Tagged: movie

TARZAN SWINGS ONTO THE BIG SCREEN IN 2013!

Tarzan returns to the big screen in 2013 in a new motion capture movie starring Kellen Lutz from “Twilight” performing the motion capture of Tarzan. Spencer Locke from the “Resident Evil” movies plays Jane. A teaser trailer has been released showing the lord of the jungle in action.

PRESS RELEASE:

Tarzan Official Trailer #1 (2013) – Motion Capture Movie HD

Reinhard Klooss will direct. Robert Kulzer will produce with a script written by Klooss, Yoni Brenner and Jessica Postigo. According to THR, the story is being updated: “Tarzan’s parents, billionaire adventurers, are now killed in airplane crash rather than being marooned with their child. And the movie’s villain is the CEO of Greystoke Energies, a man who took over the company from Tarzan’s deceased parents. In the script, Jane is the daughter of an African guide and is committed to the conservation and preservation of the African jungle. She eventually works with Tarzan to defeat the mercenary army of Greystoke Energies.”

All Pulp will bring you more news as it becomes available.

Dennis O’Neil: Arrows

So okay, we can get our superhero fix without leaving the house. (And isn’t this what we all desire? And pass the chips…) SyFy’s Alphas, which is watchable, is back doing its weekly thing and this week we’ll see the debut of Arrow, based on a character who’s been around for 71 years. I mean, of course, Green Arrow created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp and, shall we say, “inspired” by The Green Archer, first a novel by Edgar Wallace and later a movie serial, and further inspired by the success of another costumed vigilante, Batman, who was getting mighty popular along about 1941.

I know very little about the television incarnation of – let me confess – my favorite arrow slinger beyond this: the TV folk are using the character’s first origin story, which has Oliver Queen, one of those soigne millionaires who littered the pop culture of the pre-war era, shipwrecked on a deserted island and learning to be a whiz with a bow in order to survive. That’s what I know. I don’t want to know more.

We are saturated with information about our entertainments and I wonder if that doesn’t get in the way or responding to them as evolution intended. We know that this actor is feuding with that actress and they’re both mad at the producer and… I guess we can still perpetrate a willing suspension of disbelief (which your English teacher told you was vital to enjoying fiction). But maybe such suspension doesn’t come as easily as it did in the pre-information age and maybe we bring to the story expectations fostered by show-biz venues which influence, for better or worse, how we respond to what we’re being shown. Maybe it’s becoming a chore to bring to the enterprise what some meditators call “bare attention” – simply responding to, and being amused by, what’s there in front of us. As for being surprised by plot twists and the like, once a staple of light drama… good luck!

Am I blowing smoke? If I am, I’m blowing it into a fan.

I used to enjoy Mel Gibson movies. But I can’t, not any more, not after his anti-Semitic ravings and espousal of Neanderthal Catholicism, all of which was thoroughly reported in the media.

A few months ago, I saw a Batman movie. I thought it was a fine movie and I still think so. But I knew that Talia – let me confess – my favorite daughter of a maniacal mass murderer, was in the story somewhere and I kept trying to jump ahead of the screenwriters and guess exactly when she would appear who she would turn out to be. (I was wrong.) Yep, nifty flick, all right, but maybe my enjoyment of it was just a bit dimmed.

On the other hand…Marifran said that if she’d known that the cult portrayed in the fine new film The Master was based on Scientology, she would have enjoyed it more.

It is not a one-size-fits-all universe.

But, dammit, I know that there’s information about Arrow available on the net. And I’m not going near it.

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases

 

Mike Gold: The Secret Agent’s Secret Origin

Unless you haven’t been paying your electric bill, you probably are aware that the first James Bond movie, Doctor No, was released a half-century ago this week. You might not be as aware that several months earlier DC Comics released the comic book adaptation as part of its Showcase series. Editor George Kashdan said he didn’t understand why DC picked up the book except for the fact that the artwork was in hand and the rights must have been cheap.

Several months before that, the people who actually produced the comic book – Classics Illustrated’s British division – released the adaptation as issue 158A of their series. This explains why DC’s comic had the look and feel of a Classics Illustrated title. Just to complicate matters, Dell Publishing released Doctor No in Europe as an issue of its Detective Stories title.

