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Articles by Justin Harrison
Carl Weathers made Predator’s Dillon a son of a bitch worth mourning — Hyperreal Film Club
Dillon mostly believes this. Mostly. But watch Weathers’ eyes when he furiously tries to justify his actions to Dutch. Betraying Dutch hurts—not only because Dillon’s breaking his friend’s trust and endangering his life, but also because the betrayal itself underlines how far they have grown apart. Dutch has kept his integrity.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Review — Hyperreal Film Club
If I wanted to be exceedingly catty, I would describe Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire as “We have All of Us Strangers at home.” Why? The most human part of Gil Kenan’s follow-up to Jason Reitman’s 2021 homage/nostalgia piece Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the romantically shaded friendship between a lonely creative person (Mckenna Grace’s Phoebe Spengler) and an isolated ghost trapped by her regrets and loneliness (Emily Alyn Lind’s Melody).
With “Wolfwood” Trigun Maximum Finds Grace in Death and a Moment of Quiet
By Justin Harrison Yasuhiro Nightow’s 1995 to 2007 science fiction manga Trigun/Trigun Maximum is a bombastic comic. How bombastic? Its official subtitle is “DEEP SPACE FUTURE PLANET GUN ACTION!!” – double exclamation points and all. Illustrator and writer Nightow does everything he can to live up to that name.
Do “Unfair Labor Practice” Strikes Bypass the Obstacles Workers Face When Fighting Their Boss?
By Justin Harrison, elected union officer in CWA 13000, currently retired, written in a personal capacity It’s clear to everyone who’s fought back against their boss that labor law overwhelmingly favors the employers.
Fears of AI sentience are a distraction
August 14, 2022 9:20 AM Were you unable to attend Transform 2022? Check out all of the summit sessions in our on-demand library now! Watch here. While many other industries are battered by high inflation and slowing growth rates, the market for software sophisticated enough to communicate digitally with humans isn’t slowing down.
Of Mobile Suits and Origins: The Self-Reflective History of Gundam
art by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko I love the long running Japanese science fiction series Gundam– the whole width and breadth of it. I love the bleak, hard science fiction of Iron-Blooded Orphans, where child soldiers fight to claw out a place they can call home. I love the unapologetic eccentricity and romanticism of Mobile Fighter G Gundam, a show where the robot devil is slain by the power of love.
Castle Falls movie review
Lundgren directs the great Scott Adkins and himself well in his scramble-filled cats-and-mice thriller. Mike Wade (Scott Adkins) thought he could make it in Mixed Martial Arts, he really did. He couldn’t. With his career definitively over, Mike and his pride have to figure out what to do with themselves.
Fantastic Five: The best comics of the week of December 1, 2021
Comic Books The best comics of the week that lead us into December. By Christopher Franey, David Brooke and Justin Harrison Happy December, everyone! It’s hard to believe we got through 2020, let alone that 2021 is already coming to a close, but time marches on. And thankfully it does, as this week was a big one for comic books! This week’s Fantastic Five, as it does every week, calls out and celebrates the five highest-rated comics of the week here at AIPT.
Sara Pichelli’s art stuns in ‘Spider-Men: Worlds Collide’, even when their scripts trip over their own webs
Comic Books Pichelli and Bendis’ two mainline Marvel/Ultimate Marvel web-slinger crossovers are gorgeous, vibrant comics. Spider-Men: Worlds Collide is a fascinating artifact. It’s a collection of Sara Pichelli, Brian Michael Bendis, and Justin Ponsor’s two Spider-Men miniseries, which star the mainline Marvel comics’ Peter Parker and Ultimate Marvel’s Miles Morales, and are built on the relationship between the two.
‘Once & Future’ #22 has spectacular narrative construction (and a fire-breathing lion)
Comic Books Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, and Kieron Gillen continue to be one of the most joyously reliable creative teams in comics. Once & Future is a comic about things going wrong and it has been from the start. Be it well-intentioned ruthlessness or bigoted knuckleschmuckery, the plans of the book’s players have rarely gone the way they were meant to go. Major victories have come from luck as much as cunning.
