No Ordinary Family

There's a gentle charm to ABC's new drama, No Ordinary Family.  The show is at heart a family drama despite the fact that the titular quartet all mysteriously gain super-powers during the first episode. 

The dad, played with relish and winking fun by Michael Chiklis, a mopey police artist finds new purpose as he experiments with his new powers (he basically has the original powers that Superman had in his debut issue:  he is super-strong, partially invulnerable, and he can leap about a quarter of a mile) with the help of his best friend. 

(Mom (Julie Benz), a workaholic with not enough hours in the day, gets super-speed.  The daughter, a high school student with boy issues, gains the power to read minds.  And the son, an underachieving student, becomes able to sort out complex problems.)

There is a conspiracy (of course) and much family angst (of course) and they even playfully name-check one of the X-Men at one point.  It's fun and breezy and the connections of family and friendship are kept in the forefront and, given time,  it could grow into something really engaging.

But it probably won't get the chance.  It will probably be swamped in the ratings by Glee and The Biggest Loser and (if it manages to hang on that long) by American Idol in January but I'm glad that the network took the chance anyway.

Green Lantern

Entertainment Weekly, showcasing the Hollywood elements of next week's San Diego Comic-Con (nope, not going...already sold out...too many people (with no parking and overpriced concessions)...too much Hollywood hype and hoopla...many less annoying things to do here in our fair city) with Ryan Reynolds all ringed up and ready to use his might as Green Lantern in the upcoming movie.

First impression is that it's okay (the mask is kinda funky but it's hard to make a mask like that work on real people however cool they might look in the comics)...I'll have to see it more fully...and in action...before I give my full fanboy pontification on it :-)

Wonder Woman

DC Comics' amazing Amazon, Wonder Woman, gets a new modern look...well, if by "modern" you mean the Eighties (tights and a jacket with rolled-up sleeves? Really?) But hey at least Diana isn't fighting monsters and criminals in a bathing suit anymore...

Wednesday Comics

This is one huge honkin’ comic book. And it’s one really beautiful comic book too.

Wednesday Comics was an experiment by DC Comics featuring tabloid sized comic pages featuring some acclaimed writers and artists presenting stories of DC characters…iconic and not-so-iconic…one page at a time published weekly (on newsprint no less.)

It seems unlikely to be repeated…16 tabloid pages for 4 bucks is probably too high a hurdle for a lot of comic fans to get over…but it was a grand little adventure just the same.

This big (17+” x 11+”) hardcover collects all of the stories on better paper and it’s a gorgeous comic book. All of DC’s big guns…Superman (with beautiful art by Lee Bermejo), Batman (a fine noir romance that might have needed a bit more room to breathe) and , Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash…are represented alongside of lesser-known (to the general public at least) classic characters like Hawkman, Sgt. Rock, the Metal Men, Deadman, Adam Strange, Metamorpho the Element Man, and Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth.

The art is almost all wonderful and some of the stories are better than other. I was charmed by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner’s whimsical Supergirl story featuring Krypto the Super Dog and Streaky the Super Cat (just go with it…:-), intrigued by Paul Pope’s pulp fiction re-imagining of the sci-fi hero Adam Strange, and engaged by the gritty WW2 Sgt. Rock story written by Adam Kubert and drawn by his legendary father Joe Kubert.

The rollicking Metamorpho adventure…by Neil Gaiman and Michael Allred…is also a great deal of fun as is the unlikely team-up of Catwoman and Etrigan the Demon by Walt Simonson and Brian Stelfreeze and Kyle Baker’s action-packed Hawkman story.

This book is pricey…it lists for $49.99…but it delivers in a big way. Wednesday Comics makes me happy and what more could you ask from a comic book than that?

Astro Boy

When I was a youngster, Astro Boy was one of my favorite cartoons...every weekday afternoon I would come home from school (Menlo Avenue Elementary in Los Angeles) and watch it with rapt attention and glee. When I heard they were making a new movie I wasn't that interested (these things go so wrong so often) but after watching this clip I'm totally down with it (yeah, I know it's geeky but "the little child inside the man" (thanks, John) doesn't care about that one little bit...cool is cool :-)

10 for '08...

…being a semi-random (well it is in alphabetical order…more or less… so it’s not as random as it might otherwise be) list of 10 pop culture people and things that warmed the cockles of Neverending Rainbow’s jaded heart in 2008.

CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

The original…and still the best…CSI was firing on all cylinders from the tragic death of Warrick that opened the season to the inexorable feeling of loss as Gil Grissom prepared to take his leave.

GEOFF JOHNS

This super-hero comic book fan’s hero was a writer…a writer who brought amazing, utterly engaging life to some of my favorite four-color adolescent power fantasies :-)

JON STEWART & STEPHEN COLBERT

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were consistently entertaining and insightful companions throughout the seemingly endless political campaigns that informed life here in the States

NEW MUSIC FROM SOME OF MY FAVORITE FOLKS

Any year that features great new music from music making folks I unabashedly adore…Cassandra Wilson (the sublime Loverly), Emmylou Harris (the beautifully-realized All I Intended to Be), Tracy Chapman (the charming Our Bright Future...see below), and Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis (the accomplished and delightful Two Men with the Blues)…is more than all right in my book.

PUSHING DAISIES

I’m not really surprised that this quirky and whimsical show didn’t find a large enough audience to survive…it was, probably, one of those shows that either you liked or you didn’t with very few people in-between…but I am happy that it got a chance to exist at all.

SUPER-HERO MOVIES

A good year for the fanboys with the grim but amazing Dark Knight and the slam-bam wizardry of Iron Man heating up the box office in such a big way. Kudos as well to flawed by still sometimes very interesting offerings such as Hancock, Wanted, and Incredible Hulk (and we shall let things like Punisher War Journal and The Spirit slip into obscurity without comment.)

THE SOUP

The Soup is perhaps the one good reason for the E Network to exist. Joel McHale and his merry pranksters take a biting and often hilarious blowtorch to all of the silliness of pop culture in a fast-paced weekly half-hour.

THE WIRE

Yeah, I’m late to the party but thanks to the good folks at Netflix I’ve gotten completely caught up in the gritty streets of Baltimore as explored on this amazing show (a crime drama worthy of being brought into the conversation alongside classics like Homicide, Hill Street Blues, and The Sopranos.) Santa didn’t hook me up with the complete series box set (admittedly I was THAT good this year :-) but I’ll keep pestering him.

TINA FEY

Tina Fey’s dead-on impersonation of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was a godsend to Saturday Night Live…and to all of the rest of us as well. Combine that with the fact that her sitcom 30 Rock has become a consistently funny shows on network TV and we just have to take off our hats to the remarkable Ms. Fey.

YOUNG SOUL SINGERS FROM THE UK

Amy Winehouse spent most of the year in tabloid hell but the baton of great soul music…retro but not in a navel-gazing, nostalgia-worshipping way…from enormously talented young women from the United Kingdom was ably picked up by Duffy (with the stunning Rockferry) and Adele (the powerful and passionate 19) and it was a good thing indeed.

* * * * *

Here's hoping your 2009 is filled with an abundance of love, light, and laughter.

This is Tracy Chapman's simply charming "Sing for You":

The Dark Knight

(Fanboy mode on) WOW! (Fanboy mode off :-)

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is amazing. It balances the requisite action-adventure set pieces with a script that delves into the thin lines between heroism and villainy, between chaos and order, between the evil that men do because they can and the evil that men might do in the name of justice or for the sake of survival.

It’s atmospheric (it’s Gotham City after all), explosive and kinetic, fast-paced (despite its 2+ hour running time), brooding, brutal, and, yes, unabashedly over-the-top (we’ve had the discussion about the inherent preposterous in super-hero movies in this space before so I won’t bore you with it again.)

Christian Bale’s Batman is much more seasoned than he was in Batman Begins…he’s also more conflicted as his caped alter ego threatens to subsume his life; he’s also afraid that Batman may be the catalyst for as much madness as he is for goodness. Bale is great (especially when he puts on the Batman “growl” when he’s in the cape and cowl.)

The late Heath Ledger gives a bravura performance as the Joker. Where Jack Nicholson’s Joker did crazy with an impish wink, Ledger’s Joker is a full-on nihilist, a rampaging id bent on nothing less than creating as much chaos as possible. Ledger’s Joker is frightening, unpredictable, wily, disturbing, and mysterious (he gives a couple of different explanations of his origin along the way.)

Gary Oldman has some really nice moments as the conflicted Police Lt. Gordon and the other returning old pros…Michael Caine as the acerbic Alfred and Morgan Freeman as the wise Lucius Fox…also shine in their moments. Aaron Eckhart gets to display a wide range of emotions in his role of crusading District Attorney Harvey Dent (comic book fans will probably know where he’s headed and the movie goes there full on) and Maggie Gyllenhaal steps ably into the role of assistant DA Rachel Dawes (taking over the role from Katie Holmes who played the character in Begins.)

