The ’60s gave us “in-crowds,” “be-ins” and “love-ins,” and starting in 1968, the happening place for free-form comedy was Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, broadcast from beautiful downtown Burbank. Straight man Dan Rowan and wisecracking co-host Dick Martin led a gaggle of goofballs through a rapid-fire assault of one-liners, skits, bits and non sequiturs that left viewers in hysterics and disbelief. Anything and anyone in the public eye was a target.

Political correctness?

Forget it! The off-the-wall groundbreaking, Emmy Award-winning show would go on to anchor the Monday 8 p.m. time slot on NBC until March 12, 1973, transforming both pop culture and the medium of television.

The TV-DVD archivists at Time Life are making the star-studded set, ROWAN & MARTIN’S LAUGH-IN: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON available for classic TV aficionados and comedy lovers alike for the vert first time.

Flip Wilson as Adam (now residing outside of the Garden of Eden); Tim Conway and Cher as John Smith and Pocahontas; a silent salute to presidential candidate George Wallace; a Mod, Mod World look at the Olympics — these are just a few of the zaniest things crammed into Season 1. Also making their appearances for the first time: Goldie Hawn’s giggly blonde, Judy Carne’s “Sock-It-To-Me” girl, Jo Anne Worley’s anti-chicken-joke militant, Ruth Buzzi’s perpetually-frustrated spinster and Arte Johnson’s “verrry interesting” German soldier. The biggest news, however, was the first national television appearance of Tiny Tim, the ukulele-toting, falsetto-singing throwback to a bygone era of American pop music. He made the rest of the cast seem normal — and Dan and Dick squirm. The show’s first season was also highlighted by long running fan favorite features including “Sock It to Me,” “Cocktail Party,” the “Joke Wall”, and the first appearance of Johnson’s elderly Tyrone F. Horneigh and Sammy Davis Jr. introducing the all-time classic sketch “Here Comes the Judge”.

And we’re giving away 3 copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “LAUGH-IN” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following:

Laugh-In announcer Gary Owens, was also the voice of this Hanna Barbera space hero?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on October 1, 2017.

Marvel Comics and Eisner Award-winning indie cartoonist indie Ed Piskor are teaming up for an unexpected, unprecedented, and uncanny undertaking. Best known for documenting the history of hip hop with the award winning HIP HOP FAMILY TREE graphic novels, Ed Piskor will sample and distill more than 8,000 pages of superheroic storytelling to create a definitive remix of the first 280 original issues of X-Men comic books and 30 years of complicated continuity into one seamless masterpiece of superheroic storytelling. Piskor will write, draw, ink, color and letter all six 40 page issues of X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN, which Marvel will publish over three years as three separate but interconnected mini-series — X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN, X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN-SECOND GENESIS and X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN-X-TINCTION.

“X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN is a tribute to everything comic book fans love about the X-Men from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s original run and Chris Claremont’s, epic 16-year stint as the series’ writer,” said Piskor. “It’s a compelling and complete story with a beginning, middle and an end, featuring everything from Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Cerebro and the Danger Room to the Mutant Massacre, the Reavers, Gambit, and Genosha.”

“Ed Piskor is a singular talent,” said Marvel Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso. “And he is unleashing the same passion, craft and attention to detail that fuels his award-winning HIP-HOP FAMILY TREE on a five decades worth of X-Men stories.”

On December 9th, 2017, Marvel will publish the debut issue of X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN. On April 17, 2018, Marvel will collect both issues of X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN, as an oversized paperback collection in the same size and format as HIP HOP FAMILY TREE, and will also include the first issue of X-MEN by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby masterfully recolored by Piskor, and a host of recolored classic pinups. Each X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN trade paperback will feature a classic X-MEN comic book, recolored by Piskor.

What people are saying about X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN:

“Ed Piskor is one of the most exciting cartoonists working today and seeing the iconic X-men filtered through his singular vision is the sort of comic book project that you can usually only dream about. But this dream is real, and it is a thing to behold!” — Jeff Lemire (DESCENDER, MOON KNIGHT)

“X-MEN: GRAND DESIGN is genius – an epic love letter to my favorite childhood comic. It’s pop culture journalism and comics history filtered through the imagination of a master storyteller. It’s a unique interpretation of the Marvel Universe and a pleasure to read. Every page is a thrill.” —Jim Rugg (STREET ANGEL)

“Seeing a creator achieve a lifelong dream by pouring his heart and soul into a project is both rewarding and encouraging…. Ed’s retro artistic style and his love of the classic X-Men is going to propel GRAND DESIGN to the top of the selling chart and become a classic itself.” —MOVIEPILOT

“Piskor’s art is at the height of its powers in these pages. New readers and old guard comic book fans will appreciate GRAND DESIGN‘s streamlining and distillation of the X-MEN‘s epic, but convoluted saga. We will discover Piskor invented a new approach to present legendary past stories. Instead of starting a news series at issue #1 we’re better off in the retelling and refining of wonderfully raw past material we adore. It worked for Homer why not comics.”—Benjamin Marra, (NIGHT BUSINESS, TERROR ASSAULTER: O.M.W.O.T.)

“Unprecedented.” —PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER

“Ed is crazy enough to take thousands of X-Men pages and filter them through his own vision. He’s passionate enough to pull it off, too, as this isn’t simply an archival exercise. By tying all those pages together, Ed skillfully equips the material with a logic that was absent before, thus meeting our obsessive culture’s modern expectations. It’s a blast, this comic.” —Michael Fiffe (COPRA, ZEGAS)

To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com

Shout! Factory has announced that at long last One Day At A Time: The Complete Series will be available in a 27-DVD set, on December 5, 2017. Bonus features include the One Day At A Time Reunion, and “This Is It: The Story Of One Day At A Time.” The box set arrives on the heels of the recent success of the re-imagined version of Lear’s classic, One Day At A Time, on Netflix.

The set is available for pre-order through ShoutFactory.com and Amazon.com.

Bonnie Franklin, Mackenzie Phillips, Pat Harrington, and Valerie Bertinelli star in One Day At A Time, the lively and liberated sitcom classic created by Whitney Blake and Allan Manings, and developed by Norman Lear, the television legend behind All In The Family, Maude, The Jeffersons, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

One Day At A Time follows Ann Romano (Franklin), an independent woman who transplants herself and her two daughters – rebellious Julie (Phillips) and smart aleck Barbara (Bertinelli) – to Indianapolis in search of a new life. Moving into an apartment under the watchful eye and ever-present tool belt of the building’s quirky superintendent Schneider (Harrington), the Romano women muddle through life, love, and laughs as they discover their own potential.

One of the most successful sitcoms of the 1970s and 1980s, fans have clamored for One Day At A Time to be released in a complete series collection for years – and finally, that day has arrived! With over 200 episodes, you’re in for hours of laughter with the Romanos… so go and have a ball!

One Day At A Time is the latest of Sony Pictures Television Inc.’s Norman Lear masterpieces to be released by Shout! Factory. Previous box sets have included All In The Family: The Complete Series,  The Jeffersons: The Complete Series – The Deee-luxe Edition, Maude: The Complete Series, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman: The Complete Series (which also features 10 episodes of its spinoff Fernwood Tonight).

Gotham’s Dark Knight joins forces with New York’s Heroes in A Half-Shell this December as DC Entertainment and IDW Publishing have announced plans for BATMAN/TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES II, a six-issue follow up to the smash-hit crossover series of 2015. Writer James Tynion IV (BATMAN, DETECTIVE COMICS) and artist Freddie Williams II (HE-MAN/THUNDERCATS) will reunite for this second meeting of two icons of pop culture.

