March 2018 – PopCult Reviews

Comic Book Review – Green Lantern: Mosaic Part 2

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Green Lantern: Mosaic Part 2
Green Lantern: Mosaic #1-9 (1992-1993)

mosaic issue one

If you thought the four-part prelude would prepare you for what Gerard Jones had planned for the Mosaic ongoing series, you would be incredibly surprised. From the first issue, Jones is making a bold statement about what direction he is going, and it ended up being unlike anything DC Comics was publishing at the time. In fact, Mosaic often feels like a series that should be coming out under the Vertigo banner, DC’s imprint for mature reader comics. Mosaic deals with issues of racism and mental illness, but also delves into surreal and metaphysical places. Let’s just take a look at issue one for an example of how strange things were going to get.

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Movie Review – Seven Days in May

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Seven Days in May (1964)
Written by Rod Serling
Directed by John Frankenheimer

seven days in may

U.S. President Jordan Lyman has signed a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union which has led to the American public beginning to question if he should resign. Meanwhile, US Marine Colonel Casey works in the Pentagon and comes across evidence that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led by Air Force General Scott, are plotting a coup d’etat to remove Lyman. The overthrow of the government will be staged a military emergency exercise, but involve Scott commandeering the airwaves to announce Lyman being forced out of office. Casey has only a week to work with the President and find solid proof to show the American people. But at every turn, Scott and his people are there to stop them.

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Comic Book Review – Green Lantern: Mosaic Part 1

gl mosaic

Green Lantern: Mosaic – Part 1
Green Lantern Volume 3 #14 – 17

Green_Lantern_Vol_3_14

In the late 1980s, Green Lantern was the next property on DC Comics’ list to retool. The character, as a concept, has existed since the 1940s, but the incarnation at the time was quite different from its the masked crimefighter roots. Since the 1960s, the character had been reframed as a member of an intergalactic space corps using rings powered by will to create constructs. Over the course of twenty years, the title’s lead had been changed from time to time. It’s quite different from most other DC titles, you wouldn’t expect to see other characters taking over the mantle of Superman or Batman (at least not at the time). Hal Jordan was the chief GL, with school gym teacher Guy Gardner popping up for a short run, and then John Stewart, an African-American architect. Stewart is the focus of the Mosaic arc and spin-off series.

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Movie Review – Life After Beth

a24 visions

Life After Beth (2014)
Written & Directed by Jeff Baena

life-after-beth

Beth has died and her grieving boyfriend, Zach is stuck in a permanent depression. He is hanging out with her parents, Maury and Geenie trying to revive what it felt like for his late love to be alive. And then out of nowhere, Beth’s parents box out Zach, refusing to answer the door or his phone calls. He eventually busts in and finds Beth, alive and well, but a little confused about where she has been. Zach wants to start their relationship back up, but Maury and Geenie would prefer to keep her locked up in the house. As time goes on, Zach learns that the Beth that came back may not be precisely in the best of shape.

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Revisiting Utopia – Series 1, Episode 6

Utopia Series 1, Episode 6 (2013)
Written by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Marc Munden
utopia pearson finale

“Who We Are, Who We Become” is my unofficial title for this final episode of Utopia’s first season. Jessica Hyde has brought the manuscript to the runaways, and now it feels like all the pieces are coming together. But throughout this episode, we see characters either confirming they are who we always thought they were or revealing a turn and surprising us with their actual role. It’s the sort of surprise overload you would expect for a series finale of this sort of program. The paranoia is amped up, and bonds are either shredded entirely or strengthened through trust being revealed as earned.

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Movie Review – The Manchurian Candidate

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The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Written by George Axelrod
Directed by John Frankenheimer

the manchurian candidate

A platoon of U.S. soldiers fighting in Korea is abducted by Soviets and taken across the border into China. Then months later they are returning to the States with Sgt. Raymond Shaw receiving the Medal of Honor for bravery under fire. However, the surviving members of his platoon are having strange nightmares of sitting among a ladies auxiliary meeting on flowers. The commanding officer, Captain Marco believes these dreams hide a secret about what really happened in Korea and truth behind Shaw’s heroism. Meanwhile, Shaw is pulled into the political ambitions of his mother, Eleanor and his stepfather, Senator Iselin. Shaw is also receiving strange phone calls that trigger weird behaviors. This rabbit hole will pull Marco and Shaw to ending neither of them can avoid.

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Revisiting Utopia – Series 1, Episode 5

Utopia Series 1, Episode 5 (2013)
Written by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Marc Munden

utopia jessica arby

An easy unofficial title for this one: “Deals.” And this is a title that works on multiple levels. The easiest is that much of this episode addresses the fictional Deal’s disease that has been spoken about during the series. Becky’s father died from it, and now she fears she inherited it from him. Each character is also making deals with people they probably shouldn’t but are forced to as an act of survival. As we push into the finale, we see alliances crumbling, new ones forming, and everyone being pushed further to the brink.

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TV Review – Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block

Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block (2018)
Written by Nick Antosca
Directed by Arkasha Stevenson

butcher's block stairway

Sisters Alice and Zoe are attempting to start their lives over and end up in a new city, adjacent to the Butcher’s Block neighborhood. This neighboring slum is infamous for what happens at night when residents seem to vanish into thin air. There is a connection to a nearby park which used to be the land belonging to the Peach family, a wealthy old South type of family who ran the now decaying meat processing plant. People talk about strange figures that roam the park at night and a staircase going nowhere that pops up. You are warned to never go near those stairs, to turn around and leave if you see them. Into this strange melange of urban legends, our two protagonists are dropped, and they might not make it out alive.

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Movie Review – The Incident

The Incident (2014)
Written & Directed by Isaac Ezban

incident

Two brothers have been caught red-handed committing an undescribed crime. They are ambushed by a police officer who directs them down the stairwell of their apartment building to his car. However, on the way, a loud boom sounds from somewhere outside, and suddenly they find themselves caught in a looping stairwell without end or beginning. A family sets out to drop off the kids with their father while mom and stepdad are headed to the beach. On the road, they hear a loud boom and then find themselves on an infinitely looping stretch of highway. What is happening? Why are these people trapped?

It is literally impossible to discuss this film without spoilers so if you don’t want to know what happens, turn back now. The film is on Netflix, come back after you have watched it.

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Revisiting Utopia – Series 1, Episode 4

Utopia – Series 1, Episode 4 (2013)
Written by Dennis Kelly
Directed by Marc Munden

becky utopia

As I have come up with unofficial titles to these episodes so far, I feel compelled to do so with this one. It’s a toughie to pinpoint the exact theme on this chapter, but I think I would go with “We Become What We Hate,” as the episode features many characters crossing that line and playing The Network’s game. People become killers, they engage in manipulation, and they find themselves struggling to survive. Relationships definitely begin to fray, and we see that our group on the run may not be able to hold together for much longer.

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