The Dark Knight tickled this fanboy’s jaded heart with an ending that, almost as a matter of course, leaves the door wide open for yet another sequel. Bring it on.

Hancock

Hancock requires a lot of leaps of faith…it is a super-hero movie after all. I’ve read comic books most of my life so I didn’t have a problem suspending disbelief where and when necessary while enjoying the movie. And enjoy it I did…Hancock is a kinetic, funny, violent, occasionally quite touching action-adventure thrill ride of a movie.

Hancock, as played by Will Smith (in fine form), is a hard-drinking, disagreeable, amnesiac superman who causes millions of dollars of damage as he fights crime and saves lives in Los Angeles. The people of Los Angeles revile the unkempt, foul-tempered super-hero until he’s taken under the wing of Ray, an idealistic PR man (Jason Bateman, whose solid performance gives us the emotional anchor of the film.) Ray’s wife (Charlize Theron, both radiant and mysterious) is wary of her husband’s involvement with Hancock for reasons that become clear as the movie unfolds.

The early lighter hearted scenes are starkly contrasted with the darker tone the movie shifts into during the second half. There is, speaking of suspending disbelief, a plot twist about two-thirds of the way through that will test the patience of some (I’ve read some reviews griping about it) but I didn’t have a problem with it at all (there’s that super-hero comic book experience coming into play again :-)

Hancock (see trailer below) is a briskly paced (it runs a pretty taut hour and a half or so), exciting, emotionally-engaging and occasionally preposterous (what super-hero movie isn’t?) entertainment that holds your attention (most thanks to the performances of the three leads) from its jokey beginning to its brutal (but still hopeful) climax. Simply said, it’s fun.

Iron Man

Simply put Iron Man rocks. This is a fun, fast-paced, dazzling, witty, rousing adventure ride…everything a great summer popcorn movie should be. This one ranks up there in the pantheon of cool super-hero movies alongside excellent celluloid super-romps such as Spider-Man I, Superman II, and Batman Begins. It’s a blast (quite literally sometimes) from beginning to end.

Robert Downey, Jr. is in fine form throughout capturing both the sardonic wit and the overriding sense of responsibility of genius Tony Stark and the gung ho bravado of his armored alter ego. Watching the arc of his character…from seemingly carefree millionaire munitions inventor to stalwart super-hero, all the while dealing with a life-threatening injury and the full flowering of his conscience…is a lovely thing to behold.

Gwyneth Paltrow…as Pepper Potts, Stark’s assistant and possible love interest…and Terrence Howard…as Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Stark’s friend…aren’t given a lot to do but they both make the most of what they do have.

Jeff Bridges gets to chew some scenery as Stark’s mentor Obadiah Stane and he seems to be having deliciously malevolent fun doing so.

The story is both delightfully preposterous and wonderfully thrilling, just like the story in any good super-hero movie should be, and the special effects are quite dazzling (you will believe an armored man can fly…) Director Jon Favreau kept the proceedings light and engaging with just the right amount of explosive bombast to keep things moving along nicely.

Iron Man works even if you’ve never read one of the comic books it was based on but there still are enough insider asides (from "Jarvis" to the Stan Lee cameo to a bit of sly foreshadowing by Howard) to bring a smile to the faces of fanboys like myself. Yeah, it’s very cool.

(And it’s worth sitting through the interminable credits to get to one last clever bit of business.)

Heroes

Just when I was beginning to worry if Heroes was going to turn into Lost…so wrapped in introducing new characters and subplots that they leave the old characters and situations off to the side…it seems to be turning the corner and picking up a second wind (mixed metaphors are fun, ain’t they? :-)

I still think the Hiro in Ancient Japan storyline is a non-starter for me (they need to get him back to the present and back with Ando ASAP…though I guess they still have to deal with Isaac’s painting showing Hiro fighting a dinosaur), the amnesiac Peter in Ireland storyline is also a bit of a slog (though it seems that Pete is headed back to North America which should hopefully get him back in the mix), and the Maya/Alejandro thing is annoying at this point (we don’t know enough about them to care about their seemingly endless journey and the addition of Sylar to their subplot is full of unrequited possibility so far.) Claire and her flying boyfriend are cute together but it doesn’t seem to add much to the story.

