PopCult Reviews

PopCult Podcast Mini – Candyman (2021)

Seth & Ariana take a the new Candyman film from director Nia Da Costa.

Comic Book Review – Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Part 4 (of 4)

Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Part 4 (of 4)
Reviewing stories found in Teen Titans v3 #32-46
Written by Geoff Johns and Adam Beechen
Art by Todd Nauck, Tony S. Daniel, Carlos Ferreira, Peter Snejbjerg, Al Barrionuevo

This is around the point that Johns was spread pretty thin at DC. He wrote The Flash, JSA, Hawkman, Action Comics, Infinite Crisis, and was part of the collective that penned the weekly series 52. Even though he’s one of my favorite writers of the pre-New 52 era, I have to admit this Titans work feels very rushed. I get the sense he had some big stories he wanted to tell and was trying to get them all out but possibly got burnt out on the book. Significant changes were happening with DC on the multimedia front, so I think his attention was shifting to other things.

Comic Book Review – Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Part 3 (of 4)

Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Part 3
Reviewing stories found in Teen Titans v3 #20-26, 29-31 & Outsiders #24-25
Written by Geoff Johns (with Judd Winick)
Art by Mike McKone, Marlo Alquiza, Tom Grummett, Matthew Clark, Art Thibert, Tony S. Daniel, Carlos D’Anda, Scott Shaw, Scott Roberts, Nelson, Richard Bonk, and Todd Nauck

Johns jumps into these issues, which serve as the bridge between the Identity Crisis & Infinite Crisis periods in the DC Universe. The company had gone all-in on centering its shared universe around the fallout of the former and the lead-in to the latter in a way that didn’t always flow. Johns was the chief architect of the whole thing, and I’ve always found it interesting how his writing during this time can feel very in sync with the larger picture but then have moments where he appears to be overwhelmed with how many plates to keep spinning. The opening issue here is a direct tie-in to the events of Identity Crisis and is one of the few epilogues to that event that seamlessly transitions into new stories.

Movie Review – Sweet Girl

Sweet Girl (2021)
Written by Philip Eisner & Gregg Hurwitz
Directed by Brian Andrew Mendoza

Netflix original movies/shows can be hit or miss. There are times when their movies feel like the thing you settled for when you rent something. You’re left with the subpar version of what you wanted. You stare at the title, think you’ve seen the trailer, but everything is a blur as things melt one into the other. All titles are similar, the colors, nothing bright or new.

Movie Review – Cryptozoo

Cryptozoo (2021)
Written & Directed by Dean Shaw

If Cryptozoo feels like an indie comic book, you wouldn’t be wrong. The creator Dean Shaw is a comic book writer/artist. The work looks like a crude outsider art piece with hints of inspiration from other obscure animated works. I personally saw a lot of Fantastic Planet in the character movement and the themes of the narrative. The story is ambitious but ultimately fails to come together, in my opinion. There’s something here, but I don’t think all the ingredients mixed well. We have an animated film that wants to build a vast world and talk about the environment & humanity.

Patron Pick – The Fifth Element

This is a special reward available to Patreon patrons who pledge at the $10 or $20 a month levels. Each month those patrons will get to pick a film for me to review. They also get to include some of their own thoughts about the movie, if they choose. This Pick comes from Amy Stewart.

The Fifth Element (1997)
Written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen
Directed by Luc Besson

The 1990s saw a slew of big-budget science fiction films, and most of them were memorable but not fantastic. Independence Day and Judge Dredd come to mind. However, there would occasionally be a diamond in the rough. Demolition Man would be a campy favorite. Contact was a science fiction pic made for people desiring something more cerebral. And then we have The Fifth Element, a lavish indulgence of production design, eccentric characters, and space opera that never takes itself too seriously yet has so much heart. There are few films like it which is probably why The Fifth Element has endured in people’s memories. But, unfortunately, even the director failed to recapture the magic decades later.

TV Review – The Sopranos Season Two

The Sopranos Season Two (HBO)
Written by Jason Cahill, Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, Frank Renzulli, David Chase, Terence Winter, Todd A. Kessler, Michael Imperioli
Directed by Allen Coulter, Martin Bruestle, Lee Tamahori, Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Henry J. Bronchtein

In the wake of season one’s success, it becomes clear that David Chase is pumping the brakes. While he adds new characters and explores the backstories of his characters, thematically, he stays put, preferring to mine deeper into these ideas. The result is one of the best seasons of television I have ever watched, my investment in the characters at some of the highest levels I’ve ever experienced. Chase has expressed a strong disdain for television grown out of his experiences working with networks in the 1980s & 90s. The constant focus on surface-level content like sex & violence worked prohibitively against exploring human existence. Free from those restraints, he was able to produce something as remarkable as The Sopranos, a show which has been copied again & again by showrunners across the spectrum.

Comic Book Review – Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Part 2 (of 4)

Teen Titans by Geoff Johns Part 2 (of 4)
Reviewing stories found in Teen Titans v3 #13-19, Beast Boy #1-4, Teen Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes Special, Legends of the DC Universe 80-Page Giant #2, Teen Titans: Beast Boys & Girls
Written by Geoff Johns (with Ben Raab & Mark Waid)
Art by Mike McKone, Tom Grummett, Justiniano, Joe Prado, and Ivan Reis

This second round of Geoff Johns-penned Titans tales jumps back a few years to his Beast Boy mini-series. Around the same time, Johns was handed the reins of JSA and The Flash; he also co-wrote this four-issue story with Ben Raab. Beast Boy, aka Garfield Logan, had been strongly associated with the Titans since joining the team in the early 1980s. Johns leans into the character’s lengthy history in the DCU to write a story about a former child star trying to figure out who they are as an adult. This involves going back into Beast Boy’s time with the Doom Patrol and teaming him up with Bette Kane, the long-forgotten original Bat-Girl.

Weekly Wonderings – August 23rd, 2021

Just sort of resigned to give up on America and Americans at this point. I have noticed social media sentiments from people who always hovered in that centrist space, just wholly giving in to apathy. American media & power relies on the people losing their ability to imagine a different, better world, and they have certainly accomplished that. They’ve convinced people that a real revolution (not a Proud Boy hog LARP) is possible and that a thousand deaths a day from COVID and pediatric ICUs filling up is just the norm. So with our house being sold and waiting for the closing and everything else, I just have decided to withdraw myself from my usual social media spots. The weekly wonderings will be pretty much the only place I share my personal thoughts and ideas. Facebook is a worthless platform, so I suppose Twitter & Instagram will just be me promoting the blog until the world ends.

PopCult Podcast Episode 11

Seth & Ariana share their Top 5 Buddy Movies. That’s followed by an in-depth conversation about David Lowrey’s latest picture The Green Knight (Spoiler warning!)

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