Flicks for Thought

So this is a big summer at the movies.

Somehow it seems to be even bigger than last year's which rocked my world with Live Free or Die Hard(Awesome), Fantastic Four 2(Weak), Transformers(Awesome), 300(Weak), Knocked Up(Awesome),Stardust(Weak), Superbad(Awesome),Spiderman 3(Weak), Pirates 3(Awesome), Simpsons (Meh), and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Meh). All in all an impressive line up but this summer might very well blow it's top off.  So I've decided I'm going to rate my expectations.

For a foreseeable failure in the making  I will go with the Flash's weakness. I don't know if it's actually a weakness, but whenever the flash becomes fat it's usually a pretty sucky time for him. So I'm expecting said fat flash flick to be pretty lame and uncomfortable. 

For some slight menace I will go with the weakness of wood, that Green Lantern Alan Scott has to suffer. The movie with this description is maybe gonna be kind of clever but not anything more than serviceable. 

For a movie that I hold high expectation. I'll go with the first superhero weakness. The most scary thing ever a green rock. Said film which garners this rating will rock like kryptonite.

Iron Man =  The trailers look good, special effects look good, and Downey Jr. looks straight up bad ass.

Speed Racer =  I like the Wachowski's over all, Matrix sequels be damned. Hopefully this delivers some fun.

Indiana Jones =  I'm a big Indy fan and a big Shia Lebouef fan so this is a no brainer.

Chronicles of Narnia 2 =  Didn't like the first one. I doubt I'll even watch this.

 The Happening =   I'm an M. Night fan. Unbreakable is pure genius hopefully this is in that vein.

 

Get Smart =  I was not expecting to watch this but the trailer was [pretty good so I'll give it a shot but want to remain cautious with my expectations.

Wanted =  I have no interest in this.

Hellboy 2: the Golden Army =  I'm a Del Toro fan boy so I'll be there opening night.

Hancock =   My Super Ex-Girlfriend sucked this looks like it's following those foot steps.

The Dark Knight =  Who does not think this is going to rock?

Step Brothers =  Apatow can do no wrong.

Wall E =   Meh, these pixar movies are hit or miss for me.

Mummy 3 =  I love the first two mummy flicks. This doesn't have the same director and will have chinese Mummy's and that sounds dumb as hell. My expectations are lower than low. 

Tropic Thunder =  Downey Jr. as a white guy playing a black guy. I'm there.

The Incredible Hulk =  I'm not a big Hulk fan so I'm not hyped for this.

and Pineapple Express =  Apatow can do no wrong.

How you guys feeling about the summer flicks?

THE READ PILE - 4/23/08

Oh my god! The Read Pile is late this week. My apologies. Work has been crazy haven't had time to write. So if anyone is still interested I give you this week's READ PILE

#1 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 1 - Last issue I'm planning on righting a whole post on, because I totally loved it. I think it made countdown worth it. So i'm expecting this issue to stick by comparison, but I am interested.

#2 DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #8 (OF 8) - Also, this should tie into countdown 2, so I'm excited to see what the New Gods resolution will be.

#3 DYNAMO 5 #12 - I love this book. I wonder how many people read it. If not a lot of people read it, I think I might do some reviews to spur some interest in it. Have you read an issue of Dynamo 5?

#4 MIGHTY AVENGER'S #12 SII - Secret Invasion number one review is also on the way. I'm onboard with this.

#5 MS MARVEL #26 SII - I picked up the last tie-in because I liked the cover. I dropped Ms. Marvel around issue 15 because things with the lightning storm team we're pretty lame. I'll be on board this book till one issue after Secret Invasion and then I'll se if I drop it or not.

#6 WOLVERINE FIRST CLASS #2 - Really loved issue, review is on the way. PICK IT UP!

#7 SHADOWPACT #24 - Future, past and present Shadowpact collide, this shouldn't be to bad. Can Willingham come back, please.

#8 JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #20 - Meh.

