Secret Identity--What's New?

Come See Me At Connecticut Horror Fest Today!

8/23/2014

by Brian LeTendre

I am super excited to be a part of the first annual Connecticut Horror Fest this Saturday August 23rd!

From 10AM until 6PM, I‘ll be at the Courtyard Marriott (63 Grand Street) in Waterbury, CT along with some fantastic horror guests. IronE Singleton (Walking Dead) will be there, along with Tony Moran (Halloween), Micah Sloat (Paranormal Activity) and more than twenty additional horror guests from movies, TV books and comics. Tickets are only $20!.

I will have copies of both Courting the King in Yellow and Lovecraft’s Curse available at the show, and I’ll have a limited number of “The Uguborth” prints for sale as well. Each item is $10, but I’ll be offering a bundle of both books and the print for $25.

If you are in the Waterbury area, come down to the show and hang out with a bunch of fellow horror fanatics!

Review--Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

8/15/2014

by Sarah Hodge-Wetherbe

Considering the rumors and dark prophecies surrounding the Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, I had pretty much zero expectations of this movie. I’ve been a fan of the brothers since I was 12 years old and watching their late 1980’s cartoon. The thing is, I’ve never left the fandom. I’m 37 and I still get a little thrill when I re-watch the 1990’s live action film (That line from Splinter “all fathers care for their sons” still gets me a little misty eyed to this day). I love the energy and the grittiness of the 2007 CGI movie. Hell, I even love the horrible cheesiness of Vanilla Ice rapping “Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!” So terrible, but so fantastic at the same time.

This film however, I went into for one reason. I’ll be honest. I teach a panel at conventions about the history of the TMNT. I’m teaching it on Sunday Aug 17, at InCONceivable in Northampton, Ma. The very home city of the late Mirage Studios, in fact. I had to see it to include it in the panel. The fact a friend offered free movie passes to go only sweetened the deal. Mr. Bay wouldn’t be getting a dime from me.

So was it because of the extremely low expectations that I left surprised at this film? It’s not good, not even good for a turtles movie. But it wasn’t the horrible train wreck I was expecting. It had moments that made me laugh. And I didn’t hate Megan Fox.

Oh don’t misunderstand, she’s not April O’Neil. Not at all. But she’s never given a chance to BE April O’Neil. She’s written as the focus for every sex joke in the film. (In the first five minutes, we have Fox bouncing on a trampoline in a tank top. Right there, you know what the tone around her character is going to be). She’s given a few April-like things to do. But she’s never given any real chance to try to inhabit the character. Everything about her is told and not shown.

But Fox obviously is trying, and she does her best with what she’s given. And that seems to be the problem with the human characters in this film, the worst being April. Most of them are set pieces with very little to do. Shredder only becomes really menacing when he puts on the armor, and that’s only because they basically turn him into Megatron. (Complete with the annoying Bay transformers sound effects)

The bad guys plot makes little sense. They turn the foot into a gun-toting band of mercenary terrorists that could have come from any standard action film. There’s actually very little ninjitsu in this ninja movie. Karai is there for no real reason. She does almost nothing in the whole film but stand around and shout things. The main scientist is a bait and switch character, created for this film, who seems to have very little more to do than be creepy. Hell, we already have a classic turtles character that could have done just that- Baxter Stockman- but they choose to create a whole new person who really doesn’t seem to have much of a purpose.

Even Splinter, my favorite character of the franchise, loses a lot in this film. Never mind the fu-man-chu mustache (really Bay, we’re really doing a Mickey Rourke in Breakfast at Tiffany's here?), there’s no time in the film to really establish his relationship with the turtles. He talks to April about deciding to be the turtles father at one point, but we never really see it. There’s no tenderness, no fatherly moments. There’s a scene where he punishes them for sneaking out that was funny, but it’s never balanced with anything that shows them as a family. Again, we’re TOLD they are, and so we’re expected to feel the turtles anguish when Splinter is put into jeopardy. It’s sad that a puppet showed emotion 24 years ago better than a million dollar CGI motion capture program today.

And maybe that’s part of the problem. I know Splinter is a sewer rat, but man he looks grotesque in this. It was as if the designer thought he was working on a boss for Resident Evil, and only pulled back the design at the last minute.

