Blast of Silence

The more I find out about this film the more interesting it becomes to me. Originally released in 1961 Blast of Silence lived in relative obscurity until it began to be shown at various film festivals in the 1990s; however, it remained hard to get a glimpse of up until a few weeks ago when it got a Criterion Collection release. The film opens with a bleak narration about the birth of its main character Frank Bono, played by writer and director Allen Baron, while we see a train coming up out of a pitch black tunnel. From here on out [a mere 77 minutes] the somber mood of the film does not relent. Frank is a hired killer who has come to New York City during Christmas to take care of a local mobster, and of course he runs into some old friends from before his days as a trained assassin; all very typical of noir that came before and after it. The narration continues throughout the film and provides great insight into Bono's character and is even more interesting due to its use of the second person perspective. A life of contract killing has taken its tool on Baby Boy Frankie Bono, he is a portrait of isolation, alienation, and hate. Perhaps more than anything else it is the frankness with which Baron deals with this hate and alienation that sets the film apart from the many like it. Running into old friends Bono begins to question the life choices that have lead him to become something which is certainly less than human, but as we often see in film noir one can not ever escape from their past. Some of the film's greatest sequences are when Baron contrasts these character traits with the festive New York City environment and those wrapped up in it. Like many noir films Blast of Silence concludes pretty much how you would expect, but in such films plot usually is left on the back burner set aside to focus more throughly on character development. Since the film was made for practically nothing the roughness of it adds to the overall tone as does beautifully done music. Having just seen this film for the first time in 2008 it is hard to understand the impact it had, but anyone who has seen films such as Taxi Driver or other work by Scorcese and directors of his ilk will quickly see the influence. Blast of Silence is obviously a must see for any noir or crime film fans, but should also be given a chance by other more casual movie-goers. 

Some interesting side notes about the film:

- The writer/director/star Allen Baron spent most of the rest of his career directing episodes of TV shows such as Charlie's Angels and the Brady Bunch

- Larry Tucker who gives the film's best performance as Big Ralph was a writer and actor on The Monkees

Spoiler Free Comic Reviews

Scalped #17 by Jason Aaron with Art by RM Guera

This concludes the 6-issue Dead Mothers arc which has been incredible. A great first page which like many of Scalped's best pages has absolutely no text. Aaron is often happy to let Guera's art speak for itself and it almost always works perfectly. We don't get to see a long drawn out confrontation between Dash and Diesel, but what transpires should be pleasing to fans of the series. Like most good writing or at least writing that I enjoy the distinctions between hero and villain are never black and white, but rather quite gray. Nothing about this comic is black and white as evidenced by the story's "villain" Red Crow who is easily the most compiling "bad guy" in comics right now. The scenes involving Red Crow in this issue both at the funeral for Gina and afterwards are great and help to further blur that good/evil line even more. The ending of the issue is done beautifully and again features no text whatsoever which really forces readers to digest what they are seeing on the page. I was not thrilled about the reveal in the epilogue, but I trust the book enough to know that it will deliver. You have no excuse to not read this book.

Captain America #38 by Ed Brubaker with pencils by Steve Epting

Ed Brubaker is probably one of my and everyone else's favorite comic book writers at the moment, and rightfully so. His run on Captain America will go down as one of the best runs on any Marvel book. Period. However, at points over the past year and a half even fans of the book began to complain that the story was stalling and needed to pick up the pace a bit, and their complaints were not entirely unwarranted. Hopefully this book, as great as it is, isn't going down that path again. I feel kind of weird complaining about this book, but when something is so good expectations begin to rise and while this issue wasn't bad per se I finished it feeling kind of disappointed. Yes we find out who the other Captain America is, but we all knew it wasn't Steve and the reveal didn't leave me excited. Aside from this nothing in this issue really moved Brubaker's overarching story along enough for me. It was cool to see Bucky fighting alongside Falcon, but how many more issues do we need of Bucky telling us how he wants to make Steve or in this issue Steve's close friend Falcon feel like he truly deserves to be the one holding the shield. I'm sure something cool is coming I just hope we don't have to wait much longer for it. There doesn't need to be some huge Earth-shattering event or reveal in the book each and every month, but hopefully next month Brubaker gives us a little more than he did this time. Oh by the way the art is amazing as usual.

