Andy Diggle took the great Robert Kanigher’s team of misifts known as The Losers’ and re-imagined them as modern ronin amidst the War on Terror. They were betrayed by their handler the mysterious Max, who may or may not be a “George Kaplan”. Ready for revenge and the opportunity to remove their names from a secret CIA death list, the Losers regrouped to steal their lives back. As the series progressed it became clear nothing was what they thought it was and revenge was anything, but simple.

Below is the trailer for Joel Silver’s adaptation of Diggle’s series  that ran from 2003 to 2006 at Vertigo Comics.

Editor’s Note: Not to mention that once again, in some way this is another
comic project that involves Jack Kirby.

Share

Editor’s Note: TRC will return to normal soon, we promise (don’t hold us to that). Just 15 years from now when the technology of this world can bring to life every idea in our wild high school fantasy trapper/notebook of  ideas that we ripped directly off of famous (and trendy) sci-fi authors. Till than you will have to abide with any and every lame AVATAR thing we here at TRC can find.

Share

I have no words. Wish I did. So instead a quote from George Carlin: “If it’s true that our species is alone in the universe, then I’d have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little.”

Share

Tragedy by the Bee Gees blared at BP while I pumped gas. It was the first song I heard on the last day of the year. Having been searching for a way to sum up the year, I had just realized that the Brothers Gibb gave me the answer. Tragedy, art based on human suffering that paradoxically offers its audience pleasure. A specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western civilization. Our last tens years have brought us nothing but endless outlets for the propagation of tragedy. Every advancement in technology and social media makes it easier to know that some sad sack has got it worse. We are defined and fueled by Tragedy (although most of you will never admit it). If you do not believe me, then explain why Michael Jackson died for six months.

And so it was amidst this tragedy, heroes would rise to bring us all back from the darkness of John and Kate. There were those who wanted to help the world understand visual storytelling in a fuller light. Aimed to combine themselves with the art-form, and explore how the best push far beyond the border of entertainment and use it as a unique form of communication. Unfortunately they died in a car crash. Fortunately for Tom and I, we discovered the scene. After liberating $22.37 from their wallets and taking their plan for a movie site to end all movie sites we decided to make their cause our own. On the first day of October, in this foul year of our lord two-thousand and nine, The Red Circle was born.

We launched with a monthly focus appropriately devoted to Horror (hey, it compliments tragedy). Each day we counted down the best of the Horror genre in mini-reviews to prepare you for All Hallows Eve. Along the way starting a series of weekly posts known as Long Good Friday, Tom reviewed a few films and we generally tried to not fuck it up.

In November we lined up grudge matches of love and hate in our Flip/side feature (to argue often ends in tragedy). I started “Ice Skating Up Hill”. Tom took it to Twilight and Cory K.O.ed Cameron before he even had a chance. Thanksgiving arrived with Tom educating you on Blu-ray as you started your holiday shopping. I closed the month out with my half of the final Flip/side, informing you that 2009 was a tragedy at the cineplex.

Heading into the winter season we were officially joined by Cory Maidens and Jamie Dull to discuss music. Cory counted off his Top 50 Albums of the Decade and Jamie brought us Song of the Day selections. I changed the direction of Long Good Friday, switching from movies to discuss the TV shows canceled before their time. Before the month ended Tom and I took turns skewering what was left of Avatar. Each of us ended the month with a list of our Ten favorite films…ever (or rather the ten reasons for doing what we do).

As I look ahead, there is a lot to offer waiting in the wings. Twenty-Ten will see the launch of the TRC Movie Poster Graveyard, Comic Book reviews, more Television commentary, more reviews, and much more that Major Tom will divulge in his welcome to the future.

Needless to say, The Red Circle was not a tragedy. The best part is this was only a soft-launch for us, our beta period or time to make mistakes. We have lots of new features and articles in the works. It is our hope that Cory and Jamie stick around and continue to contribute articles about the things that make them take notice. Thanks to Tom who shepherded us all along the last three months (especially when it concerned my grammar skills), he might be an editor yet someday. Thanks to myself for generally being fantastic and coming up with anything that was good on the site, but I digress. Tomorrow starts a new year and a new decade; The Red Circle will only get bigger.

