This video combines all of my great passions: Etch-A-Sketch, DC comics, and quick and easy posts with little-to-no effort on my part!  Sure, it’s no styrofoam cup art, but it’ll do.  Enjoy, foo’!

This being the Week of Bruce and all, I decided to post a piece of Batman artwork from my meeting notes.  I realize that the last meeting notes were Batman-oriented as well.  Next one will have nothing to do with the Caped Crusader, I promise.

I hope you like the pseudo-anime style, just don’t expect to see it too often.

First off, let me tell you: Punisher: War Zone is over the top.  In some cases this works splendidly, in others…not so much.  P:WZ takes hyper-violence into a realm that can only be described as an artform.  This movie is full of beautiful, gory ways of dispatching bad guys (and a few random people as well).  There are decapitations and exploding heads; faces are punched through, necks are run through; throats are bitten, kidneys are eaten; and lots and lots of gun shot wounds are inflicted upon many a mob henchman.

As far as those gun shot wounds are concerned, Punisher is the kind of hero that never misses his target except when it will advance the plot.   His enemies are the perfect corollary to this type of hero: they can’t hit anything except for the good guys who don’t matter to the story.  This is neither a bad thing nor a good thing; it’s just an action movie thing. 

Ray Stevenson (who, oddly enough, is not Ray Stevens‘ son) is the third actor to play Frank “Punisher” Castle.  Not only is he the best Punisher, he also uses the most hair gel of any other Punisher.  He also brings a humaness and grittiness to the role that has been missing in past films.

The big bad in this film is Jigsaw, who is a disfigured Joker wanna-be.  As far as I can tell (not really being a fan of the comics), this is the first time that a villain from the comics has been in any of the movies.  He starts off creepily enough, but by the final confrontation has gone so far over the top that he’s rather annoying.  None of the other over-the-top characters even have the benefit of ever being interesting at any point.  Loony Bin Jim?  Typical case of trying to force the creepiness/quirkiness of a character and ending up with an unbelievably goofy villain.  Detective Soap?  Unnecessary comic relief.  Those three crazy acrobat robbers?  Another failed attempt at quirky villains, but in reality, they are stupid beyond belief–in fact, their leader made me mad.  That’s how ridiculous he was.

In the end, P:WZ’s downfall is that it’s characters are too uneven.  Are they in a gritty crime thriller?  Ray Stevenson is.  Are they in a heart-warming human melodrama?  A few of them try to be.  Are they in a super violent action flick?  The effects department definitely is.  Are they in a comedy?  Apparently some wish they were.  Did I laugh?  Only at the parts that I wasn’t supposed to.

Overall, 7/10.  The action and violence is top-notch.  Ray Stevenson is great.  Everything else, meh.

The new Watchmen trailer is out and it’s pretty cool.  I’m definitely in the “this movie will rock” camp.  However, it seems to me that Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach) went to the same speech school that Christian Bale did to learn his Batvoice.