14 Really Good Movies from 2016

24. The Finest Hours



A great, suspenseful film that's really two movies in one. Chris Pine's in a rousing, military story about duty and being tenacious, while Casey Affleck's in a survival thriller. Both parts are equally good, even though Pine's half suffers from a weak romantic subplot. But even that is made better by super cute Holliday Grainger who's totally convincing and touching in her concern for Pine.

23. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows



My new favorite TMNT movie, which - okay - is a pretty low bar. Perfectly captures the ridiculous fun of the '90s cartoon series, and almost makes me curious to watch the 2014 movie. Almost.

22. Suicide Squad



There's some extremely sloppy storytelling around a major plot point, which is laughable, because they actually show it twice and neither time could I tell what the heck was going on. But except for that, I had a pretty great time.

I went in with low expectations and ended up enjoying most of the team quite a bit. I especially like Deadshot, Harley, and Diablo, but Killer Croc also gets a nice story arc. I was disappointed by how little Katana matters, but she was still better than Boomerang and Amanda Waller, both of whom are pretty horrible people. Flagg I can totally take or leave.

But it's surprising to me that I like three or four of these characters. Even though it's a movie about villains, there's more heroism and sacrifice going on here than in either of Zack Snyder's Superman movies. Suicide Squad isn't a great movie by any stretch, but it's easily the best of the three DCU movies so far and I'd love to see more with these characters.

21. Risen



After a disappointing experience with The Young Messiah and a more challenging watch of Last Days in the Desert than I expected, I wasn't sure what I was getting into with the third Jesus film of 2016. (Last Days was technically a 2015 film, which is why I haven't listed it with this year's movies, but it didn't come widely available to watch until 2016.)

I quite liked the procedural investigation angle of Risen though and the actors are mostly very good. Fiennes is excellent and I also quite like Stewart Scudamore as Peter. I want more resolution to Fiennes' journey, but I think maybe that's a positive thing. His story captures my imagination.

20. Keanu



I like Key and Peele a lot, especially Keegan-Michael Key, whom I was introduced to in the final season of Parks and Rec and then started noticing everywhere. I didn't know too much about Keanu going in, but hoped that it would be funny and I wasn't disappointed. I laughed a lot. The plot also messes with expectations in some fun and interesting ways, particularly in how it deals with violence, so not only is it funny, but it's smart, too.

19. The Jungle Book



Visually spectacular and a lot of fun. The voice actors all do remarkable jobs and Neel Sethi is an adorable Mowgli. It won't replace the 1967 animated version for me though, simply on the strength of those songs and my love for Phil Harris, George Sanders, and Sebastian Cabot's voices. It sure is awesome to hear Christopher Walken sing "I Wanna Be Like You," though, and watching the credits is worthwhile purely to hear Scarlett Johansson's sultry version of "Trust In Me."

The new movie also adds some great character stuff that deepens Mowgli as a character and strengthens the emotional impact of his having to leave the jungle.

18. Kubo and the Two Strings



Easily my favorite Laika movie. I always find Laika films cool and visually stunning, but I'm also used to not quite connecting with them as deeply as I want to. They've never punched me in the heart the way Toy Story 2 or How to Train Your Dragon do, for instance. But Kubo comes closest.

I felt the ending was resolved too easily and wasn't really honest with the characters' emotions, but that's a final stumble in an otherwise wonderful, fantastical adventure. This is a great world with great characters and some chilling villains.

17. Zootopia



A lot of fun and also very timely. But while I like and mostly agree with the overarching message of the film, it's presented in such a pointed way that it overpowers everything else. The analogy that compares animal species to groups of humans doesn't always work and the film has a complicated relationship with stereotypes (denouncing them while simultaneously using them for comedy). That makes me work harder than I want to in separating the useful parts from the parts that are just kind of dumb.

16. The Secret Life of Pets



Different from what the trailer led me to expect. Less vignettes about how pets are funny; more adventure. Some of that's good (I appreciate the structure of a traditional narrative) and some of it's not so great (the character arcs are trite). But above all, it's very, very funny and that's enough.

