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Check The New Location

Skull cull will hereafter be posting on it’s new home at http://www.skullcull.com where we hope to continue the success we have had here. I have to thank WordPress for both the hosting here and the software which has made the new site possible – please re-set all your bookmarks so they follow us over. There are already some new posts up for you to read, with more to come asap.

Thank You
Paul

Comicsphere: Invisible Inc by Brendan McGinley & Tomas Aira

With some stories it is the art that arrives with you first; with some it is the words – neither of these is a bad thing, they just speak of different techniques perhaps, but with Invisible Inc from Brendan McGinley and Tomas Aira they’ve hit their stride from the first page and created a great fusion of the two; a great opening salvo for their story.

I think I’ve read in many places that there surely isn’t much more that you can do with a superhero story, but that cry seems to be as redundant as those signalling the death knell of the guitar riff. We have Warren Ellis and Brian Wood amongst others leading the pack with their innovative takes on the genre and judging from what I read here Invisible Inc more than gives them a run for their money.

As well as being packed with ideas the story also has that vital lock on the reader — a tangible emotional core, one that gets you invested in the characters from the off.

The language reminded me of the poetic storytelling of Jamie Delano, with that solid grounding in a well thought out skew on reality. It casts light on what is going on today and side-steps being heavy-handed in favour of making it a human and personal story.

The way the scenes are lit and the way Aira makes the characters act is evocative and compelling. This comic really did charm the pants off me and having had such a great set-up one can’t wait to follow the arc through to a hopefully just as satisfying pay-off.

Turn The Page: The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel

I read all kinds of books – why? Because I like to find things out. Would I have hunted this book out or even picked it up in the normal course of things? No, probably not. The way it came into my hands was via a guy who was doing a follow-up after one of our kids went to an event at their church. This man came to our house and on the doorstep, after speaking to me and finding out I wasn’t a Christian and, jumping to a few conclusions about what kind of person I was based on the fact that I have tattoos and had on a Kurt Cobain t-shirt, decided I needed to read this book.

The conversation went along the lines of me telling him that I didn’t believe in Jesus and God but that I was open to different ideas and that I am always reading about different philosophies and such, at which he told me that there was only way to salvation – through the lord. Now the Bible didn’t convince me but this man felt that this book might just be the key to bringing me over to his side.

The Case For Christ (Student Edition) sells itself as a journalistic enquiry into the subject and uses Lee Strobel’s experience as a journalist for the Chicago Times to validate these claims. I have to admit I was interested in where this book might take me – perhaps it might illuminate certain areas of the Bible that I had not thought about before; it might present compelling arguments which situated Christ in the real world and made his existence seem like an irrefutable fact to me.

Now imagine if you were a journalist and you turned in a story that hinged on the information of a single source; a story where you offered your editor no corroborating evidence at all – would they feel confident in printing that story? If the subject you were discussing used as a source a book which in itself was considered suspect, was in fact an issue of contention itself, or the source of the contention about the subject, then what?

There were accounts contemporaneous with the Bible which could have been used to shed light on different areas of scripture, that were not used at all. The Bible was the sole book referred to by Strobel and that presented a problem for me. If you don’t believe in Jesus in you generally don’t believe in the Bible – why? Because the Bible is most likely the first and only place that you might have turned to in order to get information about him and is therefore also the most likely source of your problems with the idea of him. If one person tells you a story and you find that person’s veracity wanting why would you believe someone’s second-hand rendering of that person’s story? This is effectively what Strobel does. Now if someone really wants to believe; if they are not looking to question the accepted truth and the things that are said in the Bible seem logical and self-evidently true to them then this book will be okay for them – although to be honest if they already find the Bible convincing then why they would need this book is beyond me – it is unnecessary.

Not only does this book not present a compelling argument for the existence of Christ it works to undo any confidence in the idea of Strobel as any kind of investigative journalist. The Bible, no matter whether you believe in it or not, is a beautifully written book – this isn’t. Films like Passion Of The Christ and The Last Temptation Of Christ made me think more about religious matters than this book managed; they might have managed to convince me, but this book which isn’t even on the level of Cliff Notes doesn’t tell me anything I couldn’t get from reading the good book myself.

Film Hick: 88 Minutes (2008)

Directed by: Jon Avnet. Cast: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, William Forsythe, Deborah Kara Unger. Rated: R. Running Time: 108 minutes.

