Hi. I'm James.

I'm just a 24 year old guy from Brisbane that digs all kinds of shit and wants to talk about it.

[jamesshanley]

Words on Film - Chermside Screening by James Shanley

Words on Film aims to establish captioned screenings through private bookings.

So I'm doing a thing.

This is something I'm really passionate about. My parents are deaf, as is my uncle. A lot of my family friends are deaf. They don't go to the movies a lot, and when they do it's sometimes a shallow experience. It's something so simple, and it's something they're excluded from. So I'm doing a Pozible to raise enough money to privately book out an entire cinema and show a captioned film.

I'm nervous as all fuck because I've never done something like this before, but I really want it to work. And in order for it to work, I need your help. If you're interested, a $20 donation will get you one ticket to the first screening. If you know someone in Brisbane that might be interested, send them the link! I know I kind of focus on deaf people, with mentions of the hearing impaired and ESL speakers, but that's just because of the personal nature of the project. Words on Film is for anyone and everyone!

Share it on your Facebook, Tweet it, send an email to someone, what have you. I would be forever grateful for any help you could provide me in ensuring this gets out there to people.

I've set up a Facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/wordsonfilm - that you can direct people to.

And if you have any questions at all, hit me up! This is the first time I've developed a project in the real world and I'm bound to have overlooked something. If something is not clear to you, you let me know.

[jamesshanley]

from Prez (2015) #3

Prez is scarily prescient. This already happens in a not so extreme fashion so it’s not hard to believe that society would move to this level of discourse and management.

I’m horrified for the future.

[jamesshanley]

Someone posted an album of gifs from ridiculous infomercials and the first thought that popped into my head was “this is what it means to ‘can’t even’”.

[jamesshanley]

The Incredibly Average Four

Last week I won a double pass to a preview screening to the new FANTASTIC FOUR movie. I’ve just gotten home, and while I probably need an extra day to settle my thoughts completely, I already have a few I need to get out. Be warned. There will be SPOILERS.

Let’s get some of the big things out of the way first. Doom is actually Victor Von Doom, not Victor Domashev. That’s made explicitly clear. He has the ultimate neckbeard PCMASTERRACE set up but he doesn’t do any blogging whatsoever. Sue briefly touches on the fact she’s adopted. But these things don’t really matter and the controversy they caused never really mattered to me. I’m perfectly fine with serviceable cosmetic changes.

Now for the movie -- the first half to two-thirds is fine. I liked it. I went in thinking I was going to hate the movie and I was surprised to find that it was pretty decent for most of the set up.

Then the movies skips a year later and then just skull drags you to the end as fast as it can. It’s almost a complete shift in tone, because the first half of the movie had no problem dropping in tiny character building moments. The second half doesn’t give a fuck and just guns for the finish line. It’s like someone saw the first cut of what should have been the last hour and decided “It’s too long! Make it 20 minutes!”. Whoever edited this thing just did not give a fuck. The reshoots seem pretty evident with how different Kate Mara’s hair changes from moment to moment, so I have to assume something big did indeed happen behind the scenes.

So yeah. Reed, Johnny, Ben and Doom get drunk and decide to use their dimensional transporter before anyone notices. Shit goes majorly wrong, of course. Doom falls and everyone gets exposed to alternate dimensional energies that give them powers. They wind up on a secret military base for treatment and study and Reed escapes. One year later, they find Reed and everything just goes downhill from here. Reed rebuilds the transporter and a military team goes in. Doom’s not actually dead, they bring him back, and then he decides he needs to kill everyone (weirdly enough, everyone except the four major characters who are right there in the room) and destroy Earth. The four save the day, the end. That’s it. Nothing more than that happens. It rushes to the end as quickly as that explanation did.

The movie is not offensively bad at all. It’s just disappointing due to the complete lack of effort in that last half/third. I can’t imagine this is going to get a sequel. It’s an underwhelming movie and the response to it is probably going to be the same. Fox just burned the Fantastic Four for the third time in just over a decade. And I’m not even one of those Marvel Studios zealots.

