I am an unadulterated Tim Burton fan.  I’ve enjoyed most of his movies with a few glaring exceptions (Planet of the Apes, Willy Wonka, etc.) and when I heard he was tackling Alice in Wonderland, I was incredibly excited.  I’ve always loved the Alice mythos.  I loved the books as a kid, I loved reading the books to my kids, and the animated Disney version is like crack to me.  I can’t begin to impress upon you how much I still love the animated Alice in Wonderland, I still quote it often, particularly every time someone mentions mustard.  “Mustard?!  Let’s not be silly, but lemon, that’s something else…”

And by the way, this will have a couple of potential spoilers in it.  You’ve been warned.

And marrying one of my favorite mythos with one of my favorite filmmakers was a no-brainer.  The movie began and I was transfixed.  Sure, I thought the overt use of symbolism from Wonderland was a bit overt, but I swallowed it down wanting to love the movie and it worked.  And when Alice fell down the rabbit hole, I had the chills.

I was incredibly concerned about what would happen once we got into Tim Burton’s Wonderland.  Wonderland has always been an incredibly silly place and I was worried that when it was married to Tim Burton’s style it would be a little too much, but it never was.  He restrained as much of himself as was necessary and provided an excellent live action take on Wonderland.  But from the get go, we can tell that something is different in this Wonderland.  Since Alice’ last visit (which she has no recollection of) the Red Queen (played to hilarious effect by Helena Bonham Carter) has taken over Wonderland by force of the Jabberwocky and her awkardly animated knave Stayne (played by Crispin Glover.)  The land is covered in darkness and ash and a secret brotherhood of Wonderland denizens want to do something about it and their scroll foretold that they needed Alice to come back to slay the Jabberwocky with the Vorpal Blade.

Now, here is a minor complaint about the film…  They tell you right then and there what’s going to happen.  Alice is going to slay the Jabberwocky with the Vorpal blade.  And when it happens it isn’t exactly a surprise.  It’s tremendous to watch, but pretty expected.  But this wasn’t a concern I had while watching the movie.  I was through the looking glass as I watched, it wasn’t until afterwards that this point jumped out at me as a bit sloppy.

As the film built toward that end, with Alice going through echoes of her paces from her first adventure in Wonderland, but this time on the run from the Red Queen, I was buying more and more into the drama and the world to the point where I was getting the chills every so often.  When the Mad Hatter (played with a ridiculous and overbearing smattering of different accents by Johnny Depp) recited the poem about the Jabberwocky, I about lost it in a good way.

The first two thirds of the film worked magic for me.

And then Alice performs her deed and then something so unconscionable happened.  A film I was ready to pronounce a 10 out of 10 suddenly turned into a 6.  I was dragged kicking and screaming out of the film by a ridiculous dance number with a bit of hip-hop music and Johnny Depp’s head spinning that looked even more fake than when Beetlejuice pulled that kind of stuff.  It betrayed the tone of the film and I felt like I was exiled out into the cold.  I had bought so completely into this epic story that was very much like Alice in Wonderland meets Lord of the Rings and during the denouement I was kicked in the gut with something killed all momentum in the film.  It brought it to a terrifying and screeching halt.  And it couldn’t get me back.

Suddenly what came after didn’t seem to matter.

So, I’m all for the first two thirds of the film, I thought they were tremendous and I enjoyed them immensly, but when you get to the dance number, you may as well leave since it throws you out of the movie anyway.

Maybe you won’t feel that way now that you’ve had some forewarning.  If I can do that little bit to help you enjoy the movie more, then I will have done my job.

So, Tim Burton, congratulations in making your best movie in a long time.  And I’m sorry you had to stain it with that moment.

Preview of the Flash #1:

It was announced last year that after Flash: Rebirth we would see a new ongoing series featuring Barry Allen. This morning on the DC blog, The Source, we get a look at this highly anticipated series which is scheduled to be released. It is being written by Geoff Johns, who in addition to writing Green Lantern and the upcoming Brightest Day was also just named Chief Creative Officer for DC Entertainment. And on art we have Francis Manapul  who, with Johns, finished up their arc on Adventure Comics. Below are preview pages from the first issue of The Flash along with a copy the full blog post from DC.

Kick off the week with a look at THE FLASH #1

Monday, March 1st, 2010

By Alex Segura

The Flash is back.