“What DC and IDW started with Batman/TMNT in 2015 continues to spark interest with fans of these characters that have worldwide recognition,” said DC SVP Editorial Strategy & Administration, Hank Kanalz. “We can’t wait to see what James and Freddie deliver this time around.”

When Donatello goes looking for a new mentor to help him improve his fighting skills, he opens a doorway to another reality, hoping to summon the Turtles’ one-time ally, Batman. But instead, he gets sent to Gotham City and someone else comes through the open portal —Bane! Suddenly, there’s a new gang boss in New York and he’s out to unite all the other bad guys under him. Can Donnie get back in time and bring Batman with him to help his brothers before Bane causes irreparable destruction?

As an added bonus for fans, the first two issues will release in December before going monthly. Issue #1 hits comics retailers and digital outlets on December 6, with issue #2 following two weeks later on December 20.

“The original crossover between Batman and the Turtles was met with such positive enthusiasm from the fans, that it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again,” said IDW President and COO, Greg Goldstein. “Fans have themselves to thank for making this a reality, yet again, and we’re confident that we can deliver the goods to meet their expectations with our talented creative team returning for round two.”

In addition to covers by Williams II, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman will illustrate variant covers for the series.

The record-breaking phenomenon is back with a season that proved to be well worth the wait! Action-packed from start to finish with the series’ most epic battles yet, the HBO drama series Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season will be available for Digital Download September 25th and on Blu-Ray and DVD December 12th. The latest season of Game of Thrones featured the most-watched premiere and finale episodes in HBO history, and the series remains the most-awarded drama series in Emmy history, with 109 nominations to date and winning the 2015 and 2016 trophy for Best Drama Series.

Available December 12th, The Blu-ray and DVD sets are packed with exclusive new bonus content including audio commentaries on every episode, two new behind-the-scenes featurettes, and, for a limited time only, a bonus disc containing Conquest & Rebellion: An Animated History of the Seven Kingdoms, a 45-minute, never-before-seen extension of the Clio Award-winning History & Lore features included on previous individual Blu-ray season releases. Narrated by some of the series’ biggest stars including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark), the companion piece to season 7 reveals the fascinating story of how the world of Westeros as we know it came to be– including what happened the last time a Targaryen invaded the realm!

Available September 25th, the Digital Download release for Game of Thrones: The Complete Seventh Season includes an exclusive new “Creating the North and Beyond” featurette that takes fans behind the scenes of Jon Snow’s epic trek north of The Wall and his latest battle with the Night King’s army.

Blu-ray & DVD Exclusive Bonus Features Include:

• Conquest & Rebellion: An Animated History of the Seven Kingdoms- From the Game of Thrones realm comes the never-before-seen story of the tumultuous events that shaped the world of Westeros for thousands of years before the series start. Cast members Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger), Conleth Hill (Varys), Harry Lloyd (Viserys Targaryen) and Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) team up to narrate the animated telling of Aegon Targaryen’s attempts to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, written by show writer Dave Hill.
• From Imagination to Reality: Inside the Art Department- Extensive two-part featurette detailing the astonishing work of Production Designer Deborah Riley and her Art Department, dissecting the process behind the creation of this season’s incredible new sets, including Dragonstone, Casterly Rock, Highgarden, the Dragonpit, and more.
• Fire & Steel: Creating the Invasion of Westeros- Revisit this season’s most pivotal moments with this behind-the-scenes featurette, including interviews with key cast and crew breaking down how fans’ favorite moments were created.
• Audio Commentaries- Commentaries on every episode with cast and crew including David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Jacob Anderson, Gwendoline Christie, Liam Cunningham, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, and more.

Blu-ray Exclusive Bonus Features Include:

• Histories and Lore- 7 new animated pieces that give the history and background of notable season 7 locations and storylines including The Dragonpit, Highgarden, Prophecies of the Known World, the Rains of Castamere and more all narrated by cast members including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen and more.
• In-Episode Guides– In-feature resource that provides background information about on-screen characters and locations.

Digital Download Exclusive Bonus Features Include:

• Creating the North and Beyond– Behind-the-scenes featurette delving into the massive undertaking of creating and filming the battle in Episode 6 of Season 7.

In Season 7, Daenerys Targaryen has finally set sail for Westeros with her armies, dragons and new Hand of the Queen, Tyrion Lannister. Jon Snow has been named King in the North after defeating Ramsay Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards and returning Winterfell to House Stark. In King’s Landing, Cersei Lannister has seized the Iron Throne by incinerating the High Sparrow, his followers and her rivals in the Sept of Baelor. But as old alliances fracture and new ones emerge, an army of dead men marches on the Wall, threatening to end the game of thrones forever.

Based on the popular book series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” by George R.R. Martin, the seventh season of this hit Emmy-winning fantasy features returning series regulars Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Aidan Gillen (Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Lena Headey (Cersei Lannister), Diana Rigg (Lady Olenna Tyrell), Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) and Maisie Williams (Arya Stark).

Additional returning series regulars this season include: Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth), Richard Dormer (Beric Dondarrion), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont), Isaac Hempstead Wright (Bran Stark), Conleth Hill (Varys), Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane), Rory McCann (Sandor “The Hound” Clegane), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Carice van Houten (Melisandre), and Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand).

New cast members for the seventh season include: Jim Broadbent, Tom Hopper, and Megan Parkinson. Ed Sheeran guest stars in one episode.

For more details, visit HBO.com/Game-of-Thrones

“Sound is half the experience in seeing a film” – George Lucas

As television has become the dominating force in delivering entertainment, home theaters have become the norm in most households.  Regardless of price, there are quality options for virtually every budget.  Unfortunately, most uninformed buyers focus on the screen; sharpness, and size and foolishly determine sound quality by volume.

That being said, having had a previous Vizio Sound Bar, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this newer model (SB3651-E6).  Suffice to say, I was anything but disappointed.

There’s no question that this might be the most comprehensive set-up materials of any electronic device that I’ve ever had.  Beyond the 36″ Sound Bar itself, the box also contained a wireless subwoofer, two satellite speakers and a remote control.  Also included are a number of cables: a stereo RCA to 3.5mm audio cable, 3.5mm to 3.5 mm audio cable, a coaxial audio cable, HDMI cable, 2 satellite speaker audio cables, a digital optical cable, 2 power cables, wall mount screws and brackets and cable ties.

In other words, everything is in there.

Two noticeable additions to the box’s contents is the appearance of two satellite speakers which is pretty neat.  There’s also an upgrade to the remote control, adding a small display screen.

It literally only took a few minutes to set the sound bar up, with the most time being spent on where to put the satellite speakers.  Once everything is plugged in, it works smoothly.

In addition, the unit also has a Dolby Digital decoder which reproduces multi-channel audio to deliver a cinematic audio experience. In addition, Vizio has added Bluetooth allowing you to stream audio from a compatible Bluetooth-enabled device.  Finally, there’s an Ethernet port which will allow you to Chromecast from a large selection of apps.

Sound quality is where this unit shines, and where it fulfills Lucas’ observation.  It completes the experience with a bold, rich and powerful sound and the additional speakers provide a truly cinematic experience.

The Vizio Smartcast SB3651-E6 Wireless Sound Bar System retails for $249.99 and complements any home theater with a high end audio system that provides both an effortless set-up and superior sound quality.

Vimeo provided me with the sound bar that I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own. Images courtesy of Vimeo.

Not only is today, “Talk Like a Pirate Day”, but it also marks the Digital HD release of the latest installment of the Pirates of The Caribbean franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is a rollicking new tale of the high seas, infused with all the elements of fantasy, humor and action that have resulted in an international phenomenon for the past 13 years. Johnny Depp returns to his Academy Award-nominated role as the outrageous, swashbuckling scoundrel Captain Jack Sparrow, and is joined by Oscar winners Javier Bardem and Geoffrey Rush.

