As I've mentioned here before, I'm a fan of Trevor Hutchison's 'Transformers, All Hail Megatron' covers. So I was really happy when he agreed to do the cover for 'We Will Bury You' #3, and I'm ecstatic with what he came up with (above). Check out his other work here: Trevor Hutchison's website
In other WWBY news, Brea did a couple of interviews this week with AJ and Bryan at Forbidden Panel and at Shock Til You Drop.
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Yes, Star Trek was great, Watchmen was what it was, and Wolverine was satisfying if you tossed something strong in your soda. Moon will get wide-release, and everyone has probably heard about how amazing it is by now. Here are a few films that had limited release in the U.S. in 2009 that I think are worth watching:
B. House of the Devil
House of the devil is a throwback haunted house film set in the 1980's. It uses the house's space and the deserted creepiness of the country landscape to keep you on edge. It was one of the scariest films I saw this year... the other being wide-released Halloween 2, in which my sister was stabbed to death. Jocelin Donahue and Greta Gerwig do great work and played off each other well. The montage of Donahue dancing to around to Fixx's "one thing leads to another" in the dark house with headphones on is fun and creates a sense of vulnerability because no one can hear the satanists who could be crouching behind every piece of furniture. Tom Noonan, who has been working in sci-fi/horror for a few decades, is perfectly terrifying in this film, and Mary Woronov (Silent Night, Deadly Night) and Dee Wallace-Stone (The original Hills Have Eyes, The Howling) make appearances as well.
C. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
That it's Heath Ledger's last film and Tom Waits is the devil are probably reasons enough to check this out. Terry Gilliam updates his classic fantasticism through a Doctor Faustus/devil's bargain plot. It is most similar in tone to Adventures of Baron Munchausen, but without the whining child. I think it's getting a wider release in January.
A. Hunger
On a completely different note from the first two escapist films, Hunger is a social realist film that tells the story of the IRA Hunger strike in a British prison in 1981. As torture and inhuman prison conditions are still tolerated in U.S. institutions and worldwide, as evidenced by Abu Ghraib and the secret prisons that were uncovered a few years ago, it is interesting to see this brutal fictionalization of an actual event that took place within the last 30 years. Through its sparse dialog and heavy violence, the film unnerves.
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I didn't like much music this year. I felt burnt out on everything, but there were a few nice points:
A. Seeing The Outs a few times was nice. They recorded in 2009, but the songs haven't been released, so here is a video of an overcrowded show I attended (*It's too close so it's mostly shadows. But I like the drummer shadow...)
B. The Reigning Sound released their 'Love and Curses' album, which contains some nice tracks. Here's an acoustic version of Broken Things with bad sound quality:
C. Wolves in the Throneroom, "Malevolent Grain" and "Black Cascade"
I was disappointed with a lot of metal this year but it was nice to find this new ep and cd before winter.
D. Tyr, "By the Light of the Northern Star"
I almost forgot about this album. I felt like the previous album "Land" was a bit of a let down, but this one really steps it up. They are from a small island from off the coast of Norway called Faroe and sing in English, Norwegian, and their native language Faroese. It is really catchy viking metal with over the top lyrics like "I will decimate and decapitate those who question the sword" about a young man tricked by Loki into reeking havoc. "Into the Storm" is one of my favorite tracks of the year:
E. Blind Gary Davis
A Serbian ex-pat who is one of my regulars rebuilds guitars, and he rebuilt a small size Harmony acoustic guitar from 1960's for me. I began learning to play fingerstyle guitar on it in the winter of 2009. It took a while but I got to where I can mistake my way through the Rev. Gary Davis song Devil's Dream. I might learn 'Candyman' next:
F. Mirah, '(A)spera'
yeah.
G. Universe
The Universe show and ep were definitely summer-defining. People were nice. I got to see both Nates, someone not named Nate had just been fired from forbidden planet, and I was introduced to Dash Shaw and never saw him again (where are you?). A lot of comics stuff at a non-comics event and an amazing band:
H. Fall on Your Sword
This band is great live, because one guy actually plays the video mixer with the music. The visualization is great. I was presently surprised by their performance at Comic Book Club last Fall.
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