Tired science fiction cliches
Looking for something new in the sci-fi genre? First, take a look at the following posts from the blog, Furinkan High School Kendo Club. Then, you’ll know what to avoid. The author really breaks down some of the oldest sci-fi cliche’s.
- Tired Sci-Fi Tropes That Must Be Retired! (Part 1)
- Tired Sci-Fi Tropes That Must Be Retired! (Part 2)
Thanks to James Hudnall for the link.
Final Draft Templates for Comics
It was Antony Johnston who first switched me on to the joys of Final Draft, and gave me a copy of his own comic-book template to go along with it.
Since then I’ve developed my own version of the template, which more closely resembles traditional screenplay format – right down to the pig-ugly Courier font. You can download it for Final Draft 6 here.
Many thanks to Andy Diggle for making his comic book template for Final Draft available again. If Andy’s template does not blow your skirt up, you might also check out the source material from Antony Johnson, another professional comic author. Thanks to William Satterwhite for the heads up on Johnson’s template.
Interested in the work of Andy Diggle and Antony Johnson? Check out their blogs by clicking on their names.
Fantastic Four :: Just Right
Tonight, we finally got to see The Fantastic Four. After getting a lot of shoulder shrugs from folks who’d seen it, I expected to be somewhat underwhelmed. Thankfully, that was not the case. Don’t get me wrong, this film was not Batman Begins or even Spiderman or X-Men, but I think it was an almost perfect Fantastic Four film.
For starters, the FF have always been a throwback to the golden age of comics. While I never was a huge fan of the book, I appreciated the characters and their longevity. And truth be told, I’ve always had a soft spot for Ben Grimm a.k.a. the ever lovin’ Thing. At the core, the FF is a story about family and this is portrayed perfectly in this film. The cast pulls off the tense, but tight-knit family dynamics of the FF in a very subtle, real way that pulls the viewer in and makes you root for them. Roger Ebert complains, but this just shows the film is not targeted for general audiences, but rather loyal FF readers.
That said, there are some quibbles about the film’s take on the origin stories, particularly that of Dr. Doom. And, I am sure some folks will whine about the fact that Alicia Masters is black in the film. However, like the costumes in the X-Men films, I think minor changes to the continuity are OK if they make comics more accessible to a new generation.
Effects and fight choreography were excellent. My only beef is that The Thing should have been a bit more “larger than lifeâ€. The costume/prosthetics were amazing, and allowed Michael Chiklis to really act inside out. So, the complaint is not that the suit is not well-designed. Rather, the problem is scale. As shot, it is 80% scale “The Thingâ€. That said, Chiklis was perfectly cast as Ben Grimm. I love Chiklis in general, but he was born for this role.
Overall, I liked this film and recommend it to both comics fans and general audiences who like a good action adventure yarn.
Batman Begins :: Simply The Best Comic Book Adaptation … Ever
First, Robert Rodriguez’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City. Now, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Never has there been such a strong back to back showing for movies derived from graphic novels.
Where to begin?
Let’s start where all great works of art should … the story. While the Burton films had a gritty charm, they were still highly stylized and had an almost art-house feel … albiet on a grand scale … in their overall voice and pacing. As for the Schumacher films, well the less said the better. Their only saving grace was Val Kilmer. That said, all four of the modern Batman films shared a live-action comic book sensibility.
With Batman Begins Nolan borrows heavily from Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One graphic novel. The result is hyper-real. For the first time in the genre, you actually feel that such a superhero could exist in the real world. This feel runs through the entire film with the exception of one subtly grand chase scene. As a result, there is little need to “suspend disbelief”. Everything is inherently plausible when one witnesses how tragedy could so shape the will and life of one man.
Speaking of that man, Christian Bale was born to play Batman. An amazingly skillful actor, he inhabits Batman/Bruce Wayne. This is a deep, rich role which was well-mined by Bale, who should recieve Oscar consideration for his performance. I expected Katie Holmes to be annoying eye candy, but was very pleasantly surprised. Her role was well written, well acted and integral to the story. Michael Caine is a perfect Alfred. Gary Oldham is the perfect Commisioner Gordon.
I was also a bit concerned about three classic Batman villians appearing in the film. After the Guhvahnator played Mr. Freeze to Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy, I was concerned about more weak team-ups. I wont play the spolier here, but suffice to say that everything falls together perfectly. Again, kudos to Christopher Nolan’s script and direction.
Costume and set design were superb. Most striking is Gotham City itself. It looked like a real city, perhaps Chicago or New York. While I love the hyper-stylized Gotham of Burton’s films, I believe Nolan’s Gotham much, much more. It is organic and real. Even the surreal, gritty “Shangri-la” seen early in the film feels real. The only thing that seems a bit unreal is the Batmobile. That said, the origin of this piece of Bat-tech is believably explained by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). The same can be said of the costume (sans Shumacher’s famous latex nipples) and the rest of the arsenal.
Finally, fight coreography is amazing. What makes it so is the simple, nasty realism. There are no Matrix-like effects or Day-Glo bad guys as per Schumacher. Everything is clean and believable while remaining visually “muddy”. This is a good thing. There are no dramatically stylized punches or exchanges. Everything is in close and vicious. You cannot see precisely what is happen, but it feels like you are watching real fights. Yet, all of this is done without gratuitous gore.
Sandy Collora set the bar high with his independent labor of love … Batman: Dead End. Until today, I considered it the finest Batman film ever made. Batman Begins has stolen the crown. Word on the street is Nolan and Bale are signed for at least two more installments. I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us next.
