Waiting for Wolverine

Missed opening night Wolverine. On a date to see The Soloist tonight. But we cut it so close getting here and the theater is so packed that we opted to see Wolverine since it started 30 minutes later.

Here's the line.





I really hope it's better than I've been hearing.

(this didn't post for some reason Saturday night - so I'll post it now; BTW, Woverine was pretty good)

7-11 Wolverine Mutant Berry Slurpee

Sweet.

Or maybe I should say tart. It was a bit on the sour side. Pretty tasty if you like berry. Thought I'd share a pic of the cup and the straw / toy.








Florence needs a 7-11.

Random

Wow, this blog was horribly in need of updating. I haven't been paying any attention.  Too many irons in the fire.

Did you know ABC was working on a pilot for a new (comedy) superhero show based on the British series, No Heroics?  This could be hilarious.  (Take a look at a trailer for the original series on YouTube. [NSFW])

I didn't know they had set a date for a Green Lantern movie.

What do you think the chances are for the next Spider-Man film to actually be 3-D?

Sit tight for my very-late-in-coming reviews for Dark Knight and Watchmen.  Plus, I'm seeing Wolverine this weekend, and I'm going to take a stab at watching the Watchmen Motion Comic. 

Harley Quinn

Think they'll ever come out with this on Wii?



Batman: Arkham Asylum

Comic / Pillow

Quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen. A Spider-Man comic book and pillow all in one. Saw it at Sam's. I really wanted to get it for myse- er, uh, for Max.
But I didn't think it warrented spending $20.

The Specials (2000) mini review

superhero movie not based on a comic

[8/10]

The Specials.


The 6th or 7th best superhero team in the world.

The best superhero movie you've never seen.

Jamie Gunn, the genius writer behind the Scooby Doo live action films, crafts a witty superhero comedy, so funny that you don't even realize the heroes don't use their powers in the film.

The Strobe (Thomas Haden Church, Spider-Man 3, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight). Amok (Jamie Kennedy, Son of the Mask). The Weevil (Rob Lowe). Minute Man (James Gunn). Power Chick (Kelly Cofield). Ms. Indestructible (Paget Brewster). Nightbird (Jordan Ladd). Deadly Girl (Judy Greer). U.S. Bill (Mike Schwartz). Alien Orphan (Sean Gunn). Mr. Smart (Jim Zulevic). VIII.

These are The Specials. Whether fighting supervillains like the deadly Anal Slug, or just fighting amongst themselves, The Specials are a different breed of superhero. It's fascinating to delve into their personal lives and see how they interact every day. Yes, this is a comedy with some fantastic elements; yes, these people are superheroes. But there's something about movies like this that you can relate to on a human level. Sometimes, even when you're a superhero, life isn't always how you want it to be.

Special trivia. Jenna Fischer makes a cameo; she may have been married to James Gunn at the time. Melissa Joan Heart (Sunlight Grrrl) has done a lot of voice work, including Saturn Girl on Superman: The Animated Series, and Dee Dee on Batman Beyond. Samantha Cannon, one of VIII, also appeared in Hancock.


See it if you want to see a hilarious superhero comedy.

Don't see it if you can't handle a lot of language; Jamie Kennedy's character is a bit "blue". Ha!

Links

Wow - a lot of Watchmen related stuff on the web lately.  Wonder why. 

Here are a number of superhero things I've come across (I think I may have picked most of these up from Pop Candy).

What If's Abound

What if Stan Lee Wrote Watchmen (I can't bear to look..."Don't be a pinko, Doc!")

What if Woody Allen Had Directed Watchmen? Disturbing...but I might see Tarantino's.  And Pedro Almodovar's.

Watchmen related

10 Things You Should Know About Alan Moore (I bet he could pen a fascinating comic book autobiography.)

Who Watches Who Walks out of Watchmen? I don't think anyone walked out of my theater - opening night.

After Watchmen (DC's picks of what to read after you read Watchmen.  I'd start with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; or maybe The Killing Joke.)

Other Superhero Stuff

10 Defenses for Howard the Duck (I've had this sitting on my DVR forever, intending to watch it and review it.)

The Hero Factory What could be better than supeheroes and 80s music? Make your own superhero, put him on a comic.  Though sometimes they pick dumb names...

Watchmen

Just sitting here in the theater waiting for Watchmen to start. I thought the theater would be a lot more crowded.

The Book of Lies (Brad Meltzer, 2008)

The other day, I saw that my wife had brought home The Book of Lies from the library.  I remembered hearing about this because part of the story featured the family of one of the creators of Superman (Jerry Siegel). I asked Krista if she like Meltzer.  She said she'd read all his books.

"No you haven't," I replied.

Taken aback, "Yes, I have," she argued.

"Have you read Identity Crisis?" Ha!

"Well, I haven't read his comics."  Color me impressed that she even knew he wrote comics, much less knew the name of one!

Anyway, I figured I better read this since she had brought it home from the library...


I don't read much in the way of thrillers - that's more Krista's speed.  I enjoyed this one, though. It's a quick easy read, with chapters you can sometimes finish in a minute or two - great if you read in tiny bites.

So, how does the first murder (the story of Cain and Abel) figure prominently into the life of the creator of Superman?  Read it and find out.  It's an interesting story with some good twists and turns (none of which I saw coming, though Krista said she saw the first big one).