So what saves this movie from train wreck status? The Turtles themselves. The actors that brought them to life really seemed to understand what these characters were about. Every time they’re on screen they interact as teenage brothers would, and it’s a pleasure to watch. They’re funny, they’re at once both insecure and bold, and each shows their personality without making a caricature out of it. Oddly, they are the most human characters in the film.

My one big complaint is how Michaelangelo’s sexualizing of April. I can believe a teenage boys (or a teenage turtles) crush on a pretty lady but it’s taken too far with a few lines that go right up to the edge of George Carlin style lines. There’s a barely disguised erection joke that made me wince.

That’s another issue the film seems to have. At parts, it seems that its for kids. Pizza jokes, fart jokes, and cowabunga’s are to be found. But in other places: we have hostages, semi-automatic weapon toting terrorist bad guys shooting into crowds, and the before mentioned adult humor. It’s like the film can’t decide if it’s for the grown up fans, or the kids now just watching the Nickelodeon reboot. And in trying to please both, it fails badly. Sticking a reference in about the 1994 TMNT Christmas album is cute, but it doesn’t make for plot.

The thing about this film is, there are places where you can see what we COULD have had. If a better director was at the helm. If the stink of Michael Bay wasn’t all over this thing. If the people writing the script had wanted to write a really fun, really well-crafted film, rather than just phoning in some pop culture references. There’s so much potential here, its actually almost WORSE than if it was a complete train wreck.

My advice: Save your money. It might be worth a curiosity watch when it comes out on DVD (and you can get it for free from your local library) but even those bright moments when we see what we might have gotten for 120 minutes isn’t worth the price of the ticket.

Me, I’m going to go get out my old DVD boxset and watch the secret of the ooze again. At least that movie was MST3K fodder. This one isn’t even bad enough to be good again.

Why The Marvel Cosmic Universe Probably Won't Be The Next 'Star Wars'--At Least Not Right Now

8/3/2014

by Brian LeTendre

Given the blockbuster success of Disney/Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend, it will be very interesting to see how Guardians and the rest of the Marvel cosmic universe are handled moving forward.

Guardians of the Galaxy is an amazing, sci-fi, swashbuckling adventure that showcases some of the great characters, worlds and storylines the Marvel cosmic universe has to offer. One could make the argument that in its totality, the Marvel cosmic universe should be considered in the same conversation as Star Wars.

Or at least, it could be, if Disney wanted it to be. All the pieces are there.

But I don’t think we’ll ever see the Marvel cosmic universe as fully realized as it could be. Because the same company that owns Marvel also owns the Star Wars universe. And from a business standpoint, making the Marvel cosmic universe as big as it could be would mean bringing it into direct competition with Star Wars.

Despite many fans’ reaction to the prequel trilogies, there’s no denying that Star Wars is still a cultural phenomenon, and a household name. It’s also clear that Disney has big plans for Star Wars, from the new movies, to the new animated series, to the Marvel comics that were just announced at SDCC a couple weeks ago.

Don’t get me wrong--this is a very good problem for Disney to have. But as a Marvel fan, I think it will result in the relegation of the Marvel cosmic universe to just another corner of the Marvel cinematic universe. Because it it’s just one part of the Marvel U, then it doesn't have the potential to negatively impact the success of future Star Wars endeavors. We'll get our Guardians sequel in 2017, and they'll finish out the Thanos arc and then move on to Civil War. The cosmic universe will fade to the background as Civil War is not a cosmic tale.

In this situation, it might actually be better if Disney didn't own Star Wars. Because you can bet your bottom dollar they’d be pushing to make the Marvel cosmic universe their Star Wars universe.

At the end of the day, I’m so happy that Guardians of the Galaxy exits, and that it was this good, that I would be fine if that’s all we ever got. But it’s hard not to think about the potential of that universe when the glimpse of it we just got is so darn great. I mean, think about the Annihilation series, and how epic those stories are. You could do seven or eight movies off of the first Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest alone. Of course, there is that small problem of Fox having the rights to Silver Surfer and Galactus, but that could be worked around.

Now, in the almost 0% chance that the next few Star Wars movies don’t do so well, or the brand suddenly dips in popularity, Disney can at least rest assured they have the Marvel cosmic universe waiting in the wings.