Blu-Ray Review: Donnie Yen's Raging Fire
The late Benny Chan’s thrilling drama pic pits action legends Donnie Yen and Nicolas Tse against each other. Bong (Donnie Yen) is a hero cop. He’s bold, decisive, and always gets his man. For good and ill, he’s got no patience for the brass and their smirking politicking. And he’s got even less patience for those of his peers who grin through the sleaze and kiss up to their superiors anyway. But Bong being a hero isn’t the same thing as his being good.
tick tick Boom! movie review
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of RENT creator Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiography boasts fantastic tunes, solid direction, frustrating storytelling, and one of the year’s finest lead performances. New York City. January 29th, 1990. Composer and playwright Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) turns 30 at the end of the week. SUPERBIA, the dystopian science fiction musical he’s spent most of a decade writing, is about to have its first-ever full workshop.
‘Eternals’ #7 continues Ribić and Gillen’s stupendous, brutal work with Thanos
Comic Books Whatever happens next, it will not be a reversion to the unacceptable status quo that was. The Eternals are living concepts, perfect embodiments of ideas and ideals. They are ever-returning and timeless, the unstoppable guardians of the great Machine that is Earth. Whenever they die, they are reborn as themselves. Certain aspects may shift, but the Eternals live up to their name and then some. But there is a cost.
Hell Hath No Fury movie review
The action director’s WWII stand-off is shaggy but boasts a killer climax and an excellent ensemble. Occupied France. 1941. The egomaniacal, romantic SS Colonel Von Brückner (Daniel Bernhardt) and his supposed French mistress Marie (Nina Bergman) are ambushed by the Resistance on their way to secret away gold pilfered from Von Brückner’s superiors. They survive. Liberated France. 1944.
One Shot puts Scott Adkins through a thrilling real-time wringer
The action all-star pushes his limits in James Nunn’s tense, daring single-shot tactical shooter. Present day. Present time. A helicopter arrives on an island, home to a soon-to-be-shuttered US prison. Intelligence analyst Zoe Anderson (Ashley Greene Khoury, Accident Man) is in the field for the first time. She has come to the island to retrieve a prisoner, Amin Mansour (Waleed Elgadi, Mosul) who she believes knows the location of a dirty bomb set to go off in Washington.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus review
Directors Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama have crafted a compelling mystery built on one of the unexplored parts of Blade Runner‘s history, choreographed solid action for it, and a more-than-game voice cast gives their story its spark. Los Angeles. 2032. 13 years after Blade Runner Rick Deckard completed his last job for the LAPD. Ten years after the nuclear blackout that wiped the city’s history clean.
‘Destroy All Monsters’ proves Ethan Reckless isn’t the hollow man he thinks he is
Comic Books The third volume of Sean Phillips and Ed Brubaker’s ‘Reckless’ delves into Ethan Reckless’s scarred heart to fascinating results. What a treat it is to read a comic that you just fall head-over-heels in love with.
Fantastic Five: The best comics of the week of October 13, 2021
Comic Books The five best comics of the week, as determined by AIPT’s review team. By David Brooke, Justin Harrison, Nathan Simmons and Reg Cruickshank Welcome back to another edition of Fantastic Five, where we collect the five best comics of the week according to AIPT’s review staff. This week, in addition to your typical Batman and Spider-Man entries, we have a comiXology Original that our own Dave Brooke called “your new favorite sci-fi series”.
‘Superman and the Authority’ #4 closes Grant Morrison’s time with corporate cape comics on a shining challenge
Comic Books A heck of a way to close out a book that is itself a heck of a way to close out a major part of a creative life. It is done. Superman and the Authority; Mikel Janín, Jordie Bellaire, and Grant Morrison’s terrific superhero miniseries; is done.
‘Killraven Epic Collection: Warrior of the Worlds’ review
Earth. 2018. Humanity has fallen. The planet has fallen. The cruel, warmongering Martians, once written about by H.G. Wells, rule a world they have ruined, with humans reduced to Quislings, slaves, or food. There is no future, not if the Martians have their say. But, as terrifying as their weapons are (mighty war machines, twisted mutagenic experiments, plain old-fashioned viciousness), and as crafty as their nefarious commanders are, the Martians have sown the seeds of their own defeat.
Fantastic Five: The best comics of the week of September 22, 2021
Comic Books The best comics of the week, as judged by AIPT’s staff. By Reg Cruickshank, Lia Kolb, David Brooke, Justin Harrison and Ronnie Gorham Welcome back to another edition of Fantastic Five, where we round up the best of the best from the past week of comic book reviews here at AIPT! This week is an indie spotlight, as only one of the five top spots went to one of the Big Two.
