Tony Harris Week: Day Five
And now.., I give you, Newsarama’sTony Harris Week: Day Five!
Steranko’s Chandler Returns
This month’s Previews featured a full page ad for a new printing of Steranko’s classic Chandler: Red Tide. Originally published in 1976, Chandler: Red Tide is sometimes referred to as the first graphic novel. At the time it was published, Steranko called it an illustrated novel. I think a more accurate description is the one used by Dark Horse in the press release:
After emerging as Marvel Comics most controversial superstar, Jim Steranko tackled his greatest artistic challenge: creating an entirely new medium, the visual novel -not an illustrated novel or novel-length comic book, but a seamless fusion of interdependent graphic and prose narratives forming a powerful and original new method of telling stories.
But why stop there? Let’s go on… Chandler: Red Tide is an…
… artistic tour-de-force, Red Tide is hard-boiled detective fiction in the bare-knuckle tradition of Hammett, Cain, and Chandler, as well as the dark, atmospheric milieu of film noir.
Although I own an original printing that’s been in my collection since it was first published, I will be picking up the Dark Horse edition since it…
has been remastered with state-of-the-art digital colors by Eisner Award-winner Dave Stewart, in a collector’s quality hardcover edition.
F. Paul Wilson & Repairman Jack
Jonathan Maberry has a nice interview with bestselling author F. Paul Wilson that sadly is no longer online. Wilson writes about a character called Repairman Jack that Wilson describes as…
…an urban mercenary in Manhattan, a self-made outcast who lives in the interstices of modern society. A ghost in our machine: no official identity, no social security number, pays no taxes. He has a violent streak he sometimes finds hard to control. He hires out for cash to “fix” situations that have no legal remedy.
If this sounds like something you’d like then you can learn more about Repairman Jack and F. Paul Wilson here.
Casey Jones’ Rocky
This week we have Casey Jones’ take on Sly as Rocky. This was done last year when Casey was sketching for charity at MegaCon. It’s my second and hopefully not last piece from Casey who always does great work. Check out the label on Rocky’s gloves for an additional bonus. You can see more of Casey’s art here and here.
UFC 110 Results
UFC110 was Saturday night, so let’s take a look at the fight results and my picks:
Minotauro Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez – My pick: Velesquez by decision. The result: Velesquez wins by KO in the 1st keeping him undefeated. I’m not sure if this says more about where Velesquez or Big Nog. [[My picks 4-3]
Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva – My pick: Silva via TKO. The result: Silva wins by close decision; 29-28 on all 3 judes’ cards. Good for both fighters! Even though he lost I underestimated Bisping. [My picks 3-3]
George Sotiropoulos v. Joe Stevenson – My pick: Stevenson by submission. The result: Sotiropoulos wins every round on all judges’ cards. This does not bode well for Joe “Daddy” Stevenson. [My picks 2-3]
Keith Jardine v. Ryan Bader – My pick: Bader by KO or TKO. The result: Bader wins by 3rd round KO. [My picks 2-2]
Stephan Bonnar v. Krzysztof Soszynski -My pick: Soszynski by decision. The result: Soszynski wins by 3rd round TKO due to a bad cut. [My picks 1-2]
Brian Foster v. Chris Lytle – My pick: Foster by decision. The result: Lytle wins by 1st round submission due to a knee bar. [My picks 0-2]
Goran Reljic v. C.B. Dolloway -My pick: Reljic by decision. The result: Dolloway wins by close [29-28 all all judges’ cards] decision. [My picks 0-1]
Tony Harris Week: Day Four
Can’t let the day slip away without mentioning Newsarama’sTony Harris Week: Day Four!
More “Killer Inside” Controversy
A couple of days ago I posted about the controversy that director Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of Jim Thompson’s classic novel The Killer Inside Me received at the Sundance Film Festival. Several people walked out of the screening due to the amount and depiction of violence, especially against women.
The film starring, Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Simon Baker and Bill Pulman is set to be shown at the Berlin Film Festival. Of course questions about the controversy at Sundance and the level of violence came up. I like Winterbottom’s response:
“A lot of noir books and films show violence as something which is entertaining… What I liked about Jim Thompson’s books is that… he doesn’t use the violence as entertainment — there is something shocking about the violence… For me that was the point of the violence in the film in a way — it is something very repulsive. In terms of how we depicted it, we were just trying to make it as close to the book as possible. The book is very shocking.”