15. Pee Wee’s Big Holiday



Nothing will ever top Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but Big Holiday is super funny and sweet. Makes me want to rewatch Big Top Pee Wee to see where that one went wrong. I don't remember much about Big Top other than being disappointed. No such problem with Holiday; I'll happily rewatch it. Just probably not over and over again the way I do with Adventure.

14. The Nice Guys



A fun movie with a great cast. If there's anyone I want to see Gosling paired up with as much as Emma Stone, it's Russell Crowe. And I always enjoy Shane Black projects. The only thing keeping it this low on the list is that the villains' motivations and plan are ridiculous.

13. Finding Dory



I rate Finding Nemo in the upper-middle tier of Pixar films, so I knew there was potential for the sequel to be good, but I didn't expect great things. And it's not The Best Pixar Movie Ever, but dang it's a lot more entertaining and touching than I expected. I may have even teared up towards the end.

12. 10 Cloverfield Lane



Not the Cloverfield sequel I'd asked for, but an excellent thriller-with-a-twist nonetheless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great, relatable hero and John Goodman does an excellent job keeping her and me on our toes. John Gallagher Jr is also compelling as the third major character and I had a good time trying to decide whether he or Goodman (or both or neither of them) was a villain.

11. The Shallows



I'm warming to these survival films with one person stuck in a location for two hours. And it helps when the location is as gorgeous as this one.

Like in Gravity, the main character gets a backstory that's supposed to enhance her experience, but really isn't that meaningful. That's okay though. Her story is plenty thrilling and ends spectacularly. I had high hopes for this movie and wasn't disappointed.

7 Days in May | Pee Wee's Big Cloverfield

So here's what I watched last week:

Pee Wee's Big Holiday (2016)

Nothing will ever top Pee Wee's Big Adventure, but Big Holiday is super funny and sweet. Makes me want to re-watch Big Top Pee Wee to see where that one went wrong. I don't remember much about Big Top other than being disappointed, but there's no such problem with Holiday. Although I also doubt I'll watch it over and over again the way I do Adventure.

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)

Not the Cloverfield sequel I'd wanted, but an excellent thriller-with-a-twist nonetheless. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a great, relatable hero and John Goodman does an excellent job keeping her and viewers on our toes. John Gallagher Jr is also compelling as the third major character and I had a good time trying to decide whether he or Goodman (or neither of them) was a villain.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

Probably the last word on these characters, at least as far as I'm concerned. As sweet and funny as any of the classic shows, with a great balance of classic bits and new material. And what's so great about the new stuff is that it moves the kids' story forward and lets them learn something great about themselves. Just lovely and charming.

Top Secret! (1984)

Some of the jokes no longer hold up, but most of them still do and are just as funny after dozens of viewings. The music is also fun, as is the cast with Val Kilmer and Michael Gough (long before Batman Forever), Jim Carter in the complete opposite of his Downton Abbey role, and a cameo by Peter Cushing.



King Arthur (2004)

For the longest time, I've wanted to work my way through British history as portrayed in the movies. I finally started that with King Arthur, so obviously accuracy isn't a factor in this project. It's just that I generally like this movie and it 's one of the few I know of that cover the Roman occupation, the Celts, and the Saxon invasion.

Even though I like King Arthur, the premise does feel cynical. It's basically Braveheart with brand recognition. But even though it's derivative and only nominally an Arthurian film, it's gorgeously shot and has an amazing cast. I never feel like I'm watching a King Arthur movie, but I don't care. As a fictionalized account of Rome's last days in Britain, it's fun and compelling.

The Vikings (1958)

Pretty standard mid-'50s "historical" adventure, but it covers the Saxon period before the Norman invasion, which is rare. It has three things worth mentioning:

1. It's not sure what it wants to do with Kirk Douglas. He's clearly the villain for the entire movie, but I think the film wants to redeem him a little at the end. He never really changes though; he just hesitates at a crucial moment. The movie seems to want me to feel something other than simple victory when he dies, but it does nothing to help me do that.

2. The location of the Viking village is gorgeous. I could look at that place all day. I wish more of the movie was set there.

3. Tony Curtis is absolutely dreamy in a beard.



The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Like last week, I'm continuing to work my way through a bunch of silent films. Some of them are new to me, but a lot of them are re-watches like Dr. Caligari. I've grown less satisfied with the twist ending on this one the more I see it, but I never get enough of looking at the movie. Just beautiful.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

Not my favorite adaptation of the story, but a good one. I wrote plenty about it already.