Be seeing you,
Ryan Brlecic

Co-Founder of The Red Circle

PS – In 2010, You need to get Disenfranchised!

Share

As the New Year begins we will get into more heightened discussion of sequential monthlies. And by 2011, you will be sick of Grant Morrison. For now a tease with an upcoming comic book adaption from the mad creator Mark Millar; a man I love to hate.

Share

By Ryan Brlecic

Earth, 14 years later…

What do Roger Dean, Steve Perry (not that Steve Perry), Tom Yeates, Anne Mcaffrey, Robert A. Heinlen, Roger Zelany (Euclid, OH represent), Ed Zwick, Ronny James Dio (yes that DIO) and Poul Anderson have in common? James Cameron owes them all money. Poul Anderson especially, just ask Harlan Ellison. Ed Zwick comes in a close second, as Cameron just mined the last 14 years of that auteur’s career of documenting white guilt. Major Tom, Get me Ed Zwick on the phone. I want to let him know that James Cameron just made the most expensive and expansive Zwickian film ever. This could be likened to Marc Forster’s turn last year in which he made the best damn Roger Moore Bond film ever.

Few will point out that the biggest lifting Cameron did was from his own portfolio. Avatar in more ways then one is the culmination of his entire career. The uptown girl love story of Titanic, the power loader of Aliens, the save her from her destiny shtick, breather masks straight out of The Abyss, Skynet even updated the Hunter Killers as Samson Choppers and get your grunt to work a secret mission a la Kyle Reese. Most importantly, do not forget scientists are always altruistic and benevolent versus the corporate profit-minded pursuits of the military industrial complex.

Everyone copies…er homages just ask Quentin Tarantino. However, like QT, some do it in style and make it their own. It is true Virginia, it has all been done before; and lately remade for posterity sake. Existence is just our reality of trying to find new menial ways of retelling everything Plato, Shakespeare, Wilde, and porn movies have already shown us.

Which brings me back to Avatar, a truly beautiful to behold amusement park labeled a film. The story however is one of the most pathetically executed in recent film history. Said that, moving the fuck on. But what did I say?

Before considering this another trite lambasting of James Cameron’s brilliant eco-friendly social conscious masterpiece (said with dripping sarcasm), wait. TRC has skewered the film’s concept pre-release with Cory Maidens. Masterfully reviewed the film in a piece by Tom Nix this past Saturday. Now I am here to analyze just what Cameron has done with the last 14 years and what it means for the rest of us.

Being a pupil of visual communication I will get a glaring nit pick of my own out of the way. Who spends a decade plus on a film only to garnish it’s title treatment with a Microsoft standard font, which is then fucking stretched for effect? (your welcome Jes!) The use and application of the Papyrus typeface screamed vocational school graphic design graduate.

Q: What does 14 years of R/D (and Micosoft standard fonts) at a supposed rate of
$500 million dollars buy you ?

A: McDonald’s Happy Meal toy

Like Marlow’s Congolese adventure to retrieve Kurtz, we follow Cameron to Pandora. A planet populated by a race of thundercats that can interface with just about any living organism in a totally non-homo erotic fashion. There immersed in the lush abundant green which we all forsake for progress and the pursuit of imperialism back on earth, we find the true god of the Na’vi. James Cameron’s biggest achievement with Avatar is a literal creation of an entire planet via obsessive compulsive detail. This milestone however works against him, because in the end Pandora felt like a hollow earth.

Technical achievement aside the film itself lacks any depth or soul. As Dr. Ian Malcolm once said, “The lack of humility before nature that’s being displayed here, uh… staggers me.” I fear that I am remiss in my rush to tie Cameron’s Avatar experiment to Kurtz’s horror; his heart of darkness. His achievement bares more resemblance to Shelley’s Doctor Frankenstein. He was so driven to create something never seen he never asked himself why. It leaves Pandora feeling as fake as a back lot main street.

It is well documented that Cameron is driven by advancements and pushing the limits. He is a bastard child of the silver age of Sci-Fi novels and film. He comes from an age where they once informed you to duck under your desk to avoid nuclear devastation. Refers to Organized religion as mere tribal chants. He was born wanting more. He only did Aliens because he called an agent’s bluff. He was stabbed in the face after LSD laced Chowder incident on the set of Titanic and survived drowning on The Abyss. There is no question this man is the real deal.

