ANNIHILATION (8.5 out of 10) Directed by Alex Garland; Written by Alex Garland; Starring Natalie Portman, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Tuva Novotny, Benedict Wong; Rated R for violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality; Running time 115 minutes; In wide release February 23, 2018. 

This review will contain spoilers.

Based on the science fiction novel by Jeff Vandermeer, Annihilation is the newest film from Alex Garland, the brilliant mind behind 2014’s sci-fi thriller Ex Machina. Natalie Portman stars as Lena, a soldier-turned-biologist whose husband, Kane (Oscar Isaac) is missing in action under mysterious and secretive circumstances. When he shows back up unexpectedly, Lena is drawn into a web of secrecy surrounding something called “The Shimmer.” 

A meteorite crashed into the Earth at the base of a lighthouse and its influence is expanding and threatens life on Earth. Everything they’ve sent into this area to that point hasn’t come back. Naturally, Lena volunteers. 

On the surface, it might seem as though this is your average film with a straightforward narrative and Garland plays it so that it can definitely be enjoyed on that level, but looking deeper, there’s so much more going on. Good art has meanings hidden and deeper inside of it, ready to be decoded. And although no two interpretations will be exactly alike, I left the theatre as changed by the Shimmer as Lena was upon her escape.

The film, at least to me, had a lot to say about how we change and grow. The meteor, the alien, the changes in the world caused by the Shimmer all secondary to the characters that enter its crucible and the struggles they go through. It’s thought to be a suicide mission, but it’s really more complicated than that.

In a particularly poignant scene, Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Lena have a conversation about the nature of self-destruction and how that self-destruction is a natural process and how self-destruction and suicide are actually mutually exclusive. Lena, as a biologist has spent the film to that point talking about how the self-destruction of cells in the process of splitting leads to new life. Each of the characters entering the Shimmer are people on paths of self-destruction with nothing left to lose. 

But this crucible is metaphorical, really. And they’re all seeking a way to be reborn into something new, something that suits them as they seek new lives. Some end up in the oblivion of death, where the self-destruction takes them too far over the brink. Others, like Tessa Thompson’s Josie Radek, take their habits of cutting to feel alive and transform that into a biological entitiy that would be unrecognizable as human, but they find that new life nonetheless. Ventress embarks on her journey of discovery because of the cancer in her, knowing that while she’s not consciously self-destructing, her body is doing it to her anyway. If there’s anything that can cure that, it’s through the crucible. It felt to me that she was like a philosopher, coming to terms with their death and choosing the time it happens. Even through this she’s transformed into something else and Lena sees a mirror of herself in this new entity.

But the crux of the story is the changing Lena and Kane need to do in order to stay together as partners. Through the narrative, it’s revealed that Lena’s self-destructive behaviour began as an affair with a co-worker. Then it passes on to Kane and, in his jealousy, he signs up for a volunteer mission into the Shimmer. He goes through a baptism of fire, literally and figuratively, and comes out a changed man. 

For Lena to follow him, she needs to change just as drastically, and that’s what motivates her to cross into the Shimmer. The need to change, to become a new person. To take the DNA of her personality and shine it through that prism of the Shimmer and split it into the best and strongest fragments of herself. During her ordeal, she takes on the attributes of some of her teammates, both physically (like that tattoo) and mentally, but she emerges stronger for it. 

You can see this theme emerge through the use of the cups of water in the film. In her first real scene with Kane, Lena brings him a glass of water and we see their hands held refracted through the distortion of the glass. She recoils when she doesn’t recognize this man at all and his hands are left alone in that refraction. He sips the water and taints it with his blood.

As Lena recounts her story, a similar glass of water is on the table beside herself and she doesn’t allow herself to sip until the very end. No blood is present. And when she leaves her hands at rest, the thing we can see refracted through the glass is her hand and, more specifically, her wedding ring. She’s been through her own growth and is now ready to meet her husband as someone she knows again, rather than a stranger.

When they embrace at the end of the movie, they’ve both gone on a journey and the shimmer of the fire they’ve been through is still in their eyes. But whatever it was they’d gone through in their past, all of that self-destructive behavior, split them into the people they are now. And, presumably, they’re better for it. Together.

The film, at least to me, seems to be about growth and evolution and forgiveness at its core, and when you combine it with the beautiful cinematography, carefully designed alien worlds, the tension of a horror film, music that speaks more to a love story than science fiction, and actors at the top of their game, you get a film as complex and layered as Annihilation. Good science fiction is something we can hold up to ourselves like a dark mirror and see truths that would otherwise be hidden, and this film delivers that experience in spades.

See it while it’s in the theatre and find yourself changed as well. 

(8.5 out of 10).

Darkest Dungeon — Red Hook Studios — PS4, Vita, Mac, PC, Linux — September 27, 2016 — $24.99

“Darkest Dungeon” from “Red Hook Studios,” is a rogue-like turn-based RPG that uses a lot of basic turn-based mechanics, but what makes their title stand out is their Affliction System. There’s a plethora of bad ass heroes to choose from, but instead of making them powerful and unwavering warriors, they opted to make them fragile and tormented souls. The goal of “Darkest Dungeon” is to reclaim the House in Ruin and eradicate the vast population of macabre creatures and demons that were unleashed unto to the land by a man who grew tired of his luxurious and tranquil life through relics and rituals.

The main hub of the game is Hamlet, a village just outside the House in Ruin. This is where you recruit new heroes, view your ancestors memoirs and pay respects to fallen heroes. At the end of every mission, afflicted heroes must be sent to the abbey or the tavern to relieve their stresses of battle, or checked into the sanitarium to treat negative quirks or detrimental diseases. The blacksmith allows you to upgrade weapons and armor once a hero has achieved rank 1 or higher, and the guild allows them to learn new skills or upgrade their existing ones to become more effective and powerful on the battlefield. The downside to all of this micromanaging (unless I suck at this game, which is possible) is how quickly your finite amount of money disappears when you have to upgrade all the various locations that alleviate stress levels and eradicate diseases. New abilities, weaponry, and armor upgrades don’t help, but your heroes need every upgrade possible to better their chances of success.   