At the time, I couldn’t care less. I was an 11-year old comics fan and, like most my ilk, a voracious reader. The Showcase issue had a text piece that discussed Ian Fleming and his super-spy creation. The next time my parents schlepped me out to Marshall Field’s department store I sought out the paperback novels only to discover they cost an unheard of 50¢ apiece. Most paperbacks were 35¢, some were still 25¢. I reluctantly passed, but I kept an eye out for the movie. I almost forgot about it when Doctor No finally came out.

Like an amazingly high percentage of baby boomer men and near-adolescents, James Bond was the coolest guy I’d ever seen on the big screen, and I immediately became a fan. By now I was actually 12 and able to afford a 50¢ paperback, but I couldn’t find Fleming’s Doctor No. I settled for Live and Let Die, and I was enthralled.

Over the next several years I devoured every Fleming novel, even reading the new ones as they were serialized in Playboy (I looked a bit older than my age, particularly if I didn’t buy it along with my week’s comics). I was in line for the debut of every subsequent movie, and I followed the James Bond newspaper strip in the Chicago American. The latter was a British strip that quite faithfully adapted Fleming’s books, and in my mind most of those adaptations were better than the books themselves. Here’s a fun fact: Modesty Blaise creator Peter O’Donnell wrote the Doctor No adaptation. But I wondered why DC didn’t do any more adaptations.

So did Carmine Infantino when he became publisher. In 1972 he discovered DC had a ten-year option on Bond, and that option was about to run its course. He approached Jack Kirby and his old pal Alex Toth and probably others, but then something terrible happened: Sean Connery announced he was quitting the series. Carmine let the option expire.

Clearly, DC would have made a fortune off of 007 had they picked up the series when the second Bond movie was made. Or even the third, Goldfinger, which truly launched the mega-fad. But the company was starting to doll itself up for a sale and the folks in the trenches were busy with the imminent launch of the Batman teevee series.

Perhaps the most popular heroic fantasy figure in movie history, James Bond never achieved an on-going comic book series. Many movies were adapted, some by guys like Mike Grell, Tom Yeates, and Howard Chaykin. A handful of original mini-series and one-shots were released, but nothing more.

The movie series went on and on and on, but most Roger Moore entries were more reminiscent of Adam West than of Sean Connery. The series started to improve after Sir Roger outgrew the part and Barbara Broccoli took over as producer, and Daniel Craig’s reboot in 2006 brought new hope and great entertainment to the masses. As Adele fans know all too well, the next Craig Bond flick, Skyfall, comes out in a few weeks.

But I got to tell you, as a baby boomer Bond boy, I feel greatly cheated.

An Alex Toth Bond comic?

Damn.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

 

Mike Baron’s Helmet Head of Horror

Our pal and (very) occasional ComicMix contributor. high-energy comics writer Mike Baron (Nexus, Badger, Punisher, Deadman), has written us a novel and has taken it into the ether.

Helmet Head has been published as an Amazon e-book, available via the Kindle app on all computers, smartphones and tablets. It costs $4.99, which is pretty good for a full-length novel. Helmet Head is a horror piece that started out as a movie concept developed for movie director Ian Fischer about a monstrous motorcyclist who rides around the Little Egypt area in central America lobbing off the heads of other bikers and, one supposes, the occasional saluki, all expressed with the subtlety and sensitivity we have come to expect from the talented Mr. Baron.

For example, Mike refers to Helmet Head as containing “scenes of graphic violence that would gag a dog off a gut wagon.” It’s got plenty of bikers, high-holy-horror and senses-shattering action that certainly will thrill his many fans. Clearly, this is a date-night kinda novel.

Baron’s tome is the first of a trilogy – Whack Job comes out later this month and Banshees winds up this arc after the first of the year. And can a comic book adaptation be far behind?

Did I mention there’s Nazis in the story? There’s Nazis in the story. How can you go wrong?

You can gawk at Helmet Head’s interior or actually purchase the book by merely clicking on this link.

REVIEW: Rock of Ages

The film version of Rock of Ages, has a whiff of cannabalism about it. First, it took a series of 1980s songs and turned them into what has been branded a jukebox musical, since originality no longer matters on Broadway. The success of the stage version – five Tony nominations indicates someone liked it – led to it being optioned for production as a feature film. Broadway used to feed Hollywood source material and the trend has been reversed as risk adverse producers look for sure things, which are not necessarily quality things.