‘Once & Future’ #20 pits Arthur against Arthur to intriguing results
Comic Books Once & Future is, month in and month out, an absolute pleasure to read. Bring on issue #21. One of Once & Future‘s great strengths as a comic is the rules that its creative team has built into its setting. Legends and stories have certain core elements that must remain constant: You cannot have Beowulf without Grendel and his Mother. Nimue always betrays Merlin. King Arthur will return to Britain in its darkest hour.
‘Eternals Vol. 1: Only Death Is Eternal’ is a cosmic mystery with a haymaker of an ending
Comic Books Ribić, Wilson, Cowles, and Gillen’s ‘berserk sci-fi’ cosmic murder mystery is gorgeous, compelling, and has a hell of an ending. The Eternals are the immortal guardians of Earth, created by the Celestials to protect the planet from any and all threats, including “excess deviation.” While each Eternal is an individual, collectively they are part of The Great Machine. The Great Machine is a massive living supercomputer that, for all intents and purposes, is the Earth itself.
‘Once & Future’ #19 thrillingly delves into the beginning after the end
Comic Books Mora, Bonvillain, and Gillen kick off ‘Once & Future’s fourth story arc with a stupendous instance of the Piper coming for payment. Previously, on Once & Future: Despite the best efforts of heroic would-like-to-be-retired monster hunter Bridgette, her grandson/protege/former nebbishy museum curator Duncan, and their covert liaison to the UK government/Duncan’s lover Rose, everything has gone to hell.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is best at its bleakest
While Nightmare of the Wolf‘s storytelling struggles to build momentum, this gorgeously animated prequel to The Witcher has a climax as tremendous as it is vicious. Actions have consequences. Or, as John Wick would put it, “everything’s got its price.” From an intimate promise to a precisely-worded declaration before a crowd, making a play sends out an echo. And that echo can be anything and everything from magnificent to apocalyptic.
Evangelion 3.0+1.0 is an astonishing conclusion to the series
The final film in Hideaki Anno’s retelling of his giant android psychodrama wraps up with a simultaneously epic and intimate coming-to-terms for its hard-traveled protagonists. Let me start by saying this: Evangelion 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time is the best film I have seen in 2021 so far. It’s a gorgeously animated conclusion to one of 20th and 21st-century science fiction’s great works. It executes both its quiet, still moments and its grand setpieces with care and precision.
A Place Both Webbed and Strange: Reading Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man as a Twin Peaks Riff
From March to July of 1991, Marvel Comics published a story titled “Perceptions” in their adjective free Spider-Man comic. That first year of Spider-Man was illustrated and written by Image co-founder and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, who’d made a name for himself as a brilliant artist and a learning-as-he-went writer. “Perceptions” was the longest and most ambitious story he told during that run, a bleak, sobering tale about the witty webslinger traveling up to Canada to solve a horrific murder.
A Place Both Webbed and Strange: Reading Todd McFarlane’s Spider-Man as a Twin Peaks Riff
From March to July of 1991, Marvel Comics published a story titled “Perceptions” in their adjective free Spider-Man comic. That first year of Spider-Man was illustrated and written by Image co-founder and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, who’d made a name for himself as a brilliant artist and a learning-as-he-went writer. “Perceptions” was the longest and most ambitious story he told during that run, a bleak, sobering tale about the witty webslinger traveling up to Canada to solve a horrific murder.
Hydra Blu-ray review: strong acting, great fights, killer mood
Legendary stunt performer and action director Kensuke Sonomura debuts as a director with a lean, compelling study of an ex-assassin going back to work one last time. Takashi (Masanori Mimoto, Yakuza Apocalypse and one of Hydra‘s action coordinators) is a quiet, reserved man. He’s the chef at Hydra, a Tokyo bar well-loved by its regulars. To those regulars, he’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma, but damn can he cook.
Superman and the Authority # 1 review – Grant Morrison’s farewell to DC gets off to a dense, intimate, and thrilling start.
They told us our gods/dreams/gods would outlive us. But they lied. FAIR WARNING, POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHOY. Superman. The Man of Tomorrow. The Man of Steel. THE superhero. Listen to the latest episode of our weekly comics podcast! He is a promise and a challenge — an example of all that humanity can be at its best who calls on us to join him.