#9 SECRET HISTORY THE AUTHORITY JACK HAWKSMOOR #2 (OF 6) - Last issue was interesting. Check it out, if giant robots are your thing.

MOMENT OF WEAKNESS

The "weakness of the week" introduced last week has been replaced by the more cleverly named Moment of Weakness. This week, due to my not being around, am going to give you three links for your pleasure and as my humble apology.

Mark's Fantasy League is booming. Wanna face my team the Knights of Right. Then join in on the fun.

I'm not a Spawn or Cerebus fan but this recap by siskoid really peaked my interest.

Lastly, I love Gullermo Del Toro and eagerly await Hellboy 2 and his future projects so here are his thoughts on the upcoming Hobbit flick.

OUT WITH THE NEW IN WITH THE YOUNG #1'S

I'm back. Sorry I've been out of the fray for a while. I'm here now and that is what counts. I will now finally get to my overly hyped Young X-men review. I want to review this series in a semi-different way. I want to rate it head to head against the book it more or less sprung out of, New X-men. New X-men is a special comic for me, I intend to talk about this more in depth in the future, but New X-men got me into buying comics weekly and creating an actual pull list. For that it obviously has a special place in my heart. As of right now Young X-men doesn't hold that same high esteem, and is basically just a book I'm picking up(I don't expect to be top of the read pile material).

New X-men #1

First off the cover is simply okay. I'm a fan of #1 covers, with like giant ones on it and really dynamic posing. This cover is really mellow all the kids look kind of sleepy and bored not a great way to start off. Inside the book however is everything a first issue should be. Issue one is introductory and depicts the tone of the issue right off the bat. We get a freshly built Xavier's school for the first couple of pages, with Cyclops and the White Queen giving new students a tour. It's neat to see the powers of the X-men through the kids eyes as there is a sense of weirdness and oddity that isn't found very often in most current X-books.

We then meet Noriko working at a coffee shop she's cute, confident, and has her own Cyclops like dependence on these bulky cumbersome energy gauntlets. She super speeds her way to campus to join Scott and Emma's tour. She makes all sorts of snarky comments to Miss Frost, which I Find totally endearing and sets her up as girl with a bit of an attitude.

We are then introduced to David Alleyne a kid from chicago who appears seemingly ordinary. Noriko and David talk explaining some backstory about the two and giving them a chance to flirt a little, and allow David to show off his mental powers (he can learn all the skills of people around him). We then get introduced to Sofia a pretty Venezuelan girl who can control the wind. She's hanging out with Laurie and Josh who can send out mind control pheromones and heal respectively. The kids talk about really normal teenage stuff basketball, family, playing basketball after dinner, and how there powers factor into there everyday lives. The kids we've met take a quick trip to the danger room to pick up a piece of Noriko's gauntlet she lost which makes her power unstable. Their covert mission to the danger room, doesn't go as planned of course and a sentinel program is turned on. The kids make it out okay and have the feeling that maybe they shouldn't get to attached because the teachers might split them up and we get a to be continued. All in all a good issue. The art is strong, consistent, and generally meets the tone of the series perfectly. The characters show room to grow and have a great teen soap opera type of feeling ala 90210, Dawson's Creek, or Smallville.

Young X-men #1

The covers are great despite the lame looking line up, the art is cool and the overall lay out is smooth and draws you in. We start off with the young X-men in the midst of a battle with a cyborg. The kids flay off his skin and attempt witty fight banter. Their witty fight banter is so great lines like ""Wolverine" was taken" leave me cold. We are then introduced to blindfold who was seeing the whole scene that will occur in the future. She leaves me the same way she's not as interesting as Noriko and her powers seem to passive and not strong enough of a visual to be the audience's identification character. We are then introduced to Wolf Cub whose calling people bub and doing his best Wolverine impression. He seems really out of character based on the few times we had seen him in New X-men as like an auxiliary character. Also, I hate how every X-team needs like a Wolf-man like character. I find it annoying and it feels like they are selling me the same dynamics in every comic. Scott stops Wolf Cub before he kills an ex-mutant and invites him to a new team of X-men. We then are moved to Afghanistan where some stereotypical muslim terrorists are threatening peaceful villagers before they are busted up by Sooraya Qadir aka Dust. Sooraya is really a cool character and I Have great fondness for her. However, her posing is straight up weak. Paquette likes to pose women with this weird one hand behind the back talking staring at the reader which is strange and annoying.

