just an unending thread of comedy greatness.  NEWS FLASH!

5- Young Ones/Bottom
I have to admit, this selection is questionable…I could have put Fawlty Towers or a sketch show like French and Saunders, which I watched over and over when the Women's Network started showing it in Canada…but these two picks are sentimental, as Rik Mayall died too young and also to me they are still full of potential, as I've seen some episodes but not all of them.  Both shows have something in common, hence the grouping.  Both shows featured Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, first as youngsters and then the two of them again ten years later.

I love the Young Ones episode where they did the quiz show, and Bottom (which I have seen more of) did that great birthday episode that was a Young Ones reunion (if I am remembering correctly).  My favourite episode was the one where the two characters just sit in their apartment and talk, having had their TV stolen (I believe it's Series Two's "Culture", after reading the show's Wikipedia).  I loved it so much I considered adapting it into a stage show, but it never happened. 

But why are these shows on this list, considering I admit that I am not necessarily an expert on the shows and haven't even seen all the episodes.  First, sod off, it's my list.  Second, I like that I have more to discover with these shows and new experiences to come.  And it is #5, after all…

That's it for now…I plan on doing similar lists for Best Animated TV series, Best British sic-fi show, etc.  One day...

August 2017 A Movie A Day Blog!

The List:

1- Seven Year Itch
2- John Wick
3- Charade
4- Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (animated)
5- The Duff
6- The Hangover Part 2
7- The Night of the Hunter
8- Black Adder: The While Rotten Saga
9- Okja
10- The Hangover Part 3
11- Star of Midnight
12- Shane
13- McLintock!
14- Street Smart
15- Freebie and the Bean
16- A Place in the Sun
17- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
18- The Founder
19- To The Bone
20- Bridge of Spies
21- Moana
22- People Will Talk
23- Mr. Right
24- Anomalisa
25- Synecdoche, New York
26- Noises Off!
27- Runaway Train
28- Lilo & Stitch
29- The Rescuers
30- I Ought to be in Pictures
31- An Officer and a Gentleman

August 31st - AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN (1982) Last movie of this blog!  Not sure if I'll do an September blog, as I am going on the road again for work and it's hard driving 9 hours, getting to the hotel and then HAVING to watch a movie.  Anyway, I've never had much of a desire to see this film, eventhough I've heard about it seemingly forever.  I've never really been a Richard Gere fan.  Other than Primal Fear and Unfaithful, and I guess Pretty Woman, I haven't really seen much of his filmography.  He's a very stoic actor and doesn't really...do...much on screen.  Especially in this film, his face doesn't move much, he has to get really angry or emotional before his expression changes.  He relies on shifting his gaze, mouth movement and body language to convey his emotions.  And I was surprised that this movie is known as a love story but the story is actually mostly about Gere's character, Mayo, and his training to join the Navy's Aviation Program.  There's way more onscreen time between Gere and drill instructor Lou Gossett Jr., and Gere and buddy Keith David (not David Keith from They Live) than there is between Gere and Debra Winger.  But the thing is, Winger steals every scene she is in.  She is gorgeous and doesn't get the credit she deserves.  Although maybe she would have if she hadn't taken a hiatus for so many years.  Anyway, any time she is on screen, my focus was on her.  Especially in those sexy-even-by-todays-standards love scenes.  So while this film has that iconic ending of Gere picking Winger up in his arms and them walking out of her factory, it's a feel good moment that I'm sure had the crowds cheering in 1982's theaters, it actually was a bigger deal that Gere graduated a few scenes earlier.  Interesting that the cast included a young David Caruso and Lisa Eilbacher, who played Jenny Summers in Beverly Hills Cop.  I can totally see why this was considered one of the best movies of the '80's.  *Smokers Report: A few characters smoke but not alot, which, like the previous film on this blog, I found unusual for an 80's movie.

August 30th - NEIL SIMON'S I OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES (1982) I thought I had posted this last night but apparently not, so here we go.  Okay, so I'm searching through Netflix, looking for a movie to watch, which can be a long time-consuming adventure.  I just type in "movie" and see what happens.  "Movies from 1980's" comes up, and I've seen most of them.  Then there is this film, which I'd never heard of.  I get more info and it says "Starring Walter Matthau" and I'm in.  I've never heard of this film, but I hit play anyway.  Dinah Manoff comes on screen, talking and talking and talking and immediately I'm like "okay, this was based on a play" and yes it turns out it was written by Neil Simon, based on one of his Broadway plays.  Manoff is the only one from Broadway who ended up in the film.  The banter is okay early on but it gets a bit annoying later.  I looked up this film and both Siskel and Ebert named it one of the worst films of 1982.  Wow!  Manoff and Matthau meet, get all lovey-dovey (they are estranged father/daughter), and then start yelling at each other within ten minutes.  Ann Margaret shows up and literally says "What do you expect?  It won't happen in ten minutes!".  I was thinking "AMEN, sister!"  Matthau is awesome as a guy slowly falling in love with this young woman who he didn't know existed (his daughter, and I don't mean it that way pervs) and as he slowly takes down his defenses and wants to have this girl in his life.  Manoff I remember from sitcoms in the late 80's but not much else.  Ann Margaret is one of those actresses I'll always have a crush on.  Neil Simon is one of those guys that has done all-time amazing work (The Odd Couple, The Goodbye Girl) and some...not so much.  I did like one line where Manoff says "I talk to (her dead) Grandma cause I'm so worried no one else is listening".  I guess I'm a sap cause I kind of enjoyed this.  I was genuinely emotional at the end of the film.  Am I just programmed to automatically love all things Matthau?  Is it a great film?  I don't know.  Watch it yourself and you tell me.  A trivia note: This is the only Walter Matthau movie on Netflix (at least my Canadian Netflix).  While Netflix is alot of things, it's not great presenting anything earlier than 2000 unless it's a big movie like Back to the Future.  Sure there's TCM Online and other streaming services, but most aren't available in Canada.  So if it's not on Youtube... *Smoker's Report: Walter Matthau's character smokes but that's it, which is actually kind of weird for an '80's movie.

August 29th - THE RESCUERS (1977) So the more I go down the Disney Animation Rabbit Hole on Netflix, there are alot of films I haven't seen.  Or at least some, like this film, that I admit I may have seen as a kid, but have zero clue as to what it's about.  I didn't even know Bob Newhart was in this.  And I'm a fan of Bob Newhart.  I think I got this film confused with "Rescuers Down Under"...I remember that being a thing, so it is possible i haven't seen this at all after all!  Anyway, really old school Disney hand drawn 2D animation in the opening sequence, although early on it seems like more like a Filmmation He-Man style of animation, but what do I know?  Is it possible to love every character in a film?  Bernard, Miss Bianca, Penny, Rufus, Orville, Brutus and Nero, Evinrude, Ellie Mae and Luke and their group...all adorable!  Even Madame Madusa is fascinating.  The logical side of my brain occasionally butts in and wants details explained (like when twenty minutes in, Rufus asks "But you two are just two little mice, what can you do?" I was like...right?", and how they end up at Madame Madusa's makes no sense, how did Bernard go from being the janitor to being a full agent?...) but like with Lilo and Stitch, the details don't matter.  Apparently this was considered a Disney "B" movie back in the day but it's a really sweet film.  *Smokers Report: N/A

August 28th - LILO AND STITCH (2002) Another Disney film from an era where I missed alot of Disney films.  I'm thinking that at the time I was more into Pixar movies maybe?  I don't really have a reason...maybe I thought 2D animation was lame after seeing what 3D was all about?  Anyway, I know this film as a huge following and people think Stitch is their spirit animal or something.  I really, really enjoyed this.  I wasn't sure what to expect, from what little I've seen of clips and trailers, Stitch seemed like a jerk.  But apparently he's a fun, entertaining, charismatic Elvis-loving jerk.  Funny that I just watched Moana and this also takes place in Hawaii, although that really doesn't seem to be a main plot point, other than keeping Stitch away from a big city.  I fell in love with both Lilo and Stitch, even though by "normal movie standards" their relationship doesn't make much sense (why does she like him, how does she discover he can play records, how does he pick up the guitar so quickly...) but that doesn't matter.  That stuff was probably explained in an earlier draft but who cares that it was taken out?  I like that this is only 85 minutes.  I liked Kevin McDonald, of Kids in the Hall, as the "Earth expert".  I loved that everyone was just like...okay aliens...cool!  By the end I was genuinely moved by Stitch getting to stay with his new family.  I'm sorry this movie didn't become part of my life sooner.  *Smokers Report: N/A

August 27th Part 2 - RUNAWAY TRAIN (1985) Another selection from my un-opened DVD collection, although this one I didn't know I owned.  It was part of a DVD two-pack and I bought the DVD for the TV movie version of "Taking of Pelham 123" that starred Edward James Olmos and Vincent D'Onofrio...so this movie was a bonus.  I'd never heard of it, and that could be because of Jon Voight.  That's because until that Seinfeld episode with him on it (or I guess technically, his car), I had never heard of Jon Voight.  Ever.  I was even a pretty big movie fan at this point, but had never heard of Jon Voight.  I must have heard of Midnight Cowboy but not seen it.  Hadn't seen Deliverence until later.  When they said Jon Voight on Seinfeld, I thought it was a made up name. Not until Anaconda, of all things, I didn't get who he was.  Then his career rebounded, and as a bonus, he was Angelina Jolie's dad.  So, again, I had never heard of this, and then I found out I was really missing something.  Apparently this film was nominated was alot of awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Picuture- Drama, and both Voight and Eric Roberts were nominated for Oscars!  That shocked me, since this was basically an action film.  Again, not sure how I had never heard of this before, but I'm glad I've found it now.  It's a great film.  I was surprised Rebecca De Mornay was in this, as they "dirtied her up" alot but her looks still shone through the oil and dirt.  Some notable trivia: This was supposed to be a movie by Akira Kurasawa, but his involvement fell through.  Also, this film is the debut for both Tiny Lister (Zeus in No Holds Barred, the President in The Fifth Element) and Danny Trejo (any tough guy movie ever).  And also, this movie was made by The Cannon Group, a kind-of infamous movie studio that made "How Did This Get Made" podcast subjects such as "The Apple", "Lifeforce" and Lou Ferrigno's "Hercules" movie series. Also Highlander, Bo Derek's Bolero and Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo, not to mention cheap horror movies and action flicks, like Bloodsport, Cobra, Superman 4, Masters of the Universe and various Chuck Norris movies.  They seemed to occasionally stumble across a good movie like this or the aforementioned Street Smart, 52 Pick-Up and Mannequin.  A good documentary about this studio is "Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films".  Oh, and PS, this is a great film!  *Smokers Report: None that I can remember.

August 27th - NOISES OFF (1992) Here's a film that I bought awhile back but have never cracked open.  I think I bought it at the same time as Street Smart as I was on a Christopher Reeve kick.  This got horrible reviews but the cast is made up of people that I love, plus it's directed by Peter Bogdanovich.  Bogdanovich is entertaining to listen to on TCM when he has vignettes, plus I do love some of his films, such as Last Picture Show and The Cat's Meow (I haven't seen Paper Moon...yet), although looking back over his filmography he's seemingly had a lot of stinkers too.  But in some strange way, his stinkers intrigue me, like "At Long Last Love", a musical with Burt Reynolds and Cybil Shepherd?  I need to see that!  And as I said, this cast is as if I picked it out myself.  Chris Reeve, Michael Caine (reuniting after Death Trap), Carol Burnett, John Ritter, Marilu Henner (who I am falling in love with all over again watching Taxi reruns on MeTV lately), plus a gorgeous Nicolette Sheridan, a zany Mark Linn-Baker and a boozy Denholm Elliott (Brody from the Indiana Jones movies), apparently in his last movie role ever.  And as advertised this movie didn't really work.  The idea of us watching a play (within a play) and having closeups of the actors is just weird, period.  It's one thing if you are watching an opera being filmed at a movie theater, you know what you are watching.  The slapstick zaniness is Bringing Up Baby-level, which Ritter excels at but it's over the top.  So over the top that...I can't even come up with a comparison.  I did love the 2nd act, where they are being all zany but silently, with barely any dialogue and just alot of choreographed shenanigans.  But altogether it is just to wacky, especially the ending where it just ends with a happy ending out of no where.  I might be biased, but Reeve is the shining light, playing it as straight as it gets in this film and when everything stops for him to ask the director Caine a question, it actually seems like a good question.  And when his question gets answered he seems genuinely happy and thankful.  I'm not disappointed I watched this, it was kind of fun with a big laugh spread out here and there, but overall it wasn't good.  *Smokers Report: None that I can think of.

August 26th Part 2: SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (2008) And speaking of Charlie Kaufman...why not watch this film too?  So some people have called this film brilliant and some have called it horrible and pretentious.  Roger Ebert, who I respected and admired alot but didn't always agree with as far as movie tastes, called this "the best movie of the decade".  I admire Kaufman, as noted in my review of Anomalisa below, but I couldn't figure this movie out.  It was almost like Kaufman trying to be a combination of David Lynch and David Zucker.  It was just a weird movie, happening seemingly at hyper-speed as it speeds ahead 17 years in about ten minutes (I think), but it starts coming together around the time Tom Noonan shows up to play Philip Seymour Hoffman in the play within the play-slash-movie.  It was a casting masterstroke to have Emily Watson show up to play Samantha Morton, although I'm not sure if I can quantify why I was tickled so much by that.  The movie starts out realistically and the weirdness could have slowly developed, except then they introduce the house-on-fire and any illusion of this being based on reality disappears.  There are some Zucker like jokes in here, like when Michelle Williams' character says "Everyone has tattoos", pulls up her shirt revealing a massive tattoo that covers her whole back, and Hoffman says "I've never seen that before" and walks off.  Or the scene where Hoffman is wanting to see his daughter, sees a present he bought her in the garbage, Hoffman stops, puts eyedrops in his eyes, then the next scene is him "crying" holding the present, as if that was Kaufman and Hoffman winking at the Academy or something.  But the meta-ness started to get suffocating.  Between the fire house, the magic diary and the 20 year pre-production of a play, it became too much.  Hard to believe I can't love a movie with Catherine Keener, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Samantha Morton, Emily Watson, Hope Davis and Diane Weist.  Unlike some people, just because I don't understand a movie, I won't dismiss it as garbage.  I am willing to concede that this movie is above my intelligence level. Maybe if I watched this movie a few more times I'll grow to appreciate it's brilliance.  Maybe.  *Smokers Report: A few characters smoke.  Maybe just one, now that I think of it.  Not a big deal.

August 26th - ANOMALISA (2015) What a strange wonderful film, but it's from the mind of Charlie Kaufman, so I guess I should have expected that! Kaufman has given us Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and one of my all-time favourites, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  I own Synecdoche, New York, but have yet to watch it, for some reason.   It didn't take very long to fall in love with this film.  I think it was when I figured out every character was voiced by Tom Noonan, you know, on purpose (and it just wasn't me being nuts and thinking everyone sounded alike).  Probably when they recreated the "Godfrey loves me!" scene from My Man Godfrey.  I recently saw Moana and was amazed by the animation...but this film takes animation and is actually somehow better.  One the one hand, they take animation and instead of coming up with alien worlds or superheroes, they recreate the inside of an airplane, then an airport, then a taxi, then a hotel lobby, then a hotel room...and it all looks amazingly accurate in that it's just average looking.  And you might think "Why bother?  We can see that stuff in real life..." but the fact it's so realistic is part of the charm.  I can only imagine the hours and hours it took to make this stop-motion animated film, second-by-second (Wikipedia is a surprising lack of help, only saying it took 2 years to make the film).  In particular, the scene of the main character pacing his room practicing a speech, it's so, well, normal and could have been filmed in an hour in a real hotel with a real actor, but it my head it took months to film.  And I haven't even talked about the performances or the story...I was interested in particular as I'm a big Jennifer Jason Leigh fan and she doesn't work on enough projects these days.  This has one hilarious moment where the main character drives a trolley into an empty swimming pool.  The animation is so realistic, so I guess we've got past the "uncanny valley", "dead eyes" thing.  And even towards the end I did kind of wonder myself "Why not shoot this live action?" but it becomes clear, as the ending and how it conveys loneliness couldn't have come across as clear using live action actors or CGI.  *Smokers Report: The main character smokes, which I think was just the filmmakers showing off as opposed to it being an important story element.

August 25th - CRAP!  Happened again!  Now I'll have to watch 3 movies on Saturday!!!!  On the bright side "THE SUPERS" is close to publication!  :)

August 24th - It was bound to happen...worked an 8 hour day, then went over to my friend's as he's a graphic designer and we worked on my comic book, drove home (an hour commute), got home at 11pm and crashed...so no movie today!  Now I'll have to watch two on Saturday!  :)

August 23rd - MR. RIGHT (2015) This film was recommended to me by my podcasting parter, Andrew Buckley ( http://www.andrewbuckleyauthor.com/trilogy-spoilers-podcast) and despite the fact we rarely agree on movie tastes, I saw this on Netflix and figured what the hell?  I love Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell, the cast also includes Tim Roth and RZA, and also the dude who was the bad guy in Season 1 of Wynona Earp, a good Canadian boy, Michael Eklund.  This was a good little film, not a masterpiece but still enjoyable.  Tim Roth is interesting character in general (on and off screen), seemingly destined for superstardom during the Tarantino-ing of Hollywood but that never happened.  The most memorable thing I can think of that I'd seen him in prior to this was the Monty Python documentary "Almost the Truth: Lawyer's Cut" where he was asked about Python and his favourite sketch and he seemed stoned out of his mind.  Anyway, as I watched the film I thought I was losing it, as in one scene he'd have an Irish accent, then the next an American one, but it all makes sense eventually.  As mentioned earlier, Kendrick and Rockwell are two favs of mine and they have great chemistry.  These "hitman-with-a-heart-of-gold" movie was a dime a dozen in the late 90's after Pulp Fiction but time has passed.  It was a little weird with all the guns and death and laughs going along with it, but if it's a little movie that you don't necessarily think too much about, this could be it.  It was written by Max Landis, son of John Landis, who also wrote the great film "Chronicle" but also "American Ultra" (which I haen't seen to be fair, but I didn't hear much good about it) who has become a controversial online figure for his opinions.  That has nothing to do with this film, but just an aside.  PS Landis best works are his Youtube short films "Wrestling Isn't Wrestling" and the all-star cast-led "Death of Superman".  *Smokers Report: RZA smokes at one point but I think that's it.