Before embarking on any mission, you need to purchase and manage your (costly) provisions. These range from food rations to keep from starving, skeleton keys to enter locked doors or chests, bandages to stop bleeding, holy water to vanquish evil, antivenom to counter blights and poisons, shovels to clear obstructed paths, etc. Torches, however, dictate how difficult or manageable things are going to be for you and your team. More light grants your squad more power, greater scouting skills, and higher damage output, while the darkness adds copious amounts of stress and strength for both you and the enemy.

Every hero has unique statistics and skills attached to them, as well as varying resistance to ailments and diseases. Each class can have four active abilities at a time and work best when  placed in their preferred positions, and are most effective against their respective targets. You can mix and match your squad however you see fit, but because of the Affliction System everyone in the party gains stress throughout the various incursions. On top of the stresses of battling demons, their positive traits can be hampered by the negative ones they inherit along the way, making them less likely to dodge attacks, miss targets more often, or be left more susceptible to critical strikes from the enemy. If their stress levels get too far out of hand, they can become masochistic, hopeless, selfish, or cowardly (to name a few), and they begin to negatively affect those around them; let the stress meter fill up too much and your heroes will die of a heart attack.

The true beauty of this game — underneath the macabre despair that constantly hovers over your squad — is that it starts out stressful and becomes merciless in no time. One moment you will feel like you’re kicking ass and taking names, but within in an instant your entire squad is smashed to pieces, both physically and mentally. The problem with “Darkest Dungeon”, which also happens to be its strength, is how unrelentingly rancorous it becomes. Every little detail of this game was designed to piss you off like a cat being teased by its human who dangles a string high above its head. Eventually, you have to forget it and do something else for a while. Fortunately for those who like punishment and games that test your resolve and strategic abilities, “Darkest Dungeon” will constantly taunt you (like the “Book of the Dead”) every time you see it on your cross media bar.    

Metrico + — Digital Dreams — PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One, Steam — August 23, 2016 — $13.99

Puzzle games are a guilty pleasure of mine. Not because I’m embarrassed to admit that to people, but I hardly go out of my way to find and play them. I’ve always loved the challenge of solving puzzles, but my passion for gaming is dominated by so many other genres that I rarely have the time to go outside my comfort zone. When I played an early build of “Metrico +” at PSX 2015, I was sold on this unique vision of a what a puzzle platformer can be, and now that I’ve been able to dig deeper into it’s world, I’ve been grinning from ear to ear.  

Every video game we play is made using mathematics, but “Digital Dreams” took that to heart and made a puzzle platformer that’s a visual representation of mathematics, graphs, percentages, geometric shapes, infographics, etc. On paper, the concept might sound boring if not weird, but they’ve managed to make everything work in unison, while at the same time making it interesting and occasionally frustrating. Every movement — whether I’m walking left or right, jumping or shooting a line from my virtual protractor — affects the level’s layout in various ways. It’s a beautiful dystopian world full of mind numbing puzzles, breathtaking colors, and geometrically distracting backgrounds that change with every action. And like so many great puzzle platformers before it, there’s a great deal of trial and error. Whenever I completed a small section of its various levels, I found myself clapping and cheering like I was celebrating for my favorite sports team.

Primary complaints about “Metrico” was the frustrating touch controls and janky camera inclusion, so “Digital Dreams” decided to scrap touch controls completely and move everything to the sticks and buttons of a controller. With the exception of trying to aim my protractor to destroy objects, the more fundamental control scheme has helped immensely, where the only frustration comes from player error and the puzzles themselves. On top of the better controls and improved visuals, the game handles load times efficiently and the frame rate stayed consistent throughout, save the few times I used the PS4’s quick menu. Needless to say, these refinements make “Metrico +” feel like it’s half remake, half reimagining of “Metrico”.

One of the most curious aspects of this game is how vague the story is. I’m solving all these mathematical and geometrical puzzles, then ending up inside a void and making a decision between two doors that will transform an appendage and unlock new gameplay mechanics.

I’m not entirely sure what these things represent, but I can’t help but be intrigued to figure out what’s really going on. Even though I haven’t completed the game, the entirety of my puzzle solving adventure has made every small accomplishment that much more cheerful. The crew at “Digital Dreams” have created an incredibly unique and intelligent puzzle platformer and I can’t imagine the headaches that came from putting this game together the first or even the second time.

This article was written by Rachel Jensen for Big Shiny Robot! You can find her on twitter @supermochella

“Orange is the New Black” Season 4 (10 out of 10) Created by Jenji Kohan; Starring Taylor Schilling, Danielle Brooks, Taryn Manning, Michael Harney, Lori Petty, Kate Mulgrew, Uzo Aduba, Dascha Polanco, Samira Wiley; Streaming June 17, 2016 on Netflix

Deep Breath. Season 4, wow. If you did not finish watching Season Four of OITNB, stop reading right now and get to that. You’ve had a whole week, that’s only about 13 hours of your time. By the time I reached the last four episodes I was on the hook, and I would lose sleep and sanity on a work night to finish the season. My love of Netflix is unbound for the fact that I can binge watch a new season in under a week, but that is a bittersweet love since I now have to wait an entire year to see this finale to  play out. You have been warned, so prepare for huge spoilers ahead.

Season 3 finished up beautifully with the ladies escaping Litchfield Prison through a series of blunders that led them all to an idyllic afternoon at the lake and a taste of freedom. The original prison staff had walked out due to the corporate takeover of the facility and the loss of their benefits. A repair crew left a gap in the prison fence that the ladies could escape through to the lake. Chapman’s Aussie love (played by Ruby Rose) had just been shipped off to Max, leaving Piper feeling invincible. Everything looked like it was going well for everyone, except for Alex Vause, who was right all along about a hit man being sent to the prison to kill her; and remember that this is how the season is beginning. From there, strap in, get some comfy pants on, maybe come packing with Gatorade and snacks, because you aren’t moving from your couch for the next thirteen and a half hours.

