Reviews: New Anime REDLINE & FIRST SQUAD: THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
Written by Scott Katz
Sunday, 15 January 2012 22:51
Anime fans are in for a treat as two signficant new films make their debut on Tuesday, January 17. From Manga Entertainment comes Redlineand First Squad: The Moment of Truth. Both films are exciting, fun, eye-popping spectacles, but each could not be more different from the other.
Redline comes to us from Madhouse, the animation studio whose crazed, over-the-top style has won accolades from fans all over the world. Some of Madhouse's previous efforts include television series and feature films such as Black Lagoon, Death Note, Demon City Shinjuku, Paprika, Record of Lodoss War, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and literally scores more. American audiences have seen their work in The Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight, Hulk Vs., and the new Marvel Anime series currently airing on G4. If you're an anime fan, the name Madhouse on a project automatically makes it must-see viewing.
Set in the far future, Redline tells the story of the biggest, baddest, most cutthroat racing event in the galaxy. Only adrenaline junkies with a death wish even consider trying to qualify for the competition, which is held once every five years. At the center of the swirling chaos, we find JP, our lanky, leather-jacketed young hero with a pompadour that is akin to Elvis' cranked up to 100. One of his main rivals is the sweet-natured, but headstrong female racer Sonoshee. Romance blossoms on the track, but the murderous cyborg rulers of Roboworld, where the Redline event is being held without their permission, threatens to crash this coupling before it can cross the finish line.
In a way, Redline is a throwback to the old ways of animation. It's completely and gorgeously hand drawn – over 100,000 individual drawings make up this film, which runs a generous 1 hour and 42 minutes – about a half hour longer than most anime films. The result of this seven year effort is immensely pleasing and the racing sequences provoke genuine giddy thrills. This is not a film which takes itself seriously at all, so don't you dare try to. It's admittedly barely there story has about the depth of a Fast and the Furious flick so the mandate is "look, don't think." But since this is Madhouse, there is more than plenty to look at and admire. The studio, whcih has a drool-worthy back catalog of influential hit movies and television series is at the top of its game here. Its long, arduous effort to get this film done has paid off handsomely. Redline is a triumph of traditional animation techniques (albiet supplemented by some computer effects and enhancements), and is what Speed Racer wishes it could have been.
REDLINE
102 minutes, Blu-Ray $29.99, DVD $24.98
FIRST SQUAD: THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
75 minutes, Blu-Ray $29.99, DVD $24.98
Click images above to watch the TRAILERS!
Studio 4°C, which animated the other film under review, First Squad: The Moment of Truth, also has an impressive catalog of projects, and, in fact, contributed sequences to The Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Knight just as Madhouse did. Anime fans have also seen their work in feature films such as Steamboy, Spriggan, and Tekkon Kinkreet. Among their current work is the popular ThunderCats revival series currently airing on Cartoon Network. With a pedigree of this high quality, it comes as no surprise that their latest feature effort, First Squad: The Moment of Truth is a legitimate triumph of animation and solid storytelling with neither getting the short shrift. Because Redline is a balls-to-the-wall gonzo roller coaster ride full of sound and fury, it does keep you at an emotional arms' length. In contrast, the often quieter, more contemplative tone of First Squad successfully draws you in and forces you to pay attention to the characters and to care about what they care about.
First Squad: The Moment of Truth centers around Nadia, a girl who cannot remember her past, but who can foretell the future. The story takes place in 1942 as the Nazi forces, who have already conquered much of Europe, have their sights set on Russia. General Wolf, an SS officer, uses supernatural forces to raise from the dead an army of 12th century Teutonic Knights to aid him in his conquest against the Red Army. In Russia, Nadia is taken to a secret facility in order to make contact with other teenagers who had special gifts and were part of an elite unit killed by the Nazis. Nadia enters the land of the dead to convince her former comrades to come back with her to continue the fight against General Wolf and his supernatural army.