The rip-roaring adventure—packed with humor, suspense and jaw-dropping special effects—finds down-on-his-luck Captain Jack feeling the winds of ill fortune blowing strongly his way when deadly ghost sailors, led by the terrifying Captain Salazar (Bardem), escape from the Devil’s Triangle bent on killing every pirate at sea—notably Jack.

And we’re giving away ten digital copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “PIRATES 5” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and attach an image of your favorite pirate in pop culture.

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on October 1, 2017.

Artsploitation has delivered the ultimate stocking stuffer with the home video release of the Australian horror film Red Christmas. Veteran television director and actor Craig Anderson makes his feature debut with Red Christmas, combining the banal horror of family gatherings with the issues of abortion, feminism, ethics, religion and privacy, with a blood-splattered twist on what happens when secrets refuse to stay dead. Following a theatrical rollout across the United States, Red Christmas will be available nationwide October 17th on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Vudu and more.

Genre icon Dee Wallace (The Hills Have Eyes, The Howling, E.T., Cujo, Critters) stars in a critically acclaimed role as the stressed-out mother of a squabbling family, gathered together in a remote Outback estate on Christmas Eve. Their petty dramas threaten to blacken the holiday until a mysterious and deformed stranger appears at the door seeking bloody vengeance.

Dee Wallace headlines as Diane, a matriarch presiding over the gathering of her squabbling grown children on Christmas Day. Tensions give way to terror when a deformed stranger appears at the door with vengeance on his mind. Diane must protect her family as limbs are severed and secrets are brought into the light.

The Blu-ray (SRP $22.99) and DVD (SRP $17.99) releases of Red Christmas will exclusively include a feature-length commentary with writer-director Craig Anderson, interviews with Dee Wallace, Gerald Odwyer and Craig Anderson, bloopers and more.

Welcome! Everything is fine. New comedy hit The Good Place: The Complete First Season makes its DVD debut on October 17, 2017, courtesy Shout! Factory. All 13 chapters from the 2016 NBC comedy’s freshman season come to DVD with bonus features including new audio commentaries with cast and crew.

From Michael Schur, executive producer of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks And Recreation, comes the hilarious first season of this original new comedy starring Kristen Bell (Bad Moms, Veronica Mars) and Ted Danson (Cheers).

What happens when we die? It’s a question everyone has asked, since the beginning of time. But when Eleanor Shellstrop (Bell) dies tragically, she finds out that the afterlife is amazing; full of frozen yogurt, soulmates, and wonderful people who have done incredible things with their lives. It is absolutely perfect.

The only problem is Eleanor isn’t supposed to be in The Good Place.

In fact, her life decisions wouldn’t have even gotten her close. But due to a clerical error, she’s been given someone else’s reward and now has to struggle with being good in order to make sure her secret isn’t discovered.

Bonus Features:

• Two Audio Commentaries with Creator Michael Schur, Executive Producer Drew Goddard and Co-Stars Jameela Jamil and D’Arcy Carden
• Table Read
• Gag Reel
• A Look at the Visual Effects

For more details visit ShoutFactory.com

Archie Crossover Collection
Written by Alex Segura,
Matthew Rosenberg, Dan Parent
Illustrated by: Gisele Lagace,
Dan Parent, Jeff Shultz
ISBN: 978-1-68255-968-0
Released 7/5/17 / $14.99

Whenever I learn there is another Archie crossover being released, I’m both elated and repulsed.

The sugar-sugar-honey-honey-sweet eternal teens of my childhood can simultaneously do no wrong and, yet, they partake gaspingly nauseating ploys to sell comics by allowing real-world entities to enter their fictional world.

I mean, Archie cannot possibly be jumping the shark yet again, can he?

Yes, he can.

And, really, only he can.

Over and over again.

And, it’s OK.

(At least, that’s what I tell myself as I hand hard greenbacks to my comic book dealer.)

There have been so many crossovers that were simply unbelievable. Archie and the gang has met the Punisher, the Predator, the Ninja Turtles and, yep, KISS. Completely ridiculous scenarios. All of them. And, yet, totally believable as much as Marcia Brady can convince Davy Jones from The Monkees to with her to her prom.

Yes, that’s an intentionally dated reference so that you get the idea.

Archie is timelessly fictional and, in a way, so are all celebrities. They might be real people but our expectations of them are based on their artificial personas.  And that’s why Archie can get away with the very obviousness in this that makes us cringe.

Archie comics are both timeless and kitschy enough to embrace current culture scenarios in the hokiest of ways.

Simply put, I hate that I love these so much.

ROCK, ROCK, ROCK AND RIVERDALE HIGH SCHOOL

I’ll warn you now that none of the crossovers I listed above are in this collection. Instead, we get an older punk band – The Ramones – and four much more current personalities crossing paths with our eternal teens: Michael Strahan, George Takei, Lady Gaga and Mark Zuckerberg.

The first story involves The Archies – the band – meeting up with legendary punk band The Ramones. Claiming to be a rock band, Archie and his band mates soon discover they simply cannot compete with the Ramones’s classic chants in a battle of the bands situation. (Never mind all the members of the Ramones had passed by 2014. This is comic book pseudo-reality, after all.)

Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie and Arch as The Starchies (get it?) all partake in a scavenger hunt to try and discover their mojo, ultimately bringing them back to CBGB to perform.

I won’t give away the twist, but do look for a few hidden gems throughout both from the world of Riverdale and from the world of punk.

The art style of this is different from the rest of the book, looking like a hybrid of the new, modern-age Riverdale characters with the house style from the past few decades. The rest of the book reverts back to the latter, looking far more appropriate for the cheesiness about to ensue.

What I find most interesting about the gang in their next celebrity meeting – with Lady Gaga – is that in so many stories they’ve actually spoofed her look and name. I seem to recall a Lady Googoo and maybe Lady Haha on a TV in a crazy outfit or howling on a radio in the background. (Don’t ask me to find the exact stories where’s she’s parodied as they’re buried in the stacks of Archie Digests in my basement.)

This is really a Betty and Veronica focused story, which makes sense seeing as they’ve battled about wardrobes so often in the past. In fact, the only thing missing from this section is a Pin-Up page or two with the girls wearing crazicles creations.

In “Geek Face-Off,” Archie universe brainiac Dilton Daily faces off with Facebook founder Zuckerburg, both trying to create the ultimate app for the school. Yes, the ultimate force meets the immovablex object.  It is, once again, the ideal pairing between comic book and real-world personalities.

Likewise, Moose is the main character when former footballer turned TV personality Michael Strahan comes to Riverdale. They even poke a bit of fun at his appearance by have a life-size standee literally stand in for him for most of the story. Apparently Strahand is a Riverdale alum and Moose is about to break one of his long-standing record.

Kevin Keller, the company’s first openly gay character, is appropriately the main character in the story where George “It’s OK to Be” Takei comes to town. We also get to see neatly all the characters in cosplay mode here, an extra bit of comedy joy. And, yes, it’ ends with his saying, “Oh, my!”

OH, MY, INDEED

This long history of Archie Comics and the familiarity of the characters really allows into these seemingly unlikely crossovers to become fun. Without their history, without their innocent timeliness, none of them would ever work. It’d be just far too forced. It’s those familiar faces, their stereotypical selves wisely worked into each encounter that makes these work. For the most part.

It’s unfortunate that the Ramones story the weakest in the book. It tries to get too close to now by using a newer, hybrid art style. It simply breaks too close instead of embracing the past. It also has the weakest reveal (i.e. reverse premise) of the lot.

Fortunately, the rest do embrace the unlikeliness, the silliness of it all and just go with it, using the more traditional Archie Comics house style. And this is where and why they are the most fun, even if they are the wackiest.

