Chronicles of Wormwood (2007) #2

Ennis gets downright playful with the way he uses narrative in this issue. It’s a relatively simple move, but it focuses the reader on the page for a determined amount of time, regardless of how fast he or she usually reads. It’s a nice little trick.

The issue opens with Danny bickering with his father—his father being Satan—juxtaposed with the Catholic Church’s latest problem. The Church has gone and made a “red-blooded Australian” Pope and Pope Jacko is a fantastic foil for the story. Of course, so far, he has nothing to do with Danny, he’s just over in Vatican City being realistic while the rest of the Church is being reprehensible.

Jimmy the rabbit finally gets page time this issue too. He’s central to the finish. He’s one of Ennis’s stranger characters; Garth Ennis making a cute, obnoxious bunny. Who knew he had it in him?

Chronicles of Wormwood (2007) #1

Stop me if you’ve heard this one… Jesus and the Anti-Christ are sitting in a bar and….

And there’s the pitch for Chronicles of Wormwood.

While Ennis does, on occasional, embrace his readers in terms of giving them something not just profound and good but also entertaining, Wormwood takes it to another level. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s contemporary. It’s got some filthy jokes and it’s got a talking bunny rabbit. It’s Garth Ennis talking about pop culture geeks and pop culture production.

I’ve read Wormwood before, of course, but I don’t think last time I realized how he’s talking about cable television shows and he’s basically creating the perfect property for it too.

Who wouldn’t want “Cheers,” only with Jay and Danny instead of Norm and Cliff?

The first person narration is what sells the comic. Ennis paces out all the exposition perfectly.

It’s an amazing comic book.

Doctor Strange: The Oath (2006) #5

For the finale, Vaughan tries to bring back the charm of the early issues and sort of does. Not enough to really matter, but he’s referencing it.

The last issue is more about Dr. Strange than anything else, with Vaughan looking at the relationship between medicine and magic. Given the villain, it makes for a good conflict for Strange. It’s so good, in fact, when Vaughan calms things down again and reverts back to the charm… there’s something missing. The series, which had a couple unsteady issues, found new ground. Then Vaughan all of a sudden backtracks.

There are a few call-backs to the earlier issues’ details, which makes The Oath feel like something of a relaunch. It’s Vaughan establishing Strange for a new reading audience (unfortunately, it didn’t take).

Martin also changes a little here, using his panel layouts to control reading time.

It’s good, but not great.

Doctor Strange: The Oath (2006) #4

Vaughan gets back on track this issue (it probably should have been combined with the previous one, of course). There’s not as much palpable charm, but Vaughan makes up for it with the return of Strange’s overconfidence.

It turns out—spoiler alert—the overconfidence is somewhat warranted (though Vaughan does play pretty loose with what Strange can and can not do against the series’s villains) and there are some great scenes. So great, Vaughan has to rely on a particular harsh, hard cliffhanger.

The issue moves so well, it hides the lack of actual content. There’s a little more flirting between Strange and Night Nurse, but not exactly character development. Wong has a handful of lines, but he’s sort just used as a sickly narrative device.

Vaughan does return some of it to Strange’s past, but really just as filler. He doesn’t need it, the issue’s excellent without the retcon.

Doctor Strange: The Oath (2006) #3

Vaughan is starting to lose a little of his steam. The majority of the action takes place resolving last issue’s cliffhanger. We learn the secret villain, after some red herrings—very short red herrings, almost like Vaughan only half-heartedly included them—and it’s not particularly exciting. It’ll probably be more exciting next issue but this one… is strangely pat.

It’s good and all, but Vaughan additionally reveals the secret villain to be working for drug companies. The last two issues was great chemistry and banter and this issue is evil drug companies? It would have been more revolutionary to have a non-evil drug company. No shit they’re going to stop people from curing cancer. In some ways, Vaughan’s approach is mildly insensitive. It’s a plot point, no more real than if they were curing warp speed sickness. It’s like cancer isn’t really “real.”

Some lovely Martin art too.

Doctor Strange: The Oath (2006) #2

Dr. Strange and friends head out to discover what’s going on—there’s really not much action, just going to the Bronx, then to a secret base. What Vaughan concentrates on (besides the humor) is the flashbacks to Strange’s past.

Vaughan’s read on the character is a lovable jerk. Wong’s got to know he’s a prick, but Wong still likes him because Dr. Strange is, all in all, a good guy. The flashbacks just show pre-magic, Dr. Strange was a selfish jerk. Post-magic… he’s an altruistic jerk. The best is when he’s whining he knows New York better than Spider-Man.

Wong points out navigating the boroughs still gives him trouble.

Wong shares that observation with Night Nurse, who’s along for the adventure and a great foil for Strange. Intentionally or not, Vaughan has recast Doctor Strange as a Hollywood classic, full of charm and banter.

It’s absolutely wonderful.

Purple Violets (2007, Edward Burns)

I’ve been avoiding seeing Purple Violets for almost four years–I thought it was going to be one of Burns’s lesser works. So, obviously, it shouldn’t be a surprise it’s his best film (it’s also his best film as a director).