August 22nd - PEOPLE WILL TALK (1951) Saturday was Cary Grant day on TCM's Summer Under the Stars, but it was hard for me to watch a Cary Grant movie that I hadn't seen already.  I'm a big Grant fan, and all the shows they were watching were some of my favourites, like The Philadelphia Story and The Bachelor and The Bobby Soxer (which they play all the time on TCM, yet I seem to be the only one who loves it; could be wrong...), Holiday...plus His Girl Friday was on the other day, which was Rosalind Russell day.  I've loved watching Grant as a true movie star and all that word means.  I don't assume anyone will argue Grant was a great "actor", and be mentioned in the same sentence as Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, etc.  I hear Grant mentioned more along the lines of a George Clooney...again as great "movie stars" who are just as comfortable in comedies as they are dramas or thrillers.  Grant's filmography includes slapstick like Bringing Up Baby or a Hitchcock like North by Northwest.  But like all stars, not every movie is a homerun.  Now what about this movie?  I only had a few movies to choose from, seeing as the ones they showed I'd seen already, so I picked this one kinda at random.  The first hour of the movie drags, and it takes that long to really get the story moving.  It starts with Hume Cronyn interrogating the wicked witch about Grant's character, which I thought meant we were going to into a long flashback sequence, but the movie just proceeds from there.  Seems everyone loves Grant except Cronyn, who is on somekind of witch hunt.  Grant is a bit of Walter Burns and a bit George Kaplan...er...Roger Thornhill, in that he is laid back in his manner but yet talks and talks and talks.  Around the one hour mark, Grant proposes to "the girl" (played this time by Jeanne Crain) and ten minutes later they are married and Cronyn has THE EVIDENCE he's been looking for in said witch hunt.  There's not much humour here, some scenes that made me smirk, or smile, but not much laughing, but then again it's not that kind of film.  The best scene is when Grant and two "distinguised gentlemen" friends are arguing like children, dressed in suits and ties, about their toy train set crash, most of their conversation consisting of 'Beeps'.  But then that scene ends in tears too.  That also leads into a scene with a misunderstanding, an argument and shockingly, a quick resolution, where people don't rush out of a room angrily, actually rationally discuss something and everything is...fine after.  The movie comes down to a big courtroom scene (kinda) and the testimony of Grant's companion throughout the film, where we hear that Grant's friendship with him, a person who others have received "many complaints" about, could end his career.  When were these complaints?  What were they about?  The movie seems to be about the love story, but then its about the friendship.  It seems like the filmmakers were trying to do too much.  And this movie has quite a pedigree, produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.  But it really doesn't add up to much, eventhough that last scene with Grant joyfully conducting an orchestra, is pretty cool.  And that is one freaking awesome train set!  *Smokers Report: Cary Grant is one of those movie stars who seemed to always have a cigarette in his hand or his mouth, but this movie was a rare exception.

August 21st - MOANA (2016) What a gorgeous film!  Unlike live-action VFX, 3D animation is killing it!  To the point where I wonder why people even bother making big budget live-action films like Transformers and the DC movies pre-Wonder Woman.  The water effects alone in this film are spectacular and worth watching.  But I found myself looking very closely at everything on screen, in particular the human characters and the rich texture of what was going on.  I also loved what the movie didn't give us.  I read on Wikipedia that an initial draft of the script had Moana with multiple brothers and her finding her place as the only girl and whether or not she should be the chief of the tribe...I saw that story done really well in "Whale Rider" years ago and didn't need to see it again here.  I was shocked when the movie started talking about Moana as the next chief of the tribe in a very non-chalent way, no one even questioned it.  I was even waiting for someone to say "Wait...SHE'S going to be our chief?  But she's a girl!? and it never happened!  That may have been the most revolutionary thing about the movie!  The movie also features awesome songs, great performances and, again, amazing animation!  Only thing wrong about this film is that it's too long (but I say that about everymovie these days) and I didn't see it in an actual movie theatre.  Oh, and it reminded me how Pixar used to be killing it when it came to 3D animation and how Pixar was on a streak, from Toy Story to The Incredibles to Wall-E to Up, of guaranteed home-run movies.  Is it really a coincidence this all changed after John Lasseter left Pixar for Disney Animation?  I'm freestyling here cause I say that after doing no research at all on the subject.  Just throwing that out there.  Highly recommended!  *Smokers Report: N/A

August 20th - BRIDGE OF SPIES (2015) A little late on this, after not having wifi for a little while, here we are, talking about a movie I had meant to watch but just never got around to it...kinda like most of the movies on this list really.  But I actually searched for this film in theatres, as at the time I was trying to get caught up on Oscar nominated movies that year (2016) and my job involves alot of travel, so I would drive to Calgary, for instance, look at the movie listings, see that it had just left Calgary, but was in Saskatoon.  So I would go to Saskatoon a week later, and it had just left and was in Regina.  Long story short, it's been a journey to see this film.  Although after the Oscars, for some reason, the need dwindled, which is weird cause the movie won for Mark Rylance as Best Supporting Actor.  As the credits rolled, I was surprised the Cohen brothers had written the script (or re-wrote it, as I found out later).  So this movie starred Tom Hanks, directed by Steven Spielberg, co-written by the Cohen Brothers, features an Academy Award winning performance...so why didn't I love it?  It has a stop and start feel to it, just getting interesting then slows down...I'll always love Tom Hanks and I root for him to find the success he had in the 90's, and I'm happy this film made money and was critically accepted.  I admire it, as it seems to be an attempt at an old-school classic thriller released in 2015 where most of it's viewers will have ADHD.  I am always annoyed at scenes like the one where (after defending a Russian spy) Hanks' house is shot at, his family freaked out, a mob is outside his house, and he has a look on his face of "What is going on?", as if everyone else in the film hadn't warned him this was going to happen from the start.  Unfortunately the real greatness are scenes between Hanks and Rylance, but Rylance kinds disappears half way through the film and only pops up again for the finale.  During the credits, it's said Hanks' character went on to consult for JFK and negotiate the release of hostages captured during the Bay of Pigs.  So when is the sequel coming out?  *Smokers Report: Rylance smokes through the movie.

August 19th - TO THE BONE (2017) So this was a tough film to watch.  There is a disclaimer before the film that warns you that it might be tough to watch.  I assumed that meant, since the movie was about people struggling with eating disorders, lots of puking, since it also dealt with depression, maybe some slit wrists and lots of blood, but none of that is shown on screen.  In fact, in that sense the film is downright shy.  Puke is there but only seen by the actor on screen.  Blood shows up briefly but only shown for a split second when the filmmaker could have smeared it all over like it's a horror film.  So what could have been so "offensive" that they felt they needed a disclaimer?  Apparently the sight of really skinny people might offend people.  Although I guess that makes sense; in today's world if you are super skinny or overweight, you are "gross".  But what about this film?  I really enjoyed it!  I have to admit I was rooting for it a bit, as it was written and directed by Marti Noxon, who I've been a fan of since her time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (one of my all-time favourite shows).  I liked the cast, the story, the acting.  I liked the group inside the treatment house that's run by Parks and Recreation's Retta and Keanu Reeves.  Leslie Bibb does a good job too.  Lilly Collins as the lead role does a tremendous job as Eli.  She was also in Okja too!  I, in particular, loves the relationship between Collins and Liana Liberato, who are half-sisters in the film but that's only a label, and they truly are sisters and love and care about each other.  The movie, unfortunately, does fall apart towards the end, once Eli leaves the treatment house.  Her epiphany is kinda weird (I was assuming a movie this smart would avoid the "she's cured!" ending), her problems with her absentee father are never addressed, and the movie just kind of ends.  It is an unsatisfactory ending, but the movie as a whole is well done.  Does that make sense?  *Smokers Report: Lilly Collins characters smokes quite a bit.

August 18th - THE FOUNDER (2016) I've been looking forward to watching this for awhile.  It's probably been two years (I think) since I first saw the trailer, waited for it's release, then realised it had pretty much come and gone from theaters.  It apparently wasn't that successful at the box office, which surprises me, considering Michael Keaton is in the midst of one of those big Hollywood comebacks you hear about, but maybe people weren't interested in hearing the "downer" history of how a slick-rick type stole away McDonalds from it's creators?  It wasn't for lack of marketing, as I saw trailers for this movie everywhere for a long time.  I thought for sure this was Oscar bait, especially if distributed by The Weinstein Company.  The Oscar noms came and went and...nothing.  Anyway, how was the film itself?  It starts out pretty basically, with Keaton having a hard time, hears about this McDonalds place, shows up, orders food, is shocked the the burgers only take 30 seconds to make, asks where and how he's supposed to eat it, etc.  Keaton immediately falls in love, seeing dollar signs, whereas the brothers to started the business are skeptical about franchising their restaurant.  One interesting bit was that it turns out they had already tried to franchise four more locations but all four had failed, and that's why they were skeptical.  One other interesting bit was that Keaton initially wanted rich partners to start franchises, but when it became clear that they didn't care as much as "little people" who would start up with their own money, his recruitment went into high gear towards that demographic.  Meanwhile the brothers resented his success, although it's not really clear why.  Keaton starts taking credit, telling stories here and there about how he started the company and he eventually convinces himself that he did.  The movie is kind of uneven, as Keaton seems to have good intentions, and it's not like he spends money on coke and hookers, whereas the Brothers seem like they are saying no to him just cause their feelings are hurt. In the end, Keaton's character Ray Kroc, is a crook who stole two brothers' business from them and cheated them out of $100's of millions of dollars.  And the movie is about him and how he got away with it.  Without sounding too corny, it's similar to The Wolf of Wall Street, in that it celebrates "bad behavior".  And to me, that's not cool.  *Smoker's Report: None.  In fact it seems one of the McDonalds brothers was a smoker and they 'deleted' that from the film, so if this was a math equation, they'd be -1 smoker.

August 17th - CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) Elizabeth Taylor is another actress I haven't kept up with (so to speak) so after A Place in the Sun, I decided to watch Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (and maybe Giant soon too?).  Taylor is a Hollywood legend, of course, as much for her personal life as her on-screen work.  After watching TCM and listening to the per-show talks by the hosts, I see a pattern developing where it's talked about how Taylor had alot of chemistry with her male co-stars, and if it's Richard Burton, they inevitably talk about their off screen relationship.  With this film, though, the hosts talked about how natural Taylor's performance was, possibly one of her best performances, as well as Newman's.  Written by Tennessee Williams as a play initially, and I could tell!  The long monologue by Taylor at the beginning of the film as she strolled around the room as Newman drank lying on a couch streamed "play!"  To start, sure Taylor looked gorgeous, but Newman was seemingly mute, his family was annoying (including Canadian boy Jack Carson) and everyone seemed likea real jerk.  But as the movie progresses, the walls come down and Newman's guard drops and the movie becomes something to see.  Between Taylor, Newman and Burl Ives as Big Daddy, there are three great performances in this film and you like the characters more and more, something I frankly wouldn't have thought possible early on.  It's amazing that Taylor acted in this film after finding out that her husband died in a plane crash.  The shot of her leaning on the bed is iconic, and so is the film itself.  Although I was disappointed a bit that Taylor didn't give Jack Carson's wife a good smack across the face.  *Smokers Report: If there was (other than Big Daddy's cigar) I didn't notice it

August 16th - A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951) George Stevens may be close to being one of my favourite Movie Directors.  My all-time favourite is Billy Wilder.  I loved that Wilder could make movies as different as Double Indemnity, Sunset Blvd, Ace in the Hole, Stalag 17, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment and IMHO the underrated The Fortune Cookie.  Or Howard Hawks who could make movies like Scarface, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep and Rio Bravo, among others.  As I have noticed while I am watching these films, George Stevens has many classic films under his belt - Swing Time, Gunga Din, The Talk of the Town, Giant...and movies on this list and the July list...Woman of the Year, Shane and now A Place in the Sun.  This movie is famous for the on-screen chemistry with Montgomery Clift and Elizabeth Taylor.  People gush about seeing them together on screen, but I don't know of that many times I've heard people gush about the quality of the movie itself.  I'm sure people do, of course.  This is a very straightforward film.  We meet Montgomery Clift, then Shelley Winters, who he starts dating, but then in comes Elizabeth Taylor and turns his world upside down.  The movie is about hubris and ambition, with Clift (although this is implied and not said) getting Winters pregnant and offering to marry her, but then he starts dating Taylor and enters a world of luxury and wants to stay in that world, and won't let Winters ruin that.  I pretty much could tell where this was going at every turn, there were no surprises at all.  The only real surprise is that Clift doesn't really kill Winters...he clearly wants to but it's an accident that kills her, but he can't prove that in court, so Perry Mason himself (Canadian boy Raymond Burr) gets him sentenced to the death penalty.  I try to think of the movies as how they existed at the time they were made, such as was, in this movie, seeing someone walked to his execution, revolutionary at the time?  In 2017, I've seen this story many, many, MANY times before.  I did enjoy the twist, and that towards the end, Winters started getting tired of Clift's crap and standing up for herself, and the chemistry between Clift and Taylor is palpable, for sure.  This story is an old one, and the performances are good but I'm not sure I'll sit down and watch this again. *Smokers Report: There is some, but I think I've said before in my July blog that somehow, in black and white films, smoking just seems natural somehow, so it just kind of blends into the scenery. 

August 15th - FREEBIE AND THE BEAN (1974) Apparently this is one of the original buddy cop films.  I'd heard the name of this film on and off (it stood out cause it was so different) but I really knew nothing about it, even who starred in it or what it was about.  It stars James Caan and Alan Arkin as two cops who destroy pretty much everything in San Francisco as they try to protect a witness.  Where has this movie been all my life?  It's amazing!  How has this not been remade?  How is this not more well known?  It's smart, funny, great action sequences...the leads have great chemistry together, and Valerie Harper is a Latino version of Rhoda and is absolutely majestic during the "interrogation scene" with her and Arkin.  Loretta Swit only has two scenes but shines in the last one.  It was a bit weird that Arkin and Harper were supposed to be Latino but I guess back then in Hollywood you just said you were "Mexican" and that was that.  How was there not a sequel?  Coming after Bullit and Dirty Harry, was this the first time a cop movie like this combined action and comedy?  Probably not but they did it really well.  Apparently it made money...did they not make sequels circa 1974?  Or have movie franchises until later after Star Wars and Jaws came out?  It really is amazing how much stuff gets destroyed in this film. Almost over the top.  In the scenes where they chase bad guys on foot, it's almost like the director said "Okay, pretend it's like you are playing tag!" and they really were chasing each other as if life depended on it.  Some of Caan's dialogue would be considered racist in 2017 but it seemed okay somehow cause, well, he was talking to Arkin, who's white as a sheet, so I guess that made it funny...?  Anyway, this is a tremendous film and I recommend it!  Coincidentally, I noticed Jack Kruschen in this film, who has starred in this film, McLintock! and Cape Fear (and I didn't recognize him, but he was Jack Lemmon's doctor neighbour in The Apartment, a role where he apparently was nominated for an Oscar).  Weird how some patterns emerge here, eventhough how I pick these films is totally random.  *Smokers Report: I think Caan smoked in one scene but that's it.

August 14th - STREET SMART (1987) This is the film that launched Morgan Freeman into the stratosphere.  Freeman up until this movie hadn't done much other than TV's The Electric Company, and after being nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe for this, went on to Glory and later Shawshank Redemption and God...etc.  This was a project Christopher Reeve had tried for years to film, and only agreed to Superman 4 after the producers agreed to also finance this.  Superman 4 is pretty bad (although if I had to choose, I'd say it's actually better overall than Superman 3, but that's not saying much), but thankfully we got this film too.  I'm a big Reeve fan, of course for being the quintessential Superman, but seeing a movie like this shows me how talented he was in the right role and had alot more to show us had he not been paralysed in 1995.  After watching movies like this, Remains of the Day, Somewhere in Time and Deathtrap, I'm sure he would have become an in-demand character actor, kind of like how Alec Baldwin re-started his career a few years back.  Anyway, how's this film?  I really enjoyed it.  It wasn't at all what I expected, nor did it play out the way I expected.  Most movies like this play out in a very formulaic way, with the viewers able to anticipate every twist and turn.  In this film I thought I knew for sure how it was going to go and was constantly surprised.  It seemed a bit violent for 1987...maybe if this had come out during the mid-90's, during the new age of indy films, post Quentin Tarantino, it might have done better.  But I think this is a hidden gem.  Highly recommended.  *Smokers Report: Kathy Baker's great performance is one that includes a cigarette constantly in her hand.

