Fireside Tales: Update!

As promised, I have a couple more panels for you from my recently published Speedtrap story (free of lettering I might add)!

For anyone wanting to check out my Speedtrap tale digitally, the good people at FEC recently made it available as a high-resolution PDF. For only 99c you can purchase the anthology in full at the FEC store: http://www.feccomics.com/products/

During the launch of Fireside Tales, Dean Arcuri of Guyfi interviewed each creator for his podcast. The episode is available here: http://guyfi.podomatic.com/entry/2012-10-06T22_26_04-07_00
Each creator gives an in-depth and candid interview - essential listening for any comic-book fan!

Looper

This review has been a long time coming - ironically!
I'd like to start by commenting on the poster I chose to accompany this review. Mondo have triumphed once again, with this fantastic design by Martin Ansin. Ansin has truly captured the film within this complex design - I am somewhat in awe!

I saw Looper soon after it's release, having already garnered many a glowing review. Hopes were high for what was already being touted as a classic of it's genre. I was a big fan of Rian Johnsons first feature, Brick - and was looking forward to a return to form after the disappointing, The Brothers Bloom.

The year is 2044 and Loopers are part of the criminal underworld. Their particular purpose is to murder people from the future (as it's impossible to get away with murder in the year 2074). The man responsible for this criminal enterprise is known as The Rainmaker and he orchestrates proceedings from the future.
Head of his organisation in the past is Abe (Jeff Daniels), who has a team of Loopers under his command - one such Looper is Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
Things get tricky when Loopers (since retired) are sent back from the future to be killed - often by their younger selves. This happens occasionally to begin with - and is known to Joe and his team as, 'closing ones loop'. More loops are closed and it's not long before Joe is face to face (literally) with his future self (Bruce Willis)!

Looper is complex and intriguing - and like the best time-travel stories, plays with destiny and fate to thrilling effect. With a smart script, Johnson puts what I imagine was only a moderate budget up on the screen. The future setting is not unlike our own, thus grounding his characters in a feasible reality. There is plenty of style to be had with some fabulously choreographed sequences and camera work - however this never overwhelms the core story.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt reunites with his Brick director here and convinces (thanks in no small part to some unusual prosthetics) as a young Bruce Willis. Willis himself is very good, walking a thin line between hero and villain. The standout for me was Emily Blunt (almost as unrecognisable as Levitt) as single parent, Sara.

Despite my enjoyment I did have a few reservations. I didn't quite understand the purpose behind sending older Loopers back in time in the first place. The character of Joe poses no threat to The Rainmaker, until he is sent back. There's a bit of 'the chicken or the egg' thing going on here which leaves the film open to speculation and conjecture - not always a good thing.
Also, there are a couple of sequences with hover-bikes that didn't quite work for me - they spoil an otherwise slick-looking production.

I look forward to seeing it again. This is certainly a very intelligent and entertaining film which will undoubtedly reward with multiple viewings.

4/5


Poster image courtesy: www.mondoarchive.com
Artist: Martin Ansin

Moonrise Kingdom

Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Andersons seventh feature and I've seen all but one. In the past I've made little effort to see his films on the big screen, opting instead to catch them on DVD.

Anderson has a very distinctive style and approach to making movies - and there are similarities with each feature. 

Anderson shoots things very specifically, as if shooting a stage play - all be it forever in flux. His characters (like his colour pallet) are bold and playful. When looking at Andersons body of work the lasting impression is that of innocence - a bygone era of intrepid adventure and unconditional love. 

Assuming each Wes Anderson film is going to be the same is a trap I've fallen in to once too often!

Moonrise Kingdom is gorgeous and intoxicating! There is a familiarity to this world, yet the tale is wholly original.

Set in the 1960's, Moonrise Kingdom tells of the inhabitants of a New England island, specifically two young lovers named Suzy and Sam - played by Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman, respectively. 

Suzy and Sam live at opposite ends of the island but keep in touch via hand-written correspondence. They soon conspire to run away together - meeting half-way between their homes, before setting off on an adventure of their own.

Meanwhile, their families and friends set out in search for them - pooling their efforts before the big storm hits!

I found myself smiling and laughing a great deal throughout this movie. The two young leads are charming and the supporting cast excel in their smaller roles. Bill Murray (a main staple of Andersons movies) is a little more unlikable here, yet still essential. Frances McDormand IS the quintessential mother. Edward Norton plays sensitive Scout Master Ward, while Bruce Willis upholds the law, as Police Captain Sharp.

Charming as they are, the two leads have more to do than play love-struck adolescents. Each character is quite troubled. Not in a Michael Myers/Carrie type of way, of course - more of a realistic/deeply affected by circumstance kind of way.

This is the films biggest surprise. Despite it's whimsy, Moonrise Kingdom tackles some interesting issues. It reminds us all how we used to feel - how we still feel. In this particular context, it makes us wish how we too shouldv'e camped out at the local beach with our first love - as only the movies can do! 

It seems to me everyone has an opinion about when it's appropriate for others to grow, yet never an idea themselves. Essentially this film is about growing up - growing together, growing apart, growing old.

Surprise, surprise, there was more to this movie than initially met the eye. I'll be making a bee-line for his next, comforted by the fact I'll be seeing something familiar, yet new - not unlike hearing the latest from an old friend!

4/5

Poster image courtesy: www.collider.com