Buddha's Rhubarb Of Opinions On Media

Glib Reviews of movies recently available on Netflix (and other sources most likely) The Last King - Directed by Nils Gaup Are ancient Norwegians technically Vikings? I don't know or care. As far as I am concerned these fur and armour wearing bros who look like Thor, Loki, or Odin, are Vikings. Ahem... indeed, they are 'Vikings on Skis'. I am tempted to stop the review there, because what more impetus to watch this fast moving generic plotted but with awesome Vikings on Skis. In typical fashion with these sorts of historical action thingies, the King is killed. everyone thinks it a blonde haired ambitious (Marvel's Thor) Thor type Earl, but it turns out to be his evil Loki haired (aka Tom Hiddleston-y looks) bro. Anyhoo, the real evil guys are of course the church bros. Hint: you know the Bishop is evil when he demand that you being him the head of a baby. I don't see these points as spoilers, just fun things to watch out for. Have I mentioned the Viki...

Glib reviews of recent-ish DVD and/or Blurays Bone Tomahawk This is one weird movie, or really maybe it’s two weird movies or three. Weird western definitely, of the more bookish Jonah Hex kind of tales. Not the movie, the 70’s version of the Comics is my touchstone. Ol’ Jonah was grizzled as heck and dealt occasionally with some spookier creepier western elements, in a very pulp western type of way. The first few minutes of the film were all about Sid Haig’s ode to Slim Pickens in his portrayal of a deeply cynical murderer and brigand who stumbles across into a burial ground and horrors unseen but seared in your brain in a very verite styled opening. Maybe there are a few short films in this movie that I like more, the more I write about it, defomitely more than when I sat down, to give it a middlin’ review, but thinking about it in review as opposed to the more visceral vibe of right after the movie ends, literally with a thud. If you are a fan of slow moving wester...

Glib Reviews of recent DVDs and Blu Rays. Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens - Directed by JJ Abrams I might be the only person I know who didn’t see this in the theatre, at least of those I know interested in it. Not everyone is a Star wars fan. Anyway, for vague lazy reasons, I never bothered seeing this in the theatre. And I probably still could, despite it being on disc/streaming already, it’s still playing in theatres here and there I think. While I enjoyed it quite a bit, I found my expectation that most of my enjoyment would come mostly from nostalgia, (something you can’t underestimate in terms of cinematic pleasure;) to not quite be the case. A film that reminds (in a good way) of other films that energized and inspired you goes a long way to a positive review. I was more interested in the new characters, and the fact they fit the vibe of Star Wars whilst being actors of a far greater calibre actors than the old fogeys in this episode who in my opinion, really ...

Glib Reviews of Recent DVD/Blu Ray releases Mississippi Grind Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck Decent buddy flick/road picture from directorial tandem of Fleck and Boden. Ben Mendelsohn and Ryan Reynolds have some real bro-chemistry, as an older/younger gambling team. Mendelsohn’s Gerry really personifies someone who rarely knows when to quit while he’s ahead. His desperation and addiction to one more hand, one more dice roll, is palpable in pretty much every decision the character makes. Why Reynolds’ obnoxiously charismatic Curtis gloms onto Gerry as much as Gerry gloms on to him, is a bit more of a mystery, that is perhaps simply, their chemistry. He seems to like hanging out with Gerry, as much as anything, but both characters are self destructive and complete committment-phobes. There is a dynamite Blues soundtrack, and the montages of neon and nightlife from cities along the road from Iowa to New Orleans are well done, if a bit touristy. I really dug the ...

Glib Review of Ant-Man - Directed By Peyton Reed I liked a great many things about Ant-Man. The action scenes were good, the sfx I thought were quite good, the story was an interesting spin on a Marvel character I know very well, having been a comics nerd since the early 70’s. The changes in character from the comics to film universe are pretty reasonable. I thought Paul Rudd was great, as was Michael Douglas, and Evangeline Lily. I liked the family dynamic, and Bobby Cannavale is always great. The scene, not to spoil anything, with The Falcon is one of the best 'getting to know you' superhero fights on film. but.... but something about this movie bugged me. Groan.... True story though. I am having a hard time putting my finger on it. But the things I thought gummed up the works, were Lang’s sidekick ethnic stereotype buddies in crime. Michael Pena gave it his all, but a lot of the humour these guys were supposed to add fell flat for me, which messed up the pa...

Glib reviews Of recent DVDs The Wolfpack -Directed By Crystal Moselle Do you like documentaries about charming but creepy outsider weirdo artists or families? Who doesn’t? I keep thinking that film makers are going to run out of odd but relatable weirdo families to follow around. Lucky for me, and director Moselle, that hasn’t happened yet.  I don’t want to spoil it much, but the premise is simple. An alternative couple who find the world around them to be super toxic, decide to have a lot of kids, and to home school and raise the kids in public housing in the lower east side of Manhattan. They have seven kids, 6 boys who don’t seem to have much age difference between them, the oldest being maybe 20 or 21, it seems. They rarely venture outside, but of course make their own fun in the apartment. they do so by recreating their favourite movies from scratch, using quite ingenious home made costumes and props that bring to mind that cult hit from a few years ago, Be K...

