Yorkton This Week’s editorial staff takes readers on an explorative journey around the Internet, searching out the best in videos, podcasts, webcomics, music and anything else that catches their collective eyes which might interest our readers.
Low-budget thriller
2018 is shaping up to be a big year for Chadwick Boseman. He exploded onto the movie scene in 2013 with his portrayal of Jackie Robinson in the surprisingly good “42.” After establishing himself as the Black Panther in “Captain America: Civil War,” he’s ready to lead a solo film about the character in February. Afterwards, he’ll be joining every other Marvel hero for the big melee in “Infinity War.”
In between filming all those big budget blockbusters, Boseman threw his burgeoning star power behind a sleazy, violent quasi-exploitation film called “Message From the King,” with debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016. It’s a nasty yet compulsively watchable flick that drags its audience through the sordid underbelly of Los Angeles.
Boseman plays Jacob King, a South African visiting the City of Angels for a week. He’s looking for his sister, who left him a distressing voice mail. King quickly discovers his sister’s body in the morgue. Now he has seven days to unravel a mystery and avenge her death. His journey will bring him into contact with mobsters, movie producers, and evil dentists (yes, really).
“Message From the King” is a generic revenge thriller. Aside from a few unexpected twists, the story follows the same route as movies like “Death Wish,” “The Equalizer,” and “John Wick.” King interrogates low-level thugs and works his way up the chain of villains, dispatching them with guns, knives, and a bicycle chain.
But “Message From the King” shines in its execution. The movie looks far better than it has any right to. The lighting is excellent, bathing Los Angeles is ominous shadows, even during the day. The action scenes, while occasionally chaotic, are well-organized and clear. There are several striking images that will stick with you for a while.
“Message From the King” is not for everyone. It’s probably a bit too cliched for its own good and its dark subject matter will turn many people off. But I have to respect its commitment to its grisly subject matter. It never holds back. While it’s no classic, “Message From the King” is a worthy distraction if you’re ever looking for something different on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
“Message From the King” is available on Netflix.
–Sean Mott
Bob the Squirrel
It is often said laughing is good for our health, so why not start your day with a good chuckle every day?
And a great way to do that is to head over to www.bobthesquirrel.com to visit Bob the Squirrel with your morning coffee.
Bob the Squirrel has been appearing daily online dating back almost a decade now, so there is a huge archive to wander through on a lazy day, or on that day you just need a few more laughs to get going on your day with a more positive attitude.
Bob the Squirrel is the creation of Frank Page, a man I have to say impresses just to have the insights on life he can turn with humour for a long-running comic strip.
In case you haven’t heard about Bob, the strips have made their way into a number of collection books, he is “a very loud and yet subtle squirrel,” according the website, and confirmed if you read even a few of the witty strips.
As for Page himself, he is an illustrator and cartoonist in Central New York, and currently a graphic designer and editorial cartoonist at the Rome Daily Sentinel.
“In the fall of 2001, I moved to Utica, NY. One Saturday morning I was laying on the couch watching MASH and I happened to look out the window. What I saw would invariably change my life for better or for worse,” he wrote on his website.
“What I saw was a squirrel—kinda like when Bruce Wayne was trying to decide on what he should be and that pesky little bat came flying through his window. I didn’t decide that I wanted to become SQUIRRELMAN— bear with me.
“So, my attention was drawn away (no pun please!) from Hawkeye and Colonel Potter for the moment and was focused on this little creature. He was running across a power wire like he’d been in the circus his entire life. Then he jumped a good distance from the power line onto a tree and scampered down the branches. The creature was graceful, but at the same time very clumsy. I called him Bob; thus inspiring the comic panel BOB THE SQUIRREL. I later learned, much to my landlord’s dismay, that this same beautiful creature I had dubbed BOB had started a family in the column of my porch. Hey at least I have a ready supply of material.”
The world is certainly a more fun place thanks to Page’s life-altering viewing of that humble squirrel and it is certainly recommended to check in with Bob the Squirrel regularly for a good chuckle or two.
— Calvin Daniels