Now we’re already starting with the spoilers. Yes, there will be some tears this season. You’ll want to cheer, laugh, bawl your eyes out, and probably punch your TV or streaming device. Lolly, Litchfield’s paranoid schizophrenic conspiracy theorist, goes to grab Alex during the exodus through the fence. Fortunately, she stumbles upon Alex nearly being murdered by the C.O. who was sent to kill her. Lolly to the rescue, stomps him to death. She just killed a guard to save Alex’s life in the most violent act, surprisingly, we’ve seen in a drama about women in prison. Because of the walkout and prisoner escape, this sets the stage for the perfect murder and cover up. Now we’re off to a bang. Soon, we’ll see Alex and Lolly, with the help of the prison murder-matron, dismember and bury him in the garden. That’s right, they kill a guy (well, Lolly just stunned him and Alex had to mercy kill him, which was really hard to watch), then they dismember him with garden tools, and plant the prison tomatoes over him.

Season 4 begins to weave in multiple social elements, specifically the issue of privatized prisons. The inmates are rounded up by Maximum’s riot guards, one of whom will stay and make Litchfield really unpleasant: Piscatella. The wrangled-up women return to the prison to meet with dozens of new inmates, because of the privatization the population of Litchfield has now nearly doubled. The new inmates are overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a large gang of Dominicans forming to fight for control over the prison, led by a hardened-up Maria. When Maria tries to corner the underground dirty panty market to flex her power, Piper flexes back by developing a gang task force. As adorably misguided as Piper always has been and always will be, she also inadvertently sets up a prison white power gang. To top that off, celebrity Judy King is now a prisoner at Litchfield, and will be given the royal treatment (ala Martha Stewart) to the chagrin and sometimes delight of the prisoners. OK, so we’ve got new inmates, racial tension, blatant inequality, a lack of regulation, and lack of resources. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, MCC for starters. I had to remind myself at least several times an episode ‘this is really what is happening, this is really this ridiculous’. From the slop we were introduced to in the cafeteria last season, real issues facing privatized prisons pop up at every corner. Overpopulation results in a sad, but funny, tampon shortage for one. Add to that the walkout of the guards, and how to bring in a new staff that is willing to be paid just slightly more than minimum wage with zero benefits. Our sometimes hero and sometimes failure, Joe Caputo, joins forces with the dim-witted, eager-beaver Linda from Purchasing, who reminds me of the know-it-all teacher’s pet that only gets A’s because she wears low-cut tops. I can’t mince words on how much I absolutely hated Linda. Caputo is a pretty decent guy, and I’m rooting for him the whole time to make the right decision, but Linda? I really want to see Linda get smacked down from her high horse with a hefty dose of reality. In a moment of weakness, Caputo pays Figueroa a visit, and I was actually happy to see her in the place of Linda.

Caputo is eager to suggest that Litchfield hire veterans who are already trained and disciplined. Linda agrees with him for absolutely all the wrong reasons that pin-point not only what is wrong with our system, but how society treats veterans as a whole. Somehow, Litchfield manages to hire a handful of sociopaths with conduct unbecoming of any soldier. The new guards harass and assault the inmates, play juvenile games, and drink on the job. This is the point where things take a very, very dark turn. New CO Humphrey ‘Humps’ is probably going to be the most hated character in the whole series, and there are a lot of hated characters to choose from. At first I thought he’d be another jovial guard like Luschek, but this guy makes Pornstache look like a friendly neighborhood babysitter. He is a sadist that mentally tortures inmates for his own pleasure. At one point, even forcing inmates to fight each other because he’s bored. This leads to the breakdown of several characters’ psyche, including Crazy Eyes. Anyone with a heart cannot possibly watch the rest of Crazy Eyes’ back story without having it break. To see her completely break down due to her fragile mental state being pushed to the limits by Humps is cruel. Sadly, this is the reality for many prisoners who never received the help they needed on the outside.

Speaking of mental health, you might think Crazy Eyes has been neglected by society, but we also get to know the back story of Lolly Whitehead and Sam Healy. Two characters in opposite roles in the prison, and a similar heart-wrenching tale of paranoid schizophrenia. Lolly has a psychotic break after killing Aydin, Kubra’s hit man. It’s not the killing that breaks her, it’s her paranoia about the drones in the garden. The drones are real, but her conspiracy theories are not. I, for one, am happy that they didn’t take the route of killing her character off, but watching what ultimately happens to Lolly had me in tears. She confesses to the killing, and no one believes her. Healy instead makes her his pet project, to somehow atone for not being able to help his own mother who had a similar mental illness. This explains Healy’s own backwards attitudes toward helping people and his thoughts on women in general. He’s unable to help her, and realizes that he’s made a terrible mistake when the body is recovered from the garden. Prepare yourself for a long stretch of sobbing at that point. Her confusion and betrayal of being hauled off to psych tore me to pieces.

But wait! It’s not just Lolly, Healy, and Crazy Eyes that are suffering. Sophia Burset has wasted away in the SHU, ahem, “protective custody”, since her assault in season three. Her wife is still trying to prove she’s in there to win a lawsuit to get her out. She might actually be the inmate in the worst shape after all is said and done, and that’s including Chapman’s swastika branding. Holy effing crap, OITNB. It’s like you’ve been setting up this powder keg all along and this is now the season that everything just blows up in front of us. If anything is made crystal clear, it is the line between the haves and the have-nots, Burcet being a huge example of how little the honest protection a trans woman is regarded in Litchfield.