Hellboy :: Lost Army
While waiting for Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson to arrive from Amazon.com, I dug into Hellboy: Lost Army. As with Hellboy: Odd Jobs, Hellboy: Odder Jobs and Hellboy: The Bones of Giants, Christopher Golden weaves a story well worthy of the trust given him by Mike Mignola, Hellboy’s creator.
In addition to breathing new life into old legends (the lost army of Persian warlord Cambyses), Golden gives Hellboy a romantic life only hinted at Mignola’s work and Guillermo del Toro’s film. Finally, I know who the hell Anastasia Branfield is! 
I’ve come to enjoy Golden’s writing style, so I plan to check out his non-Hellboy work. Now, to start with Of Saints and Shadows (vampires) or Wildwood Road (ghosts)?
Hellboy :: Bones of Giants
I just finished this book. Christopher Golden really handles Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy” universe with amazing skill. As with Hellboy: Odd Jobs and Hellboy: Odder Jobs, short story collections edited by Golden, The Bones of Giants expands the Hellboy story in a natural, organic way. Hellboy and Abe Sapien speak as if Mignola had written them himself. The story moves forward with clean, quick pacing and the holds one’s interest from the first page through the last.
If you are a fan of the Hellboy graphic novels or the Guillermo del Toro film, you owe it to yourself to check out The Bones of Giants. Next up on my “reading for fun” list is Hellboy: The Lost Army. But first, I have to finish Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. My future father-in-law introduced me to the book and I’ve found it a fascinating read.
Sandy Collora :: World’s Finest
While digging around for link’s to Director Sandy Collora‘s Batman: Dead End, I discovered he has a new superhero fan film in the works. World’s Finest brings back Clark Bartram as Bruce Wayne/Batman and introduces Michael O’Hearn as Superman. The action is set in Metropolis.
Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of Superman. I guess I never bought Christopher Reeve in the role and the stories were always too contrived for my liking. That said, the trailer for World’s Finest looks amazing. Again, Collora brings high production value to a fan film. Needless to say, I am anxiously looking forward to this release.
UPDATE: Interested in learning a bit more about Sandy Collora? Read this interview. Also, check out this inteview with the stars of World’s Finest.
Corey Sosner :: First Round
Jerry Smith sent me a link to First Round a fan film starring and produced by Corey Sosner. The film stars Marvel characters Wolverine and The Punisher. The script and cinematography are pretty solid. For what I suppose is a no/low-budget film, the special effects were surprisingly good. However, performances are uneven. Sosner plays a passable Punisher. Eric von Sydow looks the part of Wolverine, but is a bit too terse and growling. Yeah, Wolvie is on the edge and runs on animal instinct, but the character has evolved to incorporate a wider range than just smoldering rage.
In addition, the fight coreography was weak. The fights looked slow and overly coreographed. I would assume that no one in the production has much martial arts experience and no stage combat experience. Not that I am expert, but at several key points, the actors did not “sell” the violence. This is critical in an action movie with superheroes in play.
Finally, a general note about fan fiction, particularly in the comic book genre. If looking to do a fan film, why would one choose characters that Hollywood has already done and, at least in Wolvie’s case, done well? Sure, there is an established fan base, but that is strictly a business decision, not an artistic one. Eric von Sydow is sure to invite comparison to Hugh Jackman, and that is a battle he won’t win. Sosner’s Punisher is better than Dolph Lundgren’s but, though I have not seen it yet, I am sure Thomas Jane’s Punisher is stronger and deeper.
So far, only one such fan film has looked as good or better than anything Hollywood has produced to date. That film was: Dead End, a Batman film by Sandy Collora. It remains the truest adaptation of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight yet. Early word on Batman Begins is good, but until it’s release Dead End is the best Batman film ever made in my book.
Were I to make a comic fan film, I think I would choose one of the more fringe characters who’ve yet to be touched by Hollywood. I might even choose a few that have been in development hell (Black Panther, Power Man & Iron Fist, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider, Jonah Hex, Nightwing, etc). This way, one still has the fan base (perhaps even a more eager base) while still being the first on celluloid (or DV) to interpret the characters in live action. Now, that is an opportunity.
Batman: Dead End
Some of you may have already seen this short film at the San Diego Comic Con this past summer, or downloaded it off the Net since then, but seeing as the next installment of the BATMAN movie series is rarin’ to go, we thought we’d get the hype-machine started on Mr. Wayne and his alter-ego, with a presentation of an extremely cool, well…I’d call it a “short action sequence”, featuring Batman, The Joker, Alien and Predators?? Hand to God, they all make groovy appearances in this dark little flick and let me tell you, these are 8 minutes that you won’t soon forget! Head on over to TheForce.net’s FanFilms section to download your copy now.
Wow.
/me is humbled by the vision and skill of the crew over at Collora Studios.
Quiver by Kevin Smith
The story involves Heaven, Hell, The Supernatural, Superman, The Spectre, The Demon, The Phantom Stranger, Deadman, and a long-forgotten team from DC’s past. None of these things should gel with a street-level hero like Green Arrow. NONE OF THEM. Yet Kevin Smith, with the art team of Phil Hester & Ande Park, made me buy into every bit of it. Smith deals with bits of DC continuity that I thought no one could possibly remember, but does it in such a way that, while bringing a smile to the face of longtime comic readers like me, doesn’t alienate new readers or make them feel like they’re missing something.
This guy nails it. This book should NOT work. But. it does. As always, Smith’s rich, charcter-driven dialogue makes the reading deep and engaging without being preachy or pedantic.
