Oh Hai Watch: The Disaster Artist (2017)

Watched:  06/22/2018
Format:  Amazon Prime Video
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Super-Comics Talk: Man of Steel # 2 and #3 (2018)

Man of Steel 2 and 3

Writer:  Brian Michael Bendis
Artists:  Issue 2 - Doc Shaner, Steve Rude, Jason Fabok
              Issue 3 - Ryan Sook, Jason Fabok, inks pages 12-12, 15: Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors:  Alex Sinclair
Letters:  Josh Reed
Associate Editor:  Jessica Chen
Editor:  Michael Cotton
Group Editor:  Brian Cunningham
Cover:  Ivan Reis, Joe Prado and Alex Sinclair

Super-Reviews: Man of Steel #1

Writer:  Brian Michael Bendis
Pencils:  (mostly) Ivan Reis and 2 pages by Jason Fabok
Inks:  Joe Prado
Colors:  Alex Sinclair
Lettering:  Cory Petit
Editor:  Michael Cotton
Associate Editor:  Jessica Chen
Group Editor:  Brian Cunningham

Well, it finally arrived.

Okay Watch: Revenge (2017 - US Release 2018)

Not all movies are for all people.  Sometimes a movie, despite a rip-roaring ad, when I see the movie, in practice, I am fifteen minutes in and realize "oh no..." but there you are.

Marvel Watch: Avengers | Infinity War (second viewing)

Jamie and I went and saw Avengers: Infinity War (2018) again.  And realized we were glad Thanos was not a fan of beat poetry.

Superman Comics Talk: Action Comics Special #1 / DC Nation #0

Superman variant for DC Nation #0 by JLGL

With DC's Rebirth event now a couple of years in the rear-view mirror and a status quo set-ish for the DCU at this point (at least until the next reboot), the Superman books seem to be on solid ground, even as they head into the next series of changes as Brian Michael Bendis arrives at DC and takes over both Action Comics and Superman.

I've been considering writing more often on Superman comics the past year, but it was impossible to write about them without spending half the post explaining to anyone not reading Superman titles what was going on - continuity wise - in the comics.   Tomasi and Gleason's take on Superman and Dan Jurgens and a rotating group of artists' run on Action Comics worked very well for me, messy continuity and all - but getting past the "now Superman is married to Loid with a 10 year old son" bit - not that hard, but he's from another dimension (no he's not!), he lives on a farm except when he lives in Metropolis...  all that stuff was hard to talk about, and, frankly, when Superman and family didn't just make the jump back to Metropolis and the Daily Planet the way I expected, began to feel a bit like a holding pattern awaiting some coming change.  Still, the tone was right, the adventures depicted hit the right Super-buttons, and I returned to regularly reading comics (because I always start my stack with my Super-books).

Ancillary titles have been shakier, with occasional highlights.  Supergirl isn't exactly critical reading, but found footing in recent issues.  I am so far behind on Superwoman and New Super-Man that I can't comment.  

Bendis's first pages showed up in Action Comics 1000.  While there's a novel hook to get folks interested in the Man of Steel mini in June Action Comics #1001 and Superman #1 arriving in July, if someone was expecting Shakespeare on the page in the few pages penned by Bendis - what we did get was pro-level comics, Bendis' first pages of set set up that actually kinda worked, and a feel for "Superman is back in his regular environs".

Action Comics Special #1

Ho, boy. We Should Talk About "Krypton" on SyFy

The most exciting thing in this show is a piece of fabric

Ignore Jamie's guffaws to the contrary, but I quite like being proven wrong about (some) things.  Example:  I started watching Supergirl because I like Kara Zor-El quite a bit as a comics character (and mad props to Helen Slater for being better than her bad movie).  I found the first couple of episodes of Supergirl hilariously bad, and then the show start playing against expectations and I found myself enjoying Supergirl in a sort of "this is okay TV and pretty fun" sort of way.  It's not exactly The Americans, and it can't sustain 22 episodes per year and I wish they'd cut it to 13, but it's in my TV rotation.

So despite the David S. Goyer association and SyFy channel "we're doing serious Sci-Fi now" and some pretty boring adverts for the show (which, weirdly, ran incessantly during the Winter Olympics on NBC), I wanted to give Krypton a try.  Sure, it looked plodding and joyless in the vein of Goyer's Man of Steel work, selling that "but this is seeerious, Mom" vibe that one can only get when everything is gray and poorly lit like a nightclub that will have a brief but forgettable existence.

Krypton has an uphill battle no matter what.  It's not a mistake that DC Comics has only explored Superman's home planet in bursts via single issue appearances and the occasional brief mini-series.  If the stories don't arc toward Superman - you're more or less looking at a planet knowing "oh, you guys are boned".  After all - the point of Krypton (the planet, not the show) is to be either a near Utopia that made some critically bad choices about getting out of Dodge, or to exist as a highly advanced planet that should have been named "Hubris".

Marvel Watch: Avengers | Infinity War (2018)

Watched:  04/28/2018
Format:  Alamo Drafthouse Slaughter Lane
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Warning - this write-up will have spoilers.  Do not read this post until you've seen Avengers: Infinity War (2018).

PODCAST: Laura M-S and Ryan talk HIGH SCHOOL MOVIES! "Brick" (2005) and "Lady Bird" (2017)

Laura M-S has been around the blog since time immemorial.  But did you know she and I went to high school together?  It's true.  We also live in the same area here in modern times, and decided to get together for what will be the first in a series on High School Movies.

To kick it off, we decide high school movies are a poor reflection of the high school experience - so what movies do reflect those crucial years (for us)? We talk 2005's "Brick" (dir. Rian Johnson) and 2017's Oscar contender "Lady Bird" (dir. Greta Gerwig).