The battle scenes are equisitely staged and the snow-filled environment of the Russian front is convincingly rendered. As is common among anime aimed at an older audience, the story is non-linear in its progression, and its action moves without warning back and forth through time in order to set things up and then fill in the backstory. An additional element that is rather unique to animated films is the inclusion of live action actors playing war veterans, historians, and psychologists being intercut into the flow of the narrative at various points and commenting on the story as if it were historical fact. This gives the film a faux-documentary style, which has proven polarizing to the audiences that have seen it. For our part, we really enjoyed it and felt it added a sense of depth and importance to the film. One caveat, however, is that it seems the necessary subtitles for the live action sequences only show up when the Russian soundtrack with English subtitles is selected. However, all the animated sequences, which make up the lion's share of the film, are dubbed nicely into English. We would have appreciated having English subtitles burned into the live action bits so that the audience wouldn't have to choose between English and Russian dialogue.
Each of these wonderful films could easily be spun off into an ongoing television anime series or at least a series of movies. In fact, First Squad ends so abruptly and with such a sense that there is more story to be told, that we hope there are sequels waiting for us down the line to pick up where things left off. For different reasons, we've been won over by each of these films and would like to visit their worlds again.
As far as the transfer quality is concerned, each boasts crystal clear video and powerful Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio in their Blu-Ray versions (DVD audio is Dolby Digital 5.1). Video quality is outstanding given that there are many difficult and intricate animated sequences in both films. There are no special features on First Squad, while Redline boasts over 90 minutes worth including a Perfect Guide to Redline, a Quick Guide to Redline (both featuring behind-the-scenes interviews with the actors, writer, and director), and the Redline 2006 trailer. Each of these movies is priced to own, and we can wholeheartedly recommend both.
Review: FLASH GORDON & JUNGLE JIM vol. 1 BY ALEX RAYMOND
Written by Scott Katz
Monday, 26 December 2011 19:59
With his meticulous sense of design, sweeping alien vistas, bold heroes, vile villains, and scantily-clad females, it is quite possible that artist Alex Raymond invented the concept of eye-candy for his seminal newspaper comic strip Flash Gordon.
The 1930s were a golden period for the newspaper adventure comic strips, and 1934 in particular was a signifcant year as it saw the debuts of two of the most celebrated comics strips of all: Terry and the Pirates, which bowed in October, and Flash Gordon, which premiered several months earlier on January 7.
Flash Gordon was created for King Features Syndicate as a direct response to the success of Buck Rogers, which began publication exactly five years earlier on January 7, 1929 by a rival outfit. However, the talent of Flash's creator Alex Raymond quickly brought the character to heights of popularity far surpassing its charming albiet relatively primative progenitor. No mere knockoff, Flash Gordon upped the ante for what a science fiction comic strip could achieve in both story and art. It helped solidify the template to which all ensuing space fantasy sagas owe a debt. Flash's arrival and battle with Emperor Ming on the planet Mongo, while ostensibly broken up into discrete story arcs, actually comprise a continuous seven-and-a-half year grand narrative the likes of which were not seen before and rarely since.
We can't say with full conviction that Flash Gordon was the most lavishly illustrated strip of all time – that honor would likely go to Hal Foster's breathtaking Prince Valiant – but both Alex Raymond and Flash Gordon are at the pinnacle of comic strip achievement and this masterwork is finally being collected in a format that showcases its full impact.
What makes these collections so mandatory for any serious fan of comic books or comic strips is that these books afford one an opportunity to watch a master storyteller take a strip from its embryonic
stages to its full potential. As the series begins, Alex Raymond keeps things neat and orderly sticking to a four-tiered, twelve-panel grid. As the weeks go by, the strip begins to find itself, and its underlying themes and concepts begin to coalesce. It takes a bit longer for the growth in art style to emerge, but by July 22, 1934, Raymond eschewed the old twelve-panel layout for good and began to open up his art by using fewer and larger panels of varying shapes and sizes. At this point, there was no stopping Raymond, and fans will be in for a treat as they can now bear witness with each turn of the page to the blossoming talent of a legend growing into his full creative powers. Soon, he was experimenting with camera angles and perspectives, and by mid-1935, Raymond's pencils develop the more intensely detailed feathered texture for which he became justly renowned.
