Book Market Shipping Delay
While the Direct Market release of Birdking Vol. 2 is on track for its November 15th delivery, we just received word that the Book Market release is pushed until December 5th due to shipping delays.
This means that if you order your book from a comic book shop, you’ll be getting it three weeks before it ships from bookstores and online shippers like Amazon.
This is the final week you can pre-order a copy from your local comic book shop. The FOC (final order cutoff) is Oct 16th.
Pre-ordering ensures you get a copy on day of release and it also helps set our print run and marketing interests so if you plan on buying BK, please pre-order.
You can order a signed and sigilized copy from Collectors Paradise that will come with special stickers and a print.
I will also have these for sale on my website after release.
Dark Wraith Edition Sells Out
The Mighty Jaxx X CROM collab continues to dominate.
The Dark Wraith edition sold out even faster than the original color scheme. I personally cannot wait to have both of these bad boys on my shelf back to back.
MOVIE REVIEW: The Creator
It’s impressive how many of your shots can miss but as long as one or two still hit the bullseye — then you’ve technically nailed your target.
The Creator is one of the best films of the summer. It’s also one of the safest and most cliche-ridden stories you’ll see this year. But damn does it look, sound, and feel good.
I was shaky the whole movie on whether I liked it or not. One minute I was in, the next I was out. But by the end, I was won over and happy that I ended up going on an emotional journey that rivaled anything else I saw this year.
The Bargain and the Compromise
This is not a good script. It reeks of development hell and too many nervous studio mandates slicing and trimming all the edges off. But its also clear to see that this movie was designed to play globally. Even a medium-sized sci-fi film these days needs to play everywhere and that means reducing the complexity of your story until its easily accessible by anyone anywhere regardless of language or culture. This usually means simplifying things to good guys and bad guys, and while The Creator is pretty unabashed about who it sees as its heroes and villains, there is just enough nuance to balance the equation.
The set ups for the AI war and the simplistic resolution of Asia being the opponent are easy enough to swallow seeing as they are merely the set up for the world and you just have to go with that part. I’m going to accept your simple story because the rest of the movie will be so good. That despite its shallow world and generic plot, it’s directing, performances, and effects will outshine their story and manage to create something larger than the parts should allow.
Bland Writing. Great Directing
Narratively, the Creator is weaker than it should be. But it makes up for so much with its visual treatment, sincere emotionality, and propulsive pacing. Where The Creator is strong, it’s really strong. Maybe the best-looking movie of the year outside of Asteroid City, but then again, how can you compare those two. Its effects marry perfectly into its largely documentary-style video capture of mostly real-world locations and a few superb sets. Music is solid. Action is easily understood and telegraphed without jarring hyper edits to hide it from comprehension. And the acting, where it counts, is great.
Much has been reported on the making of The Creator, how they shot the movie on a cheap prosumer camera with only one light most of the time. Instead of using green screens or building huge sets, they simply toured southeast Asia, shooting on location, and then dressing the footage with CGI to create their world. And for how shallow the world is narratively, it is incredibly rich and detailed visually. In fact, much of the movie’s storytelling is handled visually, which is the kind of storytelling I appreciate as it asks me to do some work and make some connections without holding my hand.
Many of these actors have bad lines. In fact, half the movie to kinda bad lines. But everyone, to varying degrees, makes it work. Especially John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles.
When Madeleine first shows up as the alien AI child weapon, I thought she was a little wooden which is expected from actors this young. But over the film’s length her range grows and grows, either by accident or probably by design, she gets better as she goes, as she’s an AI who is learning and growing. And by the final shot of the movie, she reaches a truly ecstatic expression. Call me a big softy, but that final shot broke my heart and filled me with a sad joy I was grateful to feel.
Wait, what, feelings…
Despite its weak story and shallow world, The Creator brings the feels. I was reminded that genre movies can have real heart and serious consequences. That characters can lose, bleed, and mourn. That slapstic humor and inappropriate levity in fact, has no place in a serious story. And that stories, especially genre stories, can have serious tones while still being fun and exciting. I was actually quite impressed with how The Creator maintains its tone and doesn’t shy away from real pain and loss. Instead of relying on blood and guts, it plays much of its drama on the faces of its characters and its there that the true humanity of The Creator comes through.
In Closing
It’s a shame The Creator was soft at the box office because it was a terrifically well made movie that perhaps, aimed a little too broad. But it’s one of the only original genre movies out this year. And everytime people skip these unique releases, they just fuel the fire of fear in Hollywood of taking any kind of chance. Then again, almost all the superhero fare failed this year as well.
If you can, and it’s still playing in theaters where you are, go see this one. It will be one of the more quality experiences you’ll have in a theater in 2023.
Lovers Blowing Up
I feel like the central image I take away from Gareth Edward’s movies is of two lovers, either platonic or romantic, hugging as a huge explosion engulfs them. It happened in this movie. It happened in Rogue One. And I think something similar happened in Godzilla. I guess Gareth just likes tragic mushroom-clouded acts of love and sacrifice.
Screen X
I accidentally saw The Creator in a format called ScreenX where they extend the film to have a 280-degree point of view by projecting screen extensions on the very walls of the theater, creating a 3D effect that at first was pretty cool but within minutes grew to frustrate me with how distracting it was. Every time the movie went into ScreenX mode and the whole room was lit up by the extra four projectors I was taken out of the movie and lost my connection. The fact the movie still hit me so hard despite these distractions is a testament to its power. But suffice it to say, I will not be seeing a movie in the ScreenX format ever again.
Did you see The Creator? Loved it? Hated it? Leave a comment below:
Six weeks until the release of Birdking Vol. 2
Until then…
Holy shit, how have I not even *heard* of The Creator?!? Did they skimp on the marketing for this one?
And don't forget director Gareth Edwards' first feature: MONSTERS - the poster image is literally two people not-quite-hugging while surrounded by monsters! Then they absolutely hug in the movie. And the process of this latest film makes sense, given Edwards' guerilla filmmaking roots when he made Monsters. (He shot without a license, sneaking all the shots in the forests/jungles and few urban areas. If you've never seen Monsters, I highly recommend it. It's 75% a love story in a post-apocalyptic setting, 25% a kaiju movie. It's why they gave him Godzilla.)