Saturday, April 19, 2014

Grumble Digital Comics Indiegogo Campaign Update April 19, 2014

John Ira Thomas of Candle Light Press has contributed:


Amy Berg's "Deliver Us from Evil" is Powerful and Pointed

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 90 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

Deliver Us from Evil (2006)
Running time:  103 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes)
MPAA – (Not rated)
WRITER/DIRECTOR:  Amy Berg
PRODUCERS:  Amy Berg, Matthew Cooke, Frank Donner, and Hermas Lassalle
CINEMATOGRAPHERS:  Jacob Kusk and Jens Schlosser
EDITOR:  Matthew Cooke
COMPOSERS:  Joseph Arthur and Mick Harvey
2007 Academy Award nominee

DOCUMENTARY – Religion and Crime

Starring:  Oliver O’Grady, Thomas Doyle, Jane Degroot, Case Degroot, Anne Jyono, Bob Jyono, Marie Jyono, and Nancy Sloan

Deliver Us from Evil is a 2006 Oscar-nominated documentary film from writer-director, Amy Berg.  The film focuses on a Catholic priest whom the Catholic Church relocated to various parishes around the United States for the better part of two decades in order to cover up his rape of dozens of children.

Berg has recently gained notoriety because of a documentary film upon which she is currently working.  The unnamed film reportedly contains sex abuse allegations made against director Bryan Singer.  Singer is best known for his work on 20th Century Fox’s X-Men film franchise and for the Oscar-winning film, The Usual Suspects.

From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, Catholic priest, Father Oliver O’Grady moved about Northern California molesting and raping countless children.  With her unsettling documentary, Deliver Us from Evil, director Amy Berg exposes the corruption inside the Catholic Church that allowed O’Grady to abuse children (and sometimes their parents).  Berg conducts a series of disturbing interviews with the pedophile priest that seek to provide a window for the viewer into the mind of this deeply troubled man, and Berg also mixes that with his victims’ stories.

Deliver Us from Evil attempts to construct a portrait of O’Grady as a spiritual leader who moved from church parish to church parish and gained the trust of various congregations, only to later betray so many of them by abusing their children.  Berg thoroughly investigates O’Grady’s past as a priest and speaks with many of his victims and parishioners, as well as participants involved in O’Grady’s legal cases.  Later in the film, she broadens her approach to take a look at clergy abuse of children in Boston, and she interviews people who believe that the problem of abuse is international and may have begun as early as the fourth century.  Experts on theology and law speak to the doctrinal, legal, and theological issues that establish an environment for abuse.

Although the film seems to lose focus the last 20 minutes or so, Deliver Us from Evil is as mesmerizing as any great film thriller or as riveting and frightening as any great horror movie, and it exposes evil that is widespread and even more destructive.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2007 Academy Awards:  1 nomination for “Best Documentary, Features” (Amy Berg and Frank Donner)

Monday, June 11, 2007

Updated:  Saturday, April 19, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Friday, April 18, 2014

VIZ Media's Neon Alley Has "Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet" Anime Series


VIZ MEDIA’S NEON ALLEY LAUNCHES THE BEAUTIFULLY ANIMATED SCI-FI ACTION SERIES GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET

Catch The Entire Subtitled 13-Episode Series FOR FREE On Neon Alley Online Anime Streaming Platform!

VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), the largest publisher, distributor and licensor of manga and anime in North America, brings the intergalactic action drama – GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET – to its new Neon Alley FREE online streaming anime platform.

The lushly animated 13-episode adventure was created by the famed animation studio Production I.G. and is available today in its entirety at NeonAlley.com. For $7.99 a month, U.S. fans can also access GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET on mobile and digital devices through the subscription-based Hulu Plus Video-On-Demand service. The premiere of a dubbed version will follow later in the year.

In the distant future, Ledo, a young soldier from space wakes up and finds himself marooned on an ocean planet. Growing up in space, and knowing nothing but battle, he is a stranger in a strange land, full of odd customs and a foreign language, but he’s not alone. Starting a new journey on this verdurous planet, Ledo must find a way to survive and reconcile the fact that he may never be able to return home!

“GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUROUS PLANET is a gorgeous story charting young pilot Ledo’s journey of self discovery as he visits a strange and nature-filled planet ‘Earth’ for the very first time,” says Charlene Ingram, Senior Manager, Animation Marketing. “The evocative adventure delivers a substantial plot, intriguing characters and beautifully rendered animation created by Japan’s most famous anime studios. With the flexibility of the free Neon Alley streaming platform, fans can dive in and marathon the entire series at their leisure!”

Neon Alley delivers the hottest in subbed and dubbed digital anime series, simulcast world premieres, exclusive on-demand access, and a massive legacy catalog of new as well as classic favorites (in HD when available). NeonAlley.com is a premier on-demand, online destination for streaming anime content in the U.S. The service is available for FREE online and also anytime, anywhere across a wide array of different devices, including PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Roku, Chromecast, and a variety of other mobile devices through the subscription-based Hulu Plus Video-On-Demand service. Additional details on Hulu Plus-enabled devices can be found at http://www.hulu.com/plus/devices.

Additional information on Neon Alley is available at: www.NeonAlley.com.

For more information on anime titles from VIZ Media, please visit: www.VIZ.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Review: "High Fidelity" is Endearing, Refreshing (Happy B'day, Nick Hornby)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 68 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

High Fidelity (2000)
Running time:  113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)
MPAA – R for language and some sexuality
DIRECTOR:  Stephen Frears
WRITERS:  D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg (based upon the book by Nick Hornby)
PRODUCERS:  Tim Bevan and Rudd Simmons
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Seamus McGarvey
EDITOR:  Mick Audsley
COMPOSER:  Howard Shore
BAFTA Award nominee

COMEDY/DRAMA/ROMANCE

Starring: John Cusack, Iben Hejejle, Todd Louiso, Jack Black, Lisa Bonet, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joan Cusack, Tim Robbins, Shannon Stillo, Joelle Carter, Lili Taylor, Alex Desert, and Bruce Springsteen

The subject of this movie review is High Fidelity, a 2000 comedy, drama, and romance from director Stephen Frears.  The film is based on the 1995 novel, High Fidelity, from author Nick Hornby.  High Fidelity focuses on a record store owner, who is a compulsive list maker, as he recounts his top five breakups, including the one that just occurred.

After seeing Identity, I decided to go back and see some John Cusack movies that I hadn’t seen.  I can call them “John Cusack movies” in the sense that Cusack’s personality pretty much dominates almost any film in which he stars.  He’s presence is simply quite dynamic and magnetic.  When he first came on the scene, many predicted that he’d be a huge star, and for some reason, his star isn’t as big as it should be.  However, few actors of his generation have a combination of tremendous acting talent and the sense about him that the camera loves.  Some have one or the other, but having both is rare.

In High Fidelity, John is Rob Gordon, owner of Championship Vinyl, a record store the specializes in collectible LP’s, emphasizing vinyl over compact disc, although the store does have a selection of hip and cool cd’s.  As the movie begins, his current girlfriend, Laura Lydon (Iben Hejejle) is leaving him.  So Rob, the film’s very dominate character and a compulsive list maker recounts his top five breakups, all the while trying to regain Laura’s companionship.

The film is based on a novel by Nick Hornby (the film About a Boy is also from one of his novels) and co-written by four writers including Cusack.  Although the film has a director with a pedigree, Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters), and a Hollywood hotshot as one of its screenwriters Scott Rosenberg (Con Air), this is John Cusack’s show.  In the beginning, the character Rob is a little hard to take.  It’s easy to see why he’d have problems with women, although Rob seems to think that his problems stem from his girlfriends.  Cusack builds Rob Gordon slowly, layer upon layer, before our eyes.  Rob talks a lot, and quite a bit of him is a mystery, but Cusack brings us in really close.  He totally breaks the mythical fourth wall between fictional character/performer and viewer, and though Rob remains something of an enigma, we learn enough about him to love him and to root for him.

There are quite a few interesting characters in the film that we don’t see more of because this is Rob’s show.  They might strengthen the story, but the storytelling is still excellent solely because of Cusack’s Rob.  Laura remains as elusive as Rob is, so we might need her version of High Fidelity to get her side of the relationship.