At this point, everyone is fed up for their own reasons. The racial tension, the drug peddling, and the inequality and special treatment given to Judy King. No one is safe in prison, no one is allowed to be human any longer. One woman stands out as a defiant instigator, and it’s one of the women you’d least expect. Blanca, who has shown in her flashbacks, can only take so much before she revolts. It will be interesting to see what she actually did to earn her ticket into prison, because I don’t think that having an affair with the gardener to piss off the old lady you live with is a punitive offense. Her simple act of literally standing her ground somehow unites everyone, even the black girls, latinas, and skin-heads. When hard-ass Piscatella pushes Red just a little bit too far, the girls protest peacefully. Then, the whole powder keg makes another explosion. In the aftermath, the meekest guard somehow uses excessive force against the most passive and gentle inmate. I can’t even say her name in reference to what happens, I think I am still in shock and a certain degree of mourning. It’s legitimately hard to watch and take in. I think the impact for that scene is that it’s painfully real- we’ve been watching the news around the country, we know what’s really going on. If we didn’t already have empathy and have a face to a name with Sandra Bland or Freddie Gray, we do now with Poussey. It’s a shame that it takes a fictionalized character to really hammer home that feeling, but if you weren’t paying attention, this was not unintentional. It’s still one of the toughest moments in any show I’ve seen to watch a character as tough as Taystee crumple onto the ground crying next to her dead best friend. If you didn’t have to pause the show to cry again at this point, you have no heart.

Now what? Every character is tested this season. Every character has a chance to make a good decision, a bad decision, or the right decision. Caputo made a good decision to turn his back on MCC and not throw his only gentle-hearted CO under the bus, but in doing so he betrayed the women he swore to protect. As season four ends in a standoff at gun point, I just kept thinking, ‘how the hell did it come to this?’ I’m sure Caputo, MCC, and everyone watching Litchfield will be thinking the same thing when we catch back up to them in the continuation. Where season 1 ended with the beat down to end all beat downs between Chapman and Pennsatucky, season 2 ended with the escape of terminally-ill Miss Rosa, and season 3 ended in smiles at the lake- season 4 offers no answers, no resolution, and no closure.

Season four is some of the most intense viewing I have ever binged watched. The last four episodes is akin to the OITNB version of the Red Wedding. There is so much going on that if you blink, you’ll miss it. Your heart will break over and over again for Lolly, Healy, and Crazy Eyes for their depiction of mental illness. You will watch Ramos break her flirty minx persona and finally crack under pressure, then literally have to deal with the aftermath of a sociopath who made her eat a live mouse at gun point. The elements of rape and surviving sexual assault are on brutal display with Pennsatucky, Charlie, and Big Boo. Nicky and Red do the dance of dependency and co-dependency when Nicky breaks her sobriety yet again, (however, three lesbians smoking crack in a tiny cornfield was definitely one of the funniest scenes of the season). Race relations, equality, and real raw humanity permeate everything in the season. The love and redemption between SoSo and Poussey is remarkable, which only makes the ending even more depressing. So when that last episode is finished, and you’re done cheering, screaming, and crying, take a deep breath, don’t forget to start blinking again, and join the rest of us in the long wait until season five. It’s going to be a hard year waiting for the next one, and I applaud everyone involved in creating OITNB for making one of the best damn seasons of the best damn show, ever. 

This review was written by Rachel Jensen for Big Shiny Robot you can find her on Twitter @supermochella

I AM ROAD COMIC (2 out of 10) Directed By Jordan Brady; Not Rated; Running Time 68 Minutes; Streaming on Netflix May 1, 2016.

There was some hype and word of mouth buzz in the announcement that Jordan Brady’s follow up to his 2010 documentary “I am Comic” was going to be streaming on Netflix. However, I found it a little disconcerting that once it hit, despite my algorithmic love for stand-up comedy and documentaries, it was only being recommended as the preemptive 1 star in whether or not I’d like it. Ha! Joke’s on you, Netflix, I liked it two whole stars, but even that was a little bit of a stretch.

 This is the most unfunny documentary you will ever see on the magnificent art of stand-up comedy.

Basically, this is the most unfunny documentary you will ever see on the magnificent art of stand-up comedy. You would probably be wise to only watch this if you are deeply interested in comedy and its inner-workings, or if you’re just really jaded about life in general and need to find a mind-numbing way to kill just a little over an hour. Don’t have an egg timer or stop watch, and need to cook something for just over that one-hour mark? You can turn this on instead, and at least you have something to look at other than an egg timer. The reality of comedy is actually pretty brutal and unfunny, and deep down we all as comedy consumers probably recognize that. We just don’t need to see our favorite comedians go off script and talk about how unglamorous it is to be a traveling act.

The interesting moments are cobbled together in a way that probably doesn’t do the film much justice. You’ll learn that comedy is written, will honed, and practiced meticulously rather than made up on the go. Comedians like TJ Miller, Maria Bamford, and Pete Holmes are charming and interesting, if only in a kind of awkward way. They have some funny tidbits to add and say, but this is proof that nearly every comedian out there isn’t always “on”. The subject matter discussed by a wide variety of established and up-and-coming comedians does hit home in a really honest way.

Once you strip away the ‘illusion’ that comedy is not nearly as glamorous as other forms of mild-celebrity, life advice and thought provoking subjects are discussed. The downfall is, with the exception of one or two very eloquent moments, they are almost all only touched on, and then quickly abandoned. The participants talk about the pain of dating, or likewise the crippling loneliness of being in a new town or in a new dive bar or club every weekend. They are all completely broke, penny-pinching, and attempting to balance some sort of normal life. Many of these comedians were fresh on the scene in the big 90s resurgence of the entertainment form; so it’s almost even more depressing to see your stand-up idols still pounding the road where they are stealing free breakfast from hotels they aren’t even checked into just to save a buck. No wonder self-destruction and drug use seem to be prevalent, and often deadly in their narratives.

 No wonder self-destruction and drug use seem to be prevalent, and often deadly in their narratives.

The whole documentary follows around the filmmaker, Brady, and his buddy Wayne Federman as they go on the road for a weekend gig at a little dive bar. The back drop is this bar, Jack Didley’s and the fact that it is under fire for their bouncers nearly killing a guy prior to the comedy show. Clips and sound bytes are heard from the news reports, candle light vigils, and friends hoping he’ll come out of his coma. And that IS IT. Nothing but a short blurb at the end as a slight aside- spoiler alert: He’s still alive. I think the aim was to contrast the brutality of the nightlife world, with the silliness of comedy. It literally just made me paranoid to ever piss of a bouncer, or go to this particular bar in Eugene, Oregon. The inter-cuts simply seem like a way to fill up dead time.

