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Jack Kirby: The Epic Life… by Tom Scioli

Jacob Kurtzberg was born on August 28, 1917

As someone who has become bit of a Jack Kirby affectionado, I needed to write a review of a new book about him.

Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics is a biography, or perhaps a 200-page graphic novel, by the guy who co-created Captain America, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and many more superhero favorites.

It was scripted from various Kirby interviews. Tom Sciofi, an Eisner-nominated comics creator, with whom I wasn’t familiar, wrote and drew the story. It is VERY thoroughly researched, including a bibliography. Scioli’s one affection is to draw Jack in a more cartoony style, and shorter than almost everyone else.

Jacob Kurtzberg was born on August 28, 1917, in the Lower East Side of New York City. His tough upbringing during the Great Depression and his love of science fiction would inform much of his work. He tried a number of pseudonyms, some simultaneously, before settling on Jack Kirby.

His service in the European Theater in World War II was some of the more harrowing segments in the narrative, something I had only been vaguely aware of.

Neither cash or credit

Jack was not only very talented but prolific. But he wasn’t, by most accounts, very good on the business side of things. Generally, the comic book industry and the companies Kirby helped to thrive did not treat him well.

One four-star review in Amazon complained that the Sciofi narrative was not always “fair” to the other side. To that I say, I don’t care. Put a different way, “Just as every great superhero needs a villain to overcome, Kirby’s story also includes his struggles to receive the recognition and compensation that he believed his work deserved.”

I was quite fond of the handful of segments in the book when Jack’s wife, Roz, drove the narrative.

Here is an eleven-page excerpt. Also, an interview announcing Tom Scioli’s then-forthcoming graphic novel.

If you don’t know Kirby’s story, you really ought to pick up this book. If you’re a Jack expert, I think you’ll likely enjoy the telling of the tale.

Finally, on my DVD: Coco (2017)

Best Animated Feature Film

Coco Not that long after it came out on DVD, I received Coco (2017) for Christmas or my birthday, since I never had a chance to see it at the cinema. Surely, we could get ONE of the three DVD players in our house to operate, couldn’t we? Well, no, not for about two years.

Finally, a friend of my daughter’s figured how to get me to work, just in time for the pandemic. I now have dozens of DVDs to watch. But I’ve found time to watch only the one, so far.

That choice was most worthwhile. Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming a famous musician. He wanted to be like his hero, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt).

Through a narrative that makes sense to the story, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead. Along the way, he meets a trickster named Hector (Gael García Bernal). Together, they unravel the complex story behind Miguel’s family history.

Pixar

This Pixar product, like most, is a reflection of quality filmmaking. The animation is extraordinary, with its dazzling colors. It is also a story with a lot of heart and passion which has been praised for its respect for Mexican culture.

The screenplay by Adrian Molina and Matthew Aldrich is based on an original idea by director Lee Unkrich. It is an excellent redemption tale. The voice actors are wonderful, including Ana Ofelia Murguía as Mamá Socorro “Coco” Rivera, Miguel’s great-grandmother.

No wonder Coco won Best Animated Film at the Oscars, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and from several other entities. It won the Oscar for Best Song, Remember Me, written by the prolific songwriting team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Composer Michael Giacchino, who had worked on prior Pixar animated features, composed the fine score.

Review: Tombstone Rashomon

faux-documentary

Frank_Ike_02 - TOMBSTONE RASHOMON I got this email earlier in April: “TriCoast would like to offer Ramblin’ with Roger a review of the western mockumentary, ‘Tombstone Rashomon’, directed by Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy).” I said yes. I waited a week, then wrote to the other rep in the email, who apologized and gave me the access key.

By then, I was busy. Still, I promised to review it, so I watched it yesterday. First off, inherently I love Rashomon constructs, based on the classic 1951 film. We do so often have eyewitness accounts that vary wildly in detail.

Surprise! The film actually shows up on the IMDB, with a release date of 2017. Alex Cox had started this project on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.

From one review: “The opening text of Tombstone Rashomon tells the audience about a time-traveling camera crew who went back in time and accidentally got to Tombstone the day after the notorious gunfight,” i.e. October 28, 1881. We’re left with supposed eyewitness accounts. “This firmly tells the audience that… there’s going to be a little fun had with the story…”

No in-world consistency

Another reviewer admitted, “It might not make sense, but it might also be the best thing I’ve ever seen in any movie ever. I just don’t know.”

For instance, the “Hungarian born Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings, here simply known as Kate (Christine Doidge) assign the incorrect gender pronouns to the men she talks about.” This is apparently accurate, but it’s either funny or tiresome, or, for me, a bit of both.