He does this like three times in the issues and they are on two consecutive pages. We then arrive in a California tattoo shop where some loser is getting a tattoo cops come in to arrest him for theft and this a-hole mutant exposes them to bio-hazard radiation with his tattoo before he's arrested and busted out of prison by Cyclops.

This tattoo guy is totally lame to me he seems like such a villain and a poser I can't imagine how Guggenheim is going to endear him to me. I wish he was a straight up villain. We're then taken to Florida where Rocklside and Blindfold are having a cup of joe at a coffee shop very matter of factly. No one in the coffee shop seems to mind that there's a girl with no eyes and a giant rock guy drinking coffee, which to me is a wasted opportunity.

Scott shows up and invites Rockslide to the team. He says he'll join only if Blindfold does to. Scott much like myself isn't sold on Blind fold but Rockslide is adamant. Scott randomly blasts Rockslide through the coffee shop window to which none of the coffee shop patrons seem to care or notice. We then finally arrive at the rubbles of Xavier's school. Scott gives a stupid we're warriors and tough speech as the team stands around and tries to look cool in their first mission debriefing. Where, shocker of shockers the old New Mutants are now the Brotherhood of evil mutants and must be stopped. All in all the issue is very weak. The formula of having a guy go around and invite people to to a team is as lame as Stan Lee thought it was when he created the Avenger's and said that super teams should be created through fate and necessity, not just one dude repetitively saying we need you to join us. The art is okay, I don't think Paquette is suited to dialogue and giving character's performances. I also find the way he draws Wolf Cub to be inconsistent and ugly. The dialogue is clunky and the pacing is to slow and chopped up.

What do you guys think?

the read pile - 4/16/08

Sorry that I haven't been around lately, I've been really busy with work and finals, by the end of this week I will return in full force and address the various loose ends floating around on my blog. 

#1 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 2 - It is finally here GIANT TURTLE OLSEN! I look forward in seeing Brian's reaction

#2 BRAVE AND THE BOLD #12 - The entire DCU teaming up to take down the threat of Megistus, has my interest peeked. Interested to see where the series goes form here.

#3 X-MEN DIVIDED WE STAND #1 (OF 2) - This looks really cool. I like the fact they are giving Anole some attention please don't kill him.

#4 LONE RANGER #11 - This such a fun book why does it feel like every month it takes longer and longer to get to me.

#5 SALVATION RUN #6 (OF 7)- Lex Luthor versus the Joker, this sounded alot more cooler and fun before Grodd fell off a cliff.

 

#6 DC WILDSTORM DREAMWAR #1 (OF 6)- I'm not a big wildstorm fan but seeing them duke it out with DCU classics sounds like fun.

#7 IRON MAN LEGACY OF DOOM #1 (OF 4)- Wow there's like a hundred iron man books all of a sudden. I wonder if there's a movie coming out or something?

 

#8 STAR TREK YEAR FOUR ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT #1- A sequel to classic trek episode,  interesting idea.

#9 TANGENT SUPERMAN'S REIGN #2 (OF12) - I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with this book for 12 issues, things are going to have to get interesting for me to stay on it.

WEAKNESS OF THE WEEK!

This is a new mini segment I've decided to add into the read pile to spice it up.

Check out the coolness of Mr. T vs. Dracula and Dinosaurman. I would totally buy this comic. Wouldn't you?

 

Watchers/Knights of Right

Ladies and Gentleman, I present you with my Infinite Wars Fantasy League Team.

The Knights Of Right!!!

My Super crew is led by Green Arrow. Using years of experience leading the arrow family. Green Arrow leads the Knights and keeps them grounded. Managing the personalities in the groups isn't easy, but Ollie is up for the task.

