Fans of the pulps might want to consider looking at Dick Tracy’s new adventures in this new comic book series being distributed by Mad Cave Studios.
Some comic book series are better reviewed as fully stories rather than by individual chapters, and Mad Cave Studio‘s Dick Tracy flows better when I can see the tale in full. As a monthly series to provide an experience similar to the pulps, I don’t think I’d have the patience to wait for the next chapter/broadcast. I held off on publishing this review until that first adventure comes to an end, and what’s presented here feels more hard boiled than I can recall from other takes.
After enjoying this release, I also wanting to watch Warren Betty’s take on this detectvie and swoon over Madonna again. This hero made his debut in the early 30s, and I’m reasonably sure writers since then have rewritten or retconned his early life. In this latest, he’s a war veteran turned police detective. And it seems some of his past has arrived to haunt him. While his bosses say the war is over, the trauma he’s faced and everything that defines him now is worse than a ghost knocking at his door!
Sometimes, what happens in virtual reality can escape and be your worse nightmare! In Quadrant, the complexities of interfacing the wrong person to a fake world gets deftly examined.
I love the fact that Charles Band is tackling modern age concerns with movies like Aimee: The Visitor (movie review) and now Quadrant. The former concerned rogue artificial intelligence in search of romance and the latest, just whether virtual reality is a good place to go for therapy! But what if what one dreads, would they embrace their problem, so the issue becomes part of them? That’s where this story concept succeeds because the terror is presented in the best way this filmmaker can imagine. And as for Erin (Shannon Barnes), she better be careful in what she wants to reap after signing that waiver to be involved in this study.
Scientists Harry (Rickard Claeson) and Meg (Emma Reinagel) crafted a VR helmet with a few added interfaces so other bodily functions can be monitored and, if chemical stimulation is required, also pumped in too! It’s a type of neural study I am even game to try, but after seeing this film, I say not!
Erin is their tool to study how how helpful this technolgoy can be. But little do they know her obsession with Jack the Ripper is more twisted than they realise. She can’t distinguish between the two realities. In order to save her, these scientists must enlist the assistance of Robert (Christian Carrigan). He’s another person they’re studying, and when he has feelings for Erin, they hope he can provide something more real to fixate on instead of the Reaper.
But pretty soon, as with any Full Moon film, everything has to burst at the seams, and chaos erupts. Shannon Barnes is great at being Jekyll and Hyde, and had this tale not affirm the killer is Jack, I’d swear this tale is designed to honour Robert Louis Stevenson‘s work! Although the scientists don’t have the same panache as this star, they have their place as Data (from Star Trek) in those holosuite episodes where he is Sherlock Holmes, and Moriarty is given life!
To note, Quadrant marks this studio’s 400th release and is the first under the Pulp Noir label. It’s better than the recently reviewed Private Eye movie starring comedian Matt Rife in the sense we have existential dread as a theme from start to end. With this film, it’s perfect in its execution where even I wonder if therapy in the virtual realm is needed. Some phobias are best left alone, and others, I’m sure other methods to get over trauma exist!
The Australian outback is not a place of Limbo as this movie’s film title suggests. Instead, it’s a world of isolation. Here, crimes can go unsolved for years, and by the time authorities get wind of a situation, rushing to a commune named after this place of purgatory to catch a criminal is often too late.
In this movie’s case, Travis Hurley (Simon Baker) comes to this migrant hovel to look at a homicide left to rot. Charlotte went missing. She didn’t go on a walkabout, as hinted in the opening moments, otherwise she’d be back. Had she been a person of European descent, I’m sure the authorities would’ve been on the case sooner. This detective came here to investigate. But when not everyone wants to talk, I wonder what they are hiding. This work isn’t like Twin Peaks by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m sure Ivan Sen got some ideas from this cult classic.
The National Film Board of Canada has humour and serious drama in store with two pieces now in its online Comic Strip Chronicles Collection. This series of shorts looks at the strong connection that exists with comic strips–in its traditional Sunday funnies format–with animation. When considering the latter, it also delves deep into thoughtful experiences too.
There’s also a terrific retrospective written by Marc St-Pierre on The NFB’s blog to get readers up to speed on what the Animation Studio of the French Program has been up to in the past several years. The article is written in French, and it can be parsed through Google Translate.
Not everyone knows Too Cool to Kill is an adaptation of the Japanese film, The Magic Hour.
Well Go USA
For showtimes and locations in North America, please visit the official English website.
Too Cool To Kill (这个杀手不太冷静) is too hot of a movie to handle. After its debut during the Lunar New Year in China as This Killer Is Not Too Calm–with terrific box office results–it’s coming to North America so Wei Xiang‘s comedic talent can be recognised.
The joy is in how this zany film pulls you into the life of Lyingtown with its sweeping Tim Burton style cinematography and iconic Euro style setting. The name of this sleepy seaside hamlet is intentional, as it foreshadows everything to come! Even the soundtrack establishes a Henry Mancini style tone.
After meeting the supporting cast of Mr. Harvey (Chen Minghao) nearly shot by the assassin Karl (Allen AI), we are introduced to Wei Chenggong (Xiang), a hasbin stand-in and part-time actor who hopes to make it big in Chinese Hollywood. But after the director MIller (Huang Cailun) chides him for his overacting, he’s asked to star in a bigger movie by the star of the show, Milan (Ma Li). The two happen to be siblings. But there’s a secret, the cameras will be hidden, and her agenda isn’t all that pure.
This world isn’t any different from the classic World of Darkness scheme in the RPG world. In the first issue alone, I get the sense there’s also demons, vampires and other spooks hiding ’round the corner. We just may see them featured in upcoming issues.
Ahoy Comics
Now Available in Comic Stores
Spoiler Alert
Who needs an American Werewolf in London when there’s an Afro-American one in the mean streets of Los Angeles. Janie “Strummer” Jones is a P.I. on the hunt for the assassin out to kill her kind in the comic titled Black’s Myth. She took one for the team, and thankfully survived. However, she has yet to identify the killer. Ben Si’lat is her assistant and a djinn to boot! He can’t grant wishes, but can help her out in other ways that she can’t. She can only do so much when in lupine form to use her enhanced senses.
This noir-style horror comic book from writer Eric Palicki and artist Wendell Cavalcanti has a lot to like. Presenting this world in B&W gives this world character. Plus, the blood splatters look better when painted in plain ol’ black.
Some comic book series are better reviewed as fully stories rather than by individual chapters, and Mad Cave Studio‘s Dick Tracy flows better when I can see the tale in full. As a monthly series to provide an experience similar to the pulps, I don’t think I’d have the patience to wait for the next chapter/broadcast. I held off on publishing this review until that first adventure comes to an end, and what’s presented here feels more hard boiled than I can recall from other takes.
Coming to
