Kelson Reviews Stuff - Page 64

A campy take on the super-hero genre, from the point of view of a D-list villain trying to make it to the big leagues.

Doctor Horrible, mad scientist (Neil Patrick Harris); Captain Hammer, the super-hero who keeps beating him up (Nathan Fillion); and the girl from the laundromat whom he’s too shy to speak with (Felicia Day).

It’s funny. It’s quirky. It’s short. It’s structured as a video blog intercut with narrative scenes. And yes, there are songs. They remind me of a cross between “Once More With Feeling” and Moulin Rouge. (Though I still get “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair” running through my head with slightly altered lyrics. “Dr. Horrible. Dr. Horrible. Telephone call for Dr. Horrible…”)

I think I liked the middle act best. The last episode doesn’t quite deliver on the promise of the first two, though there were some great bits in it, and the resolutions for Dr. Horrible and Captain Hammer were fitting. There was a twist that Katie had predicted that I thought would have been really cool, but it turned out to be wrong.

One of the highlights of WonderCon this weekend was the premiere of Justice League: The New Frontier. I really liked Darwyn Cooke’s original mini-series, DC: The New Frontier, and I’d been looking forward to the animated adaptation. Overall, I’d say the film succeeds.

The story links the dawn of the Silver Age of comics, and the formation of the Justice League of America, with the dawn of the Space Age, set against the political background of the Red Scare. It focuses most heavily on Green Lantern-to-be Hal Jordan and on the Martian Manhunter, but touches on Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and the Flash as well.

What Works

Cooke’s drawing style and the 1950s retro look to the artwork both translate well to the screen. The voice talent does a great job as well: At no point did I find myself thinking, “Hey, that’s Lucy Lawless,” or “Funny how Hal sounds just like Angel.” In many cases, I actually had to look up the names of actors whose voices I probably would have recognized if I’d been less involved in following the story.

The first 10-15 minutes are somewhat disjointed, but it soon settles into a solid narrative, and the battle which takes up the final third of the film is quite impressive. On the surface it’s about the new generation of super-heroes banding together to face the apocalyptic threat of “The Centre,” but it’s all really about two things: hope and trust.

Some of my favorite bits from the book are still there: Barry Allen racing across the country to stop Captain Cold in Las Vegas, pausing for a nanosecond to kiss Iris on the cheek before continuing. J’onn J’onnz absorbing American culture by watching TV, transforming into the characters he sees—including Groucho Marx and Bugs Bunny. Wonder Woman explaining how she freed the captive women in an Indochina village, and let them deal with their captors as they saw fit.

What Doesn’t

There are two main places where the movie breaks down:

First, the spaceflight sequence in the middle. There was just way too much wrong with it in a “Physics don’t work that way!” sense. I can buy the secret pre-Apollo launch; that’s a staple of the genre. But it would help if the rocket moved like, well, a rocket. Though I have to admit it didn’t bother me watching it with a huge audience of comic fans. It was only when I watched it again at home (M80 was kind enough to send me a review copy) that it really pulled me out of the action.

Second, the political themes came off a lot clumsier than I remembered. It has been a few years since I’ve read it, so it could simply be rose-colored glasses, but it’s probably just the result of trying to condense a 450-odd-page story down to 75 minutes.

Overall

It’s definitely worth seeing. And it’s convinced me I need to dig through my long boxes and re-read the original. There are a number of subplots which fill out the backstory and the main themes which had to get cut for time. (An audience member on Saturday asked about the Challengers of the Unknown. They’re there—but only Ace Morgan gets much screen time.)

If you haven’t read the comics (or, as they’re careful to describe it, the graphic novel), I highly recommend it!

See Also: Convention Photos & Write-Ups

Located in downtown San Francisco, just a few blocks from Moscone Center (about a 10–15 minute walk), which was ideal for WonderCon 2008. It’s a classic hotel, and on my sister’s recommendation we paid extra for the “deluxe” rooms. Everything was comfortable, if small, and again the staff was friendly. Never got a chance to try out the Internet access.

The one thing I was really disappointed with was the room service. It’s hard to eat a mostly-done pork chop with a plastic knife and fork out of a 4-inch-high cardboard box. There was also a loud party in the room next to us Saturday night, but we were up late anyway.

On the plus side, there’s a coffee shop two doors away that was always packed, though we never had to wait for a table. The rate of people arriving and finishing was perfectly balanced.

One caveat: The hotel is located at the edge of the financial district, so you want to leave going uphill on Taylor or east on O’Farrell. If you go downhill on Taylor, you end up walking through the Tenderloin.

After we got back, my sister informed me that the Internet access “stinks,” adding that she “could only get a consistent connection by going to the Starbucks down the road…” I agree that it has “character,” though!

Never the Twain

In 2016, the Mark Twain was renovated and reopened as the Tilden Hotel. It closed “temporarily” in March 2020 and was used as a homeless shelter during the pandemic lockdowns. Three years later it still hadn’t reopened, and the owners had won a settlement from the city to pay for damages. I haven’t been able to determine if it’s closed permanently. The website’s gone, but it might have been folded into something. It’s still listed on travel sites, but they don’t have any availability. Yelp and Tripadvisor don’t say it’s closed, but there aren’t any reviews since Covid-19 reached California.

Note: This review is from 2008. I hope it’s better now.

I forget which one of us came up with the phrase, “The Worst Best Western in the West.” The sink leaked, the hotel was on default air conditioning (even though it was ~50°F and raining outside), the heater was a loud, grinding thing that sounded like a truck engine, the bedspread had cigarette burns in it, the towels felt like sandpaper, and the wifi wouldn’t accept the password the front desk gave us (which is probably just as well, since there were 4 access points broadcasting the same SSID, so for all I know one of them could’ve been a rogue). And the staff was taciturn at best. All this for the same price as the Cavalier.

Calling it a resort is pushing it—it’s really just a very nice motel—but we had absolutely no complaints. The service was friendly, the bed was comfortable, everything was clean and worked (including the free wifi). It’s right on the coast, with a wide lawn atop a bluff where you can sit and watch the waves come in. At night they light up firepits, and you can sit, keep warm, and listen to the ocean. Even the standard room had a well-stocked mini-bar. We’ve been talking about going back to Hearst Castle to catch the tours we missed, and we’ll probably stay here again. (Update 2009: We did!)