Fish and Cherries Productions

Title: Transmetropolitan: Back On The Streets
Author: Warren Ellis
Artist: Darick Robertson
Type: Comic Book
Genre: Cyberpunk

One-time journalist Spider Jerusalem only wanted one thing: peace and solitude in a secluded mountain cabin away from people, media, and constraints against making his own ebola bombs. No such luck. An old publisher calls him to call in that book he’d promised, forcing Spider to return to The City, a cacophonous cavalcade of media, consumerism, and sensory assault. Unfortunately for Spider, this is where he thrives best. Armed with a new journalism job and an assistant, he aims to take The City down a peg and give its citizens a dose of what’s been absent for a long time: cold, hard truth.

Panic initially set in when I saw the forward written by Garth Ennis, giving the comic his full approval for being a tale told by a “kindred spirit.” For those who don’t know, Garth Ennis is known for writing rather mean-spirited comics. Now, in fairness, he wrote Preacher, which is one of my favorite comics. Also in fairness, he wrote The Boys, which I consider an unreadable dredge that is unpleasant on every single level. So when Garth Ennis declares someone a kindred spirit, my instinct is to run for the hills. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded: Transmetropolitan may be more cynical than the standard comic fare, but it still manages to channel that into a very twisted sense of humor that gives the book its identity.

Spider Jerusalem, who is meant to be a surrogate to the late Hunter S. Thompson, is not a nice or heroic man. He sets his three-eyed, two-faced cat to urinate on things and people that annoy him, he constantly belittles his assistant’s boyfriend, and his mouth is filthier than a sewer during a stomach flu outbreak. But as crude as he is, the city is far worse and downright offensive to the senses. The feel is set up perfectly in the first panel Spider enters The City’s print district: holographic advertisements covering just about every inch of the side of the road advertising everything from beer to trans-species surgery in the most neon way possible. Even further in the comic, there’s a sort of bazaar where people are peddling their religions, showing that literally nothing is sacred in this metropolis. I actually really like the fact that The City has no name, meaning that it could happen to any big city if left unchecked enough. Upon reflection, it kind of reminds me of the Once-ler from the original Lorax in a weird, twisted way, in that they’re both blank entities that the readers can supplant anything into where it would resonate with them.

That said, this book isn’t exactly perfect and the reason why comes down to the format. This is a collected trade paperback of the first six issues of the comic and as such, the book is two stories back to back. The first one is actually really engaging, concerning Spider’s return to the city and dealing with a boiling situation involving police brutality against transients (people who have altered their body by splicing extraterrestrial DNA into their genome). The second half of the book deals with Spider’s new assistant, Channon Yarrow, settling into her new job and dealing with Spider’s eccentricities, while Spider himself takes on the president, television, and the aforementioned religion bazaar. This half is a bit more slapdash and less coherent, making the whole affair very anticlimactic. That said, the part where Spider prank calls various TV shows is an absolute gem and the first half more than makes up for the lackluster finisher.

It’s hard to judge this particular book because it’s setting up things for the series rather than telling a full three-act story. It’s enough to color me interested, but it hasn’t exactly wowed me yet. Some people may be tempted to direct moral outrage at the character of Spider, but I see him more as a more adult version of that type of teenager that rails against anything that’s popular or mainstream, only he’s a little more justified in the story. In the end though, I find him ultimately harmless. I think the commentary is a lot more pertinent nowadays, especially in light of the recent controversies over police brutality. If you have a demented sense of humor, this will be right up your alley. If your sensibilities are a bit tamer, I would still recommend it to test the waters. As for me, I’m intrigued to see what comes next, so I guess Volume One has accomplished its mission.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was quite the riot and living proof that slapstick can be great comedy. It’s funny that a movie about such a complete asshole can be so charming, but Chevy Chase pulls it off with amazing comic timing and a great script. The humor is very audacious, but not in the intense gross-out way that a lot of comedic flops nowadays tend to go. The situation will also ring a cord to people who have huge family gatherings and have to watch as the different personalities, be they overbearing, abrasive, or downright senile, bound off of each other. It’s not exactly a traditional Christmas classic in the same way as It’s A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol, but it’s definitely a Christmas classic I missed out on in my youth and one I’ll be happy to revisit in the Christmases yet to come.

