Darth JayDer Comics

Hey and welcome back to the Weekly Recommend.  This weekend was spent with friends, bitching about the film industry and cheering on the Northern Illinois football Huskies to a 48-3 victory over Indiana.  That might be the only time we ever discuss sports on this blog.  heh.

MOVIE:  IN BRUGES

So I rented this movie I have been reading about for months now and I was so pumped up about it that I knew I was going to love it for everything it was.  I watched it and it was beautifully animated, gorgeous rendering, and good direction…but the script was just so non existent.  So I am instead recommending “In Bruges” and let me tell you, you will LOVE it.

The film has charm and a beautiful script from start to finish.  It’s comedic presence never masks the over all tone of the film and the seriousness never dulls out the humor.  The gentle mix of both worlds is excellently executed.  Seeing as how this is Martin McDonagh’s sophomore film, we can only expect great things in the future.  Thanks Eric for turning me on to this.

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COMIC BOOK:  (will update later)

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WEB COMIC: DARTHS AND DROIDS

OK, here is why I like this comic so much.  If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll love it.  If you’re a table-top RPG fan, you’ll love it.  If you’ve never played a table-top or seen Star Wars (do these people exist?) you might lost at times, but the author politely guides  readers through certain words and phrases used by the gaming community as the comic continues on.  If not, there’s always Wikipedia.

The comic follows Star Wars Episode I (Or as we like to say it, “Failure on Sesame Street”) still frames from the film in comic book form and the text is from a role playing table where players are constantly fighting with the GM (game master).  It’s a hilarious look into why Episode I might have been  so terrible.  Because it JarJar was a fucking little girl in disguise.  Hilarious and updated 3 times a week.
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MUSIC: BECK (MONGOLIAN CHOP SQUAD)

If you have ever wanted to be in a band and rock a stage like a star, then this manga / anime / CD collection is for you.  The story follows a young boy in high school who starts to learn to play the guitar and eventualy teams up with a friend and some other musicians and they form a band called Beck, named after the singer’s dog.

However, once they release a CD, and this is where the confussion you might be having is coming in, they find that when the CD is shipped to America that the label had to change the name of the band since there are already 2 pretty well known music acts called Beck.  The rock music they make is really damn good and catchy.  Love the song “Full Moon Sway,” a gentle ballod of emotional conflict.  The only trouble with getting your hands on the music side of this act is that, for what I know and I could be wrong, the CDs aren’t available in America yet.  Soooo. they are about $40 - 50 each.  But if you know where to look….

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VIDEO GAME: (will update later)

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Hey there everyone, Derek here again. Just wanted to drop some news your way so you know what is going on around here.

Jaysin and I have started blogging for Today.com. It pays… minimally, but it’s a writing gig. Jaysin has been doing movie reviews and I will be writing pop culture opinion pieces. Make sure to checkus out at:

Junk Film http://junkfilm.today.com

D-Rock’s Pop Culture Pagoda http://drockpopculture.today.com/

I’m also going to link them over in our links list so you can always have ready access to our blogg-y goodness.

Also, on Wednesday Oct 1, 2008 the first page of Nexus will be up for viewing and every Wed there will be a new one. Exciting eh?

Locke is in the works and should be getting fired up soon. Jaysin has the script and is trying to wrap his brain around it. Should be amazing!

Lost #4 is being worked on. Jaysin has done some tweaking and fine tuning to the page layouts and it should clock in at a whopping 44 pages! The thing about that 44 pages is it is far fewer than originally thought it would be. Jaysin was gearing up for something like 900 pages give or take 845.

There’s alot of exciting happening here at Darth JayDer Comics and now is the time to hop on board and get with the goodness! Tell a friend… tell an enemy… tell anyone that has at least working eyes to come and check us out!

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Well, fans of the time wasting, This weekend proved to be more used for productivity than watching and reading.  I did do a few of them, though.  I’m a totaly work-aholic, for shame for thinking such.

Good news, the 4th issue is under way and looking good so far.  unfortunately, or fortunately, I guess I can see both sides, but the book is not going to be as big as predicted.  It looks like the page count so far will be 44 pages down from the predicted 52.  The story has not been changed in anyway, it has not be cut or altered, just tightened and reworked, visually.  And trust me, it flows so much nicer.  I can’t wait for people to read this one.