The film is funny, touching, and in its own quirky way, very romantic.  The supporting performances give Cusack’s Rob room to do his thing and give us enough to make Rob’s environment beyond his musings interesting.  High Fidelity could have been a disaster because in many ways, Rob ain’t going anywhere.  He doesn’t have any plans, and he is unsatisfied with his life, but not enough to do something – to act, so we could have brushed him off as a loser.  I didn’t because I want to hear every word he has to say.  Kudos to Cusack for making Rob so endearing and this film so refreshing.

7 of 10
A-

NOTES:
2001 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical” (John Cusack)

2001 BAFTA Awards:  1 nominations:  “Best Screenplay – Adapted” (D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, John Cusack, and Scott Rosenberg)

2001 Black Reel Awards:  1 nomination: “Theatrical - Best Supporting Actress” (Lisa Bonet)

Updated:  Thursday, April 17, 2014


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.


New Dwayne Johnson Movie "San Andreas" Preps for June 2015 Release

Production Begins on Action Thriller “San Andreas,” Starring Dwayne Johnson

BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Principal photography begins Tuesday, April 22, on location in Australia for “San Andreas,” starring Dwayne Johnson. The action thriller from New Line Cinema and Village Roadshow Pictures reunites Johnson with director Brad Peyton and producer Beau Flynn, following their collaboration on the global hit “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.”

After the infamous San Andreas Fault finally gives, triggering a magnitude 9 earthquake in California, a search and rescue helicopter pilot (Johnson) and his estranged wife make their way together from Los Angeles to San Francisco to save their only daughter. But their treacherous journey north is only the beginning, and when they think the worst may be over…it’s just getting started.

The film also stars Carla Gugino (“Night at the Museum,” TV’s “Entourage”), Alexandra Daddario (“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters,” TV’s “True Detective”) and Archie Panjabi (TV’s “The Good Wife”), as well as Hugo Johnstone-Burt (Australian TV’s “Home and Away”) and Art Parkinson (TV’s “Game of Thrones”).

“San Andreas” is being produced by Beau Flynn (“Hercules,” “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island”). Tripp Vinson (“Red Dawn”) will also serve as producer. Richard Brener, Samuel J. Brown, Michael Disco, Rob Cowan and Bruce Berman are the executive producers, and Hiram Garcia is co-producer. The screenplay is by Carlton Cuse and Chad Hayes & Carey Hayes, story by Jeremy Passmore & Andre Fabrizio.

The creative filmmaking team includes director of photography Steve Yedlin (“Looper”), production designer Barry Chusid (“The Day After Tomorrow”), editor Bob Ducsay (upcoming “Godzilla”), VFX producer Randall Starr (upcoming “Into the Storm”), VFX supervisor Colin Strause (“The Avengers”), and costume designer Wendy Chuck (“Twilight”).

“San Andreas” is slated to open in theatres on Friday, June 5, 2015.

The film will be shot on location in The Gold Coast and Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

A New Line Cinema presentation, in association with Village Roadshow Pictures, “San Andreas” is a FlynnPictureCo. Production. It will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and in select territories by Village Roadshow Pictures.


Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Review: "Testament" Still Testifies (Happy B'day, Lukas Haas)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Testament (1983)
Running time: 89 minutes (1 hour, 29 minutes)
MPAA – PG
DIRECTOR:  Lynne Littman
WRITER:  John Sacret Young (based upon the short story, “The Last Testament” by Carol Amen)
PRODUCERS:  John Bernstein and Lynne Littman
CINEMATOGRAPHER:  Steven Poster
EDITOR:  Suzanne Pettit
COMPOSER:  James Horner
Academy Award nominee

Starring:  Jane Alexander, William Devane, Rossie Harris, Roxana Zal, Lukas Haas, Philip Anglim, Lilia Skala, Leon Ames, Lurene Tuttle, Rebecca De Mornay, Kevin Costner, Mako, Mico Olmos, and Gerry Murillo

DRAMA

The subject of this movie review is Testament, a 1983 post-apocalyptic drama.  The film is based on the short story, “The Last Testament,” which first appeared in print in 1981 and was written by Carol Amen.  Testament the film focuses on a woman and her small suburban American family as they struggle to survive after a nuclear attack.

