Film Guff Podcast Episode 31: Nowhere Man

All right, I’m a little late on this one but real life got in the way. By that I mean I was binge watching stuff on Netflix and Prime video. But I’m here now and I’m pleased to tell all you Guffians about the latest episode of the Film Guff podcast, episode #31: “Nowhere Man.”

In this episode, the Film Guff threesome is joined by the author Steve McHugh to discuss topics like kidnap flicks, Ali’s wacky one-word show notes, toilets and the South Korean crime movie “The Man From Nowhere. But be warned: This episode includes a plethora of naughty words (mostly courtesy of Nick), so be careful where you listen.

Per tradition, this episode of the Film Guff podcast is hosted by SPECTRE’s #11 Ali, 2003 yodeling European champion, Cev, and God’s gift to women (and TNU’s own), Nick Jones. So download, listen and enjoy the trio’s latest shenanigans!

Film Guff edited byL Cevin Moore
Music: “Asteroid (A Corruption)” By Peter & Cevin Moore
Info: filmguff.net
Twitter @FilmGuff @StevejMchugh

 

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RIP Stan Lee

The comic book world lost a true legend yesterday when Stan Lee died at the age of 95. Lee was a writer, editor, and publisher of Marvel Comics, and he began in the business in 1939 and went on to create or co-create characters like Spider-Man, Black Panther, the X-Men, Thor, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the Incredible Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange and countless more.

My first memory of Stan Lee is from the early 1980’s when he narrated episodes of the animated series “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.” I was pretty young at the time, maybe five or six years old, so I didn’t really understand who Stan Lee was. As far as I knew, he was just some random narrator for the show. Little did I know he created most of the characters that I was watching on Saturday mornings.

This went on for another few years until I began collecting comics. My first few comics just happened to be Spider-Man books, and back then all Marvel Comics began with a little blurb about that book’s particular character and finished with the words “Stan Lee Presents.” It was thanks to these little intros and the regular “Stan’s Soapbox” column that I began to understand the magnitude of Stan Lee’s contributions to comics.

I think one of my favorite things about Stan Lee was how much he loved comics and wanted everyone to read a comic. To me, it always seemed like he was trying to say “The movies are great, but check out the comics too.” That makes complete sense to me, and introducing new people to the world of comics is not a bad idea at all.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to be at a convention where Stan Lee was one of the guests of honor. Although I wasn’t able to meet Stan, I was fortunate to be in the same room with him. The pop the crowd gave him when he took the stage is unlike anything I’ve ever seen or heard before. And I’ve been to football and baseball games, to Wrestlemania, even to the Rolling Stones, and those crows can’t compare to the ovation Stan Lee got that day.

I turned 40 earlier this year and for 30 of those years, I’ve been reading comics with characters created by Stan Lee. His creations taught me right from wrong and about accepting others. Stan’s heroes also kept me going during the loneliest time of my life. There is nothing I can say to Stan Lee other than thank you for the countless hours of entertainment your characters have given me.

Rest in Peace Stan.

The Green Lantern #1 Review

 

THE GREEN LANTERN #1
Written by: Grant Morrison
Art by: Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowski
Edited by: Jessica Chen and Brian Cunningham
Published by: DC Comics

What it’s about…

Superstar writer Grant Morrison (Batman, All-Star Superman) returns to DC alongside red-hot artist Liam Sharp (The Brave and the Bold, Wonder Woman) to launch a new, ongoing series: THE GREEN LANTERN!

In this debut issue, when Earth’s space cop, Hal Jordan, encounters an alien hiding in plain sight, it sets off a chain of events that rocks the Green Lantern Corps—and quite possibly the Multiverse at large—to its very core. There’s an inter-galactic conspiracy afoot, as well as a traitor in the GL Corps’ ranks, so strap in for more mind-bending adventures in this masterpiece in the making.

What I thought about it…

Grant Morrison’s eagerly awaited The Green Lantern #1 is finally here. After having read the first issue, its clear someone at DC Comics told Morrison he could do anything he damn well pleased with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern mythos.

