Jessica Jones

by on November 24, 2015 at 10:47 am
Posted In: Rhapsodies

So after two sessions of binge watching courtesy of a friend with a Netflix account I have seen all of the first season of Jessica Jones.Jessica Jones

This is an adaptation of the series, Allias by Micheal Bendis about a cynical, bitter and hard drinking ex-superhero making a living as a private investigator. I can’t say I was much of a fan of the original comic, (some people liked it a lot of my friends hated it, personally I thought it was competent but I didn’t particularly care for the way they retconned her into the continuity of the Marvel universe.) so I can’t really couldn’t judge it as an adaptation of said comic but I can say that this is one of the best examples of how the genre can be taken seriously and go into the market  with the assumption that all of the people who are watching this are grownups.

All in all, as far as the Marvel cinematic universe is concerned, this works just fine with Jessica Jones only being part of the “community for about as long as anyone else in the setting and hadn’t crossed anybody’s radar. That is until she accidentally encounters a mysterious mind controlling psychopath called Kilgrave who kidnaps her for several months destroying her life complete. A year later she making ends meet as a private investigator in New York suffering from severe ptsd, depression and alcoholism. And to make things worse Kilgrave is back

From here we start with a seat gripping cat and mouse game between Jessica and her former abuser. A situation where due to Kilgrave’s powers, nobody can be trusted and everybody is a potential victim.

Krysten Ritter plays Jessica Jones as a terribly damaged young woman who is tough enough to survive what she’s going for but at this point she’s still taking it one day at a time. While she still has friends she is still pushing them away to minimize the risk of being hurt again.

David Tennent is great as Kilgrave. I knew Tennent could do bad not just from the edge his version of the Doctor has but also from his brief but riveting performance as Barty Crouch Jr. In Harry Potter and the Cauldron of Fire and his Hamlet while not technically evil is very much an insufferable jerk. His Kilgrave, is a hedonistic sadist who, if he is to be believed, does not know he’s doing anything wrong.  To a slight extent I found him scarier in the beginning of the series in a less is more kind of way where he is almost more of a terrifying concept than a concept, but Tennant’s performance, deceptively charming at one moment than breaking down in a temper tantrum ordering crowds to commit suicide the next, is what really makes this work and as we get to know the character and what he is capable of feel almost lucky that he is only motivated by his own self gratification.

All in all this one is the top of my list for best entries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I liked the supporting cast especially Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Rachel Taylor as Jessica’s best friend Trish. My only problem with it was the darkness of this story came a little close to the edge of my personal sketch and I got a little tired of a handful of characters being designated victims but all in all this was sixteen hours well spent. (Yes I know it was only thirteen episodes, I’m including commute time to the friend’s apartment. )

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Gorillas – Friday Sketches

by on November 20, 2015 at 8:21 am
Posted In: Art

Well I finally got to do what I got my zoo membership for… Drawing Gorillas!

The first time I went was a nice Saturday and it was packed and while I’m not going to begrudge people the right to go to the zoo I have trouble getting into my zone if there’s more than ten people around. The second time I tried the last hour of the day… Regrettably the flaw in that plan is thatit turns out we’re not the only hominid species that takes quitting time seriously.

Finally I chose a weekday and it was nicely dead and I got plenty of Gorilla sketches and probably could have gotten more. I had a few with the Orangutans as well but they didn’t come out quite as well. They were moving around too much. Two of them came up to see just what I was doing… even tapping the glass to get my attention!

So anyway enjoy these sketches of a couple residents of Phinney Ridge!
Gorillasketch2015111901 gorilla2015112003 gorilla2015112002

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First Night at DUNE

by on November 19, 2015 at 10:21 am
Posted In: Art

DUNE is a local group of indie cartoonists and illustrators who gather at Cafe Racer every third Tuesday where over the evening everybody does a page of art then you put down three dollars and it gets printed in the group’s monthly zine.

I’d known about it for over a year but due to have very busy Tuesday evenings I’d either continually forgotten about it or wasn’t able to do it but last month I remembered it.

So it was a nice bunch of artists, many of whom I knew. And after a half hour of brainstorming I started work inspired by the Danse Macabre sketch I’d done that day featuring Bonnie Jackson (or at least another little girl who looks a lot like her) I finished it in two hours. It came out pretty well considering I realized after the fact that this was not a 24 hour comics marathon and this wasn’t a race against the clock (much) and the cheap pen I was using started dying halfway through.

Anyway I just got the original back so see what you think. (Sorry that it kind of comes off as a really late Halloween piece.)

