#6. Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989)

No, it isn't a good movie, and while I love Bill Bixby, the Incredible Hulk television series isn't a favorite of mine either. The reason this film makes my list is that, when I first saw it at the tender age of nine, Rex Smith's Daredevil blew my little mind. He was the first superhero I ever saw on TV or in film who didn't seem even remotely corny. He was dark and authentic, and I instantly loved him. I clearly recall painting my Daredevil action figure black after seeing this film and making him the star of all my action figure battles for months afterward. I even started reading the comics for a while after that, but they didn't capture my interest the way Rex Smith did.

For the seventh day i drop down the sewer hole  to visit our favorite toilet flushed terrapins: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: the terrors of New York in their half-shells! And i am talking about their first foray into animation as a daily syndicated M-F cartoon series. This cartoon was a bombastic colorful blast of lighting in a bottle creating an overnight sensation from a comic book spoofing Frank Miller style comics and without this cartoon catching the young viewers attention it is quite possible the comic book itself may have just flushed itself down the toilet.

This was afternoon must watch cartoons! Every day getting in from high school there was the thrill of the best cartoons around kicking the Saturday morning cartoons butts. TMNT is high powered Adrenalin full of fun, silliness, excitement, fights, creative lampooning and characterizations and it was pure delight! Each turtle came with his own color and personality and the voice actors chosen hit the perfect notes so that to this day their original characterization is copied and or inspired from.

These pizza loving martial arts anthropomorphic denizens of the underground sewage systems have made kids and adults across the world lovers of turtles fighting the good fight against Shredder and his Foot clan and all the mutants and aliens he allies himself with.

Order me a pizza and soda and i will sit back and rock the half shell with these 4 boys any day any time!  

On the seventh day of Christmas, Raymond Briggs gave to me…

#6 when the wind blows

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(1986_film)


A disaster movie that manages the no mean feat of being charming and nightmarish all at once. How does the kindly and harmless Bloggs couple plan to survive a nuclear holocaust? Why, by following the instructions given in a government-issue booklet, of course. With the results you'd expect.

The plight of the adorable but clueless James and Hilda is endearing and heart wrenching, and it is because the film makes us care about them that we wince when we see them naively sunning themselves under ozone-less skies and drink fallout. Their incapacity to realize the true severity of their plight, in parallel with their obvious ongoing physical decay, makes for a powerful and depressing tableau.

I never read the graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, but it seems to be on par with his other great works like Ethel & Ernest. The movie is, in any case, a great storytelling success.

Great soundtrack, too… David Bowie, Roger Waters and Genesis are in there.




Hilda (forlorn): “At least they didn’t blow up the sun…”
James (upbeat): “Science is still in its infancy, dear”.

Day 7 brings American Splendor.



Like the original comics, it's an odd duck. It's one part biography of Harvey Pekar and another part commentary on the film, within the film, as the real Harvey and Joyce Babner talk about what you have just seen. Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis do a tremendous job of bringing Harvey and Joyce to life, without making them Hollywood caricatures.What we get is the same idiosyncratic slice of life that we always got in the American Splendor comics. Sometimes its a crank who desperately needs therapy, sometimes its an insightful observation. Mostly, its an interesting human being living a mundane life, but observing the truths within that life.



The film is also brilliantly funny, with pekar's sarcastic wit on display, filtered through Giamatti's exquisite timing. It covers everything from the beginnings of his comics, work with Crumb, Letterman, and the Cancer Year, as well as his family life. It's Hollywood Pekar, yet it manages to capture the real Pekar, as he existed within his comics.

Sin City, and Sin City : A Dame to Kill For

Frank Miller can be controversial, and I like some of his stuff more than others, but, the man is talented, and I really like his crime noir, so Sin City fits in nicely.

Not to be undervalued or dismissed, director Robert Rodriguez helps Miller pull everything together for the big screen and the two make for an enjoyable set of short story adaptations.

If there was ever an actor / character match more perfect than Mickey Rourke for Marv, I certainly don't know about it, except maybe Daniel Craig as James Bond.

The use of black and white and singular primary colors also adds to the gut punch effect of certain scenes.

Like my previous Dick Tracy entry, this is Over The Top, but not for the kiddies.

Miller and Rodriguez don't shy away from the comic book roots, but rather embrace them and enhance them on the big screen with motion and bigger fights, faster cars, spurting blood, crazy point of views and characters that are more caricatures than fully realized people.

Good stuff. I hope we get more from the franchise.

On the seventh day of Christmas, I bring you....

Witchblade...the TNT original series.



Let me start by saying have no affinity whatsoever for the comic series that spawned this. The Witchbade series while having an interesting ideas at its core, was way too much exploitative cheesecake for titillation rather than done for serious storytelling, and it's hard to take seriously any character that looks like she is getting felt up by her armor all the time. That said, the tv series stripped away all the elements that I disliked, took the core interesting concept and built a show that I watched enthusiastically. I had recorded the entire series on VHS (yes boys and girls VHS) and watched it in its entirety (long before binge watching was a thing) several times before the tapes wore out.

Ancient artifacts, mystical legacies, centuries spanning conspiracies, a strong, intelligent, capable female lead (not played for cheesecake), interesting supporting cast with lots of shades of gray, decent acting and action, and super-heroic crime drama with a very noirish element in its bleakness and I was sold. Add in things like ties to the Spear of Destiny and a cameo/connection to Keith Moon's drum set over the course of he series and I was tuning in every week to get my fix. I haven't seen it in a while, so I don't know if it will hold up now (I haven't gotten around to getting in on DVD/blueray yet just because I have so many unwatched sets I need to get to first)but it was appointment television for me and something I revisited frequently for a good number of years. I can't recommend the source material, but the series is worth checking out.




-M