Author Archives: Thom Yee

Quantum of Solace

23 Friday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

Quantum of Solace images courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures

“Oh crap,” I thought to myself as the realization set in.  After completing a review of Casino Royale (CR) in the lead up to Skyfall, it dawned on me that I would also have to do a Quantum of Solace review.  Well, here it goes.

Ask any Bond fan, any real Bond fan.  It doesn’t matter if you like Daniel Craig by a little or a lot; Quantum of Solace (QoS) was not good.  That’s an opinion that’s sort of warranted, but also a little perplexing, because, frankly, there are a lot of crap Bonds (or “junk Bonds” as my screenwriting instructor likes to call them, though I haven’t gotten him to commit as to which ones he’s referring).  Certainly to me and to a lot of newer Bond fans, CR was a revelation.  If you read my CR review, you know that Daniel Craig’s Bond was not only my first real exposure to the franchise, but that CR is almost wholly responsible for my being a fan.  And despite my natural inclination towards psychological sedation and withdrawal (and the mixed advance reviews), I remember actually being excited to see QoS.

And then I saw it.

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Casino Royale

23 Friday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

Casino Royale images courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures

Casino Royale is the first Bond movie I ever saw.

There.  I said it.

Though, to be more accurate, it’s the first Bond movie I ever saw all the way through.  Sure. I’d seen bits and pieces of various Bond movies at various times, pieced together which ones were usually Moneypenny and which ones were usually M.  Eventually I figured out why a picture of Sean Connery signed by Roger Moore was such a funny joke.  But I never cared about any of it.

Casino Royale is the first Bond movie I ever saw all the way through that I actually cared about.  It inspired me to go ahead and watch all the preceding Bond movies.  In order.  All 20.  All in less than a week.  All the way through.

And to be honest, I still didn’t really care about any of them.

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The Expendables 2

22 Thursday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

The Expendables 2 images courtesy of Lionsgate

There’s something to be said for a movie where, of all of its stars, Jean-Claude Van Damme gives the best acting performance.

And that something to be said? F*cking awesome.

That’s how I wanted to start this review, and, after a moment of contemplation, I went ahead and started it that way.

Even though it’s a lie.

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Runaway Bride

22 Thursday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

Runaway Bride images courtesy of Paramount Pictures

After watching Runaway Bride, I can tell you that there are only two things that I’m certain of:

  1. Runaway Bride is a movie that was released in 1999.

Runaway Bride is a movie.  I’m certain it is a movie.  I’m certain it is a movie and I don’t think it ever lets you forget that it is a movie.  I’m certain it is a movie and that its writers, producers, directors, cast, set designers, makeup people, second unit directors, and various other hangers on know it is a movie.  I’m certain it is a movie and that the characters are, on some level, consciously aware that they are in a movie.  It couldn’t be anything other than a movie.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I was forced to watch Runaway Bride for a screenwriting course I’m taking.  I don’t want you to think that I pick out movies to review for the classics section just to rip them apart.

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JLA (Issues 1-4)

22 Thursday Nov 2012

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By Thom Yee

JLA images courtesy of DC Comics

Along with Warren Ellis’ Planetary, Brian Michael Bendis’ Powers and Mark Millar’s Ultimates, Grant Morrison’s JLA (short for Justice League of America) is not only one of my favourite comicbook runs of all time, but it really formed the spine of my personal literary sensibilities.  In terms of print on paper with few-to-no pictures, I read very few books, so it’s fortunate that comicbooks as strongly executed and high-concept as those four came along to help inform who I am (or at least who I claim to be).  Having grown up reading comics and magazines more than any traditional novels or literary works, I guess it’s an issue of attention span — I just can’t keep it going, it’s like there’s a wall made of nothing but text.  It really escapes me how anyone can plow their way through a significant amount of text, fiction or nonfiction, without pictures of some invulnerable flying man or a giant, green rage monster jumping out at you.

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He Says/She Says: Batman: Earth One (Volume 1)

22 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Books, ComicBooks, He Says/She Says

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He Says

By Thom Yee

Batman: Earth One images courtesy of DC Comics

Batman is a jerk!

That hallowed little missive, famously uttered by Kitty Pryde about Professor X during Chris Claremont’s classic X-Men run, rung through my ears as I read Batman:  Earth One.  A jerk and a moron.  What an idiot.  My favourite parts of Batman:  Earth One all involved Batman generally screwing up.  I laughed out loud twice within the first eight pages as I watched Batman misfire his batline and then miss his jump to the next rooftop as he chased after his target.  Geoff Johns’ initial Earth One story begs the classic question from Grant Morrison’s impenetrable Seven Soldiers series, “How do you know you’re a super-hero and not a crazy fetish person with a death wish?”  Of course all of this X-Men and Seven Soldiers talk means nothing to anyone not well versed in the comic world.  And, ostensibly, the Earth One books are all about appealing to people without such knowledge.

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