Escape from New York at 40: Snake still stands supreme
John Carpenter’s Kurt Russell-starring dystopian actioner boasts one of western cinema’s a-number-one anti-heroes. Man, Escape from New York. What a picture. It’s one of the standouts of director/co-writer John Carpenter‘s damn-near-unmatched 1976-1988 run of stupendous filmmaking, a man-on-a-mission film with a driving sense of urgency that still makes time to breathe in its mood and world.
Blood Red Sky is baleful, boring, and ultimately defanged
“Orlok-style Vampire mom vs. Gruberesque terrorists on a plane” is a neat idea. Alas, Blood Red Sky drives stakes through itself at every turn. Nadja (Peri Baumeister, The Last Kingdom), a cautious, brittle woman battling a terrifying illness, boards an overnight flight from Germany to the United States. With her is Elias (Carl Anton Koch), her sweet, precocious son. They’re hoping to make a new start in America, where a talented team of doctors wait to help Nadja find a cure for her sickness.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is a must-watch for fans of the series
The latest entry in the venerable science fiction anime series is compelling and thrilling—if rather reliant on series history. *Peter Cullen Voice: On* Universal Century 0105. In the 12 years since legendary Gundam pilot Amuro Ray perished stopping Neo Zeon leader Char Aznable’s twisted attempt to save the Earth by annihilating humanity, the Earth Federation government has degraded into a corrupt, authoritarian nightmare.
‘Power Rangers Unlimited: Edge of Darkness’ #1 review
BOOM! Studios Comic Books ‘Edge of Darkness’ adds a bit of neat history to one of the franchise’s long-running question marks, but suffers from a wobbly script. Ah, the Phantom Ranger. An ally to the Power Rangers during the Turbo season, and one of the American tokusatsu franchise’s longest running mysteries. To this day, the Phantom Ranger’s identity remains unknown. Who might he be? The long-lost father of one of the Rangers? An old friend, back in the fight for justice with new powers?
'Something is Killing the Children' # 17 review • AIPT
BOOM! Studios Comic Books Werther Dell’Edera and James Tynion IV delve into the past in a strikingly architected issue. History is alive. It shapes the present just as surely as the immediate moment does, if not more so. When a work of fiction delves into its internal history, it can make for an enlightening, rewarding experience that deepens its readers’ understanding and appreciation of the work. It can also lead to an utter slog that chomps down onto its own tail and devours itself.
"The Paper Tigers" is one of 2021's very best films
Quoc Bao Tran’s dramedy about aging gung fu students’ quest to avenge their murdered sifu is funny, thoughtful, and boasts excellent fights. NOW STREAMING: The Paper Tigers is out on blu-ray today. It’s one of this year’s very best films. And speaking personally, it’s my favorite of 2021 so far. In the 1990s Danny, Hing, and Jim were young, they were inseparable, and they were unstoppable.
‘Batman: Urban Legends’ #3 review
Batman: Urban Legends, DC’s monthly Bat-anthology, is never less than solid. Its long-form stories, which follow the troubled, anti-heroic former Robin Jason Todd (now called Red Hood) and Wildstorm’s caustic black ops gunslinger Cole “Grifter” Cash, work on opposite ends of the tonal spectrum to strong effect.
Zack Snyder's "Army of the Dead" is a strong zombie war flick
Quality carnage and character work abound in Army of the Dead. And it’s brainy too! NOW STREAMING: In the not too distant future, Las Vegas has become even more of its own world. A wall of armored shipping containers has sealed off the Entertainment Capital of the World. Sneering armed guards patrol a vicious hybrid of quarantine and refugee camp at the wall’s edge. And on July 4th, on the orders of a dopey, malignant, unnamed president, Sin City will burn in nuclear fire. Why? The zombie apocalypse.
"Without Remorse" is brutal, icy, and thoughtful
Michael B. Jordan skillfully plays a compelling, unsettling anti-hero in a well-made revenger/military conspiracy action film that sharply diverges from its Tom Clancy source material. NOW STREAMING: John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) is a soldier, specifically an American Navy SEAL. He is very, very good at his job, and he believes in the promise of his nation.
‘Once and Future’ #18 review: Myth devours, myth mutates
BOOM! Studios Comic Books Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain and Kieron Gillen move to Once and Future’s next phase with transformations and changes not easily undone. Previously, on Once and Future: Due to the magic that runs through myths and stories, Duncan is able to oppose Arthur by taking on the roles of various heroes in myth and lore. Bridgette ensured that he’d grow up to be Percival, one of the Knights credited with finding the Holy Grail (the other being Galahad).