But that is really what we want and expect from these comics. Sure, the new style Riverdale comics and the TV series paint a darker picture that we can enjoy as dramas, but they live in that alternate reality where Jughead sulks.

These stories live in the non-reality where Juggie still challenges Dagwood on the funny pages for the tallest sandwich. This is where they can meet comic-colored celebrities and we internally giggle with little kid glee (even if we pretend to outwardly gag).

Please don’t stop the crossover collections, Archie Comics. Just remember to keep it a bit kitschy, just for us.

We begin with the ending.

Endings on several levels, as stories come to a close, time loops are closed, dimensions are saved, and some lives reach their final destination. You can read through and discover which means which, but that’s part of the adventure.

As some things end, others begin anew and again that too has levels to it you would need to read to believe. Both angles left me emotionally shattered! What will you be like?

This is my look into the DC Universe this week!

JUSTICE LEAGUE #29
Writer: Bryan Hitch
Penciller: Fernado Pasarin
Inkers: Oclair Albert and Andy Owens

The Aquaman of the future abducts several members of the League.

Superman, Flash and Cyborg are all incapacitated in surprise attacks while the future children of the League plot to kill Wonder Woman.

Batman, meanwhile, is tracking the future Arthur after his tech from the Batcave is stolen, but comes face to face with a very angry Lois Lane.

Elsewhere, future Arthur tracks down Mera and his daughter and reveals to them a portal allowing Sovereign to invade our time.

The story is gathering pace and becoming more enjoyable by the minute.

The characterisations are all just as they should be. I especially enjoyed the scenes between Lois & Batman and Arthur & Mera; extremely well written and in keeping with the storyline. I would have liked to get to know the children a little better before they embarked on their mission as I feel we’ve only scratched the surface of their potential.

I mentioned this in the column before, but the writing has been a little uneven in previous stories so to see it climax in this way is great, a tangible pay off with a memorable storyline. The art is fantastic, a little busy at times, but thoroughly entertaining and packing a definite punch.

SUPER SONS #8
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Artist: Jorge Jimenez

Picking up immediately after last issue, Jon and Damian are pulled from our Earth into another dimension.

There they discover they are on the living planet, Ygarddis and meet two heroines named Hard Line & Big Shot.

It seems Kraklow in this dimension uses his magic clay for good and that the girls are friends with him, a far cry from the maniac from our Earth.

The girls help the boys escape detection and to a secret camp to recuperate.

Ygarddis somehow takes control of the heroes from Big Shot’s planet and has turned them into an army.

The target for their attack? Anyone in a cape!

The action is literally flipped on its head as the boys are sucked into another dimension and meet two superhero girls. We meet a darker version of Mogo The Sentient Planet named Ygarddis.

Does this mean there is a species of planets out there? That could be interesting.

I think I need to get to know Hard Line & Big Shot a bit more before I can decide whether I like them. Things have been too fast to really make a good judgement about these superhero girls and their ally Kraklow, who is very different from the one we just met. Jimenez’ art is fantastic with an exuberant feel that fits the title well. Some of the panels look great but the digital backgrounds were a little overpowering.

NIGHTWING #29
Writer: Tim Seeley
Penciller: Paul Pelletier
Inker: Andrew Hennessy

METAL continues as the evil Batman gives Mr. Freeze one of the mysterious playing cards.

Flashforward to now and we rejoin Green Arrow, Robin, Harley, Killer Croc and Nightwing racing through a snow storm battling monstrous frost giants.

Elsewhere, The Teen Titans are battling monsters of their own. A group of warped teenagers resembling Robin and the Joker in one are raising hell in the city.

Meanwhile, fighting through the storm, Dick and the others stumble upon a cache of armour and weapons that just might give them the edge against Freeze.

Dark versions of The Teen Titans and Suicide Squad are released from a secret location and they have murder on their minds.

Maximum Carnage stretched me to the limit many years ago. It put me off of reading Spider-Man for a long while. It didn’t help that the animated series then followed suit.

METAL, unfortunately, feels like it is doing the same but this time for the DC Universe. It may well be the greatest story ever told in comics, I doubt it, but it might. The problem I have is so far it has completely overtaken the comics it is tied into.

The story doesn’t even do the courtesy of leading the story with the books main cast, Teen Titans last week and now, Nightwing. The story continues directly after Teen Titans but to be honest, very little happens beyond the heroes arming themselves with special weaponry and armour. The artwork has some nice moments to shine, especially when Mr. Freeze reveals himself with his new abilities.

Still, after the great story in Nightwing’s last few issues, this feels quite disappointing.

INJUSTICE 2 #10
Writer: Tom Taylor
Penciller: Daniel Sampere
Inker: Juan Albarran

Batman and Wildcat decide to go after Damian and Alfred while the others in Batgirl’s team plan to save the children.

Plastic Man and Plas Jr. masquerade as Ra’s Al Ghul to meet the captives and with the help of Harley they try to escape.

Unfortunately, Orca and Killer Croc have other ideas.

The evil Batman joins them and tries to detonate Harley’s Suicide Squad failsafe. However when it doesn’t go off, another hero reveals himself.

Wildcat buys them time to escape with his fighting prowess, but when he falls, one of the children reveals a secret super power that will change things forever.

That scene with Harley up close and personal with Batman was brilliant, a very gutsy move and very much in keeping with the ‘Injustice Universe’.

The scenes with Ted fighting for the children were brutal, heroic and devastating, I had to stop to take a breath seeing how they played out. It only proves how high the stakes are in this book and how far they can take things. If you want to read a book that is familiar, yet pushes the envelope, sometimes to the brink… this is for you.

The artwork feels slightly restricted to the digital format, perhaps only noticeable if you are looking with scrutiny but the line work is clean, bold and eye catching.

Those Wildcat scenes though might leave you a little crushed.

HARLEY QUINN #28
Writers: Jimmy Palmiotti & Amanda Conner
Penciler: John Timms
Inker: Tom Derenick

The corrupt mayor and his manipulative assistant are licking their wounds after their plot to kill Harley and her friends failed.

Meanwhile, Harley visits the fight club to rustle up support for her master plan; to take down a criminal gang!

As the press arrive to question Spoonsdale about the raid, Harley, to everyone’s shock announced her plan to run for Mayor.

DePerto isn’t taking the news well and calls on a criminal ally… Jonathan Crane, aka The Scarecrow!

The writing is brilliant, full of one liners and character.

The dialogue masks the fact there isn’t much in the way of story this issue, but that really doesn’t matter because the book is bursting at the seams with tongue in cheek humour.

The plot is moved forward with Mayor DePerto’s plan to eliminate his rival and all her friends. I am not sure how he is linked to Scarecrow but I am certainly excited to see how this is going to go down especially now Harley’s candidacy is public.

GREEN LANTERNS #31
Writer: Sam Humphries
Artist: Ronan Cliquet

Baz, armed with four Green Lantern rings, wasted no time in fighting Volthoom.

Another Lantern falls in the process, but Volthoom finally falls into a trap and Jessica forces him to listen to reason and he finally see things differently.

He begs for the Green Lanterns’ help to return home but before they can help, the Guardians of Oa arrive and confiscate all the rings.

Jessica’s ring refuses to obey the Guardians as it is from the future and she reveals to them that one day there will be hundreds of Lanterns, not seven.

Volthoom swears to one day seek revenge against the Guardian Rami. The fallen Lantern also activated Jessica’s ring and because of the mercy they showed him he sends them back to our time.

Back in the present Simon is gifted a ring once more from an unlikely source but their mission in the past has meant they have a new mission and have set two new ‘old’ friends on a mission of their own.

The adventures in time come to a close in spectacular and unexpected fashion with Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz finally getting the respect they deserve.