The comedians are fun to see talk candidly, including Jen Kirkman, Nikki Glaser (before her Comedy Central stint), Doug Benson, and Marc Maron. Maron tells a really heart-wrenching story in one of the only memorable parts, where he recounts a comedian he went on the road with before his untimely death due to drug use. Then again, Marc Maron is used to this kind of storytelling, so he can make it more interesting when it’s unscripted and in the moment.

All in all, there’s a really good reason that this narrow of a subject has never been turned into a feature length documentary before: It’s depressing as all hell. Watching people desperately try to survive a road gig takes some of the ‘oomph’ out of the fact that these talented people are doing what they can to live their dream and follow their passions. They earn so little for these gigs, and the schedule is more demanding than one would think. You can hear the loneliness and sacrifice in their stories, just for those moments where the jokes really land on stage. Not only does it take all of the glamor out of life on the road, it takes almost all of the funny out of the comedians as well. Watch if you want to be distracted from much more depressing things, like ISIS, but don’t expect an hour of side splitting inside entertainment. Comedy is brutal, sometimes I just want to watch cat videos on YouTube instead. 

This was written by Nathan Alley for Big Shiny Robot! You can reach him at nathanjalley@gmail.com

SCRIPT BY: Kelly Sue DeConnick
ART/COVERS BY: Valentine De Landro, Robert Wilson IV, Taki Soma
COLORS BY: Cris Peter, Kelly Fitzpatrick
LETTERS BY: Clayton Cowles
COVER & LOGO DESIGN BY: Rian Hughes
BACKMATTER DESIGN BY: Laurenn McCubbin

“Bitch Planet” isn’t just meaningful and poetic, it’s also super fucking badass.

The sixth issue of “Bitch Planet” begins with a metaphor comparing a woman’s body to that of a violin. In one page, it reflects on the structure, beauty, and strength of a thing that sums up (almost) everything you need to know about that issue’s main character, Meiko Maki. It makes a point of mentioning the “soul post” that supports the structure of the instrument and keeps it from collapsing under pressure. After you experience her tragic origin, the book ends with a return to the violin metaphor, this time on a defiant note that makes you realize that all those elements are just individual parts of a fully-realized woman of considerable complexity and “soul”.

If that sounds boring to you, you probably don’t deserve to know how wild and action-packed this dystopian sci-fi romp actually is. Because “Bitch Planet” isn’t just meaningful and poetic, it’s also super fucking badass.

“Bitch Planet” takes place in a not-too-distant future where society has taken a turn into an absolute and unquestionable patriarchy. The world is run by the “Fathers”, a group of gross old men who know better than you and appear on everyone’s mandatory television feed, controlling and judging the populace. Though I should clarify that society as a whole seems pretty complicit in this take on the patriarchy, not just the ones pulling the strings. Generally, these men like their women thin, polite and obedient. If a woman steps outside of that box in any way, she may be found “Non-Compliant” and whisked away to their off-world prison planet, the “Auxiliary Compliance Outpost”, otherwise known as “Bitch Planet”. There, they face pervy guards, a corrupt warden, and a terrifying female A.I. called “The Catholic”, who appears in nun headgear, a corset and booty shorts as she bullies them into confession.

this is an unabashedly feminist piece of literature

If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is an unabashedly feminist piece of literature. If that word scares you, you may need to be reading more in general, but this wouldn’t be a bad place to start. The description above may sound pretty far-fetched, but we live in a world where controlling women’s bodies is one of the most debated (yelled) about political issues. “Bitch Planet” is the place Donald Trump wants to send women for getting abortions. That’s real; that’s happening RIGHT NOW. In an essay in the back of the first issue, Danielle Henderson writes: “The striking thing about “Bitch Planet” is that we’re already on it.”

Thematically, this book has a lot of layers. When it really gets going, it has this powerful, rebellious spirit that’s hard not to get wrapped up in. At times, it’s sad and infuriating, at others, it has a wicked sense of humor. It delves into a plethora of topics, including racism, gender roles, sexual assault, body-shaming, power, corruption, violence, entertainment, and family. But the through line that makes it all work is Kelly Sue DeConnick’s sense of empathy. Empathy for the characters and empathy for those that share their experiences.

In this writer’s opinion, DeConnick, who is not just one of the preeminent female writers in comics, but one of the best writers around, period, has created her magnum opus. “Bitch Planet” isn’t just a masterpiece because it’s thoughtful and ambitious; it’s also a well-oiled machine. I mean, this book is lean. Every page either tells you something you need to know about a character and their themes or moves on with the plot. More than that, it takes the tropes of a much-maligned genre (the women-in-prison exploitation film) and does fresh and exciting things with them. I’m surely not the first to make this comparison, but the work DeConnick and artist Valentine De Landro have done here reminds me of how Quentin Tarantino takes elements of genres he loves and makes them his own in a way that feels confident and game-changing. By subverting something that has always been sexist and morally problematic, this book’s creative team have constructed something that is wholly original.

It’s not just movies that are being subverted in “Bitch Planet”, though. In your mind you might already have an idea of what these characters are going to look or sound like, but I can almost guarantee that you would be wrong. That’s because everyone in this book has multiple layers to their character. There’s no straight-up “tough bitch with a machine gun and an extra Y chromosome” without showing what’s actually going on behind her eyes. The protagonist, Kamau Kogo, is in many ways the “strong black woman” archetype, but she has empathy, wit, and cunning plans that are slowly unfolding.

There’s always been a problem with the way women are portrayed in comics. To say that it’s not getting better would be disingenuous, but they’ve got a long way to go. Several things have moved the needle in the right direction, among them, more female voices on the creative side of things, and an influx of female readers. It would also be inaccurate to not point out that there have always been female comic book readers, but the new world that has come with digital comics has made them more accessible to those hesitant to enter a space that’s not always female-friendly. Any girl (or boy) with a phone, no matter where they live, has a comic book store at their fingertips. There’s a whole other debate to be had about how this hurts the brick-and-mortar stores but, seriously, read that last sentence and tell me that this isn’t an incredible time to be a comic book nerd.

De Landro is doing the best work of his career.