But on to the wasting of time and intellectualizing….

COMIC BOOK: WANTED & KICK-ASS

This might seem like a gimme..A movie nut loving the original comics.  But after I reread them this weekend, this is anything but a gimme.  Both series penned by Mark Millar and are fucking amazing.  If you haven’t read “Wanted” but have seen the terrible movie, you have seen probably the first 3 or 4 pages of the book.  I knew I loved the book but after reading again this weekend, I fell in love again.  It was still angst filled and still action extreme with top notch characters that the movie just didn’t capture. Worth every penny for the tpb.

Now, “Kick-Ass”?  Fucking rule.  A comic book fan kid gets a itch in his ass to start being a super hero in his city…and gets the snot kicked out of him and lands him in the hospital.  But does he give up?  Hell no.  He is KICK ASS and he takes the licking and keeps ticking.  Little does he know that there are others doing the same thing….  The movie  is being made now, I have hopes but I am a realist and hopes are for the comic books.  After all, the last comic book movie Nic Cage was is was “Ghost Rider”….But we will see.

MOVIE: THE ONION MOVIE

Reminiscant of “Kentucky Fried Movie” and “Amazon Women on the Moon” with their small snippets and skits, this movie ties these all together as if you were watching the Onion TV channel.  If you are not familiar with The Onion, educate yourself.

The movie is side splittingly hilarious and keeps itself in check from time to time while even making fun of itself.  The movie coasts along and at some points gets a little stagnant and slow, but the film makers know this and play with that emotion in the viewer.  A definite watch, possible buy.

TV SHOW: THE RICHES

FX does not come to mind when I think of the best TV show channels, even though it gave us Nip/Tuck, which the first 2 or 3 seasons were excellent before it became self-aware of it’s horrendous problems and kept going with them.  But FX has outdone itself with this little dirty, gem: The Riches.

The story follows a family of white gypsies as they con their way from one lifestyle to another and end up living in suburbia with a brand new house all to themselves.  The troubles and tribulations are typical for a show like this, but it’s the characters that we like and want to continue watching, not to mention the OUT-FUCKIN’-STANDING acting by Minnie Driver and Eddie Izzard.  Just wow.

MUSIC: OPTIMUS RHYME

Sure, go ahead and laugh or giggle about the name.  Go ahead and make your snide comments about them being nerdcore. All finished?  OK.

This is an amazing band.  They do hip hop with a live band and they are the shit on 7 levels.  Great licks, great riffs, great beats, great bass.  And without a doubt the best live show I have ever seen.  Too bad they broke up a couple weeks ago, it was a sad day for rea, but their music lives on with 3 CDs.  The first two are LPs while the 3rd is a remix of the 2nd album.  Do yourself a favor and pick up the first 2 albums, you will NOT be disappointed.    And even if you don’t dig them the way I do, you get the elitist attitude of knowing you have a CD you can’t find in Best Buy.

TV SHOW NOT TO WATCH: FRINGE

This will not become a new thing for the weekly recommend, but I simply wanted to get the word out about how bad Fringe was.  I was actually very excited to watch this one.  I had read the reports, read the reviews and seen a glossy-overcasted mirage of advertising online and at the cons this summer.  I was intrigued.  I was let down.

The show is boring.  Sure there’s lots of action, and the pilot cost $10 million, but the story is fucking null and void of anything with substance.  The characters are cardboard and just not interesting AT ALL.  The story is mundane and been done a thousand times before.  And there is no way no one didn’t see what was coming.  Just horrendously terrible.  Stay away at all costs.

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Want more movie news and Movie reviews?
Check out Junk Film Reviews and News, my movie blog posts.  Unrelenting and vicious where it needs to be.

Did anyone else have the VMAs in the background last night?  Lil’ Wayne won best hip hop artist of the year???  I’m sorry, any respect I might have once had, even though I know I no longer have any, is now completely eroded for the main stream music community.

But this is not what this section is about.  I do not hate on, strongly, with this section, I give hope.  And so, let me give hope:

MOVIE: ROBOCOP

I got to watch some movies over the weekend.  Some I had not seen in a long time, and others I wish not to see again for a LONG time.  My end saying?  Baby Mama (made to watch by the girlfriend) was better then Harold and Kumar 2.  The original 1970s Tales From The Crypt?  Not nearly as creepy as I remember it.  Alien and V For Vendetta…still fucking awesome.  What about an X-rated action movie?