One Week (1920)

This short is one of my favorite Buster Keaton films of any length. It's got a great concept to build gags around (putting up a prefab house) and makes full use of the opportunities. Sybil Seely is super cute and a great partner for Keaton, bringing her own athleticism and comedy to the team.

The Saphead (1920)

Buster Keaton's first feature-length film is good, but not typical of his stuff. It's a pretty standard romantic comedy most of the way. It makes great use of Keaton's deadpan, sad sack persona to endear me to his clueless, insanely wealthy character. I root for him and Beulah Booker's character to overcome the obstacles to their being together, which are mostly thrown in the way by other people.

As straightforward as most of the movie is, the climax finally gives Keaton the chance to go nuts with his awesome physical comedy, so it's even good on that level. There's just not enough of it to be completely satisfying.

Convict 13 (1920)

One of the things I both admire and am frustrated by in Keaton shorts is the way he leads into the premise. Convict 13 is built around Keaton's being mistakenly imprisoned, with all the gags that take place in that setting. But there's a long explanation for how he got there, featuring golf jokes. The golf jokes are funny and pay off at the end, so I don't dislike them; it's just that - especially on re-watches - I'm impatient to get to the prison stuff that I consider the meat of the film. I've probably been over-influenced by Looney Tunes cartoons that cut to the chase right away.



The Mark of Zorro (1920)

A splendid version of the Zorro story. Douglas Fairbanks isn't as handsome as some of his swashbuckling successors, but he makes up for that with sheer athletic ability and a ton of charm. His stunts in the climax are nothing short of early parkour.

He's also the model for what Christopher Reeve did with Superman/Clark Kent. He makes it believable that no one connects Don Diego with Zorro, because he plays them as two totally separate characters: sheepishly slouching as Diego, while full of life as the hero. I also love the touch of Diego's constantly amusing himself with shadow figures and little handkerchief tricks, then nerdishly trying to share them with the uninterested people around him. Great performance in a great movie.

Neighbors (1920)

Another of Keaton's best. Simple plot (star-crossed lovers in a New York tenement), super funny, and with some amazing stunts.

The Scarecrow (1920)

Like Convict 13, the story takes a while to get going. Before getting to the main plot about Keaton's rivalry with his roommate over a young woman, The Scarecrow indulges in lots of gags about the multi-functional gadgets of Keaton and his pal's one-room house. Then there's a bit about Keaton's being chased by a dog he thinks has rabies (actually it's just eaten a cream pie). But eventually feelings for Sybil Seely's character (so glad to see her return from One Week) reveal themselves and Keaton goes on the run from his roommate and Seely's father. Every bit of it is funny stuff, so I don't mind the meandering plot. It's just not as focused as my most favorite Keaton films.

On to some stuff I've been reading/listening to:



Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling

I discovered Harry Potter through the movies and by the time I did, I decided to discover that world through cinema first and then come back later and pick up the books. I finally read the first one on vacation a few years ago, but never found time to do the rest. Now that the audiobooks are available on Audible, I'm planning to listen to the whole series this year.

Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone is as magical as I remember from the first time reading it. Rowling has a wonderful imagination and a great sense of humor. It's a joy to attend Hogwart's alongside her characters. Some of the mystery-solving relies more heavily on coincidences than I'd like, but that's easy to forgive in a book about and for pre-teens. Especially since the characters' motivations and relationships are already so sophisticated. I'm eager to get on to brand new territory with Chamber of Secrets.

Long John Silver comics by Xavier Dorison and Mathieu Lauffray

This is a series of four comics albums and they're great. The first volume, Lady Vivian Hastings, is gorgeous. And it's an excellent sequel to Treasure Island. Lauffray's artwork is incredibly detailed and immersive. Dorison's plot introduces a fascinating character, Lady Hastings, who is as different from Jim Hawkins as can be. Delightfully wicked, cunning, and courageous, she's a worthy foil for Silver and the perfect person to bring him into a new treasure-seeking venture. And Silver himself is as charmingly crafty as ever. (I went into more detail about this one a couple of years ago.)