August 13th - MCLINTOCK! (1963) I've never been a big John Wayne fan, honestly.  Not sure why, just haven't been drawn to his films.  Other than Rio Bravo...that's one of my top ten all-time favourites.  I have seen El Dorado, the remake and I think I've seen Rio Lobo, the other remake, and I have seen parts of The Searchers...anyway when TCM's Summer Under The Stars featured Wayne, I thought I would get caught up.  I figured I'd start with one of the movies where he teamed with Maureen O'Hara.  Then I found out this was an adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew.  I've never been a fan of Taming of the Shrew.  When I say that people say "But it's Shakesepare!"  I love most of his work but even the best can have a dud here or there.  I saw the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton adaptation in school and didn't like it, thinking it was misogynistic, just about putting women in their place.  And that's basically what this movie is too.  O'Hara is a shrew, and rejects Wayne the whole film, until he literally spanks her, then she is 'tamed' and wants him bad, then they live happily ever after.  I'm guessing this kind of thinking appealed to Wayne, the old school man's man, the kind of guy who thought...well I won't speculate, I don't know the man but knowing things about these actors and their personal lives and how things can bleed over...I can guess that's why I've never been interested in Wayne's films...but what about this film?  Well I did kind of like it, it had a nice cast and good performances, and it was kind of a coincidence that both this film and yesterday's, Shane, were about the cattleman-homesteaders, or at least it was at first.  There's actually two shrews in this film that need to be tamed, which is funny, and also I liked how Wayne's character treated his old Chinese cook and stuck up for the Native Americans.  But then the actors portraying these roles did them in a very stereotypical way, so does that just even out?  It's weird watching some of these "classic" films in 2017, especially considering the political climate these days, and the constant battle online regarding misogyny in comics, games, etc.  Can I just shut my brain off for 2 hours and enjoy a film for what it is?  Not today, unfortunately.  I am interested in watching The Quiet Man, though... *Smokers Report: None that I can think of...

August 12th - SHANE (1953) No, I've never seen Shane, but I knew how it ended.  This movie is one of those what I've just never sat down to watch, and because I (seemingly) knew so much about it, I kind of passed it by.  But I decided to watch it, and was kind of surprised by how much I didn't know.  Sure the ending is iconic, as is the face of the little boy (Brandon deWilde), who spends most of the film being a pretty cute little skamp.  I knew Alan Ladd was the star, but didn't know Van Heflin and Jack Palance or Jean Arthur were in this film.  I was shocked as I watched and realised it was Jean Arthur as "the wife".  I wondered why Jean Arthur would take a "wife" role, after starring in so many films, but then I looked it up on Wikipedia and turns out she hadn't worked in years until George Stevens, who had worked with her before, asked her to take the role.  It's a pretty standard, heart-on-its-sleeve movie, no irony or sarcasm...everyone says what they mean and does what they say.  With one exception, it's pretty much good vs. evil, with the ultimate good guy making the sacrifice for the other good guy who has a family, even beating him nearly to death to stop him from stepping into a trap.  It was fun seeing some familiar faces, like Elisha Cook Jr., the little guy from Bogie and gangster movies; Nancy Kulp in a small role, who was Mrs. Hathaway on Beverly Hillbillies; and a young Ben Johnson, who is the one black hat who has a slight shade of grey in him.  This film's impact on pop culture is huge, even just this past year in Logan, in just one example.  George Stevens isn't reinventing the western genre here, just telling a good story the best he can.  I can see why this movie is so iconic and it is a great film.  Not sure if I'll ever watch it again, but it is a classic for a reason.  *Smokers Report: Not really.

August 11th - STAR OF MIDNIGHT (1935) It's Ginger Rogers Day on TCM's Summer Under the Stars and I'm making sure to watch all the non-Fred Astaire team-ups.  I'm a big Ginger Rogers fan but have to admit I favour the musicals as they are a special kind of magic that neither Astaire nor Rogers could match with other co-stars.  I have seen her big solo movies, such as Kitty Foyle, Stage Door, Bachelor Mother, Rafter Romance...two in particular that I love are The Major and the Minor and also Vivacious Lady, a comedy with her and James Stewart that I think was the first movie I ever saw on TCM.  But I had never heard of this movie, that co-stars William Powell, another favourite of mine, from My Man Godfrey and the many movies with Myrna Loy, who was Powell's Fred Astaire...so to speak.  So Powell without Loy and Rogers without Astaire...I wonder if Loy and Astaire ever did a movie together, to even things out?  This is a movie similar to The Thin Man series that starred, again, Powell and Loy.  A mystery to be solved by Powell and he doesn't seem to want any part of it.  This actually came a year after the first Thin Man movie, and after Rogers had starred in three musicals with Astaire (Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee and Roberta), but later this year saw the release of Top Hat, which some think is the best of the nine Fred-Ginger movies.  So how does this movie play out?  Is it just Thin Man-Lite?  Well, kinda.  There really is nothing like the chemistry between Powell and Loy, plus Loy's Nora is even more into the cases they are on as Powell, possibly more and eventually her enthusiasm to solve the whole thing herself carries over.  Rogers is wonderful and can carry a film on her own but does seem to pale in comparison at times.  Like here, I can't watch her without comparing her to Loy.  Rogers and Powell aren't married, and Rogers is pursuing Powell, trying to convince him to marry her and Powell doesn't seem interested.  Which makes Powell's character kind of dumb, ironic since Powell keeps making fun of Rogers' intelligence (whereas he would play along with Loy's silly questions).  The movie is good, as funny moments and a plot that makes no sense, and when the killer is revealed I thought "Who's that?", but Powell's and Rogers' charm carries it through.  But what chance did this movie have, being a Thin Man knockoff, but no Asta!  *Smokers Report: Oh Yes!  Powell is an old school movie star like Cary Grant or Humphrey Bogart, never without a lit cigarette in his hand, and even Rogers smokes too, which I hadn't seen her do in many films, although it does seem at times she's just doing it to keep up with Powell.

August 10th - THE HANGOVER PART THREE (2013)  Well, it's over!  I can say that this movie is better than Part Two, but not nearly as good as Part One.  What else?  Poor Doug.  I guess for him Part Two was "the good one", eh?  They return to Las Vegas, which was good, but took awhile, which was bad.  The movie takes a turn away from the typical "Hangover" formula, which is good, but then it's nothing like the others, which is bad (I think).  I'm not a professional critic, I'm not getting paid by the word or whatever...so final thoughts...watch the first one...skip the others...although that kid who plays Carlos (who I'm 99% sure is the same kid who was the baby in the original) has haunting eyes and that scene with him in it was probably the best in the whole film.  *Smokers Report: Don't remember...don't care...

August 9th - OKJA (2017) Okay, right away, Tilda Swinton is in this, has a funny voice...this is gonna be weird.  I've heard alot of good things about this film, and was waiting to see it in theatres, but it turns out it was on Netflix the whole time.  At one point I loved watching foreign films and watched as many as I could.  But as I got older and my mind wanders more easily, I find myself multi-tasking, watching movies but also tweeting, going on Facebook, writing these blog posts...so watching foreign films are harder, as I can't just listen to the dialogue and look up occasionally, I have to concentrate.  Anywho, this movie is cooperating with my ADHD as it's half English and half Korean.  And as I mentioned before...it's weird!  But it's awesome!  The little girl and Okja are both adorable and their relationship carries the movie.  The ALF group, with Lilly Collins, Paul Dano and GLEN FROM WALKING DEAD, are trying to save Okja but in the most awesome and hilarious way!  The movie grinds to a halt when Dano and the group have Okja and Mija in the back of a truck and Dano is trying to explain who they are to Mija (and us) and talks and talks with Glen doing very little translation to Mija (who doesn't speak English) and it's kind of weird and not really addressed, but then gets back on track.  Shirley Henderson and Giancarlo Esposito are always a pleasure to see.  Jake Gyllenhaal is so over the top that his performance will be studied for centuries to come as either genius or drug-induced...or more likely both.  The film is quirky and funny and has moments of action-adventure but towards the end can be heartbreaking on a Schindler's List-level.  Is this movie going to make me stop eating meat?  No.  But will I smile everytime I think of this film?  Absolutely!  This will be on my Top Ten Best Films of the Year list (if I make one) for sure!  Director Bong Joon-ho, who before this gave us "The Host" and "Snowpiercer", is incredibly talented and I look forward to whatever he has up his sleeve next.  *Smoker's Report: One or two smokers but that's it.

August 8th - BLACKADDER: THE WHOLE ROTTEN SAGA (2008) This counts right?  I have just finished re-watching the entire four series of Blackadder, the classic British TV show (every episode available on Youtube, btw) and noticed that there was this full 90 minute documentary about making the series, so one thing lead to the other and here we are.  For those of you who haven't watched it, Blackadder is a generational sitcom, with each series taking place decades (centuries?) apart, and following the characters from one series to the next as their own descendants.  What is it about British TV shows being about history...this and Dr. Who and...I guess that's it.  Anyway, apparently that was just something that evolved in going from the first series to the next and not the grand scheme surprised me.  This show stars Rowan Atkinson (more famous for Mr. Bean, which to me is a shame, although I am not at all one of those Mr. Bean haters) and also British legends such as Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, Rik Mayall, Tim McInnerny, Brian Blessed, Peter Cook, Jim Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, Miriam Margoyles and written (mostly) by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, who after Blackadder went on to huge things (Google them).  The show's first series, which everyone in the doc seemed to admit wasn't very good, was created by Curtis and Atkinson, and almost didn't come back for a second series, but Atkinson just wanted to act, so Curtis brought in Elton to co-write and then the show itself evolved into something great.  The most interesting bit was learning that Tim McInnerny decided to leave the show due to not wanting to be typecast as a moron, as he was going to play Prince Regent, but by walking away, Hugh Laurie was cast instead after a memorable cameo in the prior series.  This seemed to energize the series and shook things up a bit.  The final series is thought of as the best (how often does that happen?) with the final few minutes being part of British TV history.  But it was also interesting to learn that the ending was kind of improvised in the editing room, when the actors refused a second take and the producers and editor had to come up with something other than what they had originally envisioned.  For me personally, Blackadder might be my all-time favourite British TV show, up there with Monty Python, Fawlty Towers and Red Dwarf.  I remember being shown the aforementioned final episode in Social Studies (History) class in Grade 10 and it having a huge impact on me, so much so that I had to go back and watch the other series.  And until it was pointed out, I had never noticed such massive changes from the first series to the second (less on location filming, taping it in front of a live audience, flipping the script on characters, specifically making Atkinson the smart one of the group and Baldrick the moron) other than the quality went up several notches.  And watching this doc, with interviews with most of the people involved (Rowan Atkinson wasn't a talking head, but they did have archival footage of him discussing the show, but unfortunately no Rik Mayall) and some funny and insightful stories about the making of the show (and even some behind the scenes footage too), I highly recommend the show and this doc too.  *Smokers Report: N/A

August 7th - THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955) Another pick from TCM's Summer Under the Stars, with Robert Mitchum as the star in question.  This, like most of the movies on this and July's list, are movies I've intended to watch but just never have for some reason.  I consider myself a Mitchum fan, but looking at his filmography, I really haven't watched many Mitchum films other than Out of the Past, Crossfire, Holiday Affair and a few others.  I knew alot about this film already...the LOVE and HATE tattoos on Mitchum's knuckles, the monologue about how Love beat Hate...So finally sitting down to watch this film, I knew I was in for a classic...one list of the best movies of all time placed this #2, just behind Citizen Kane in ALL TIME MOVIES (just wanted to stress that again) but I think I wanted too much.  The first thirty minutes or so speed through alot of plot, which normally I like when a movie gets to the good stuff, but here it just seemed rushed.  There are parts of this film that come across almost as a comedy...especially the scene in the cellar, with Mitchum stumbling and chasing the kids up the stairs, getting his fingers caught in the door, and then a hard close up of the young boy.  The look of the film is spectacular, with the shadow work being haunting, and scenes like when Mitchum is staring down Lillian Gish, a girl with a candle comes along, causing a flare, then Mitchum is gone...it's a genuinely great scene.  But I didn't get what was happening in some parts of the film, especially towards the end.  The people in the town are freaking out, yelling at the kids and such...did they think Mitchum was innocent?  I was really confused then the movie just kind of ends with Gish giving a speech to the camera.  And Shelley Winters is given second billing but has a very limited role.  Mitchum was haunting in his performance but I can't say this was a great film, let alone the 2nd best movie of all time.  *Smokers Report: None that I can remember.

August 6th - THE HANGOVER PART TWO (2011) Wow, this might be the shortest blurb/review yet.  There's nothing here.  It's shocking.  Especially since I LOVED the first Hangover movie.  I might have seen it three times in the theatres.  I loved it that much.  Looking back I'm not even sure why...do I just love movies that take place in Las Vegas?  Was it the fresh faces of Bradley Cooper, Zack Galifianakis, Ken Jeong...the over the top comedy that also was kind of a mystery...did I really want Ed Helms to succeed after leaving The Daily Show...I honestly don't know.  Seeing as they stuck to the same formula, what went wrong...maybe the fact they were lost in Vegas, sure it's a huge city but it's really self-contained and they knew the language...getting lost in Bangkok but bringing it all together in the end maybe is just too unbelievable?  Should I bother with the 3rd one?  Is it like the Ocean's Eleven movies...another Vegas film that lost it's way a bit in the sequel that wasn't in Vegas but rebounded in the 3rd film, which coincidentally goes back to Vegas?  I guess what I'm asking is does Hangover 3 take place in Vegas?  If so I might check it out...What else is there to say?  Wow, Jamie Chung is gorgeous and, between this and Sucker Punch, deserves way better!  Other than that...I got nothin'... *Smokers Report: Uh...sure...I think so...one or two smokers...I don't care really...

August 5th - THE DUFF (2015) "Designated Ugly Fat Friend" is what "The Duff" stands for.  Just to get that out of the way.  I admire Mae Whitman as a person and as an actor.  She took on the role of Michael Cera's bland girlfriend on Arrested Development where it was constantly hit home how....well, bland she was.  And she survived that.  Then after becoming a bit of a star, she WASN'T recast as the President's daughter in the sequel to Independance Day, which, if she didn't turn down the role, had so suck to see the role given to a younger, blonde girl.  At 29 she was already "too old" by Hollywood standards.  But what does that have to do with this film?  Just some context, calm down.  I heard this was a good film, so I'm watching it.  After the John Hughes movies of the 80's, there was a resurgence of teen movies in the 2000's (did American Pie start this trend?) and within all the noise, there were some great ones in there too, such as Juno, Mean Girls and Easy A.  And after he guest starred on The Flash, I became a fan of Robbie Amell.  And it turns out ALLISON JANNEY is in this too!  So how was the movie?  I liked the cast, especially Amell, who was saying some awful things but yet somehow came off very likable.  And there were some funny bits, like Whitman's old Halloween picture with her two other friends being Angels, and Whitman dressing up as Bosley instead of the 3rd Angel.  This is kind of a remake of Can't Buy Me Love, with the genders switched, eventhough this was made from a novel, so I guess the novel was a remake of Can't Buy Me Love, which btw has already been remade...Whitman and Amell are great, so good in fact that all the rest of the movie between them becoming friends and actually getting together is kind of a waste of time.  How about a teen movie where it's clear where things are going, but then they change gears, the two meet cuters actually become a couple (which I kind of thought they were doing in the "rock" scene) and the movie is about them being a couple, rather than the will-they-won't-they stuff?  I guess I have an idea for a movie..."irregardless", it was a good movie with some funny stuff.  Not an all time classic but it has a good message for modern teens about cyberbullying.  And most importantly, the girl gets the boy by being herself and not having to change, which is nice (I'm looking at you Breakfast Club!)  *Smokers Report: Zippo!

August 4th - JUSTICE LEAGUE: THRONE OF ATLANTIS (2015) This is a DC Animated Universe movie, the second in a series after the "New 52" reboot of not only the animated universes and also the DC comic books.  "The New 52" was something done by DC Comics in 2011 that, long story short, restarted the entire 75-year history of the books and gave every character new origins (some more different than others; they tried making Superman more hardcore whereas Batman and Green Lantern, their best selling titles at the time, pretty much stayed the same).  And the Animated universe got the same treatment.  This movie is the 2nd in a series, after "Justice League: War", which was where the Justice League was formed with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash and newcomers Cyborg and Shazam replacing Aquaman and Martian Manhunter Jonn J'onzz.  The series, like the comics, tried to be more adult, with the occasional "shit", lots of blood splatters and even a beheading or two (which really started with the animated "Flashpoint Paradox"; be warned about watching that with the kiddies around).  One weird thing is that eventhough this is a series, probably half of the characters' voices were recast, the most notable being Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, replacing Justin Kirk, although really it's a re-cast, as Fillion played GL in three previous (unrelated) JL movies...confused yet?  This film is the backdrop for the origin and rebooting of Aquaman, one of the more famous JLers, but probably not for the best reasons.  Aquaman has always been the butt of jokes when it comes to super heroes, most notably on the TV series "The Big Bang Theory", and, as seen by trailers for the big upcoming Justice League live-action feature film, DC and Warner Bros are trying their best to change that image by casting badass Jason Mamoa as the King of the Seven Seas.  But what about this movie, the reason we're here in the first place?  The movie starts with Aquaman mourning his dead father, cause no good superhero can exist without a dead parent and/or daddy issues.  Plus the movie goes into Superman and Wonder Woman's relationship, as one of the biggest things about the New 52 was making the two most powerful heroes a power couple.  One weird thing right off the bat is that they cast George Newburn as Steve Trevor, and Newburn was the voice of Superman in the all-time great Justice League Unlimited tv series, so that was hard to get used to, although it passes as Trevor isn't exactly a major character.  Another overused trope for the past few years is the reluctant hero, best example being the Henry Cavill Superman from "Man of Steel" and that other 'v' movie-that-shall-not-be-named, where sure he's the most powerful being on the planet, but mopes about asking "I dunno, do I really wanna be Super?".  That's what's so great about Gal Godot's Wonder Woman...she knows she is special and knows she is the one to save people...but that's another digression...what about this film?  Random notes...whomever played Aquaman, his line delivery was annoying...also the writers use terms like "terrorism" and "living under a cloud of fear" is trying to make this timely...Mera is awesome...But this darker, more adult version of the DC Universe, much like the new 52 comics, turned me off, which is kind of why it's taken me two years to watch this movie.  There are little details that just bug me, like adding Cyborg and Shazam to the League (Cyborg is a Teen Titan, people!) replacing Jonzz and Aquaman, and while I like the idea of making Aquaman a better character, making him brooding and a killer isn't how I'd do it.  Anyone see the cartoon series "Batman: Brave and the Bold"?  THAT is the best version of Aquaman!  It's so good it's OUTRAGEOUS!  Geoff Johns grew up reading about Barry Allen as the Flash and Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, and so did I, reading George Perez' Justice League of America.  But as I grew up, and saw different versions, like the BWAHAHAH JLI, Grant Morrison's JLA, and later Bruce Timm and Dwayne McDuffie's JLU tv series (even the prior series, "Justice League" and it's Aquaman story "The Enemy Below", while not as good as JLU stuff but it's still better than this), I have my own favourite version of the League.  And that includes John Stewart as Green Lantern!  And when you get right down to it, MERA is such a better character than Aquaman...make her Aquawoman and be done with it...what was I saying?  Oh right, this film...the big fight at the end is Orm aka Ocean Master and his army invading the streets of Metropolis and the Justice League having to fight them off...which was the EXACT same finale to the last "JL:War" movie, with it being Darkseid's army there.  That's just lazy storytelling.  And these versions of the characters just aren't as interesting, which is kind of why, six years later, the New 52 is all but forgotten and the DCU is being rebooted yet again (or is it re-started?).  But what about this film?  There are a few cool bits, like John Henry Irons' cameo, and Lois Lane interrupting Clark and Diana's date, Black Manta's fate and what Aquaman says right after that, Fillion's few good one-liners...but the outright carnage of this film, with Wonder Woman and Mera both more interested in beheading Atleantean soldiers than anything...at least in the last film they were beheading aliens and usually in missions they beat up robots...the violence against PEOPLE somehow seems worse.  And maybe it's just semantics but that did bother me.  And they seemed to be setting up a "Justice League vs. Injustice Society or Legion of Doom" movie, with Lex Luthor approaching Ocean Master at the end, but that never happened.  They used much of the same cast in the next Justice League movie, JL vs. Teen Titans, but whether or not that was a sequel to this...I'll have to watch it and find out...  *Smokers Report: Heck no!  These animated films can say "shit", behead people and have blood splatters everywhere, but no smoking!  (and that's good, imho, just to be clear...)