The Green Lantern #1 is both chaotic and exciting, basically Morrison doing what he does best. Thanks to Morrison’s writing, every character has a distinctive voice and motivation. He also balances the need for plot work and exposition with solid character moments and action.

In just a few pages Morrison deconstructs Hal Jordan, bringing him down to basics. I haven’t seen this type of Hal Jordan story since maybe the Emerald Dawn series and the beginning of the 1990 Green Lantern monthly book. Those were always my favorite Hal Jordan books, so I like Morrison’s approach.

Grant Morrison has the perfect partners in the art team of Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff. Together, they draw Morrison’s insane visions of space battles, alien worlds, and lonely earth moments. Sharp is brilliant at drawing the absurdities that this story calls for. This is a Green Lantern book that looks like a Jack Kirby story went through a Jefferson Airplane induced acid trip. It’s bizarre in every way possible, but I loved every moment of it.

And maybe it’s just me, but Lian Sharp’s work in this issue gave me Neal Adams vibes. Check out the drawing of Hal Jordan with Green Arrow at the end of the book and tell me that doesn’t look like some Adams drew back in the 1970’s.

My only complaint about The Green Lantern #1 is that I have no idea when this story takes place. Apparently, Hal Jordan has been placed on a long-term leave by the Guardians. I guess this happened between issues because everything seemed fine at the end of the Green Lanterns series. Then again, Morrison might fill in the gaps as we go along.

The Green Lantern #1 is basically the prologue to Morrison’s epic. But unlike most recent first issues, there’s actually a lot of story in this book. I have no idea here Grant Morrison’s story goes from here, and I don’t mind. The Green Lantern is as crazy and wacky as I expected, and the art by Liam sharp just makes me want to see more this quirky Green Lantern saga.

The Green Lantern #1 score: B+

Movie Flashback: The Waterboy

During a rare mild November morning in 1998, I was sitting at home doing what a good geek should do: reading comic books.

As I made my way through my latest pile of comics from New England Comics, my good friend Nick called. Oh no I thought to myself, he’s finally snapped and is calling to ask for bail money.

Thankfully, Nick wasn’t calling for money, he only to see if I wanted to join him and a few other friends for a double feature. The movies of the day were to be “Antz,” and “The Waterboy,” so I agreed to go, and met the group at Nick’s house. From there we headed to the Showcase Cinema in Randolph Ma. which was packed for a late weekday morning in November. Probably a bunch of kids skipping school.

Stay in school kids!

Anyways, our first movie was “The Waterboy” directed by Frank Coraci. The film starred Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed, Larry Gilliard, Jr., Blake Clark, Peter Dante, and Jonathan Loughran. Sandler stars as Bobby Boucher, a 31-year-old man who, soon after the film opens, is fired as the waterboy of a championship college football team. He then talks himself into a job with a team of losers, led by the insecure Coach Kline (Henry Winkler).

For me though, Kathy Bates stole the show as Bobby’s mother. Bates had the best scenes in the movie as the possessive and manipulative woman who has kept Bobby away from most of the world in their rural cabin. Mama Boucher and Bobby share the cabin with large animals, including a donkey named Steve. She often serves up giant swamp snakes and other creatures to their occasional guests like coach Klein and Fairuza Balk. I also love how everything she’s ever taught Bobby is followed by “It’s the devil!”

Also of note is Henry Winkler as the luckless Coach Klein. “The Waterboy” was the first time I saw Winkler as something other than the Fonzy, so it was funny to see him as someone who is insecure and scared of others. Winkler had me rolling with his Roy Orbison story and the flashback scenes with Jerry Reed (who was also good). Coach Klein was  great comic relief, but I thought he had a lot of heart as well and gave Bobby the closest thing to a father he ever had.

As I sat in the theater, all I could think of was “I shouldn’t like this movie, but I actually do!” I mean, it’s not like “The Waterboy: is a cinematic masterpiece or anything. If I recall correctly, the movie got savaged by critics upon release. But that wasn’t new for an Adam Sandler project. Even today he gets brutal reviews, but today they seem warranted.