It seems like a topsy turvy world where an Al Pacino movie doesn’t make the grade, but I have to say that this was the case with 88 Minutes. I can’t in all conscience say that the acting was terrible as far as anyone went – the fault was all in the story. It was pretty standard fare with a criminal psychologist getting threatened, having to solve a murder, and a criminal trying to make sure he didn’t get executed for murder by making it look like the real murderer was still at large.

For me it was the ending that didn’t sell it for me – the ending ruined the film; made the whole enterprise a waste of time. Yeah, it’s one of those – you might be happy sitting through it, because it is watchable, has a few twists and turns to keep your interest, but as far as I’m concerned all that was thrown away on the ending.

Do I feel more cheated if a film had promise and cocks it up at the end than I do if it is bad the whole way through? Maybe. If the film had been brilliant all the way through then I would have wanted to put my foot through the screen, but that wasn’t the case – Pacino’s hair gives a better performance than he does (half the budget must have gone on hairspray). This is a film you should avoid spending money on if you can – wait for it to come on TV, don’t make the effort to get it on video or on cable. There are better films to spend on, some of them with Al firing on all cylinders.

Turn The Page: Out Of The Gutter Issue 5

Out Of The Gutter never pulls any punches and Issue 5 is no exception. If you like your fiction mean and dirty; want writing that has that gut-churning authenticity which keeps you coming back for more, then this is the place. Matthew Louis gives us stories from Charlie Stella, Vicki Hendricks, and others that provide a visceral jolt wrapped up in a package that puts a perfect modern spin on the pulp fiction of old. Add in an inside scoop on The Aryan Circle from Seth Ferranti, an advice column from Brian Murphy and various other things and what more could you ask for?

Click the image to go through to Out Of The Gutter’s site and get yourself a copy now!

Television Whitenoise: Leverage

Cast: Timothy Hutton, Aldis Hodge, Alec Hardison, Christian Kane, Eliot Spencer, Beth Riesgraf, Gina Bellman.

Okay, well, when I sat down to watch this I didn’t know it was a remake of a British show – would that have coloured my opinion? Maybe, considering that trend kind of peed me off recently, suggesting, as remakes do, a dearth of original ideas. I never watched Hustle though; it was one of those programs I managed to miss the whole time that it was on for some reason, but I had wanted to watch it. Anyway, now that has a lot to live up to if I ever see it.

From the initial sighting of the trailers I was interested in this – partly to do with Timothy Hutton and Bellman, but mainly to do with the way it sold itself: slick and smart, a well-executed piece of television. I mean, there is always the danger that this was just going to be the trailer and not the whole package, but I am happy to report that this was not the case with Leverage: it didn’t disappoint.

As a first episode it had a lot to do – introduce the cast, establish a dynamic, suggest a back history and point the way towards the future, all this done whilst actually telling a story, and it managed to do that well. It was an entertaining hour that had the spirit and production values to match its ambition – it reminded me in places of Ocean’s Eleven at its best and that is pretty good.

We’ll see how it develops but I definitely think this is one to watch.

Turn The Page: Jafsie And John Henry by David Mamet

From one book of essays to another; from one book which I found essential to another which I found to be the total opposite, and it pains to me say that. I like David Mamet – I like his films and I like the plays that I have read; I’ve enjoyed a couple of interviews too, where I found his insight into human behaviour and the craft of writing to be interesting and invaluable; I picked up this book expecting the same, thinking the quality of the writing would be a sure bet. I was disappointed.

I found Jafsie and John Henry to be unengaging and on the whole outright boring. I really struggled with this book and it is not a big book, but I had to put it down, give it a rest, and come back to it. I wished to persist and get through to the end of it in the hope that somewhere in the back half of the book (I literally stopped half way) I might find something that made the whole thing worthwhile. While there was nothing that did this for me I can say that the remainder of what I read slightly tempered my opinion and turned me towards a less aggressive opinion of the book.

So, what was the problem with it? The choice of subjects? Perhaps. But I think it was the general feeling it left me with – that I was taking a very pedestrian stroll through trodden down areas with a guide who was just waffling on about stuff even he wasn’t that enthusiastic about; it was as if Mamet had been possessed for the length of this book by the spirit of Bill Bryson. I know some people will probably want to beat me for not liking the cuddly travel writer but his brand of smug, timid pussyfooting around everything has always bugged me – it is the textual equivalent of being smothered with a big wooly jumper and I honestly never expected to get that from Mamet. Please, stick with the screenplays and stage productions where I think Mamet really lives and breathes, and don’t bother with this.