…And when Schwarzenegger and Tom Arnold took off on a tour of DC monuments, leaving the set, they returned to find Cameron standing in the middle of the road, arms crossed, like a Terminator ready to total their vehicle. Cameron lunged in the passenger door and got in Arnie’s face, shouting “Do you want Paul Verhoeven to direct the rest of this  fucking shit? You do that shit again and that’s what’s gonna happen.”

There is huge divide between technical book smarts and gut level instincts in bringing characters to life on screen. His film career is filled with beautiful surface level epics. He is what Roland Emmerich wishes he could grow up to be. Cameron excels in his niche, machining the unreal into technical existence. The buck however stops there. Cameron lacks the ability to add depth to his creations like that of his peers Ridley Scott (director of the only Alien film) and Guillermo Del Torro. Both of which still give you visual punch, thought out down to the last molecule, but also the feel of depth that gives their creations reality.

His visual constructs be it ships, mech suits and tree houses are beautifully realized shells, but lack a feel that anything is going on inside. Did this movie improve visual effects? Absolutely. Admittedly I found myself remembering if this was how I felt during the T-Rex chase in Jurassic Park? However unlike Jurassic Park there seemed to be no connection past the visual. This was due partially to lack of character. Yes even creatures of Pandorian forests can and should posses some form of character traits. The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park had individualistic character traits that made them more fully realized. This is why you’re so drawn to Zoe Saldana’s portrayal (and only her portrayal) of her character as she gave her shell a soul. Her performance truly defined the concept of acting out through an avatar.

This all just serves to work against the film that gestated for so long. Cameron should have had more then enough time, considering that he is an extremely disciplined and focus creator to finish the cup. It is nigh inexcusable that he seemingly abandoned the pursuit of an actual story to wrap his pixel mesh of technical wizardy over. Peter Jackson learned this with his similar laze fair wielding of the visuals in King Kong. Just because you have the know how doesn’t mean you know how. Spielberg in turn could easily have had raptors mindlessly burst into a kitchen and end the scene.  Instead he choose to have them pause and act through their eyes conveying that they were thinking all the while making you forget they didn’t really exist. I never forgot that Pandora or it’s inhabitants did not really exist, just that they looked pretty.

Another reason for the departure in believability was due to the simple fact that it is harder to play God then we think; even with WETA archangels. Even the pitiful story aside and the fact that I am almost completely ambivalent to anything James Cameron does. His development of a new way to film in 3D utilized as a tool and not just a gimmick; undeniably useful in the right hands. This however is not the harbinger of a new age in cinema. I may be alone in this observation, but I never once bought the Na’vi as an fully realized race of people.

It almost fell to the “Incredible Hulk Conundrum”. How do you make the audience believe in a eight foot green man? We strangely feel it easier to believe something totally devoid of humanoid characteristics. This is the downfall of the Na’vi  – the least believable thing in the film. They are essentially blue people with cat features. At quick glimpses they seem as nothing but disfigured or distorted humans. Not having more visual comparison of human physiology to Na’vi causes you to not appreciate their advantages. An example of this handled well is District 9, released earlier this year (Sharlto for the Oscar). The director had initially intended on the aliens being more humanoid in outward appearance. Neill Blomkamp’s decision to change to what amounts to large talking prawns eliminated that hurdle of familiarity. It forced his film’s viewers to realize the individual characters his “prawns” portrayed.

Cameron seemingly stereotyped right out of National Geographic, enlarged by five feet, and painted on a blue a mash-up of tribal cultures. Past surface level info about their culture and ways the Na’vi people felt as generic as Giovanni Ribisi’s acting. If you are going to create your own world and work on it for a decade, one would think that you would spend more time ironing out the details of your main inhabitants. Thus reducing his personal Herculean attempt to fully transport you. He however failed far less then Peter Jackson’s display of self-indulgent style over substance.

