Independent Web Comic Series Review: Who Is the Girl

Who is the girl - Webcomic
Creator: Cary Polkovitz

The recent entry is a single page in black and white. We meet two characters who have some degree of familiarity with each other. There is a decision that needs to be made and the characters involved disagree on what the decision should be.

The art work for this single page issue creates a darker tone for this world. The shading adds depth to each panel, helping develop this into a more three dimensional visual story. There's one panel where the artist focuses on the action of kicking a can and blurring the can itself which I found a bit confusing. The blurred can actually pulled me out of the story and I took a second look to make sure it was in fact blurry. I'm still not certain how that helped the story and considering it pulled me out of the moment, it might be avoided in the next comic. If there were more panels with blurred items I probably wouldn't have noticed. Perhaps slightly more consistency could be explored to prevent reader confusion.

The two characters are nameless but it's understood they have a pre-established relationship. I was not sure why they cared for each other either since this comic entry provided zero back story. It did have an endearing moment at the end where the truth of knowing someone is written quite nicely. I don't know anything about these characters but seeing that relationship in the last panel did make me chuckle.

Overall, it didn't take long to read and the single moment of confusion could easily be avoided in future comics. Cary seems to have an idea on where he wants this series to go and I hope the characters are explained more, either by action or description, in future entries. I'd like to care about the characters but I need to understand their motives, their personalities and the consequences of their decisions more.

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Sisters - Box Office Review

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are two comedic talents that instantly spark my curiosity when they are working on something. The fact they decided to make a movie together was immediately intriguing to me. I might have been the only guy in the theater not on a date but I still found myself laughing out loud and enjoying some humorous moments on screen. “Sisters” came out to a decent weekend earnings and even better critic and viewer reviews. There wasn’t much of a drop in earnings from week 1 to week 2 either. This suggests that word of mouth helps carry this movie along and for good reason.  

Amy Poehler plays the responsible, career driven, sister who is tasked with informing her sister that their childhood home is being sold. Tina Fey is the free spirited, snarky, party sister who believes that responsibility is just a really long word. The cliche’s don’t end there as we see the basic plot points of stories like these manifest throughout the film. The responsible sister lets loose and learns something about herself and life. The party sister learns how everyone must grow up at some point, no matter how many failures you endure. The basic concept of this film is standard and lacks creativity. There’s nothing memorable with the overall story because we’ve seen it before in countless “coming of age” films.

The characters were entertaining and a familiar few faces appeared throughout the film. If you watched “Parks and Rec” and/or “30 Rock” you might have noticed a certain counsel man and an awkward writer who always picks the worst lunches. Nice little touches here and there helped make this film entertaining. The comedic timing in this film was done well, thankfully. It almost felt like the female version of “Step Brothers” which I was fine with. Watching two grown women try and reclaim the best night of their high school life was definitely entertaining. There were a few moments where the women in the audience were laughing and I wasn’t but only because I wasn’t sure where the joke was. The female audience seemed to understand so that demographic was satisfied, surely. Overall, I laughed many times and walked out of the theater pleased I made the purchase to see this comedy.

“Sisters” is in theaters now! I give this movie all the “dear diary” entries discussed in the film and maybe a few more. I recommend matinee prices but if you are looking to treat your lady to a comedy she’ll enjoy, date night this film. It never hurts to see a film your girl will like, probably more than you, from time to time. It’s funny. It’s entertaining. It’s not gender specific like a Lifetime movie. Overall, this was a good, laugh filled, time in the theater and I enjoyed seeing Tina and Amy on screen together.

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Box Office Review: The Intern

Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro), 70-year-old widower, has decided that he needs to fill his days with new challenges and activities. He finds an opportunity to intern at an online fashion website run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) and in the process makes friends with the staff and her family. The success of her company might prove to be too much for Jules as she's faced with life and career decisions that could ultimately change everything. Fortunately, Jules and Ben develop a relationship that helps guide and encourage her as she navigates and juggles the career/life balance one might expect from an entrepreneur/CEO/Wife/Mother.

This movie was pure delight. I doubt we'll see it win any rewards but not every film has to win an award to be enjoyable. There was some touching heartfelt moments, some very humorous moments and dialogue that gave the audience an opportunity to understand the gravitas of situations presented for each key character.

This film has some social commentary on the modern man and the evolution of roles within family and work that takes an honest look at life, past and present. There's a conversation that takes place regarding a handkerchief and the value of carrying one, as a gentlemen, that was a fantastic. It's a timeless approach that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing on the big screen. We are even treated to some dialogue exploring dating and relationships  in modern time that is quite humorous.

If you do decide to see this film as part of a date be prepared to walk out of the theater looking at men (or yourself) in a different manner. The dialogue explores the human experience of relationships and what it means to be a man as part of the story. It's all quite honest in it's delivery to be fair. As the image states experience never gets old and "The Intern" gives us an enjoyable look at how experience and wisdom matched with passion and determination can be unstoppable.

Nice work, again, by writer and director Nancy Meyers. Worth the cost of admission, I give it a high five and a smile.

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