How everything plays out is actually very clever and not how I thought it would all turn out. There are generally two types of time travel adventures; ones where whatever they do, nothing changes when it’s over; and one where they inadvertently cause their own future.

Neither is true here, and that is a great twist.

It also means Jessica and Simon are in possession of the original rings forever linked to Volthoom.

They also altered history for two characters that were destined to fall and made them integral to the future of the Corps.

GREEN ARROW #31
Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: Otto Schmidt

The ace up the Ninth Circle’s sleeve is finally revealed… a satellite base with all their resources on board.

As Ollie takes on the super powered guardian within, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash & Green Lantern all race to aid their friend.

Meanwhile, Black Canary and Emiko rescue Wendy from the villainous Auctioneer.

Ollie doesn’t do things by halves and his methods mean the entire League is needed to take down the Ninth Circle. In the aftermath, the pantheon of heroes make Ollie an offer many heroes would die for. Will he say yes or no?

If you told me thirty one issues later that this is where we’d be, you could have knocked me down with a feather.

Ollie has been been self destructive, pig headed, aggressive, arrogant and a constant rule breaker.

And now? Well nothing has changed, except that he has shown the world that he is as true a hero, deep down, as Superman.

It has been a long road and the Ninth Circle have ensured it was a rocky one, but if you stuck with it I’m sure you’ll agree this was a more than fitting finale.

Green Arrow is finally recognised as a hero amongst his peers and I couldn’t be happier! The frenetic art suited the epic fight scenes and that rescue! The scene in The Watchtower may have played out just as I thought they would, but it is definitely nice that Ollie is being treated like he should be!

CAVE CARSON HAS A CYBERNETIC EYE #12
Writers: Jon Rivera & Gerard Way
Artist: Michael Avon Oeming

Is this the end of Whisperer?

To save this alternate earth, Chloe gives her ‘mother’ one final gift and with it Mazra saves all of Muldroog.

The threat to the multiverse is finally over. EBX is dead but there are still loose ends to tie up.

The alternate Cave reveals he has been creating a series of upgrades for the cybernetic eye, so his twin has full control of it, as well as new skills.

He also reveals that he has created a newer even more powerful Mighty Mole.

The visitors prepare to return home, say some emotional goodbyes and of course sneakily steal the new Mole for new adventures.

WOW!

Cave Carson is creatively one of the best books DC is putting out right now.

The art has been consistently superb and bizarre in equal measure and so has the writing. For many a reader it might be too much, but for some that want something off the wall and a little different, this was a dream come true. It has been a long road and this could have been the final issue for many a title ,but this book is ‘the little engine that could’.

Get the back issues, you won’t regret it! I am a little nervous to see where this might go now that their story is over, but I definitely want more. DC don’t let these guys go!!

BATWOMAN #7
Writer: Marguerite Bennett
Artist: Fernando Blanco

On a secret mission from Batman, Kate is now stranded in the Sahara desert.

Batwoman has been hunting down the Many Arms Of Death; ‘The Knife’ in Coryana, ‘The Rifle’ in Tehran, ‘The Chain’ in Tokyo, ‘The Torch’ in Mississippi and now ‘The Needle’ in Mali.

A squadron of monsters attack Batwoman before the arrival of a sandstorm.  A voice from the past rocks Kate’s resolve and she discovers something manipulated her mind to see monsters, instead of human soldiers.

As Kate realises that the attack on her senses is by an all too familiar villain, her discovery may have come too late.

I’ll be honest, the Lost Year stuff, bores me to tears. Coryana couldn’t be any more dull if it tried and I just want to see Batwoman in action.

It was a fifty-fifty trade off this issue as we have an even split but as the plot is central and the flashbacks a part of the hallucination narrative I can happily enjoy it.

It was great to see things back on track with the secret mission back in focus, because that was genuinely the stronger story.

That cover was a huge spoiler but it looked fantastic as do all the covers for this book so far. The interior art is a little ink heavy but it was really nice. The figure work was very strong though the backgrounds were quite sparse.

This title is still finding it’s feet but each issue is getting stronger, I hope to see Kate tackling more familiar stories soon.

Since 1978, CinemaScore has polled exiting moviegoers at major releases, balancing various demographic input to come to a general letter grade. Until Rotten Tomatoes came on the scene, it’s been the main source of general feedback, not counting internal test screenings or other indie exit polls.

The new suspense thriller mother! from Darren Aronofsky is so immensely polarizing that outraged moviegoers this past opening weekend gave it the rare ‘F’ CinemaScore.

If an Aronofsky film ever deserved an F, it was Noah, which incidentally earned a C back in 2014, but I digress. I enjoyed his new film, which builds up to a terrifying chaos that requires additional viewings to catch all the details. However, as much as I find Aronofsky’s films to be extremely provocative, it’s completely bonkers they’re released from major studios.

Although its worldwide weekend gross recouped nearly half the cost, mother! probably won’t generate word-of-mouth business, nor resonate with anyone outside of the film-school crowd or critics.

And, speaking of the critics, Rotten Tomatoes currently tallies their consensus of the weekend’s other new release American Assassin at 34%, while the audience CinemaScore landed at B+. The F graded mother! calculates to a respectable “fresh” at 69% on RT.

This enigma of art vs entertainment, film vs flicks, and highbrow brilliant vs lowbrow despicable (or other variations therein) is nothing new. CinemaScore audiences ranked Ghost Dad a solid A in 2007, while the Coen Brothers’ Miller’s Crossing landed a C-. I won’t name additional past yearly atrocities, but they’re all searchable online.

Not to get higher on this horse, but when you combine the F CinemaScore ranking with Rex Reed’s New York Observer review for mother!, in which he calls it the “worst movie of the century,” I feel a whole lot better about digging the film. I’m not for disrespecting alternate opinions, provided they’re expressed with a little more meat than immediate reaction.

F CinemaScore ratings are rare, but they’re fairly explainable when you take into account the high probability that the audience expected something else. Paramount’s marketing campaign was a complete bait-and-switch, emphasizing the horror, connecting their classic Rosemary’s Baby no less. The film virtually came out of nowhere, with teaser trailers offering our first glimpse at its existence. Audiences went in thinking it was one thing (“from the director of Black Swan”) and got another.

The CinemaScore vs critic consensus got personal on the walk home from my mother! screening, in which I went full film-school nerd on my husband. The heated argument bounced between my marveling at the film’s ability to further challenge concepts like god and creation, while he simply saw mother! as the work of a pretentious narcissist.

After this weekend’s F grade, I took a look into other films that were branded with the letter, noticing that many of them came from filmmakers one might consider auteurs.

Here’s a look at some of the films that made it into the CinemaScore club I’d like to call IT AIN’T NOTHING BUT AN F THING…

THE WICKER MAN (2006)

Neil LaBute wrote and directed this remake of the British cult film with a nod to the original 1967 novel by David Pinner. The result is one of the most unintentionally funny films of all time, with a performance by Nicolas Cage that was destined for its many animated gif memes. By all accounts, this was an odd entry from the playwright/director, who’s In the Company of Men landed him major indie film accolades. His prior film Nurse Betty landed a C with audiences, and his follow up to Wicker Man, Lakeview Terrace, a C+. His 2010 Death at a Funeral remake did get a B+, and he’s still a very respected and prolific in the biz.

BUG (2006)

William Friedkin directed this filmed version of the acclaimed Tracy Letts play, and made an impression with the Cannes crowd. Audiences did not go for it, and the Oscar and Golden Globe winning director has since only directed Killer Joe (not measured by CinemaScore, but fairly respected by critics). His documentary The Devil and Father Amorth is gathering major buzz at film festivals, and he’s long overdue for a hit (his Rules of Engagement in 2000 was his last to make [slightly] more than its budget).