A man who views himself as his own god, failed in his attempt to fully create life. This has always been the unfortunate truth of Cameron’s career. His films look great, but he is just an above average director. Like De Palma, Craven, Friedkin and Howard the list goes on. We too often raise men like James Cameron up on a pedestal for doing something merely above average because we are to afraid or unwillingly in our examination of it past the surface. After fourteen years in the jungle, Cameron should have brought us more. Instead we are delivered a package without a gift on the inside, just in time for Christmas.

What this means for the rest of us is being written as I type. Watching the news feeds for the Monday recap I saw the spin doctors at work. Avatar received a paltry $73 million stateside. Making one wonder if this was all for naught? This movie is rumored to have cost $500 million dollars to produce. If it barely ekes out that in return, there is the very real possibility that Cameron’s achievements with Avatar on the technical side will collect dust. Studios can make their money back for far less and with far less. In this case Prometheus failed in bringing them fire. Unfortunately for us if Avatar proves a success expect more of the same (it was planned as a trilogy after all).

Ultimately Avatar lived up to being a shell for one to inhabit. However the bond never connected with its intended host, the audience. In the off chance that it did the affair was brief, no longer then two and a half hours. It was a site to behold and an amusement park on screen, but the one thing it was not was a film.

Editor’s Note: James Cameron proved that Thundercats can be live action!

Share

“Father Christmas” is a 1977 single by English group The Kinks. While it failed to make the charts, it is popular even today, especially around Christmas time.

It ostensibly tells of a department store Santa Claus who is beaten up by a gang of poor kids who tell him to give them money instead of toys, as toys are impractical; and asks that the toys are given “to the little rich boys.” At one point, a child asks the narrator to give his/her father a job for Christmas.

Share

By Ryan Brlecic

Howard the Duck is a true “game changer” of a comic from the 1970’s. It lasted for longer than anyone would have guessed and was simply phenomenal. Steve Gerber was a true pioneer of modern comic books. Unfortunately Howard the Duck was canceled when Stan Lee finally read an issue and realized Marvel was publishing something he didn’t steal from Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko (I chide). For a brief period Gerber worked on Howard with original artist Val Mayerik as a newspaper strip. What follows is the time in which Howard fought an elf with a gun and did anything but save Christmas.

Enjoy!

Share

Ryan’s Top Ten Movies
By Ryan Brlecic

Too often we forget the why portion in our obsessions and hobbies. We get jaded or soft in our opinions and neglect what came before. More often than not we need to go back to the well and replenish. Rather than bore you with a typical critic pissing contest of a top ten films list, I will instead regale you with a top ten movies list (note the difference). What follows is the High Fidelity approach to calling out the movies that I unabashedly love to watch and could give a damn if you feel the same. This is not about defending your critical integrity. This is about wearing your heart on your sleeve and loving the movies that love you back. Trust me folks, I could have rattle off a top ten that reads like any fanboys. Chock full of safe bet blockbusters like Star Wars and Jaws. However this is about the films your taking to that desert island, being buried with, or being inspired by.

Enjoy!

1. The Good The Bad The Ugly – Sergio Leone’s best film is Once Upon A Time in America; this is Sergio Leone’s masterpiece.

2. Dawn of the Dead – George Romero’s zenith and hands down best depiction of a world overrun by zombies…at the mall.

3. Blazing Saddles – Racism is ironic. Irony is funny and always will be. This is Satire at its very best. Mel Brook’s masterpiece still stands as the funniest movie this country has ever produced.

4. Goodfellas - As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster.

5. North by Northwest – I am not George Kaplan, but I always wanted to be. The model for all adventure thrillers.

6. Carnival of Souls – Herk Harvey made one film. He made the best damn American independent horror film ever. Black and white phantasmagoria at it’s best.

7. Duck Soup – Before you were brought In the Loop, The Marx Brothers wrote the book on government’s utter ridiculousness.

8. Army of Darkness – Yeah, Evil Dead was better, but this is Bruce Campbell’s awesome clip tape. The Internet grew in the early 90’s as a place to house Ash .wav files and porn.

9. Condorman - Cinematic masturbation and pure imagination. Walter Mitty be damned.

10. Die Hard – The first action movie I ever remember seeing, and the last damn action movie anyone ever needs to see.

Included are my B-Sides in keeping with the High Fidelity theme.