More importantly, if this art form that we love is going to survive, it’s going to need to become more inclusive. It’s great that “The Avengers” made an obscene amount of money at the box office, but it’s not exactly bumping up the sales of creator-owned work along with it. To do that, the comic book industry has to create content for everyone, not just 15-30 year-old white males. And there’s a large portion of readers who will read what I just wrote and immediately reject it as someone encroaching on something that they love that (in their mind) doesn’t need changing. I get that sense of ownership over comics, I really do. But comics limited by what we’ve always done, hurts the whole industry, just like how the patriarchy hurts everyone, even men. Feminism isn’t about attacking men; it’s about fighting for balance and equality. There’s an interesting bit in the letters page of one issue where a man asks DeConnick for her blessing to get a tattoo of the “Non-Compliant” mark given to the prisoners of Bitch Planet. He wonders if it’s in bad taste for him to identify himself with this thing that has become a symbol for female readers who relate to the themes of the book. She responds, “Feminism is for EVERYONE. A man identifying as a “feminist” is not at all the same thing as co-opting the experience of oppression. And frankly, if men are not invested in fixing this problem, it ain’t gonna get fixed.”

The point is, you don’t have to be shipped off to prison to be judged. If you’ve ever been called too fat, too skinny, too loud, too quiet, too dark, too feminine, too masculine, too slutty, too uptight, too (insert derisive label here), you can identify with the concept of “Non-Compliant”. Even if you don’t personally feel oppressed, I find it hard to believe it’s possible to read this book and not shudder at the naked honesty of what women go through on a daily basis.

In issue #3, the character of Penny Rolle (how great is that name?) is shamed about her weight by the authorities. In the world of Bitch Planet, being overweight can be a crime, and Penny herself has been charged with “wanton obesity”. One of the Fathers interrogating her remarks: “Good GOD, woman. What have you done to yourself?” Faced with the choice of accepting their “help” to change her appearance or sticking to what she believes is her ideal self, she laughs in their wrinkly, mansplaining faces. That’s no easy feat in a world where the latest diet trend is a gastrointestinal parasite and advertisements are plastered everywhere that say: “EAT LESS, POOP MORE”, “LESS OF YOU TO LOVE” and “BUY THIS IT WILL FIX YOU”. This is satire, but let’s be honest, these are not inaccurate depictions of the insane weight loss expectations women face in the real world.

I’m running out of space and I haven’t even mentioned the absolutely incredible art team, De Landro in particular, who is doing the best work of his career. Every page is filled with complexity and detail, even in panels that efficiently and cleverly use negative space. His realistic depiction of women in all sizes, shapes, and colors gives a stylized world weight and authenticity. Wait until you see the “Obligatory Shower Scene” that puts a clever twist on the reader-implicit male gaze. Or the explosive title pages that hook the reader at the beginning of every issue. I’ve barely touched on the fight scenes that pop right off the page. Or the back cover of every issue, a page of meticulously detailed farce advertising that’s funny as hell (and I suspect fun to create).

Also worth mentioning is maybe the best backmatter I’ve ever found at the end of a comic book. It’s got a lot of the things you’d expect: a letters page, cosplay photos, fan art, tattoos, a message from the author. But in addition to all that, every issue has an essay from a different guest about feminism or a topic related to the themes of the book. I can’t stress enough how essential these essays are to the experience of reading “Bitch Planet.” They add another level of notability to the series and for me, made rereading it much more rewarding. And they are only printed in the individual issues, you poor trade-waiting bastards.

Penny Rolle is the best name for a character since Furiosa

But why IS this book so important? Because the women in it are three-dimensional, honest, and flawed human beings. Because it’s inspiring readers to be honest with themselves about who they are. Because it’s opening the comic book industry to new audiences. Because it’s a discussion that’s not being had in a lot of genre storytelling. Because they still haven’t even made a great female-led comic book movie and they won’t until you show them who’s actually reading. Because Penny Rolle is the best name for a character since Furiosa. Because Gamergaters are going to haaaate this thing. Because it does what any great science-fiction does by holding up a mirror to our society.

I love this book and it makes me proud of this community that “Bitch Planet” is a comic. One that is a wholly original thing in any media and that is developing such a beautiful response and following. It’s a story that surely takes courage to write, to draw and to publish, and to all of those involved, you have my sincerest thanks. Seriously, if you consider yourself a comic book fan, a feminist, or both and you aren’t reading this, get it together.

The only question is, are you woman enough to survive… BITCH PLANET?

This post was written by Laurent Backman ro Big Shiny Robot you can reach her at laurentbackman@gmail.com.

Final Fantasy XV Platinum Demo – Square Enix – PS4 – 03.31.16 – Free

The ‘FFXV’ Uncovered event hosted by Square Enix a few weeks ago was a veritable behemoth in terms of information and content for the upcoming JRPG. Alongside collector’s edition details, a 5-episode OVA, and a full-length movie reveal, Square Enix also treated us to a free demo available later that evening. Having already played “Episode Duscae,” I was excited for another taste of what is rapidly becoming one of my most anticipated releases this fall.

“Platinum” feels more like a tech demo that scratches the outer surface of the game’s mechanics

 The first thing you should know going into “Platinum” is that it’s short. I played through it twice, taking much more time on the second playthrough, and my combined time is still around 75 minutes. Whereas “Duscae” gave us a small fragment of story and a glimpse into the open-world exploration, “Platinum” feels more like a tech demo that scratches the outer surface of the game’s mechanics, while trying to showcase as many flashy particle effects as it can.

 “Platinum’s” story takes place separate from the main story, in the dreamscape of a much younger Noctis. You’re approached in a forest by Carbuncle, your dream guide and a familiar face for series veterans.  Carbuncle explains that the only way to wake up from your dream is to find your safe place, and helps point you in the right direction for the thirty or so minutes it’ll take you to reach it. Along the way, you’ll learn the basics of movement and combat culminating in a fight where you transform into the older Noctis of the actual game.

the overall pacing still feels like you’re playing Kingdom Hearts while in a Lortab-induced haze

 It’s clear that Square Enix listened to player feedback about the combat in “Duscae,” but it still feels like there’s polishing that needs to be done before release. The weapons are easier to manage now, and there’s no analog stick weirdness to change weapons mid-combo since they’re all mapped to the d-pad, but the overall pacing still feels like you’re playing Kingdom Hearts while in a Lortab-induced haze. Guard timing is still wonky, and the warp mechanics in the final encounter are fickle. When it works, the combat flows well, but more often than not it doesn’t and you’re slapped in the face with a mountain of minute issues.

