New Comics Podcast: THE FANBOY AND GEEK GIRL POWER HOUR

The other day I learned that my friends James R. Tuck and Danielle Tuck have got a new podcast, THE FANBOY AND GEEK GIRL POWER HOUR. The podcast is focused on comic books and comic-book-related pop culture (that latter bit I didn't initially notice). I'm not a major comic-book junkie even though I'd seen the recent Marvel and DC movies and own Gareth Hinds' Beowulf and Watchmen graphic novels, so I didn't initially think I'd like it.

Well, I was wrong. The banter between the two of them was really engaging and they brought up a lot of interesting topics. I'd thought it might be them talking about comics I'd never read or wasn't interested in, but they made discussions even about those really interesting.

Some highlights of the first two episodes:

*Discussion of Image Comics as a company whose creators ultimately own their intellectual properties. Image just produces the comics in exchange for a cut. In contrast, DC and Marvel own the IP and hire people to write stories for them. If I had a hot IP, I'd be more willing to work for Image (or Icon, Marvel's creator-owned imprint) because I tend not to want to let go of my ideas. Image Comic even has a page of submission guidelines. Hmm...

*Some thoughts on the representation of women in Mad Max: Fury Road vs. Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The most damning indictment of Michael Bay for objectifying women comes in how two different movies handled Rosie Huntington-Whitely. In Mad Max we can see that she's actually a very capable actress and despite the nature of her character she's NOT objectified. However, in Dark of the Moon she's mostly there to be looked at, and how they introduced her is particularly obnoxious.

(And to make matters worse, she and her male co-star have no chemistry at all, even though they're supposed to be lovers. I was not a fan of Dark of the Moon and not a fan of her replacing Megan Fox as the franchise's female lead, no matter what offensive comments Fox made. I'd thought Huntington-Whitley wasn't a good actress and was simply chosen for her looks. Mad Max proved me wrong--she's not just eye candy and she really can act. If the writers give her something to do and the director puts in the effort, of course. George Miller clearly did in Mad Max; Michael Bay clearly didn't.)

*Discussion of the adaptation of the Kingsman graphic novel into the Kingsman: The Secret Servicefilm and some commentary on some stuff that didn't work. I really enjoyed The Kingsman, but I admit I thought they took a joke at the end of the movie too far. I wasn't as offended by said joke as much as James and Danielle were, but it went on for far too long. It was funny at first, but then as the joke progressed, it just got crass.

*Discussion of the Old Man Logan comic (Marvel) and the rebooted JLA (DC). There was also some criticism of Man of Steel that I didn't agree with and some concerns about the upcoming Batman vs. Superman (that it would be too GrimDark) that I did.

So if you're a comics fan, a film fan, or a cultural connoisseur in general, check out this podcast!

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)

Just got back from seeing Mad Max: Fury Road with my friend David. Although I'd never seen any of the prior movies (except for a bit of the ending of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and something from probably the original involving a bad guy handcuffed to a car that's set on fire, all on TV), the reviews were really, really good. I figured the Mad Max films were kind of episodic in nature and so I wouldn't need to see the earlier ones, so off I went...

The Plot

In the desolate future, the tyrannical Immortan Joe (who looks like a post-apocalyptic version of Mortal Kombat's Shao Khan with the Dark Knight Rises's Bane vocals) rules over an isolated citadel where he controls the water supply and has a harem of some of the few remaining attractive women. His concubines--two of whom are pregnant--escape with the help of Joe's honored warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) and are soon joined by the wanderer Max (Tom Hardy), who had been taken captive and used as a blood donor. Joe and his barbarian horde are soon on their tail and the women--and Max--have to brave a gauntlet of other barbarians to find the mystical "green lands."

The Good

*The movie starts out quickly, with Max getting captured by the forces of Immortan Joe and making an abortive escape attempt before the title appears.

*Max and Furiosa are pretty impressive, skilled characters and I like both them and the actors that played them. They're both very Genre Savvy in terms of how prepared they are for trouble and how they recognize traps. And although I didn't like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's performance in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (although that might've had a lot to do with the fact I didn't like Carly replacing Mikaela as the female lead), she does a good job as Angahard, Immortan Joe's favored wife.

*Speaking of Immortan Joe's concubines, it was realistic that once they've escaped the citadel and learn firsthand how harsh and horrible life outside is some of them would want to go back. Harriet Tubman had to threaten runaway slaves with a rifle on occasion who'd gotten cold feet on the whole "escape from slavery" thing.

*You don't need to have seen the previous movies to see this one.

*The film is visually pretty awesome. There're warriors who attack big rigs and larger vehicles using grenade-tipped spears ("car-poons"?) like whalers on the hunt. Immortan Joe's army including a truck that's got a gigantic array of drums on the back and a guitar player hanging suspended on the front. Said truck also provides some of the more impressive parts of the film's soundtrack.

*Speaking of the soundtrack, the music is generally quite good. A lot of metal and drums, which given the world this is set in, works well.

*I like what they did with the eager but sickly warrior Nux, who worships Immortan Joe. He goes from just another Mook to an interesting character in his own right. Immortan Joe and his son Rictus have a couple softer moments as well.

*One of Immortan Joe's concubines reveals she's pregnant and bitterly remarks her child will probably be ugly. One new character they encounter (not going to go into more detail for reasons of spoilers) gently points out the child could be a girl. Given some of the graffiti they leave behind when they escape (more on that later), the idea their children would be anything other than Warboys-to-be seems to have never occurred to them.

*Although Immortan Joe's wives have shades of the notion that to be feminine is to be pacifist (the graffiti they leave behind implies that the pregnant ones rebelled at the thought of their children growing up to be warlords and they insist on no unnecessary killing during the escape), their kindness does prove useful in redeeming one of the villainous characters. And they're willing to push this aside when killing proves necessary.

The Bad

*Way too many fade-outs. It was like back when I was watching The Return of the King and wondering if the movie was over...until it wasn't. Granted, these were in the middle of the movie and so I knew it wasn't over, but it was a poor decision on the part of the editor, the director, or whomever was in charge. This was the single biggest flaw in the movie.

*It's implied that one group of baddies are trapped and left at the mercy of another group of baddies, but this isn't explained very well. I was able to figure that out, but it would have been better if we at least saw the beginning of what I imagine happened once their pursuit of the heroes was stopped. I shouldn't have to come up with explanations on my own.

*Some of the dialogue isn't very good.

*It's hard to figure out many of the characters' names. I had to read reviews in order to learn most of them. Max, Imperator Furiosa, Immortan Joe, Rictus, and the allied villain People Eater were the ones I was able to pick out, but the names of the wives and various minor characters, nope.

*Max has too many flashbacks to a little girl who's probably his daughter. These become very important during the climactic battle, but they could be reduced in number somewhat.

*A villain is killed off-screen with just some explosions in the fog. I felt slightly cheated.

*If you don't enjoy the grotesque, you might not enjoy some parts of this movie. Between fat women farmed for breast milk, a deformed little man who operates the citadel's telescopes, etc., there's some stuff weaker stomachs might find kind of gross.

*The movie kind of dragged a bit in the middle.

The Verdict

See it once. It's entertaining, but flawed. 8.0 out of 10.0.