Comic Review: It's A Man's Life In The Ice Cream Business

Ah, the good old days of photocopied, folded and stapled small press comics... I remember them with enormous fondness. One man keeping the tradition alive is Rob Jackson, whose latest title (the rather long one above, henceforth abbreviated as '...Ice Cream...') proved a wonderful surprise as I tucked into it the other night. I had no idea selling ice cream could be so interesting.

Rob's autobiographical comic tells how he, his brother and his dad set up their own business selling homemade ice cream at local farmers' markets, fayres and fêtes. The ups and downs of running your own ice cream business proved fascinating to me - from the sunny days where everything sells out in an hour to the windy days when your tent keeps blowing away to the markets where local competition means you don't sell a thing. There's intrigue as Rob and family attempt to diversify into cheese and black peas, there's drama as Rob eats leftover cheese on toast for a week rather than let it go to waste and there's recipes aplenty - including some of their more interesting flavours such as Sweet Potato & Pecan, the curiously unpopular Beer Ice Cream and the ever-popular Whinberry (I think they call 'em bilberries in my neck of the woods).

There's a genuine charm to Rob's storytelling - you really feel for him and his family on the tough days and you cheer when they sell out. Rob's art is also deceptively simple. At first glance it seems childlike and unrefined, and yet the more you look at it the more you realise Rob has all the art and storytelling basics sorted (composition, perspective etc.) and the style is complementing the story rather than holding it back. I can't help but feel that more polished artwork would take away some of the warmth from Rob's comics. I can't imagine them drawn any other way.

'...Ice Cream...' is available to buy from Rob's website shop for the eminently reasonable price of just £1.50. Like delicious ice cream on a hot summer's day, I can't recommend it enough.

Movie Review: Contagion

For years, I didn't like Gwyneth Paltrow very much. I found her whiny. 'Whiny, whiny, whiny boots of leather', I used to sing whenever she whined her way onto my cinema screen. Followed by a chorus of '6ix' by the Lemonheads, based on her unfortunate fate in the movie Se7en, notable for its refrain, "Here comes Gwyneth's head in a box". I was thrown out of many a Gwyneth Paltrow film for doing this, but it was worth it.

Yet in recent years, particularly following her standout performances in Iron Man and Country Strong, I've grown a grudging appreciation of Gwyneth's talents. Thank god then for Steven Soderberg, here in the nick of time to confirm what a skanky, disease ridden strumpet Chris Martin's missus really is. If you don't like Gwyneth, that's one damn good reason to watch Contagion right there. Nasty things do happen to her.

Nasty things happening to famous, pretty people is basically what Contagion is all about. But while I could happily sit through Gwyneth foaming at the mouth, I had less time for the unfortunate fates of Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard. The women do most of the suffering in Soderberg's H1N1 disaster movie while the blokes do most of the whining. Matt Damon's most upset about losing his wife and child to the virus, though the worst his own symptoms get are a fat face and a bad mullet. Meanwhile, Lawrence Fishburne thinks he's still in CSI and Jude Law plays cinema's most hateful nerd, giving a bad name to bloggers everywhere. When Elliot Gould tells him "blogging's not journalism - it's just graffiti with punctuation", I almost considered hanging up my keyboard. Thank god then for Jennifer Ehle, not just the film's one true hero but also it's only brief moment of sex appeal. Even when the world's going to hell in a hand basket, it's good to know our top scientists still wear hold-up stockings.

I didn't enjoy Contagion as much as the critics. It was a competent, plausible, at times unnerving thriller that followed exactly the path you'd expect with few surprises. If you've seen Outbreak, you know exactly what's coming. That the human race is almost doomed by a pig, a bat and Gwyneth Paltrow was curiously satisfying to the misanthrope in me... but my hypochondriac side hated watching it in a packed cinema with people coughing and spluttering all around. I'd suggest watching it from inside a Jacko-style isolation tent... or the comfort of your own home. Don't talk to anyone. Don't touch anyone. Especially Gwyneth.

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS (2011)

MyRating: YYYYY

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz, Lucas Till, Caleb Landry Jones, Edi Gathegi, Jason Flemyng, Álex González, Oliver Platt, Ray Wise

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language

Telling the beginning story of an already popular movie series is not always easy to do. Sometimes it's also a risk to take, as not all people are really interested to know what happened in the beginning, especially if you have known the outcomes of the story, on what will happen to this character or what that character will finally become. Also, not all audiences like to see one or more of their favorite characters, played and popularized by certain actors before, are being replaced by some new guys. Not saying if one or more of the most famous characters will not appear as part of the story (in this case Wolverine). However, this is not the case for X-Men: First Class. This movie not only could cast aside all doubts and doubters, but also proof that storytelling and characterization are the keys to a great movie.