Maybe I liked “The Waterboy” because it’s a movie about football, or maybe it’s because we all have a little Bobby Boucher in us. And who doesn’t love a sports underdog study? Then again, maybe I liked this movie because of all the damn cameos from ESPN personalities, Lawrence Taylor, NFL coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson, and of course…

I didn’t know it at the time, but “The Waterboy” turned out to be the last Adam Sandler movie I liked. From here on in, nothing Sandler has done has matched his golden years of “Billy Madison, “Happy Gilmore,” and “The Waterboy.” Those movies worked because plots were kept simple, and the jokes came organically. But ever since, it seems like Sandler is more concerned with writing a joker and nor putting as much time into the plot.

Later that day my friends and I saw “Antz” which was well, what you would expect. But it still features the only Jennifer Lopez performance I like. Later on my buddies an I got kicked out of Pizzeria UNO’s. Not for anything, we did mind you, but because one of us (someone whose name rhymes with Mick) had on a shirt with a four-letter word printed on it. Ah well, at least I got one of my favorite football movies out of the day.

Quantum of Solace 10 years later

Revenge is best served cold, and that’s what happened on November 14, 2008, when American moviegoers finally had their chance to see the twenty-second official James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace.”

The film was a direct sequel to 2006’s blockbuster “Casino Royale.” and it was directed by Marc Forster and written by Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade. Quantum was the second film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond, and also starred Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, Jeffrey Wright, and Judi Dench.

In the ten years since its release, “Quantum of Solace” is almost always listed as one of the worst films in the Bond series. I understand the complaints fans have with the film. There are too much shaky cam scenes, the title cards don’t belong, and the villain is not what you call a classic 007 baddie.

Then there are the script re-writes during pre-production that were hampered by the impending strike by the Writers Guild of America that was due to start in November 2007. The final script for Quantum was hurriedly written and completed just hours before the strike officially began.

But there’s more to “Quantum of Solace” than people realize. For one thing, Quantum is a proper revenge film. A type of mission we’ve only seen Bond embark on once before. I’ve been a Bond fan since I was nine years old, and in all that time I’ve often wondered why Bond rarely takes revenge.

I’m not saying he needs to go AWOL in every film, but prior to “Quantum of Solace” the only time Bond sought revenge was in 1989’s “License to Kill.” Which if you think about it, James Bond took the attack on his friend harder than he did the death of his wife.

Something else “Quantum of Solace” did well expanded on the themes of the previous film by bringing to light the criminal organization known as Quantum who was responsible for many of the events in “Casino Royale.” This gave Daniel Craig a chance to build up his version of James Bond in a few ways: Craig’s Bond is bruised and battered in a way no other Bond has been before, sp When Fields is killed, he learns his actions as a double O have consequences. Bond also realizes that although M likes him, he too is disposable. But by the time “Quantum of Solace” ends, Bond turns the page, basically guaranteeing he will never fall in love again.

After “Quantum of Solace,” Craig€™s Bond is a multi-layered character. A mix of pent-up emotion and anger that only takes pleasure in women. Hmm, that sounds a lot like TNU’s own Nick, but that is neither here nor there. The point I was trying to make is that by the end credits of “Quantum of Solace,” we have the closest the films have ever come to the literary version of the character.

As I said earlier, a lot of fans don’t like “Quantum of Solace” because it’s not your typical Bond movie. I for ones like some of the quieter aspects of the film, like when Bond and Camille get to know one and another on the plane. I also like when Bond tells M that Fields served bravely, or the last few moments of Mathis’ life and he tells Bond its okay to forgive Vesper for what she did. Those are great moments as far as I’m concerned.

Action wise, I’m a fan of two sequences in “Quantum of Solace.” Firs is the pre-credit car chase in Italy. Yeah, there’s some shaky cam work here, but that didn’t take away any of the intensity of the chase. I still crack up when the door of the Aston Martin gets torn off and Bond carries on as nothing has happened.

The second action sequence is the one at the opera house. Not only does this scene have a little humor, like when Bond takes some poor guy’s tux, or when he calls out the Quantum members in the audience. But I even think it was a nice touch from the filmmakers to do a shootout without sound. This sequence also showed how creepy and cruel Dominic Greene was.