On the other hand, some things are coming together. Noah “HRG” Bennett and the Haitian seem to be about causing some ruckus. Matt and Nathan on the trail of Matt’s father, the boogey man of Molly’s nightmares, is a good step as well. Micah’s New Orleans sojourn seemed kinda blah but now that Mohinder, who is undercover with the sinister Company, has shown up to find Monica that plot thread seem likely to be made an interesting part of the overall tapestry (especially with Niki already having voluntarily gone to the Company looking for a cure for her super-powerful schizophrenia.)

Adding new characters is fine, I guess, but we already have more than enough people to keep up with (especially since all of the major characters survived the showdown at the end of last season with the exception of DL…and frankly I’m wondering if there’s a twist there since we didn’t see the body) and adding Hiro’s companions in Japan, Peter’s new love and her friends in Ireland, Micah’s relatives and their friends in New Orleans, Claire’s new classmates in California, and Sylar’s traveling mates, the “wonder twins” (if you’re of a certain age you’ll get that allusion…) is nearing on being overkill. (I do like the addition of Nichelle Nichols…she brings an undeniable grace to the proceedings…though I do hope they are planning on giving her more to do.)

All that said, I still trust that the show’s creative staff has a plan and thus I remain faithful. The virus storyline seems to be on the verge of really turning into something exciting. And perhaps the upcoming episode that will fill in the gap between the end of the 1^st season and the beginning of this one will bring more light and perspective on what’s going on…we shall see.

Iron Man

Entertainment Weekly debuted this first full shot of the Iron Man armor from the movie due out next year. Robert Downey, Jr. stars as billionaire Tony Stark and his super-heroic alter ego Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges also star in the movie which is being directed by Jon Favreau.

Heroes

Ah, the hiatus. Television shows can’t seem to string 5 or 6 new episodes in a row without having to take a weeks (or even months) long hiatus. For some this is not a good thing…the long hiatus that Lost took after a handful of frustrating and tepid episodes centering on the once intriguing but now decidedly bland and boring “Others” (like that show needed more people for its viewers to keep track of…those bloody islands seem to have the population of a small city) was a good jumping OFF point for me (and, judging by the ratings, for a lot of other folks too...if it's actually gotten better someone let me know and I'll think about checking out the DVD set when it comes out...)

The producers of 24 have wisely evaded the hiatus problem by not starting their season until January and churning out24 episodes in the row without gaps or reruns (a ploy that Lost is apparently going emulate next season.)

And there’s Heroes. When the show took off for a 6-week hiatus I wondered if they could recapture the momentum they had as they rolled into the 5 final episodes of the season. I needn’t have worried it seems as the show came back with a crackerjack outing that picked up right where it left off and drew me right back into the lives of the extraordinary people who make up its expansive cast. As the various plot threads start to entwine towards the explosive climax new alliances are formed as the characters, each in his or her own way (and for his or her own reasons), strive to “save the world”, new secrets are revealed (the enigmatic Mr. Linderman, for example, turning out to perhaps not be the completely black-hearted villain he’s been portrayed to be throughout the season…and that, perhaps, he has previous working relationship with the matriarch of the Petrelli clan, who it seems has a power of her own), two people die (one gets better…hey, they’re super-heroes, just go with it :-), and we get a glimpse of a possible future with the time-bending Hiro and his faithful sidekick Ando.

And next week the future is now as the focus shifts 5 years hence.

The producers and writers of Heroes keep swearing that they won’t fall into the quagmire that Lost has gotten stuck in…that there will be answers and resolutions this season…and I believe them. And, being the geek that I occasionally admit to being, I’m jazzed beyond words to see how it all turns out (don’t let me down folks.)

Captain America

We come not to bury Captain America but to praise him. The brief media firestorm over the “death” of the Star-Spangled Avenger reached its peak when Stephen Colbert did a funny riff on it near the top of the Colbert Report Thursday night.

The media went nuts for a bit (they’ve since moved on.) Speculators are already charging insanely-inflated prices on eBay (buyers being perhaps a bit foolish since Marvel overprinted the issue in question…Captain America #25…and savvy comic book shops should have a new supply next week...hopefully at or near cover price. Baring that Marvel has announced a second printing that will be out at the end of the month...which, as I think of it, will only make the speculators even more happy. In any case, comics hoarded this way will not be a viable longterm "investment" since the supply will end up far outstripping the demand in the long run...especially once the storyline has run its course.)

