Get Some Head

Right now I'm watching The Amazing Screw-On Head, the animated short based on the comic by Mike Mignola. I've seen it before, but for some reason I decided to watch it again. Seems I've forgotten how absolutely brilliant it is. Brya Fuller is credited as a writer and producer on the 22-minute short, which explains how something this bizarre actually got translated well to the small screen. Fuller is probably best know as the creator/writer of shows like Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me and Pushing Dasies. He's also worked on Heroes...not that he needs any more geek cred.

If I told you what the plot was about I would sound absolutely insane, but if you're interested yu can read about it on wikipedia. Seriously, it's crazy.

It's got an amazing collection of voice talent, with Paul Giamatti voicing the main character and David Hyde Pierce as his nemisis Emperor Zombie. Molly Shannon plays former love interest/current vampire Patience and Patton Oswalt voices Screw-On Head's servant Mr. Groin. Oh, and Corey Burton plays Abraham Lincoln as well as the demon Zombie summons. See, how can something with insane characters like this not be excellent.

It's something that really has to be watched to be understood, and thankfully the animation is fantastic. It captures Mignola's style perfectly (as does the writing).

I know that's not much of a review, but, just watch it, especially if you like Bryan Fuller or Mike Mignola (or the Hellboy films). The DVD has a commentary track (with Fuller) a "Making of" that's pretty informative, some storyboard stuff and an insert that has drawing from Mignola and Guy Davis.

I do think that since Del Toro has a lot on his plate at the moment, Fuller would be an excellent choice to take over the Hellboy franchise. He really seems to understand what makes stuff like this work and while he doesn't have Del Toro's track record with the effects work, he has shown skill at some fantastical material.

Just a thought. Meanwhile, everyone should own this DVD. Especially since it costs all of $9 at Amazon. Hell, you can watch the whole thing on Google video here.

Review- Punisher: War Zone

I'm not really sure where to begin with my review of this movie. I'm certain that by now anyone who wants to see it probably has, and anyone who hasn't seen it probably shouldn't.

While watching it I couldn't help but draw comparisons to another failed vigalante superhero film (Lots to choose from, no?), Batman and Robin. Now, in fandom there has been a long running comaprison between the two "heroes," and the argument of who would win in a fight (Batman. End of argument), blah blah blah. Now there's a new dimension to that debate. Who has the worst movie (or hell, worst franchise)?

I think Bats wins that fight too. But, it's really close.

Jigsaw's "origin" is crawling with...let's call them homages...to Joker's origin from Burton's original Batman film, and we're treated to these weird "gangs" jumping all around doing acrobatics in a scene that feels like it was deleted from Batman Returns (it's a short scene, but really I flashed right back to that travesty) then we get the over-the-top Dominic West (in make-up that looks straight out of the Corman Fantastic Four film) doing his best Tommy-Lee-Jones-as-Two-Face impression. Add in all kinds of neon lights, crappy side kicks, horrible accents and stupid dialogue and it's like someone crammed all of the most horrid elements of the Batman franchise into one movie.

In the "Making of" featurettes they keep referring to Ennis' Punisher and how they tried to stay true to it...but I really don't think they read Ennis' books at all. And, if they did, boy did they ever miss the point. Yes, Ennis tends to write hugely over the top action sequences, but usually they're so brief that you barely notice the...unrealness of it all. Where Ennis' Punisher work is the characters. Yeah, yeah, they tend to be over the top as well, but not to the point that they are just caricatures. In the movie they've boiled every single character down to some kind of archetype, and it's all so thinly veiled that it comes off as ridiculous.

The only thing I think I can complement in the entire film is the opening title sequence (Julio Ferrario, amazing job). And really, that's a damn shame because there's some pretty good talent involved in making the film. Two of the credited writers worked on Iron Man (Art Marcum & Matt Holloway), Ray Stevenson at least looks the part of Frank Castle (and I've heard he's a decent enough actor, this is the first thing I've really seen him in I think), and what little I've seen Dominic West in he's been good (don't watch The Wire, sorry). Julie Benz is great in Dexter, and there's Wayne Knight who I've always enjoyed in everything he's done. Rounding out the cast are Doug Hutchinson (Lost, The Green Mile), Colin Salmon (tons of stuff: Resident Evil, Match Point, Bank Job) and the always underrated Dash Mihok (maybe best known as Benvolio in Romeo+Juliet). So, all these great people, how is this movie such a failure?

The blame has to fall on Lexi Alexander, some of it anyway. This is her first really big film (her third altogether) and we get to watch as she makes the same mistakes every other bad action director has either moved on from or fallen prey to. She seems to think ultraviolence and hammy acting are what the movie needed. The rest of it has to fall on the producers who apparently passed on the script by the truly awesome Kurt Sutter (The Shield, Sons of Anarchy). Some of his story elements apparently remain, but he demanded his name be taken off the film (and rightfully so). Now, I'm not sure what happens in Sutters script, but I can't believe for a minute that it was worse than the story these people delivered us. Maybe some of it needs to fall on one of the other credited writers as well (Nick Santora), whose only other film writing is The Longshots, a more family friendly basketball flik. But, really, I can't say the guy is a bad writer since I'm not familiar with his work at all.