August 3rd - CHARADE (1963) Last month I admitted I hadn't seen alot of Audrey Hepburn films, and tried to correct that.  I continue that cinematic journey here.  I'm surprised I hadn't see this yet, as while I wasn't a big Hepburn fan, I'm a huge Cary Grant fan, and also a huge Walter Matthau fan, plus the movie has James Coburn, George Kennedy and is written and directed by legendary Stanley Donen.  Given all that talent was involved, I wasn't really that impressed unfortunately.  Grant is great, but the others don't do much.  Especially Matthau who only has a few scenes in the whole movie.  There are some nice twists, especially that Grant's character isn't all that interested in Hepburn and she is constantly flirting with him and pushing for something to happen.  But even after she finds out his secret she still is persistent, and Grant is still hesitant, eventhough getting together with Hepburn would help him out...it was kind of weird but apparently Grant requested this, being sensitive about looking like a dirty old man.  Do all of Hepburn's movies take place in Europe?  This was a disappointment.  *Smokers Report: A few smokes here and there, which I expected considering who the leads were but not much, especially compared to Funny Face or Breakfast at Tiffanys.

August 2nd - JOHN WICK (2014) Okay, so I am not usually a fan of shoot em ups. And knowing I'm a movie guy, people often recommend movies to me.  And no offense to everyone ever, but my cinematic tastes are usually a little different that everyone elses'.  But last year(ish) it seemed like literally everyone I talked to said "Have you seen John Wick?  You'll love it!"  So much so that it backfired and it made me NOT want to see the film.  But then John Wick 2 came out and everyone loved THAT ONE too.  So here we are, starting with the first one, then maybe later this month, the second one.  If this one is as good as everyone ever says.  So does it live up to the hype?  One other thing...spoilers don't really affect whether or not I decide to watch a film...I'm either going to watch it or not...I may get mad when someone spoils important specific plotpoints of a movie for me, like with Colossal (see July 2017 blog), but again, I'll watch what I want to watch.  I knew early on that in this movie, the dog dies.  Apparently a really cute dog too.  And that just pissed me off.  Killing a puppy?  F*ck that!  But again, I heard over and over it was great...so I'll give it a chance.  And yup, the cute puppy dies like ten minutes into the film.  And the worst thing is the killer is that Theon Greyjoy loser from Game of Thrones, who is THE WORST!!!  I have to watch a movie with THAT GUY?  I guess I can look forward to him getting his ass kicked at some point...unlike Theon who is basically the cockroach of GoT...Anyway...I like movies that are a little different, and I liked how this movie seemed like it was just another shoot em up, with a innocent man out for revenge against an army of mafia men who scoff at him. The twist is that the army of men are all scared of John Wick, and I liked that detail.  Other than that, really, it is a typical shoot em up, but with some great fight scenes.  Keanu Reeves is good here, with minimal dialogue and lots of punching.  I liked the supporting cast.  I liked the look of the film.  And I think I am looking forward to the sequel.  But I do worry it will be like the Taken franchise, with that one you start to think Liam Neeson is just a bad father.  With Wick, I wonder how many cute dogs will have to die before the SPCA people lock the doors when they see him coming... *Smokers Report: Some bad guys smoke, like bad guys do...

August 1st - THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH (1955) Every year August is the month for TCM's Summer Under the Stars, with every day of the month dedicated to a particular classic movie star.  So this month might feature alot of older classic films, much like how July featured alot of blockbuster movies currently (at the time) in the theatre.  August 1st was Marilyn Monroe day, so that gave me an excuse to finally watch this film.  It's one of those I'm told I have to watch but as to why...is it because it's one of Monroe's few major roles?  Just the fact that it's a Billy Wilder film, one of my favourite directors, is reason enough to watch.  Chronologically, this film came a few years after Monroe's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", "How To Marry A Millionaire" but four years before Monroe teamed again with Wilder in "Some Like it Hot".  For the first 30 minutes or so, other than one Monroe scene, it's all Tom Ewell, someone whose name I recognized but face I didn't.  Throughout the first 1/3 of the film, Ewell is alone on screen but talks and talks and talks, making me think "Is he crazy?" and once he starts hallucinating, it's kind of confirmed.  Monroe emerges and the comedy is with Ewell, a married man, trying to seduce her.  Which is completely understandable, in that it's HER, but kinda crappy for the leading man.  It's especially weird that we are apparently cheering for adultery in 1955.  And as I drift towards Wikipedia, turns out Wilder thought this was a "nothing film" and that he was "straightjacketed" by censors, as in the play version, the two leads have a full on affair while in the movie it had to be made out as all in his head.  So if Wilder doesn't think much of this film...apparently Ewell played the role over 900 times on Broadway and won a Tony and a Golden Globe for it.  I did laugh a few times, like when Monroe dips a potato chip into her champagne, or when Ewell is apologising for basically attacking her while going in for a kiss, her response is "It's okay, it happens to me all the time."  This movie is of course famous for the image of Monroe standing over a subway grate and her dress blowing up, but it's really quick but Wilder is so smart that he does it twice, just in case you missed it the first time.  Apparently Walter Matthau auditioned for the Ewell role and normally I celebrate any chance to see more Matthau, but I see him as a more cynical character as opposed to the bumbling one Ewell portrays, and I'm not sure it would have worked as well.  Ewell does grow on you after awhile, and Monroe, is of course, MONROE!  She is gorgeous and charming and...she disappears for a good twenty minutes until the big dress scene.  And it only lasts a few minutes...so really we have to ask "what makes a great film"?  Does one iconic scene make this film a classic?  Roger Ebert used to say any movie with three great scenes in it was automatically good.  And after awhile I felt a bit mislead, as this really is Ewell's film...Monroe gets top billing on the poster, but there are long stretches where it's just Ewell on screen, so if you don't love Ewell then you aren't going to love this film.  *Smokers Report: Ewell's character smokes, as does Monroe, but not much else...

July 2017 31 Movies in 31 Days

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, seeing others do this online...some do it for a year, but that's weird, so let's try a month first!  I have some glaring holes in my movie watching experience and this is a great way to plug those holes.  I'll give myself some rules, such as the movie needs to be something I haven't seen before, which shouldn't be a problem.  Between some new films in theatres coming out that I'm excited to see, my DVD/Blu-Ray collection that includes a few un-opened movies and my DVR, I shouldn't run out of movies to watch in only 31 days.  And there are some "classic" films that I have never seen, so no judging!

*Shall we assume that saying SPOILERS! goes without saying?

*Amendment to SPOILERS rule: I will, however, try to avoid Spoilers for new movies (released this year or last year)...but be warned!

The List:

1- The Great Outdoors
2- King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
3- Breakfast at Tiffany's
4- The Man Who Would be King
5- Hands on a Hard Body
6- Act of Violence
7- Spider-Man: Homecoming
8- Gunfight at the OK Corral
9- A Year of Living Dangerously
10- Labyrinth
11- Baby Driver
12- 2 Weeks in Another Town
13- Concussion
14- A Little Chaos
15- The Big Sick
16- Night of the Living Dead
17- Mulan
18- Cape Fear
19- Colossal
20- Harold and Maude
21- Valerian
22- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
23- Quick Change
24- Woman of the Year
25- Dunkirk
26- Funny Face
27- Roman Holiday
28- Like Crazy
29- War for the Planet of the Apes
30- Atomic Blonde
31- Bon Cop, Bad Cop

July 1st - Happy Canada Day!  I figured I should celebrate our Nation's 150th birthday by watching a movie with two famous Canadians, Dan Aykroyd and the late, great John Candy!  That movie is THE GREAT OUTDOORS (1988).  This movie has lots of fans, some people feel this is a classic, and I'm not one of them.  It was surprising seeing Annette Benning here, plus that it was written (but not directed) by John Hughes.  It had some sweet moments, especially with Candy trying to be a good dad to his kids.  It's interesting to think of what Candy could have accomplished as an actor if he were still alive.  I'm not a huge fan of Aykroyd as a bad guy, I like him more as a shlub(?) like Ray in the Ghostbusters.  It got sentimental towards the end, which was actually good I felt as Aykroyd and Candy got to behave like real people as opposed to the cartoon characters that the script initially made them out to be.

July 2nd - KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD (2017) in the theatre, released May 17th as a big summer blockbuster.  On Rotten Tomatoes it has a critics score of 28% but an audience score of 74%, so there isn't really a consensus here.  I am a sucker for this kind of stuff, with the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, the Trojan War, Greek Mythology, even Robin Hood and those kinds of stories.  Making a movie like this must be a challenge, as there is no one unified King Arthur story, but then again, with a director like Guy Ritchie, he probably thinks that's a good reason to "pump things up".  I like it when a movie "expidites" it's storytelling, when they speed things up or fast forwards through scenes that aren't necessary, and Ritchie certainly has a talent for that.  He brings modern writing, that makes me think of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, to these classic stories, and doesn't seem to care about accents, which probably annoys some people (critics) whereas I am not a historian and I appreciate the creative freedom.  For example, I love the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood...anyway this film was fun, but way too long.  Way too long.  And it had a weird way of "taking the piss out of itself" yet also took itself way too seriously.  I didn't hate it but I'm not sure I'd recommend it either.

July 3rd - BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961) Never seen this before, never really had the desire to and well, it didn't really do anything for me.  Audrey Hepburn is wonderful and it's fun seeing George Peppard pre-A-Team.  I admit I have a problem with smoking on film and nearly every scene had one character, or both, smoking away and that just makes me cringe.  Somehow, if it's a black and white film it's okay but otherwise...my brain is weird.

July 4th - I tried picking a big all-american film cause of the 4th of July but I ended up watching "THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING" (1975) a movie I bought after not being able to see a screening at the TCM Film Festival but hadn't watched it until today.  Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer are all great, but Plummer isn't in it much after the first half hour, so it's mostly just Connery and Caine.  They seemed to be trying to make a less fun, more dramatic version of Gunga Din, but with just two guys instead of three.  Directed and written by John Huston seemingly trying to make another Lawrence of Arabia-type of film.  I have to admit, again, that this classic didn't really do much for me, unfortunately.

July 5th - HANDS ON A HARDBODY (1997) a tremendous documentary that should have been my 4th of July film!  This is America!  Or, 'Murica!  People standing around, one hand on a truck, last one standing wins the truck.  It seems silly at first but then you choose your favourites, root for them, get upset when you seemingly catch someone cheating, etc.  I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen the film, I wouldn't take that from you.  The best thing to come out of this film's success is that this has been adapted into a Broadway musical (that I have to see) but the worst is that we will never see the Robert Altman film version of this.  A film adaptation of this was to be Altman's next film project right before his death, and I would have loved to have seen that with it's reported cast of The Rock, Billy Bob Thornton and Hillary Swank.  Great movie!

July 6th - "ACT OF VIOLENCE" (1949) I love film noir and I'm a big fan of Robert Ryan in film noir.  I studied film noir in film school but had never heard of this film, intriqued by a Ryan and a young Janet Leigh, plus Mary Astor's name in the credits.  It starred Van Heflin and was directed by Fred Zinnemann.  It started out as a typical bad-guy-looking-for-revenge-on-good-guy film, but then both Ryan and Heflin's characters was revealed to have layers.  Not sure how far I should go for spoilers, as I recommend this film highly.  It is rare, in that, after World War II (the supposed "good war"), they have a film where...again, spoilers...anyway, there are layers!  Lots of layers!

July 7th - "SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING" (2017) A highly anticipated summer blockbuster, the 3rd reboot of Peter Parker and Chapter 16 of the MCU ongoing series (yes, there have been 16 Marvel Studios movies since Iron Man in 2008).  As a dislaimer, I do like Marvel, but have always been a huge DC fan myself and while of course I know Spider-man, his foes, his allies, his biggest storylines...even while only ever reading maybe a handful of Spidey comics in my entire lifetime.   So while some comics fans might have problems with the use of certain characters (I read online that alot of the characters in this film are from the Miles Morales Spiderman character, but I don't know details), I loved this "new" interpretation.  I already liked Tom Holland's Spidey, from his first appearance in "Civil War", plus Marisa Tomei's younger, hotter Aunt May.  So really the question was, did we really need a third reboot?  An even younger Spidey?  Turns out...yes we did!  I never loved the other interpretations of Spidey, other than the 2nd Tobey Macquire film with Doc Oc (haven't seen that in years and don't know if it holds up, but I thought that was close to a masterpiece).  A young, immature, impetuous Spidey dealing with villains that are using weapons salvaged from the attack on New York from the 1st Avengers film (with the film name dropping Damage Control, a huge Dwayne McDuffie shout-out!) was all great stuff!  The Captain America cameos were hilarious, the young cast was great and RDJ as Tony Stark as usual was tremendous.  And it was good to see Jon Favreau back as Happy Hogan after the events of Iron Man 3.  And yes, stay after the movie is over.  There is a mid-credits scene AND an after credits scene, one you will love...or hate...whatever...I loved it!   

July 8th - "GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL" (1957) starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming and a young DeForest Kelley (Bones from Star Trek), directed by John Sturges.  There have been many interpretations of the saga of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Tombstone.  Movies like "Hour of the Gun", "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp" and tv shows like Maverick and Star Trek (ironically starring Kelley of course) have all touched on the legend.  This one almost seems to gloss over the actual dual, focusing on the friendship of Wyatt and Doc (Lancaster and Douglas, respectively).  The first half of the film is Wyatt and Doc in other cities, building up to the Earp Family and the Clanton Family having a shootout, with Doc along based on his friendship with Wyatt.  One negative with the film is that we only briefly meet the other Earps so when they get fired at in the big gunfight, we don't feel nearly as much impact.  Another is the portrayal of the women in these men's lives...they are all cowards, whiny and turn their backs on their men when in danger.  But the chemistry of Lancaster and Douglas, in just one of their many film team-ups, is worth it, and for all "OK Corral" completists, this is a must watch.

July 9th - "THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY" (1982) This is a film I've wanted to watch for a long time.  Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, directed by Peter Weir...and the great Linda Hunt, with her Oscar winning perfomance.  Now this is one of those weird things, about watching a movie with a big reputation 35 years later, knowing things that the people who watched in when it came out in theatres didn't. For instance, I know Linda Hunt is a woman.  But she is playing a character that is a man.  I doubt this was well known at the time.  But there were times early on where characters were talking about "Billy" and I had to remind myself they were talking about Linda Hunt.  Anyway, half way through the movie shifts from Gibson and Hunt's friendship to Gibson and Weaver's romance and while I am a fan of Weaver, I was more interested in what was going on in Indonesia at the time then whether or not they would run off together.  At one point they flee a party to be together and break through a check point in their car, getting fired at by machine guns and laughing about it, which was kinda weird, frankly.  Although I guess with a movie with that title, it fits...the movie seems to think Gibson is the star when it's really Hunt.  And (spoilers; I'm revealing things here where I wouldn't elsewhere, I don't always make sense) once Billy Kwan dies, I lost interest.  Gibson makes a beeline to the airport to flee to be with Weaver at the end, and the movie ends with them embracing, but what about all the asian characters who got him there?  They don't get to fly off into the sunset...so they probably all died right? 