COMING SOON: BLAST OF SILENCE MOVIE REVIEW

Movie Review - Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I've always been a fan of Jason Segel ever since Freaks and Geeks so it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed the first movie written by him. It uses the same type of humor you should be used to by now if you like most have been watching all the movies being made by Judd Apatow and the actors he got to know from making great/canceled shows like Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. The movie gets the ball rolling fast with a great scene early where Segel's character stands naked as his TV-star girlfriend was breaks up with him and throughout the entire scene the camera randomly pans to a shot of his limp dick. Hilarious. After confiding in his ex's brother played by Bill Hader Segel's character decides to take a trip to Hawaii to relax and enjoy himself. Of course his ex and her rock star boyfriend are staying in the same hotel, and this situation provides most of the humor. While at the hotel Segel falls for the receptionist played by Mila Kunis who is equally interested in him. These two work well together in the movie and their characters like most of the others feel about as believable as the movie wants us to think they are. On the resort our main character runs into a stoned surf instructor played by Paul Rudd, an obsessed fan played by Jonah Hill, and a Christian newly wed played by Jack McBrayer who plays Kenneth on NBC's 30 Rock. It is his character that really detracts from the movie, he is afraid and disturbed by sex and his wife's desire for it, but none of the jokes that spring from this subplot are funny at all. The movie had a lot of good laughs there was no need to add an entire subplot for the purpose of some cheap jokes about a guy not being able to have sex. The time wasted on this character could have been used to show more flash-back scenes of Segel's first relationship which I thought really added to the depth of his and Kristen Bell's character and made them feel much more realistic. On a sidenote, the flash-back of Segel's character spending a full-week in sweat pants is easily the funniest scene in the entire movie especially if you are a fan of The Lord of the Rings. There are two small twists in the movie but it eventually ends pretty much how you would expect it to which isn't a bad thing I guess since getting to that point was pretty damn funny. I'm sure like most of these other movies this one will get better after multiple viewings.

Records you should check out and a show review

I'm not going to waste my time making comparisons to other bands or trying to describe what a band sounds like at least not for now because I'm tired.

Sex/Vid - Nests 7" - This is my favorite release from this Seattle band which is probably an unpopular opinion considering how many people love Tania the bands' second 7". All three songs on this new one are awesome, but Exorcism is by far the best track. Definitely give this record a few listens before you try to sell it on ebay. They are coming to Philly this summer hopefully I can get off work for it.

Inmates - Now We Talkin Hardcore! 7" - Nothing new pretty much what you expect from the Inmates but that is in no way a bad thing. Sitting here listening to this again just makes me mad I missed the band down in Texas this past weekend because their live shows are always fucking ridiculous. Check out the very fancy Even Worse site to order http://www.geocities.com/evenworserecords/index1.htm

Human Mess - Uncaged Animal 7" - Another awesome CA band featuring members of Loser Life and probably some other Bakersfield bands. The singer has a cool blog you should check out http://hulksmusiccorner.blogspot.com/. I don't know why the insert only had lyrics for one of the songs so that kind of sucked but the record is certainly worth checking out. No Way Records put this out and is apparently putting out an LP from these guys too so look out for that hopefully it has a full lyrics sheet.

The Darvocets - ...Are New Wave 12" - Good luck getting a copy of this only 500 were pressed and I'm pretty sure they are already all spoken for. Get the MP3s from somebody though because the record is awesome. The first song John Titor is my favorite and do yourself a favor and google that name in case you are an uninformed loser. All the other songs are nearly as weird and awesome so find an old VHS copy of Fire in the Sky and listen to this record. Hopefully I get to see them in person again soon last time involved fireworks, couches being destroyed, and a Christmas tree getting thrown at people.

Crime Desire - ST 12" - Before getting this record I had listened to the Nadir 7" single about a million times so needless to say I was very excited to get my hands and ears on the rest of the record. It certainly did not disappoint although it is in some ways quite different than the In Lucifer's Grip 7" which is also fucking incredible. Your Predition is probably the only track I'm not really into. A lot of the songs are a bit slower than the songs on the previous 7" but they are still hard hitting. Besides Confront Them most of the songs clock in at close to or over the three minute mark. Sadly Crime Desire are another band from far away that I probably won't get to see again anytime soon.

Loser Life - My Hell 12" - Easily the band's best release as of yet. The full length that came out last year was good, but this is an improvement. Great music and great lyrics. The band is able to write about girls without coming off as corny which takes talent. Also the cover of the record is a naked old couple how can you not love that?

Other recent releases to check out:
Dangerloves - Easy 7"
Deep Sleep - Manic Euphoria 7"
Pink Reason - Borrowed Time b/w Scared Shitless 7"
Repercussions - No Peace 7"
Waco Fuck - Paranoia Is Total Awareness 12"

SHOW REVIEW - Fucked Up @ the First Unitarian Church with Hardskin, Invasion, and Retard Strength.

This was a matinée show so I expected a pretty small crowd and I was right. Retard Strength opened up the show and were pretty cool especially their black metal looking bass player. Invasion are a D-beat band from Spain who just released an LP which apparently is better than their live output which wasn't bad just not really my style. Hardskin sucked. Nothing about that band is funny or entertaining, sorry. Fucked Up's set was good enough I guess. The new song was kind of lame but I'm sure if the new LP ever comes out it will be awesome. The crowd was fucking horrible though. Some terrible crust punk girl tried to fight me for moshing into her and the rest of the crowd was about 16 years old. On the whole the show kind of sucked. Oh well.

