Busy week last week at The League. But not an unpleasant one.

Nathan and Renata were here from Wednesday evening to early Friday morning, and that was quite a bit of fun. Nathan is/ should be some sort of celebrity. He once appeared in a notorious episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, back during it's why-is-this-show-on-five-times-a-week-? heyday. He was the guy who entertained Regis with his stuffed monkey.

Nathan is now a DJ and program manager at Texas Public Radio in San Antonio. Renata is Minister of Information for one of the universities in San Antonio.

Both of them are a lot of fun, and it stinks that we don't live closer to them so we can see them more often.

Friday and Saturday were lazy days. We mostly lolled about on Saturday, and I tried to read some comics I had stacked up. I hadn't yet had a chance to open up my Criterion edition of Slacker, so Saturday afternoon I popped that one in the player and gave it a whirl.

I saw Slacker the first time during the summer after I moved out of Austin. My mother packed us all into the GMC conversion van and hauled us down to the River Oaks Theater. I loved the movie then, and I still like it now. And now, it's a little like looking back at a moment in time.

The acting in the movie is still stilted and awkward, and the characters and dialogue are still going to drive a good portion of the audience nuts. Reviews of the movie on Amazon.com usually go from fawning to outrage, and there's seldom any space in between.

I only watched a few items on the first disc aside from the film itself. I look forward to hearing the audio commentary by Linklater and Co. I did watch the ten minute commercial for an upcoming documentary on Les Amis, the now defunct cafe which sat on 24th street across the way from the Castillian. The doc won't mean much to people who never lived in Austin, but it did hold some interest.

And there's a whole other disc which I haven't opened up yet.

For some bizzaro reason, Jamie and I watched all of the DMX/ Jet Li "package" film, Cradle 2 the Grave. DMX is NOT a good actor, and Jet Li is visibily bored during most of the movie. Anthony Anderson is just creepy to see in any movie, now that he's facing sexual assault charges.

The title of the movie has no relevancy to the plot, characters or anything which occurs in the movie. Jamie has hypothesized that DMX just liked the phrase. We're not sure.

There's also quite a bit of casual racism, and a little bit of little-person abuse in the course of the movie, but, you do get to see Jet Li kick a lot of people in the head. For some reason, the bad guy's ending is similar to the of Belloq in Raiders.

JLU kicked ass. One of the best episodes this season. Even if they did blow up Red Tornado.

Now we're planning Thanksgiving and Christmas. I've already purchased airplane tickets, so look out LAWTON, OKLAHOMA!!!! It's gonna be a funky, funky Christmas.

Okay, this is weird. When I went to link to a website with this image, the first one to come up was The League... I am the snake eating it's own tail.

The League Reviews: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

So Mrs. League and I went to the cinema early to catch a showing of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. And I did enjoy the movie, but not as much as I thought I should have.

From a plot standpoint, the movie holds together as well or better than most sci-fi movies. The plot is fairly standard sci-fi fare, and is pretty much as advertised. From a story standpoint, I had some issues. I never really knew who the hell these guys were.

Okay, Mrs. League just walked in the room and said "Are you ruining Sky Captain for everybody?"
"No."
"I liked that movie way more before you started going 'this was this' and 'this was that'. You're going to ruin it for everybody."
So apparently I ruined the movie for Jamie. Whoops.

Why does she say this? If, apparently, you don't want the movie ruined for you, stop reading now and go on with your peaceful life.

If you're still reading, I apologize in advance for ruining everything.

What is the big issue? Sky Captain is, as advertised, an homage to the past. A past of science fiction and pulp and Saturday matinees. I can dig it. But... (and this is the League, so there's always a complaint, right?) Sky Captain takes and takes and takes, and I'm not sure what it ever gives back.



Spoilers --- start here

Dodging between outright nods to some sources (Godzilla, Buck Rogers, a handful of others) and taking without acknowledging from others (Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., Blackhawk, Superman cartoons) and tying in other movies (King Kong), one wonders exactly what's left here that IS Sky Captain.

Polly (played by Paltrow) is Lois Lane. The Robots are from the Superman cartoon "The Mechanical Monsters", Sky captain is an amalgamation of Captain Midnight and Blackhawk. Frankie (Jolie) is Nick Fury with boobs, right down to the helicarrier and eye-patch. She's kind of leading a British SHIELD squadron.

The villain's plot is stolen from the cover of Amazing Stories (which, of course, I now can't find).

One thing that drove me nuts but I couldn't place until later... You catch a glimpse of a sunken ship at one point, and the ship is titled "Venture". That, kids, is the name of the ship taken to Skull Island in King Kong. Which makes me wonder, is the island in the movie supposed to be Skull island with it's exotic creatures? Or the Island of Dr. Moreau? We don't know. It seems to be both.

And, kids, I LOVE homage. I love to see things pop up which I can recognize and say silently to myself "cooooooool, I am so in on the joke..."

My point here is, Sky Captain is a fun movie with non-stop homage, but I wasn't really sure what it gave back. There's no new story here, although it does recycle fun parts of existing movies, so, take from that what you will...

My other concern, which is only tangentially tied to the movie, is this: When or if the original sources should wish to take themselves seriously again, or gain screentime again... will audiences look to them as copies of Sky Captain, or will they know which came first? Jamie says "I think you're giving audiences too much credit." And maybe she's right.

But with both a Superman and a King Kong movie in pre-production, do they stand a chance of not being unfavorably compared? I don't know.