In this first volume of six, the Sunday strips from January 1934 to May 1936 are reprinted – more than enough to be introduced to Flash and his friends and enemies whose names have seeped into the national pop culture consciousness: Dale Arden, Dr. Zarkov, and Ming the Merciless. In these initial strips, we also meet other key figures of the alien planet Mongo as Flash careens from one gloriously preposterous escapade to another: from fighting the Red Monkey Men for Ming's amusement to befriending Prince Thun of the Lion Men to battling for his life underwater against King Kala of the Shark Men to escaping from the City Above the Clouds led by King Vultan of the Hawkmen. All this while dodging the unwanted attractions and amorous attentions of every nubile femme fatale on Mongo: Ming's daughter Princess Aura, Azura the Witch Queen of the Blue Mountain Men, and Queen Undina of the underwater Coral City.
Flash Gordon, the character, is the typical heroic male that existed in fantasy before the 1960s: strong, confident, square-jawed, and uncomplicated. He sees a wrong that needs to be righted and just dives in and goes for it. His mission always takes precedence over his own personal wants or needs. His relationship and ever-impending, but never realized, marriage to Dale Arden always takes a back seat to whatever crisis is at hand. Flash is largely a cipher, personality-wise – his adventures are more interesting than he, himself is – but that's what gives characters like these their aspirational allure and allows their readers to project themselves into their places more easily than it would be with a character who is full of specific quirks and idiosyncracies. Our hero fights tirelessly against Ming and the evil hordes of Mongo for almost a decade without reservation, without asking for reward – without even so much as a bathroom break – just because that's who he is. No nihilistic pessimism here. The tone of the strip is empowering because it proudly embodies the American ideal that one good man can make a difference and that you could be that man.
Being one of the most popular comic strips of all time, Flash Gordon has been released numerous times before in a variety of formats. However, it's never been released like this. The folks at The Library of American Comics are releasing this series in their celebrated Champagne format. The book measures a large 16"x12.5" and presents the Sunday strips at pretty much their original full size. Better still, the book contains the Jungle Jim topper strips that debuted with Flash Gordon and were also drawn by Raymond. When each strip was given a full page to itself for several months, they are each presented in this book in their full page formats. Some of these pages are iconic classics of the series such as the full page splash of the horde of Hawkmen warriors bearing down on Queen Azura's forces, and it's a treat to see them presented in all their pulpy glory.
Alex Raymond's classic Flash Gordon Sunday page
(from June 16, 1935)
As for the presentation of the art, although it appears syndicate proofs are not available for use and so the results cannot be as sharp as if they were, we were still generally pleased with what we saw considering these were scans of old newspapers and fine lines – a tip of nose here, a partial jawline there – disappeared in both the original printing process and the aging of the materials over the last 75 years. We would make special note of the coloring job, which we found to be more subtle and readable than the highly-saturated colors in, say, the Checker Books editions of a few years ago. Everything is printed on heavy, crisp white matte paper making for a sumptuous end product.
Once again, LoAC goes out of its way to present wonderfully detailed supplemental essays to place Flash Gordon, and his creator Alex Raymond into historical context. Beyond the de rigueur Raymond biography, it was also much appreciated that they attempted to give Flash Gordon's writer, Donald W. Moore, his just and due credit in spite of the fact that no clear records exist on what the extent of his contribution was during the twenty-odd years he worked on the strip. Different expert suppositions are presented and all appear to have validity, but for us, it seems clear that Alex Raymond was always in the driver's seat and created the characters and the broad strokes of the story for Moore to script. We say this because the layout of the strip changed over time as Raymond began using fewer and fewer panels to showcase his growing artistic ambitions, and it would seem to be a case of the tail wagging the dog to suggest that Raymond began drawing larger panels simply to accommodate shorter scripts from Moore. In our estimation, the relationship between Raymond and Moore likely followed a template similar to the way daytime television serials are written using a tiered approach that starts with a head writer who comes up with all of the plot machinations and story beats followed by breakdown writers and script writers who structure the specific episode scenes and lay in the dialogue. Whatever the case, the Raymond-Moore combo made for some memorable and thrilling all-ages fun.