July 10th - Labyrinth (1986) Just never watched this film, not sure why.  Could be cause as a kid I was freaked out by The Dark Crystal and figured this was similar...meant to watch this after David Bowie died, bought it but haven't watched it until now.  I have heard mixed things about this film, it was kind of a bomb when it came out but became a cult classic...people seem to LOVE this film.  Starring Bowie, a teenage Jennifer Connelly and a bunch of muppets, directed by Jim Henson, exec-produced by George Lucas...so what's the verdict?  What a great film!  It helps that the two flesh and bone actors, Bowie and Connelly, are awesome!  But without Henson Studios' magic in creating creatures that are clearly puppets but still come to life as characters, this would be a failure.  But with characters like Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, the Door Knockers...this is an incredibly fun adventure!  Looking on Wikipedia, it's interesting that this originally was going to be directed by Monty Python's Terry Jones.  Bowie was so talented, and Connelly was and is amazing, I'm shocked she hasn't done more...sure she has starred in many films and has an Oscar, but hasn't done much since "A Beautiful Mind".  I assume that's because she's picky with her roles?  It was a fun piece of trivia learning that Connelly was the AI voice "Karen" in the new Spider-Man: Homecoming film (which is ironic, as her husband Paul Bettany, plays "Vision" in the MCU).  And I will always love the "you remind me of the babe..." part, as it reminds me of the Cary Grant/Shirley Temple/Myrna Loy film "The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer", which is one of my favourite films, possibly the first movie I ever saw on TCM.  Highly recommended!

July 11th - BABY DRIVER (2017) I am a huge Edgar Wright fan, and I LOVE Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  Some may take offense to that, but whatever, films are subjective.  I loved it!  I just finished re-watching his tv show with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost "Spaced", which is a classic, and I love Hot Fuzz over Shaun of the Dead, just cause I'm not a huge zombie guy and love buddy cop movies.  I even can appreciate World's End!  So going into this film, I was excited but then I had heard some horrid reviews.  Not that they were universal, but people who didn't like the film LOATHED the film.  Kinda how I feel about Batman vs. Superman...anyway I still wanted to see it and judge it for myself.  And I enjoyed the film for the most part, but I can see why others hated it so much.  It really all depends on the lead, Ansel Elgort and whether or not you find him charming or want to punch him in the face.  I can't think of a recent film that depended on the likability of it's lead so much.  The script is funny (the Mike Myers big is hilarious), the use of music is great, the supporting cast of Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx and others are all solid...Wright is really ambitious here, doing long takes that spoof (honour) hollywood classic like Singing in the Rain and the music chosen in each scene is never random.  But Elgort in many scenes is dancing around, mouthing words to songs, prancing even...and again you may love that or want to barf and that really will affect how you view this film.  Stylistically it's Wright's biggest film so far, with impressive car chase sequences and big "Heat"-style shootouts.  So I liked it...or did I?  In my head there are alot more yes' than no's...but like I said, what about Baby?  I'll give it a thumbs up...with reservations and an option to change that at a later time... :)  *Quick note: I'm going to start putting a "Smoking Meter" on these reviews, not to judge smokers or whatever, just for my own amusement.  In one scene, to make him look ominous and just plain ol' mean, Kevin Spacey smokes.  So...1 out of 10 smokes...I guess...this is a work in progress...

July 12th - TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN (1962) I've been on a Kirk Douglas kick lately (see Gunfight at the OK Corral above) and one of my all-time favourite films is "The Bad and the Beautiful".  This movie was said to be an almost sequel, if you squint a bit.  The film reunites Douglas, director Vincente Minnelli, producer John Houseman, screenwriter Charles Schnee, composer David Raskin and studio MGM from TBATB.  This film even shows scenes from TBATB in it!  This film has the great Edward G. Robinson, Clare Trevor and (to me) an unrecognizable Cyd Charisse as well as a young George Hamilton, supposed to be playing a James Dean-type which even Hamilton himself has said was less than appropriate.  I admit I had a hard time getting into this film and had to re-start it a few times.  Douglas is a shouty-actor, either shouting as a heel (like in BATB) or as a good guy losing his s*it (like in Gunfight), and there is some of that here, but he mostly reigns it in and his best scenes are with young Daliah Lavi walking around Rome.  The theme of washed up actor Douglas talking about the pitfalls and hardships of fame, particularly the loneliness, is something people are still talking about today.  But the screetching and backstabbing from the female actresses in this film (with the exception of Lavi) got annoying (although kind of similar to Gunfight...another Douglas film...hmmmm...).  On that point, there were a few instances where actor-turned-director Douglas has to deal with his tempermental actress, who isn't happy with her part, scene, lines...whatever.  In one scene he flatters her, another he kicks her in the ass...both tactics work and she's instantly obedient.  Do most Hollywood directors watch a film like this and go "Yeah...that's how it's done!  Damn actresses and their opinions, thoughts, ideas, whatever...!"  And it all leads up to a confusing finale...Douglas leaves the girl and a big opportunity in Rome behind to race to the airport, get on a plane and...what?  I admit I was confused by the ending.  Was he going back to Hollywood?  Back to the asylum?  Why didn't he take the girl with him?  I'd say this was a good but not great film.  *Smoke Meter: 10 out of 10!!! Every scene, every character in every scene practically smokes.  Just things I notice...

July 13- CONCUSSION (2015) This is a tough movie to watch.  I am a big sports fan, and the cold shower of reality when it comes to concussions and their affects is frankly a real bummer.  I love NHL hockey, but also watch football, baseball, basketball, etc.  This movie focuses on the reality of concussions in football, but it relates to all sports, including boxing, car racing and even pro wrestling.  The statistics in this film are staggering, and I can sort of understand why the NFL hated the fact people like Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) were "ruining their fun".  But yet more and more athletes suffer and die from complications from CTE.  Are people's lives, the athlete's lives, all just collatoral damage?  Like the gladiators of the past?  Unfortunately, if you want head injuries outlawed, what's left?  Basketball, Golf, Bowling...Baseball with wild pitches and base-stealing banned?  But what about the film?  Will Smith provides a great performance, I almost forgot it was him by the end of the movie.  The scenes with him, Alec Baldwin and Albert Brooks were amazing, I would have loved to have been in the room for those scenes.  Although I have to say I didn't really care about the love story...while I understand it kind of needed to be included in order to see Omalu's journey, it was distracting as I wanted to hear more about the concussions and the fight with the NFL.  And really, at BTW over two hours long, was this a biography about Omalu or the concussion problem in sports?  Whenever there is a romantic subplot it in a movie like this it always seems like a studio note..."Sure the brain stuff is interesting but can't we have a scene with the doctor guy dancing in a night club?"  This, and another movie I saw recently and was infuriated by it's politics, "Sully" (which also starred Mike O'Malley as a real jerk, he should worry about being typecast), has to keep putting obsticles in the main characters way but almost to the extreme.  Most people would scoff, saying "It's based on a true story, so all that must be true", whereas I know enough about movies to know that "based on a true story..." means very little.  Take "Foxcatcher", watch it, then watch a documentary about what REALLY happened...anyway, what was I saying?  Good movie, not great.  Again, good performances but a bummer.  I can kind of see why this movie bombed, frankly.  No one wants a cold shower of reality...especially in movie-fantasty-land.  *Smoke-meter: Can't think of any, which actually is kind of weird...all those people suffering from concussions and no one was smoking pot?

July 14 - A LITTLE CHAOS (2014) This was directed by the wonderful Alan Rickman (his second apparently, now I have to watch "The Winter Guest") and I've been wanting to watch this since his tragic death.  And of course, seeing this as a tribute to Professor Snape himself, frankly there is no way I was going to hate this film.  Especially with him IN IT, plus the always amazing Kate Winslet, plus Stanley Tucci and some kinda recognizable very-English actors...how could I not love this film?  Rickman and Winslet have three scenes together and those three (especially the first!) are worth the price of admission.  That first scene, where their characters meet and there is a misunderstanding but in a marvelous way, crackles with their chemistry together and is very sweet.  It's a cool story about Winslet's character helping to design the Gardens of Versailles.  Winslet's characters are always best "punching up" against people telling her she can't do whatever it is she wants to do.  It's not a must-see film but I recommend it.

July 15th - THE BIG SICK (2017) I've been looking forward to this film for awhile.  It's odd, as my anticipation for this film is a byproduct of modern day let's call it "new media"....?  I have "gotten to know" Kumail Nanjiani and his real-life wife Emily Gordon through alot of podcasts and comedy shows.  As podcasts were becoming more popular, Kumail started appearing on a lot of them, such as "Doug Loves Movies", "The Nerdist" and "Harmontown", appearing as himself and coming off very funny and likable.  Gordon herself has also appeared on various podcasts (Emily and Kumail hosted a podcast called "The Indoor Kids"), with ones such as Pete Holmes' "You Made it Weird", where Holmes and his interview subject can sometimes sit and talk for up to three hours and talk about literally their whole lives (although this was years ago, I haven't committed their lives to memory, and I should make a note to go back and re-listen to those old episodes).  And Kumail, Jonah Ray and Gordon also hosted "The Meltdown" comedy show and it involved telling alot of real-life stories, not to mention Kumails' own comedy stand-up routine.  Then I heard that their story was being made into a film by Judd Apatow, someone I admire, if only for the greatness of "Freaks and Geeks".  And on top of all that, the movie was getting rave reviews.  What does all this mean?  I had high hopes, let's just say.  And yes, I really liked the film.  There are somethings that were weird, such as Emily being played by a different girl while Kumail plays Kumail.  "Knowing" Kumail and Emily as real people made this a smidge awkward.  And, as it says in the trailer (so this shouldn't count as SPOILERS) most of the film isn't really about Kumail and Emily, it's about Kumail and his family AND Kumail and Emily's family, played by the great Holly Hunter and the surprisingly good Ray Romano, while Emily is comatose.  I honestly (and I don't know what this means, other than my brain is weird, as established earlier) could not stop thinking about the Sandra Bullock movie "While You Were Sleeping" (which ironically starred Peter Boyle, Romano's on-screen dad for years).  I was waiting for them to make a reference to it.  The chemistry between Kumail and Zoe Kazan (faux Emily) was great and I did like them as a couple.  The biggest problem with the film is that is just ends without most of the problems resolved (although it does make us assume it WILL BE resolved, and everyone will live happily ever after), which I guess means there really has to be a sequel!  BUT as the credits start to roll, they show real pictures of the real Emily and Kumail and also a picture from their wedding, with Kumail's family there, so that major plot thread solved itself off screen, BUT the biggest thing to me was, as they were a huge part of the movie, where was the picture of Emily's family at the wedding?  Again, this all screams SEQUEL!  I may have to watch this again to just soak it in as a movie onto itself.  But just as it is, I highly recommend it!  *Smoke meter: None that I can remember...I totally expected Kumail and the Holly Hunter character to bond while smoking a joint. 

July 16th - THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) I had planned on watching another film noir today but I woke up to two huge pieces of news 1- There is now a female Dr. Who (awesome!) and 2- George A. Romero had died (and later that day, I heard Martin Landau had died as well.  RIP sir).  I know Romero's work well merely by reputation, as I have never seen any of his zombie films...or any other of his films either.  I am not a horror guy, I was shielded by that kind of stuff alot as a kid.  I may have been an adult before I watched the non-TV uncensored version of Ghostbusters, to give just one example.  And once I was an adult, I never have developed a taste for gory films.  I watch The Walking Dead, but only because we review it on our podcast Trilogy Spoilers (cheap plug - link is http://www.andrewbuckleyauthor.com/trilogy-spoilers-podcast)...so I decided, if possible, to watch the very first Romero "zombie film", the one that started it all.  I looked On Demand, and on Netflix and there is a shortage of Romero there.  On Youtube though I found a few versions of the film, and even the 1990 remake, for free to watch.  Researching the film I found out that it was made for only $114,000, but made millions and started an entire genre (or sub-genre?) of movies and Romero himself has been named as an influence on an entire generation of filmmakers.  I could list a bunch of stats but that's what Wikipedia is for.  But did I like the film?  Yes, I did.  Some of it doesn't age well, like the fight scenes (compared to today's films, it seemed like the characters were fighting underwater), sound effects (the rifle's shots sounded like a capgun), and at times over-the-topness was comical, with this usually provided by the actors in their performances.  But no matter the budget, the filmmaking is top notch, as there are several genuine moments of dread and great amount of tension.  As the characters are listening to the newscasters describe what the "ghouls" are capable of (the word "zombie" is never actually used) the looks on their faces, matched with the words being said, is moving.  As characters start to die, and in some cases, turn on each other, you pick favourites and want them to survive.  And this is also one of those movies that is interesting to watch now, in hindsight.  While I am not a horror fan, I have seen The Walking Dead, the Dawn of the Dead remake, Shaun of the Dead, etc. so I do know the typical tropes and jokes that those shows are based on.  And now watching the "OG" but in the "wrong order" so to speak is interesting.  I can only imagine being in an audience in 1968 watching this film, it's unprecedented amount of gore for the time, the kid in the basement, and when the main character's fate is determined...at the time this must all have been ground breaking.  The fact that the main character is black, and what happens to him, is actually ground breaking when considering TODAY's films, really.  But then it's sad to think how far we haven't progressed in that sense.  Final analysis...I liked it, almost enough to want to go back and watch the others (the original Dawn of the Dead for sure, as for comparison).  Whether or not I do go back is another question entirely, but I do have more appreciation for Romero, a true legend.  RIP George A. Romero.  *Smoker Report: N/A as it was in black and white, and in my weird brain, smoking is okay in black and white movies.  I don't make the rules, people...

July 17th - MULAN (1998) I've always been a huge fan of Disney animated films, I know big shocker!  But for whatever reason there seems to be a gap around the late 90's, as I realised I had never seen Mulan or Pocahontas, despite hearing raves about both films.  Which is weird as I have a soft spot for movies with strong female characters.  Regardless, here we are.  Although watching this film turned out to be a bit of a chore, although the film itself did nothing wrong, really.  Up until this point, this list has been a joy but for a variety of reasons (mostly personal so I won't go into them), on Monday July 17th I was really tired and I would have gone to bed but I HAD TO watch a film for my blog.  I should have resisted, as that's not fair to the film, but I went ahead and fell asleep twice while trying to watch this movie.  Finally I woke up, saw that the film was winding up and I had missed most of it and gave up and went to bed.  The next day I tried to re-start 15 minutes in but had to stop for more life-stuff that was getting in the way.  Finally I finished the movie and how was it?  I really liked it!  First impressions, and piecing things together abit, I feel the film really had a great pace, getting to the point quickly, as it seemed that Mulan was in the army, posing as a boy, fairly quickly after the movie began.  And I like that, when movies just get to the point!  And it wasn't long after that where Mulan is revealed to be a girl...but she still manages to save the day!  I really liked the voice work of Pat Morita, George Takei, Harvey Firestein, Miguel Ferrer, James Hong and of course one of my all-time favourite comedian Eddie Murphy.  The snow avalanche scene was where things really started to pick up steam and by the end of the film, I really was enjoying these characters.  This is a movie pointed out as a great movie for young girls, starring a kick ass female, although for most of the film Mulan doesn't really kick ass, so I was wondering if this would end up like old school Disney films like Cinderella, Snow White, etc. where, sure, the main character (the TITLE character, in fact) is female, but is Prince Charming going to come along and do the heavy lifting while the main character is alseep?  Luckily, Mulan does kick ass in the last act, which made me very happy.  Ultimately, this is a great film and I'll have to watch Pocahontas at some point soon!  *Smokers Report: N/A as this is a Disney animated film

July 18th - CAPE FEAR (1962) I'm a big Robert Mitchum fan, and one of the first movies I ever saw that really made me think was "To Kill A Mockingbird", so the fact I've never watched this is strange (haven't seen the remake either).  But now I get to watch it now, so it all works out in the end!  First thing...Telly Savalas with hair!  I had no idea he was in this and frankly I had assumed he was born bald!  But right off the bat, what an amazing villain Mitchum plays!  His eyes, when he first sees Peck in the courtroom are just...haunting!  And this movie is alot smarter than I had given it credit for, and is anything but formulaic.  I had assumed that Mitchum would taunt Peck, sure, but usually in these kinds of films, no one believes the hero when he says the villain is a crazy murderer, and its not until the end of the film when the hero is redeemed.  In this film, everyone believes Peck and he uses his friendship with the police chief to try to run off Mitchum, only Mitchum keeps coming.  I found that to be tremendous, almost to the point it makes Mitchum likable.  Almost.  In fact if Mitchum wasn't so devious and so in-your-face to Peck, laughing and taunting him and his family at every turn, he would almost be the hero.  To a more modern audience, I can definatley see Mitchum being the hero.  He never stops, almost like a Terminator.  That is until the end of the film, when he goes full-evil and tries to rape both Peck's wife and 14 year old daughter.  At that point you are rooting for Peck.  His character is quite interesting too, using his political power and outright illegal dealings to do whatever he can run Mitchum off without getting his hands dirty.  Until the finale, that is.  I was kind of shocked at the scene in the police chief's office where Peck and Savalas are planning, with the chief, trapping and the murder of Mitchum.  And again, until the end, Peck's character never really loses his cool, much like Atticus Finch.  Perhaps this film would have come off totally different if someone like Charlton Heston played Peck's character.  And I imagine at the time this was a huge film, with the graphic violence at the end but having a villain as smart as Cady too.  Excellent film!  *Smokers Report: Mitchum smokes a cigar and of course Telly Savalas smokes a cigarette constantly, possibly the same one through the whole film.  In my mind, up until now, Savalas was born bald with a cigarette in his mouth.  At least one of those things have been proven wrong now...

July 19th - COLOSSAL (2017) First reactions...what a weird movie!  And yet, totally straightforward and never confusing...really.  It starts off slow, building the world that Anne Hathaway's character lives in, then boom!  Huge things happen (literally!).  And it's totally worth the ride.  I've been waiting to watch this film for a while.  I wanted to watch it in theaters but where I live it wasn't really an option so I pre-ordered it on iTunes!  Finally it's here!  It's hard not to talk too much about the film as to avoid spoilers...eventhough the overall idea was spoiled in the trailers, and the overall plot and plotpoints where spoiled by one specific jerk (Dan) on "The Flop House" podcast's "Mother's Day" episode.  Having known what that feels like, I don't want that to happen to anyone else.  So just go watch the film!  I guess.  Right?  *Smokers Report: None!