Can’t really say how cool it was to just type those words. And it’s really happening, with writer Geoff Johns and artist Francis Manapul uniting to launch Barry Allen into his own monthly series. But coming back may have been the easy part. When one of the Flash’s deadliest foes turns up dead, can the newly-returned Scarlet Speedster scour Central City to solve the crime before the elusive killer strikes again?

The moment we’ve all been waiting for is almost here, and the only thing that can possibly tide us over is a peek at the first issue, courtesy of Johns and Manapul.

Johns, no stranger to the adventures of those who ride the lightning brings his knack for well-crafted drama and human dialogue to Manapul’s skillfully designed page, which bursts with an infectious energy. It’s simple: You do not want to miss this book.

But before you scroll down and check out these lovely pages, make sure to keep your eyes locked on THE SOURCE this week, as we’ll be talking more Flash in the coming days.

THE FLASH #1 hits 4/14.

This week, I decided to introduce readers to the Soap Opera of comics and the many Robin’s of Batman. I’ve always been surprised how few people know about all the Robin’s and this was my attempt at cramming that history into 300 words.

As you can tell, I got cut off in the print version (below) but you can read the online version here.

If you live in the Salt Lake or Park City areas, you can pick up a copy of IN This Week on newstands everywhere.

Every once in a while a game comes along that redefines how we feel about a genre, system, or an art style. It’s rare that a game comes along that changes the way we feel about gaming. Heavy Rain is what I believe to be that game.

Playing as Ethan, a father who blames himself for the death of his son. You begin combatting rigorous trials set up by the Origami killer, who has kidnapped your sole surviving son. While Ethan struggles on 3 other characters are placed into play: a private detective, a high-end fashion photographer Madison, and an FBI agent with a bad habit Jayden. The game play progresses by moving you from character to character playing out their chunks of the story one piece at a time. Every decision you make, and every button press you mess up or miss directly change the outcome, and possibly that characters fate. If you happen to get a character killed the game doesn’t end, it simply continues without that characters presence.

Never before have I felt concern for my characters as seriously as I do in Heavy Rain, and the developers do an incredible job of putting you in the moment. There are scenes in the game where I felt emotionally strained or frustrated because I couldn’t find the person I was chasing, or get through the crowd as fast as I wanted to while trying to escape. Blending that with a compelling story, and characters who at times feel alive made this game something I could not put down. Every moment of tracking the Origami Killer was a heart wrenching experience, and to make it better, there are multiple endings. Once finishing the game you see how each decision you made will change the outcome and what you could have done better. I’ve heard the developer recommends only 1 play through but how could you?! The game is so exciting and compelling that multiple play throughs would be easy.  Every thing you do with Ethan in his Saw style massicistic adventure leads to multiple avenues, rooms simply suggest, “How will i perform this?” “with what device?” Without giving away story points or well grotesque horror that can be caused, one trial literally had 4-5 different methods you could utilize to perform the task, and you still have the choice to not do it!  You simply wouldn’t gain more information about your sons location.

Heavy Rain is a must have for Playstation Owners, leaving this game out of your library would be a huge mistake. Quantic Dream has shown us what high end technology and video games are capable of. After finishing my first play through of this game I immediately started again, and will definitely be purchasing every piece of episodic content released, starting with the Taxidermist which should be available immediately. Order from Amazon Here

Liked:

• Strong character design with gorgeous graphics, complete freedom to play the game how you would. Treat people how you would and once again feel guilty for your choices.
• Innovative contro scheme that made me feel involved in the action, more than just shooting and fighting, the controls actually made me feel the strain of gameplay during tough scenes.
• Beautifully mixed surround sound audio that makes you feel like you are in the game, rain falling from all speakers and voices coming from good screen placement, and a gorgeously composed soundtrack.
• Everything this game had to offer

Disliked:

• The thought that people won’t play this

Score:

• Graphics – 10
• Audio – 10
• Gameplay – 10
• Replay – 10
• Story -10

Overall : 10

Don’t miss this release

Warner Bros. has been doing a pretty good job on their DC original movies, bringing to life stories from the comics that wouldn’t fit into a regular series or with the standard continuity of anything else that has come before it.

Sometimes, they score a hit, like Superman: Doomsday, sometimes they catch a piece of the ball and knock it to the back of the park but in foul territory, like Batman/Superman: Public Enemies, and sometimes they knock it out of the park, like with Crisis on Two Earths.

After watching the preview of this film on the Public Enemies DVD, I’ll admit that I was skeptical. I’ve always been of the opinion that most of DCs “Crisis” story lines were too convoluted for me to follow and too dense with characters I couldn’t remember for me to care, but Crisis on Two Earths, despite its awkward title, really boiled down a Crisis story to its essence and nailed it.