Today, we are truly fortunate to be in a time where printing techniques and publisher resolve have combined to present the classics of the American comic strip to a new audience in the formats that they deserve. Through the efforts of the Library of American Comics and other publishers, new readers can be exposed to classic writers and illustrators such as Hal Foster, Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff, Roy Crane, Frank Robbins, Harold Gray, Lee Falk, Chester Gould, and so many others.
Creators like these are to be admired for their devotion to their craft and for their perfectionistic work habits because they could not possibly have known at the time that their efforts would be seen, discussed, collected, and admired 70 to 80 years after they wrote and drew it – that dedicated book editors would scour the countryside looking for the best possible samples of the strips and doing painstaking digital restoration and remastering of them in order to keep their work alive for a new generation of readers. All Alex Raymond, for example, could count on is that each Sunday strip would be seen for a single day and then it was highly likely that it would disappear forever after that.
Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim volume 1 by Alex Raymond is an important record of the artist's versatility as an illustrator as he moves deftly from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the outermost reaches of space without missing a step. And the stories are just plain fun reading to boot.
Stars: Peter Facinelli, Vincent Gallo, Michael Madsen, Jaimie Alexander, William Forsythe
Director: Michael Corrente
Premise: A successful pickpocket living the outlaw lifestyle is confronted with an old one-night stand who tells him that she is pregnant with his child.
MPAA: PG-13 (for some violence, sexual content and language)
Stars: Ron Eldard, Jill Hennessy, Bobby Cannavale, Lois Smith, David Margulies
Director: Michael Cuesta
Premise: After a 45-year-old roadie gets dumped by his band, he returns home to Queens, sees his aged mother for the first time since his father's funeral, and finds that even though his neighborhood has become a slum, everywhere he goes there are remnants of the neighborhood he grew up in.
MPAA: R (for pervasive language and some drug content)
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Premise: Chris Farraday long ago abandoned his life of crime, but after his brother-in-law, Andy, botches a drug deal for his ruthless boss, Tim Briggs, Chris is forced back into doing what he does best – running contraband – to settle Andy's debt.
MPAA: R for violence, pervasive language and brief drug use
Stars: Queen Latifah, Dolly Parton, Keke Palmer, Courtney B. Vance, Jeremy Jordan
Director: Todd Graff
Premise: Two very different women, one a mother of two teenagers, the other a widow of the recently deceased choir director, join forces to save their small-town gospel choir.
MPAA: PG 13 (for some language including a sexual reference)
Stars: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Rex Everhart, Richard White, Jesse Corti
Directors: Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale
Premise: Belle is a bright and beautiful young woman who's taken prisoner by a hideous beast in his castle. Despite her precarious situation, Belle befriends the castle's enchanted staff -- a teapot, a candelabra and a mantel clock, among others -- and ultimately learns to see beneath the Beast's exterior to discover the heart and soul of a prince.
Stars: Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Michael Eklund, Rosanna Arquette, Ashton Holmes, Courtney B. Vance, Iván González, Jennifer Blanc, Abbey Thickson
Director: Xavier Gens
Premise: Survivors of a nuclear attack are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.
Stars: Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Thomas Horn, Max von Sydow, Viola Davis, John Goodman, Jeffrey Wright, James Gandolfini
Director: Stephen Daldry
Premise: Oskar is convinced that his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, has left a final message for him hidden somewhere in the city. Feeling disconnected from his grieving mother and driven by a relentlessly active mind that refuses to believe in things that can't be observed, Oskar begins searching New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he found in his father's closet. His journey through the five boroughs takes him beyond his own loss to a greater understanding of the observable world around him.
MPAA: PG-13 (for emotional thematic material, some disturbing images, and language)
Stars: Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Premise: A female covert ops specialist, who works in the deadly world of international operatives, strikes back after discovering she's been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency.
Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Brandon T. Jackson, Ne-Yo
Director: Anthony Hemingway
Premise: 1944. As the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to consider unorthodox options -- including the untried and untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country -- and the fate of the free world.
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Stephen Rea, Michael Ealy, Theo James, India Eisley
Directors: Mans Marlind, Bjorn Stein
Premise: The vampire warrioress Selene, escapes imprisonment to find herself in a world where humans have discovered the existence of both Vampire and Lycan clans and are conducting an all-out war to eradicate both immortal species.
