Firearms Friday with Milla Jovovich

Actress/model/singer/fashion-designer/director Milla Jovovich was born in 1975, and she began modeling as a young teen in the late 1980s. After a couple roles in sitcoms like "Married with Children" and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose", she began appearing in films, with "Chaplin" (1992) and "Dazed and Confused" (1993) being the first films where she began to fully get the attention from the movie-going public she deserved.

It was with "The Fifth Element" (1997) that Jovovich first played the sort of role that she became most closely associated with: That of a woman who can kick the ass of all comers, whether she is armed or not. Throughout the 2000s, and into the present day, she has performed Gun-Fu in many big-budget films, across several genres (with the "Resident Evil" films being foremost among these). She has always, however, balanced roles in these big-budget action films with appearances in comedies, dramas, and more artsy action films with smaller budgets.

Milla Jovovich has been a constant favorite of ours throughout the years, and the Milla Jovovich Quarterly is the longest-running post series on this blog. You can see more from her by clicking on the tag below, as well as on our sister blogs, Terror Titans, Cinema Steve, and Watching the Detectives. (Meanwhile, we're also looking forward to seeing her in "Monster Hunter", as well as to find out what she'll be playing in the screen adaptation of the "Corto Maltese" graphic novel series.

Picture Perfect Wednesday: It's June

Let's spend a moment with another June in June!

Born into a theater family in 1912, June Havoc began her showbusiness career on the road, as a child performer with her sister Gypsy Lee Rose in vaudeville acts. As the sisters grew up, Rose embarked on a path that brought her lasting fame as she lifted stripping to an art-form, while Havoc continued down the more respectable road of musical theater and eventually film and television acting.

Havoc's first film appearance as an adult was in "Four Jacks and a Jill" (1942) and for the first few years she appeared in musical comedies. However, she soon transitioned to parts, big and small, in dramas and mysteries. Her biggest and best-remembered roles were her starring turns in a handful of film noir pictures, such as "Chicago Deadline" (1949), "The Story of Molly X" (1949), and "Once a Thief" (1950).




Havoc was long estranged from her more famous sister, who, frankly was famous more for just being famous than for her talent. They had fallen out as teens, but Havoc cut all contact after being angered at Rose's portrayal of her in the best-selling memoir, "Gypsy" (1957), and over the Baby June character in the hit musical based on it. The sisters did not patch up their differences until shortly before Rose passed away from lung cancer in 1970.

Havoc retired from acting at the age of 75, after the second of two guest-starring turns on the television series "Murder, She Wrote." She passed away on March 28, 2010.

Welcome to 'Hell's Kitchen: Silent Move Edition'

The Ogre's Cuisine (aka "In the Bogie Man's Cave") (1907)

Starring: Jeahanne d'Alcy and Anonymous Actors
Director: Georges Méliès
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

An ogre is happily preparing his favorite dish--freshly butchered human, flour-coated and pan-fried with a mix of spiced vegetables--when the fairy equivalent of Gordon Ramsey and her sous-chefs decide to pay him a visit...

Cooking shows continue to be very popular with friends of mine. If you enjoy them as well, you might get a kick out this gruesome little silent fantasy film from special effects pioneer Georges Méliès. 

Like other of Méliès's best pictures, "The Ogre's Cuisine" presents a story that is a fun balance of the bizarre and the macabre, as well as being something more than just a way for him to show off his cinematic illusions. I'm a little fuzzy on exactly what happens at the end--when the titular ogre puts on his butt-stomping boots--but everything up to the final few seconds is highly enjoyable. (This film is only six minutes long; maybe you can check it out below and tell me what you think is going on at the very end.)

Musical Monday with Aitch

Time periods collide in this music video for "Buss Down" by British rapper Aitch (with an assist from ZieZie). I confess that my ear for certain British dialects is so rusty these days that I only catch about half of what is being sung or rapped about, but the tune's catchy and the video tells a fun story, so it hardly matters!

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'Polar Pals' may leave you a bit cold

Polar Pals (1931)
Starring: Anonymous singers and voice actors
Directors: John Foster and George Rufle
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

Tom and Jerry are shipwrecked and wash up on the frozen shores of a land inhabited by music-loving animals, such as walruses, penguins, and bears

"Polar Pals" is at the middle-to-low end of the quality scale of the episodes in the Tom & Jerry series. There is no plot to speak of, the gags are simple (simplistic even), and nothing makes any sense, even within a world where animals are fully sentient and they just happen to have pianos around for if humans get shipwrecked who are able to play them. And then there's the way the film deals with the environment: Characters are swimming in the frigid polar waters, but don't get cold until they notice they are in a polar environment. It makes no sense.

Even more damning is the indifferent quality of the animation. Simple or non-existent backgrounds are common in "Tom & Jerry" cartoons, but the character animation here is as sloppy as anything I've seen in any entries in this series. It's so bad that a walrus's tusks disappear, reappear, and disappear again, because they reuse cells where the animators couldn't be bothered to draw the tusks and no one would be bothered to fix the error. (I thought initially that perhaps I was missing a joke, but I watched that bit three times, and I am convinced it was just a sloppy error that no cared to spend the time or money to fix.)