July 20th - HAROLD AND MAUDE (1971) This is just one of those films that I always intended to watch, would record whenever it came on TCM, but just never made time to sit down and take it in.  First thing...for some reason I always through that the film took place in Europe.  Not sure why, maybe because of the film stock they used?  Maybe, in my mind they would only make a movie like this in Europe?  This dark a comedy, about a young boy, obsessed with death, falling in love with an old woman, isn't that really European?  Once again with a film I'm watching specifically for this blog, I had a hard time getting into it and actually fell asleep at one point, but after going back to it and re-starting it, I really got into the film and the characters.  Especially once Maude shows up and starts stealing cars, shovels and the rest of the film, really.  If Harold hadn't done those elaborate death hoaxes to freak out his dates, he wouldn't have really had much of a presence at all.  I loved the sequences with a young Tom Skerritt as the highway cop baffled by Maude and her logic.  And, knowing what the movie was about, I was curious to see how they actually handled Harold and Maude's relationship, if they would hint at it, if they would actually show them being affectionate with each other, especially since this was made in 1971.  I was also shocked how much I started to root for them as characters and was happy when Harold surprised Maude for her birthday and they started sweetly slow dancing.  This movie is surprisingly funny, with a lot of laugh out loud moments.  And that soundtrack by the former Cat Stevens is iconic!  I'm really glad I finally got to take in this classic!

July 21 - VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (2017) I first heard of this at last year's San Diego Comic Con, where I believe they showed the first trailer, and I've been very excited about it ever since!  Why?  Luc Besson returning to his "Fifth Element" roots!  Amazing visuals!  Plus Cara Delevigne!  And Rihanna!  Besson's imagination is seemingly limitless, has wanted to adapt this from the comic book that first came out in 1967, but has had to wait for the VFX to catch up!  Apparently Besson found funding for the film outside the Hollywood studio system and it's the most expensive "indy film" ever at over $209 million budget!  So why am I Wikipedia'ing you?  Cause I don't really want to talk about the film itself.  Because, other than a few scenes here and there, there just wasn't much going on here.  Remember when I talked about Baby Driver and the importance of whether or not you liked the lead actor?  It's not as important here, but important nonetheless.  And having Valerian, who seemingly charming space-rogues from Han Solo forward have been modelled after, played by Dane DeHaan, didn't work for me.  I might have been more forgiving to Delevigne, but she worked for me.  I thought she was terrible in Suicide Squad, if that evens things out (but then who wasn't, other than maybe Margot Robbie?).  There was no chemistry between the two leads, and as the only two humans on screen for most of the film, that's kind of important.  The writing is terrible, with more than one long monologue about love or justice or duty or something blah blah blah.  But bad writing and dialogue can be saved by actors with charisma and chemistry.  Check out the big emotional scene in "The Fifth Element", where Bruce Willis is explaining love to MIlla Jovovich's "Leelu"...it's corny but at that point we love both characters and...it works!  There is a similar scene here and I almost strained my eyeballs as I was rolling them so much.  Actually, there are two scenes like this, one in the beginning and one at the end.  The one at the beginning is bad, almost made we want to check out for the rest of the movie, but I think the one at the end is worse, cause by that point the characters should have won me over, and they didn't.  The monologue at the beginning is designed to make Valerian out to be stud but, not to be that guy who lives in a glass house, DeHaan is a dweeb and is no Han Solo!  He's not even Ace Rimmer, or for that matter even Arnold J. Rimmer, from Red Dwarf!  And not to sound all "You kids and your rock n roll!", but these "advanced" VFX suck!  It just looks like I'm watching someone else play a video game, especially when DeHaan is going all flippity-ninja-man and killing some actually likeable plumpy aliens.  Again, back with Fifth Element, they used costumes and puppetry, and the aliens seemed way more "alive", whereas now I know it's all done on green screen with the actors talking to tennis balls on sticks for their eye-line.  There are two great scenes in the film, when Rihanna shows up for her "performance", she is...wow!  The second great scene is a quick one, with Delevigne captured and trying to communicate with an alien, who just wants her to try on dressed for some reason.  That kind of is all one sequence, so maybe there is just one great scene in the movie!  Maybe if they had flipped the roles, had Delevigne as Valerian, it might have worked, despite the horrible dialogue, but then Besson would have had even more haters than he did already by "not being true to the source material".  Anyway, if you like crazy visuals and no real plot or emotion (for example, do you like the Transformers franchise?), then go ahead and see Valerian.  But for me it was a HUGE disappointment.  *Smokers Report: ZERO!

July 22nd - THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS (2005) BECAUSE I WANTED TO OKAY!?!?!  I was flipping through the channels and this was just starting, and technically I've never seen it before, so...actually that's not true, I saw it was on, checked if it was on later, set the DVR to record, then sat down to watch it...CAUSE I FELT LIKE IT!  I'm a fan of all four girls in the movie...at the time the movie came out I knew Alexis Bledel the most from Gilmore Girls, America Ferrera from the indy film "Real Women Have Curves" (a great film BTW), Amber Tamblyn from "Joan of Arcadia", an underrated show and at the time, Blake Lively was the unknown of the four.  In the years since this, and it's sequel, Lively has become the biggest star, Ferrera is in a hilarious sitcom "Superstore", Bledel hasn't done much other than some appearances on Mad Men and the Gilmore Girls revival, and Tamblyn has kind of disappared off my radar, other than the fact I'm fascinated with her real-life marriage to David Cross (Tobias from Arrested Development).  So how was the film?  I liked the chemistry of the four with each other (which apparently spilled over to real life and the four became best friends for real), but the movie isn't about that.  The movie is touted as being about friendship but we really only see that in a few scenes, letters done in voiceover, and how they talk about each other to other people.  I would have liked a movie just about them hanging out, not split up in four directions.  Tamblyn and Ferrera do get some good scenes together but it's not enough.  Tamblyn's storyline is about death, Ferrera's is about family, Bledel's storyline is about young love and Lively's storyline is about young sexuality.  Although that maybe too simple...but are there really soccer camps in Mexico?  Was that really an El Santo movie being watched on a TV in the background in one scene?  And are all soccer camps in Mexico filmed in B.C.?  Are all of Blake Lively's scenes in this movie supposed to make me feel dirty?  An admittidely under-age Lively's whole storyline is about seducing a guy, one of her coaches, who is ten years older than her.  I guess it's good that she is in control of her sexuality, choosing what to do, rather than be preyed upon?  And was the Bledel "Romeo and Juliet" storyline about her supposidely pure young love to balance that out?  It's too bad Tamblyn isn't in more stuff as she has a great presence on camera, and can really say alot with doing very little.  And Ferrera's emotional phone call with her dad (Bradley Whitford) and reconciliation scene later on in the film is really powerful.  Bledel kind of just plays Rory Gilmore with a different name, as she seems to do alot (not that it's bad, I like Rory...).  Of the four, Lively showed the least range but she is tall, blonde and gorgeous, so I guess it's not a surprise she's become the biggest star really.  Not that she is bad in the film, though, it's just that her scenes involved alot of running and looking hot, which isn't her fault.  And on a side note, I think she looked better pre-nosejob.  But it is Ferrera who steals the movie, and I'm glad she has found success as a producer and star of a funny sitcom (as rare as that is) and something other than a show called "Ugly Betty".  Movie gets extra points for including a Chantal Kreviachuk song.  I'm actually looking forward to watching the sequel. And let it be said that I am no movie snob!  *Smokers Report: A few of Tamblyn's co-workers smoke but that's it.

July 23rd - QUICK CHANGE (1990) I had heard of this film but had never been able to sit down and enjoy it.  I was surprised to find out that this film was co-directed by Bill Murray and featured a lot of young actors by the names Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub, Phil Hartman and also Kurtwood Smith.  The beginning of the film was a standard bank hostage caper, with Murray's acting style being his standard "too cool for school" smartass who's too smart for this script (which is weird, since he's co-director) but once Murray and his cohorts leave the bank and things start going wrong, it becomes a funny movie with lots of twists and turns.  I liked how Murray's character knew how smart the police chief (Jason Robards) was, and Robards knew how smart Murray was and that part of the cat-and-mouse game was fun to watch (although, of course, Murray was always much smarter).  Murray, though, never quite loses it and always does seem to be in control, and with a few exceptions, never stops being Mr. Cool, which kind of lacks dramatic tension.  Randy Quaid's character is supposed to be endearing but is just annoying.  Geena Davis was (and is) super talented and I hope she gets that one great role once more in her career.  On the list of great movies in her career, this probably isn't one of them.  Tucci and especially Shalhoub stand out here, especially Shalhoub who I figured was just going to be a one-note stereotype but as the camera lingers, he shows more and more the talent on screen that we would see in years to come.  I wonder if there is a backstory about this movie and Tucci and Shalhoub becoming friends, leading to their friendship and the classic indy film "Big Night".  It's probably not a coincidence.  Also in the film in a small role is Jamey Sheridan, who played Oliver Queen/Green Arrow's father on "Arrow".  It is funny, watching this in 2017, with every character's seemingly endless desire to get out of the "hellhole" of 1980/1990's New York City and seeing personally what NYC and Manhattan in particular have become since (I think "Disney-fied" is the term people use).  It might not sound like it but I love Bill Murray and it was worth it just for those few moments here and there where he would show a spark of his charisma and acting chops that he would later show off in "Lost in Translation" and other more dramatic movies.  Not great but good.  *Smoker's Report: None that I can remember.

July 24th - WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942) This was kind a a surprise to the list.  I recorded it out of habit, as I always record TCM's Essentials on Saturday Night, even if just for the intros of the film (it's not the same without the beloved Robert Osbourne, with Alec Baldwin taking over but still...).  I thought I had watched this film already and once I had watched Baldwin and guest Tina Fey discuss their thoughts of film, I was going to just erase the film from the DVR.  But as they showed clips, I realised I hadn't actually watched this particular Tracey-Hepburn movie, apparently the first one they worked on together and what sparked their romance of Hollywood legend.  As Tracey's character is a sports reporter, I learned a few things, like the Oakland A's used to be in Philadelphia and football teams used to all wear black or dark uniforms which made it difficult to see who was whom.  The role for Katherine Hepburn was figuratively and literally written for her, and I'm not sure anyone else could pull off the role and not seem "bitchy" and still be likeable.  Tracey kind of glides through the film, with a smirk on his face, looking at Hepburn like "Isn't she amazing?", which makes sense based on what was happening behind the scenes.  In an example of "The more things change, the more they stay the same", back then Hepburn's character would have had to have her commuppence in the end, as a woman that smart and dedicated to her career has to be shown "the right way", although I was happy to see that she tries to "be put in her place" but Tracey wouldn't have it.  These days Hepburn would be called an "elitist", as keeping up with current world events and knowing five different languages is considered a bad thing by some people on the right.  As I said, I had feared the movie would really be about good old boy Tracey "taming" the smartypants Hepburn, but it ended up with Tracey basically accepting her for who she is and her vowing to try harder to spend more time focusing on them, which isn't too horrible a message even today, but I have to think that this couple, at least the movie version, is doomed once the cameras stop rolling.  Still a very charming film.  *Smoker's Report: Lots of smoking, as both Tracey and Hepburn are smokers.

July 25th - DUNKIRK (2017) Remember a few days ago when I talked about how todays VFX looked fake and that inhibited my ability to enjoy Valerian?  Well, Christopher Nolan's latest epic, Dunkirk, uses lots of practical effects, using thousand of extras and actually destroying planes and boats, all in the name of filming a big ol' war movie.  And the result was movie I only liked a little more than Valerian.  And that's not saying much, as I didn't like alot about Valerian, whereas Dunkirk didn't really have anything I hated, there just wasn't much there that I got attached to.  By that I mean I didn't really get attached to any of the characters on screen other than knowing I should root for them cause they are "good guys".  It's said you should watching this on an IMAX screen, given how Nolan used 60mm film and IMAX cameras to capture the action.  I believe that.  There was some shots where I was legit wowed, such as a shot from a plane where a boat blows up and as the plane circles the boat we see it sink to it's left.  Alot of the shots towards the end of the film of Tom Hardy's plane, flying without the engine going and basically gliding along the beach, I would have loved more of that.  Was there another reason I couldn't quite get into this film?  Am I just rejecting Nolan himself, who after "The Dark Knight" has kinda just become pretentious and seemingly takes himself too seriously?  Am I just rejecting Hans Zimmer's score, that all sounds the same to me?  Have I become a shallow moviegoer, and I should revisit "Pearl Harbour" cause it didn't really mess with all that war stuff and made it all about a love triangle?  I don't really know.  Maybe my brain today just rejects war films that are, above all, about how war is awesome, when they are trying to say war is terrible, but it sure makes it look cool.  Not to spoil things, but in the end, one kid is mourned but the others returning home are treated as heroes.  How can war be that bad, assuming you survive?  I'm not writing a term paper and these aren't supposed to be "epic" reviews (unlike Nolan's films) that take forever to get through, so this might seem flippant, but I really am struggling with this film and my feelings for it.  I don't want to just say it was boring, cause it wasn't.  I just felt, well, cold towards it.  I watched it, then came home, and nothing really happened.  I didn't receive any new insight on war that I haven't seen in dozens (hundreds?) of other war movies, other than what "Dunkirk" was.  There are a few young soldiers we follow and through their adventures we kind of get to know them a bit, and I liked how they were kind of con artists, scheming as much as they could just to get ahead of everyone else, but all their scheming just gets them back to the beach, to start all over.  But even that storyline ends up about valour and right and wrong and people saying lines like "It's not fair!", just to trigger in our brains the response "War isn't fair, son!"  In no way are my feelings on this film meant to diminish what those soldiers actually went through in the real-life Dunkirk, or in any war movie.  Those were brave men most of whom made ultimate sacrifices.  But so many filmmakers claim to make war movies in order to show how horrible war is.  And to that I say "BS", as the purpose of a war movie today is basically the same in the 30's and 40's; as propaganda...what more can I say? *Smokers Report: Zero.

July 26th - FUNNY FACE (1957) So apparently I have a severe mental block when it comes to Audrey Hepburn...looking at her filmography, I've only ever watched Sabrina, Robin and Marian, Wait Until Dark...so no Roman Holiday, no My Fair Lady, no Charade, no The Children's Hour, no Breakfast at Tiffany's until very recently...not sure why, it's not like I dislike her or anything.  If anything, making this list will correct at least some of those holes in my film watching where she is concerned.  I am a big Fred Astaire fan, although to be clear, I am more of a Fred & Ginger fan, and between the two individually, more of a Ginger Rogers fan.  I haven't seen many Fred without Ginger movies, cause frankly it's kind of weird.  Plus the best Fred & Ginger movies are black and white (Top Hat, Shall We Dance, Swing Time...) so seeing Astaire in colour is weird too.  Not to mention he's THIRTY years older that Hepburn and looks it.  Looking back at my Breakfast at Tiffany's review (and wow they used to be short!) I didn't really like Hepburn as the "heavy" so to speak, a not very likeable character, whereas here she is the lovable girl next door, and I find it much more suitable.  I mentioned Kate Winslet in an earlier review and how I prefer her "punching up", and being the hero fighting the odds and proving she can do more than people expect of her and Hepburn seems to be the same kind of actress.  The musical numbers aren't that memorable in my opinion, other than the solo Astaire has "Kiss and Make up", although it goes too long.  The cinematography during the three-way song "Bonjour Paris" really made me want to visit Paris, which is weird cause lots of film have been filmed in Paris and I've never had that urge before.  I liked the film but I'll most likely never watch it again.  *Smokers Report: Lots of it, especially in the Bohemian Cafe!

July 27th - ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953) Now THIS is a great film.  Both Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn are great in this film.  And I'm now starting to see what "all the fuss" was about with Hepburn.  She is wonderful and a ray of sunshine in this black and white feature.  I now wonder if I had watched this first and fallen in love with her, would that have changed by opinions on Funny Face and Breakfast at Tiffany's?  For 2017, it's pretty standard stuff that we've seen a million times and I have to remember to remember that this is the OG of "princess wanting to be a pauper for a day" movies.  But there are some scenes that surprised me, the first being the coffee shop scene where Eddie Albert shows up and Peck doesn't want him to reveal his true identity.  There is no chill here and the gags go from subtle to over the top, with Albert landing on his head at one point.  Later, when Hepburn's Princess returns to the castle, I expected her to cower and feel terrible about what she had done, but she kicks serious ass and basically tells her handlers to back off and as of now, that things are going to change.  And the ending absolutely shocked me, but if you are like me before today and haven't seen it, I won't spoil it.  Sometimes older films have weird scenes that you watch and are like "Well, I guess that was acceptable back then!"  There is one scene where Peck tries to wrestle a camera away from a little girl and as it starts I'm like "Wow, that's creepy" but as the scene progresses, it turns out that was weird behavior back then too.  Alot of funny and just plain sweet moments throughout.  A big recommendation!  *Smokers Report: Off the top of my head, I remember there is one scene with Hepburn trying to smoke...sidenote I've always found it weird in moves and tv shows where characters will take a few puffs then throw the smoke away...I guess in old movies that's more acceptable cause cigarettes didn't cost as much as they do today?  When I see that in modern films/tv shows, it takes me out of the film and I'm like "yeah, that guy didn't pay for that, otherwise..."  I've lived around smokers my whole life and you don't take two puffs and throw it away...you just don't.  Sidenote #2: Wow the blacklist sucked.  A major oversimplification, I know...but screw the House Unamerican Activities Committee and God Bless Dalton Trumbo.

