Drunk Batman and Robin Animated Short 1- Smart Phone from Spencer Scott Holmes on Vimeo.

Drunk Batman and Robin Animated Short 2- Why Robin Can’t Wear Pants from Spencer Scott Holmes on Vimeo.

A trailer for the documentary about the excellent comics creator Guy Delisle, best known for his wonderful travel books such as Shenzen, the Burma Chronicles or his most recent Jerusalem: Chronicles From the Holy City which scored honours at Angoulême (the English language edition is due from D&Q this spring, it’s already on my Must Read Radar). From the description:

“Captured over the course of a 1 year period in the south of France, the film follows the gradual realization of Guy’s latest travelogue ‘Jerusalem Chronicles’ and includes an in-depth look at Shenzhen, Pyongyang, Burma Chronicles aswell as an intriguing insight into the rise of the independent graphic novel. Equally explored are Guy’s beginnings in animation, his studio, his inspiration, his career thus far and the travelogues that never saw print: Vietnam and Ethiopia.”

The Guy Delisle Chronicles from phillip rashleigh on Vimeo.

Josh Trank’s upcoming new movie Chronicle takes on of the well-known clichés of the superhero genre – the sudden granting of superpowers through contact with a strange source – but treats it a little differently than the usual spandex-fest, taking a cooler, more lo-fi approach. When a group of high school friends find themselves developing powers from a mysterious substance they’re not sure what to do about it – what would any of us do in that situation? Without training or discipline or focus it could be too easy to cause an accident with those new powers… As they develop they begin to experiment and have fun with them, playing pranks, but as they gain confidence and experience in their new abilities they start to push the boundaries of what they will do – but with those growing powers and confidence comes a sense of impunity and immortality, which may challenge their own sense of morality and just how far they might go…

Chronicle has opened in UK cinemas with preview screenings already, and opens fully on general release this weekend; our friends behind the film are helping us celebrate the film’s opening with a very generous competition. Social media and tech features in the film, with the movie gleefully playing with the conventions of the ‘found footage’ genre, and they have given us some cracking prizes: a dual core MacBook Air and a Canon EOS 550D camera. To be in with a chance of winning one of these brilliant prizes just send us your name and contact details to joe (dot) gordon (at) forbiddenplanet (dot) co (dot) uk and tell us the name of the director of Chronicle before February 15th (and if you could put ‘chronicle’ in the subject line, please). Good luck!

Josh Trank’s upcoming new movie Chronicle takes on of the well-known clichés of the superhero genre – the sudden granting of superpowers through contact with a strange source – but treats it a little differently than the usual spandex-fest, taking a cooler, more lo-fi approach.  When a group of high school friends find themselves developing powers from a mysterious substance they’re not sure what to do about it – what would any of us do in that situation? Without training or discipline or focus it could be too easy to cause an accident with those new powers… As they develop they begin to experiment and have fun with them, playing pranks, but as they gain confidence and experience in their new abilities they start to push the boundaries of what they will do – but with those growing powers and confidence comes a sense of impunity and immortality, which may challenge their own sense of morality and just how far they might go…

Chronicle opens in UK cinemas on February 1st and our friends behind the film are helping us celebrate the film’s opening with a very generous competition. Social media and tech features in the film, with the movie gleefully playing with the conventions of the ‘found footage’ genre, and they have given us some cracking prizes: a dual core MacBook Air and a Canon EOS 550D camera. To be in with a chance of winning one of these brilliant prizes just send us your name and contact details to joe (dot) gordon (at) forbiddenplanet (dot) co (dot) uk and tell us the name of the director of Chronicle before February 15th (and please put ‘chronicle’ in the subject line). Good luck!

The convention is fantastic, four days of continuous activities, all night video showings, real film projectors, at times over twenty activities to choose from. And they have programmed a number of stage performances, and this is what brings me to write.

The Teseracte Players of Boston performed a piece of ‘shadow theatre’ – essentially, actors, or players, perform on stage simultaneously as a film is on screen, so the songs and words are the original recordings. This is something that the group have been doing for seventeen years, and are well known for their Doctor Horrible, Buffy, Once More With Feeling and Rocky Horror Picture show performances.

(pics by James, click to see the larger version on Flickr)

It is no mean feat to shadow perform a film on stage. It is even harder when the movie selected is as popular and stylistic as Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.  I was unsure what to expect – unsure how a group of performers would be able to portray in live action one of the most iconic pieces of animation film of the last twenty years, and one that is so popular in fan circles.