Belated Oscars Watch: Lady Bird (2017)

Watched:  04/27/2018
Format:  Amazon Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Watched this one for an upcoming podcast.  Saving it for then, I'm afraid.

I think March 30th was the 15th Anniversary of the Start of my Blogging

So, I guess I missed my own 15th Anniversary of blogging.  We were over at League of Melbotis back then.  Here's a link to the first batch of posts.

Back then, kids, we had no facebook, no twitter, barely had iTunes and it took me forever to figure out how to upload photos and have a comment section.  I was a lad of about 27 and living as a Texas ex-pat in Arizona at the time.  I was busily learning about Superman and comics, and I was oh, so, sweetly naive.  Reading those early posts is sometimes a teeth-gnashing experience but also a journal of what was going on in my head in the blogging salad days.

Dog Watch: Isle of Dogs (2018)

Watched:  03/25/2018
Format:  Alamo South Lamar
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Sly Watch: Creed (2015)

Watched:  03/04/2018
Format:  Amazon Prime Streaming
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's

Marvel Watch: Black Panther (2018)

Watched:  02/15/2018 and 02/25/2018
Format:  Alamo Slaughter Lane/ Alamo Village
Viewing:  First/ Second
Decade:  2010's

I'm supposed to schedule with AmyC to do a podcast on this film.  I need to get that done.  In the meantime...

Writing about Black Panther (2018) is, perhaps, not terribly useful at this point.  The movie is a legitimate phenomenon in box office and in cultural conversation.  Both of these things are yet another sign among many of the past few years that we're undergoing some tectonic shifts in Hollywood, unlearning the rules of the industry when it comes to what audiences actually do want.  As of this writing, Black Panther had raked in $700 million worldwide, and, if my sold out 7:00 on a Sunday show was any indication, shows no signs of stopping.

As a white dude who is as much of a white dude as you're like to meet, I get the basic contours of what this film has meant to a Black audience, in America and abroad, but I won't pretend to have been more than an observer.*  By this late date, it's possible or likely you've seen photos of people who've "dressed" for the movie, watched video of kids attending crowd-funded screenings... and more than likely you've read one or five of the dozens and dozens of think pieces circulating.  So I don't know what new I can add, and I'll try not to belabor those points.

Bat Watch: Gotham By Gaslight (2018)

Watched: 02/23/2018
Viewing: First
Format: Amazon Streaming
Decade: 2010's


Way, way back in - I think - early high school, the slim, prestige format comic Gotham By Gaslight arrived in comic shops, and as a good little comics-kid, I picked up my copy, read it, loved it, and it was probably in a longbox until the great purge a few years ago.  I am 95% certain I have it in a collection somewhere amongst the Batbooks, but its been two decades since I've read the thing.

Like everyone else, I was batty for Gotham by Gaslight upon arrival.  It featured art by Mike Mignola and a pretty decent story by Brian Augustyn, and I think it took off much better than DC figured.  This put the idea of Elseworlds into DC's head, and for the next two decades we got endless versions of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and sometimes others, in various periods, geographies and genres.  It took a concept like "but what if Superman emerged in conjunction with, say, War of the Worlds!?" or "Batman, but a pirate" and sold a couple of prestige-formatted issues.  Or, you got some "what if?" sort of story, like "what if Krypton never exploded?"

Some of it was great, some of it serviceable or bad.  Some of it got way overhyped (everyone needs to relax about @#$%ing Red Son.  It's not that good.).  But Gotham By Gaslight started it all, and - for my money - though I haven't actually re-read it in two decades - was among the very best.

The movie is okay.

PODCAST with AmyC! Regret Watch: Fifty Shades Freed (2018)

(blergh)

Watched: 02/11/2018
Format: Alamo Drafthouse
Viewing: First. And, God willing, last.
Decade: 2010's

Hey!  As a magical treat for your Valentine's Day, we have something extra special for you.

This weekend AmyC and I returned to the local cinema for a screening of Fifty Shades Freed (2018), the final installment in the Fifty Shades trilogy.*  Again *fair warning* the movies are Not Safe For Work, and neither are these podcasts.  If you don't want to hear about sexual matters, general naughtiness and some light S&M, then this is your chance to move along.

There was a lot to talk about, so we wound up breaking this up into two completely separate podcasts.  Get comfortable, each one runs about 40 minutes.

Our first installment covers some questions sent in, and contains a more general conversation about Fifty Shades in the context of real world events.



Our second installment covers the events of Fifty Shades Freed, tying things up.  So to speak.



My eternal thanks to AmyC.  We've greatly appreciated her time and patience on this, not to mention her wisdom and willingness to share.

*please, someone tell me this is the last one

Creature Watch: The Shape of Water (2017)

Watched: 01/28/2018
Format: Drafthouse, S. Lamar
Viewing: First
Decade: 2010's

Fifty Shades and Fifty Shades Darker: THE PODCAST (with AmyC!)

BEHOLD!

The Signal Watch launches a new media experiment! Join us for our inaugural podcast as AmyC and I sit down and discuss the movies Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker!

FAIR WARNING:  There is a whole lot of non-Family-Friendly chatter in this podcast, so use your best discretion before tuning in.  



Runtime:  50 minutes (so get comfortable)

Regret Watch: Fifty Shades of Grey/ Fifty Shades Darker

Watched: 01/22/2018
Format: Home/ Amazon
Viewing: Second/ Second
Decade: 2010's

We re-watched the first two movies.  Blog content forthcoming.

90's History Watch: I, Tonya (2017)

Watched:  01/07/2018
Format:  Alamo Drafthouse, South Lamar
Viewing:  First
Decade:  2010's/ (actual history:  1990's)