Turn The Page: The War Against Cliche by Martin Amis

When you read a book of essays you are hoping to get an insight into the subjects under discussion that you may not have arrived at by yourself; or you are looking for an opinion on something that you are not knowledgeable about yourself – you seek to educate yourself; or perhaps you want an introduction to something you are wishing to read more on later and an educated opinion in the form of a short essay as opposed to a huge and involved textbook is the perfect compromise.

I trust Martin Amis as a writer – he has one of those authorial voices which can take something bolted to a high concept and make it believable; he can move around within the skin pof various kinds of narratives and not seem uncomfortable. Who better to be looking at different books and summarising them for you? Who better to assess a body of work by a particular author? And who would be better placed to look at various social mileiu and give some kind of insight into them that cuts to the heart of the matter?

For myself there were a couple of places where my interest flagged – namely the sports articles and the assessment of Jane Austen who I have a particular loathing for, and while I like Saul Below the piece on The Adventures of Augie March got a bit much with the quotations piled one on top of the other. Amis did this a couple of times elsewhere, using the cumulative effect of quotations or lists of his own impressions to both create a forceful argument but seemingly to also overwhelm the reader to a degree; and though I understood the technique it didn’t work as well for me as the pointed remarks that he would make that were like a spotlight thrown on a flaw or an attribute of the subject in question.

I like that Amis is not afraid to go against accepted wisdom, that he is willing to skewer the over-inflated egos of certain sacred cows and is also equally willing to champion those who may have been overlooked. This book will give you a nice idea of how to approach certain authors and which of their works might be worth checking out first; of course you have to consider that the essayist is biased by his own interests, but I think Amis gives considered and reasoned arguments which allow you to see how he arrived at his opinions and that is all you can really ask for. He tackles Bellow, Burroughs, Ballard, Nabokov, Mailer, Naipaul and a whole host of greats – essentials in an essential book.

Film Hick: Stop Loss (2008)

Directed by: Kimberly Peirce. Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rob Brown, Channing Tatum,    Victor Rasuk. Rated: R. Running Time: 112 Mins.

I have to admit that before this film I was totally unaware of the whole idea of Stop-Loss, where the US Army can extend a soldier’s time in the war thanks to a little loophole that hardly anyone seems aware of, forcing them back into the conflict often against their will. 180,000 troops have had this used on them since it came into effect.

The film works because this whole idea is not constantly referred to as some film-makers may have been tempted to do, and all of the exploration of the political issues around the war are firmly embedded within a human story and a good dose of drama that draws you in and pulls you along.

The best political films are the ones that don’t forget that they are also supposed to be entertaining – they can slip the education and the political element under the door in a painless process that has you coming away from the viewing process thinking. This had a knock-on effect for me in that it made me hunt out some documentaries on the conflict and made me read up on the subject.

Phillipe turns in a strong performance, as do the rest of the cast. Is it slightly skewed? Well, of course it has leftist leanings and it is trying to make a point, but I don’t think the army comes off too badly in this, only the stop-loss policy. But I don’t think it’s as heavy-handed as I have seen it being accused of. You have to salute that it came from MTV of all places and some of that heavy handedness is purely down to the dramatic necessities involved in telling a story  not any inaccuracies. Even if it is not a perfect film it’s a commendable effort – one that I found very enjoyable to watch.

Film Hick: Body Of War (2007) by Phil Donahue Ellen Spiro

Directed by: Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro. Rated: Unrated. Running Time: 87 Mins.

This is the story of Tomas Young, a veteran who was paralysed by a bullet to the spine during the war in Iraq. It takes us through his coming to terms with his condition whilst presenting a critical look at how the war has been conducted and is still being conducted. We get to meet a variety of people from Young’s family, politicians and other veterans and get to see how it has affected all of them.

I think the best term to describe the type of film-making that this is, is unflinching – it’s somewhat over-used but seems fitting. I hope this doesn’t make people think of anything at all gratuitous being included because this is a considered and matter of fact presentation of the situation. Some politicians emerge quite well, some not so well; you really feel for Young’s family and Young himself. I wouldn’t say that this film necessarily brings any new information to the table but the information it does bring is important and needs to be heard. It’s very watchable too.

Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock may have opened the floodgates for a ,lot of these films to get through and that isn’t a bad thing but the strength of this film comes in a lot of ways from the fact that the people making it aren’t in the picture. It benefits from not coming across as overly polemical and not being in your face. I won’t say sensitive film-making, but definitely human.