Come For the Breasts, Stay For the Brains

I have been a busy, crafting bee

After months of prep for Comikaze Expo, I have now been turning all of my attention to the upcoming League of Extraordinary Ladies Craftacularstravaganza! I already have a few wristcuffs that I’ll be bringing along, but I wanted to have something more in the holiday spirit to sell, so I have been working my fingers to the bone on a whole series of geeky stockings. I special ordered TARDIS and robot fabric from Spoonflower and got a whole collection of cute fabrics from JoAnnes. I hope they’ll all be ready before December 2nd and if not, I’ll throw them up on my Etsy shop for out-of-towners to take advantage of. Happy Holiday!

http://www.geekchicdaily.com/region/la/story/gear/other-gear/lxl-craftacularstravanganza-at-meltdown-comics

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Summer Movie Review: Super 8

For those of us who grew up in the 80s, our childhoods were filled with magical memories of classic sci-fi filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. I will never forget the way that E.T. captured my imagination and filled with me such wonder. As I grew up, I found new heroes. J.J. Abrams has become one of the pinnacles of modern sci-fi storytelling. I have been following his career since Felicity and I’ve been a devoted fan of Alias, LOST and Star Trek.

When I first heard about a collaboration between Spielberg and Abrams, I was instantly energized by the possibilities of these two supreme storytellers working together. Details about Super 8 were slow to emerge and the advertising campaign was a throwback to earlier days before every little plot detail is revealed before the film’s release. While the earliest look seemed to show us an alien thriller, later ones began to display an emotional look at an earlier time. I was unsure of the tone and plot when I walked into Super 8 last weekend and I applaud the filmmakers and studio for it. As much as we love to geek out over sneak peeks and plot leaks, I found myself excited by a movie simply because of the mystery and love of the creative team behind it.

I will not spoil any details here so that you can all have the same experience that I did. Let me just share a few general thoughts. Very few filmmakers today can show us the beauty, joy and innocence of childhood on screen. Joel Courtney, in his first role, is such a natural presence on screen as Joe Lamb and we learn so much about him from quiet moments and his interactions with his father and friends. He has been through tough times, but he is still a young man discovering the world with curiosity and wonder. The interactions with his ragtag group of friends are hilarious and realistic. The story is ultimately about the children, so we only catch glimpses of the pain experienced by the adults in the film. They are simple men and women living in a small town and dealing with extraordinary circumstances.

While the entire movie felt like a throwback to the late 70s/early 80s, there was nothing retro about the special effects. The train crash scene was one of the most intense action sequences I have seen in a long time. The entire film was more thrilling that I had anticipated and I found myself gripping my armrests often.

Fans of classic sci-fi will find so much to love in this film. There are subtle homages to ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, LOST and much more. Super 8 is in many ways an intimate story and I hope you will all appreciate the exquisite storytelling of Spielberg and Abrams. It harkens back to an earlier time, but it feels completely fresh. This is my favorite summer film so far and I cannot wait to see more from this team.

Originally posted at: http://thelxl.com/2011/06/15/summer-movie-review-super-8/

Summer Movie Review: X-Men: First Class

It’s hard to imagine a better pair of actors than Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. They brought such depth and gravity to the original X-Men movies when they could have easily veered into the realm of cheese. When talks began to create a series of origin stories based on some of the major X-Men characters, I started getting a bit nervous about the filmmakers trying to recreate younger version of Magneto and Professor X. It was difficult to believe that any actors trying to imitate McKellen and Stewart would feel like anything less than shallow caricatures. In James McAvoy and Michael Fassenbender however, the brains behind X-Men: First Class pulled off a miracle. Both actors contain such strength and intelligence, it was easy to get quickly invested in them and their relationship with one another.

Having not read the comic books, I have only known these characters from the movies and I was extremely excited to see a bit more of their histories. Much was not explored in this prequel and I am feeling a strong urge to take a trip to my local comic book shop to discover more about Xavier’s childhood, how Raven ended up breaking into his house and what happens after Xavier and Erik once they break off their friendship. Marvel’s strategy of developing their superhero franchises has worked out well in general and I hope that it will introduce more and more people to the original source material.

As for the film itself, I found it to be quite understated, yet extremely enjoyable. The period details never felt forced or costumey and the cast was, overall, excellent. McAvoy’s portrayal of a young and cocky Charles Xavier was outstanding and while his character arc was not quite as developed as it could have been, the brash graduate we met at the start of the film was replaced by a man humbled and conflicted by the end. Fassenbender is a revelation as Erik Lehnsherr and I am so excited to see more from this actor and from Magneto. He possesses such a quiet, fiercely intelligent strength and he proved himself to be a worthy successor to McKellen. His search for his childhood tormentor provided for some deliciously violent scenes and you could already see glimpses of the man that he would become. It’s hard to imagine anyone going through what he had and not coming out the other end broken and disgusted with humanity. He reminded me a bit of Wolverine and his focus on revenge. They both accepted help reluctantly, but ultimately they can only depend on themselves.

Kevin Bacon was shockingly creepy as the villain in this film. There was very little background or subtlety to his character and it somehow didn’t matter. His portrayal of a man with such a single-minded focus was disturbing and gave me new respect for his acting skills. January Jones was rather forgettable as a women with skills to rival Xavier.  The younger mutant recruits were charming and fun to watch, although it was disappointing to see the path that every single female mutant character ended up taking. Elizabeth Lawrence did a pleasant enough job with Raven, but her character was rather lacking in depth and I wanted to see more about her internal struggle and ultimate decision.