Thus, the film version of the musical based on a disparate collection of rock tunes, which were popular as I advanced through my adult years and saw my tastes changing, means I bring a series of prejudices to watching the film on the just-released Blu-ray. First of all, I am a big fan of many performers in the cast and applaud Tom Cruise for lightening up with several of his recent performances. He’s also backed by Alec Baldwin, Malin Akerman and Paul Giamatti. I also remain fond of Julianne Hough who is a far better dancer and country singer than rocker.

As happens, the movie adaptation was seriously reworked to accommodate the cast rather than cast around the script and soundtrack. Therefore, many numbers were cut, others mashed up, and several reassigned to different characters. This results in a movie largely unrecognizable from the stage version and a lesser effort at that. What made the show edgy and fun is replaced with watered down replicas.

The basic trio of story threads has would-be rock star Sherrie (Hough), arriving in Los Angeles and meeting Drew (Diego Boneta) so you have your love story. Then there’s the Bourbon Room, a doomed club in need of a miracle story that focuses on Dennis (Baldwin) and his fight against a mob led by Catherine Zeta Jones (still sexy), trying to shut it down. His last hope is a kick ass concert from Arsenal, fronted by Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), who is on the verge of going solo. Behind the scenes, his agent, (Giamatti) gums up the works.

Rock is meant to messy and fun and frenetic with high doses of energy. The voltage one expects from the music used, from Foreigner to Pat Benatar leans closer to a Smash rendition and the wattage is cut in half, robbing the movie of the verve the material deserves. It’s not all bad such as the pool table duet between Jaxx and Rolling Stone reporter Constance Sack (Akerman). But when you sing “I Love Rock n Roll”, you should be feeling ready to leap to your feet and dance, not check your watch.

Bad enough the core storylines are predictable as heck, but the movie telegraphs just about everything thanks to direction of Adam Shankman. None of the characters, save Jaxx, stands out, wasting plenty of potential from a stellar cast.

There are plenty of fun moments and Cruise is a revelation all over again. He rarely repeats himself and is excellent here, sabotaged by the lack of raw power around him.

You can watch the theatrical version or the extended version, with 13 more minutes of tedium. The highlight is the cut scene between Jaxx and Sherrie, as they sing “Rock You Like a Hurricane”  and nearly copulate, which smolders better than the rest of the film.

The Warner Home Video release comes as a combo pack with the Blu-ray, DVD, and of course ultraviolet digital. They do a fine job transferring the film and sound to disc so it rocks as best it can.

Poison’s Bret Michaels kicks off the extras with two featurettes: “Rock of Ages: Legends of the Sunset Strip” (29:56) with real rockers Pat Benetar and Sebastian Bach, members of Styx, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Def Leppard, Winger, Whitesnake, Dokken, Foreigner, Poison, Journey, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, Vixen, Extreme and W.A.S.P. reminiscing about the rock scene in their heyday. “The Stories We Sing” (12:53) brings back many of these rock stars to discuss their inspirations for the greatest hits such as “Sister Christian,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” and the perennial “Don’t Stop Believin'”. This one is well worth a look.

There’s also the eight-part “Defining a Decade” (35:34), hosted by Hough and Boleta, that displays some embarrassing awkwardness between them but they manage to take us through the production of the film. You also get a look at the Broadway inspiration which deserved more screen time.

“Any Way You Like It” was re-edited into a full music video starring Mary J. Blige and Constantine Maroulis (who originated the Drew Bolley role on Broadway) but it can be skipped.

John Ostrander says “Continuity Be Damned!”

Got The Avengers DVD on the day of its release and watched it all over again. My Mary and I enjoyed ourselves immensely and, from all indications, so did a lot of other people since its big screen release made more money than all but two other films.

Yes, previous Marvel films (Iron Man 1 and 2, Thor, Captain America, and the last Hulk film) all built up to it. It was great how it took the basic stuff we knew about all of them, including the initial Avengers comics, and was true to them but do you know what really made The Avengers such a juggernaut?

It was accessible.

You don’t need to know anything about the comics. You don’t need even to know anything about the other films. Everything you need to know to sit back and enjoy the movie is in the movie. Yes, if you know your Marvel lore it adds to the enjoyment but the fun of the movie and your understanding of the story is not predicated on that lore.

Over at DC, the Silver Age began when the legendary Julius Schwartz (hallowed be his name) took a bunch of character titles and concepts from the Golden Age, re-imagined them for what were more contemporary tastes, and re-ignited the superhero comic. He wasn’t concerned with continuity with the Golden Age, which was itself never too concerned with internal continuity; he wanted to sell comics.

