www.dannyzabbal.com

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I wont bore you with the details, so I’ll just say I’m back. With this return to blogging, comes a change of pace I think you’ll find pleasant (sort of). In the past I’ve brought you a smattering of Obsolete Superheroes™, however these days I’m in more of a mood to bring you villains. Not quite so impotent as my heroes but not without a certain sense of humor nonetheless.

FOCALOR

Demon mariner, captain to a host of tortured wailing souls.

JORDAN & BEAR

Jordan & Bear is an ongoing web-series directed by Nikola Markovic & Andrew Lima, with screenplays written by Christopher Zanti. I wont say too much about it, other than I really love this series. Everyone has different taste when it comes to film, for me this falls right on the mark. It’s subtle and imaginative. Below is a link to the website,  I strongly recommend you follow the whole series… you’ll have a lot of fun.

Jordan & Bear

Also, check out their blog for news and reviews.

Phase Four

GRUMBLE

When I first discovered this webcomic, I had to really poke around to find the creator’s name: Matthew McKenna. You’ll understand when you see the presentation of his site. It’s called Grumble, at least that’s what I think it’s called?  My only clue to the title was in the in the address bar of my browser.  His whole site, comic and all, in an alien language. Cool, huh?

What I love about this comic is it brings me back to my formative years, that exciting time when I was just learning how to read. My older brother weened me on comics, I didn’t get Dr. Seuss or Spot, I got The New Mutants and Teen Titans. It was an exciting feeling when I could decipher a page; I liked the challenge. Grumble trips my nostalgia, it reminds me that my eyes and my brain are trained to see the world in a certain way. It also reminds me that I don’t have to see the world that way, necessarily. Anything, comic or otherwise, that can shift someone’s perspective is super-cool as far as I’m concerned.

Grumble

I love the concepts and conventions of the fantastical genres. They are, without question, my favorite metaphorical languages. Unfortunately this year’s flock of summer science-fiction and fantasy films seem fairly trite. Though I haven’t seen them all and I don’t have anything against any of the filmmakers, I think the evidence is plain; seven sequels, some time travel, killer robots, intrigue, army guys, magic, a few superheroes, etc, etc. Sadly, without their respective brand names these tropes become interchangeable and arbitrary, which is to say, impotent. In their defense, the people and market research that produced them probably had no intention of doing anything special. No, such grandiose and expensive entertainment can only be measured in money-making power and so, in that context, I suppose these films were all successes. Be that as it may, most of them failed to interest me at all. In my own urbane and flowery way I like to think that I am a cultured appreciator of things that are inspired. I’ll give humanity the benefit of the doubt and presume that most people feel the same way, and without a monocle or top hat either. Nevertheless the average person might know something novel when they see it but how and where they they it is another story. I don’t think most of us are looking in the right place.

Last year Alrugo Entertainment released a weekly internet film entitled Italian Spiderman. To be very clear, this is not a parody of Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man. Aside from its stylistic influences (Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Sergio Leone), the premise stems from a bizarre subsection of international cinema. You might have seen clips of these movies on Youtube, deformed re-imaginings of popular American films (The Turkish Star Wars, The Turkish Star Trek, The Philippino Batman, The Indian Superman, The Indian Thriller, The Japanese Spider-Man). Typically they’re a morass of badly planned action scenes intercut with stock footage, incomprehensible stories, musical numbers and, well, blatant sexism. They do a spectacular job of distorting the well-established mythos of the characters and as a result are very strange, albeit kind of boring. I am happy to say that Italian Spiderman differs from it’s antecedents. It is by far one of the most original and hilarious films I have ever seen. The low-fi special effects, the performances, the writing and the pacing are very well thought-out and outstandingly executed.

Italian Spiderman Trailer

Unfortunately you wont see it screened at your local multiplex, and that’s my point. Popular science-fiction and fantasy has been atrophied for some time, but it has a chance of being liberated by independent production companies like Alrugo Entertainment. I am the first one to admit that the internet wont save humanity from itself, nevertheless it can save us from market-researched cinema and filmmakers who are too detached from their audience to care about what kind of film they produce.I’m not here to point out the foibles of Hollywood, nor to do I think it’s a particularly great way to spend our time. The heart of what I am trying to say is that independent internet film is increasingly becoming more and more impressive. What fatuous headlines pointed out as flash-in-the-pan web sensations created by amateurs are slowly overtaking the establishment. Italian Spiderman isn’t just a smattering of slapstick jokes or references to Italian actions movie, it’s a well-made film. Digital effects be damned, this movie has heart and imagination. If you haven’t already, I think you should watch the whole thing.

Italian Spiderman Episode I

Watch the rest at www.alrugo.com