And of course, since they own both universe, they could just decide to connect them together, right?

Right?

I mean, stranger things have happened.

SDCC 2014: Action Lab Brings PUPPET MASTER Back To Comics

7/28/2014

by Brian LeTendre

So much news comes out of SDCC every year that it can be a bit overwhelming. New series announced, tidbits of info leaked at panels, footage of upcoming movies and shows--it all tends to blend together at some point.

But there are a few things each year that really catch my attention, and Action Lab announced one of them this week--they are bringing the classic horror franchise Puppet Master to comics.

If you grew up watching b-horror movies like I did, then you're definitely familiar with the Puppet Master series. If not, here's the original trailer for the first movie.

Puppet Master gained a huge cult following when it was released direct to video, and there have been several sequels in the franchise over the years. there was aeven a six-issue limited comic series published by Eterntity in 1990.

And now, Action Lab is bringing the popular horror series back. The series will be written and edited by Shawn Gabborin (Fracture, Snowed In) with different artists chosen by series creator Charles Band himself.

I can't wait to see what Action Lab does with this property, especially given the horror titles they've put out under the Danger Zone banner the past couple years (Final Plague, The Trip, Zombie Tramp, Night of the '80s Undead, etc.)

I'll be talking aboiut this series in the future. In the meantime, you can keep up to date with all of Action Lab's news over at www.actionlabcomics.com.

Get Ready For ConnectiCon 2014!

7/7/2014

by Matman

It is hard to believe we are now mere days from ConnectiCon 2014 and the excitement is mounting! If you are on the Facebook page you will see that everyone is getting excited, posting their plans and pictures of what they will be wearing. But ConnectiCon isn't just about costumes and cosplay... it's so much more. Expect everything!

Jam packed in the four days you'll be able to experience almost 700 different events including panels, meet and greets, gaming exhibitions and so much more.

As we get closer to the event you will need to check the website HOURLY for all the guests that will be announced and the announcement of even more events!

To see the site go to www.connecticon.org and friend them on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2216035481

See The Films That Inspired STAR WARS

7/2/2014

by Brian LeTendre

Star Wars fans should get a real kick out of this. A gentleman by the name of Michael Heilemann has put together a pretty amazing film that examines the cinematic influences behind George Lucas' Star Wars. The film is part of a research project for an ebook Heilemann is writing called Kitbashed, and while its a work in progress, you can actually view the film so far right now in the player above.

If you're into DVD extras like I am, this is fascinating. You can also head over to the Kitbashed site and check out shorter videos and articles that take individual pieces of the film and look at their influences.

Meet 'Boxey 'At Connecticon

6/25/2014

by Matman

We are only a few weeks away from ConnectiCon; one of the most amazing shows you will ever attend! if you like anime, manga, web comics, video games, table gaming, cosplay and well.... just having fun with like minded people, then this is a show you can't miss.

One of the special guests this year is actor Noah Hathaway who made his name as Boxey on the greatest TV show of all time; the original Battlestar Galactica. A few years later he rode a BIG dog in the classic film 'The NeverEnding Story'. Since those big roles he had acted in some cult films like 'Troll', had a career as a kickboxrer, taught dance and now customizes motorcycles when he is not acting.

And at ConnectiCon, you get to meet him! Happening July 10th to the 13th at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, CT. go to the website at www.connecticon.org and see when and where Noah will be appearing.

And Noah has already agreed to chat with me at the show so if you can't get there to meet him, I hope I can help bring him to you.

Punk Rock In White Plains?

6/7/2014

by Matman

The Ramones hols a very special place in my heart! Like KISS, the Ramones were one of the first bands I got into as a young kid mostly because of their image...more than the music. That came with time. When I think of this amazing band I think of two things; the film 'Rock N Roll High School' and the now classic cover of their 4th album, 'Road To Ruin'!

Next week at the New York Comic Fest in White Plains, New York you can meet the artist of the cover to 'Road To Ruin', John Holmstrom! John's association with 'punk rock' didn't end with this cover... he also was the founding editor of 'Punk Magazine' which was the only place that seem to take bands like the Ramones, The New York Dolls and later on the Sex Pistols with any legitimacy and given them credit for the music they created.