It made me excited over Crisis stories and wish that this is how they were told in the DC Universe, proper. This film opens up with Earth-2’s Lex Luthor and Jester (a pretty generic Joker ripoff) stealing some manner of technology and escaping from the Crime Syndicate, which consists of a Superman riff called Ultraman, a Batman riff called Owlman, a Wonder Woman riff called Superwoman and so on. These guys are evil and on their Earth they’ve completely subverted the people into making them rich gangsters.

Lex Luthor is the leader of this Earth’s iteration of the Justice League and develops a way to get to our Earth, wherein he asks the Justice League for help. The entire league, sans Batman, agree to go back to Earth-2 to help Lex Luthor. Batman stays behind, insisting that The Justice League is tasked with saving only their own Earth from criminals and intergalactic threats and the like, but his attitude soon changes when the Crime Syndicate hatch a plan to blow up Earth-Prime, which would cause a chain reaction that would destroy every Earth in the multiverse.

I really liked this movie, the voice acting was good even though Kevin Conroy wasn’t Batman. I mean, seriously, Kevin Conroy should ALWAYS be Batman. James Woods was excellent as the creepy and psychopathic Owlman and Mark Harmon filled Superman’s shoes quite capably. The animation was top-notch and the action sequences had an incredible kinetic energy to them. They were exciting and fit in with the story to the point where each and every one of them meant something. They were all very, very cool to watch.

On a side note, I can see the Italian American community upset about Ultraman. He’s a greezy goomba and, though it worked for me, they seem to get upset about any iteration of Italian American as a mobster, and that’s pretty much all Ultraman is.

Having said how much I liked this movie, there is a major problem I had with the film and I need to preface this with a MAJOR Spoiler warning.

There, you’ve been warned.

At the end of the film, and Owlman has set the QED device to blow up and destroy Earth prime, Batman changes the coordinates of the bomb, batarangs Owlman to it, and then leaves him to explode. It seems incredibly out of character for Batman to specifically tie a villain to a bomb and send him off to who knows where for him to die. It was very un-Batman. I understand the stakes were high, and this guy would probably try it again, etc, but that’s Batman’s one unwavering rule: The Bat does NOT kill.

So, that was my biggest gripe.

Aside from that, they decoded the film version of a Crisis story perfectly.

As for the Spectre short… Wow… On the disc there is an 11 minute short film that was written by Steve Niles featuring the Spectre. It had the look and feel of a 70s exploitational cop procedural on 16mm and though it was incredibly short, the first rate animation and story concentrated into such a tight time frame worked so well that I’d almost like to see more of these instead of more feature length films. A disc of these would be to die for. I must have watched this five times and shown it to twice as many people, I couldn’t believe how excellent it was.

The last thing on the disc I’d like to mention is the preview for the next DCU Animated film, “Under the Red Hood.” The good news is that we’ll be seeing portions of my favorite Batman story, A Death in the Family, animated. The bad news is that they are basing this off of Judd Winicks lackluster run, taking Jason Todd out of the grave and under the hood. We’ll see how it plays out, but this was my least favorite Batman arc in the last 20 years.

Overall, this disc was worth the price of admission and it has hours of bonus content that will occupy your time for…well…hours…

To order it on Amazon, simply click the link.

It’s our TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY here at Big Shiny Robot! and the weekly column we have over at IN Magazine is devoted entirely to us and our anniversary bash.

Click on the online version of the article, pick up a physical copy, or click on the version below to get all the details.

It’s this Saturday night and we hope to see you there!

Now, I understand that a lot of people have watched the “>now infamous 70 minute Phantom Menace review and I had a hard time getting through part 1 the first time I clicked on it. I reacted with a little volatility to it, mainly because I thought it was a waste of time for someone to put together a 70 minute review of a film.

And, I’ll concede that some of his points are valid, but others are pretty paper thin. So, I wanted to discuss some of his points and dismantle a few of them that I thought were pretty ridiculous.

I won’t bother with arguing about the tone of the piece, which I thought was pretty obnoxious, I’ll just take on his major points in this seven part series.

Part One: The Protagonist:

The author of the video posits that Phantom Menace doesn’t have a main character or a protagonist, but the film clearly follows Qui-Gon Jinn, through his mission, his finding of Anakin, and his dilemma about whether or not he should train the boy in the face of opposition to the Jedi council. Supporting characters help fill the plot and dilemma’s in the same way Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Lando fill them in in the classic trilogy.