Although I like Winterbottom’s response, I wonder how I’ll enjoy his movie. There are ways to depict violence that is shocking without dwelling on it or being overly graphic. Some times, many times in fact, the more left to the imagination, the more shocking the result. It’ll be interesting to see the response The Killer Inside Me gets in Berlin.
Tony Harris Week: Day Three
Hey, I almost forgot to tell you about Tony Harris Week: Day Three. It’s Newsarama’s follow up to Tony Harris Week: Day One, and Day Two. Anyone starting to see a pattern?
UFC 110: Predictions
UFC110 is Saturday night, so let’s take a look at the fights and my picks:
Minotauro Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez – My pick: Velesquez by decision.
Michael Bisping vs. Wanderlei Silva – My pick: Silva via TKO
George Sotiropoulos v. Joe Stevenson – My pick: Stevenson by submission
Keith Jardine v. Ryan Bader – My pick: Bader by KO or TKO.
Stephan Bonnar v. Krzysztof Soszynski -My pick: Soszynski by decision.
Brian Foster v. Chris Lytle – My pick: Foster by decision.
Goran Reljic v. C.B. Dolloway -My pick: Reljic by decision.
If you’d like to see Ryan Cody’s picks and rationale, then click here.
Tony Harris: Day Two
Hey, if you enjoyed Tony Harris Week: Day One, then you’ll want to check out Day Two. Tony talks about his role as a founding member of Gaijin Studio, his early work breaking in to comics, his influences and more.
The Killer Inside Me
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly eight years since we posted that Jim Thompson’s classic novel The Killer Inside Me was set to become a major motion picture. Of course a lot has changed since then. Dominic “Swordfish” Sena was set to direct and no stars had been named. The reality is that Michael Winterbottom ended up helming the feature with Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Simon Baker and Bill Pulman co-starring.
A Killer Inside Me is my favorite Thompson book and I hope that everything comes together to make it a good film. Unfortunately, there’s already been a lot of controversy coming from it’s screening at Sundance. I guess we’ll know how good it is soon enough… once the distributor decides on a release date.
A Week of Tony Harris
If you’re a Tony Harris fan [and if you’re not, you should be], then you’ll want to check out Newsarama’s A Week of Tony Harris. Here is Day One.
“The Book of Eli” Review – Some Spoilers
The Pitch: Denzel Washington and the Hughes Brothers team to bring us a post-apocalyptic action/adventure.
The Overview: Denzel Washington plays a lone traveler on a holy mission to take the last remaining bible to a place that he will know once he gets there. Gary Oldman is the town boss who wants the bible to strengthen his power over those living in his town.
The Good: Denzel is always good and this role is no exception. The concept works. Tom Waits as the town barterer. The old cannibal couple. The first action sequence set-up.
The Bad: The fight scenes go by too quickly. Not showing how Denzel got out of a locked room in which he was being held a prisoner. Later, when Denzel walks away and is being shot at, no one seems overly surprised when he is not hit. Even later, Denzel shot point blank in the stomach looks to be dying. In the next scene he slaps some duct tape on the wound and gets up to continue his journey.
The Ugly: Life in Oldman’s town. What happens if you touch Denzel after being warned not to.
The Summary: I enjoyed the movie, but wish that some of the fight scenes had been longer and clearer. I get that the intent was to show how quickly Denzel could dispatch a half dozen thugs, but it would have been more enjoyable to see the scenes as more than a blur or in shadow. I also get that Denzel’s escape from the room was supposed to be a shock to his captors, but it felt like a cheat to just accept that he was out without seeing how he did it.
I guess that’s what is a bit odd… the whole movie is about a man’s faith that God is taking him on a mission. He doesn’t know where or why, but his faith is enough to protect him and get him through to the end. Of course, faith is believing in something that you can’t directly see and yet, it was the things that I couldn’t directly see in the movie that I found to be my biggest complaint.
More Craziness
No sooner had I posted this, then I saw that.
No Escaping The Crazies
The Crazies doesn’t open until February 26th, but between now and then we’re going to be exposed to a lot of media promoting the remake of the George Romero cult classic about a small group of family and friends trying to survive after their little town is exposed to toxic materials that turn folks into crazed killers. Not only does the group have to worry about the crazies, but also the military that has been sent in to eliminate everyone.
But back to the promotional tie-ins. There’s this article at USAToday that talks about the comic book tie-ins. And this digital motion comic trailer. The Crazies web site is now live and features all of the bells and whistles.
Now all that is left is to hope the movie lives up to the hype.