A lot of stories set at sea bore me with the same old tales of storms and doldrums and complaining crews, but Neptune, the second installment, avoids that by filling the time with politics and scheming. It's the same tactic that Stevenson used in Treasure Island, but to very different results. Stevenson's adventure story has its moments of darkness, but this is a scarier version with rougher stakes.

In part three, The Emerald Maze, the pirate adventure becomes more psychological thriller and Heart of Darkness. The crew of treasure-seekers heads upriver into the jungle in search of a lost, gold-filled city, and doubts arise in some of them about the wisdom of the venture.

Finally, the whole thing wraps up in Guyanacapac. I always worry about how well these things are going to end, but Dorison and Laufray do a nice job with a conclusion that's both epic and emotionally satisfying. They have pirates fighting Aztecs with shades of Lovecraft looming over it all. They also offer a great read on the character of Long John Silver and what drives him. Great series of books. Highly recommended.

Adventureblog Theater: Groverfield

Awesome Stuff: Galactica cast, buy Ming's cape, new pulp scifi, new Jack Ryan movies, Steam Wars, Chuck and Lost news, Caprica, and more

Battlestar Galactica at SCI FI's upfront



Tons of pictures and a brief report of the event at the Battlestar Blog.

Huge Sci Fi live auction on the Ebay

Includes Charles Middleton's Ming cape from Flash Gordon (1936), a hydraulic velociraptor from Jurassic Park, Michael Keaton's Batman costume, an original King Kong poster, and more. SCI FI Wire has the details.

Didn't like the ending to Cloverfield?

Pick another.

Wonder Woman statue



I'm not enough of a fan to fork out 300 bucks for it, but dang that's a nice statue. Real leather and fabric on the costume and everything. Not sure what the lasso's made of, but it looks real too.

Scifi is dead; long live the Kings

One of the reasons io9 cites critics as saying why the science fiction genre is dead is that "SF is now real life." To which I say, "Fine." I've always been more interested in the fantasy elements of it anyway. Hard scifi bores the crap out of me. Hard scifi is inexcusably deficient in Wookiees, ray guns, and space princesses.

Fortunately though, not all modern scifi authors feel like they have to realistically portray or predict the science. Maybe it's not real scifi, but I'll take S.M. Stirling's version any day. He describes his novel In the Courts of the Crimson Kings this way:

"In [the book's] timeline, we discover in the course of the 20th century that Mars (and Venus) are living worlds, with strangely humanoid inhabitants--[which is] confirmed by Soviet and American space probes in the early 1960s... The Mars of Crimson Kings is a dying but still habitable world, with the wreck of an ancient civilization that once ruled the entire planet under the Tollamune dynasty, when Earthlings were still cracking flints and fighting off cave bears."

New Jack Ryan movies?

Not interested. The franchise has already been killed by the Affleck reboot. Trying to start over yet again is like making a copy of a copy, even if Sam Raimi is directing. Unless of course they get someone really cool to play Ryan, in which case I don't care what the character's name is, I'll see it because it's a spy movie with a cool actor.

But honestly, if they want to just toss a Tom Clancy name on their non-Clancy movies to increase audience recognition, they should make them Mr. Clark movies and let Ryan appear as a recurring, supporting character.

Steam Wars and Undead Backbrain



Robert Hood's Undead Backbrain blog is fricking Awesome and you should be reading it. It would save me having to link to him every single day if you did, which is what it looks like I'll be doing if his content stays as consistent as it has so far. He's the one who turned me on to Automatons and that viking vs. aliens film.

Now though, it's all about Steam Wars, a steampunk giant-monster project by the guy who did The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Even if the film never gets made, it's worth the post just to see the concept art.

Chuck news (and a little bit of Lost)

The writers of Chuck are taking advantage of their strike hiatus to tweak the show a little. According to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello who attended the Chuck panel at Paley Fest, "'The idea is to own the fact that we've been off the air for several months, so there's a reset that's going to happen,' said (co-creator Josh) Schwartz of the second-season premiere, slated for September. 'We're going to bring in some fresh new characters, some new villains.'"