THE BOX (2009)

Richard Kelly’s third film was even more off-putting to audiences than his scarcely released sophomore effort Southland Tales. Though it’s a cult classic, recently re-released in theaters for its 15th anniversary, Donnie Darko clearly established the director as a visionary. The Box, based on a Richard Matheson short story that was previously adapted for the 1980s version The Twilight Zone, starts as a fairly normal suspense thriller, but then, not unlike mother!, becomes more audience unfriendly. The director has not had a major film release since The Box.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY (2012)

Andrew Dominik based this crime film on the 1974 novel Cogan’s Trade, and again garnered critical acclaim even at Cannes. Audiences did not care for it, according to CinemaScore, but it did more than double its budget at the box office. The Kiwi director/screenwriter, who launched his career in 2000 with the action/drama Chopper has two films in development, and received positive reviews for One More Time With Feeling, a documentary about Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ sixteenth studio album.

SOLARIS (2002)

Steven Soderbergh’s adaptation of the 1961 science fiction novel that had before been made as a TV movie and the classic Tarkovsky 1972 film, never had a chance. Similarly to mother!, the film’s marketing campaign “depicted things that had nothing to do with the film” (and that’s a direct quote from its star George Clooney). Audiences didn’t know what to make of it, though critics liked it, including Roger Ebert, who called it “the kind of smart film that has people arguing about it on their way out of the theater.” Sound familiar?

DARKNESS (2004)

Jaume Balagueró’s 2002 haunted house thriller had major buzz in the horror community, and even more in its native Spain. I caught it at the Sitges Film Festival, where it was nominated for best film. Miramax/Dimension paid $4 million for the rights to its North American distribution, among others, but it sat on their shelves for more than two years, only to be edited heavy for a PG-13 rating in its US release (Christmas 2004 no less). It was hand crafted to, unintentionally, earn its F grade from CinemaScore. Incidentally, Balagueró found success soon after with the REC movies, of which there are four. Quarantine, a 2008 American remake of REC landed a C with CinemaScore audiences. His original Spanish films have not been scored.

Welcome back to Graphic Breakdown!

It’s a fine week of comics over at DC. Let’s talk about a few of them!

Aquaman #28
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Stjepan Sejic

Whoever the genius was that asked Stjepan Sejic to illustrate this book should be commended. I never would have thought he would be as excellent and as adept at drawing this book as he is. His work is thrilling, like discovering Michael Turner for the first time. The story is damn good too.

This is the finale of the “Underworld” storyline.

Aquaman has been unseated by King Rath from his throne. But he’s not giving up without a fight!

Rath has been doing his best to keep the secret that Aquaman is still alive away from the denizens of Atlantis.

Aquaman isn’t happy about that.

The story by Abnett is tops. The storytelling is incredible. It’s beautiful and the action sequences are amazing. This is one of the best storylines of the year.

Pick this up. It’s amazing.

RATING: A

Batman #31
Written by Tom King
Illustrated by Mikel Janin

The War of Jokes and Riddles rages on here! This has been out of this world. Batman is caught in a war between the Joker and the Riddler and it’s the readers who are being rewarded. I’m rooting Tom King on at this point all the way to the finish line.

Batman is caught in the middle of the two warring factions. He spends the issue trying to balance one against the other.

King shows a crafty side to Batman I just love. He’s also made the dialogue much more interesting than it’s been.

The art by Janin is just the stuff of legend. I love his work so much. The line drawing is great as well as the pacing of the panels.

This is some great comic book storytelling here, folks.

Don’t miss out.

RATING: A

The Wild Storm #7
Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Jon Davis-Hunt

So far, this has been a wacky take on the Wildstorm Universe.

But that’s to be expected. Warren Ellis is the man behind this enterprise and of course it’s completely different than most comics.

This issue has Angela Spica waking up in Jacob Marlowe’s place. She saved his life. It makes her reflect on the events up to now.

After that respite, they are forced into action again. The way Ellis writes is smart and intelligent. He also can write one hell of an action scene.

The art is something really special. Davis-Hunt is one of the most underrated artists out there.

Pick this up. It certainly is something great to read.

RATING: A-

Bug: The Adventures of the Forager #4
Written by Lee Allred
Illustrated by Michael Allred

Man, I’m enjoying this title. I couldn’t remember where I saw the Forager before.

Then I reread Cosmic Odyssey and remembered him from there.

He’s a great underused character and it’s great to see the Allred’s taking advantage of him.

In this issue, the Forager meets Deadman! Yes, this issue guest stars Boston Brand.

I love Boston Brand! These two characters work extremely well together. Boston Brand is stuck in a robotic body. It’s up to the Forager to travel through time and space to help the guy out.

Lee Allred keeps the writing fast and frothy. The art pops off the page due to Mike Allred. Pick this up. It’s fairly awesome.

RATING: A-

Batman: The Red Death #1
Written by Joshua Williamson
Illustrated by Carmine Di Giandomenico

I love this. Metal is totally bonkers and this is a totally bonkers one shot featuring one of the Batmen in there.

This is an issue focusing on The Red Death.

Who is the Red Death?

Well, he’s the Batman version of a speedster. A nightmare version actually.

This is the first of a series of one shots that tell stories of these individuals. There is a lot of great details here into the world of Metal that deepens the characters.

It’s great they tapped the best Flash creative team on this.

The story is kooky and the art is wonderful. Pick this up.

Metal is hot and this is great.

RATING: A-

Superman #31
Written by James Bonny
Illustrated by Tyler Kirkham

What the devil is going on with this book?

Why is the team of Tomasi and Gleason off the writing duties. Who’s on first? I don’t know but James Bonny writes a tepid tale that really goes nowhere.

This issue guest stars Deathstroke the Terminator and it’s wordy.

Like REALLY wordy.

Deathstroke is coming to Metropolis and it looks like Superman must confront him. That actually never materializes in this issue. It’s all rather boring too.

At least the art by Kirkham is rather good. It has an energy and a verve I quite liked. Still, this is a filler storyline from the looks of it. One that is also not very good or interesting overall.

RATING: C

Future Quest Presents: Space Ghost #2
Written by Jeff Parker
Illustrated by Ariel Olivetti

Jeff Parker is back writing Space Ghost and all is right in the world again. This is a grand issue and it’s a lot of fun from start to finish.

Space Ghost and his cohorts are on the planet of Amzot. They decide to explore the caverns to see what may going on in them.

What they find is that it may be more than they bargained for as there is danger in every turn!

Parker keeps the story light and fun. It’s a heck of an adventure he created here. The art is great as well and fits this book to a tee.

As long as Jeff Parker is writing these Future Quest books I’m in it for the long haul.

RATING: B+

Trinity #13
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by V Kenneth Marion

I had a hard time getting through this issue. Trinity is a hard comic to like. I’ve tried. It could be because of overload but I’m generally bored when I read this.

This is part two of the Dark Destiny storyline.

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman team up for with some of the mystics of the DC universe to fight against the Pandora Pits. We also find out where the Pandora Pits came from in this issue.

It’s frankly dull.

Rob Williams isn’t my favorite writer and here he shows why. It’s uninspired and just feels like he was collecting a paycheck. The art is fairly generic as well.

Pick up another book with your money. This one is just not very good.

RATING: D

Wonder Woman / Conan #1
Written by Gail Simone
Illustrated by Aaron Lopresti
Published by DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics

Wonder Woman and Conan have teamed up here!

I’m not sure why this event has to happen but here it is! The two icons have finally met. It’s sort of fun but also sort of totally unnecessary. Here we go!

The story here isn’t bad. Gail Simone is a decent writer and she makes the individual scenes work pretty well. She has a great handle on Wonder Woman and a decent handle on Conan.

The problem for me is the art. Lopresti’s art gets on my nerves. It’s just bland. It makes the comic rather unexciting.