USTownhall RealStories presents NICOLINA ROYALE of PROJECT ACCESSORY
Written by Scott Katz
Saturday, 10 December 2011 14:32
On Sunday, December 4, we spoke to Nicolina Royale, one of the contestants on the new Lifetime Television cable series Project Accessory. Nicolina was eliminated after the third episode, which aired on November 10, but not before she became a fan favorite among the viewers of the series.
Just 30 years old, Nicolina has made a transformative journey throughout her life from her beginnings as a high school student instrumental in helping to pass anti-hazing laws in Minnesota to striking out on her own in Hollywood and starting her own accessory design business. Nicolina's story is both touching and inspirational, and her never-say-die attitude and strong work ethic are always evident when speaking with her.
Ms. Royale's most recent accomplishment was being chosen as one of the twelve finalists, among thousands of people who auditioned, to appear on the inaugural season of Project Accessory, a spinoff of the successful reality competition, Project Runway.
On the series, contestants are given challenges to make accessories – whether it be a hat, shoes, a handbag or jewelry – in a set amount of time with a given set of materials. Their creations are then shown to a judging panel which includes Kenneth Cole, Ariel Foxman, and celebrity judges ranging from Debra Messing to Kelly Osbourne. Each episode at least one contestant is eliminated.
Now that Nicolina has returned home to California, she was free to stop by our show and chat with us about all the behind-the-scenes events and what her experiences were like as a contestant on reality television.
What was her audition process like? What was it like shooting the series in New York City? Was she surprised to be eliminated so early in the competition? Which contestants did she make friends with and which ones drove her crazy? What would she change about the show's format if she could? Who would she like to see in the finale? In contrast, who does she feel does not deserve to be there? What advice would she give to an aspiring designer just starting out? Did she feel that the way she was edited for the series was an accurate portrayal of who she is as a person?
Always fun, effervescent, and outspoken, Nicolina dishes about all of that and so much more in our exclusive longform interview that clocks in at just over an hour. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy Ms. Royale at her most "ah-may-zing."
To learn more about Nicolina Royale and her line of affordable, chic accessories with a rock-and-roll edge, please visit http://www.nicolinaroyale.com. You can also follow her on Twitter at @nicolinaroyale.
Click on the "play" button below to listen to the interview...
US Townhall RealStories presents BRUCE CANWELL of The Library of American Comics
Written by Scott Katz
Sunday, 13 November 2011 13:39
On Friday, November 11, we had Bruce Canwell, Associate Editor of The Library of American Comics, back on our show to give us the scoop on the upcoming projects that the Library will have available in time for the upcoming holiday shopping season and beyond.
Highlights include what promises to be the definitive version of Alex Raymond's classic comic strip Flash Gordon as well as Milton Caniff's masterpiece Steve Canyon. And what's this about a book featuring Chuck Jones' little-seen brief foray into the world of comic strips? Listen in and find out.
Steve Canyon vol. 1 1947-1948
The Definitive Flash Gordon &
Jungle Jim vol. 1
Chuck Jones: The Dream That Never Was
During our chat, we also run down the current status of each of the major book series from the Library of American Comics and when readers can expect the next volumes to arrive in stores. As Mr. Canwell is also a comic book fan, we also take a few detours to reminisce about some childhood favorites from Marvel and DC.
Pop some popcorn and settle in because this interview clocks in at almost 3 hours, and we think you'll agree that it's time well spent. For more information, about The Library of American Comics, please visit http://www.libraryofamericancomics.com
Click the triangular "play" button on the widget to listen to the interview:
To listen to the first interview we did with Mr. Canwell back in 2010, click here...
With his meticulous sense of design, sweeping alien vistas, bold heroes, vile villains, and scantily-clad females, it is quite possible that artist Alex Raymond invented the concept of eye-candy for his seminal newspaper comic strip Flash Gordon. 
On Sunday, December 4, we spoke to Nicolina Royale, one of the contestants on the new Lifetime Television cable series Project Accessory. Nicolina was eliminated after the third episode, which aired on November 10, but not before she became a fan favorite among the viewers of the series.