Lost producer Damon Lindelof moderated the panel and snuck in a bit of Lost news "by revealing the real reason the four-toed statue has yet to be seen again. After the monument first appeared 'we got a note back from the network that said, "This is too weird,"' he explained. 'I was like, "Do you watch the show? This is too weird?" Essentially, they said, "Could it be a six-toed statue?" I was like, "Someone explain to me why a six-toed statue is less weird than a four-toed statue?" And they're still noodling on that.'"

Caprica

I might change my mind once Battlestar comes back on and I start getting into it again, but right this second I need some convincing that the Caprica prequel series is going to be worth watching. It sort of sounds like Dynasty in space.

The Awesome List: Tarzan comics, Atomic Robo, Cloverfield and Indiana Jones toys

Free Tarzan comics



The Jesse Marsh site has tons of free Jesse Marsh Tarzan comics archived for your browsing and reading pleasure.

Atomic Robo rules

There's a double-meaning in that title. Yes, Atomic Robo does indeed rule. And the reason is because its creators have set some rules for themselves. Rules of Awesomeness, that is.

Cloverfield toy

This is old news now, but in case you haven't seen it, Hasbro's released a picture of its Cloverfield monster toy. I'm still scratching my head over the price tag.

Indy toys



Speaking of Hasbro, they've also revealed a lot of new Indiana Jones stuff. They've got little action figures, big action figures, classic action figures, miniature figures, Mighty Muggs, playsets and vehicles, die-cast vehicles, and lots lots more.

It's a bad time to be an Indy fan if you're broke.

Concerning spoilers

In the comments on this post, a reader and I got to talking about spoilers and I realized I had more to say about the topic than I could do justice in a comment.

The reader (I wish I could put at least a name to him/her, but I respect Internet anonymity as long as it's as polite and insightful as this person is) expressed her/his desire to go into Indy and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as cold and spoiler-free as possible. I know the feeling.

When The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980 I was so excited to see the next Star Wars movie that I wanted to know everything about it as quickly as I possibly could. I read at least the comics adaptation and possibly the novelization before I ever saw the movie, so I knew the entire story before I ever set foot in the theater. I knew that the little, green pest in the swamp was the great Jedi Master Yoda, and I knew that Vader at least claimed to be Luke's dad (though I didn't completely believe him until Yoda confirmed it in Return of the Jedi).

I also knew that the movie ended on a cliffhanger, but that didn't make the end of Empire any easier for me to take. It was a long three years until Jedi came out and I could find out what happened to Han.

Empire is my favorite Star Wars movie now, but at the time I hated it. Not "hated" the way a lot of fans hate the prequels, but hated it as in I didn't like it nearly as much as I had liked Star Wars, which I had gone into completely cold (and which didn't leave me hanging the way Empire did). I decided that when Jedi came out, I was going to know a lot less about it than I had Empire.

That was a lot easier in the mid-'80s than it is today what with the Internet and all. Heck, even by the early '90s it was getting difficult. I'm watching T2 again right now and remembering all the interviews Schwarzenegger gave before that movie in which he revealed that he was playing the good guy this time around. That absolutely spoils the first 30 minutes of the movie where Cameron (albeit half-heartedly) tries to keep the identity of the good guy a secret.

Then there are trailers like the ones for Double Jeopardy and The Italian Job where they just tell you the entire movie -- including the end -- in three minutes. I just re-watched the Italian Job trailer and it still pisses me off.

How much info to seek out before I see a movie or read a comic is a hard call to make and I don't always know where to draw the line. I'd always love most to go into a story completely cold, but there are some spoilers that make me more excited to see a movie, not less.

I got some complaints when I posted links and an image for possible designs of the Cloverfield monster before the movie came out. At least two of the links were obviously bogus and the other two, as far as I was concerned, were just rumors, but some folks didn't want to know even about the rumors and I respect that. The image I posted turned out to be as false as I'd suspected it to be, but I distressed some readers because they thought I'd ruined a big part of the movie for them and I apologize for that.

I thought maybe I'd done it again by posting that Indiana Jones still with Marion Ravenwood in it. Even though it was fairly widely publicized when Karen Allen was cast, there are folks who didn't know that Marion was back for this movie and I may have spoiled something by sharing that image, even though it's an image that the studio wanted released to promote the movie.

And now that I'm talking about it, I've done it again for people who missed those previous posts.

