I realized I haven't done one of these in a while, so here goes. Some are sort of old.
Movies-
Final Destination 3 - This was not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it has a fantastic soundtrack. Playing Love Roller Coaster right after a scene where tons of people die on a Roller Coaster? BRILLIANT.
Theater-
Beyond Glory - I actually saw this a while ago with my dad but forgot to write about it. It's a one-man show in which actor Stephen Lang plays eight different recipients of the Medal of Honor and tells their stories from their point of view. I enjoyed it and in some ways found it very moving. As a play, though, not the most memorable thing I've seen.
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Frost/Nixon - Contrast that with this one, which is easily one of the best plays I've seen in a long time. For those who don't know,
Frost/Nixon is about the infamous television interviews with David Frost, a British talk show host, and Richard Nixon following his resignation. The writing, directing, and acting are all very intelligent. The two leads own their roles and the script is tight and clever. It's funny without breaking the mood and it quotes Aeschylus with a legitimate purpose. One of the things I thought was reall cool was the way the show uses a television display as its only real backdrop. It reminds the audience that Richard Nixon was a man whose career was, in many ways, defined and bookended by television.
What's also interesting about the play is the generational gap it represents. The story is one that our parents' generation is very familiar; the outcome is one they already know. For me, on the other hand, it's much more of a thriller. What will happen next? Can the less-than-legitimate journalist Frost break Nixon? I won't spoil the ending in case you, like I, aren't very well-versed in somewhat recent American history.
Music-Squeeze w/Fountains of Wayne - I know Fountains of Wayne better than I know Squeeze, which is to say that the only Squeeze song I know (which I didn't even realize was them) is Tempted by the Fruit of Another. That said, both bands were awesome and now I need to go get a Squeeze album or two. Interestingly, the crowd was a lot older than I expected. I know Squeeze was big in the 80s, but I guess they've been sort of skipped over in this current 80s revival. The young people seem more interested in groups like New Order and Echo and the Bunnymen. Isn't there any place in the canon for a wacky rockabilly/new wave group?
ComicsUm, I don't even know... This is why I should write these more frequently. But I'll try.
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Avengers Forever - A ragtag group of Avengers are plucked from throughout time to save the universe from Destruction. Kang the conqueror guest stars, and he never fails to entertain. It doesn't hurt that it's written by Kurt Busiek, who is consistently great.
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Sentinel - Loser high school student with a knack for engineering discovers a broken-down sentinel (read: giant robot) and helps it repair itself. Along the way he makes new friends and learns about honesty and responsibility. This one's written by Sean McKeever, who also writes Spider-man Loves Mary Jane, which I love.
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Spider-man Loves Mary Jane, vol 1. - This actually also collects the two Mary Jane miniseries that came before the monthly SM<3MJ book. Think The OC meets Spider-man with wonderful anime-inspired art that still manages to look fresh and American. What's not to like?
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Spider-man: Blue - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, both of Heroes fame though this was way before that, take on Spider-man and tell the story of his earliest romantic encounters with Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane. Noticing a trend here?
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Ultimate Spider-man - I've read pretty much the entire series, and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. Bendis really has a knack for Peter Parker's voice, even though it's very different than the way he writes the same character (albeit older) in New Avengers. In many ways this reminds me of Spider-man Loves Mary Jane because of its focus on high school drama rather than just the fighting, but it's a slightly more well-round account and the ultimate universe is fun to explore, because it's so different from the Marvel universe you know.
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Ultimate X-men - This was good, but I didn't dig it as much as Spider-man.
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Blaze of Glory and Apache Skies - Two rough and tumble stories about the Western characters in Marvel's stable (if you'll pardon the pun). I love westerns so I really enjoyed these, even if Blaze of Glory is almost the same story as the Magnificent Seven.
-Bits of Stan Lee and Frank Miller's runs on
Daredevil - There's a reason these guys get the props they do. Both are great.
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Fear Agent - One of the cool things I get to do is look at submissions that artists and writers send us. Fear Agent was one of these. It's a story about an alcoholic intergalactic exterminator who also happens to be the last remaining member of the most badass military organization to ever exist on Earth. Some of the other books in writer Rick Remender's submission didn't really do it for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed
Fear Agent. His drunken, Samuel Clemens-quoting protagonist is endearing, as is the general tone reminiscent of Star Wars if it were told from the perspective of one of Han Solo's sketchier friends.
Man, this used to be so much easier when I could just list everything. I didn't realize how far behind I was. I'll do more later.