X-Men: First Class is the prequel to the X-Men trilogy, with the story set before the time of the original X-Men. The story about young Professor X and Magneto, before they discover their extraordinary powers for the first time. One boy, Erik Lehnsherr (later adult played by Michael Fassbender) finds his power at a German concentration camp in Poland in 1944, where he is forced by Dr. Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) to unleash his magnetic power through bursting anger. While another boy, Charles Xavier (adult played by James McAvoy), is raised in a wealthy family in New York. He knows he is 'different' from others, as he has a gift to read other people's mind. A born telepath. The young Xavier meets with a homeless young shape-shifting mutant named Raven (who later will become Mystique and played by Jennifer Lawrence), whom he invites to live with his family at his mansion and they become best friends.

The story then moves to 1962, following the journey of the grown-up Lehnsherr, who is now full of hatred and looking for Shaw to take revenge. While Xavier, who is now a professor with his popular thesis on 'mutation' subject, is invited to join the CIA by an agent named Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) to help the government, as the world is threatened by Shaw and his mutants, who has the intention of starting a nuclear war. Xavier's task is to find and recruit mutants into the CIA's secret "Division X" facility for training, and to lead them to stop Shaw. Fate brings Xavier to meet with Lehnsherr, and as they can relate and understand each other, their friendship slowly binds them to become best buddies. They team up to recruit a group of young mutants with various raw and unique powers. And together, they have to work hand in hand and complete each other in order to stop the world from destruction by the evil Shaw and his mutants.

What makes this movie great and standout from other superhero movies? I have to answer that the clever and very well-written story is one of the reasons to 'blame'. High praises should be given to the team of writers, who could write such a fresh, gripping and highly enjoyable script (The director Matthew Vaughn was also acted as one of the four screenwriters of this movie). The story was solidly told and flowed smoothly, with a perfect composition and timing between action and drama. Never a bore moment, even though the movie took its time to develop the story and the characters. And the more we went into the story, the more we were captivated by it. As for the special effects, they were good and effective, even though the movie didn't seem to pour itself with lots of fancy special effects.

A great story is never complete without great characterizations, and this movie has it. The characters were very well developed, especially the two main characters Charles Xavier (who will later on become Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (who will become Magneto), with great performances given by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who somehow could escape from the shadows of the same characters played by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen before, as they made their own versions of young Professor X and Magneto. McAvoy as the good-hearted leader with a sense of humor and likeable personality, while Fassbender played a 'gray' character with a dark past, an angry man inside whose motives were unpredictable, which was also the most compelling character in this movie. How Xavier and Lehnsherr build their friendship is interesting to watch, as we also want to know how they will eventually become enemies at the end. One will become the founder of the X-Men and the other will become the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants. The great chemistry between the two made every appearance of McAvoy and Fassbender on screen together was a fun to watch.

As fresh as the story, the supporting casts were also turned out to be very fresh. Kevin Bacon was perfect as the cynical and cruel villain. The movie also has enough beauties, such as Jennifer Lawrence, who was interesting to watch as the young Mystique, with the ability to turn herself into a blue and scaly body to scare you away, January Jones as the sexy Emma Frost, who can change her body into diamond, and Rose Byrne as the human CIA agent. The other supporting casts worth to mention here were Nicholas Hoult as Dr. Hank McCoy, the former scientist with big simian-like feet, Zoë Kravitz as Angel Salvadore, a lady mutant with dragonfly wings and acidic saliva, Caleb Landry Jones as Banshee, a mutant capable of ultrasonic screaming, and Lucas Till as Havok, a mutant with the ability to absorb energy and discharge it into blasts. Even though there were so many characters, Matthew Vaughn successfully managed to give each of the important supporting characters a proper introduction, enough character development, and fairly screen time. The training scenes where one by one of the young mutants learned how to best use and control their powers were funny and exciting. Also watch for the evolution of one character to become Beast. And watch for the surprising cameo appearance of Hugh Jackman as the arrogant Wolverine.

The final battle between the good mutants and the bad mutants was fantastic, intensified by the confrontation at sea between the United States and the Soviet Union fleets in the brink of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that may lead to World War III. A jaw-dropping moment that hit you just at the right time. And when you see some of the supporting characters getting their time to shine in the battle, such as Banshee, Havok and Beast, you will hold your fists and shout in cheers. Such a brilliant and perfect timing of culmination. It was the reward for building your characters well, even the supporting ones, so as the audience will care as these characters finally step up. The final drama will show you what you've been waiting for, on how Charles Xavier will become like 'this' and how Erik Lehnsherr will become like 'that'. And will Lehnsherr finally embrace his dark side? Full stop.