Push (2009) mini review

superhero film not based on a comic

[7/10]

So, technically, it's not a superhero film - but it is a film about people with powers. When I saw the previews for Push, it seemed very reminiscent of the show Heroes, but as I sat in the theater absorbing the film, it didn't remind me of Heroes at all. 

A government organization called The Division is continuing experiments on psychics started by the Nazis in World War II, trying to develop people's psychic abilities and turn them into weapons.  Those who have telekenetic abilities are called Movers; people that can see the future are called Watchers; people that can push their thoughts into your mind and make you see and believe thing that aren't real are called Pushers; you get the idea.  There are a lot more abilities in the film, but it's a lot more fun if you pick them up while you're watching.

The Division is looking for a Pusher named Kira (Camilla Bell) who recently escaped.  They want her back because they've injected her with a serum that multiplies her abilities, and she's the first to survive the process.  She gets some help from Nick (Chris Evans, upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie, Fantastic Four, 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer) and Cassie (Dakota Fanning - did you know she played a young Wonder Woman on Justice League once?). They're being chased by Division man Carver (Djimon Hounsou, Constantine, Blueberry), as well as a rival Hong Kong organization.

I thought the film was a fun ride. The way the abilities were handled was especially creative, and I think I enjoyed this part of the film best of all (and it helped me overlook other shortcomings).  If you can find yourself lost in the fun of mindless esapism, sometimes that's all you need to enjoy a movie. I especially like the telekinetic fist fight...but I won't spoil that for you either.

Keep in mind that this is not a film for deep analysis.  If you think too much about it, you can find a lot of parallels with Heroes, though, as I said before, it doesn't have the same feel.  Plus, if you try to analyze the story and plot, I think you'd find a lot of holes.  But as a "popcorn" movie - a movie you can just sit and enjoy, it's not too bad.

[Neil Jackson, who was Marcus in the Blade series playes a Mover who works for The Division. Ming-Na, who plays the Sniffer that helps Kira, Cassie, and Nick , also voiced Detective Yin on The Batman.]


See it if you can just sit and enjoy a movie for the fun of it.

Don't see it if you over-analyze films and look for plot holes.

The Brave and the Bold Toys

I didn't know Brave and the Bold toys were out - even an action figure of Blue Beetle.

Rude

Update.

Ok; while there's an advantage to pre-picking your seat at a theater like the Monaco, the downside is when you get rule-follower nazis that don't realize they're picking seats right next to you. So when they walk into an empty theater after picking seats right next to you they sit right next to you. Duh.

oh cool - Watchmen trailer

A Darkened Movie Theater

Here am at the Monaco in Huntsville (by myself in the theater) about to see Push. Why? Well because it's not in Florence, of course. I'll let you know if it's any good.

Aw, crud...it looks like I might not have the theater all to myself. Oh, well. The trailers are about to start.

In the News

Just some important news stories I thought you all might be interested in:

Action Figure Fights On Despite Loss Of Dragon Sword

5 Upcoming Comic Book Movies That Must Be Stopped

20 Superhero Movies We Hope They Never Make

Have a good week!

Wanted (2008) mini review

based on a comic book

[10/10]

Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) is a loser. An insignificant nothing who can't figure out why his life sucks. He's treated like crap at his crappy job. His girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend. Life can't get much worse.

But one day he finds out the father he never knew was an assassin. Fox (Angelina Jolie) finds him and tries to convert him; Sloan (Morgan Freeman - Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) is the head of The Fraternity and convinces him to join the organization. I'll leave the rest for you to find out when you see this movie, if you haven't already.

What can I even say about a summer of comic book movies that had such a strong start (Iron Man) and got better and better with every film, crescendoing with Wanted. Maybe that's not how they came out chronologically, but Wanted was my final stop on my summer comic book tour, and for my money, it was the best of the bunch.

This is only my second 10 out of 10 comic book movie. What can I say - I'm transfixed by films where the hero starts out as some schlub, and when he discovers the truth about life, it's turned upside down (The Matrix and Fight Club are in my top 5 films - go figure.) These kinds of films resonate with me somewhere deep inside. But when a movie is brilliantly made and it reaches inside me and grabs me by the soul - that's a film that rocks my world. And the beautiful choreography and amazing cinematography of this whole movie just makes you need to catch your breath.

Addendum: I wanted to add that not long after I saw the film in the theater, I read Mark Millar's comic that it was based on.  It was interesting that the film wasn't that faithful to the comic.  And, well, it wouldn't have been able to have near the success if it tried to be.  I mean, the comic is dark.  Darker probably than just about any comic I've ever read. In the comics, The Fraternity isn't a fraternity of assassins who go about trying to kill the people who deserve it.  It's a fraternity of costumed super-villains who have done away with all the superheroes and now go about doing whatever they want. Imagine a secret gang of hundreds of Jokers let loose on the world without the Batman to keep them in check, and you can get an inkling of what I'm talking about.  To be truer to the source material would have been cost-prohibitive (all those costumes, all those super powers, all those special effects), and it would've been lucky to garner an NC-17 rating.  I think I'm glad they didn't get any close than they did - it all ended up like an adolescent angry boy's fantasy - what would I do if I could do anything I want to anyone I wanted to.  *Shudder* While I recommend the movie to anyone who can get by the violence, I personally don't recommend the comic; but that's just me.



See it if you like intense action movies or movies about truth being turned on its head.

Don't see it if you tend to avoid the blood and violence.