Here's where I try to draw the line on this blog. Although I don't want to push away any readers, ultimately I've got to write about stuff that interests me or I'll be second guessing myself all day long. (More about that philosophy and how it pertains to fiction-writing later.) So when it comes to spoilers, I'll never knowingly give away a major plot point or surprise on this blog. I will however share things that get me more excited to see or read something, even if that means I'm no longer going into it cold.

Knowing that not everyone feels that way though, I'll also try to do a better job about putting potentially spoilery images behind cuts. In my excitement to share something cool, I might forget that occasionally, but I'll try. Hopefully that'll work for everybody.

The Awesome List: Marion Ravenwood, Lost and Cloverfield, the Shazam! movie, Bond action figures, and O'Connell as Cruise

"I always knew some day you'd come walking back through my door."



I've missed you, Marion.

Lost Easter Eggs in Cloverfield

You’re gonna have to see Cloverfield again now.

And speaking of Cloverfield

You knew there was gonna be a sequel. Nerve.com has the right idea about how to do it.

Peter Segal on Shazam! movie

The Shazam! director doesn’t have a script yet, but he talks about the characters and the Rock as well as the general tone he’s going for:

“…It’s going to have a very serious tone with moments of humor and I think it’ll be somewhere in between Spider-Man and Fantastic Four.”

If ever there was a place for a light-hearted superhero movie, you’d think it would be Shazam!. Nervous.

Figures. Action Figures.

And Daniel Craig ones at that. (Via.)

"Hey, Mr. Rabbit. Don't eat those apples."

You need to see Jerry O'Connell playing Tom Cruise. (Thanks, Grant!)

Cloverfield (2008)

So I saw Cloverfield.

I'm not sure what I have to add to the other reviews I've seen of it. It's a giant monster movie and that makes it review-proof to a certain extent. We love the giant monster movies.

But this ain't no Godzilla. Or, maybe it is, but it's early Godzilla back when those movies had more of a point than just putting two giant monsters together and watching them fight. Don't get me wrong, watching giant monsters kill each other is an honorable past time, but it's even better when there's sort of a point and I always liked that there was a point Japan was making by creating Godzilla.

There's a point to Cloverfield too. A lot of reviewers have noticed the 9/11 similarity, but I think it goes beyond watching some buildings fall and smoke roll through the streets of Manhattan. There's also the focus on normal people who don't know what's going on and never truly understand the threat. The world experienced 9/11 together and everyone has their own memories and associations with that day, but none of us who weren't in New York City really got a taste for what that must have been like. We saw the images as they happened, but we processed them differently than we would have had we been there. By putting us in the first person, Cloverfield makes us process these images like we might have had we been in New York that day.

I've read criticism about the hokeyness of having the Statue of Liberty's head roll down the street, but really I can't think of a better metaphor for what it was like to watch the Towers fall. The Statue is such an icon and the first time I saw that head roll through on the trailer, I was stunned. It's a powerful scene and I wish it hadn't have been overexposed by the trailer, though I understand why it was.

It's also important to the 9/11 metaphor that the monster wasn't created by a scientific accident. That worked for the point Godzilla was trying to make about nuclear power, but for a commentary on terrorism, it's vital that the threat be mysterious. SPOILER WARNING. Even if you catch the clue to the creature's origin in the movie's last scene (I didn't, but it was described to me), you understand that the creature isn't something we made on accident. It's an invader. We don't know why it came, we just know that it came to hurt us. END SPOILER.

So, yeah. It's pretty cool on that level and I liked it. You never would have gotten me to watch a movie that depicted a straightforward version the 9/11 experience (I avoided both United 93 and World Trade Center, for instance), but use a giant monster as a metaphor and I'm there.

It's executed pretty well too. I liked the characters and it was especially nice to see Lizzy Capland from The Class and TJ Miller from Carpoolers, two of my favorite actors from two of my favorite sitcoms from the last couple of years. The other actors are also fine and Odette Yustman is heart-breakingly beautiful, especially in light of the early scenes showing her and her best friend Rob (played by Michael Stahl-David) on the day they first realized they were in love with each other. I totally bought that Rob would cross Manhattan to rescue her. I would have done it too.

