Pads & Panels

Why (500) Days of Summer is the Geekiest Film You’ve Never Seen or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Get Excited About Spider-Man

By Matt Peters

After much convincing by my friend John Castro, I finally sat down and watched the 2009 movie (500) Days of Summer. I’m not a big fan of romcoms, and I was determined to avoid yet another film that features the typical formula: the guy is a bumbling, macho fool who changes his ways thanks to a strong-willed independent woman who softens her man-hatin’ stance and eventually swoons for the still rough-around-the-edges schlub. Why would I waste my time watching that kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun fall in love with a girl with cartoonishly huge eyes?

Mark Webb directed the film who, at the time, didn’t have much feature-length directing experience under his belt. The movie feels a little like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World without all of the game and comic references in the sense that the characters are very well spoken and have depth beyond what’s immediately shown on the surface. Webb’s directing style, combined with various slapstick elements and a witty script make for a comedic experience that may surprise some viewers. He even went so far as to direct a short to accompany one throwaway line featuring the stars in a Sid & Nancy parody. (more…)

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2010 Holiday Gift Guide – For the PSP Fan…

By P&P Staff

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Valkyria Chronicles II

Sega managed to cram a full-fledged sequel to it’s PS3 tactical RPG, Valkyria Chonicles onto the PSP while maintaining the original game’s strategy and stylized watercolor art style. Although the units may be smaller, they’re no less powerful, as this proves to be more than a worthwhile followup to one of the PS3’s stand-out titles of 2008. The military strategist on your list (and who doesn’t have one?) will thank you for this one. (more…)

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On Thursday, April 15, 2010, Lionsgate held a red carpet premiere for Kick-Ass at AMC River East in Chicago, Ill. Aaron Johnson (Kick-Ass) and Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl) walked the carpet. Pads & Panels’ Tom Braaksma got a chance to ask them each a few questions. Bill Jones films and edits.

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Thank You, Nic Cage, For Fucking Up Kick-Ass

By Bill Jones

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May I have you attention please? Today’s regularly scheduled, even-handed, starred, professional review of Kick-Ass has been pre-empted by pure, unbridled nerd rage in a feature titled “Thank You, Nic Cage, For Fucking Up Kick-Ass (You Horrible Actor, You).” We had every intention of running a standard review today, but after last night’s red carpet premiere in Chicago, nerd rage ensued, and circumstances beyond our control have forced us to replace the scheduled programming. We apologize for the inconvenience, and suggest if you want to remain spoiler free on the movie or steer clear of this nerd rage, you cease to read at this point. Thank you for your understanding. (more…)

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Title: Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie

Publisher: Titan Books

Writer: Commentary by Mark Millar, Contributions from Cast and Crew

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

Spoiler Alert! If the reader has not seen the movie or read the comic and does not want to know everything about it, hold off on Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie. This book will give away a lot of the plot and the differences between the comic and the movie. With that being said, the question at hand is whether after the movie has been viewed is this companion book to the Kick-Ass franchise worth picking up? The answer to that could be yes or no depending on the reader’s commitment to the franchise and their concern for intricate details, down to costumes, the story’s origin, writers’ thoughts and actors’ takes on the material. Creating the Comic, Making the Movie is really for the most die-hard of fans. (more…)

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Title: Kick-Ass Premiere Hardcover

Publisher: Marvel

Writer: Mark Millar

Artist: John Romita Jr.

Rating:

Review by: Thomas Braaksma

These days most people watch movies and television to get their entertainment fix. Comic books usually get tossed to the side and at times mocked as an irrelevant form of media, at least until a movie is made about them. In the case of Kick-Ass, even though a movie was in mind from the conception of the book, it hardly seems necessary to have any other interpretation of this almost perfect comic book.

Reading Kick-Ass is a much better option than, say, renting Law Abiding Citizen or whatever number Saw movie studios are pumping out this year. Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. take a concept that every comic fan has at some time fantasized about – putting on a costume and pulling a Batman on some bad guys – and put together a truly inspired, truly original and highly entertaining book. (more…)

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These days I try to balance my social life, work, writing, relaxing and fitting my love for music, comics and gaming all into these 24 hours of a day we call life. I must admit I find myself slipping and not being as productive as I should have been this winter. Ask Bill; I’m sure he will tell you that more than once he had to give me a productive nudge into finishing some reviews. But in this all I still force time to enjoy the things we bring our opinions on. I’m going to use this time to bring up a couple different things in comics, gaming, movies, television and music that have been taking up the area of my days I call “relaxing,” and into the area I call writing.

First and foremost, comics are a huge part of what I do for Pads and Panels, so I’ll tackle them first. I’m sorry to say I find it harder and harder to find good comics these days. Maybe it’s just that I can be a little critical at times, but there are only a few that shine above the others. I just finished the Kick-Ass trade, and will be writing a review soon, so besides saying that the movie better do it justice, I’ll just say it’s awesome. I also need to catch up on one of my all time favorites The Walking Dead, since for some reason I’ve stopped at book #9. The only other thing I’m really interested in reading at this second is Civil War by Mark Millar. As you can see here by a growing trend, I like his work. If anybody out there has some recommendations on comics, please enlighten me since I’m always looking for good things to read. (more…)

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