----Spoilers end here---

Now, Sky Captain is amazing to look at. It is absolutely gorgeous, and the line between reality and CG is completely lost. These guys did amazing work.

The acting and editing of some scenes seems a little flat, but here's my recommendation: Do this movie right. See it on a Saturday afternoon, kick back and let it wash over you. Be 11 years-old again and eat a bag of popcorn during the movie.

Watch giant robots fill the screen, watch Gwyneth Paltrow show some leg, watch airplanes dogfight in the middle of Manhattan. This movie is pretty damn cool, so you can safely ignore my spoilerish comments above.

The bottom line is that I WANT movies like Sky Captain. I want movies that know and relish a form of action film that has been supplanted with machine gun toting steroid freaks and Keanu Reeves. There's room for all of it out there, but my favorite genres are the ones that smell a little musty and are maybe a little creaky.

I want giant robots and plucky reporters. I want mad scientists and secret islands. Hell, I guess I want Sky Captain.

here's something fun for people who love both Crayola Crayons and Spider-Man.

Spider-Man reviews a new box of Crayola's.

It's babies 'a poppin' here at The League these days.



First, Jill sprouted hard-rockin' baby, Arden. Then League pals, Ryan & Trisha, dropped Isaac upon an unsuspecting world. Now college pal, Anna (Mitchell) Clark and her husband, Luke, have brought us our latest installment. Theodore Robin is now proudly wreaking havoc in the greater Conroe, TX area.

Well done, Anna! And let's all give little TR a big "welcome to the world" thumbs up. The little dude has a lot of work ahead of him and needs some encouragement.

I also hear that another Loyal Leaguer may soon be a soccer-Dad, but that's a lot of heresay and innuendo.

The League has no children, and does not believe Melbotis would tolerate them, anyway. Mel tried to eat a kid a few years ago on Halloween, so we're going to keep cool on the kid front down at League HQ. Until Mel is ready, it's just not up for discussion.

Marvel Zombie (and, coincidentally, fan of zombie comics) Jim D. called me yesterday to alert me that he had, in fact, enjoyed Identity Crisis #4.

Identity Crisis is the DC Comic which is getting attention from CNN, AP and other locations. And, yeah, for some rather grim content, it's a pretty darn good read.

"Steeeeeeeans!" Jim D. declared, "You gotta read it!"
"I'm at work."
"You gotta read it now!"
"I'm about to enter into a phone conference with China."
"You gotta read it. Supes is totally getting into it!"

Now, Jim's a fan of Marvel, which is the rival to DC Comics. And comic fans are prone to select a house style they like (DC or Marvel) and that's their camp. I ride both sides of the fence, but when push comes to shove, I guess I fall into the DC camp. Couldn't tell you why, but I do.

But even Jim himself finds it significant that he's enjoying a DC book this much, when he'd rather be spending his hard-earned dough on Captain America or X-men, Spidey, I suppose (or a comic starring the living dead).

I often think of DC as an acquired taste, but I don't mean that in a snooty "it's what REAL comic readers read...". I just mean that either you dig DC, or you don't. And very few people actually begin reading comics anymore through DC. Most folks start with X-men or Spider-Man and then branch out.

DC, to me, wears a certain complexity to how their books interconnect which I find rewarding. Marvel is more complex on the character level, I am told, and books like Daredevil have really given credence to the stereotype. In fact, I don't know how many DC books I would even throw at a first-time comic book reader.

I did blaze through Identity Crisis #4 while I listened to the teleconference (which I didn't even need to be there for). And Jim is right. It was a great read, and Superman is, in fact, getting into the thick of things.

Identity Crisis is progressing well, and is going to be a significant event in DC comics for quite a while. Meanwhile, Greg Rucka is also writing soem terrifc Superman comics over in Adventures of Superman, Chuck Austen is spiralling out of control and quality in Action Comics, and the Azzarello/ Lee team still has me captivated by "For Tomorrow", a 12-part series running monthly in Superman comics.

Meanwhile, Loyal Leaguer Nathan Cone (and his lovely wife, Renata), have arrived. We had a nice dinner and then retired to League HQ to get some bedrest. Mrs. League immediately took them into the Fortress to show off what too much money and too little brains can accomplish when coupled with OCD.

Today Nathan and Renata are going to check out some Frank Lloyd Wright stuff about town, and then take in a D-Backs game.

Mel is also thoroughly excited to have them here (though they were previously unacquainted), and he has not been shy about displaying his affection.

Hello Leaguers - Mrs. League here. I feel as though I should entertain you while the League is a busy bee at work. Unfortunately, nothing too thrilling has happened recently in beautiful Maricopa county. We're still in the middle of summer2 (our seasons here are spring, summer1, summer2, and fall) which after four months of 100+ heat makes you want to lie down and give up. Seriously, it will be in the 100s for at least another month.

We haven't even seen any movies recently, although the League is eagerly awaiting the release of Funkey Monkey. I personally thought he would rather see the flying robots, but I guess primates + Matthew Modine win every time.

I guess we haven't had a Melbotis or Jeff the Cat update recently. Melbotis had a bath on Sunday, and proceeded to make a beeline for his beloved dirt patch the second he was released to freedom in the backyard. For this, he got the hose, which is high on his list of Mel-fears. (This includes smoke detectors, flashlights, vacuums, and small children.) Jeff the Cat has been unnervingly normal recently, which leads me to believe he is plotting something...

And I leave you with the best job in the world.

Busy.

Here's Adam Strange and the Omega Men.