I was utterly taken by surprise. The performance exceeded my expectations. From the start the relaxed and natural emceeing of Glenn fed into what was a very imaginative set of costumes and incredibly accurate portrayals, in perfect unison with the playing of the film. I was transported to Halloweentown immediately.

(The Mayor of Halloweentwon canvasses James for his vote)

Biff, as the Mayor, was perfect, his gait and movement setting a standard. He caught the facial transition with ease which made me laugh immediately and continuously. The choreography of the players and miming was unnervingly good, so good in fact that I soon had forgotten the off stage screen. It was joyous entertainment and terrifically great fun, it gave me a sense of ‘something special’ as I viewed this new version of a well known movie, and how accurately the players brought the stage to life.

The simplicity and cleverness of the set, the lighting, and the movement of players through the audience gave the performance an intimate and polished feel.

I loved Dr. Finklestein’s position. A wheelchair was situated on a stand on one side of the stage, imitating his tower, while Lock, Shock and Barrel were ably played by Tori, Mimi and Ashley, who multi-tasked as the band, and were so much fun. AJ as Oogie Boogie no doubt benefited from the amazing costume which made him visually fantastic, yet like all the players, it was his exquisite performance made the character and brought it to full life on the stage.

Sara and Muppet as Jack and Sally were picture perfect, and played their parts beautifully. The makeup and costumes were superlative, the players really finding their pace and places perfectly and again the lighting ensured that their performance was picked out brilliantly. Both exuded confidence and professionalism while embodying the electric element required for this show.

The spirit and fun fell off the stage in waves and assaulted me, I felt these performers were enjoying what they were doing, and it showed, not only in the flow of the performance or the easy progression of the story, but also in how caught I found myself, filling me with excitement.

Of course, Zero as played by Anna, a young girl, who was a gem.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, and subsequently stayed for the next two performances, but am really very surprised, and I am sure locals will nod in a knowing way, aware of this local brilliance at how well Amy the director, brought the troupe together, and how exhilarated the players made me feel, but itv was truly surprising at how enjoyable it was. Bravo Teseracte!

You may recall last year we blogged about Dugbus seeking – and thankfully obtaining – funding for their micro budget Indy movie set in Edinburgh and based around the world’s rarest and most valuable comic – Electric Man #1 – and a pair of loveable losers in a failing comic store. The guys were kind enough to invite me along to a first screening for in Edinburgh’s Filmhouse last August and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, a huge sense of fun pervades it and the main characters are instantly likeable (even Fish’s nasty gangster like character has a certain charm behind it all), plus Edinburgh as a backdrop isn’t too shabby (okay, I am biased, but it is one of the loveliest looking cities on the planet), with interior scenes shot in the city’s Dead Head Comics. The guys have since been working on trying to get a distribution deal, always a struggle – getting the resources and money to make an independent film is hard enough but if you do manage it then there’s a second, equally difficult struggle to try and interest distributors.

That battle is still going on but Dugbus aren’t sitting still – the film will get its official premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival on the 23rd of February and will also be going further north to be screened at Hi-Ex in late March. The official website has also had a make-over and they’re sporting this spiffing new poster that you see above. I’m sure there will be more screenings to be announced and we’ll let you know if and when we hear about them, but of course while trying to generate interest from distributors getting word of mouth from audiences is paramount, so please, if you can, give the guys some support and let others know on Twitter, blogs etc. It’s an enormously enjoyable wee film for comics fans, but even for your non comics reading chums it is a cool little Indy movie; you can read my review here.

The Electric Man screening at the Glasgow Film Fest is part of the Kapow strand of movies this year, being curated by Scotland’s own Mark Millar, who has been building a relationship with the Glasgow Film Theatre (a gem of a place) hosting genre screenings through the year, and in this, it’s second year, includes feature film screenings such as the new Tatsumi film from Eric Khoo which I reviewed recently and a very special edition of the still wonderful Superman movie, Glasgow-based Night Is Day which we’ve mentioned before here, as well as various events such as the very gifted Kate Brown in conversation, Charlie Adlard giving a talk (Charlie will also be signing in the Glasgow Forbidden Planet in February), Mark Millar and Frank Quitely chatting, the guys behind last year’s cracking Scotland’s Amazing Comic Book Heroes for the BBC will be there and much more. All this plus, of course, the Glasgow Film Festival itself going on around it in that very vibrant city. And kudos to the GFF for showing such interest in and support of the comics medium.