DMZ #31

This issue is Part 3 of the Blood in the Game arc which deals primarily with an election in the DMZ and the "people's candidate"Parco Delgado. Matty Roth has gotten close to Delgado and has begun covering Delgado's campaign. The big ending to issue #30 was Matty's mom coming into the DMZ and Wood starts to deal with this right away in this issue and handled it very well by using her, Matty, and Zee together. We get some background on Matty and his mom, and then we see Matty being interviewed and showing that he is no longer an outsider in the DMZ. Based on how the issue ends things are about to get even more complicated and this book has been solid for a long time so I'm sure the second half of this arc will deliver. I hope we get to see more of Zee and her hesitance to support Delgado in this arc because I think there is something really interesting there since she is much more closely tied to the DMZ as a long time resident than someone like Matty who while no longer an outsider hasn't been around forever but has still thrown himself behind Delgado. I'm personally always weary of candidates who are self-proclaimed "voices of the people" so again I hope Wood gives us more in that direction.

Omega the Unknown #8 of 10

"I'll avenge your death, old buddy. But first I you need to die." - The Mink

Nobody is reading this mini-series which is really a shame because every month it is great. A good chunk of the issue is devoted to back story about the Earth's First Omega which is wonderfully done using the Overthinker. We then go back to following Alex and the two girls as they search through the Mink's maze and eventually run into the Nowhere Man who offers Alex a chance to hop into the Nowh-area via a jar. Inside the Nowh-area, where one can have a conversation with those dead or made up, Alex has a conversation with Hugh who died a few issues back, and this is my favorite part of the issue. Nowhere Man helps the kids escape in the nick of time, Frances breaks veg in order to be protected from the robots, and Alex kicks some ass on the college campus. Can't wait for the final two issues. Please pick up the back issues or trade when it eventually comes out, this mini series has been as enjoyable as it has been crazy.

Thunderbolts #120 [Spoilers included]

Finally the Green Goblin has returned and man does he know how to crash the party. Osborn kicks some serious ass in this issue, but not before Warren Ellis treats readers to one of the coolest monologues I've ever read, these pages alone were worth the $2.99. Not much else happened in this issue; the psychics convince Moonstone to go after Doc Samson, Venom is still hurting from the beating Swordsman gave him last issue, and Radioactive Man gets knocked around after suggesting, presumably with the help of the psychics, giving cancer to everyone in the base. Only complaint is that Ellis turned Swordsman into too much of a wuss. Of course he is going to be afraid of the Green Goblin, but "Mommy" I don't know seemed excessive. This issue was a whole lot of fun so enjoy it all while you can because Ellis only has one issue left on this book, and considering how insane the entire arc has been expect one hell of an ending when #121 eventually hits.

Batman 676 Review [SPOILERS AHEAD]

People tend to either love or hate Grant Morrison. Personally, I love the guy. Figured I would get that out of the way before continuing on with the review. Batman 676 is the first issue in Grant's big Batman RIP storyline which is supposed to be the culmination of everything he has been doing thus far on the book. One of the main complaints I hear about Morrison's run on Batman thus far is that it is just too "all over the place" and while there are elements of truth to that why does it have to be a bad thing. I just don't understand why people can't just sit back and enjoy where Morrison is taking us it isn't like the guy doesn't have some end point that he wants to reach, all of his issues so far are obviously leading up to something, and I'm sure it will all pay off as we get further into Batman RIP. Also, even if the issues have been a bit disconnected at times it isn't as if they haven't been well written stories. Do people want the same old stories all the time so that they know exactly how everything is going to end up? Some of these people should just stop reading comics issue to issue and just depend entirely on trades and hardcovers.

The book begins with Batman and Robin on top of a roof, but something tells me we are not looking at Bruce and Tim. Robin certainly looks a lot like Damian to me, but who knows. Immediately after this we are taken backwards six months and get an introduction to Dr. Hurt and the Black Glove. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this assortment of villains. The next few pages are dedicated to the new Batmobile which actually looks more look older versions of the Batmobile which I was thankful for because that stupid tank looking thing in Batman Begins is pretty awful. One question though why is Batman still using a CD player? The strongest part of the issue is the conversation between Tim and Alfred which was very well done, but kind of boring for people who have been reading Morrison's run all along as it basically was just a recap. I'm now very excited to see what is done with Tim in this storyline.

Finally comes the part so many people have been waiting for, The Joker. These pages might require a second reading over as it might be unclear at first what exactly has happened and what has been imagined by the clown prince of crime. The final panel shows an awesome and scary looking Joker licking his lips and you should be doing the same because this issue should have you very excited for part two of Batman RIP.

On the nature of blogs

Blogs are generally quite egocentric. A great number of people blog to express to the world their thoughts on "important" political issues or to give us all insight into their day-to-day life as if we need or want either. I have started this blog not out of some notion that the world needs to read my opinion on things or know where I was last night, but rather as an excuse to write about and hopefully discuss the few things I actually find some enjoyment in. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this, but not because I think you should be reading it but because I think I want to write it. Actually you probably shouldn't be reading this. Bye.