Though the plot is simple (get across town to rescue Odette and then get out of Manhattan without being eaten), it does what it needs to, which is provide an interesting frame for all the imagery. And it's interrupted at all the right points for some good old monster-fighting action, so it's never boring.

I don't know that I'd want to sit down and watch it again right away though. I'd like to see that last scene again and catch what I missed before, but having satisfied my curiosity about that, I'm not sure there's much more to get from the movie. I'd recommend it to anyone to see once, and I'd even go with you if I didn't have anything else to do, but as much as I like the deeper theme, it ironically ruins the rewatchability of the movie for me. I guess it went too far in the direction of Having a Point and I would have liked it more and been more excited to see it again if Godzilla would've shown up to fight the Cloverfield creature. But that's just the way I roll.

Three out of five face-eating parasites.

The Awesome List: Cloverfield manga, cool statues, JJ Abrams' X-Files, Jericho, and more

Last night wasn't just about the bad movies. I also saw The Orphanage and Cloverfield, so I'll get reviews of them up as soon as I can. But first, I want to make sure I'm as caught up on news as I can be, so...

Speaking of Cloverfield

Following the clues in the online marketing campaign, fans have uncovered an online manga that may or may not tell the origin of the monster. Unfortunately, it's untranslated from Japanese right now.

Lost Season Four cast photo



(Thanks, Grant!)

Some very cool stuff coming out from Dark Horse in April

Like this:






The Amazon Bubble

Siskoid has a great observation about why Gail Simone's Wonder Woman is so good and what it has to do with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction's take on Iron Fist.

And speaking of Wonder Woman, I have comments about the new issue of Playboy with Tiffany Fallon as Wonder Woman, but they got to be too long for this post, so I'll do them up as a separate deal.

Fringe

Sounds like JJ Abrams' take on The X-Files. I'm in.

Jericho tease

This article on the new, partial season of Jericho is mostly a repeat of what we already know: it's a seven-episode season and they've filmed two endings to air depending on whether or not there'll be a Season Three. But there's also a new bit of tease about what Seasons Two (and Three, should there be one) will focus on.

The Awesome List: The Cloverfield Monster, MCBA convention dates, and Your New Wonder Woman

The Cloverfield Monster

With the movie only a couple of days away, pictures are starting to leak out claiming to reveal what the monster really looks like. The one to the right there is one, Bloody Disgusting has another. Personally, I like AMC's prediction, but my pal Grant Gould caught a preview of the movie on Monday and assures us that the monster really looks like this.

Who to trust?

MicroCon and FallCon Dates

The Midwest Comic Book Association has announced the dates for my two favorite comics conventions. I'll be appearing at both.

MCBA MICROCON
April 27, 2008

MCBA FALLCON
October 4 & 5, 2008

I'll have more to say about those as they get closer, but mark your calendars now if you're in the area.

Felicity is Wonder Woman

JLA: New Frontier isn't the only animated Wonder Woman movie being planned. And Keri Russell's providing Wonder Woman's voice.

January Theatrical Releases

January 4th

One Missed Call: This plot's been done to death, but I haven't seen any of the previous versions because frankly they looked like they sucked. The trailer for this one actually looks creepy though.

January 11th

In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Seige Tale: Oh, it's gonna suck. It's gonna suck hard. And yet, knowing that, I feel compelled to look. I know I'm gonna hate myself, but I just can't look away.

27 Dresses: Even though I like the occasional romantic comedy, there's no reason for me to think this'll be one of them except for Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. Especially Marsden. Heigl reminds me of Grey's Anatomy, which always brings me joy, but Cyclops is becoming one of my favorite actors.

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie: This sounds like the biggest sell-out in the world, but we're a Veggie Tales-loving family (it's all about Larry and the French peas) and, hey, it's the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

January 18th

Cloverfield: I'm still not really excited about the hand-held camera concept, but it's a giant monster movie. How could I not go?

January 25th

Be Kind Rewind: (limited release) The poster for this did nothing for me because frankly I'd like to pretend that VHS never existed, but the trailer sold me with all the no-budget remakes of classic movies.

Rambo: I don't care if it sucks. If they made a new Commando movie, I'd go see it too. But after Rocky Balboa's good reception (I still haven't seen it, but I heard nothing bad), my hopes are up for this.