July 28th - LIKE CRAZY (2011) I had heard about this film, saw it in my DVR and was like..."Sure!"  I had heard Jennifer Lawrence was in it, and that's how it came on my radar, and I didn't know much about Felicity Jones other than she was in Star Wars: Rogue One.  And she was in a Dr. Who episode, but one I don't really remember (other than there was a really big wasp in it I think).  Anton Yelchin I've seen more of, due to the Star Trek films and heard more about following his tragic death.  Felicity Jones is really young looking here, as is Lawrence, once she actually shows up.  As I was watching the film, I usually multi-task (do some writing, tweet, research the movie I'm watching, etc.) and looking this film up I saw that it was a very low budget indy film, most of it was improvisational, and that people loved Jones and Yelchin's performances but thought the overall movie was flawed by it being completely unrealistic.  I didn't really see how Jones and Lawrence fell for this guy so hard, Yelchin's performance consisted of being mopey and dead-eyed most of the time and generally unhappy when, from a dude-bro's point of view, two of the hottest, smartest and coolest women in the world are both professing their love for each other.  I'm sure it would be a real bummer having to choose between them.  Poor guy.  :) Jones, even when she is unhappy and crying still has a spark to her that makes her insanely loveable.  And Lawrence, even in her very limited amount of screentime, is amazing.  Jones and Yelchin's love story isn't one I was really rooting for; they fall in love, argue, make up as if they were teenagers, when they are supposed to be adults.  When it built up to the big finale I wasn't all that enraptured, unfortunately.  But did I mention Alex Kingston is in this film too? *Smokers Report: None.  Lots of alcohol consumption, but whatevs.

July 29th - WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES (2017) WOW, THIS MOVIE WAS AMAZING!  Sorry for the capslock, but it's true.  This third "Apes" movie was tremendous!  I highly recommend it.  A few months back on my podcast "Trilogy Spoilers!" (link here) we were talking about the Best Movies of 2017 so far, and I made a remark that unless the new Star Wars movie is amazing, then I can't see another film dethroning Wonder Woman as the Best Movie of the Year!  I loved WW that much!  But now there's this...I have liked other Apes films (of the original movies, I've really only seen the first Chuck Heston version, hated the Tim Burton/Marky Mark version, liked the Franco version (Rise...), and liked the sequel even more (Dawn...)) and heard good things about this version (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) so I went in with high hopes.  And they were met!  The VFX are so good you think that there are actual apes/monkeys talking to each other on screen.  The movie doesn't mess around, as two minutes in there is a major battle sequence, then a few minutes later another one, then the movie kicks into gear with the addition of a new ape (should I spoil it and reveal who does the voice?  No, I'll let you discover that yourselves, but I loved it) and the young girl in the poster above was tremendous too!  Woody Harrelson nails it...Matt Reeves as co-writer and director nails it...I really loved this film!  Have I made that clear?  I'm just mad at myself now because it took me so long to go see it (it came out 15 days ago!).  All the apes, especially Andy Serkis' Caesar, are fully developed characters that we care about and, considering what I said about VFX in my Valerian review earlier, I would say this movie is an exception to the rule.  Plus bonus points cause it was filmed in Canada, eh!  Plus classic film fans will probably recognise some homages to movies like "The Great Escape", "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Apocalypse Now" and others.  I expected blow ups and cool set pieces but I was not expecting such an intelligent script!  Go see this!  *Smokers Report: None!

July 30th - ATOMIC BLONDE (2017) As I wrap up this list and month, I am planning on doing another list like this for August but I realise there might not be as many new releases on that list.  July was a good month, August doesn't seem to be, but that's for another time!  Now, for this movie...what a fun ride!  The plot makes no sense, but neither did the plot of "The Big Sleep", and that movie didn't have the amazing fight sequences that this one does!  As scenes happened, and there was double cross after double cross, and things were said in dialogue that related to things on screen that hadn't happened yet, and the narrative switched voices...but really none of that matters cause Charlize Theron kicks serious ass!  Plus the soundtrack is amazing and I downloaded it as soon as I got home.  Plus having all this go on as the Berlin Wall was coming down was a great set piece.  It really did remind me of the Bourne movies but that could be because of the European setting.  And the Bourne movies made sense.  Really, leave your brain at the door and just go to enjoy lots of people getting punched in the face really hard!  *Smokers Report: LOTS!  Literally every character in this movie smokes all the time!  But I didn't mind it so much, maybe because it was set in the 80's???

July 31st - BON COP BAD COP (2006) This probably should have been my Canada Day movie.  It's Canada's first attempt at a big budget buddy cop movie.  It was good but way too long.  Way too long.  It couldn't really decide if it was a dark serious cop movie or a buddy cop-comedy.  I liked the "meet cute" between the two cops, bickering over whether a dead body, lying half way over the border between Ontario and Quebec and the two leads have chemistry.  I liked the plot where the killer is targeting people responsible for taking hockey away from Canada and to the States, and it's kind of interesting how they were clearly referencing the NHL, Wayne Gretzky, Peter Poklington, Gary Bettman but having to just say "The Great One", and giving characters similar names like "Pickleton" and "Buttman".  But was it interesting enough for a whole film?  Things started to unravel for me towards the end and lost interest, I have to admit, although there was a recent sequel that I would watch if it came on cable.  It looked good and clearly had a good budget, and these sorts of projects should be encouraged.  Just a little more editing maybe?  *Smokers Report: one of the main characters is always smoking (which do you think, the Frenchman or the English?) and a few other characters here and there do as well...

*This has been fun...I do plan on doing an August list like this, so keep an eye out for that...

My Influences #3 - Sitcoms (a continuing list)

Sitcoms! (no really!)

As I sit here starting to write this blog, at 10:08pm on New Year's Eve 2016, I'm thinking of what to watch.  I'm not really a "Let's watch the ball drop!" kinda guy (is there a joke there...moving on...).  And since thinking back on 2016 is kinda depressing, I think I need to watch something to make me laugh.  Not ponder, not consider, not reflect...LAUGH!  So I'm writing a short list of the Top 5 Sitcoms (or, let's say, 30 minutes or less TV shows - how many dramas are 30 minutes or less?) that I go to for laughs.  I'm sure there is more, but here are the Top 5.  I may add more later, but I do kinda want to get this done quick...cause it's New Year's Eve.  Not sure that's really a good reason, not like I'm going anywhere...sorry got lost there...

*Note - this Top Five doesn't include the Holy Grail of TV comedy...the first ten (or so) seasons of The Simpsons.  That deserves it's own list.  Or any animated TV shows.  One day...

*Note #2 - I won't be putting on any British TV shows, as, again, that deserves it's own list one day...

*Note #3 - no new shows, currently in production, will be listed, such as FX's "Atlanta" or Netflix's "Master of None" for instance (which if you haven't watched yet, you should!) - just shows that have been around for awhile.

1- Newsradio
This is one of the most underrated shows ever, in my opinion.  If someone tells me they like Newsradio, I think that makes us instant BFF's.  For life.  Watch it just for Phil Hartman.  Watch it for Dave Foley and Maura Tierney's comedic sexual chemistry.  Hell watch it to see a young Joe Rogan before he found the UFC.  It's wall-to-wall jokes, set in an office environment.  If you've ever worked in an office, you'll get these jokes, they are timeless.  Stephen Root, Vicky Lewis, Andy Dick and the rest of the cast and guest stars, not to mention the writers!, are all on top of their game.  Too many cliches in this description!  Just go watch it!

2- Arrested Development
History will remember this one weirdly.  Won Emmys, had terrible ratings, critically acclaimed, always on the verge of cancellation, loved by fans, kept around begrudgingly by FOX executives...but is it funny?  This was almost a live action version of The Simpsons with so many jokes per second it had to have broken some kind of record. 

Jason Bateman lead this motley crew of hilarious actors through many hilarious adventures.  Some may think of this show as the reason Michael Cera was thrust upon us, but the show gave us so much more.  The most unlikable cast of characters ever on a TV sitcom (Seinfeld...pffffttt!).  Just like Newsradio, it's a network sitcom but instead of being about the workplace, it's about family.  The Netflix version I'm torn on, some parts being hilarious and some just head scratching.  Part of the greatness of AD was the chemistry between the cast members, and the Netflix version was filmed with each cast member separately in separate adventures, with the original cast members only getting a few scenes together here and there.  There is talk of another series and if they do it, hopefully it be focused on the original cast and not how many wacky cameos by wacky guest stars they can fit in.

Favourite Character of the group?  Hard to pick but Will Arnett's Gob Bluth might get the pick, just for the name alone, really.  His self-centered yet low self-esteemed Gob is a joy to watch...especially that chicken dance!

3- Community
Another great network sitcom that was loved by many except for it's network executives.  This show started out as a show about seven strangers enrolling in a local Community College for various reasons and forming a study group for their Spanish class.  It was about strangers becoming friends and then eventually family.  Then in later seasons things started to get whacky.  They were the same seven characters but starting with their zombie movie parody episode, their later paintball episodes and episodes done completely in stop-motion, the show started taking on a more sci-fi bent.  Later episodes talked about "dark timelines" and Troy and Abed's "dreamatorium" (Community's version of Star Trek The Next Generation's Holodeck), Community's creator Dan Harmon started speaking to a very niche audience, with the result usually being hilarious.  If you knew what the heck they were talking about.  But really the core of the show, like so many other great shows, was it's cast and their chemistry.  Troy and Abed (Danny Glover and Danny Pudi) will go down as two of the great buddy duos of all time.  Alison Brie's Annie Edison was the perfect blend of naive sweet and super hot at the same time, with some amazing comedic timing as well.  Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown and Chevy Chase rounded out the seven, plus having Jim Rash as the Dean, Spanish teacher Ken Jeong and John Oliver as Professor Duncan gave them a deep bench to pull from.  Plus this show gave us the Russo Brothers, who are now, after Joss Whedon, the gate keepers of the Marvel Universe.

4- Parks and Recreation
Another work place comedy, but with a twist - a sitcom about politics!  Before Veep, "Parks and Rec" came along as a show about local politics of a small town.  But like Newsradio, it was also a show about people who work together and eventually become not just friends but family.  The all-star cast started with Amy Poehler and gave a spotlight to unknowns such as Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Aziz Ansari, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones and Aubrey Plaza who are now big names in the industry.  After a shaky first season and a two-for-one switch-out from removing Paul Schneider's Mark Brendanawicz and bringing in Adam Scott's Ben Wyatt and Rob Lowe's Chris Traegar in season two, the show's writing and the cast's chemistry really came together.  Great guest appearances by Paul Rudd, Louis CK, Megan Mullally, Patricia Clarkson, Andy Samberg and the best arguably being by Ben Schwartz as "Jean-Ralphio". 

NBC comedies post-Friends/Seinfeld/Frasier seemed to have it tough - even winning Emmys an loyal fan bases didn't seem to necessarily guarantee a spot on the fall schedule.  But through the glory of re-runs and syndication, I've managed to catch up with this great show and it's wonderful characters.  And I cried when Little Sebastian…well you'll see...I giggled along with Ron Swanson when he revealed his love for scavenger hunts...was baffled by Tom's get-rich-quick schemese...and marvelled whenever Chris Pratt's Andy Dwyer came on screen...

5- The Flight of the Conchords
It's kind of surprising that I've picked a lot of network shows, especially with the abundance of great cable TV the last ten years.  But for the most part, if you think about it, there haven't been a lot of comedies that have emerged, let alone great ones.  FX has always had It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and this past year Atlanta.  HBO has been known for dramas like The Sopranos and The Wire, but now has Veep and Silicon Valley.  In the past, when HBO has tried comedies, it always seemed lacklustre.  But then along came Flight of the Conchords.  This short-lived show on HBO was a delight to watch while it was around. 

The Flight of the Conchords, the "4th Best Folk Band in New Zealand" (which is probably where I got the idea for The Supers being the 3rd Best Super-Team in the world) came to the US to make it big, but finding difficulties along the way.  Bret and Jermaine, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, created this show, part sitcom part musical, living in a small apartment in New York City and having a hard time paying the rent.  The ultimate show about two fish out of water, not having a clue how to be successful but still trying really hard.  Each show featured two, sometimes three or more songs and Season One consisted of 12 episodes.  That first season is an all-time classic and unfortunately by the time Season Two came along, they had used up all their songs so Season Two wasn't as successful but still good.  And that's how the show ended.  Both members have gone on to bigger things, Bret winning an Oscar for writing the "Muppet Movie" song, and Jermaine going on to many other projects, the biggest one being "The Things We Do in the Shadows" a hilarious mock-u-mentary about vampires. 

There is talk of a Flight of the Conchords movie, and they have teamed up for several tours, including in the summer of 2016 where I got to see them perform at the Greek Theatre in LA, which was a major life hilight for me.

Bret and Jermaine, The Flight of the Conchords live at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles in July 2016

That's it (FOR NOW!).  I reserve the right to add more...cause it's my blog!  :)

My Influences #2 - Gail Simone (a continuing list)

I have had many influences over the years, usually in comic books, but this also extends to movies (both animated and live action), TV Shows (again both animated and live action), plays, music, books and on and on.  I'm going to start this list and see where it takes me...

Gail Simone

Gail Simone!

In an earlier post, I professed my love for "Birds of Prey", starting from the beginning with Chuck Dixon's initial run.  I loved the relationship between Oracle (Barbara Gordon) and Black Canary (Dinah Lance).  Then along came Gail Simone and she took BoP up a notch...

The Birds of Prey!

Backing things up a bit, Gail Simone, a longtime comics fan, but concerned about the treatment of women in the medium, started a website called "Women in Refrigerators", pointing out all the examples of women being treated as objects, a story point discarded or killed in order to make the male star (98% WHITE male star) something to get mad about.  Simone's passion came through the screen, and people in the comics industry took notice.

"Fridging" became a comic book term thanks to Gail Simone

It took me awhile longer to notice, though.  As stated above, I've already talked about my love of The Birds of Prey, first written by Chuck Dixon but eventually taken over by Gail Simone.  I love that book and look around on this blog, you'll find out why!  So I'll skip BoP and go right to the OTHER main reason I love Gail Simone...SECRET SIX!

Villains United!

Around 2004, DC Comics was getting ready to do a sequel to it's huge 1985 series CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, which re-did all of DC's continuity.  But there wasn't just going to be a INFINITE CRISIS series, they also launched four six-issue mini-series as well; The OMAC Project, Rann-Thanagar War, Day of Vengeance and Villains United!  The first three were good, but to me, Villains United was amazing!  In the series, Lex Luthor and a team of united villains (hence the title) were getting ready to wreak havoc on the DCU.  But there were six villains who didn't want to play along and they formed the Secret Six.  Catman, Deadshot, Cheshire, Ragdoll, Scandal and Parademon, with their mysterious leader Mockingbird, who no one on the team knew the identity of.

The Secret Six!

Right away, the unlikely group fought together, lived together, bickered like crazy and had amazing adventures.  Sounds like a great idea for an ongoing series (PS I totally stole this idea for myself, but not as well!).  After Villains United wrapped up in December 2005, a Secret Six mini-series was published to test the waters.  Later the Six guest starred memorably in Simone's BoP, including a big fight between the two teams and some great interplay.

Finally in 2008, an official Secret Six series was launched.  While a wonderful, critically acclaimed series (voted 4th best comic run of the entire decade by IGN; the whole "Get out of Hell Free" card run alone is worth your money), it wasn't commercially successful and unfortunately only lasted 36 issues.  But it's legacy lingers on - there is now a new version of the team, a New 52 version, alot different than the other, but still worth a read.  It is written by Gail Simone after all!

Justice League Unlimited's "Double Date" starring Green Arrow, Black Canary at odds with Huntress and The Question written by Gail Simone!

Gail Simone has become a comic book powerhouse, working with DC, Marvel and other companies, writing books such as Deadpool, Red Sonja, Action Comics, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, The All-New Atom, Welcome to Tranquility, The Movement, Leaving Megapolis and others!  She has also written on my as-stated-before beloved Justice League Unlimited, writing the episode "Double Date", starring Green Arrown, Black Canary, The Question and Huntress, as well as for the great "Batman Brave and Bold" cartoon, "The Mask of Matches Malone!".

Simone's popularity and influence in the industry is legend these days, as can be shown with two recent examples, both involving Batgirl.  With the New 52 company re-launch in 2011, DC Comics decided to take Barbara Gordon out of her wheelchair and put her back under the cowl as Batgirl, removing one of the most loved characters in comics, Oracle. 

Oracle!

Oracle meant alot to many people, including myself, as not only was a fantastic character, but she was one of the few disabled characters in comics.  Alot of people hated this, but the backlash could have been worse, as DC selected Simone to write the new ongoing Batgirl comic.  People, including myself, thought "Well, if Gail is writing the book...I'll give it a chance..." That’s powerful!

The New 52 Batgirl!

The second example of Simone's popularity is when she was apparently being fired from Batgirl.  Word spread on the internet that this was happening, and, seemingly at the time, the entire internet rallied around Simone and it lead to her being re-hired as Batgirl's writer.  There is alot of unrest on the angry internet, everyday in fact.  But not alot comes of it, usually.  This was one example where the internet did some good.

I have had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to Gail Simone a few times recently, and she has always been incredibly gracious and polite, even with me stammering and trying hard to say the right thing, but really probably talking nonsense and gibberish.  Her husband Scott is also a wonderful person and great to talk to.  I got to talk to him alot at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, as Gail was doing press and he would be standing by, waiting, and he at one point saw me and pointed and said "Hey you!".  We talked for a half hour, and then again a few more times during the con.  And thanks to him, I finally got a picture with my writing idol after the Birds of Prey 20th Anniversary Panel.  I usually am too shy to ask for pictures but Scott could see this and helped me get a picture with Gail.  At least that's my interpretation of what happened.  And then I went a little nuts and wanted pictures with everyone who was on the panel!  And then I wanted a picture with Scott himself.  He seemed shocked but went along with it.  :) And I'll always be thankful to him.  Well both of them, of course!

Follow Gail Simone on Twitter @GailSimone

Follow Gail's husband Scott on Twitter @RocketSpouse

My Influences #1 - Dwayne McDuffie (a continuing list...)