BonnieandtheDansMacabre

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Wednesday Double Feature – High Seas

by on November 18, 2015 at 8:22 am
Posted In: Rhapsodies

This week’s selection was adventures on the high seas during the napolianic wars

image_film_hornblower_1472The first of my selection was Captain Horatio Hornblower starring Gregory Peck. Based on the works of C. S. Forester.

I’ve never actually read any of the Hornblower Novels and my only real exposure to them were though the BBC series of miniseries. And indirectly the Honor Harrington series that is essentially Hornblower in space. As for Peck, while I’m certainly aware of his reputation, the only thing I saw him in was John Huston’s Moby Dick as Captain Ahab, which I always thought he was terribly miscast for. Because of that first impression I’m ashamed to admit I never want out of my way to see any other of his films.

The film is a collection of bits from three of the novels starting with a mission to support a deranged revolutionary against the Spanish who were allies of Napoleon only for the Spanish to turn against Napoleon so Hornblower fight the man he was allied  with just a day before. From there more missions occur against the french with Hornblower’s forbidden romance with Lady Barbara Wellesey the sister of Lord Wellington. (Their significant others die ,so they are brought together in the end.)

This was a perfectly solid film. Peck’s performance was very good (though the character’s habitual clearing of his throat got old very quickly) The nautical scenes were very well done (and I can’t help wondering it was model work and how much of it was actually filming the actual ships at sea.

master-and-commander_5987On the otposite extreme was Peter Weir’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World staring Russel Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey and Paul Bethany as his friend and ship’s surgeon Dr. Stephen Maturin.

Based on the Aubrey-Maturin series of historical novels by Patrick O’Brian. Master and Commander tell’s the story of the crew of the aging HMS Surprise in a deadly cat and mouse game against a superior and advaned French Ship.

It is interesting comparing this with the Hornblower film. While Hornblower portrays a much more romanticized version of the period. While Master and Comander acts like a realistic snapshot. While Hornblower certainly does not deny that naval battles will have casualties Master and Commander shows it as a meat grinder.

If I had any problem with it was that this was primarily Aubrey (Russel Crowe’s ) film with Mautren’s role only coming into his own halfway through the film.

Otherwise this film was amazing and had me gripping my seat in interest all the way through. (The Galapagos Islands make a great cameo, iguanas and all)

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Wednesday Double Feature – Jerks

by on November 11, 2015 at 8:43 am
Posted In: Rhapsodies

The theme for this week’s film selection was jerks. Insufferable self centered, self destructive jerks.

I got the idea for this week’s selection when I heard that comic writer Grant Morrison had based an urban sorcerer he created (because he was not allowed to use DC comic’s main urban John Constantine in Doom Patrol) on one of the main characters in the dark Brittish comedy Whithnail and I. Obviously I had to check this out.

withnail_and_iWhithnail and I tells the story of two out of work actors, “I” a relatively normal neurotic and his best friend Whithnail a down on his luck, upper crust, pompous, self centered drunk, who spend their time in their squalid London apartment waiting for their dole checks and  going to the local pub to get drunk and stay warm.

In an attempt to get away from it all they go on an impromptu vacation in the lake country, staying in a cottage belonging to Whithnail’s uncle, and failing miserably at it almost starving to death and having to break up most of the house’s furniture for firewood.

I liked the two central characters but despite the outrageousness of the two main characters I’m not sure I’d consider this a comedy despite it’s darkly humorous overlook. After a fashion it felt like what Young Ones would be like if it took place in a more real world and was a little more serious.

FandlinLVBecause a few of my friends who had seen it described Whithnail and I as “Fear and Loathing in Britain” I realized I was past due in watching Terry Gilliam’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.. I confess I only made it about two thirds  though the book the one time I tried (though I’m comfortably sure that was because I was listening to it on and audio book and I’ve found that not all books work in the format) For the most part my views of Hunter S Thompson are unfairly based on the caricature of him in Doonesbury (which Thompson hated) and I’m afraid a lot of my viewing of the movie were though the lens of Doonesbury’s Uncle Duke.

Still this story of Thompson’s alter ego Raul Duke, played brilliantly by Johnny Depp with Benicio del Toro as as his sidekick and attorney Dr. Gonzo, rampage through Las vegas in a drug fueled three days.

This has quickly become part of my Terry Gilliam top five list. He turns Las Vegas into a hallucinogenic nightmare fairyland almost as much of a fantasy as many of his other films.

Depp and Del Torro have great chemistry together with Depp virtually channeling Thompson and Del Toro going back and forth between drug addled clown and truly scary monster.

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