Jonathan Hickman nailed the Fantastic Four for over 50 issues. How is it this hard to make a movie?

PS. Remember how shitty Doom looked in the first two movies? They somehow managed to make him look even shittier here. He looks like a worse Cobra Commander from the first GI JOE movie. Remember him?

Yeah...

[jamesshanley]

A Tale to Almost Astonish

I went in to see ANT-MAN with very low expectations. I didn’t think it’d be bad but I didn’t think it’d be very good either. Not as bad as IRON MAN 2 but not better than THOR: THE DARK WORLD. The trailer basically gave the plot of the movie away and I say this as someone who has never read a Scott Lang comic, or even a comic with Scott Lang in it. I have no attachment to these characters whatsoever, aside from their roles in the excellent AVENGERS: EARTHS MIGHTIEST HEROES. If it wasn’t for the fact that I can get cheap tickets then I would have waited several weeks until I could to see ANT-MAN. That’s how low my enthusiasm was for this movie. So you can imagine my surprise having walked out of the cinema enjoying this more than AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and JURASSIC WORLD.

It’s not a perfect movie by any stretch. Yellowjacket could practically be removed from the movie entirely and it wouldn’t make much of a difference. His role could have been replaced by any kind of generic circumstance – like AIM buying out Pym Technologies and finding Pym’s research. This was a heist movie and I think it would have been for the better for the movie to purely be a heist movie than to fall into superhero/supervillain fight in the third act trope. Much like Christopher Eccleston and Malekith, Corey Stoll and Darren Cross were wasted opportunities that served to be nothing more than the catalyst for the plot. It’s disappointing that MARVEL still haven’t learned their lesson in this regard.

That said, this is a very funny movie. Paul Rudd is as loveable as ever as Scott Lang. Michael Douglas adds some real gravitas as Hank Pym and it really pays off in the emotional beats of the movie. Hope van Dyne is a much better role than Tauriel for Evangeline Lilly and you kind of really want the movie to be more about her. Or at least I did anyway. But the real highlight is Michael Peña as Luis, one of Scott’s con buddies. With him you can really see the Edgar Wright influence on the script. The humour that he’s inserted has done a really good job differentiating it from the other MARVEL movies. It never laughs at the material, which would be all too easy to do, but it does have fun with it. Which is reasonable when you’re trying to sell something like “ANT-MAN” to the general public.

I would’ve given up sex for a year to see the movie Edgar Wright was going to make. I really wanted that movie. But inevitably, the way MARVEL operate their comics has made its way to their movies and if someone will not execute their vision then they will get the next person in line who happily will. Fair enough. These are their properties and that’s their prerogative. But it’s still a shame.

Whoever is responsible for the marketing behind ANT-MAN needs to revaluate their decisions. I’m sure there is a whole host of market research that says I’m wrong and that they had the right strategy, but I really feel that they tried too hard to sell it as a poor man’s IRON MAN when it is quite clearly a superhero-comedy-heist movie.

I walked in expecting an average time and walked out having had a really fun time. Not every movie can be CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER or GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, and that’s fine by me.

[jamesshanley]

I’ve been trying to get around to posting my thoughts on ANT-MAN (and I will) but in the mean time, MARVEL have released a still of the Wasp suit that Hank presents to Hope in the first post credits sequence.

I’m kind of disappointed that MARVEL has already announced their slate for the next 4 years. There’s no ANT-MAN sequel and I would very much like an ANT-MAN & WASP movie about their subatomic adventure to find Jan.

Please.

[jamesshanley]

Rick Perry calls for more guns in cinemas following Lafayette shooting

US Republican hopeful for 2016 presidential race says ‘gun-free zones’ are a ‘bad idea’ and citizens should be allowed to carry weapons while watching movies

"The problem that America has with guns is that it just doesn't have enough. We will not be safe as a nation until we put guns in every single hand in every single location. In cinemas, in schools, in kindergartens, in hospitals. Everyone. Everywhere. Every gun."

That’s definitely a sound gun policy, Rick.