Stuff to Watch For: Cloverfield and The Hobbit

Cloverfield

It's a few days old now, but there's a nice, long preview of Cloverfield making the rounds. I was worried that they'd go for that grainy, amateurish, Blair Witch look, but it really looks good. And I love the man-on-the-street perspective. It helps you experience what it might actually be like in a giant monster attack. I'm hoping it'll be to Godzilla movies what Marvels was to superhero comics.

My only concern is whether they'll be able to keep that approach interesting for the length of a feature movie, but I tend to trust JJ Abrams. And director Matt Reeves is also doing a good job of making it sound cool.

The Hobbit

Sounds like Peter Jackson is involved with the Hobbit movie again. At least as an executive producer, but they're not saying that he's not directing yet. And apparently they're splitting the story into two movies, which bodes well for stuff like Beorn, Gandalf's encounter with Thorin's dad, and the Necromancer making it in.

Art of the Day: Not the Cloverfield Monster

This has been floating around for a while, but I just found out about it. It's a fan's conception of what the Cloverfield monster might look like, including the smaller "helper" monsters that fans have been speculating about.

I only hope J.J. Abrams' actual monster looks this good.

Monster-Killing Monday!

Whoops! I didn't mean to take Friday off; it just sort of worked out that way. Spent the day crowd-watching at the Mall with my family and then celebrating my Dad's birthday (he was out of the country on the actual day) that night. We had a great weekend though. Hope you all did too.

This week's monster killer is Voltron as seen by Dave Perillo. Dave's got a wonderful blog full of his whimsical interpretations of popular characters. It's well worth checking out, especially for the series of slasher flick icons he did in October.

And here's some stuff about giant monsters:

The official Cloverfield trailer has been released. So has the poster.

I'm not a big fan of AMC because they interrupt their movies with commercials and I remember when they didn't. They used to be what Turner Classic Movies is now and it's a shame they've become more like TNT. But their blog has been especially good lately with posts about a new Godzilla DVD collection and old Godzilla toys.

The Daily Dollop has a great post about a very serious matter: The Intergovernmental Panel on Monster Attacks' summary of its upcoming report, "Current Status of Global Preparations for Giant Monster Attacks." Required reading for those concerned about such things, as we all should be.

Monster-Killing Monday!

Cthlulhu has made himself at home in an abandoned building in Russia.

Apparently the name of JJ Abrams' top secret giant monster movie (codenamed Cloverfield for a while now), is really going to be named Cloverfield. I hope that's the name of some evil research facility that's responsible for the giant monster, because otherwise it reminds me more of The Story of Ferdinand.

Check out this clip from Varan the Unbelievable! That monster needs killin'.

Monster-Killing Monday

Your Giant Monster and Giant Robot links for the week:

Monsters

The trade paperback collection of Steve Niles and Nat Jones' Giant Monster comic is coming out November 28th.

Aliens vs. Predator 2 was scheduled for a Christmas release this year, but it's been pushed back to January 18th, the day that J.J. Abrams' giant monster movie comes out. Gonna be a fun weekend.

Giant Monsters Attack! links to giant-monster (among other things) painter Bob Eggleton.

Blog Critics reviews The Deadly Mantis.

Robots

Radioactive Panda has a cool giant-robot T-shirt. Scroll down to "Skyline T-shirt." Every skyline needs a giant robot. Indeed.

"Smash-Or is a Giant Robot and he is my best friend in the whole world."

Jekyll (sort of)

I'm leaving for WizardWorld Chicago early on Thursday and tomorrow will be spent getting ready for it. Today was spent trying to stay on top of work so that I can leave with a clean desk. All of which means: lame post today.

Last night we watched the premiere of Jekyll. I'm not gonna review it except to say that it was mesmerizing. If you want a real review, check out SFScope. They give a nice summary of the episode and point out all the things I liked about the show. Especially that quote at the end about murder being like sex.

And looking at my links file, I guess I should mention that "Monstrous" apparently isn't so much the name of the J.J. Abrams giant-monster movie as it is a tag line for it. Other versions of the poster are rumored to exist with tag lines like "Colossus" and "Terrifying." Oh, well.

I'll be back online on Tuesday. See you then!