This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2017. Marvel continue to have one of the most disappointing exhibitor spaces (in the context of who they are and what Comic-Con should be). I ripped Marvel Entertainment pretty hard in sharing my thoughts on their exhibitor space in 2016, and 2017 is just more of the same. Marvel (“Disney-owned Marvel”?) has become a giant IP that puts all of its emphasis on its awesome movies and little else. [Read more…]
A year ago I received a lot of nasty hate mail over my “sort of” movie review for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In short, I completely hated it (really even more than I let on in my review). In addition to hating what they did with the classic characters, it kind of ruined the Original Trilogy, in that by Han and Leia having a child and doing such an awful job of raising him (along with Uncle Luke), they created a monster and basically undid all of what they accomplished in saving the universe in the original films. So it kind of just made the entire Star Wars odyssey all pointless. But there were plenty of other things wrong with it as well (in my subjective opinion), and you can read all about it in my full review of The Force Awakens. But this review is different. Finally, since 1983, there is a legitimate fourth Star Wars film. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. And I absolutely loved it. [Read more…]
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. In my 2015 feature on Marvel Entertainment, I opened by noting that “they elected to not have much of a presence or major announcements at Comic Con this time around” and compared their display of one Ant-Man costume to that of historic competitor DC Comics and their more impressive display of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman costumes as well as television costumes, all in stand alone displays that allow fans to get up close to check them out. The divide between the lackluster and the impressive was widened further this year, as Disney-owned Marvel seems to have lost any sense of self awareness and their 2016 Comic Con presentation felt like it was invented by a hype machine-driven PR company. Trying to get a glimpse of what was going on with Marvel this year had all the charm of a clumsy Target clerk trying to pressure you into signing up for one of their Target-branded credit cards (“make mine Marvel” is becoming “make mine MasterCard”). They did put a few things from upcoming movies on display on their stage, but with overflowing crowds they would take it away and hide it before you could even snap a poor photo by trying to hold your camera over the heads of the crowd. I guess the upside is, I can’t imagine a worse showing next year, so it leaves tons of room for improvement. But 2016 seemed crafted for generating hype among those who weren’t there rather than those who were, as reading Twitter paints an entirely different picture (see #MarvelSDCC). [Read more…]
As per tradition, (see 2007 Year in Review, 2008 Year in Review, 2009 Year in Review, 2010 Year in Review, 2011 Year in Review, 2012 Year in Review, 2013 Year in Review, 2014 Year in Review), what follows is an editorial featuring my personal observations and opinions with regards to the business of buying, collecting, selling, and preserving original pop culture artifacts. A look back at interesting trends, developments, and news stories from 2015. As is always the case, this is a completely subjective exercise, and merely touches on the developments and events that relate to the hobby. [Read more…]
I didn’t plan on seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening day, let alone write a review about it afterwards, so this is a bit off topic. I couldn’t find a critical review searching Google, so I wonder if I maybe saw an alternate cut of the film (some hailing it as the best or near best Star Wars film ever)? As readers of the Original Prop Blog know, I am a huge Star Wars fan, and seeing the original in 1977 at 4 years old was a life-changing event. Collectively, the first three films (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) are my favorite films of all-time. Didn’t care for much in the Prequels (loved the Maul lightsaber scenes the best). So how does the J.J. Abrams/Disney relaunch/update/merchandising empire measure up? It’s a mixed bag, honestly, and as the hours passed from seeing it unfold on screen (about 12 hours ago), it’s the negatives that stick with me most, though I mostly enjoyed it while it was happening, if that makes sense. I can’t say it’s a complete disappointment, since I went into it with low expectations; there are some excellent elements within the work (I’m also an Abrams fan). But overall, there are some serious flaws that leave me feeling a bit down on it, because they transcend this film and the characters work against the characters I have grown up to know and love to make them worse. I kept waiting for that rush of adrenaline to run down my spine, but it never came. Out of context from the original films, it’s a well-made, entertaining film. But context is everything. Search “disappoint” and #starwarstheforceawakens on Twitter, and “does not” or “doesn’t” always precedes “disappoint”, so maybe it is just me, or maybe people just went in willing it to be what they wanted. [Read more…]
Julien’s Auctions has published the online catalog for their upcoming sale – “Hollywood Legends: Featuring Property from the Career of David Hasselhoff” – which will be held at their Beverly Hills gallery on April 11th and 12th. The auction will feature property from the career of David Hasselhoff, the estates of Jonathan Winters and Greta Garbo, and consignments with proceeds marked for a variety of charitable causes as featured in the new unscripted Lifetime series, Celebrity Home Raiders. The two day sale will feature a variety of Hollywood memorabilia with 811 lots. [Read more…]
Profiles in History had a tremendously heavy auction schedule at the end of July, holding no less than four auctions across five consecutive days (Property from the Estate of Milton H. Greene on 7/27, Hollywood Auction 56 on 7/28-7/29, The Dreier Collection Part 2 on 7/30, and their Animation Auction 58 on 7/31), though they also held their Rare Books and Manuscripts Auction 55 earlier in July, and had their huge San Diego Comic Con display in-between sale events. These were their first big sales of 2013 (apart from the awkwardly titled, adjective-heavy The Property of a Distinguished American Private Collector, Part 2). The last of their traditional Hollywood Auction events was in December of last year and, as written at the time, it seemed to indicate a collision of escalating reserves/estimates and some push back from the marketplace on the same. Taking a top down view of these latest sales, the same mixed bag would seem to now be a trend, rather than a one off occurrence. [Read more…]
Profiles in History’s Summer auction catalog, “Hollywood Auction 56” is now available in print as well as online, via their official site. This sale is scheduled for July 28th & 29th at their Calabasas Hills facility.
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