When Marvel started (as Marvel) back in the Sixties, it started with all new characters at first so they didn’t have continuity problems. Even when they worked in Golden Age characters like Captain America and Namor, you didn’t need to have ever read any of the old stories. Everything you needed to know about those characters were in the stories.

Say that you’ve seen the movie The Avengers and you’d like to read a comic based on what you saw. So you go into a comic book shop and find: The Avengers, The Uncanny Avengers, The New Avengers, The Secret Avengers, Avengers Assemble, Avengers Academy, Dark Avengers, and, if you hurry, Avengers Vs. X-Men. This doesn’t include The Ultimates, which might be closest to the movie. Which one do you choose? And, if you do choose one, can you understand the story? Is it accessible or so caught up in past or current continuity as to not make sense to a casual reader?

I’m not excluding DC either. Say that you saw and liked The Dark Knight Rises and would love to know what happened next. So you go to the comic book store and you will not only find nothing that would tell you what happened next but nothing that isn’t tied to a crossover.

Look, I’m well versed in the ways of continuity. I’ve mined it for my own uses. However, when I started my run on Suicide Squad I essentially dropped everything but the title, even redefining the concept. Yes, I made use of continuity but I never assumed that the reader of the new book would know anything about the old series or care about the old characters.

I work in Star Wars and believe me when I say that the continuity there is as dense and complicated as anything at Marvel or DC. I’ve learned how to negotiate those reef filled waters by either creating new characters or going forward or backwards or even sideways in time. I research the continuity where my stories touch upon it but I don’t get tied down to it.

The ones who care about continuity are the fans and the hardcore fans care about it most. I’ve had all sorts of fans who want to tell a story based upon some obscure plot point that doesn’t fit quite snuggly enough into continuity (or how they perceive it) and explains it all. It’s hard to tell stories based on continuity alone. They’re bloodless. Story comes from characters and their desires and interactions.

This summer we’ve seen a load of very successful superhero movies – The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-Man (itself a reboot from the last Spider-Man movie which was out only about five years ago). So there is a market out there. Yes, yes – comics and movies are two different media but the concepts are the same in both. Do we want to attract even a portion of that audience? For the survival of a medium we love, all of us – fans and pros alike – need to say yes.

The way to do that is with well-told stories that are accessible to all readers. Mary and I know a friend who watched The Avengers with her grandson and both enjoyed it. And they enjoyed watching it together. That’s something we should aim for.

In the end, if continuity gets in the way of a really good, accessible story, then I say – continuity be damned.

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

 

REVIEW: Dark Shadows

dark-shadows-dvd-300x300-6661887I don’t recall how I first stumbled across the ABC soap opera Dark Shadows back in the 1960s. Normally, back then, I‘d come home from school and watch ‘50s reruns on WNEW or WPIX but somehow, I found the Dan Curtis series and fell for it thanks to the supernatural overtones.  It was was heady mix of vampires, werewolves, witches, parallel universes and lots of secrets.  When the show reached its conclusion, I was in high school, at a friend’s house and insisted we watch it even though he’d never seen it. I read many of the Marion Ross novels, some of the Gold Key comics, and even the short-lived syndicated strip with terrific Ken Bald artwork. The attempts to revive the series ever since never worked. Ever. So, when I heard both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were fans, I figured they’d be ideal for a modern film version.

The casting sounded spot on and the first visuals looked great. Then came the first trailer and it was a bit of culture shock, much like Barnabas Collins’ resurrection after 196 years of undead contemplation in the Maine soil. It was quirky and akin to Burton’s Mars Attacks! but I was game to see more. Thankfully, word from screenings indicated the trailers emphasized the quirk and the movie was actually stronger. Perhaps, but not strong enough, and the tepid reviews in the wake of The Avengers meant it was DOA at the box office.

darkshadows-300x200-3584730Now we have a chance to re-examine it as Warner Home Video releases the film on disc, notably its Combo Pack (Blu-ray, DVD, Ultraviolet). Visually, it’s stunning, capturing the beauty of Maine, the creepiness of Collinwood mansion and replete with grace notes harkening back to the black and white series, especially the water crashing on the rocks. Danny Elfman’s score eerily echoes the original music and supplements that with songs culled from 1972, punctuating the cultural dissonance experienced by Barnabas.