The movie did end well, but with an open ending to a sequel, as if we did not actually finish watching the movie yet and it was just a beginning. What Matthew Vaughn did with this prequel of the X-Men franchise, on how he cooked and served it as a fine dish with delicious meal, just showed what a talented director he is (this movie was his fourth movie after Layer Cake, Stardust and Kick-Ass). This is an excellent job with an excellent result. And Vaughn has put himself in the line of good promising young directors whose next projects are worth to be waited for.

I liked the first X-Men movie (2000), loved the second one, X2: X-Men United (2003), which was also the best of the original trilogy, and I hated the third one, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) for its bad and boring storytelling. While X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) has placed itself as a mediocre and underwhelming spin-off. However, from all the movies in the X-Men series, I genuinely think that X-Men: First Class (2011) is the best of them all and the one that I loved the most. It didn't have the greatest special effects, but it certainly has the greatest story. A wonderful movie that will make you want for more. It deserves a sequel. Definitely one of the very best movies of this Summer. (MJ)

MYMOVIE CRITIC - REVIEWING MOVIES FROM THE AUDIENCE'S STANDPOINT

Book Review - Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

So here we go with yet another handsome, photogenic, gifted young author whose debut novel has become a worldwide sensation, voted one of the 100 best thrillers of all time. Yes, I hate Tom Rob Smith... but it's impossible to hate Child 44. It's just too damned good.

Earlier this year I reviewed Sam Eastland's pre-WWII Soviet Union thriller, The Red Coffin, and confessed to my ignorance of Russian history. At the same time, I found the USSR made a fascinating setting for a thriller, a place where a climate of fear and paranoia exists even before any crime is committed and where every detective takes risks no westerner would ever face.

Set slightly later, in the early days of the Cold War, Child 44 tells the story of MGB State Security Office Leo Demidov, a man whose training tells him to make his heart cruel...

"Cruelty was enshrined in their working code. Cruelty was a virtue. Cruelty was necessary. Aspire to cruelty! Cruelty held the keys that would unlock the gates to the perfect State."

Leo believes in the work he does, believes the traitors and spies he hunts deserve everything they get for threatening the Communist way of life. Although not a heartless man, he has no choice but to accept that torture, exile, even execution is an everyday part of his job... though he is starting to wonder. His doubts grow when he finds himself on the trail of a serial killer whose long list of murders is being denied by his superiors. If Leo is to catch this killer, he must risk everything - his life, his wife, his parents, his freedom - but dark secrets from his own past compel him, and the murderer is the last person he would ever expect.

Thoroughly researched, Tom Rob Smith's novel creates a terrifying scenario of Cold War paranoia, poverty and brutality. There are times when the misery and hardship reach almost Dickensian extremes, such as the opening scene in which two starving children chase a scrawny cat, the first meat they've seen in months. Or Leo's first experience of a State orphanage...

"...the entire floor was covered with children all sitting cross-legged, pressed up against each other and trying to eat. Every child clutched a wooden bowl filled with what appeared to be a watery cabbage soup. However, it seemed only the eldest children had spoons. The rest either sat waiting for a spoon or drank straight from the bowl. Once a child had finished, they licked the spoon from top to bottom before passing it onto the next child."

...yet such descriptions only succeed in cranking up the tension and trepidation, making the pages turn even faster. I'm pleased to see a second novel featuring Leo Demidov is already in the shops and I'm looking forward to returning to his world. It's a cool place to visit from the comfort and safety of your armchair... but I'd bloody hate to live there.

Going South (6): Miscellanea

A final collection of photos from our incredible journey to Wiltshire, Dorset and The South, a land where dogs drive 4x4s...

Where the Bastard Brothers are kind to their sisters...

Where black sheep graze a giant chalk penis...

Where owls and vultures prowl...

Where you always have to keep an eye out for tanks crossing....

And where the sparrows pose for photos.

Thanks to everyone in The South for welcoming us during our holiday and not shooting us for being ignorant northerners.