The last thirty minutes of the film were action-packed and emotionally satisfying. Some unexpected cameos should make fans of the series roar in their seats with appreciation. My favorite moment of the film was a quiet one between McAvoy and Fassenbender as Xavier uses his powers to help Erik gain control of himself using a beautiful memory. Ultimately, this movie’s strength lies in its casting and subtlety. I hope that it catches the attention of audiences in this packed summer movie season and that we get to see more from Professor X and Magneto in the future. Goodness knows I am excited to see more from the ridiculously handsome and charming McAvoy and Fassenbender in any of their future projects.Originally posted at: http://thelxl.com/2011/06/04/summer-movie-review-x-men-first-class/

Summer Movie Review: Thor

Summer movie season is here! This is by far my favorite cinematic time of the year and this summer is offering up a freakish amount of popcorn fare and geek bait. My social calendar is already full of Friday night showings (I don’t believe in midnight shows) and Harry Potter themed parties. I’ll be doing some quick reviews of some of these screenings over the course of the summer. Today I kick things off with Thor. Sadly, I was never introduced to comic books until very recently and I have not read any of the Marvel stories. While I am at least a bit familiar with many super heroes through process of geek osmosis, Thor was and is completely new to me. The only exposure I’ve had to this character is from many, many viewings of Adventures in Babysitting as a geekling.

The first time I saw anything from the film was at Comic-Con last summer where they had set up a full-scale replica of the golden throne and brought along actors to sit in it and look awesome. While the sight was certainly imposing, the shiny gold seemed to be entering cheesy territory. When the trailers started coming out, my suspicions of fromage seemed to be confirmed. I went into the showing on Friday night with very few expectations. By time the credits rolled, I found myself pleasantly surprised. Did the film have flaws? Yes. Was it amazing? No. Did I have a really good time? Absolutely.

 From what I saw, Marvel and the filmmakers had quite a job cut out for them bringing this story to mainstream audiences. The worlds of Asgard and Jotunheim are quite fantastica. It is extremely difficult to create such foreign locations without alienating viewers and appearing comical. I think by hiring a director, Kenneth Branaugh, with such gravitas, Marvel was attempting to ground the story. The worlds and characters felt real and I think that was a smart choice. As fantastical as the sets and situations were, I felt deeply connected to Thor and his compatriots. Thor’s struggle at the end with his feelings towards his brother were incredibly touching and I found him to be a compelling and sympathetic character. I very much look forward to seeing more from this character and storyline. Joss Whedon is my god and I can barely contain my excitement for the Avengers and I am pleased that he’s got such talent in his pocket.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how cool the women in this film were. Natalie Portman’s Jane may not have been wholly original, but she was likeable and charming. I loved how flustered she got around Thor’s ridiculous handsomeness. I hate it when movies ignore how good looking someone is. If I were a geeky scientist, I would also totally fall for him. Okay, I would fall for him if I was a salamander. Trust me, once you see that shirtless scene, you will understand. I’m a big fan of Kat Dennings and her Darcy provided a welcome dose of humor. She was smart and sassy. My favorite female character was definitely Sif. One of Thor’s most valued companions, she is a sexy, strong bad-ass. Not much was shared about her backstory, but the little bit that was sounded really interesting and I can’t wait to see more of her. I also loved how the filmmakers decided to cover her up. I gather that she is often scantily clad in some of the comics and I really appreciated that a warrior wouldn’t show off her cleavage. While fighting Ice Demons, you don’t want to worry about falling out of your corset.

Let me just end this by saying how awesome Loki is. I was not expecting to find his character so fascinating, but something about him really drew me in. I loved the relationship between him and Thor and being slowly introduced to his backstory and motivations. I am very pleased to hear that he will be playing a main character in the Avengers movie. There is going to be so much handsomeness in that film, I might go into a handsome coma. If you find me passed out in my seat, please throw some water on me.

Originally posted at: http://thelxl.com/2011/05/11/summer-movie-review-thor/

Bad Blogger

I realized I have been terrible about blogging here, so I’m gonna at least start cross-posting my League of Extraordinary posts here. I’ve been busy writing movie reviews since it’s Summer! I’ll post my first three now. :-)

My Letter to the NY Times Editor re: Games of Thrones “review”

Good morning-

While I have no issues with a reviewer being unkind to a new show, I found myself confused and somewhat insulted by Ginia Bellafante’s review of A Game of Thrones. http://tv.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/arts/television/game-of-thrones-begins-sunday-on-hbo-review.html She seems to be insulting so many groups with this review, it’s hard to know where to start. She is obviously very much against any kind of fantasy on television and I do wonder why she was chosen to review a fantasy project. The Song of Ice and Fire series is beloved amongst millions, including an enormous population of women. The books are full of intricate details, political machinations, violence and yes, sex. I do not understand why adding sex to a series would attract women if we were not already interested in the subject material. This statement seems insulting to women in general, and certainly to geeky women. We watch shows because we’re excited about them, not because we’re being pandered to. HBO has done an incredible job marketing this show to men and women and I have met hundreds of amazing people that have been breathlessly anticipating this show. I would say more than half of these people have been women. I would hope that the NY Times would not insult female readers in the future by telling us what we’re not allowed to be interested in. Thank you so much for your time.

Sincerely,

Dina Kampmeyer