The opening crawl text serves as the context for Qui-Gon’s mission and he goes through the film trying to serve his duty and fulfill it, but at the same time he struggles with his interpretation of the force and the will of his masters.

Queen Amidala is at the center of this as well, and her duty is to her people.

Phantom Menace’s structure rhymes quite a bit with the structure of A New Hope and Anakin arrives at about the same point in the timeline and story as Han Solo does in their respective first appearances. Though Anakin is younger and admittedly less likeable than Han Solo, he provides a pivotal lynch-pin to the story (both in aiding in their egress from Tatooine and in creating that moral dilemma for Qui-Gon) and saves the day.

I agree that there is no single protagonist in The Phantom Menace that has the strength of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope, but follows the same fractured protaganist pattern that The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi do. Each of the protagonists add their dilemmas together to create a whole picture of the story. It’s the same thing with a lot of war movies. Take Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far as an example. There isn’t any one consistent protagonist, but a dozen of them reaching for the same final goal though all of their motivations are different. Though the Nazis are barely characters in that film, they are much like the Sith in Phantom Menace. We don’t need the extra exposition to be told that the Nazis winning are a bad thing and the same is true for the Sith in The Phantom Menace.

Phantom Menace accomplishes this “super-goal for all the protagonists” structure. Never once do you watch that film without a sense of what the story is or what needs to be accomplished for our band of heroes to win the day. There are clear objectives brought on by the characters and their decisions that are affected by their actions. Naboo is in peril and through the film we’ve learned that the two indigenous people of Naboo are at odds with each other. If they don’t come together and fight the Trade Federation, the Sith will win. And while we aren’t exactly sure WHY the Sith want to win, the fact that they do makes this repulsive to the audience. Because of the goals of the protagonists and the strength of the villain, we are glued to our seats when Darth Maul arrives to prevent this from happening and we cheer when Obi-Wan finally gives the bad guy his due.

The author of the review even admits that you don’t have to follow the structure he outlined in the beginning of his video essay, but doesn’t offer any credible reason why it doesn’t work here other than some snarky remarks.

And the point that traditionally the protagonist has to win the day and get the girl is specious. As a protagonist, Qui-Gon sacrificed his life for his duty and that sense of loss permeates in the end of the film at his funeral, which is a catalyst for the rest of the Star Wars saga. To separate Phantom Menace from the fabric of the entire story is neither plausible nor fair.

In a vain attempt to prove his point about a lack of clear characters and protagonists, the author of the 70 minute Phantom Menace review asks a few of his friends to describe Star Wars characters without saying what they look like, what kind of costume they wore, or what their profession in the movie was.

My guess is he asked a bunch of people who hadn’t even really watched Phantom Menace more than once because he had to remind them who he even was. Had he asked someone like me, he would have had as full and complete a description for Qui-Gon as he got for Han Solo in the video.

For example: Qui-Gon is a venerable, older gentleman who has a habit of taking his own path and bucking both tradition and authority. He’s wise, offering constant advice and commentary on things and keeps his cards close to his chest, often to the point of befuddling and frustrating those who work beneath him. As an archetype, he’s the reserved and wisened old sword-master.

As for Queen Amidala: She has an overriding sense of duty and civic pride to her people and, though she’s thought to be young and naïve, she has a strength and courage to her that help win the day. She’s also not interested in the pomp and circumstance of royal life and instead prefers to witness and participate in events first hand. She’s eloquent and concerned, willing to fight for her people in a way that echoes the character of her daughter in the later films.

Asking people who don’t really know about the movies or don’t know enough about them to describe the basic character traits of characters isn’t much of a genuine argument. All he needed to do was ask someone who HAD seen the movie and he wouldn’t have been able to include that in his video review.

That is where Part One of the review ended and so too will I end my rebuttal of it. We’ll see what happens next time.

Part Two can be found here.

Jake Black is a comic book and television writer. He’s comics work includes the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Legion of Superheroes and worked on adaptations of Orson Scott Card’s Ender series. He’s also written materials for Smallville and episodes of Ben 10 and Batman: Brave and the Bold, among others.

He was kind enough to talk to us about his involvement with Supergirls fiftieth issue, hitting comic book stores and newsstands tomorrow. His contribution was co-written with Helen Slater, who played Supergirl on film in the 80s, and was drawn by Cliff Chiang.