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (2011)

MyRating: Y1/2

Director: Oliver Parker

Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Gillian Anderson, Rosamund Pike, Dominic West, Daniel Kaluuya, Pik-Sen Lim, Richard Schiff, Mark Ivanir

MPAA: Rated PG for mild action violence, rude humor, some language and brief sensuality

Rowan Atkinson is back with his another greater-than-life adventure as Johnny English in a James Bond spoof comedy, which will make you think again if you think that tough, smart, fast, good in fighting and great with women, are the perfect criteria that makes Bond a great secret agent, as Johnny English will proof to you that dumb, clumsy, slow, silly and ignorance are actually the key. So, you may have to forget about Daniel Craig.

After failing an important mission in Mozambique, Johnny English takes a retreat to China to do some introspection for his mistakes and learns martial arts to toughen himself. But when his country needs him for a new mission in order to stop a group of international assassins, named itself as 'Vortex', before they could kill the Chinese Prime Minister and cause worldwide chaos, Johnny English has to come back to his country and resume his role one more time as the MI7 Secret Agent. And he gets himself into another dangerous adventure, without fear of losing his life, in order to serve his country and to save the world. Why they choose him? Because he is the best secret agent available. So, forget about James Bond.

I like Rowan Atkinson and his popular TV Series Mr. Bean (1990-1995). We can say that Atkinson is a natural-born comedian (even though personally he is a quiet and very introvert person) and the character of Mr. Bean is already a legend that will be forever remembered as one of England's finest and iconic comedy. Even though I loved Mr. Bean TV series, as it was very funny and terrific, but the two Mr. Bean movies, Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean Vacation (2007), didn't really work for me. In my opinion, the movie versions were never successful in bringing the full hilarity of Mr. Bean to the big screen as the way I fell for the character in the TV series.

I never watch the first Johnny English (2003) movie, so I went to this sequel with an open mind with the expectation of getting a good comedy, as I might use some good laughs. But I regret to say that the movie hardly made me laugh, as the more the story goes, the more I felt boring and yawned. The comedy worked so slow and too indolent for me, as if I have to wait before I could smile, and before I could laugh, I realized that there was actually nothing really funny to be laughed about. Indeed, the movie were not funny with too many slapstick jokes and very predictable comedy. The dialogs didn't help either, which tried to be funny, but ended up not. And I blame all this to the weak script, the same I blamed the failures of all Mr. Bean's big screen movies to the bad screenplays.

If you are a fan of Mr. Bean and you happened to like this movie, then I know you may not be agreed with me. But this movie did work so wrong for me in every level and I have to honestly say that it was an unfunny disaster. It's a shame that Rowan Atkinson, who I think is a great comedian, never could really show his comedic greatness in the big screen due to, again and again, bad scripts. (MJ)

MYMOVIE CRITIC - REVIEWING MOVIES FROM THE AUDIENCE'S STANDPOINT

REAL STEEL (2011)

MyRating: YYYYY

Director: Shawn Levy

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis, James Rebhorn, Olga Fonda, Karl Yune

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some violence, intense action and brief language

This is one of the movies that I came into the theater with a low expectation, as I am not a big fan of robot movies, and partly also thanks to the rating from the critics in Rotten Tomatoes (in which the average rating number seems to finally end up thinly undecideable, whether the movie is 'fresh' or 'rotten'). However, what I got instead when I came out of the theater was a surprisingly big loves that I felt towards the movie. To more clearly express my feelings, 'This is a movie that I will definitely regret if I end up never watching it'.

The movie has the tone and settings of the 'old fashioned' Americana with the underdog 'Rocky' formula, even though the movie itself is set in the near future and the boxers fighting in the ring are not humans, but robots. Hugh Jackman was a great fun to watch here, playing Charlie Kenton, a former washed-up boxer who now becomes a small-time promoter for his discarded and reprogrammed robots to fight in the underground robot boxing matches. When the robot boxing is becoming a new popular sport to replace the no more popular human boxing, Charlie finds the needs to become part of the fortune that this new sport could offer, but still struggling to earn enough money for living and falling into big debts, one after another, as he keeps buying new robots with a dream to make his robots a champion and a money maker, besides keeps losing money in his boxing bets. And he always ended up with his robots being knocked down in the rings by other more sophisticated and stronger robots, with completely broken body parts that are no good to be fixed again.

 

When things are seemed to not getting any better, Charlie is informed that his ex-girlfriend from the past has died and reminded him that he has an 11-year-old son named Max Kenton, played impressively by Dakota Goyo. As an absent and never a responsible father, Charlie gets an idea to help him out from his red situation by selling his son for money to Max's aunt Debra (Hope Davis) and her husband Marvin (James Rebhorn), a wealthy family who wants a full custody for Max at the first place. But as a condition and request from the couple, Charlie has to take care of Max for three months as the couple are going away for their second honeymoon. Charlie reluctantly agrees with the deal and he brings Max to live with him and his current girlfriend Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly), a woman who deeply loves Charlie for who he is and always being supportive to fulfill his dreams.