Glib Reviews Of Recent DVD Releases Welcome To Me - Directed by Shira Piven A very sharp, very much with a feminine gaze satire on how the world deals with mental illness, fame, and wealth. Sounds like reality TV? Bingo. Kristen Wiig brings us Alice Kleig, a women filled with anxiety, rage, love and medication. In a familiar plot this very typical modern Oprah obsessed heavily medicated woman wearing her neuroses on her sleeve, wins the lotto.  She decides to fund her own infomercial style ‘talk show “Welcome To Me.” I really don’t want to give much away of the story, but I will say that it all unfolds with impeccable timing, and is alternately making you laugh, cringe, and cry, maybe all three at the same time. Alice is one of those very hard to love characters, her social awkwardness both charms and wears thin as she goes from catharsis to catharsis, kind of forgetting/taking for granted the people who helped her before she won the lotto, as she wins over most o...

Glib reviews Of movies still in The Theatre. Mad Max: Fury Road - Directed By George Miller Maybe it was all the hype, maybe not, but I probably didn’t think this film was as good as I had been told. Don’t get me wrong, it was very entertaining, and I will rate it fairly high on my dorky ‘outta 10’ scale, but simply for sheer entertainment value. Obviously the film passes the ‘Bechdel test’. But it is by no means some sort of Feminist masterpiece, nor is it some kind of misandry masterpiece as the mra nutters would have you believe. What I watched was an exciting, silly, high budget chase movie with lots of car crashes, ‘Road Warrior-esque’ bad guys, and suitably post-apocalyptic backdrop. The look was pretty consistent with the second two Mad Max Movies; Road Warrior (I do not acknowledge the whole mad max 2 nonsense anymore than I do, ‘a new hope nonsense’ [/grumpyoldperson]) and Beyond Thunderdome, which yes, counts. It’s quirky and fun, and also has a couple of ba...

Week two of my glib reviews of comics, from Wednesday April 15th Trying to do these quick glib little reviews more often, leading to eventually some more feature kind of writing on comics, maybe including some dissection of my own brief tenure as a cartoonist. also podcasting. watch this blog for more info, as I figure out what I am doing. This week in comic book panels... First up are the Convergence titles the main title improves a lot by just focussing on some heroes teaming up, dealing with the setup of their last crossover, and the painful transition issue # 1. This panel right at the end makes me happy, Deimos! can Skartaris be in the mix? please let warlord come back, and if I can't write it, give it to someone good.  Kingdom Come Superman trash talks Young Justice (the comic) Superboy. in the Convergence Superboy issue that was pretty enjoyable, capturing the fun that that version of Superboy was. In The Azrael Convergence title "Shadow of the Bat" re...

Glib Reviews Of New Movies! It Follows - Directed By David Robert Mitchell It Follows is a great example of how you can make a really decent film with little more than a solid concept, some punchy dialogue, over the top mood music, and a few great locations. The movie itself is a wee bit overhyped in my opinion. It is a very good little movie, but I wasn’t quite as blown away as some folks seem to be. There is little that is revolutionary, rather the movie turns a couple of horror tropes on their heads, and tosses in some really good acting from the young actors in the piece.  In the setup, we see a scantily glad young woman running from some unseen (to all but her) force following her. When we get to our heroes, who are tres modern, though often drive cool older cars. Maybe because: Detroit is the setting. Without spoiling things too much, what makes this film so clever is that it turns the teenage sex (if you do it, you die) movie tropes with some nice twists....

Glib reviews Of recent DVD Releases Boyhood - Directed by Richard Linklater (Always- Spoilers - it’s a review!) Now here’s a movie with a lot of hype. Some of it is deserved. The gimmick of the film doesn’t spoil the picture, but rather entices you to be interested. Linklater and all his actors met once a year for 12 years  and filmed a part of the story. This gave them a lot of time to get the story right, or make the story seem as innovative as the technique of filming.  Definitely the most interesting parts of the film are in the visual storytelling, the distinct sense you get of what its like to watch someone grow up. Some years, the only way you know it is a year later is that they mention the next grade, or the characters have moved. Kids grow in spurts, thus the next couple of years and boom it all seems in fast motion.  The first half of the film for my money should have been called Familyhood, or something slightly catchier. The main chara...

My Glib List of the Best Movies that I saw in 2014 As usual, the last few years, the sheer volume of DVDs that I watched has fallen off. This year may be my steepest decline since I started U of M film studies in 1984. The up side of this is that almost all the movies I saw this year were at least pretty good, worth a watch. I don’t recall turning anything off part way in, but maybe that happened.  I definitely fell asleep in a few viewings, including two films on many folks best of lists.  There were a few very disappointing films, some so ridiculously bad, that they are in my own personal “so bad its good” category. Also, as is my wont with these lists, the categories are my own vague loose categories, and I include links to my own earlier in the year reviews, where there are also trailers for each flick. My current opinion of the films may be warmer or colder, depending on whether I have re-watched them, or just thought, discussed and worked out a better or ...

Glib Reviews Of Recent DVD Releases Coherence Directed By James Ward Byrkit   Coherence starts out as a typical old friends with the usual complicated personal histories getting together for a big dinner kind of movie. Then the lights go out, and the movie becomes quickly a suspenseful sci-fi alternate universe flick. It does so extremely well with a whip smart script and great acting from an ensemble of familiar actors mostly of the guest star, third banana variety according to imdb. But that shows you how much talent there is out there, as everyone in this is solid. One of the best ensemble pieces I have seen in a few years, is Coherence.  The biggest name actors in the piece are in chronological hipness, Elizabeth Gracen - Amanda from Highlander Raven ! (nerd swoon), Xander from Buffy The series (Nicholas Brendan ,) who plays an actor named Mike who says he was in Roswell for four years in one of the best meta moments of the movie. Also on board is Max (Maury...