B-Sides (in no particular order): Raiders of the Lost Ark, Charade, Night of the Creeps, Big Trouble Little China, House on Haunted Hill (1959), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Seconds, The Mechanic, The Great Escape, and Blade Runner

Share

3 for Christmas
By Ryan Brlecic

Scrooged
Modernizing Dickens, Richard Donner sets out with Bill Murray in tow four years removed from his last outing with ghosts in Ghostbusters. This film manages to pack the message of the original Charles Dickens classic with a blend of modern greed and amazing performances.. This is one of my favorite Dick Donner films overall. It serves as a great representation of the range he commanded as a well rounded director. Murray’s dryly comedic turn as Francis Cross is the perfect pitch to match those he plays off throughout the course of the film.

This film is so packed with surprises, details and character moments it would be hard pressed for you not to find something you like. The re-imagining of the three ghosts are fantastically brought to light by David Johansen (past), Carol Kane (present) and a large ghoul with a static filled TV for a face (future). As a bonus, we get TAB (you remember TAB) and Bobcat Goldthwait? The film shows that you can modernize a classic, but a good story at heart is universal and this is truly a great holiday story…the only kind where Lee Majors saves Santa from terrorists!

Gremlins
Dickens, Dick Donner, Dick Miller. There are lots of dicks around Christmas time. Some we meet in the aisles as we fight trench warfare to please our capitalistic masters. Some we meet on the road as we fight the elements of the season. Some, like Dick Miller’s Murray Futterman, we meet when their neighbor’s kid’s pet multiplies after getting wet and the offspring mature into gremlins wrecking havoc all over the town.

Director Joe Dante serves up an unconventional and fun adventure story romp about a town overrun at Christmas time. It’s a well paced tear through quaint fictional Kingston Falls. Billy Peltzer’s (Zach Gilligan, Waxworks I-II) traveling salesman and failed inventor of a father presents him with a Mogwai to teach him a lesson in responsibility. Not only does the film feature a climactic boy/reptile showdown in the toy department of a mall, it also possesses one of the most depressing backstory reveals for a character ever. This is why we love the 80’s and here represented is a lot to love.

At the time Gremlins joined High Spirits, The Burbs (No Clue? Find and watch immediately!), Lost Boys and Ghostbusters in a trend of successful horror/comedy send-ups. It was followed by an off the wall sequel that is only made mentionable by the presence of both Christopher Lee and John Glover. This holiday, seek out Gremlins. Also remember that if anything you get this Christmas seems to malfunction or fail, check the damn warranty.

Die Hard
“Come out to the coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs…”

Do I need to sum up this film? This is the definition of an action movie. A still from the film adorns Webster’s definition of the genre. This is why we have Rumer Willis, Disney’s The Kid, and Bruno Sings. Bruce Willis says f you to Moonlighting with Cybil Shepherd, grabs a fire hose and dives shoeless off the top of an LA skyscraper to proclaim, “Welcome to the party, pal.”

Alan Rickman will forever be endured to me for his portrayal of villainous Hans Gruber (still probably one of the best screen bad guys ever). Robert Davi is excellent as one of a pair of unrelated oily Agent Johnsons (Hey, look! Some more Christmas dicks!). Along for the ride is Reginald VelJohnson of Family Matters fame bringing up the rear as a beat cop.

Roderick Thorp’s novel Nothing Lasts Forever is closely followed as adapted for the screen in John McTiernan’s Die Hard (the best damn movie he ever made). It was a sequel to Thorp’s earlier novel The Detective, which was adapted for the screen and starred Frank Sinatra. Sinatra turned down the offer to headline, the story was altered, and the hero of the novel became younger – an everyman. The darker politically-motivated antagonists of Thorp’s book became thieves pretending to be terrorists. The change from a tale of political terrorism to a heist film was made because the director wanted to bring “joy” to the story, rather than having the villains be overly ponderous. Besides can you imagine old blue eyes delivery of, “Yippie-ki-yay, motherf?”

I can literally watch this movie on a loop (see here) and with the above mentioned films it caps off my Christmas Eve every year. This is one of the best Christmas movies you can watch with the family. Thank You Frank Sinatra. Now cue up Beethoven’s 9th Symphony!

Merry Christmas!

Share