The Theory of Everything is a very heartfelt movie about a serious subject: love and life with a truly crippling disease. I truly have to give props to Eddie Redmayne; I wasn’t a fan of him in Les Miserables, but here he is able to convey emotions very well, even when portraying Stephen Hawking in the disabled years of his life and working through very limited expressions. There are no villains, either. People make mistakes, but they’re very human mistakes. Without giving too much away, they’re the kind of mistakes that would make you question if you wouldn’t do the same in a similar situation.

With all that said, there is one part that makes me scratch my head a bit. Near the end, Steven Hawking (Spoiler alert: he doesn’t die in the movie for rather obvious reasons) has a momentary daydream where he gets up out of his chair, walks off his disability, and picks up a pen that someone dropped. I’m honestly baffled by what it’s supposed to mean. It’s possible that it was just him wishing that he could do the simple things like everybody else, but the scene was so overblown that I’m convinced that it had to mean something bigger. It’s a topic for discussion, at the very least. And that’s really what it all comes down to: showing that you don’t need Russell Crowe to make a movie about a beautiful mind.

And a few clever Doctor Who references don’t hurt either.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay: Part 1 didn’t have as much action as the previous flick, but it more than made up for it with tension. This movie definitely took some liberties from the book, but that makes sense. The sections of Mockingjay covered here has Katniss see very little fighting, so it figures that the movie would put the spotlight on the important events involve other people. Elizabeth Banks’ character is also expanded (she only appeared at the end of the book for about one or two lines), though I’m not sure how necessary that was, apart from the filmmakers realizing that they have Elizabeth Banks and figuring they may as well use her.

Also, yes, Jennifer Lawrence has a song in the movie and it’s quite good, even amazing how they make it actually sound like a slave song. But the scene that plays alongside is quite breathtaking and I won’t dare spoil it for those who haven’t seen it. What I really have to give credit to is the makeup team, especially on Josh Hutchinson as he looks worse and worse for wear the longer he’s in captivity and a character who gets strangled for the realistic red their eyes turn. This movie doesn’t shy away from the horrible imagery within the scenario, which is why I never bought into the arguments against bloodless carnage. Things can be horrific and traumatic for the viewer without resorting to gore. Just look at Hotel Rwanda to see what I mean.

But the movie that isn’t above lighthearted humor either; there’s a scene where the heroes are shooting some propaganda shorts and the dialogue will be eerily familiar to anyone who’s shot a movie. It had me in silent stitches. Also, one more bit of credit to the scene is that Jennifer Lawrence manages to act like a bad actor very effectively.

If I had one gripe, it’s that I wasn’t really feeling Julianne Moore’s character. I didn’t really get much of a feel for her personality apart from a few speeches she made. We’ll see how it plays out in the next film, but as of now, she’s the least interesting to me. I’m not sure if Mockingjay should have been split up into two movies, but I’m honestly not sure how I would have done it differently. It’s mostly build-up for the next movie, but you can tell that it’s going to be a great finale.

Big Hero 6 was a huge treat to watch. While the plot may be a bit archetypical in terms of a superhero story, it plays it very smart and throws in some really clever twists. The world they present is also wild and colorful. Disney tackled China with Mulan, of course, but this is the first time I’ve seen them do a city with a heavy Asian influence like San Fransokyo. This is also the first time I’ve seen them put gambling and sneak drunken behavior into their film, at least since Dumbo and possibly Pinocchio. The characters are also incredible fun and distinctive, my favorite probably being GoGo for the attitude alone. And yes, Baymax is exactly the adorable show-stealer the advertisements make him out to be. It’s like if Big the Cat was written well. If you don’t get that reference, don’t worry, most Sonic the Hedgehog fans wish that they themselves didn’t.

Where this movie really takes off is showing off the futuristic angle. Anytime the movie shows some kind of technological or scientific advancement, it feels remarkable and, in my case, almost tear-inducing. You really believe that the future has arrived. While this is definitely a point to the writing staff for doing their research (apparently, most/all of this science is accurate and possible), the animation department gets huge props for making it come to life before your eyes. Said department also deserves props for a visual marvel at the end where my jaw actually dropped upon seeing it. I won’t spoil it, but it’s well worth the wait.

Is it as good as Frozen? No, because it doesn’t massively redefine its genre. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t spectacular in its own right. I might even say it’s better than The Incredibles and that Hiro is a better rough-around-the-edges and morally dubious protagonist than Aladdin. While the character of Aunt Cass kind of grated on me, it didn’t detract from the excitement, investment, and heartbreak that should come with a great childhood classic. I’ve been feeling this coming on for a while now since The Princess and the Frog, but now I’m certain: Disney is back.