It’s still cool to see these two icons together. I can’t answer why. Maybe that’s part of the fun.

RATING: B

The concept of problem gambling and issues surrounding it has been brought to the fore in the last few weeks. This is mostly due to the huge fine slammed on the 888 casino for failure to keep to the dictates of social responsibility as a casino game provider. It failed respect the action of the customers that opted for the self-exclusion state, and also did not pick out a problem gambler whose case was very obvious. With this, many people are looking back to see if the world have actually done enough to bring the menace of gambling addiction to the front burner.

We now take a look at the movies that have treated issues of problem gambling or gambling addiction in the past. We as well recommend them to anyone who believes they or their relatives and friends may be suffering this problem

1.  Owning Mahowny

This is one of the explicit movies that addressed the issue of extreme addiction.  The major theme of the movie is about obsessive gambling, where Brian Molony gambled away more than $100,000,000 from his employees. The characters were portrayed by Phillip Seymour-Hoffman, John Hurt and Minnie Driver, and they did it perfectly well. This 2003 movie has a striking resemblance to what happened to that employer that brought problem on 888. Molony was an assistant bank manager in Toronto, and unknown to his manager who trusted him so much, he was stealing from peoples accounts and gambling them away.

2. The Gambler

The name of this movie tells it all, and it talks about highly placed people that are addicted to gambling. Here, a university don got so soaked in gambling addiction to the extent that he started losing his mind and eventually plunged into self-destruction. The character of Caan got to the level that he will always need more high from gambling. This leads him into borrowing money to achieve this till it became huge. It teaches a direct lesson that could be applied at all slots casino mobile.

3. The Cooler

This is another movie about gambling addiction. It is about one Bernie Lootz as portrayed by William H. Macy, who the entire casino world accepted that she has no luck at the games. But instead of quitting, she continued gambling and owing the casino, to the extent that she had to work for them to pay those debts. But the job they gave her is the one that amazes people. She was employed as cooler. That entails sitting beside the high rollers in the casinos, so that she could attempt to jinx their winning streaks. It was a movie that was well received by critics and reviewers.

4. The Color of Money

This talks about how veteran gambling can damage relationships. It is about Eddie, who offers to teach Vincent and his girlfriend Carmen how to make huge money from casino games. However, while they are learning the pool hustling dynamics, Eddie who believes he knows all in the gambling world loses money to another pool hustler. The turn of events saw both Eddie and Vincent preparing to face each other in a gambling tournament. Do you think their friendship will remain the same after the competition since they are in desperate need of the money at stake?

Produced by Matthew Vaughn,
David Reid, Adam Bohling
Screenplay by
Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Based on Kingsman by
Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore,
Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry,
Elton John, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges,
Pedro Pascal, Bruce Greenwood, Hanna Alström

Fall is almost upon us and soon we’ll be fully into the awards season, watching Oscar bait that stayed away from the shine of a summer box office.

Until then, we still have a few more hopeful summer blockbusters to get through.

This includes sequel to 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

Matthew Vaughn’s latest is not quite as successful as the original, keeping the highly stylized fight scenes and bawdy humor but dropping much of the lightness and charm that made the first Kingsman so refreshing. The characters we loved are all there, but everyone seems to be discreetly checking their watches off camera.

“Eggsy” (Taron Egerton) is now living the good life as a super spy for the Kingsman and boyfriend to Swedish princess Tilde (Hanna Alström). When conniving and cheerful drug lord Poppy (Julianne Moore) takes out all the headquarters of the Kingsman, Eggsy and tech whiz Merlin (Mark Strong) turn to their American brethren – the liquor-swilling, lasso-spinning Statesman. Working with Tequila (Channing Tatum), Whiskey (Pedro Pascal) and Ginger Ale (Halle Berry) they race to track down Poppy before she launches a plan that would change the world’s markets.

It seems as if finding the worst ways to handle progressive causes will be a sticking point continuing theme in this series.

Samuel L. Jackson’s character had a nefarious way to end global warming (get rid of all the people) and Poppy has a similar prescription for decriminalizing the many products in her drug empire. With a lighter hand this would have been a really fun plot point. And indeed, it does seem like Moore is one of the few people fully engaged in her character. She gleefully wages war from a jungle compound modeled after Main Street USA, adding a touch of sweetheart sociopath to everything. There is so much potential in a 50s nostalgic, Harvard educated, sugar and spice crime lord.

But the haphazard pacing that keeps us in awkward scenes too long and rushes through rewarding sequences means no one is used properly. The all-star cast is wasted with many of them phoning it in. Thankfully, even when engaging at a superficial level they are all phenomenal actors and actresses worth watching,

The jump across the pond introduces us to new characters (and brings back some old ones), but it failed to bring the charm on the trip over. It would be one thing if the Americans stayed a boisterous devil-may-care crew that acted as foil to the English counterpart. But Pascal is as reserved as an Englishman and the boisterous Tatum is only a brief guest in the film.

The fights are just as mind-boggling as the originals with a wide array of gadgets and physical stunts, opening with a high-energy action sequence inside a hijacked cab speeding along the night streets. Vaughn has decided to lean even more heavily on the CGI in the sequel. This would be a non-issue except that almost none of the enhanced scenes are done justice. It’s strange to see so many poorly rendered backgrounds in such a large budget movie and yet…Here we are.

Taron Egerton gives us a far more serious and almost morose Eggsy that wavers between tiring and endearing. It’s a shame that the joy that made the character so likeable in the first place seems to be all but missing this time.

The same can be said for Colin Firth’s revived Galahad, though there are a few moments where his true potential shines through. Mark Strong as Merlin is a perfect holdover, maintaining so many of the qualities that made him dear as the straightforward and sharp-witted tech support for the Kingsman. Pedro Pascal’s best scenes were shared by his stunt double, as his action sequences with an electronically enhanced lasso are pure fun. Halle Berry would have been better served out in the field rather than behind a computer. Breakout star, however, surely goes to the brilliant cameo by Elton John, who brings laughs every time he appears.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle is not as fun as the first, but it is still a movie to see for where it succeeds, namely in Moore’s performance and any fight scene with Pascal.

The original was a breath of fresh air to the genre, but the sequel adheres closely to espionage tropes laid out over the years. Yet it’s those exact spy elements that made us go to the original movies in the first place, so perhaps it is not the worst to see them emulated in Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

Certainly, the film at least deserves a close investigation.

This impressive ode to the life and art of Vincent Van Gogh is the first-ever film in which every frame is an oil painting. The films of Van Gogh come to brilliant life as a friend of his tries to unravel the mystery of his death, but the visuals are more of a draw here than the story.

For fans of the Dutch artist, seeing characters walking through The Starry Night and Bedroom in Arles is like walking into the painting yourself.

Many of the people in his famous portraits, such as that of Dr. Gachet, are key players in the film and seeing them “unfreeze” from their poses is stunning.

The film was first shot with real actors and painters then used that footage as a model for their own painstaking recreation.

There is the nagging issue that these paintings, with their bold interpretation of reality, were, of course, Van Gogh’s viewpoint and it would have made more sense that a film painted entirely in his style should have been told from his POV. There is also the slight disconnect that the film is in English (with a variety of accents), when it is set in France.

The story unfolds much like Hollywoodland (2006), the examination into the mysterious 1959 death of Superman star George Reeves. The long accepted story is that Van Gogh shot himself in a fit of depression. Since he famously cut off his own ear, there never seemed any reason to question that version of events. But a 2011 book uncovered the possibility that someone else shot him, which would make his death either a homicide or a terrible accident.

