Daily Archives: August 4, 2016

Animation Sidebar : “Batman : The Killing Joke”

Posted on by Ryan C. (trashfilmguru)

Trash Film Guru

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“Go ahead and cripple the bitch.”

Those were the words of then-DC executive editor Dick Giordano to editor Len Wein, who in turn relayed them to Alan Moore, writer of the seminal Batman/Joker tale Batman : The Killing Joke, and the subject of the order was Barbra Gordon, a.k.a. Batgirl. Moore had originally planned for he and Brian Bolland’s one-off story to be something of an “Elseworlds”-style tale (before there was such a thing), set apart from standard DC continuity and positing both a potential origin of The Joker (draped over a skeletal framework that dated all the way back to he Clown Prince of Crime’s first appearance ) and a potential conclusion to comics’ most famous feud — one that would ultimately be left to the reader to discern for themselves, but that strongly hinted that Batman flat-out snaps at the end and kills his most troublesome and…

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Why I Love THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (Warner Brothers 1938)

Posted on by gary loggins

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Readers of this blog know CASABLANCA is my all-time favorite movie, but THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD is definitely in the Top Ten, maybe even Top Five (I’d have to think about it… sounds like a future post!). The story’s been told on-screen dozens of times, from the silent 1922 Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler to Disney’s 1973 animated version to the recent Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott offering. But it’s this 1938  classic that remains definitive, thanks to a marvelous cast, breathtaking Technicolor, and the greatest cinematic swordfight in history.

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You all know the legend of Robin Hood by now, so no need for a recap. Instead, I’ll go right into what makes this film so great, starting with Errol Flynn as the brave Sir Robin of Locksley. Flynn was at the peak of his career here, after starring in such action-packed hits as CAPTAIN BLOOD   , THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT…

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Music Video of the Day: Epic by Faith No More (1990, dir. Ralph Ziman)

Posted on by Valerie Troutman

I will keep the history lesson to a minimum. From the late 80s to the very early 90s was a weird time. The 80s were already priming themselves to be destroyed, but for a brief period we got incredibly dated stuff like this music video. Lisa loves to call certain films time capsules of an era that is no longer with us. That is this video in a nutshell. The song certainly lives up to its’ title. It is one of those underdog music videos that would sometimes make it on top lists back in the day and sometimes not. The same thing happened with the music video for Godley & Creme’s Cry.

This is one of those music videos that stirred up controversy too. It’s the fish at the end that flaps around out of water. Nothing major like the letter writing campaign that pushed Metallica’s One into late night or the one that stopped The Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up from playing anytime.

I love this song and music video. For whatever reason, I lump it together with Silent Lucidity by Queensryche. Since the 2000s, I also lump it together with the music video for Get Free by The Vines.

The music video was directed by Ralph Ziman who seems to have stuck with relatively obscure songs. Some big names like Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne, but past their prime.