“I’d buy that for a dollar!”

With the upcoming film by Aronofsky (helm of Requiem for a Dream and Pi), I think it’s important to watch the originals.  Usualy, if a movie is remade or a sequel, like this case, is made so many years later, then something about the original has to still be damn good. And I have always loved Robocop, but how would it handle with my current world view?

The movie still kicks major amounts of ass in all the right spots.  From the action POV, the movie is top notch.  From the socio-politica POV, this movie is top notch.  From the film buff’s POV?  Make sure you don’t waste your time when you can enjoy the X-Rated version in all it’s glorious content.  If you recall, the original X-Rating was not suggested for porn as it is so commonly used today.  The X simply meant it dealt with adult issues and violence above the desires of anyone under 17 years of age.  When porn adopted and ended up stealing the X as their own, NC-17 was a better description.  Plus, the X-Rating Robocop received would pale by today’s R-rating.  The only things cut out of the film to make it an R are three, pretty quick scenes, but they are pretty violent.  Plus you get to see Red from That 70s Show being all bad-fucking-ass and younger.

While the movie spawned a great sequel, the third installment was the poster child for why you should never dumb down a series just to make it more teen and family friendly.  Rent part one and two, but pretend part 3 doesn’t exist, unless you wanna make a drinking game out of it.

MUSIC: FREESTYLERS

The breaker’s wet dream.  This album came out a while back, back when I was working at Tower Records in 1999.  And it still rocks.  This album feels like a collaboration with Roller Rink music, Breakers and Trip Hop-Dance Hall.  The songs are catchy and creatively mixed.  Using a lot of break beats the songs just make you want to start popping right there in your car…which I did…and a few people starting watching….so I started doing harder…faster….stronger….and we’re done.

The music is tight and the flows accompanying the beats is party-esque material perfect.  Throw this on for the back ground, for the rock out, or even for the party you’re throwing, it’s a great album for any occasion.

VIDEO GAMES: ONEECHANBARA series

Oneechanbara, or better known in America as Zombie Zone, Zombie Hunter, or Bikini-Clad Zombie Killer, is fucking fun as hell.  It harks back to older school arcade mashers.  You remember the ones.  You had a pocket full of quarters, slamming them into the coin slot just to slash zombies with your wickedly long katana.

The game is nothing but T&A, though no nudity from what I can find, a long ass katana that gets blood soaked (and you have to clean the sword for it to do normal damage) and a never ending army of zombies, monsters and birds at your dismembering pleasure.  The only difference I have been able to find in the America and Japanese versions is the soundtrack.  The American has a europop, dance track looped behind each level.  The Japanese has a really poppy J-Pop soundtrack that makes you feel like you are in an anime-gone-wrong.

Now, is the story good?  It’s pretty routine.  The graphics are ok, and the character development is nil and void.  But the game play is just fucking fun.  They make up for cruddy features by making you work to find new playable characters and new costumes for each.  Some of the costumes are worth fighting for….you know, if you want to masturbate to a video game character.  In fact my only complaints so far are two:

1. The killing gets a litle bit repetious.  Although the maiming is so much fun, it gets old just mashing on buttons.  Maybe I haven’t gotten far enough to enjoy new combos, but the ways to kill them get old after an hour or so.

2. The Blood.  It’s fucking pink/purple/  I know, a game like this might get some crap from the censors, there is after all A LOT of blood, but still.   You lose all interest in seeing the gore after you realize it looks like you just cut open a CareBear.  Then again, if I could play a game that you could dismember 80s iconic cartoons I would be first in line to play.

COMICS: LOCKE & KEY

A tupendously effectively creepy story about a family who has just goen through  a horrible ordeal where the father of the family is killed by a ruffian he used to try and council in high school. The family (2 sons (18 and 9), a daughter (roughly 14 or 15) and the widowed wife) move into the mother’s side family hosue called Key House.  Little do they know there are keys, magic keys, that are used for very different purposes, but all of the are very powerful.

I don’t want to give away too much but the story is amazing and addicting.  When I discovered it was only a 6-issue run I was a little heart-felled but in the final issue there is an ad for the continuation of the series in Winter of ‘08.  So…yay.