Personally I’ve been to this particular rodeo too many times to take it at all that seriously.

I've been a comic book fan long enough to know that the death of Captain America is not a permanent thing (unlike here in the real world, death in comics…like death on soap operas…is a decidedly transitional thing…”dead” characters regularly return to “life”…Superman, for example, “died” in similar burst of publicity and he’s back fighting the “never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way” and living happily with his wife Lois Lane…and comic book fans, being the avid “suspension of belief” folks that we are, gripe at bit and then go with the flow.)

The stunt generated momentary media buzz (with outlets as diverse as the venerable New York Times and the aforementioned Colbert Report taking note) and kudos to the folks at Marvel Comics for that. Me, I just hope that there are some interesting stories coming out of all of this.

And Captain America? He’ll be fine…at some point in the relatively near future the "death" will be reversed and he’ll take up his shield and get back out there fighting the good fight again.

So rest in peace, Cap…and we’ll see you later, dude.

Batman Begins

Batman Begins is, as its title so straightforwardly promises, a beginning. But my goodness, what a grand beginning it is! Christopher Nolan's film is stylish and atmospheric and intense...showing us young Bruce Wayne's childhood ended so abruptly by fear and by devastating tragedy to his journey to find a way to reimagine himself for a life of vengeance and justice to his first steps (and missteps) as Batman with well thought out detail and nuance. By the end of the movie, the status quo is set and a rather blatant foreshadowing of the villain for the next film is revealed.

Christian Bale is the first screen Batman who is able to fully inhabit both sides of Batman's persona (both Val Kilmer and George Clooney found Bruce Wayne's character in their own ways but didn't quite fully come to grips with Batman; Michael Keaton nailed Batman but played Wayne as a kind of bumbling dolt...kind of the way Christopher Reeve played Clark Kent in the Superman movies.)

The rest of the cast...Liam Neeson, Michael Caine (as the gently-acerbic butler, Alfred), Morgan Freeman, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman (as Sgt..."someday I'll be Commissioner"...Gordon), Cillian Murphy (as the truly creepy Dr. Jonathan Crane)...is top-notch and each takes a plot-serving turn in the spotlight without detracting from the main players: Bale's Batman and the shadowy expanse of Gotham City (not as gothic as in Tim Burton's version but still daunting, foreboding, and a wonder to behold.)

I make no bones about being a fanboy when it comes to these things...but that enthusiasm isn't always well-met (*cough* Daredevil *cough*) when it comes to comic book heroes making the leap onto the big screen. Batman Begins joins the pantheon of cool comic book movies...along with Superman I & II, Spider-Man, Tim Burton's Batman, and X2...that appeals to both the fickle adult and the wide-eyed child co-existing in my cynical optimist's heart :-)

Superman Returns

This here is Brandon Routh, the new Man of Steel, whom you will believe can fly come June of 2006 when Superman Returns hits the big screen.

Not bad (the new belt buckle is a nice touch.)

The movie...which also features Kevin Spacey (as Lex Luthor), Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane), Frank Langella (Perry White), and Eva Marie Saint (Martha "Ma" Kent)...looks to rekindle the flames of the once-sizzling Superman movie franchise. I, of course, wish them well (and yeah, I'll be there next year, Junior Mints in hand and inner child unabashedly unfettered :-)

All-Star Superman

Every few years or so, DC Comics lets someone take a crack at spiffing up the image of Superman...trying to make him "cool" (and, I guess, therefore somehow more relevant to modern comic book readers more enamored of "edgy" anti-heroes like Wolverine and The Punisher.) It never works.

Someone who dresses like Superman (in bold primary colors with an emblem instantly recognizable by almost everyone on the planet) and who stands for things like truth, justice, and always doing the right thing...someone who possesses world-shattering power and yet refuses to kill or to try to bend others to his will...someone like that will never be "cool". And I'm okay with that.

This summer, writer Grant Morrison and artist Frank Quitely, promise a new take on the Man of Steel...not one that tries to make him "cool" but one that embraces his iconic, inspirational, heroic, and utterly human ideals. All-Star Superman, which will be free of the decades of continuity of the other Superman comics (wherein, for example, Clark Kent and Lois Lane have been married for some years now), promises to be a welcoming place for both long-time fans and those who haven't picked up a Superman comic in years.

I'm looking forward to it.

Superman (c) 2005 DC Comics