"Yasuke" is compelling and gorgeous, even with frustrating storytelling
LeSean Thomas’ historical fantasy anime, built from the known and unknown life of the Black samurai, possesses a boatload of great craft, even though its later storytelling is vexingly overstuffed. NOW STREAMING: Japan. 1582. The samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide betrayed his liege lord Oda Nobunaga and sets his castle alight. Trapped by the blaze, Nobunaga elected to die by seppuku – ritual suicide.
‘Eternals’ # 4 is clear and striking
Marvel Comics Comic Books Ribić and Gillen begin to bring Eternals’ assorted pieces together in a strong, enjoyable issue. Someone wants the Eternals — Earth’s resurrection-prone superhuman guardians — dead. And not just dead, but DEAD. Finished. Gone for good. Off the board. Permanently and irretrievably kaput. To do that, they have resurrected Thanos, aimed him at the Eternals, and broken the Machine, the Eternals’ living supercomputer. With the Machine broken, the Eternals cannot come back.
'Yasuke' is compelling and gorgeous, even with frustrating storytelling
LeSean Thomas’ historical fantasy anime, built from the known and unknown life of the Black samurai, possesses a boatload of great craft, even though its later storytelling is vexingly overstuffed. NOW STREAMING: Japan. 1582. The samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide betrayed his liege lord Oda Nobunaga and sets his castle alight. Trapped by the blaze, Nobunaga elected to die by seppuku – ritual suicide.
Alex de Campi and Duncan Jones talk ‘Madi’, action in storytelling, and humanity’s future
Madi: Once Upon a Time in the Future is one heck of a comic. For one, it’s written by filmmaker Duncan Jones (Warcraft) and Alex de Campi (Dracula, Motherf**ker!) It also features art by a slew of A-list talent, including Dylan Teague, Glenn Fabry, Chris O’Halloran, Pia Guerra, James Stokoe, Tonci Zonjic, and Christian Ward. Lastly, it’s the third and (to date) final story set in Jones’ genuinely gripping “Mooniverse” — preceded by the films Moon and Mute.
‘Project: Patron’ # 1 is a terrific, heroic conspiracy
AfterShock Comics Comic Books ‘Project: Patron’, Patrick Pizzalunga and Steve Orlando’s superhero conspiracy comic, gets off to a flying start. “In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie…”: The Patron was the world’s mightiest superhero, a champion from a Utopian dimension who protected humanity because he believed in them.
Mark O. Stack and Mike Becker talk ‘Young Offenders!’, collaboration, and comicscraft
Independent comics bring something new and dynamic to the medium itself. They are a space where both infinite and specific creativity is not only possible, but it’s mostly essential to a work’s success. Case in point? Young Offenders! — a young adult superhero comic illustrated by Mike Becker and written by Mark O. Stack.
‘Once and Future’ #17 review: Here be dragons
BOOM! Studios Comic Books Mora, Bonvillain and Gillen gather their players together. And throw in a dragon for good measure. Once and Future — Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain, and Kieron Gillen‘s thrilling riff on mythmaking, Arthurian lore and British monster hunting — continues apace.
‘American Ronin’ Vol. 1 review: Empathy as a weapon
AWA Studios Comic Books ACO’s art is peerless, and the broad strokes of Peter Milligan’s script are intriguing, but ‘American Ronin’ falters in its thinly-sketched details. The near future. Ultra-powerful corporations wage a shadow war for control of the world.
‘Spider-Man by Todd McFarlane: The Complete Collection’ review
“Yet — At times, some wish they could — RISE ABOVE IT ALL!” Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn, Image Comics co-founder, and founder of McFarlane Toys is one of the key figures in late 20th century western/American comics. His breakout work was a phenomenally successful run on Amazing Spider-Man. McFarlane’s popularity, coupled with his desire for more creative control, led to the creation of the so-called “adjective-less” Spider-Man comic in 1990.
‘Eternals’ #3 review: The cosmic murder mystery unfolds
Marvel Comics Comic Books Esad Ribić and Kieron Gillen delve into the status quo souls of their (theoretically) undying protagonists. “Never die, never win” has become “Probably die (and probably badly), never win”: The Eternals are the Earth’s nearly immortal, superhuman guardians. They are mighty, and they are very hard to kill, but they can be killed. Temporarily at least.
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