TV SHOW: PSYCHE

You will notmally find it extremely hard-pressed for me to recommend or even enjoy an episodic-type show (non continuity based) that isn’t a sitcom like Simpsons, South Park, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, or things of that nature.  But something…and I use the term lightly because I know exactly what it is…draws me to watching this show over and over again.

There is absolutely NO continuity based elements other than the tradtional character-archetypes and relation scenerios.  Also this is a cop show, solving crimes and making cops looks like good guys.  All in all, this is a show I should by all rights never even think of watching.  But it’s the main character that makes the show worth every second.  There is no other character in the show besides the dad of the main character that is intriguing.  The rest seem to all support the hijinks and intellience the main ensues.

The show is great, although completely perdictable.  So far I have watched 5 episodes and within the first act (ie, the first 7-10 minutes), we have been able to figure out who the culprit is each time.  That is the only part that I think a structure like Dexter would help it.  Screw these little piddly crimes and enemy-of-the-week episodes, and focus on one big bad guy for the season, or at least 5 or 8 episodes linked together.  If this was a continuity based show I would hark it up for probably best show of the year, but alas, it’s entertaining and something you really don’t have to pay much attention to to follow.

Hey gang. Good news from me. The first issue of our new project “Locke” has been written, and I have to say it is some of the best stuff I’ve ever written (at least I think so).

This is going to be a huge series. It will be trickling out to you guys as a weekly web comic and then compiled into a book once all 24 pages are done. Jaysin has done some sick concept art and I’m stoked.

What won’t be in this book:

Chazz, Rog, or Petey.

This is totally new and wicked. I’m just really pumped right now.

Be on the lookout for more news concerning “Locke” and “Nexus”(the other weekly web comic that will be hitting here that takes place within the same universe!)

I have gotten a few emails lately discussing the desire to have recommendations of more movies. One person writes, “One movie a week is not enough. I would love to see more movie recommendations through out the week.”

Aside from eating, playing games and drawing, I’m pretty lazy there, Tim. Not a diss to your suggestion, just getting up the energy to do this more than once a week is pretty daunting, specially when I already have 2 comics, a new album, a paper, and 2 videos on my plate.

Another writer, and this is a close friend of mine also said something about getting more movie recommends. So I was thinking after I read his email and decided, this week I will give more movie recommends, only I am still busy. What to do? What to do?

Why not just make this week all about movies? Damn skippy, I tell myself. So this is what is happening this week.

MOVIES:

Europa Europa
An amazing tale about a Jewish kid who has to pretend he is a Nazi during WW2 and tries to assimilate with them in fear of being found. And then he does the same with the Russians. It’s an emotional ride that will tear out your heart and coddle it long enough for you to grasp the feeling and then twist it some more. It’s a beautiful ride, a great story and one that will live on forever in cinema.

Return of the Living Dead
Now, let me explain something…I am a film elitist. Boiled down, this means I am a cinema asshole. If some one were to stroll up to me and recommend Return of the Living Dead at a video store, and I was not into horror movies, I would skoff in their face and promptly continue to urinate on their cash register. However, this is a different situation. I DO like horror movies, and zombies being on top of my favorite style of horror. But, if you’re like me and simply LOVE the zombie genre, you too know that there is a shit load of tripe out there that should have never seen the light of day. But not this one. Why? Well, let me tell you.

Sorry for the pause, I am eating Orange Sherbet and vanilla ice cream. Back to it…

Return of the Living Dead is a mock sequel to the original Night of Living Dead. What is a mock sequel? It’s like a fan film, a what if film, a “I loved your movie so much that I want to do a spin off” film. The movie is a direct story-after from NotLD. They reference it as a movie but in reality the movie was just to cover up the truth. Zombies are real and they want your brains. One even says so. This is to my knowledge the first zombie who ever uttered the phrase, “Brains!” A winner in my book.