Following the end of the magazine, John turned his talents to Scholastic 'Bananas' magazine featuring his characters Joe and Bosco. Later John was an editor at High Times. and did writing for Spin, Videro Games and Heavy Metal.

Currently John is promoting his book, 'The Best Of Punk Magazine' and as mentioned above... will be appearing at New York Comic Fest 2014. You can find out more at www.nycomicfest.com.

And without blackmail or teeth pulling, John has already agreed to chat with me at the show, so get ready...this should be fun!

Godzilla - The Review

5/20/2014

by Matman

For the past six months we have been treated to the trailer for 'Godzilla' and like so many... i thought it looked like it could be the greatest movie EVER! Well after a long wait I (and millions of others) was finally able to see it and my thoughts? Not bad...

First off, it is impossible to make a 'Godzilla' movie that looks and feels ultra real and have it have any substance. After all, the star is big, green and smashes stuff! Lot's of stuff. Not a lot of depth to the character at all. So to fill in the time, there has to be a story, characters, situations and maybe some lovie lovie to fill in the time. And for many folks that is the problem with this movie

'Godzilla' is a great movie; a visual spectacle that has a lot of action, albeit not a ton of monster action. Godzilla doesn't appear nowhere near the time like he did in the old classic ones with a rubbery cuteness because the mass audiences don't wanna see 'TOHO', so we need to enjoy what we got.

The cast was top notch including Brian Cranston and Ben Watanabe, but the lead guy Aaron Taylor - Johnson looked great, had a commanding prescience but acted incredibly flat.

If you are expecting the greatest film of all time, you will be very disappointed. If you are wanting a fun monster smash up with some cool stuff like fire breath and much collateral damage, go see this one.

Matman Rating - 3.5 out of 5 nuclear baby eggs!

Review--Amazing Spider-Man 2

5/17/2014

by Brian LeTendre

I am a huge fan of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. Huge. Spider-Man has always been my favorite superhero, and I cried tears of joy when I saw the original Spider-Man in 2002. I was not on board with the reboot of the franchise, and when I did see Amazing Spider-Man, I thought it lacked the heart and soul that the Raimi trilogy had for me. I resigned myself to the fact that this new direction was not for me, and I was content to have the original trilogy.

But as a Spidey fan, I am always going to see a new Spider-Man movie. After hearing the lukewarm reviews for Amazing Spider-Man 2, I went into it with no expectations whatsoever, other than wanting it to be an entertaining movie.

Which is why I was really surprised at how much I loved Amazing Spider-Man 2. More specifically, I was surprised at how much I loved Andrew Garfield as both Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Garfield, Emma Stone and director Marc Webb took a mediocre story and made it something better.

There are moments in this film that are better than anything in the previous movies, and director Marc Webb does something in Amazing Spider-Man 2 that not only hadn’t really been done in the Spidey movies, but hadn’t really been done in superhero movies as far as I can remember.

See, in most superhero movies, there is a scene where the hero interacts with an everyman--sometimes a child, sometimes an adult, but an “average Joe.” What makes Amazing Spider-Man 2 special is that Spider-Man’s connection to the people he protects is woven throughout the film. There are several scenes with Spidey interacting with kids, cops, firefighters, and more. He truly is a hero of the people, and the genuine interactions he has with them are the highlights of the film for me.

You can tell that Andrew Garfield loves playing Peter Parker and Spider-Man. And the chemistry between him and Emma Stone is fantastic. But I really think it’s director Marc Webb’s decisions to include the smaller moments in this movie that holds it all together. It’s those moments that I love about Peter Parker.

So, I’m happy to say I loved Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I’m now really looking forward to the third one. I may even go back to the first movie and give it a second chance.

4 out of 5 It's the Little Things

<<Previous

Come See Me At Connecticut Horror Fest Today!

Review--Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Why The Marvel Cosmic Universe Probably Won't Be The Next 'Star Wars'--At Least Not Right Now

SDCC 2014: Action Lab Brings PUPPET MASTER Back To Comics

Get Ready For ConnectiCon 2014!

See The Films That Inspired STAR WARS

Meet 'Boxey 'At Connecticon

Punk Rock In White Plains?

Godzilla - The Review

Review--Amazing Spider-Man 2

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