Depp is well supported by Michelle Pfeiffer, Johnny Lee Miller, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle Haley, and Chloe Grace Moretz. In some cases they closely resemble their television counterparts and their characterizations are close enough to be satisfying. Eva Green as Angelique, the witch who cursed him to be a vampire after spurning her love two centuries ago, is trampy, campy and sex as hell.

tim-burton-s-dark-shadows-2012-movies-28966148-1800-1200-300x200-4036446While the film has all the elements to be a strong remake of the series, it falls apart because of a thin script, surprising for a Burton production. Seth Grahame-Smith’s script, from a story concocted by Smith and John August, hints at many soap opera threads but rarely strays from the core conflict between would-be lovers. Angelique is frustrated because Barnabas’ true love, Josette, has been resurrected as Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote), the newly arrived governess. Further complicating the triangle is the unhealthy interest Dr. Grayson (Carter) has in Barnabas’ vampiric qualities.

The supporting cast is good and does fine with what they’re given, but it’s not enough, especially given how rich and varied the storylines were, which propelled the series for years. We’re reminded of that and Burton deserves credit for including members of the original cast – Jonathan Frid, David Selby, Lara Parker, and Kathryn Leigh Scott—make a cameo appearance at a party. It’s as if they come on scene, have a moment and vanish until needed again which robs the overall film of a richness the material deserves.

eva-green-dark-shadows-movie-image-4-300x168-9231208The film’s final act, with its pyrotechnic climax was overdone, overlong and totally out of place, more Harryhausen than Curtis.

Depp, with oversized ears and long, tapering clawed fingers, channels Frid’s Barnabas, without the tortured soul that made the original actor an unexpected heartthrob. Instead, he’s devoted to family, playful with the kids, and determined to break the curse that causes him to kill. He is boggled by the technological and cultural changes but it’s all on the surface and worthy of exploration.

As a result, the sum is less than the parts and the movie is a misfire from Burton. For the diehard fans of the cast, director, or series, it’s certainly worth a look. The Blu-ray transfer is both strong with terrific color and sound.

The handful of extras include about 15 minutes of deleted scenes, several of which would have enhanced the film, especially a scene between Barnabas and young David (Gulliver McGrath).You can also watch the film in Maximum Movie Mode that lets you see special featurettes on the casting, production, effects, etc. Thankfully, they are all provided as standalone pieces so you can watch whatever catches your fancy.

DOCTOR WHO GOES PULP

The name’s Malone. Melody Malone.

Coming soon from BBC Books is a new Doctor Who tie-in e-book entitled The Angel’s Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery featuring a very pulp-inspired cover. The cover also appears in The Angels Take Manhattan episode of Doctor Who, airing September 29 on BBC and BBC America.

Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) reads a Melody Malone Mystery in The Angels Take Manhattan.

Press Release:

BBC Books are to release a special book inspired by this weekend’s episode, The Angels Take Manhattan. The Angel’s Kiss is a 112-page novella written by Justin Richards, and is the first book in the range to be published that has been written from the perspective of one of the show’s characters.

Melody Malone not only runs her own agency, she also happens to be the author of a successful series of novels, featuring one Melody Malone.

The book will only be available electronically beginning October 4th, a few days after the episode’s premiere.

Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) recognizes some familiar characters in Angel’s Kiss.

About Angel’s Kiss:

On some days, New York is one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

This was one of the other days…

Melody Malone, owner and sole employee of the Angel Detective Agency, has an unexpected caller. It’s movie star Rock Railton, and he thinks someone is out to kill him. When he mentions the ‘kiss of the Angel’, she takes the case. Angels are Melody’s business…

At the press party for Railton’s latest movie, studio owner Max Kliener invites Melody to the film set of their next blockbuster. He’s obviously spotted her potential, and Melody is flattered when Kliener asks her to become a star. But the cost of fame, she’ll soon discover, is greater than anyone could possibly imagine.

Will Melody be able to escape Kliener’s dastardly plan – before the Angels take Manhattan?

The e-book will be released October 4, 2012 via digital stores.

GUEST REVIEW- SALMON LIVES ‘THE LIFE OF PI’!

TIGER! TIGER!