The father and son find it difficult to live with each other at the beginning, but their hobby and desire for the same thing, which is the robot boxing sport, slowly bonds them together. When they go to a junkyard to look for parts for the damaged robot, Max finds an old Generation-2 robot named Atom, that used to be a sparring partner for real fighter robots in the past and has a unique mirroring skills. While Charlie thinks that they have found junk, Max somehow has a strong believe that he has found a perfect robot that has what it takes to win. And the only person who can train the robot to become a champion is his father. You probably know where the story might go from here, or you may say that the movie was predictable. However, it is not about where the story will go or how it will end, rather it is about how well you tell the whole story. That is the different that will make even a typical and predictable movie to become an outstanding one.

This movie was a blast due to the wonderful actings from both father and son. Hugh Jackman showed what a fine actor he is, as he nailed the role as the father. Desperate, stubborn, irresponsible and egoistic, as all he cares is his world of boxing and robots. His acting was not only fun to watch with his wide range of facial expressions, but also he breathed a complete soul into Charlie Kenton, an ordinary man with flesh and blood who did mistakes and took wrong decisions, and practically a loser at the beginning of the movie. And the meeting with his son challenged him to not only change how he sees thing, but also how he should change his priority of life.

While as the son, Dakota Goyo was incredibly amazing. I was really impressed by the performance of this very talented young actor, who has a lively and very natural acting skills. Acting is seems to be running through his blood, as he lives up the character of Max, who is persistent, smart, determinate and as stubborn as his father. Not only he can step up to the plate and match the acting of Jackman, but in some scenes, he actually stole the show. A new young star has born. The chemistry between Jackman and Goyo was very solid and emotionally touching, one of the best chemistries between a father and a son roles in a movie for a very long time. And the chemistry between Max and Atom the robot was also tender and warming.

This movie has an amazing story, thanks to the engaging and well written screenplay by John Gatins, with wonderful characterizations and smart dialogs. And two thumbs up to the director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum), who knows how to translate the story to become a great movie, and who knows exactly how to grab and when to rumble your emotions, over and over again. The idea of Max dancing along with his robot before the match was a brilliant one, that will make you smile everytime you see him and the robot dance. Another brilliant scene was when Max running for and grabbing the microphone in the ring to make a speech. Clever, as no one will definitely expect that. Or when Max showed that he was brave enough to accept a bigger bet for his robot's match, while his father was chicken out, unexpectedly following the same thing that Charlie did before when he was very sure with his bet, while his son scared out. And all these worked so well because the characters were developed well, as it will not only make us care for them and what they did, but also make what they did to look believable. Their acts are just the reflections of who they are.

The boxing scenes between the robots were awesome and were a delight to watch. They were funny at times. It is like watching real humans boxing each other with a complete human-like boxing moves, such as uppercut, jab, hook, energetic legs movement, blocking, grappling and knocked the other opponent out to the ring floor. The CGI and special effects were astonishing and looked very real, as well as believable. And the boxing scenes were choreographed and shot in such a way that you still can see the robots fighting in such details, without making you feeling dizzy or confused (Sugar Ray Leonard was involved as the adviser in the boxing scenes). It's amazing to realize that you hold your breath and cheer for the robots while fighting.

I will never forget the expression in Hugh Jackman's face when he enthusiastically punched out his fists to show all out his boxing abilities outside the ring, while Atom the robot fighting inside the ring, with his son and his girlfriend watching him closely and feel happy for him, as they can see him very happy at the moment. Maybe that was the happiest moment of his life. It's just like an expression of a child who is very excited to play with his most favorite toy. The happiness to do the things that you love the most and passionately about. And I cannot but to also feel happy for him. That was a very uplifting moment of the movie.

This is a feel good, very inspiring and heartwarming family movie that will make you cry, smile, laugh and cheer at the same time. What makes this movie great was actually not because of the robots (even though the robots did absolutely look great), but the gripping and emotional human drama inside. Couldn't find myself an inch to NOT to love about this movie, and couldn't understand 'even' for an inch for the people who have watched this movie and hated it. One rock solid entertainment and a must see movie. A champion for the heart. (MJ)

MYMOVIE CRITIC - REVIEWING MOVIES FROM THE AUDIENCE'S STANDPOINT