I’m having some trouble trying to figure out how to start talking about it. It’s different from his usual approach to scripting, maybe because he has a clear protagonist here and it’s Selma Blair. It’s her film–even though the other three principals, Patrick Wilson, Burns and Debra Messing, get significant scenes to themselves.

For a while, there’s this juxtaposing of story lines–Blair and Messing opposite Wilson and Burns. Then the characters start crossing over and everything comes together in a completely organic way. Halfway through the film, the plot is still unpredictable. Even the last scene is, to some degree, unpredictable. It’s all incredibly delicate.

Blair’s great, which wasn’t a surprise. The surprise was Patrick Wilson. His part is a somewhat regular guy and he turns it into this constantly surprising, deep performance (Burns’s script helps). Burns gives maybe his best performance ever here. He’s kind of making fun of himself, but also not. Messing is another surprise. She takes what could be a sitcom harpy and turns it into a lovely performance.

And Donal Logue–as a Brit–is great.

The PT Walkley score and the William Rexer photography are amazing.

From the first shot–thanks to Walkley and Rexer–it’s clear Burns probably has something phenomenal here.

Then he delivers.

Sick (2007, Mike Rymer)

Sick shows being earnest doesn’t necessarily mean being good. A lot of other films prove this point, but Sick does it in about fifteen minutes, so at least it’s not time-consuming.

Director Rymer knows how to compose shots—Sick looks great, its production values are quite impressive. He tries hard to write a good script but fails. He’s similarly bad with actors. Both the film’s leads, Alan Breck and Joanna Alexander, get worse as the narrative gets more complicated. There’s also a big twist in the film, at the ten minute mark or so, which fouls up not just the actors, but also how much patience one can have with Rymer.

Great makeup effects though and Alexander is mostly good.

Breck, however, goes from mediocre to bad to worse.

Sick’s first three minutes are as good as it gets, then it’s all downhill. The final scene is particularly awful.

Not Recommended

CREDITS

Written and directed by Mike Rymer; director of photography, Sam Garwood; edited by Rosa Bond; music by Innes Johnston; production designer, Emma Saunders; produced by Christine Hartland.

Starring Alan Breck (Brian), Joanna Alexander (Amanda), Michael Selwood (Ben), Natasha Bain (Dr. Cassey), David Roylance (Dr. Porter) and Peter Wear (Dr. Wormley).


RELATED

OTHER 2007 RELEASES

3:10 to Yuma (2007, James Mangold)

Another remake where they credit the original screenwriter as a contributing writer in order not to call it a remake.

Halsted Welles wrote the original 3:10 to Yuma’s screenplay… not sure why Mangold and the producers thought Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, writers of some vapid action movies, would match him.

I assume Brandt and Haas added the stuff where Logan Lerman (as Christian Bale’s kid, who tails along while Bale takes prisoner Russell Crowe to catch a prison train) is horrified to see how Chinese laborers were treated.

Yuma’s actually—with the exception of Marco Beltrami’s awful score—rather well-produced. Mangold composes the Panavision frame well. It’s not a significant film, but a competent one.

With the exception of the acting, of course. There’re so many people around Bale and Crowe, it barely feels like the two are supposed to be acting off each other. Worse, Bale’s terrible. The film opens with Lerman acting circles around him.

Mangold casts about half the film well and the other half awful. Gretchen Mol is Bale’s wife (and the only time he’s the better actor is in their scenes together). Peter Fonda’s weak, so’s Kevin Durand. However, Dallas Roberts, Alan Tudyk and Vinessa Shaw are all strong. Mangold’s got a surprise actor at one point and it livens things up. Yuma’s boring and not in a good way. Without a dynamic performance to match Crowe’s, it drags.

Well, Ben Foster’s pretty dynamic… but he’s not opposite Crowe.

It’s nearly decent.

★½

CREDITS

Directed by James Mangold; screenplay by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard; director of photography, Phedon Papamichael; edited by Michael McCusker; music by Marco Beltrami; production designer, Andrew Menzies; produced by Cathy Konrad; released by Lionsgate.

Starring Russell Crowe (Ben Wade), Christian Bale (Dan Evans), Ben Foster (Charlie Prince), Dallas Roberts (Grayson Butterfield), Peter Fonda (Byron McElroy), Gretchen Mol (Alice Evans), Alan Tudyk (Doc Potter), Kevin Durand (Tucker), Vinessa Shaw (Emma Nelson) and Logan Lerman (William Evans).


RELATED

OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY JAMES MANGOLD
OTHER 2007 RELEASES

Phonogram (2006) #6

I’m going to regret making this statement…

The last issue of Phonogram is great.

Gillen retroactively pretends the series was about people and he sells it effectively. Instead of all his music-based “modern fantasy” special vocabulary, he just tells a story about a egoist who ends up doing something good and helping people. It’s fantastic.

But, because I can’t resist—the first half of the issue is spent on the cult set from An American Werewolf in Paris. Not sure if Gillen or McElvie is responsible for that particular homage. Even with that derivative setting though, the action taking place is fantastic. It’s like Gillen had to talk himself into actually writing a good story (if this series were good, overall, it would have ran four issues—a good first, then basically issues four through six as published).

So, while I don’t recommend the series, this issue is singular.