The investigator of the film is Armand Roulin (Thomas Booth), the son of Postman Joseph Roulin, who has a last letter to deliver from Van Gogh. It takes a moment or two to realize that underneath the lavish whiskers of the Postman, who was painted several times by Van Gogh, is actor Chris O’Dowd.

Van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk) does appear in the film himself, but only in flashbacks. They’re painted in black-and-white, almost as if we were looking at a newsreel.

Armand travels to Auvers, the town where Van Gogh died, where he hears conflicting stories about his death. Everyone has a different take on the eccentric artist and a different theory about the shooting as well as their own reasons for withholding what they know.

Whether Van Gogh committed suicide or was murdered (as seems more likely), the overwhelming sadness of his life is palpably portrayed. As even the most casual art enthusiast knows, he was a lonely, misunderstood man who only sold one painting in his lifetime. The tragedy of the early death of one of the greatest artists of all time is almost unbearably sad and as underscored by the beautifully melancholy music of Clint Mansell, Loving Vincent is necessarily more elegy than celebration.

If you’re a Van Gogh devoté, you won’t want to miss this film. Purists might scoff at the project, but the overwhelming love for him is undeniable.

At a screening in Los Angeles, filmmaker Dorota Kobiela said that the Loving Vincent began as a short film. When she realized a full-length feature would take her 81 years to complete if only she worked on it, she began recruiting painters and animators to paint in the style of Van Gogh. She ended up with more than 100 animators, including many artists who never thought they’d be able to apply their art backgrounds. She met one painter at a meat counter and another one who was repairing her car.

The final product is 65,000 frames, or 65,000 individual frames, some of which were on display at the screening.

You can see more about the making of the film (and find screenings near you) at the official site: (lovingvincent.com)

Loving Vincent opens September 22 in New York and Los Angeles
on September 29 before expanding to more cities.

Oscar nominees Salma Hayek and John Lithgow lead an all-star cast in Beatriz at Dinner, now available on Digital HD, DVD and On Demand from Lionsgate. The provocative and sharply hilarious film about characters from vastly different sociopolitical backgrounds colliding over dinner is written by Mike White and directed by Miguel Arteta, and also features Chloe Sevigny, Connie Britton, Amy Landecker, and Jay Duplass.

Salma Hayek shines in this provocatively funny fish-out-of-water comedy. Beatriz (Hayek), an immigrant from a poor Mexican town, draws upon her innate kindness as a spiritual health practitioner in L.A. Doug Strutt (Lithgow) is a rich and ruthless real-estate developer. When fate brings them together at a dinner party, it leads to a culture clash of wildly comic proportions – and a night that will change both their worlds forever.

And we’re giving away five copies!

To enter, please send an email with the subject header “BEATRIZ” to geekcontest @ gmail dot com and answer the following question:

What is your favorite Salma Hayek performance?

Please include your name, and address (U.S. only. You must be 18 years old).

Only one entry per person and a winner will be chosen at random.

Contest ends at 11:59 PM EST on October 1, 2017.

“How in God’s name did the power of the Devil fall into the hands of a child?”

Billed as “Britain’s controversial horror film of all time,” the story behind Suffer, Little Children is the stuff of legends. A rare film that became the stuff of legends, where only true fans of the genre who were in the know could tell the twisted tale behind the making of the movie. A true holy grail for horror hounds not because it’s a mastery of moviemaking, but because of the oddity of the import itself.

But thanks to a recent release from Severin, who have been doing God’s work on the horror front as far as releasing hard-to-find sleaze, this rediscovered controversial pic has found the light of day once again.

With a production budget somewhere between a low-budget Bar Mitzvah video and a high-budget snuff film, the tale itself is simple: a tween girl possessed by the devil wreaks havoc on a children’s home.

All the usual taboos are in place: devilish grins, turning innocent kiddies into minions, otherworldly voices, satanic worship…the normal post-Exorcist boiler plate banality is in place.

Aside from the cliches, the shoddy filmmaking itself gives the pic an almost Room-esque charm. The sound levels would constantly drop from scene-to-scene while people mumbled their incoherent lines. Actors will reference scenes that either don’t take place or were cut from the finished movie. And for some reason, the set designer might have had a tiger fetish as there is a poster of the beast each room of the set.

However, aside from the weird sets, wonky sound levels and bizarre acting choices, the truth is that there is nothing in the film so provocative that the film needed to be outright banned.

Films such as Cannibal Holocaust and Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom are much more offensive to mainstream sensibilities than Suffer, Little Children. There is no nudity, no outright gore, no cannibalism. Just a wee bit of kid-on-kid violence and some murder.

Okay, maybe a small bit with a butter knife thru the skull. But really, nothing too terrible.

So, why was it banned?

The reason this tale of homemade horror has found infamy is because it happen to invoke the wrath of Mary Whitehouse and her crusade against Video Nasties.

One part Tipper Gore and one part Joseph Goebbels, Mary was a woman who help a deep and unabiding love for censorship. In fact, she would ban and burn anything in the name of protecting “the children.” And thanks to the availability of videos in the early ‘80s where any citizen can walk into a shop and take home pornography, Mary saw as her duty to protect people from making their own decisions.

According to Mary and the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association, horror movies were bad. They rot the brain and cause people to want to listen to do drugs and listen rock n’ roll. But as bad as they were, slasher pics were downright obscene, earning the name “Video Nasties.” Truly disgusting bits of pornography that were warping the minds of good, honest people, causing violence among the populace and needed to be destroyed.

Films that acquired this label included The Evil Dead, Blood Feast, I Spit On Your Grave, Night of the Demon, The Toolbox Murders, Possession, Foxy Brown, most of the Friday the 13th series, Dawn of the Dead, Don’t Answer the Phone and Scanners, just to name a few.

You know. The classics.

Then we have Suffer, Little Children.

It’s obvious from watching Suffer that this was not a studio a film. Or a proper indie film. In fact, I’m not even sure if parents were properly notified or if craft services were available.

It is hard to get a credible history on the making of Suffer, but according first-hand accounts from people who worked on the film and folks who lived in the area, the movie was created as a promotional tool for the Meg Shanks Drama School. It is stated that the children used in the film were students of the school, but I cannot confirm if the participating adults were teachers, friends of the school’s owner or local hobos.

However, during her search for Video Nasties to ban, Suffer, Little Children happen to hit Whitehouse’s word jumble jackpot: Children + satanism = murder

So, it was banned.

And thus, a legend was born.

And from then on, Suffer, Little Children became a rarity. A hard to find horror flick that an interesting backstory and a body count to boot. A low-budget video nasty that was the Holy Grail of videos back in the ‘80s. And now, thanks to the good folks at Severin, back in the spotlight where it can be appreciated by historians of horror.

Small side note: Meg Shanks, who wrote Suffer, Little Children, is still teaching in the London area. And according to her Facebook page, she is also a sex consultant.

Buy it here and please enjoy.

Get ready for an intense look into the world of magic and witchcraft with THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, a new one-hour dark drama/horror project based on the classic Archie Comics character. The new project is eyed to debut in The CW’s 2018-19 television season as a companion to RIVERDALE.

The new show will be written by Archie Comics Chief Creative Officer and RIVERDALE Showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, directed by Lee Toland Krieger, and produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Brothers Studios. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, Jon Goldwater, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Lee Toland Krieger serve as executive producers.

SABRINA will draw from the critically acclaimed CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA comic book series from Archie Comics written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Robert Hack, detailing the compelling and shocking re-imagining of Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s occult origins. This dark coming-of-age story deals with horror, the occult, and witchcraft and will see Sabrina struggle to reconcile her dual nature of being half-witch and half-mortal while protecting her family and the world from the forces of evil.

Casting and additional news on the new series will be revealed in the months to come.

Stay up to date on the latest CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA
and ‘RIVERDALE’ news by visiting the official Archie Comics website
and following them on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.