One of the films biggest surprises was its use of a score and not a more modern soundtrack full of rock music and the like. But, unfortunately the score is overpowering and distracting, which makes everything that much worse.

Hammy performances, cartoony ultraviolence, bad dialogue, terrible make-up, and rookie mistakes ends up taking what should be a no-brainer franchise two steps backwards from where it was at the end of the Thomas Jane entry. This thing is best avoided unless you're just a fan of terrible movies.

For an alternate view on the film, let me recommend "Classic Shit" by some guy named Nick (really, don't know his last name, he writes good though!)

Yes, I know that's improper, don't point it out.

Review: Hulk vs Wolverine

Directed by Frank Paur
Written by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost
Animation by Madhouse Ltd.
Run Time: 37 mins
Rated PG-13 (Special Features Not Rated)
Widescreen (1.78:1 Ratio)
English & Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English Subtitles
Special features: Audio Commentary by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost; Audio Commentary by Frank Paur, Kevin Altieri and Butch Lukic; "This is Gonna Hurt: The Making of Hulk vs. Wolverine" Featurette; "Fan Frenzy: Hulk vs. Wolverine at the San Diego Comic-Con" Featurette; "First Look: Wolverine and the X-Men" Featurette; Trailer Gallery
IMDB Page


Overview: What you see is what you get, essentially, and that's definitely not a bad thing. Kyle, Yost and Paur deliver a story that captures everything you'd want in a Hulk vs. Wolverine story. Solid voice work from the cast and fantastic animation from Madhouse (that's probably mind-blowing if you get the Blu-ray version), the only real problem I had was that the flashback stuff gets a little confusing if you don't know your Wolverine history and the Hulk vs. Wolverine battle really is only about ten minutes of the whole film. The special features are pretty much run-of-the-mill, but still relatively informative. The Making of is a lot more in-depth than I would have expected, but the Comic-Con featurette is pretty much pointless and the First Look at the Nicktoons series is a glorified commercial (Not that I can blame them for doing it, there's just not much to it). The Kyle/Yost commentary track is fun, equal mixes of MST3K kind of humor and geek-trivia, while the second track falls more on the tech side of things with supervising director Frank Paur and story board artists Kevin Altieri and Butch Lukic. All in all a pretty good package for a great movie.

Here's where I'm gonna plant the geek flag and let it fly. Also, spoiler warning! So, if you don't want to know anything more about the story, off with you!

In-Depth: I've enjoyed all of the Marvel/Lionsgate animated movies so far, but this one raises a bar I don't think they can ever clear. From the opening scene of Wolverine coming too and resetting a broken arm (or maybe a dislocated shoulder, not sure), this movie is bad ass from beginning to end. Like I said, the Wolverine/Hulk figh treally isn't much of the film, but it does cover the first ten minutes or so. From the under water fight to the Hulk slamming giant rocks into Wolverine's head (which he just shrugs off), it watches like a "Best of" collection of Wolverine/Hulk moments from the comics. Then we get into the meat of the story as the badasses of all badasses enter the picture, Weapon X- Deadpool, Sabretooth, Lady Deathstrike, and Omega Red. They take down Wolvie and Hulk and bring them back to the Weapon X compound and we're treated to a bunch of Logan's back story (including fantastic nods to Barry Windsor Smith, it's like his designs stepped off of the page). Deadpool and Lady Deathstrike easily steal the show after this point. If they captured the essence of any Marvel character to their core, it's these two. Deadpool's wit is spot on, and you definitely get a feel of the insanity that runs rampant in his mind, and Deathstrike is just plain old evil. There are nods to the past her and Wolverine share, and her confrontation with the Hulk leads to one of the best moments in the film as she seemingly is getting the best of him...until he rips her arms off. Omega Red and Sabretooth both feel true to their comic book forms, but I think that's part of the problem I had with them in the film, they're very two dimensional. So, it's hard to say anything really negative about them or the way they end up portrayed. Omega Red does have a nice little scene where in the background he's pummeling Wolverine as Hulk dispatches the rest of Weapon X. It's hilarious and violent all at the same time. Like I said, though, Deathstrike and Deadpool steal every scene they're in, and Deadpool almost steals the entire movie. According to Paur in the commentary track Nolan North, who does Deadpool's voice, ad libbed almost all of Deadpool's dialogue, which is just amazing, he really gets what the character is all about. From beginning to end this little movie is an amazing piece of animation. It sets out to do exactly what it inteded to and makes no bones about being a 37 minute slugfest. I do want to mention the main title sequence, done by a studio called Perception, which apparently put the thing together in about three weeks, and it's absolutely stunning. You can actually watch it over on their site here. Thomas and Joel Moser also did a great job on the end titles, which showcases tons of images from not only Wolverine and Hulk history, but Weapon X comic covers and panels as well. In fact the entire movie has consistent nods to the more famous Wolverine/Hulk comic book panels, as well as Kyle and Yosts own X-23, they even got Kaare Andrews to design the DVD covers. Guy Michelmore returns to score yet another Marvel animated project, and does a great job, the music is extremely effective. The voice cast was stellar, and Madhouse did their usual unbeleivable job with the animation. This is definitely worth the bucks to buy, I've watched it three times already and will probably get in a few more viewing in te next week or so. I'd recommended it to any fan of the comics, or if you're looking for something that is just action packed and hilarious. 9/10