I am by no means saying “Quantum of Solace” is one of the great films in the series. Quantum is not close to being in my top 10. But “Quantum of Solace” is a movie that despite its flaws, I’ve come to appreciate more as time goes by. This is not a perfect 007 movie, but it also doesn’t deserve the criticism it still gets today.

Bohemian Rhapsody Review

Possible spoilers ahead!

“Bohemian Rhapsody” is the long-awaited biopic about British rock band Queen, but in particular the band’s lead singer Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek). The film begins in 1970 London when a young Freddie (still going by his birth name, Farrokh Bulsara) is working as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport. His dream, however, is to become a musician and make a name for himself.

One night Freddie sees an up and comer band local band called Smile perform, and Freddie convinces their guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) to make him their new lead singer. The new band later add bass guitarist John Deacon (Joseph Mazzello) to their ranks and dub their new band Queen.

After initial success at home, Queen hires a new manager in John Reid (Aidan Gillen) and their sound grows increasingly experimental, much to the dismay of EMI boss, Ray Foster (Mike Myers). Before long, though, Queen is performing around the world to sellout crowds. But as Freddie becomes a celebrity, his wild ways threatens to tear Queen apart and creates a rift between him and his onetime girlfriend-turned lifelong companion, Mary Austin (Lucy Boynton).

As a longtime fan of Queen, I was really looking forward to what “Bohemian Rhapsody” had to offer. The film delivered with some excellent musical numbers and an out of this world performance by Rami Malek. However, “Bohemian Rhapsody” sticks closely to the typical biopic formula by using montages as years pass by, and by running through all the major events in Queen’s history.

All the usual stuff is there: humble beginnings, skyrocketing fame, break-up, and the eventual reconciliation. To be fair, “Bohemian Rhapsody” does explore a few of these plot devices in detail. But the film doesn’t try to do anything new with the formula, which is a shame, because if it could work in any movie, it would be in a film about Freddie Mercury.

I guess I was hoping “Bohemian Rhapsody” would give fans more of an insight into the band members. Of course the movie focuses on Freddie’s experiences, but in the end, “Bohemian Rhapsody” does very little with the rest of Queen. Poor John Deacon, I think he had ten lines of dialogue in the entire movie. We don’t even see him try out for the band, he’s just there one scene and a voiceover tells us he’s the bass player.

The film’s portrayal of Freddie’s sexuality, personal lifestyle and eventual contraction of AIDS, could have been better. Maybe the filmmakers couldn’t go as far as they could have due to the PG-13 rating, but I felt like some of Freddie Mercury’s relationships deserved a more in-depth look. Same goes to his diagnosis, but I did like how he never kept it secret from the band, and that they in return never judged him for it.

But that’s where most of my complaining ends because Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury is easily the highlight of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Malek is Freddie Mercury in every way possible, not once did I think “that’s Rami Malek.” As far as I was concerned it was Freddie on that screen, and Malek captured the essence of the singer, from his charming manner and swagger to his moves onstage, it’s all there.

As I mentioned earlier, the other members of Queen don’t get a lot to do in the film. But I have to say, Gwilym Lee, as Brian May is brilliant casting. If I didn’t know any better I’d say Gwilym Lee and May were related in some way, the resemblance is that good. His work won’t get the attention Malek’s will get, but he deserves more credit than what he’s getting.

One of the actors I would have liked to see more of was Lucy Boynton as Mary Austin. She’s the character audiences can relate to the most, and her complicated relationship with Freddie was the most important of his life. “Bohemian Rhapsody” tried showing how important they were to each other, but the relationship still felt under-developed.

Something that the film nailed were the live performances, in particular, Queen’s Live Aid set. I remember watching the real thing on tv in 1985 but seeing Queen perform “Radio Ga Ga” in the film sent chills up and down my spine. It was also cool to see people in the theater doing the hand clap sequence made famous in that performance.

Although I have some issues with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” I still enjoyed the film. Rami Malek delivers a career-defining performance worthy of an Academy Award. The Live Aid sequence is the best concert recreation I’ve seen in any film. And that incredible music, that’s what always gets me. Queen is a timeless band, with classic music. And despite a few flaws, this movie is worth checking out.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” score: B+

Random Thought of the Day

I always liked Bailey better