Big Shiny Robot!: You’ve done story in Supergirl #50 with Helen Slater, who played Supergirl in the 80s. How did you get put together with her and what was that process like?

Jake Black: A couple of years ago, Helen and I were guests in the annual Superman Celebration in Metropolis, IL. We both loved Supergirl, and as we talked, developed a story we wanted tell for DC Comics. DC passed on that first pitch, but as they were looking at the 50th issue, revisited the initial story we wanted to do. While this is a much shorter version that we’d originally pitched, it’s thematically *very* similar.

Helen and I had several conversations about the character, and went back and forth on the story. We each did pass after pass, back and forth, until we got a script/story we were happy with. It was a very positive experience, and something I’m very proud of.

BSR!: Tell us about the story (but not too much about the story) and where it fits into Supergirl’s mythos.

JB: Our story is a celebration of 50 years and 50 issues of Supergirl. OBviously Helen has a deep, long-running affection for the character, and we both had things we wanted to say about her. This was our chance.

BSR!: #50 seems like a milestone a lot of comics reach, why is Supergirl #50 so special…

JB: It’s a big year for DC Comics. The company is celebrating its 75th anniversary. As part of that year-long commemoration, special event issues such as Supergirl 50 are being emphasized as something special. 2009 was Sueprgirl’s own 50th anniversary, and he 25th anniversary of the Supergirl movie Helen starred in. This issue celebrates not only 50 issues, but also 50 years of Supergirl, and 25 years of the Supergirl movie. With the covers by Michael Turner, who created the look of the modern Supergirl as well as a variant by Josh Middleton who did amazing work on past issues of the series, it’s become a huge event for the anniversaries its celebrating.

BSR!: What is it that draws you to the character?

JB: I love Supergirl. I love watching her evolve, grow from girl to woman. I also love strong female characters. I grew up with a lot of strong women around me. Seeing Supergirl evolve in such a way is rewarding and exciting.

BSR!: What do you have coming up comics-wise?

JB: I’m doing a few issues of DC’s “Cartoon Network Action Pack” featuring “Ben 10.” I’m also one of the lead writers on the “DC Comics Super-hero Collection” which is a series of magazines that profile DC characters and are packaged with a small lead statue of the featured subject. Throw in a couple of Smallville DVD things, and I’ve got some exciting comics projects going on.

BSR!: I know you work on a lot of superhero cartoons, what’s cooking there?

JB: I’ve done some stuff like “Chaotic” and “Ben 10” for Cartoon Network. I also recently wrote an episode of “Batman: Brave and Bold” that will premiere on CN later this year. Can’t give too many details about that one, yet. But it’s a fun romp that Batman comics fans will love!

BSR!: Big Shiny Robot! ran a few stories in support of the T-shirt Mirage put together for your cancer treatments, as well as the comic benefit Ryan Ottley and a few others came and did for you. Our readers are curious how you’re doing now and how all that worked out.

JB: It’s good! I was overwhelmed by the love and support the comics community showed me while I was fighting the disease. I truly appreciate BSR’s help in getting word out about those fundraisers. I had a scan right before Christmas a couple of months ago, and everything showed up good. I have exams and stuff every couple of months, but I pleased to report that the fight has been won.

Again, thank you to everyone who helped. You literally saved my life.

BSR!: Thanks for taking the time to talk to us!

Supergirl #50 hits stands tomorrow, be sure to go to your local comic book store and check it out!

To read a preview of the book, check out the one over at Newsarama.

Want to win a copy of a movie chock-full of Nazi Zombies?! Well, here’s your chance! Big Shiny Robot is giving away a copy of Dead Snow! You know you want to watching yards and yards of intestines ripped from bodies by a bunch damn Hitler-lovin’ undead Nazi bastards! So enter to win this copy now!

We are making it simple for you! Simply let us know what celebrity you would eat if you were a zombie! On Facebook, update your status to “I would eat [insert celebrity] for a copy of Dead Snow from Big Shiny Robot!” – of course, make sure you’re a fan of BSR! on Facebook! After you have done this, post a comment on our Facebook post for this story letting us know you have entered (or e-mail Arse-bot at tyson@bigshinyrobot.com) and you are good to go! Alternatively, you can post “I would eat [insert celebrity] for a copy of Dead Snow from @bigshinyrobot !” on Twitter!

The winner will be drawn at random this Friday and we will contact you to get your info and drop you your very own copy of Dead Snow in the mail to you!

Good Luck!

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