“As you get older, you seem to just get more ideas.”
– Todd Solondz
Todd Solondz had to leave the Toronto International Film Festival early to return to one of his international teaching engagements. I saw his latest film, Dark Horse, on the second to last day of the festival, so was not able to get a Q&A in person. However, he was happy to make time to speak by phone. Across a 15 hour time difference, his distinct voice came on the line via a clear connection to Singapore where he was teaching a film class.
Given the subjects he often deals with, Solondz has a surprisingly warm and soft spoken voice. He had a sympathetic child molester character in Happiness, and in Palindromes a group of religious fundamentalist killing abortion doctors, and their families in the crossfire.
Dark Horse is a comparatively less volatile film, though still deals with characters consistent with Solondz’ ouvre. Abe (Jordan Gelber) lives with his parents, collects toys and slacks off at the office job his father (Christopher Walken) gave him. Abe meets Miranda (Selma Blair) at a wedding and proposes to her after a week of awkward non-dating. He is unshakable despite Miranda’s morose apathy, not just towards him but towards life.
It’s a comedy, by the way. Those awkward interactions between Miranda and Abe, Abe’s total confidence in his lifestyle and his contentious relationships with coworkers and families remind one of Solondz’ breakthrough film Welcome to the Dollhouse. Hopefully Dark Horse will secure distribution soon so everyone can experience what Toronto got to preview at the festival.
Before the final batch of DC’s New 52 hit stores, every issue had officially sold out at the distribution level. The order for a second printing of all 52 titles was given before the latest batch had even gone on sale. Justice League #1 remains the best selling comic of the year. Nearly a dozen comics have sold over 100,000, while Batman #1 and Action Comics #1 have broken 200,000.
Catwoman was a very sexually driven piece, ending with a splash page of Batman and Catwoman mid-intercourse. Some have called it amazing and artful, most are calling it an attack on feminism and females in comics. More outrage came from Red Hood because Starfire was changed into a busty nymphomaniac with little regard for individual humans, a major change from her past character. I enjoyed Catwoman, and sit on the artful side of the argument. I also highly enjoyed Red Hood, but I’m not sure how approving I am of Starfire’s changes. Hopefully they will be part of what has been promised to be explained in issue #2.
“I like the alternative dark humor.”
– Paul Lieberstein
I love talking to guys like Paul Lieberstein. Currently he is a writer/producer/actor on the hit NBC sitcom The Office. As Toby, the laconic and divorced human resources director of Dunder Mifflin he is constantly butting heads with the idiotic Dunder Mifflin Regional Manager Michael Scott [played by Steve Carell]. Lieberstein is already responsible for many of the series best episodes such as “Dwight’s Speech” which includes Dwights Hitleresque rant and “The Client” where the office workers have a table read of Michael’s secret screenplay. But I first saw Lieberstein’s name as a writer/producer on the primetime cartoon series King of the Hill which is one of the greatest shows ever on television.
The next round of DC’s New 52 has just hit stores, making it a perfect time to recap last week. Who knows, you might get to the store and decide to pick up one of last week’s issues today. That’s if you can find them. While most reviews of the comics have been pitched somewhere between ‘mediocre’ and ‘alright,’ the comics themselves are flying off the shelves. Comic sales all around are being boosted by the popularity of the New 52. This sudden burst of interest is likely to die out when we get to the second issues. There is just something about owning a first printing of a first issue that really gets the nerd juice flowing. Anyways the lesson here is, if you think you want one of the new comics, and it’s available, get it now; it likely won’t be there when you change your mind (as happened to me with Superboy #1).
Putting the critical vs. commercial success of the comics aside, many of the issues took to handling lingering problems in the DC Universe. For those readers expecting to come in to an entirely new reboot, it is a bit of a shock to learn there is still so much backstory being consolidated in the wake of Flash Point. Issues like Green Lantern #1 come straight into an already active story line, and are not as friendly for new readers. Whereas Batwoman, possibly the best drawn of the available New 52, can only tackle fragments of the active story because they needed to catch readers up. (Which I will note, they did very nicely.)
Some of the comics are handling it better than others, a fine example being Suicide Squad. After so much outrage over Harley Quinn’s outfit on the cover, the comic turned out to be a pleasant surprise for many. It was one of the few that felt like a real origins story, making it accessible to even the newest readers. Aside from the unnecessary body trimming performed on Amanda Waller, this was my favorite comic of the lot.
As if the release of so many simultaneous first issue comics was not enough, it seems DC intends to keep pushing the boundaries. Almost as if in response to Marvel’s introduction of an ethnic Spider-Man, DC has announced a new openly gay Mexican as an edition to the Teen Titans. Miguel Jose Barragan, or Bunker, is DC’s first flamboyantly gay superhero, and unlike most homosexual superheros, Bunker embraces his sexuality at all times.
That wasn’t the end of the week’s news from DC either. Moving forward with the recent trend, DC Universe Online will be getting a free-to-play model. Starting in October, DCU will be joining the ranks of the free-to-play MMO.
With all the buzz around DC in the last few weeks, it’s odd to think that any DC related news is being held back. But it turns out that Christopher Nolan isn’t as eager to share his story as the rest of the DC world. Word is that Nolan is refusing to write the ending to The Dark Knight Rises on paper. Wanting to keep the internet safe from ending ruining spoilers posted by evil twits with nothing else to do with their time (a.k.a. people like me), Nolan is only sharing the ending verbally with select cast members. While this is probably a great idea, I’m going to continue to assume it involves Bane breaking Batman’s back, or critically injuring him in another way (at least that’s how it should end).
The constant coverage of any talk surrounding the new Evil Dead has left us knowing only one thing for sure, we have no idea what to expect. First it was thought to be an addition to the series, and then a reboot of the first movie. Now the latest reports say that it won’t even have the character Ash Williams. I’m kind of pleased to hear that Bruce Campbell will forever remain our Ash, but if Ash isn’t the lead in the reboot, can it even be called a reboot? Right now it’s looking more like a modern revisiting rather than a direct reboot or remake.
Kirby Dick has fired a massive cannonball in the war against censorship. It’s called This Film Is Not Yet Rated, and it came into being when the Oscar nominated documentary filmmaker decided to call the Motion Picture Association of America out on their bullshit lies. He hired a private investigator to determine who the MPAA ratings and appeals boards are actually composed of. It turns out that almost nothing the MPAA has said about their members is true.
“I think it looks like no other comic out there.”
– Matt Fraction
Less than a decade ago, Matt Fraction was a young comics creator writing graphic novels like Mantooth and The Last of Independents. Today he’s an Eisner Award winning creator and one of Marvel’s top talents, writing Invincible Iron Man and Thor in addition to this year’s big crossover event miniseries Fear Itself.
This year sees the return of one of his most well known and beloved creations. Casanova is more of a cult hit than anything, but it’s an intense and devoted cult that has followed the book over its two miniseries. The third miniseries, Casanova: Avaritia, features art from award-winning creator Gabriel Ba (The Umbrella Academy and Daytripper), who drew the first miniseries (and whose twin brother drew the second one). We spoke with Fraction by phone in advance of the first issue’s release on September 7.
“They can certainly attack me when I’m not there.”
– Al Franken
Man I love this job! After three long years of wooing I finally got a chance to talk with the legendary comedian Al Franken. After many successful years as a standup comedian and Saturday Night Live writer, Franken has released a number of hysterical and popular books such as Why Not Me? and Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot. When Franken released Lies and the Lying Liars in 2004, esteemed filmmakers Nick Doob and Chris Hegedus followed and him and documented the experience. Now its all been put together in the film Al Franken: God Spoke.