Talk about a time capsule movie, I hadn’t seen the anti-nuclear war/proliferation or anti-nukes film, Testament, in 21 years, and found it quite by accident on Internet rental service, Netflix.  Back in the early 80’s, Testament really fit in with a time when so many people thought the U.S. and the USSR were going to destroy the world in an inevitable nuclear world war, each side seemingly primed for mutually assured destruction.  Still, the film’s drama remains potent because its story of a community devastated by a man-made horror is timeless.

Testament is the story of Carol Wetherly (Jane Alexander), who becomes the family matriarch and leader when nuclear bombs are detonated across the country, and her husband, Tom (William Devane), doesn’t make it home to their suburb of Hamlin from his job in San Francisco.  As neighbors and members of her family begin to die from the fallout, Carol takes in orphans and tries to keep what’s left of her family together.  When it seems that everyone’s fate is sealed by radiation poison and it seems that they’re cut off from the rest of the world (or what still exists of civilization), she tries to teach her children adult matters that they will never live to learn.

Testament was originally a made-for-TV movie that impressed executives at Paramount Pictures enough to get it released theatrically.  The fact that it played in theatres made Jane Alexander eligible for post-season film awards, and she earned 1984 Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for best actress.  She dominates this film, and the tragic post-war existence of the survivors is etched in her performance.

There are some moments in this film that will stay with me forever, such as Carol washing her youngest child, Scottie (Lukas Haas), who has profuse bleeding in his stool – totally heart wrenching.  Even at an hour and a half running time, the film seems a bit long, as if it makes its point halfway through the film and everything else is just morbid piling on.  Still, the film gets across two points – humans will struggle to survive, even under the most adverse conditions.  Secondly, we humans will hurt ourselves more than anything else on the planet could.  Although I think that leaders who make the decision to go to war don’t give a damn about such movies, Testament is good enough for those of us who do.

7 of 10
B+

Friday, April 8, 2005

Updated:  Wednesday, April 16, 2014

NOTES:
1984 Academy Awards, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Jane Alexander)

1984 Golden Globes, USA:  1 nomination: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Jane Alexander)

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

New Tom Cruise Movie "Edge of Tomorrow" Headed for Bookshelves

VIZ MEDIA’S HAIKASORU IMPRINT ANNOUNCES EDGE OF TOMORROW OFFICIAL MOVIE TIE-IN NOVEL AND ALL YOU NEED IS KILL ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL RELEASE

Two New Science Fiction Action Titles Timed To Release With The Summer Blockbuster Movie EDGE OF TOMORROW Starring Tom Cruise And Emily Blunt

VIZ Media’s Haikasoru literary imprint supports the upcoming release of the gripping sci-fi action film, Edge of Tomorrow with the release of an official movie tie-in novel on April 29th. The new EDGE OF TOMORROW paperback release will carry an MSRP of $7.99 U.S. / $9.99 CAN. The book features a cover with the official movie poster featuring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in their title roles from the film. The EDGE OF TOMORROW novel was written by Japanese author Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and was previously published as ALL YOU NEED IS KILL.

The Haikasoru imprint has also announced the May 6th release of the ALL YOU NEED IS KILL official graphic novel adaptation. Written by Haikasoru editor and noted sci-fi author, Nick Mamatas, and featuring full-color artwork by popular comic book artist Lee Ferguson (Green Arrow, Miranda Mercury), the new graphic novel offers a single-volume retelling of the original ALL YOU NEED IS KILL novel that inspired the EDGE OF TOMORROW movie. The graphic novel carries an MSRP of $14.99 U.S. / $17.99 CAN, and features an oversized North American graphic novel trim size of 6 5/8" x 10 ¼”. An eBook edition will also be available worldwide for $8.99 (U.S. / CAN) for the Amazon Kindle, Apple’s iBooks Store, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Book Store, and the Kobo eBooks Store. North American fans can also access the graphic novel digitally on the VIZ Manga App as well as through VIZManga.com.

The Edge of Tomorrow feature film is slated for U.S. release from Warner Bros. Pictures on June 6th, and will be presented in 3D and 2D in select theaters, and 3D IMAX. The movie is directed by Doug Liman and stars Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton.

