Aquaman

In this age of media blizzards surrounding us at all times, it's difficult to approach anything without a least some preconceived notion. So I came to Aquaman having heard from Esquire Magazine that, compared to most of the other DC movies, this was a 'fucking masterpiece'.

As glorious a line as that is, Aquaman is not a masterpiece. It is visually arresting and often very beautiful, all of which can be laid at the exhausted feet of the costume designers, the CGI animators, and director James Wan. These elements did not need to be as good as they were to get asses in seats. There are a handful of shots that must have been a nightmare to craft, and I sat there in the theatre taken aback by the care in evidence on-screen.

The script isn't as good, unfortunately. It rambles along like an amusement park ride, putting words on the screen to get us from one spectacle to another. There was an interaction between Aquaman and Mera early on that was genuinely funny, but for the most part,  the script relies too much on crowd pleasing one liners and shouting about this and that.

Jason Momoa is fine in this version of Aquaman, which owes very little to the comics and a lot to Marvel's take on Thor. He's a cheerful bro, eager to have a drink and not too great on the uptake. Momoa has as much charisma as he does muscles and hair, so he does a superb job of winning the audience over.  Amber Heard gives us a stern and angry Mera,  a woman who seems to be constantly teetering on the edge of Fed Up and Dismissive.  The scenes between her and Momoa sometimes run a little flat, and their inevitable falling in love feels enforced and ridiculous. (There's an entire section that takes in the Sahara--yes, a movie about water kingdoms has a major section in a desert--where Heard and Momoa have to carry the entire segment, and unfortunately don't.)

But despite the script and the acting stumbles, I really quite enjoyed Aquaman. It's gloriously dumb, and knows it. It amps the stupid so well. Everyone buys into the film, and plays it straight, which is the only way to make gloriously dumb work.  There is a solid attempt at world building here, so much so that I was actually interested in the genesis of Atlantis and its politics, which is something the comics have never done for me.

I am genuinely exhausted with superhero films, but I still find myself curious about them. As such, Aquaman entertained me, partly because it doesn't really feel like a superhero movie. Wan takes a very fantasy approach to the genre, which works well for a character many people have never cared about.  Without someone like Wan at the helm, this could have been a Razzie level shitshow. It's also great that there are no connections to the on life support DCU movie-verse, aside from one line regarding the Justice League film. This is a fun standalone, which is perhaps the approach Warner Brothers should take with future films. Leave the trash heap of a shared universe burning in the dumpster, and just dazzle us with fun and stupid.

Ubik

Mindfuck would be the first word I'd use to describe this, followed closely by brilliant. After a pause of a few seconds, horrific would come trotting along the path of contemplation of this novel.

Ubik shows us an alternate world where telepaths are such a threat to privacy that money can be made combating their unwanted intrusions. The people who can nullify telepaths are called inertials, and one such 'prudence organization' composed of inertials takes a job to deal with telepaths pestering a business on the moon. Things do not go well.

And that's as far as I'll go explaining Ubik. Even though it's a 50 year old novel, Ubik is partly a mystery, and discovering the depths of that mystery are part of the enjoyment. I will say that this novel gave me nightmares for the better part of a week. It wasn't so much any scenes in particular, just the feelings of dread and growing horror that took hold in me.

So, the perfect Christmas book, then!

A Maniac, Maniac On The Netflix Floor

At least Maniac tried.

Based on a Norwegian television series, this brave Netflix adaptation really deserves nothing but congratulations. It is anathema to challenge viewers these days with anything that isn't a family drama or biography about people being framed for crimes by lazy policemen.  And because it tried to be different, Maniac gets my respect. I just wish it had tried a wee bit harder.

Maniac is set in alternate present/future where technology gets its chief inspiration from the 1970s. Computers are large and chunky, and the design aesthetic  of all tech should come with its own Earth, Wind and Fire soundtrack. Advertising has metastasized to the point where living people follow you around telling you about products you should buy.  Hacking personal records isn't something done by shady operatives in dark rooms--you can have this done by going to seedy storefronts. Robots exist, but only to clean up dog shit.


In this world we meet Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah Hill), who both sign up for a pharmaceutical test of a new therapeutic drug. Both have different reasons for doing so--Anna is addicted to one of the drugs associated with the test and needs a fix, and Owen needs to make some money. It's important to note that both suffer psychological issues: Anna is anti-social and grieving, while Owen is schizophrenic, has severe issues with determining what is real,  and is dealing with potentially harmful family drama.