A Review of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi

by
Andrew Salmon
The soon to be released Ang Lee film of this story got me interested in reading the novel. A runaway bestseller since publication, THE LIFE OF PI is not your standard bestselling fare. But, of course, the question on every pulp fan’s mind is: is the novel pulp?
The answer: it is and it isn’t.
So why not judge for yourself Here’s the premise in a nutshell:
Pi, a sixteen-year-old boy, is sailing from India to Canada with his family, and a selection of animals from the family zoo aboard a Japanese freighter in 1977. A sudden explosion below decks sends the ship into chaos as she starts to sink quickly. In the scramble, Pi is tossed into a lifeboat as the ship sinks from view beneath the waves. He is the only human survivor. All of his family has perished along with the crew and the zoo animals. Well, not all the animals. It turns out a zebra had leapt into the boat during the storm accompanying the sinking, breaking a leg in the process. A hyena is also aboard and an orangutang manages to scramble to safety the next morning. Pi is now trapped on a lifeboat he shares with a selection of wild animals. Oh, did I mention that a 450-pound Bengal tiger is also along for the ride?
Now if that’s not the recipe for a great, pulpy adventure yarn, then what is? And it delivers – for the most part.
The hyena soon makes quick work of the zebra and the orangutang, the tiger (recovering from shock and being doped prior to the sinking) takes care of the hyena. The only thing left on the menu is Pi and a battle of wills ensues that, once read, cannot be forgotten. Pi soon realizes that instead of letting nature run its course with a tiger deprived of food and water, he must instead keep the beast alive and well fed so it won’t kill him in a crazed, starvation-driven frenzy.
These aspects of the book are riveting as Pi goes into full-blown Robinson-Crusoe-Tom-Hanks-talking-to-a-volley-ball survival mode, staying out of the reach of the tiger in the process. I defy anyone to put the book down while reading these sections. There’s even a mysterious island of deadly algae along the way as Pi deals with his grief and keeps the tiger at bay by using his brain since brawn will do him no good against the beast. Done right, and Ang Lee is the man to do it, the movie should keep viewers glued to their seats.
Now for the bad, the novel is so poorly written in places that you’ll want to throw it across the room. Endless pages scroll by with little or nothing to add except pointless filler. Pi’s family doesn’t even step aboard the ship until 120 pages in and long sections of the novel slide into Moby Dick territory with brain-numbing pages dedicated to the particulars of the various fish and animals Pi encounters. Some of this dreck is mildly interesting, some of it is there to expand the themes, but most of it takes away from the grand adventure this tale is meant to be and the horrors lurking behind Pi’s situation.
I never thought I’d say this, but I urge readers to pick up the book and skim through these ‘intermissions’. As a writer myself, I could have my quill confiscated for even suggesting such a thing but I feel the adventure sections of the novel are just too good to throw out with the bath water. The other option is to wait for the movie where, no doubt, the endless, needless passages will be excised. But, hey, this is a book review.
All in all, LIFE OF PI, has all the makings of a truly great adventure yarn. You will root for Pi and grieve with him. He is in a no-win situation but refuses to give up – the very essence of a pulp character. Whether you try the book or await the film, this is a story not to be missed.  

Sunday Cinema: “A Liar’s Autobiography” Animates the Corpse of Graham Chapman

Graham ChapmanGraham Chapman, probably best remembered from Monty Python as “the dead one”, writes and stars in the animated movie of his own life story, A Liar’s Autobiography. Although Chapman selfishly passed on, became no more, ceased to be, expired and went to meet his maker, became a stiff, went off the twig, kicked the bucket, shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain, joined the bleedin’ choir invisible, and became an ex-Chapman in 1989, he had taken the trouble to record himself reading his autobiography — and those recordings have now ingeniously been used to provide Chapman’s voice for a 3D animated feature.

Not quite a documentary nor a Monty Python film,  A Liar’s Autobiography is Chapman’s own take on his bizarre life and his search for self-knowledge, bringing Chapman back to life in an ingenious tour de force of animation, told through 17 different animation styles from 14 different animators. Fellow Pythons John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam also turn up, playing themselves and other characters, along with a few surprise guests.

Incredible, yes. Surreal, certainly. True? Who knows? At his memorial service, John Cleese called Chapman “a freeloading bastard”. Now, as the film re-unites Chapman with Cleese, Jones, Palin, and Gilliam for the first time in 23 years, he is set to earn a new title — the most prolific corpse since Elvis.

A Liar’s Autobiography — The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, will premiere on EPIX and in select U.S. theatres in 3D on November 2, 2012, and will be released in the UK by Trinity sometime in early 2013.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbW842eMNtI[/youtube]