The story is set in the future when aliens called Mimics invade. Keiji Kiriya is just one of many recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. But he dies on the battlefield after only a few minutes, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally – the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji's escape or his final death?

In 2009, ALL YOU NEED IS KILL served as the launch title for Haikasoru, a unique imprint developed by VIZ Media dedicated to publishing the most compelling contemporary Japanese science fiction and fantasy for English-speaking audiences. New York Times best-selling author John Scalzi declared ALL YOU NEED IS KILL to be a novel that, "reads fast, kicks ass, and keeps on coming," and it has proven to be one of Haikasoru's most popular titles. Sakurazaka's other novels include Characters (co-written with Hiroki Azuma) and SLUM ONLINE, which was published in English by Haikasoru in 2010.

“Live…die…repeat. ALL YOU NEED IS KILL / EDGE OF TOMORROW delivers a nightmarish, action-packed spin on reliving one’s own triumphs, and failures,” says Nick Mamatas, Editor, Haikasoru. “Catch the original story that inspired the gripping movie with the official movie tie-in edition and in the Western comic book mode with the ALL YOU NEED IS KILL official graphic novel. Both of these debuts are perfect reads leading up to the highly anticipated theatrical debut of Edge of Tomorrow this summer!”

"The ALL YOU NEED TO KILL graphic novel stays very true to the original source novel," says Joel Enos, editor for the new comic. "We made a conscious effort to create something unique that could stand on it's own away from both the original novel, the film and the upcoming manga, but would nicely complement and pay respects to all three! Lee's retro-futuristic art style especially puts ALL YOU NEED TO KILL as a comic into it's own orbit!"

Author Hiroshi Sakurazaka was born in Tokyo in 1970 and published his first novel, Modern Magic Made Simple, in 2003 with Super Dash Bunko, a popular young adult light novel imprint. There are now seven volumes in the series, and it was adapted as a manga in 2008 and became a television anime series in 2009. His 2004 short story, "Saitama Chainsaw Massacre," also won the 16th SF Magazine Reader's Award. Sakurazaka published All You Need Is Kill with Super Dash Bunko in 2004 and earned his first Seiun Award nomination for best of the year honors in Japanese science fiction. In 2010, Sakurazaka started an experimental digital magazine AiR with fellow author Junji Hotta. He remains one of Japan's most energetic writers of both light novels and adult science fiction.

Haikasoru’s Nick Mamatas is the author of several novels, including The Damned Highway (with Brian Keene) and Love is the Law. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Tor.com, Weird Tales, and numerous other venues. He's also written comics for Media Blasters and the Squid Works! Collective and has been nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and Shirley Jackson awards.

Artist Lee Ferguson has worked in comics since 2001, when he broke in at Marvel on the 9/11 Heroes tribute book, followed by work on the company's X-Men titles. Since then, he's worked at DC, IDW, and Dynamite, while also putting out Freak, his creator-owned project from Image Comics. His newest book is The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury, co-created with Brandon Thomas and published through Archaia Comics. In 2012, Miranda Mercury was on YALSA’s Best Graphic Novels for Teens list and was also nominated for four Glyph Awards, including Best Artist.

For more information on EDGE OF TOMORROW / ALL YOU NEED IS KILL and the Haikasoru imprint, please visit www.haikasoru.com.

For more information on other titles available from VIZ Media, please visit www.VIZ.com.

About VIZ Media, LLC
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, VIZ Media distributes, markets and licenses the best anime and manga titles direct from Japan.  Owned by three of Japan's largest manga and animation companies, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions, Co., Ltd., VIZ Media has the most extensive library of anime and manga for English speaking audiences in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. With its popular digital manga anthology WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP and blockbuster properties like NARUTO, BLEACH and INUYASHA, VIZ Media offers cutting-edge action, romance and family friendly properties for anime, manga, science fiction and fantasy fans of all ages.  VIZ Media properties are available as graphic novels, DVDs, animated television series, feature films, downloadable and streaming video and a variety of consumer products.  Learn more about VIZ Media, anime and manga at www.VIZ.com.