The good thing about “Platinum” is that it’s gorgeous, and there are a number of tools in each area to make it even moreso. Floor switches speed up time and change the weather, and consumable grenades explode in showers of red, droplets of blue, and meteorites of orange. Framerates are smooth throughout, even when the screen is filled with enemies and explosions.

 Beating the demo unlocks Carbuncle for use in the full version of the game, so if you’ve got the 3 gigs of free space, then give the “Final Fantasy XV Platinum Demo” an hour of your time. It’ll help you get prepared for a game that’s finally nearing the end of its long development, plus it gives you something pretty to look at.

’10 Cloverfield Lane’. 7.5 out of Ten. Director: Dan Trachtenberg Cast: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr. Rated: PG-13 (strong language, violence, adult themes) Running time: 103 min. 

Do not read this review. Seriously, the less you know going into ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ the better. The J.J. Abrams-produced and Dan Trachtenberg-directed thriller, ’10 Cloverfield Lane’, an unrelenting thrill ride from start to finish, is best experienced by entering it knowing as little as possible. 

Now, nearly a decade after the 2008 hit “Cloverfield,” which followed a group of friends documenting a monster attack that wiped out New York City, we have ’10 Cloverfield Lane’. Is this a direct sequel to the first ‘Cloverfield’ film? A loosely-connected prequel, à la ‘Prometheus’? Or is this shameless marketing rejiggery exploiting the ‘Cloverfield’ ‘brand’? Abrams has described it as a “blood relative” which… isn’t really an answer, is it? So, what exactly is IT? 

Minor Spoilers Ahead. Serious, if you want to go into this Tabula Rasa…turn back now. 

’10 Cloverfield Lane’, begins with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) waking up from a car crash. She’s in a survival bunker with an injured leg and pants less. She’s absolutely terrified and confused. She soon discovers she’s the “guest” of one Howard Stambler (John Goodman). He ominously explains that he’s saved her life. There was an “attack”, he says. Outside this bunker everybody is dead and the air is poison. 

Then introduces her to another occupant of the bunker, Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.). Emmett says he fought his way into the bunker after having seen an explosion “like something you read in the Bible”. When Michelle makes a run for escape, she’s met with a bloodied woman outside, also desperate to get in. Remembering the title, we begin to think that Howard — aptly described by Emmett as “a black belt in conspiracy theory” — maybe isn’t as crazy as he seems.

So then what are alternatives? Well, that’s the film, right? Is there danger and certain death on the outside, as Howard insists? Or is Howard the true danger? Michelle simply doesn’t have a lot of options. The unorthodox family makes peace for a while, but it’s impossible for so many doubts to simmer for so long without them boiling over. And then? Then we stop our discussion of the story and talk about Trachtenberg’s ratcheting of tension, of putting us in the same claustrophobic world Michelle finds herself in. When a game of Monopoly with a possible psycho starts to look like a welcome form of entertainment, you know you are in a bad place. 

Trachtenberg, a first-time feature film director who came to Hollywood’s attention in 2011 when he created a short film based on the popular video game ‘Portal’, is patient building this world, and the actors do a good job inhabiting it. The director works the genre, or the genre within the genre, beautifully for most of the running time, his clean, precise direction keeping the eye trained on key movements and the heart racing almost all the way through. Winstead is a terrific actress, and she makes Michelle’s desperation and inventiveness believable. Goodman is never better than when playing a nut, and while we aren’t sure if that’s what he’s doing here, the possibility makes for an intriguing portrayal. 

’10 Cloverfield Lane’ is a tightly constructed piece of entertainment. Trachtenberg knows which buttons to push, bringing us a picture that gleefully places us on edge and confidently nudges us to its conclusion, however satisfactory that may be. In terms of overall structure, the film finds itself slightly lacking as the answers roll around. In order to tiptoe around plot developments, Some eyebrows may be raised, some won’t be. Regardless, at the very least it doesn’t take away from what we’ve been through. Whether it adds up to a decent payoff or not will be up to the individual. 

IMO, the best part…If ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ ends up being a hit (relative to budget and expectations of course), it will be an unthinkable situation where a film was announced just eight weeks prior to release and successfully advertised absent both the year-long run up to release and absent much knowledge of what the film is about/what happens during its 103-minute running time. If this works, we could well see more of these smaller-budget, somewhat mysterious “surprise movies” from those with the clout to make it happen.

It’s been just shy of two weeks since the Android and iOS App Stores were graced with “Pocket Mortys” from Adult Swim Games. This shameless “Pokemon” clone may be one of the best mobile games available to date. Yes, it is literally the core system of Pokemon, drilled down to it’s most basic premise. Explore area, find creature, battle creature. That, in itself, is what makes “Pocket Mortys” so beautiful. The game is clever, quick to pick up, and has enough depth for a free game that there is no reason you shouldn’t spend time in the world. Even, if you are not a fan of “Rick and Morty” which can only be equated to your lack of a soul, this game gives many opportunities for a great time.

If you’re completely unfamiliar here is a quick summary to get you going. Rick and Morty are in the lab working on another adventure when they are suddenly joined by a strangely dressed Rick with a Morty in tow. He is in search of “the one true Morty”. One thing leads to another and Rick and Morty find themselves in front of the council of Ricks without Rick’s handy portal gun. From here the battling/crafting/collecting begins. Again, if you’re looking for insane amounts of depth, huge meta game, and wild strategy, you’re in the wrong world. Battling is based on Paper, Rock Scissors, this isn’t in the gaming sense of fire beats ice, ice beats flying or whatever. This game is literally based on Scissor Type, Rock Type and Paper type Mortys. This unique crew (82 in all) of hilarious characters are divided among the three. Rock beats Scissor, Scissor beats Paper, Paper beats rock, Rock beats Scissor. This takes the metagame to a minimum. Since paper type can only learn paper moves, rock type can only learn rock and so on, your battles are spent trying to remember what a specific Morty is and how to counter it.

