by Brett Warner
Every other Friday night, T.J. Byrnes Restaurant and Bar in Manhattan’s Financial District hosts a modestly produced karaoke night. The small, unassuming Irish pub is tucked away behind a towering housing project, and on any such night, nearby residents might hear the echoes of drunken laughter or the faint opening bass notes of The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” For Rutgers professor Fred Solinger and bookstore manager George Carmona, though, this is not just about getting plastered and mumbling through a semi-coherent rendition of “Copacabana”— it’s turf warfare.
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by Daniel Robert Epstein
It has been a long journey for Darren Aronofsky and his film, The Fountain. This venture has been over six years long but film fans can rejoice because The Fountain is finally being released. It is one of the most emotional and moving films (not just science fiction) I have ever seen. The Fountain is confusing at first but soon you are deeply involved in Tom [played by Hugh Jackman], the scientist/conquistador/space traveler’s journey to find his what he considers his soul.
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by Matt Dunbar
While the holiday season provides an endless bounty for Sinbad fans the world over, action movie nerds such as myself loathe the winter solstice and its attendant festivities. Despite the perfect Christmas-themed taglines for a Dolph Lundgren vehicle (“This Christmas, Earth has no time for peace…”), December usually means a dry spell for protracted car chases, overwrought explosions, and cheesy one-liners delivered with Central European accents.
Thankfully, there is one historical exception to this holiday action drought. Alongside George Bailey’s exuberant dash through Bedford Falls and Ralphie’s ill-fated target practice, nothing evokes the yule-tide spirit more than the sight of Alan Rickman’s flailing arms as he falls to his death off Nakatomi Towers. With due apologies to Lethal Weapon loyalists, the first Die Hard is the best Christmas movie to ever incorporate cocaine, automatic gunfire and lots of dead East Germans.
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by Alex Dueben
“She really was a manifestation of my inner thoughts”
– Jen Wang
Jen Wang first surfaced crafting short comics that appeared online and in the Flight anthologies, but her debut graphic novel Koko Be Good is the first work of hers that most people will have encountered. It’s a beautifully illustrated book that centers around three characters, each of whom is tackling, in their own way, what it means to be “good.”
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by Damon Martin
With the end of 2010 rapidly approaching it’s time to take stock of the year in the comic book world. From epic events like Blackest Night/Brightest Day, to indie comics that everyone raved about, to the superheroes that died and were born again, a lot of action went down over the last 12 months.
Here are a handful of selections that sum up what I believe are the best comics of 2010 along with a few honorable mentions that I hope everyone gets a chance to check out!
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By Edward Kelly
Hank and Britt made their promises. For Hank, it was an understanding with his ex-wife that he would move on. He tore down the evidence he had against Ocean Beach’s movers and shakers and put up a new target: the head honcho behind it all. Britt, meanwhile, promised to be a father to his ex-fiancée’s baby, no matter if the kid is biologically his or not. He asked her to wait until he gets out of prison and watch his dog in the meantime. She agrees.
With their personal lives wrapped up, Britt climbs into the beat up truck and Hank drives him to prison. The two, in typical Terriers fashion, joke about not wanting to be late for Britt’s “first day.” As they reach a crossroads, Hank offers a proposition: what if they hang a left, hit the freeway, motor down to Mexico and spend the rest of their days on the lam. All those promises they just made to their respective women and the community at large? Forget ’em. Mexico or prison. Those are the options. And then: end credits.
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