It's Screener Time! "The Post."

If you'd like to see something that reminds one of a time when people stood up to power and actually accomplished something, then "The Post" is for you. I was a youngun(ish) when the Pentagon Papers emerged, though old enough to have a draft card... long story short, I'd forgotten many of the details behind Daniel Ellsberg's taking of these documents and the drama behind their dissemination.

What's especially good about this film is that while there is much angst among the reporters about what they're doing and the risks involved, it isn't forgotten that the Pentagon Papers essentially said that multiple Presidents and their administrations knew Vietnam was a losing proposition, but they went ahead with the war anyway. At a cost of 50,000 + American lives, many more wounded, and countless Vietnamese dead.

Tom Hanks is good, though I have a hard time erasing Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee from All The President's Men. But Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham is amazing... and again her part illuminates a story I never really knew. There was a little "hey, who's that?" going on with the rest of the cast, populated with many familiar faces (from Bradley Whitford to Bob Odenkirk to Carrie Coon), but once things settled in that passed. Plus the press scenes reminded me of my days at the Los Angeles Times as a heroic classified ad taker. I give The Post my coveted 4 out of 4 special editions...

They Love Me In Poland!

Obviously, assuming anyone checks on this site anymore, my blogging has dribbled off a bit. Well, more than a bit. Time flies when you're having fun! Anyway, over the holidays I'll be presenting some of the greatest hits from my Facebook page and possibly even original material to dazzle and inflame!

First up, a recent Polish review of my first ALIENS graphic novel series, which was recently reprinted in fine form by those jolly Santas at Dark Horse.

The original is available at : http://artpapier.com/index.php?page=artykul&wydanie=338&artykul=6537

But the Google translate version of the article is below. Things I didn't know: Timecop was called "The Guardian Of Time" in Poland, and Aliens the movie was "Alien - Decisive Battle."

Przemysław Pieniążek,
WHAT WOULD BE, IF ... (ALIENS. 30TH ANNIVERSARY. THE ORIGINAL COMICS SERIES)
A A A
If you're a fan of xenomorphs (however it sounds), this exclusive, jubilee edition of the graphic continuation of the hit "Alien - Decisive Battle" (1986) by James Cameron is a position for you. Dated 1988, a comic sequel, which is also a spin-off of the above mentioned film (for reasons of marketing and legal in the illustrated series could not then appear Ellen Ripley, returning in later cycles from Dark Horse), to today read and watch with real pleasure .
Screenwriter, writer and producer Mark Verheiden - including the script "The Guardian of Time" (both his comic and cinematic version directed by Peter Hyams) and low-budget production "My Name is Bruce" (made by Bruce Campbell incarnating on the screen in himself) - he created a non-linear narrative written on several narrators, in which he presented the fate of Newt and Corporal Hicks. The author convincingly showed the influence of past events on the characters' psyche, despite the passage of years still struggling with the demons of the past that haunt their dreams.
Staying in a closed Newt factory and a disfigured soldier once again face the multiplying creatures of acid instead of blood, which after space travels finally reach Earth. Although xenomorphs have chaos with their proper grace, some representatives of homo sapiens are immortalized as predators on the pages of the work. Like James Cameron, Mark Verheiden resigned from the futuristic-gothic horror convention of Ridley Scott's "Alien - Eight Passenger Nostromo" (1979), realizing the comic equivalent of an adrenaline pulsing, explosive combat movie. Which does not mean that the reviewed album lacks a climate of horror and tension.
Presenting a dystopian, technologically advanced future in which religion, consumerism and the ubiquitous world of media collide with the idea of ​​the aliens (vide: the intriguing topic of followers of the Church of the Immaculate Incubation), the screenwriter also broadens the spectrum of knowledge about the developmental cycle / abilities of Aliens and their home planet. The plot could not be missing the theme of artificial intelligence, as well as (original, though in retrospect not completely fetched) analysis of the form of petrified Space Jockey.
An undoubted advantage of this publication is a memorable visual setting. Mark A. Nelson - a cartoonist and academic lecturer in one person - prepared suggestive illustrations with an impressive level of detail (scenographic nuances, space vehicle designs, xenomorphs) and skillfully built oneiric aura, blurring the boundary between wakefulness, nightmare and poignant reminiscences (in one from them even charmingly "censored" Ellen Ripley appears).
Although the faces of the protagonists do not seem particularly varied, the artist convincingly reflects the emotions of dramatis personae, underpinning the oppressive climate with spontaneous bloodshed and scenes of high octane action. It is worth noting that in the beautifully published jubilee volume (enlarged format, blackened edges of pages, gallery of sketches and tasty covers), the reader will find original black and white illustrations of Nelson (in later editions, color variants appeared) made on Duo-Shade paper, covered with special reagents that allow for the contrasts desired by the author.
The bestselling series, enriched with the relatively lucky novel "Szczęściarz" (showing the adventures of the resourceful scrapper and his tailed "companion"), is a real masterpiece that can be contemplated as a sensational storyboard of unrealized superproduction. Because even though the story written by Marek Verheiden was excluded from the canon after the movie "Alien 3" (1992) by David Fincher, he still has adaptive potential, introducing many interesting threads to (not only) the film universe of xenomorphs. I have no illusions that the creation of such a work is less than likely today, which is why I encourage you to reach for this publishing rarity appearing in a very limited edition. Well worth it!
Mark Verheiden, Mark A. Nelson: "Aliens. 30th Anniversary. The Original Comics Series. " Translation: Paweł Biskupski. Scream Comics publisher. Warsaw 2017.
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