The darkest of knights
I was recently at a party in which I met a gentleman who tried to convince me that the third Matrix film is the finest of the trilogy. Needless to say, I was aghast and spent the next several minutes arguing against this delusional notion until finally my wife wisely and diplomatically separated me from … Read more
True crime
Very few things titillate us like a good serial killer story. Those who kill irrationally have become our new movie monster, as the horror of a Frankenstein’s Monster or Dracula has waned in our imagination over the decades. We see vampires and werewolves as teenage celebrities more often than not in today’s media, but serial … Read more
Parallel lives
As I pulled into my office parking lot this morning and turned off the car I noticed that the digital dashboard clock showed “6:16.” In my early morning pre-coffee daze my mind registered that 616 is the main Marvel universe’s designation as provided by Alan Moore. I always respected Moore for giving the universe a … Read more
Earth’s mightiest heroes — sort of
A mythical warrior wielding armaments of legend. A hero encased in metal who becomes a living weapon. A normal man thrown into extraordinary circumstances armed simply with a shield. A big green monster caught in the crosshairs of a secret government agency. All told, seven soldiers out to save the world from an incursion too … Read more
They’re watching you
These kids today. As I get older I struggle to not become of those, “these kids today” kinds of people. I worry that I might be becoming a crotchety old man though. You see, I grew up in the 1980s and hold a fondness for the decade and its popular culture. I also remember the … Read more
The coyote savior
I have a confession to make; I don’t understand some of Grant Morrison’s stories. What I mean to say is that I usually can follow the plot and generally comprehend the basic narrative but I feel like I’m missing important things within the tales. It seems as if I am only reading the surface and … Read more
Catman, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways
It’s been a year since I wrote my first column for The Idler, and in that time I’ve been able to tackle a whole host of things I felt were important to me. From the earliest comics that drew me into the medium to some of the most thought-provoking material I’ve encountered as an adult, … Read more
Night of the Walking Dead
I can only imagine what Southern U.S. moviegoers must have been thinking when Night of the Living Dead, George Romero’s seminal zombie horror film, lit up the screens in late 1968. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated earlier in that same year and the Fair Housing Act had just been enacted during … Read more
Recreating the Golden Age
Oh, it was… err… big and bright and great and easy to understand. The world was simpler. “No adventure went on for too long, I do recall that. Things were more open and shut. And no one died. At least not often. Nowadays you fly off for a moment, you come back and two or … Read more
The Phantom
Ah, the mid-to-late 1990s. It was a new Golden Age for the cinema, and 1996 was a banner year: it brought us Barb Wire, Dragonheart, and the Billy Zane superhero film, The Phantom. I have a soft-spot for The Phantom. Which should not come as a surprise, since my film collection runs the gamut from … Read more
