jimmyboy

February 9, 2012 6:41 pm I don't know Travel Foreman, but his update is a solid class act. Plus his preview for BoP shows a pretty decent perspective on the feminine warrior. And frankly, I agree with decampo's comment half way up: Pugh's previous run on Animal Man makes this move totally logical. It'll hopefully serve Lemire well - and he needs it on this one. IMO, his dialogue has been lame, almost sleepy; he's reductive of both J. Delano and Morrison; the dream theater mimicking Gaiman is only half working. Is Buddy that slow to understand his daughter? I get using her vagueness as a device, but sheesh. Honestly, I don't understand all the raves about this animal man... Regardless, all the best to Foreman on BoP and I'm looking forward to seeing his art.

September 19, 2011 1:01 pm Excellent plus enjoyable post! While I'm glad the comics community has a 'laid back' perspective on change, the question for me is more about what drives the change? Is it solely change for the sake of churning the money machine and reaching into our pockets? In which case, why be laid back about that? I think a little distance & time can expose many changes as without any (or very, very little) substantive basis or artistic aim. They are merely following the formula of taking a known commodity and repackaging it motivated only by creating revenue streams.

August 2, 2011 12:14 am Paul - I guess I'm confused: aren't tropes generally positive or nuetral , like archetypes? and aren't stereotypes generally negative, shallow and trite, like cliches? I guess I've got to go get schooled on the difference. Thanks, Paul, for pointing that out to me, a first-time commenter to this site. It's encouraging to me to join in more and dialogue further - if encouraging is the correct word to use.

regardless, the movie is worse than a salad bowl of "elements that are supposed to make up a good story" b/c those elements don't even connect - it's a mix (not even a string) of hackneyed "tropes" that become a joke, b/c they're executed so poorly - so dull, so lame, so junior high. It's not even in the same galaxy as Once Upon A Time in the West.

here's another cheap example: Rockwell can't shoot at all, not even close, until, of course, when it's in the nick of time - a moving target, bullseye, from over 40-50 yards away!! Okay, if that's the arc, ...so how about a little character development with this, some nuance, a little sweat and build some suspense - no. there's no display of storytelling style, or ability to build suspence... it's just slapped in there... see, everybody? we've got a hero who came into his own as a gunslinger , yep it's thin, but you can fill in the blanks, we've got to move on so that Ford can say his lines about how our little Indian is as good as his own son. And all in the theater laugh out loud b/c its so ridiculous.

August 1, 2011 2:04 pm okay. what word would you suggest i use? perhaps "convention"? icon? what?
i thought cowboys and indians are american stereotypes and thought i'd extend that word into my further comments... but seriously, i'm up for learning what would be a better word. thanks in advance.

August 1, 2011 1:49 pm Lots of terrible loose strings and mediocre stereotypes. SPOILERS: Not only "not seeing in daylight" is never really a factor, but also aliens mining gold b/c they need it, i guess. The Olivia character can inhabit a body and resurrect, but can't do much of anything else - why? The aliens are not very intelligent- possibly the stupidest aliens ever.
Worst stereo type tacked on: Harrison has an indian kid hanging around that would be a better son than the one he has. Sheesh, c'mon!!
Worst acting: Harrison tries to be a wise cracking tough guy and pushes so hard, we become more aware of this effort than getting lost in the story. They even put one huge example of this in one of the trailers: "I want that man. You give 'em to me now ... or i'm gonna take 'em!"
Worst steroetype line: Altho Harrison had horribly crappy dialogue like the above, the absolute worst was Craig with his back to the sheriff leaning on the bar, actually says: "I don't want any trouble." 
And Favreau didn't even try to make it look like the 1870's west everyone looks like hollywood LA actors wearing costumes. Altho Craig looks cool, the reason we liked him as Bond was b/c he presented a fully dimensional and nuanced human being.

Waste of time. And a terrible shame. What if they really studied "How the West Was Won" and mashed that genre up with the Cylon spaceships from BSG?