Mental Health Check

Off the top of my head I can name at least fifty people I want to execute this way.

(This is an image from the first issue of The Boys, by Garth Ennis And Darick Robertson)

Ride of the Valkyries

Woody Allen was right.

Station Ident.

DISCLAIMER:

The Station Ident is an idea we borrowed from WarrenEllis.com.
We love WarrenEllis.com.
We worship Warren Ellis as a god.
Both of them. 

The Film Of The Year

At the time of the theatrical release of M. Scorsese's "Shutter Island" I rushed to the cinema to watch it, dragging some friends along. It was really well done, perfect atmosphere, gripping plot, fine acting. Critics and viewers were talking about the "film of the year", and 2010 had not even started yet.

A little bit later another film opened in cinemas, with a few people claiming that it was actually better than "Shutter Island". At least they were few from my point of view. The film was R. Polanski's "The Ghost Writer". I tried to convince the same group of people coming along at a screening, but they did not look very enthusiastic about it. This was the reason that made me miss the theatrical release of the film. I thought of going alone, but, at least for me, this is a somewhat tough decision to make. I like to have someone to make conversation on the film after the end credits. I have been to the cinema alone only three times in my life. Two of them were with the Jim Jarmusch films "Coffee and Cigarettes" and "The Limits Of Control". The third was "The Bourne Supremacy". But all the above are beside the point. Anyway, time passed and I forgot about the film.

Then summer came, along with the anticipation of the new Christopher Nolan film, the famous "Inception", the new "film of the year". Watching it on the big screen was a bit of an adventure for me, and I finally managed to, after my arrival in the Netherlands. It was a really surprising experience, with its plot being a finely crafted complex mathematical equasion, and an almost immaculate job by Mr Nolan whose narrative techniques are constantly improving. And what is more, it is based on an oiginal idea and not on a book or another medium.

And today I managed to get a hold of a DVD of "The Ghost Writer". The film is perfect in creating a dark and sinister atmosphere, with the distinct touch of Roman Polanski. The directing is brilliant, the characters are colourful in a fine yet exaggerated way, and the storytelling filled with suspense.

In my opinion, this is the true Film of the Year up to this point. "Shutter Island" was good, but overly melodramatic in some parts. The flashback scenes were a bit overdone with special effects, where a more "traditional" approach woud be better, in my opinion at least. The plot was clever, but after a while it became somewhat predictable. And last but not least, I think Scorsese has done his job better in other films during his career. I observed some directing flaws during the movie, such as the shoting of the nazi soldiers in the concentration camp, and I am not referring to the number of shots fired by the american soldiers that is stated as a "goof". I would forgive these flaws if I was talking about a younger, less experienced director, which Martin Scorsese is not.

"Inception" on the other hand has fallen into the trap of overcomplicating the plot, while the basic idea is irreprehensible in its simplicity. Don't get me wrong, Nolan is perfect for handling complex plots. But in contrast to his other films, the plot is based on a scietifically fictional background, and, in order to advance it, scientific-looking but otherwise arbitrary means were devised so that dead-ends could be avoided.

But with "The Ghost Writer" Polanski managed to deliver a film that is gripping, full of suspense and flawlessly directed, always provoking the viewer as to how it is going to be concluded. And when the conclusion comes, it sure is unexpected. Overall, I consider the film underrated, compared to the other two. It is obvious that the other two films gained more attention due to extensive prerelease advertising, while Polanski's situation with the law in the USA and the shortsighted haters mostly on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean prevent his work of being appreciated as it should. I'm not willing to take part in this dispute, but as a wise guy once said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".

STATION IDENT

DISCLAIMER:
The Station Ident is an idea we borrowed from WarrenEllis.com.
We love WarrenEllis.com.
We worship Warren Ellis as a god.
Both of them.

Back Issue Hunt: Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis

Back in 2004 the Punisher was relaunched (I think this is volume 6) after Garth Ennis' and (mostly) Steve Dillon succesful run. The new Punisher book was launched as a MAX book, a marvel imprint for "mature" audience. Garth Ennis used the liberty the imprint provided to write maybe the best run in the character.

The first thing you observe is the violence. We're talking about hardcore stuff, shown with details. The characters that mostly appear here have ties to the military, the secret services and the IRA in one story. The themes used are indeed mature, as they have much to do with the war on terror, sexual slavery, even corporate fraud, and let's not forget your "typical" mafiosi.

The whole run consists of 60 issues, three one shots ("The Cell", "The End", "The Tyger") and two minis ("Born", "Barracuda"). And it's worth it. When you start reading "Born", the mini series that explored Frank Castles adventures in Vietnam, you see the horror of the war, the unreasonable violence and a man in his fantasy lan

d, knowing that it will soon end. "Born" establishes in a way that Frank was kind of a loony before the incident with his family in Central Park, and is a great introduction to what will follow.

It's really hard to pick a favorite story cause it's one of those rare times that even the worst of the bunch is great. But if I had to pick one maybe I would say "The Slavers", a story about sexual slavery. It's maybe the most touching story of all, the one that makes you think about it

for quite some time. It's by the way maybe the most violent but as it is writen you feel very sympathetic about the Punisher and sometimes you may feel that you would do the same.

End of the line Garth Ennis' Punisher MAX is a war story, about a man traumatized by a war that should have never happened.

Unfortunatly all the other writers who tried to follow Ennis (an imposible task in this occasion) missed the point and just wrote the most violent stories they could. The book ends with issue #75 and has also produced an annual and 4 or 5 more one shots. They are not bad stories any way you see them but they are not even close to what Ennis was doing, he really understood the character.

I don't have words to describe how great this run is. If you are an art persn, you can see the talent of artists like Lewis Larosa, Leonardo Gernandez, Doug Braithwaite, Goran Parlov, Richard Corben and others. There were several people that didn't like this cause it was too violent for their tastes, and some others who didn't want to face some hard truths that the stories are dealing with, or didn't want to see govermant and army officials act in the worst ways possible. Their loss. I believe that those who read this blog will not have a problem with that. Enjoy.

Banner for expanding the audience....

This is a banner I just made to upload at various sites, so that more people can see the truth that has been kept hidden from them for so many years... And so that they can "like" us on facebook.