Along with other testees, Owen and Anna undergo the effects of the new drug, which propel users into dream worlds to help deal with their issues. These dream worlds vary, from opulent decadence mystery nights, soul dead suburbia, all the way to third rate fantasy worlds.  Owen and Anna start meeting up in these worlds, which is thought to be impossible. As the tests continue, both Anna and Owen have to deal with the things they encounter, while outside the pharmaceutical company deals with a breakdown of its own.

Like The  Haunting of  Hill House, Maniac starts off telling one story and ends up finishing with another.

The world set forth in Maniac is fascinating. It's very much THE FUTURE as seen from the late Seventies. The little bits we see of it as Annie goes about trying to get more of the therapy drug shows a crass dystopia that feels very PKD. But whereas something like Blade Runner dealt with larger issues of their respective worlds, Maniac eschews the world it created to focus on the emotional journeys of Annie and Owen.

Unfortunately, only Annie's story felt interesting and felt tied to this world. Owen's story didn't need to be in a science fiction universe, and as such, feels unnecessary. Perhaps this is down to Emma Stone's performance, which at some points makes you laugh and at others makes your eyes do that weird watering thing, especially regarding the grief tearing her life apart. Hill's performance is much more subdued, for whatever reason. You feel sorry for Owen, but you feel for Annie.

As well, there is an unctuous subplot regarding the pharmaceutical company that should have been left on the cutting room floor. It veers like a drunken driver from scenery chewing hamminess to clumsy satire, if one understands satire to involve lots of shouting.

Maniac begins as an interesting science fiction story, wobbles around, shouts a bit, and finally ends as feel good drama about feelings. It's worth watching, especially for Emma Stone's performance and the world seen in the early episodes. Maniac made me think of The OA, which was a glorious, metal spewing car wreck, but it at least had the courage to be that glorious, metal spewing car wreck.

Maniac seems to lose its car wreck courage at the half way point. But at least it tried.

Kick Ass The New Girl

I always feel a bit guilty buying a Mark Millar comic. Partly it's because much of the work I've read from him relies heavily on shock value, and shouldn't I be above such things at my age? And partly it's because shouldn't I be supporting struggling creators and endeavours?  (Says the man who drops a small fortune on Marvel and DC Comics every month, ahem). 

Emotions and reasoning rarely walk hand in hand.

So I did lay down my hard earned cash and purchased this collection. And, unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

This time around, Kick Ass is an ex-soldier called Patience Lee, who returns home from a tour of Afghanistan to find her life has gone to shit: her husband has left her for a bimbo, she has no child support and two kids to feed. She lands a job as a waitress and tries to get her degree, but it's a losing battle. So she decides to use her rather extensive military training to rob local criminals, dressing up as the hero Kick Ass.

Millar's script follows the safe path of a solid movie pitch. This version is extremely movie/ Netflix friendly, with none of the superhero parody of the first Kick-Ass series, focusing instead on Patience's vigilante actions and its consequences. As movies go, it's inexpensive. In fact, hearing that this may be the focus of the next Kick-Ass movie comes as no surprise to me. Kick-Ass: The New Girl feels to have been written to allay the fears of producers and money-men who quiver at the gazillion dollar budgets of Marvel blockbusters.

But that doesn't mean The New Girl is not an enjoyable comic. Patience is an interesting character in that at no point does she come across as a victim. In fact, she reminds me quite a bit of Jack Reacher in her ability to assess situations and formulate the proper response. This badassery is juxtaposed with scenes of her as a loving mother that oddly don't ring false. Patience is both a mother and mean fucking killing machine, a sort of New Mexico female version of Liam Neeson from the Taken films.

And yes, there is the expected Millar scenes of shock and extreme violence. Eyes don't fare very well in this series. And for a story that relies on a higher degree of realism to add weight to those shocks,I'm not sure just how many punches to the head a human being can take and still function.

My only real complaint with this series, though,  is that it ends rather too quickly. Millar and Romita apparently are not doing the second series, which is unfortunate. It would be interesting to see where Patience goes after the conclusion of this collection, but I'm not sure I want to see anyone else create it.