Aside from that, you are collecting a few pieces of junk that you can craft into memorable items from the TV series either for your own personal gain or to complete quests which lead to riches, and then warping from “random” zone to zone to collect Mortys and battle the other RIcks for badges. This is where the curve of the game can get a little slow. The beginning is difficult due to your lack of resources, once that is overcome the middle is a sort of easy grind, that becomes repetitive and yet, is still fun as hell. After that the ending scales up the difficulty again as your level will even out with your opponents. Once you have completed the story (which has a great twist ending) you are then set free with your portal gun to collect the remaining Mortys, (except for the mascot Morty which is currently unavailable due to a bug).

This game takes everything that a mobile game would normally do just ok as a cash grab, and does it extremely well. Yes there are like 6 songs that play in the background, yes the quests are all basically the same, and yes, the worlds, though randomly generated very quickly start to look the same. But you are enjoying the world so much that the novelty remains. It is also an added bonus that while it is possible to utilize in game purchases they are far from required. You can also watch advertisements to gain additional “shmeckles”, but again, you gain enough just roaming the world that you don’t have to by any means.

With the promise of new Mortys to be patched in, the only thing that can be left wanting would be network play for Morty battling, trading of Mortys and hopefully, more story in the future. This game is free, go download it, now.

 “The Paybacks” #1—9 out of 10—Dark Horse; Written by Donny Cates (“The Ghost Fleet”) & Eliot Rahal (“Dark Horse Presents”); Drawn by Geoff Shaw (“Buzzkill”); Coloring by Lauren Affe (“Five Ghosts”); Lettering by Michael Heisler (“Barb Wire”); In stores 9/16/15

In “The Paybacks,” there’s a character named Bloodpouch. He’s described as “the funny one,” but his real defining characteristic is the amount of pouches he wears. Any place he can fit them on his body, he does—belts, bandoliers, headgear, even his eye patch is a pouch. He’s the kind of character that Rob Liefeld thinks about before going to sleep at night.

He’s joined by others, like Driver who “drives the van,” the comic reads. “Angry.” Or Jacob Destruction, the useless bubble boy whose skin explodes into napalm when exposed to air. And Miss Adventure, the deadly one who doesn’t seem phased when her call for back-up is met with a smoke break rather than support.

That’s the level Donny Cates and Eliot Rahal’s series is operating on. A lot of the ground they cover in this first issue may feel like familiar territory, but it’s done pointedly and to hilarious effect. They’re wagging a finger at the clichés and tropes that have overrun comic books and they’re hitting the right nerves with hysterical accuracy.

The Paybacks live in a world where crime fighters are in no short supply and often take out extravagant loans to afford it; loans afforded by the mysterious Mr. Pierce. It seems, so far, that Mr. Pierce isn’t the most forgiving of creditors.

See, when a superhero misses a loan payment, the Paybacks come a-knocking to repossess the hero’s belongings—invisible planes, molecular-dust-separators, dinosaurs, whatever. If the heroes used the loan money to purchase it while tricking out their Fortresses of Solitude, Mr. Pierce takes it back with force when a payment is missed. Whatever debt might be left over is worked off through service as one of the Paybacks.

Issue #1 follows the duel stories of Alpha Team and Beta Team, each tasked with repossessing the belongings of superheroes living beyond their means. Alpha Team is going after the Batman-esque Night Knight, who is the absolute highlight of the issue, while Beta Team looks for the heavy-hitter called Battery.

What ensues is a tightly woven narrative that pulls no punches when approaching the problematic and often lame clichés that plague comic books today. Night Knight is introduced to us as he pens his gritty text-box monologues while sitting on a rooftop overlooking the city (nay, his city). His only company is Night Mare, his armored unicorn sidekick, and everything about that was not only brilliant, but had me actually laughing out loud.

 It pulls no punches when approaching the problematic and often lame clichés that plague comic books today.

I won’t go into detail on too many of the jokes, because I don’t want to ruin the experience of reading them first hand, but just know that Cates and Rahal nail every punch line. And that’s no easy task when writing a comic. The pacing is perfect and everything comes with a nudge and a wink as they clearly have fun writing the tongue-in-cheek humor that makes this book function so well.

It’s not just the scripting though. Geoff Shaw’s art is fantastic. The characters are visually distinct and they look alive on the page. They’re fluid and emotive, making the panels seem like they’re actually lived in and occupied. His action sequences—of which there are quite a few—are clear, even in the chaos. It was a joy pouring over the panels looking for the little in-jokes to the comic world and seeing little hints dropped about what we may see in the future. The level of detail in this book is amazing.

We can’t talk about the art without singing the praises of Lauren Affe’s coloring, though. The colors are perfect, breathing vibrancy into the characters and backgrounds. Again, it’s a world that feels occupied and Affe’s work pulls the panels together to make them pop off the page and feel almost tangible.

It’s the subtlety of “The Paybacks” that works so well. There are moments that seem genuinely bizarre, and they’re some of the best for pointing out the cracks in the comic book world. They also prove to be some of the funniest moments in the book. It’s what isn’t said, sometimes, that makes for the most powerful writing and funniest moments in “The Paybacks.” I’m thinking of a moment between Night Knight and Night Mare that could have been ruined if anything else had been said, but Cates and Rahal nail it by saying just enough.

This issue is largely meant to lay the groundwork, and that’s OK. The exposition never meanders nor overstays its welcome. The world is introduced with so much humor and style that readers will hardly notice the gentle explanations of how the world of the Paybacks works. 

I was excited to read this book ever since I heard the premise. It sounds good on paper and absolutely delivers. From the very first page, which features a roster of the characters, I was laughing and by the end of the book I knew I’d be following this series through to the end.

9/10