I have had many influences over the years, usually in comic books, but this also extends to movies (both animated and live action), TV Shows (again both animated and live action), plays, music, books and on and on.  I'm going to start this list and see where it takes me...

DWAYNE MCDUFFIE

My favourite TV series of all-time is Justice League Unlimited.  I LOVE that show.  I'll watch it over and over, whether happy or sad, doesn't matter...it just works.  According to his Wikipedia page, Dwayne McDuffie wrote, produced or story-edited 69 out of the 91 episodes. 

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The final run of the "Cadmus" storyline, in particular, saw McDuffie write or co-write the last seven episodes of the season, from "Clash" (where a jaded Superman encounters a naive Shazam) to "Hunter's Moon" (an underrated team-up of Hawkgirl, Vixen and the awesome VIGILANTE) to "Question Authority" (The Question becomes a legendary character) to "Flashpoint" (Superman is a badass and so is Amanda Waller) to "Panic in the Sky" (every character in the JLU is given a moment to shine) to "Divided We Fall" (wrap up to the whole storyline) and then finally "Epilogue" (a crossover with Batman Beyond starring an elderly Amanda Waller that is one of the best Batman stories ever!). 

I can't sufficiently explain how much these stories mean to me.  I watch them for entertainment, for the wow factor, to see how these characters can be brought to life on my TV screen if done properly.  I also dissect them, specifically the writing, how the characters' personalities are shown through actions and dialogue...I could go on but I'm not as good a writer as Dwayne McDuffie so it would be futile.  In the last season of JLU, McDuffie brought us "I Am Legion", "To Another Shore", "The Great Brain Robbery", "Far From Home" and the season finale "Destroyer".  Sadly, a show that should have gone on forever stopped there.

McDuffie wasn't done though, continuing on writing the Justice League movies "Crisis on Two-Earths", "All-Star Superman" and "Justice League Doom".  Even the first two seasons of Justice League, where the creative team was trying to find their footing before JLU, there are great episodes, usually with McDuffie involved.  My favourite is "Hereafter", a touching Superman story that I highly recommend to anyone.

After learning who McDuffie was thanks to the Special Features on the JLU DVD's, I wanted to learn more about him. 

I learned that he was one of the people behind "Milestone Comics", a 90's minority-owned comic studio that sought to bring african-american super heroes to the world.

He brought us Static Shock the animated series.  And worked on the Teen Titans and Ben 10 animated universes as well.

He brought us Marvel's Damage Control. 

He had a run on the Justice League comic book and was fired after being honest with fans online about the creative process. 

He wrote a PRINCE comic book!

*Fun facts: McDuffie was Prince’s cousin and half-brother to Keegan Michael Key of “Key and Peele”. 

Unfortunately he passed away on February 21st, 2011.  I can only imagine what his talents would have brought us in those intervening years.  What would he have thought of the New 52, for instance?

If you've never heard of Dwayne McDuffie, look him up.  Start with the JLU episodes I mentioned above.  Then check out the documentary "A Legion of One: The Dwayne McDuffie Story" included on the Justice League Doom DVD and Blu-Rays.  He's definitely worthy of the name "legend".  And his influence will continue, both in the written word, but also with "The Dwayne McDuffie Fund".

From the GoFundMe page:

"Today, a Dwayne McDuffie gofundme campaign exists to continue his legacy. The funds raised here by his estate and handled by his widow, Charlotte (Fullerton) McDuffie, are to help establish The Dwayne McDuffie Foundation, which will be a non-profit organization to award academic scholarships for diverse students. The fund will also continue to keep Dwayne’s vision alive by managing and maintaining an archival website for research purposes, and applying on behalf of Dwayne’s fans for his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Diversity in entertainment is an on-going effort, more important now than ever. In his all-too-brief lifetime, Dwayne McDuffie had only just begun his meaningful work that is left for us to continue.

Thank you all in advance for your contributions and for sharing Dwayne’s vision."

I've donated to the cause, and you should too!  Here is the link to the GoFundMe campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/DwayneMcDuffieFund

And while you are in a reading mood, here are some great articles about Mr. McDuffie...enjoy!

- Help Launch "The Dwayne McDuffie Fund"

- The Wife of Legendary Comic Writer Dwayne McDuffie Wants to Make Sure People Never Forget His Legacy

Comic Con San Diego 2016 Reflections

This year was my fourth year attending San Diego Comic Con.  I first attended in 2010, then again in 2014, 2015 and then 2016.  My first time in 2010 was a part of a road trip and a huge whirlwind experience; my first time in California, first time in Los Angeles, first time in San Diego, first time DRIVING to Las Vegas and so on.  All this in a rental car because my actual car broke down in Medford, Oregon (I'll always remember the name of the city Medford thanks to "Double Indemnity"; unfortunately no one IN Medford ever said to me "I'm a Medford man...").  Maybe one day I'll write a long article about it but for now...2016!

2016 Comic Con in San Diego was the best one yet for me personally!  I got over some of my fears and insecurities, got to hang out with some amazing people and spread the word about "The Supers" project!  Also it was an emotional, soul-searching kind of trip, as I was at one point actually re-considering this whole comic book thing but then not long after, more determined than ever to get this sucker done!  It was quite the emotional ride!

I love attending panels at Comic Con.  I'm not a Hall H guy...I figure whatever exclusive footage they show there will be online soon after.  It's usually my routine at night after getting back to my hotel...check out that day's new trailers online, then go to bed.  I'm not a line-up-for-autographs kind of guy.  Even at smaller cons when it's not that busy, I generally leave "celebrities" alone (although I did get to meet some AWESOME celebrities at this con...more about that later...). 

But again, I love panels!  I love learning things at comic cons.  I tend to gravitate towards panels such as "Comic Book Law School" and writer's panels...I always take notes and get inspired.  At so many panels this year, I would get a sudden inspiration after a simple comment by someone on the panel, then I would type it all into my "Notes" on my iPhone.  Lots and lots of notes for future issues of "The Supers."  It's a wonderful, creative, energetic atmosphere to be around.  So why, at one point, was i ready to give this all up?

I attended the panel for Diamond Distribution.  They were very encouraging to people, asking who in the crowd wanted to self-publish their own books and wanted to have it distributed through Diamond and a bunch of us put our hand up.  These two guys seemed really cool, genuinely loved comic books and wanted to help others accomplish their goals.  Then they changes slides on their power point presentation and the subject was "What NOT to do if you want to be distributed by Diamond...NO SUPER HEROES!"  I was, of course, flattened, like I'd been struck by a speeding train.  Or a powerful bullet, one of the two.  They explained that since DC and Marvel and others were focusing on Super Hero comics, then you shouldn't bother, cause they have the market cornered.  They were nice about it and said "This isn't a set-in-stone rule, but for the most part..." so the door was left open for a really good, eye-catching super hero project.  But it was a slim chance.

This wasn't the first time I'd heard this...in fact many people had told me not to do a Super Hero comic book.  But for some reason THESE GUYS made it ring through my ears.  Why bother?  This project isn't THAT great to be the exception to the rule...nothing I do will ever be THAT great.  And I didn't necessarily want to cry or get really upset...I took the news quite well, I think.  I smiled and exhaled and thought to myself..."Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."  Also "Should I even bother finishing the book?....should I just call it quits now?"

But then a couple of things happened...I had printed off about 200 postcards featuring "The Supers" and dropped about 50 off the first day at the "Free Table" inside the Sails Pavilion.  I walked by later on, around noon as I was heading to a panel on the otherside of the Convention Center and I notices all my postcards were gone.  I asked the man in charge if he had put them out and he said yes and they were the most popular postcards at the table and asked if I had more with me.  I said no but I had more back at the hotel and would bring more the next morning.  I did that and all four days, the same thing happened...they would quickly be snatched up by people and the whole stack would be gone by noon.  So that felt good.

Then I went to a panel called ".Insights for Independant Creators" that was moderated by Charlotte McDuffie Fullerton (wife of one of my writing heroes, Dwayne McDuffie and quite a great writer herself!) and on the panel was a friend of mine, Hannibal Tabu, so it was a no-brainer for me.  Also on the panel was a writer/artist named Russell Nohelty (@russellnohelty on Twitter)...he took over the panel, and was quite adament about EVERYTHING he said.  I kinda was worried he was coming off a bit rude at first, but then I slowly realised he was just intense and incredibly passionate about what he was talking about.  Later, he became even more intense and said (going off memory, this is what I remember he said) "I made a graphic novel, ten years ago, it put me $10,000 in debt.  But then I made a second graphic novel, and it put me another $10,000 in debt.  But then the books got around, I went to comic cons with them, I got to meet people and opportunities came from that.  Sure I was $20,000 in debt, but who cares about that?  And right now, today in 2016, I am at San Diego Comic Con, on a PANEL, with published books and more work coming my way.  So my point is, MAKE YOUR BOOK!  MAKE YOUR GRAPHIC NOVEL!  MAKE YOUR COMIC BOOK!  It might take ten years but you'll get to be on a panel at comic con and be working in the industry!  Trust me, it's worth it!"

Now, I was rejuvenated!  I wanted to run up and hug him but I didn't cause he was still intense and kinda scary but he had said exactly what I needed to hear!  Really, in this life we live today, when aren't we going to be in debt?  If I don't finish this book, I might not have as much debt in ten years but I will have regret and wonder about "what if?"

So hopefully The Supers will be finished soon, books will be printed and after you are done reading this you will be able to purchase The Supers #1.  Cause this book is going to be completed.  Not just because I want to...Cause I HAVE TO!

BLOG #1 - Why Not?

So why at this point in my life am I self-publishing a comic book?  Why not? 

I have been fascinated by comic books my whole life.  I remember going into a general store in a small town in Northern BC in Canada, seeing a "spinner rack" full of comic books and wanting all of them.  I settled on an issue of World's Finest, the Superman/Batman monthly team up book.  They were fighting Dr. Double-X.  A Google search tells me it was #276.  Also in that book, Green Arrow was involved in a prison riot, another story starred Zatanna, another starred Hawkman and yet another starred the Captain Marvel (Shazam) family.  All this for $1; for "Non-stop action Cover to Cover!"  That's the first comic I remember owning.  And soon after, I had many more comics, boxes of them!  I remember getting ready for a sleepover at a friends' house, he had told me to bring some comics, and I couldn't decide which one to bring, so I brought them all!  Somehow they managed to all fit into my backpack!  Can't do that today!

World's Finest Comics #276 - $1 of Non-Stop Action Cover to Cover!

My favourite was always Justice League of America, the George Perez era!  To this day, when I think of the Justice League (or The New Teen Titans for that matter) I think of Perez's designs.  They filled my dreams with adventures starring the greatest superheroes in the world!  I vividly remember reading #212 over and over again, as it was basically one long fight scene, very little dialogue (ironic for me, as you'll get to know my work) and no context...from page #1 the entire JLA must team up, in groups of two or three, of course, all over the world to fight off an alien invasion.  I'm sure there was a reason the aliens were invading (it had to do with THAT MAN in the middle of the cover!) but I didn't care!

Justice League of America #212 by George Perez

After school I remember getting on my bike and as a "latch-key kid" (a kid with two parents who worked, no one waiting for me at home) I could go to my favorite used book store/comic store and look at the comics.  I would stand there going through all the comics, the covers at first, make a stack and look at them all.  The store manager, Roz, says now that she never minded, as I would always take care of the books and when I was done, I would put them back neatly where I found them. 

One book I also loved was DC Comics Presents, a monthly book where Superman took turns teaming with every DC superhero/heroine and sometimes even villain in the universe!  Superman was always my favorite (I never really got why people liked Batman, still to this day really...) and I would always love his adventures teaming up with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Phantom Stranger AND The Joker (all in one issue!), THE GLOBAL GUARDIANS (more on them later) and O.M.A.C.  Even the Legion of Substitute Heroes got a chance to team up with the Man of Steel!  The covers, of course always got my attention.  Whether it was Superman and Wonder Woman making out in front of the Washington Monument or Supes and Shazam punching each other at just the right moment, the covers were what initially got my attention.

DC Comics Presents #61

The more I look back at the covers that caught my attention the most, they had something in common...usually they featured Superman throwing a punch, or about to throw a punch.  Something that simple fascinated me. 

Another comic book I loved was the New Teen Titans, also by George Perez but by Marv Wolfman and, unlike the action heavy JLA, who left the character development to their characters to their name sake's titles, TT was about action but also emotion!  We got to know them as people, and part of that reason was they lived together, dated each other, were like family...they were still discovering their powers!  The Judas Contract storyline hit me like a ton of bricks!  Robin became Nightwing, finally his own man!  Now comics weren't just about action but also I cared about the characters!  Their villains were badass!  Deathstroke, Slade Wilson, HIVE and The Fearsome Five were all badass!

The New Teen Titans #8

But when it came to INFLUENCE, nothing comes close to the BWAHAHAHA era of the Justice League International.  After the 1st DCU reboot, Crisis on Infinite Earths (long story, you probably know it) all the titles were relaunched and alot of the DC big names were off limits, so the creative team of Keith Giffin, J.M. DeMatteis and Kevin Macguire had to take a rag-tag group of superheroes and do something DIFFERENT with them.  Batman was allowed, along with Jonn Jonzz and Black Canary from the old JLA, add Blue Beetle, Mr. Miracle and Oberon, Green Lantern Guy Gardner, Booster Gold, Rocket Red, Captain Atom and newcomer Maxwell Lord and have them not only have some great adventures (largely forgotten now) but the biggest ingredient was HUMOUR!  It was genuinely LAUGH OUT LOUD funny! 

Justice League #1 (remember this cover!) :)

I remember in particular reading issue #8, an issue where the JLI don't fight villains but MOVE INTO THEIR NEW HQ!  That's the entire issue!  It was only about them moving and all the humor and misadventures that came along with that!  SUPERHEROES ON MOVING DAY!  It was amazing!  I laugh just thinking about it now...when Mr. Miracle crashes the new JLI jet into the roof...great stuff!

Justice League International #8

Later the League expanded to two teams, another one called Justice League Europe, who would tangle with another former super hero team, The Global Guardians!  The Guardians included superheroes from countries all over the world!  Godiva from England!  The Wild Huntsman from Germany!  Green Flame from Brazil!  Jack O'Lantern from Ireland!  Rising Sun from Japan!  Icemaiden from Iceland!  The Olympian from Greece!  These heroes didn't get their own series, so they appeared here and there, and when they did, I would grab that comic immediately!  I remember as a kid collecting The Super Friends comic and in particular loving the two-part story where the Super Friends have to team up with the Global Guardians to SAVE VILLAINS!  Craziness, of course, ensued!

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Super Friends #45 & #46 featuring The Global Guardians! How could you see this cover and NOT buy it!

The Global Guardians caught my attention and I've been fascinated with the idea of other superheroes ever since.  I mean, why were all the superheroes American?  And white, for that matter?  What's up with that?  And then later, I fell in love with another book, The Birds of Prey and one character in particular, ORACLE!

Birds of Prey, at first by Chuck Dixon but made famous by Gail Simone!

Oracle, the paralysed former-Batgirl Barbara Gordon, still wanting to fight crime but unable to physically, becomes a computer hacker and field leader for The Birds of Prey, a team that at first consisted of Black Canary but later included Huntress and several other great female characters.  I loved the early adventures, with Oracle sending Canary on covert missions all over the world, their banter together, the trust that forms between them despite Canary not knowing who Oracle really is, and that moment they finally meet in issue #21 is historical!

Birds of Prey #21 "Call me Barbara"

I loved Oracle as a character, but later I would find out that she was more than just a comic book character.  Oracle was one of the few characters in wheelchairs (without powers, I might add) and she meant something to ALOT of people.  Especially after DC Comics did their 2nd (3rd?) reboot with The New 52 and took Oracle away from us and put Barbara back in the Batgirl suit.  Alot of issues came to the front in those days...it was the first time I really felt the power of the Internet and Social media.  Why couldn't there be an Oracle?  Why aren't there more Black Superheroes?  Latino superheroes?  Gay or LGBT superheroes?  Canadian superheroes? Coincidentally around that same time I started a podcast, Trilogy Comes in 3, later Trilogy Spoilers!, and got to vent my frustrations.  But somewhere along the way, I decided to not just complain about it, but to do something about it.

I had wanted to write a comic book for years.  I always loved ensemble casts, even when I wrote screenplays or plays, I just got bored writing one character.  I loved having three, four, five characters in scenes for them to play off of.  I know that came from my love of the Justice League but also The Teen Titans, The Outsiders and many other team books.  So a team book was what I wanted to do.  Being Canadian meant that there HAD to be a Canadian on the team!  And I loved the idea of this team not being THAT TEAM, being a few notches below the top guys, the type of superheroes who might be watching an alien invasion on TV rather than stopping it themselves...there was humor there, I thought.  And there had to be HUMOR!  Everything in 2011 in comics was DEAD SERIOUS!  Even when they rebooted the Justice League International, it was serious.  No jokes, no lighter tone...nothing.  Comics should never take itself too seriously.  If anyone was going to be doing a "Brokeback" pose, it was the guys!  If anyone was going to be "fridged", it was going to be a dude! 

Fridging in The Supers...

And if a character wore a skimpy costume, it was for a good reason!   Characters will die and come back!  The team will have more women than men, have black people, LGBT heroes, a hero in a wheelchair, a hero with alopecia, a hero who is balding and has a beer gut, a hero who texts during fights, a hero who has a normal body compared to "normal people" but in a typical super-outfit, feels self-conscious...like normal people!  Cause everyone deserves to have a hero of their own!

So The New 52 happened in summer of 2011.  Here I am, on Canada Day of 2016, launching the website for The Supers: 3rd Best Superhero Team in the World!  It's been a long five years, working with the amazing Ricky Gunawan, the artist who draws what my brain writes.  And I am very proud of what The Supers have become!  I hope you enjoy it!

The Supers #1 cover...