SIX STRING SAMURAI
If you have not yet seen this monster, good luck finding it. Netflix has ONE copy and it’s been at someone’s ouse since before I started my account. Luckily I have a shitty copy to make me happy. The movie looks like it was made for no more than $40,000 including film stock, actors, locations, catering and about $39,000 worth of desert. Upon hearing this and seeing the box art, one would think this was an UP All Night USA special. But no, it’s really fucking good. The story is about a post-apocolyptic world where in the 1950s nukes were launched and the only surviving people of power were rock stars. Elvis was King of the country and years go by. It’s later and the King has died. Every Rock n Roller in the world is on a mecca to try and fill the shoes. Out hero, Buddy (who resembles Buddy Holly a bit too close) battles Surf Rockers, Rock a Billies, and even the source of athe movie’s angst, Heavy Metal heads who resemble Slash. Buddy takes his guitar and sword and an orphaned kid who can’t speak along for the ride. If you can find this, I recommend it highly.

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2
By no means what so ever am I anti-homosexual. I was the first person to say fuck McCain when he said he would ever have a Pro Gay VP. I’m part of PRISM dammit. But in the honor of movies like Top Gun, NoES2 was by far the GAYEST MOVIE EVER MADE. Think it was ok? That’s cool, go back and watch it again. In fact, go back and watch it and every time a gay-suggestive thing is uttered on screen, take a shot. You’ll be drunker than my grandma on Thanksgiving before we hit Act 2. The movie was brilliantly disguised this way I think as an anti-homosexual film. They made it seem that homosexuality was a demon inside and it needed to be killed. Every thing remotely straight causes the gay in the character to urk through a little more until finally, Freddy comes into the real world manifesting all this pent up rage and mixed emotions.
This is not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. It was so bad, they never even mentioned once in later films and even worse…after the completion of the first first film, Wes Craven said he was not do any sequels, but after the travesty that was part 2, he had no choice but to come back and make part 3, possibly the best of the series.

FREE ENTERPRIZE
Every time I recommend this to people, they NEVER take it. This is without a doubt, one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Why is it funny? Because I am a nerd. I get the reference they are making about Star Wars and Logan’s Run and Sandman and every other toy joke. It’s a movie about nerds for nerds. The story is based on 2 guys who never really grew up and out of their nerd lives (still have toys, still collection Star Trek stuff, would rather buy the Planet of the Apes Laser Disc Boxset than pay an electric bill) and how they have to confront their current selves with the selves they have to grow up and become. It’s a beautiful tale, full of wickedly witty liners and the correct use of the term Wagnerian. Plus, it stars Bill Shatner AS Bill Shatner.

B13
Now, before you get all huffy at this next statement read on past it….This movie has one of the worst stories ever. The plot is paper thin and the acting is far worse. Why am I recommending it? Everyone needs a great action film. And the action that is delivered is breath taking. Clear, cut well, and dynamite sequences that make a crappy movie in to a pretty damn entertaining one. In the vein of Tom Yum Goong (which should also be nominated for best fight movie EVER), B13 is a tale about a futuristic France, a ghetto that is barracaded off from the rest of the world and a nuke inside threatening to blow it all up. Good action, bad acting…but damn good action. Made by the same guy who did Leon The Professional.

Love Me If You Dare
Aside from Casablanca, this is my favorite romance film. This is how romance is in real life, it’s painful and full of problems, but ones we would never give up for all the great things we could endure along the way. The story is extremely fresh and original, paced exceedingly well and masterfully shot and directed. I can’t say enough good things about this movie, just trust me on this one and rent it, rent it, rent it.

KIKUJIRO
This film, for about 3 years, held my favorite film position. In the heart of Central Station and Hanabi, the story is an emotional journey to find one’s self. Directed, writtern, edited, and starring Takahasi Kitano, this film is beautiful in all the right places. When a young boy finds out where is mother is, he runs away from his grandmothers in hopes to see her again. The nosey neighbor over sees this and tells her husband to go watch over him. They travel together as a moral-filled and moral-less savant duo along the country side betting on horses, losing innocence, and trying to find his mother. This is one of those very rare movies, like Amelie, that will cradle your heart with it’s theoretical hands and warm it until it feels like it will burst.

That’s it for right now, go and enjoy some very fine cinema and some very entertaining movies.

For those of you who like webcomics, I would love to promote these:
Questionable Content
Hijinks Ensue
PvPonline
Looking For Group
DING!
VGCATS
Penny-Arcade
Sin Fest

I hope you enjoy and come back soon, hopefully I will have some art up from our new books “WASTE LOCKE”…..See you soon.