More on target was the bit when the off-screen narrator asks Wyatt Earp to “Hold the book to your breast for a longer moment.” Later, Doc Halliday’s tale is interrupted in a manner consistent with what we historically know about the man.

Here are the two Rotten Tomatoes reviews. I agree with both of them.

“As a link to Rashomon, it doesn’t work because there have been so many mockumentaries throughout cinema that it feels like the attempt to link the two is yet another attempt to suggest the filmmakers are cleverer than they really are.”

“That’s the beauty of Tombstone Rashomon: despite having almost no budget, no stars, and no in-world consistency, it’s aggressively not content to fit into any one descriptor. It’s a faux-documentary-western-science-fiction-time-travel-homage.”

For those of you, like me, who isn’t greatly fond of bloodshed, for all the gunplay, it’s quite tame in this department.

“TriCoast Entertainment will release ‘Tombstone Rashomon’ onto DVD in store and online April 21st (Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Deep Discount DVD, DVD Planet, CC Video and more). Pre-order on Amazon.”
Wyatt_08 - TOMBSTONE RASHOMON

Movie: Call of the Wild (2020)

computer-generated dog

I’ve never read Jack London’s Call of the Wild. As far as I can remember, I’ve not seen any movie or television adaptations.

What drew me to the nearby Madison Theatre a few days before everything went into lockdown were two things: Harrison Ford’s presence and the $5 ticket price all day on Tuesdays.

An overly large pooch, a St. Bernard/Scotch Collie mix, seemed to have the run of a California home. Then he was dognapped and shipped north to Alaska.

He was purchased as part of a sled dog team operated by Perrault (Omar Sy) and Françoise (Cara Gee). Eventually, he crosses paths, for the third time, with John Thornton (Ford). Thornton protects Buck against the cruel Hal (Dan Stevens), who had stolen and beaten Buck.

Thornton and Buck go on an expedition further north practically to the Arctic Circle. In this environment, the once pampered Buck gets in touch with his primitive roots when interacting with a pack of wolves. The story was OK.

NOt a real dog

I was more curious whether I would buy the computer-generated dog in Call of the Wild as real. The answer is, “Sometimes.” The technique was less effective in the early narrative. Or maybe the storyline was just too goofy. But in his relationship with Perrault and Françoise, and later with Thornton, “he” usually resonated as a dog more believably.

I credit the fact that those performers were interacting with actor/stuntman Terry Notary, who modeled all of Buck’s actions. Those actors all expressed admiration for Notary’s work, giving them someone credible and emotive to perform with, rather than a blue screen.

There was a small audience for the 1 p.m. show. I ordered a burger, slightly overpriced but good.

It took SO long for the Madison Theatre to reopen. I hope it can withstand the current disruption. Good news is that it’s still selling food, pickup/delivery only. I’m inclined to order from them when I can.

Movie review: Just Mercy (2019)

tangle of conspiracy and political machination

Before Just Mercy was a major motion picture, it was a book by Bryan Stevenson. The young Harvard-trained lawyer from Delaware “founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system.”

I have not yet read the book. But my wife has, and she feels that the movie treatment is a fair representation of the narrative. “One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian (Jaime Foxx in the movie), a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder” of an 18-year-old white female “he insisted he didn’t commit.”

“The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.” There was a great deal of evidence proving McMillian’s innocence. “The only testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie.”

That story was the basis of the movie. Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) meets with Eva Ansley (Brie Larson), a local white activist, and he starts the EJI. Seemingly simple acts such as getting office space, is a challenge.

Anger?

I found Just Mercy to be a compelling story about fighting injustice in a dangerous situation. It’s interesting that 99% of the Rotten Tomatoes audience found it compelling but only 84% of the critics. Most of the latter use terms such as: “There’s too little anger and dirt and fear in this story.” Another: “calibrated… with an eye to not offending White viewers with anything remotely resembling Black anger.”

These people have totally missed the point. The black folks are angry, but generally resigned to an unjust system that requires an unnecessary strip search. Or the fear of death when Driving While Black. A courtroom protest, shown in the trailer, will land you in jail. When the deck is so stacked against you, anger tends to be modulated.

A.O. Scott writes in the New York Times: “Just Mercy is saved from being an earnest, inert courtroom drama when it spends time on death row, where it is opened up and given depth by two strong, subtle performances, from Foxx and Rob Morgan.”

I was moved by Just Mercy. It wasn’t a showy cinematic experience. But it told an important story well.

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