I think the nature of this, the second "Tom & Jerry" cartoon, is also the first sign that the Van Beuren team didn't have a clear idea of who the target audience was for this series. The level of humor and story-telling in this cartoon seems squarely aimed at young children, while the opening installment felt more like something for older kids or young teenagers. Other entries in the series feel like they are for older teens, or, perhaps still for a young audience with some multi-layered jokes thrown in to keep adults entertained as well, like "Doughnuts". Finally, a few, such as "Spanish Twist" and "Piano Tooners" feel like they were going for the same adult audience that the Fleischer Studio was trying to appeal to with the "Betty Boop" cartoons. 

Ultimately, the highlight of "Polar Pals" is the musical number that forms its climax. The animation is nothing to cheer about, but the music is upbeat and the animal dance party it brings about it cute. As with many of the "Tom and Jerry" episodes, the music is the primary reason for watching. No matter how weak everything else may be, generally the songs are enough of a reward for the time spent watching the screen. Also, for all my complaining above about the mostly non-existent and completely nonsensical plot, I did appreciate the fact that this film actually gives a solid ending. (It's even sort of amusing.)

But why don't you check out "Polar Pals" for yourself and see if you agree with my take on it. It's only seven minutes long, and who knows? My estimation may be completely offbase, and you may find this to be the greatest cartoon you've ever seen. If that's the case, be sure to tell me below, or on my Facebook page.

Saturday Serial: Jenna of the Jungle

Continuing Don Hudson's "Jenna of the Jungle" (and including a random bonus jungle girl afterwards). Click on any panel for a larger version, and come back next Saturday for Part Six.


JENNA OF THE JUNGLE: PART FIVE
By Don Hudson

To Be Continued...

Girls of the Jungle

By Mitch Foust

Happy birthday to Alana De La Garza

Actress Alana De La Garza, best known for her roles on Dick Wolf-created television series "Law & Order" and "FBI", turns 44 years old today, June 18. Here's a small gallery of photos of her in celebration!

Wonder Woman Wednesday!

Wonder Woman is ready to spring into action at any moment! And here's a gallery of art to prove it. (And we're going to present another collection of portraits of everyone's favorite Amazon every other Wednesday, as we count down the weeks to the release of "Wonder Woman '84" in October!)

By Cliff Chiang

By Phil Jimenez

By Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

'The Ghastly Ones': Fun early reader spoofs

The Ghastly Ones & Other Fiendish Frolics (1995, Manic D Press)

Writing & Art: Richard Sala

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Richard Sala spoofs children's picture books in an anthology collecting four horror-themed short items. (Three are narratives constructed using verse and drawings while the fourth one is a series of couplets paired with portraits of murderers and monsters.)

"The Ghastly Ones & Other Fiendish Frolics" was written and illustrated by Sala during a period when he reportedly had grown frustrated with working in comics. It stands a unique entry in his body of work, and shows off his playful side more strongly than his other efforts. It's also a quick read; each page of text has at most a couple of paragraphs, and they are generally followed by a full page illustration.

The book leads off with "The Ghastly Ones", in which a creepy fan of serial killers goes to interview an arrogant detective who hunts them and other monsters. The verses describe 20 serial killers, their preferred victims and sometimes their methods, as well as their fate. An illustration of the killers posing with victims, or otherwise showing their evil natures, is included with each. One of the killers is still on the loose, and he appears at the very end of the narrative to bring it to a grimly amusing, entirely fitting close.

The second included tale, "The Morbid Musings of Malcolm deMulch", is the briefest of them, consisting of just six pages. It feels very much like a dark Dr. Seuss book, or something from Edward Gorey, with each page containing a drawing and a rhyme with Malcolm wondering about how and when he will die. It was originally intended for an anthology where it was to have been a single page comic story. Sala reworked it slightly and turned each panel into an individual page for the inclusion in this volume. (You can see the original version of the story at the bottom of this post. Click on it to enlarge it.) 

Next up is "The Skulkers". Like "The Ghastly Ones", it's a catalogue of murderers and monsters, but it has no narrative framework. Instead, readers are treated to literal portraits of 10 killers, with each subject  revealing a little bit about him- or herself in a couplet. Like the other sections in the book, it's equal parts cute, amusing, and disturbing. On the downside, Richard Sala engages in his love of drawing grotesquely misshapen noses; this is admittedly a personal issue, but it's my least favorite aspect of his art and he provides a concentrated dose of it here.

Closing out the book is "Beware! Beware!", another perfect spoof of an early reader book. In it, an elderly woman is warning a child about all the homicidal maniacs that are lurking outside the safety of their home. The illustrations and the rhythm and repetitiveness of the writing captures the feel of an early reader book designed to both amuse and educate... but it's bizarre and twisted throughout. It also has an excellent, evil-chuckle-worthy ending, so it makes it the perfect capper for this unusual book.

If you enjoy darkly humorous works and fine illustrations, I think you'll get a kick out of "The Ghastly Ones"... and I think you'll be even more amused if you've ever read books aloud to little kids while they followed along.

The Original Morbid Musings of Malcolm deMulch

Musical Monday with whenyoung

Whenyoung is an Irish band from Limerick who has been taking the indie music scene by storm. They released their first full-length album in 2019, and "A Labour of Love" is one of the songs included on it. The clever video for it feels like it might be a 1970s or early 1980s crime drama, but it's really about something entirely different. Check it out below, and get your week off to a good start with some great music!