That still doesn't prevent the event from taking place. Guns aren't a deterrent for these people. Most of them turn their guns on themselves anyway. If anything, it just means that the next person who does this will get a bulletproof vest and more ammunition. People will still die. The goal with gun policy should be in prevention. Stop people from even thinking of committing these acts. Stop those who do from being able to get their hands on guns easily.

But no. More guns!

From the nation that gave us the Cold War.

[jamesshanley]

from AIRBOY #1

I know AIRBOY has been out for a while but I only just picked it up the other day after I heard everyone talking about it. I’ve definitely missed James Robinson.

This has to be one of my favourite first pages of a comic in a long time. I’m a very self-aware and self-deprecating person. I know what my faults are. So of course I really enjoy it when someone else is able to reflect on themselves without pretension and embarrassment. These are qualities I really admire and for that reason I really enjoy AIRBOY.

Of course, it helps that Greg Hinkle is just amazing. There’s just something about the way he depicts emotion in his art that adds an extra mile to this book.

[jamesshanley]

We Asked Peter Dutton The Same Question Seven Times And It Pissed Him Off

Does the asylum seeker boat off WA exist?

This bothers me. Not just because the government’s refugee policy is inhumane as fuck. But because this “we won’t comment on ‘on water matters” bullshit obstructs our ability to be an informed populace. Not that this is a key factor in informing my decision come next federal election, but it’s important information to know nonetheless.

You didn’t stop the boats, Peter. I truly doubt you’ve prevented anyone from dying. You just stopped telling us about it so you can make it sound like you did.

You piece of shit, Peter.

[jamesshanley]

from Superman/Wonder Woman #18

I haven’t read SUICIDE SQUAD since the first few issues of the New 52 series but I don’t quite understand how this is a suicide squad.

It’s a cool team, don’t get me wrong. But every character here has plot armour. Deadshot, Harley and Boomerang are about to be the stars of their own movie in a years time. Manta is Aquaman’s biggest nemesis next to Ocean Master. That doesn’t necessarily preclude him from being killed off but Aquaman doesn’t exactly have the most extensive rogues gallery so it wouldn’t be worth it. That’s a story for the Aquaman book.

And Reverse-Flash is well, a Reverse-Flash. Either this one is weaker than Thawne and Zolomon, or Waller really stepped up her game.

I don’t get it. The Suicide Squad shouldn’t be stacked with big names. It should be DC’s Z-list culling program. Take a bottom rung character no one cares about, make them compelling, have them do something interesting and then blow them up. The stakes aren’t present with a team like this.

That said. Doug Mahnke is a motherfucking boss.

[jamesshanley]

I’ve recently begun posting content to my works Instagram account. Since I love superhero comics I wanted to post the SUICIDE SQUAD trailer and took a crack at editing it down to 15 seconds.

I have no audio editing skills whatsoever and only a basic understanding of video editing so I’m really happy with the way this turned out.

[jamesshanley]

Refresh.

After who knows how many months away from this thing, I’ve decided to give it another shot. Though, this time I’m changing it up. I’ve wiped the deck clear and I’m pulling a FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Blog Reborn.

Since I don’t have a full time job I figured I need do something productive with all my spare time instead of just wasting it on Reddit. So I’m going to write and comment on all the shit I like because I do it anyway and at least this way I could have a portfolio of sorts.

I’m mostly fascinated by pop-culture: comics and superheroes primarily. Those are my first loves so I will probably spend a disproportionate amount of time talking about them, but I do also work at a cinema so I’ll probably talk about movies a lot too and all the things I notice therein. Of course I also watch a lot of “television” so that’s going to come up regularly as well. Basically most forms of media apart from novels because I’m a horrible person and need visual stimulation.

I’m also very invested in politics. I’ll state this here and get it out of the way - I am a registered member of THE GREENS. I find myself increasingly frustrated with the antics of the current federal government so from time to time I’ll have something to say about that too. I will be colourful, because I believe passionate commentary is better than clinical commentary as long as it’s well-reasoned.

So that’s that. I’m not conceited enough to think that what I have to say will be interesting to everyone but hopefully it is to some. If you want to contact me, feel free. I’m always open for a chat or a discussion.

Let’s do this.