Second in command, Luke Cage. Leading the New Avengers is okay, but the chance to be in my pantheon of heroism is an opportunity Luke couldn't turn down. Luke provides the younger members the benefit of his leadership. 

Hellboy provides raw brute strength and power to the squad. The indestructible demon spawn rather chill with the Knights than the stuffy BPRD. He makes sure the team doesn't take itself to seriously. 

Captain Marvel has been on some of the most powerful super teams ever assembled. But never before has he been called on to be the big gun. If two indestructible team mates can't handle the situation. All eyes turn to Cap to bail out the team. As Billy he loves reading comics with Hellboy, and arguing over who gets the nickname big red. 

Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes gets to learn how to use his powers with the benefit of the help of the greatest heroes ever. Blue Beetle is important for being the resident expert on alien invasions. 

These are my Knights Of Right. The name comes from my Marvel Ultimate Alliance team. Which had Doc Strange, Ghost Rider, Luke Cage, and Iron Man. Having the ability to draft DC characters I had to update the team with my favorites. 

You can join in on the fantasy fun here all you have to do is pick your team and watch the site.

Also if you'd like to chat right now at 10 about movies and pop culture here you go

 

the read pile - 4/9/08

#1 BOOSTER GOLD #8 - Anyone who follows the blog, knows how I feel about this Booster Gold series. I'm going to have to come up with something interesting to say about it.

#2 TITANS #1 - I'm looking forward to this book. I wish it were written be Geoff Johns based on the fantastic classic era Titans story he did in The Teen Titan's East special. Winnick has to prove himself on this book.

#3 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #23 - I'm glad were back to the Mongul storyline. Also with countdown I'm wondering where this epilogue to the Sinestro Corps storyline falls for Kyle during countdown. Is it before or after?

#4 GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #7 - I'm digging this book, but the last issue fell a little flat.

#5 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #14 - Based on the previews this Gog story line isn't anywhere near done. I am a bit bored by it. Also i wonder if the cover is supposed to be reminiscent to the DC universe promos on purpose

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#6 LAST DEFENDERS #2 (OF 6) - I think Colossus is a Skrull. I wonder if that will be the point of this mini.

#7 COUNTDOWN TO FINAL CRISIS 3 - Last issue brought us the pimpness of Darkseid sitting on Mary Marvel's couch. I hope this issue we find Darkseid in Vibe's hammock.

#8 TINY TITANS #3 - Somehow, despite putting it on my pull list, my comic shop forgot to save a copy of Tiny Titans 2 for me. So I'll see if I grab 2 and 3 this Wednesday.

#9 BATMAN DEATH MASK #1(0F 4)- I'm not a fan of manga art. I dropped the Raven miniseries DC's doing due to the insufferable manga art style. I'm going to give manga art another shot in this manga version of Batman, which potentially could be very interesting. I'm going to stick with this for four issues, and hope that the storytelling is strong.

Hells Yeah!!!

Blackmarket Pies has broken(at least for me) the most amazing news. A new Batman cartoon in the Brave and the Bold style. That Jaime Freaking Reyes is going to appear in!  

Oh YEAH!!!!!

His eyes look a little weird but I think he may just be excited as I am.

Blue Beetle fans where you at?

Smack Talk! DC vs. Marvel

I was planning on reviewing Young X-men and I promise I'll do that soon. However, at the moment I feel the need to square off against members of Merry Marvel Marching Society. Over at Pulp Secret I've gotten guff for feeling that DC does superior cross over work and reacting to Brian Micheal Bendis's interview in the aforementioned link, please read and watch the vid first. 

First of all as far as Bendis and the interview go, it really pisses me off. I like Bendis's writing, I've enjoyed almost every issue of New Avengers and I enjoy the way he treats Luke Cage. On the other hand, every time I see him speak publicly he comes across to me like the most pompous self righteous ass. Claiming that he doesn't do retcons is ridiculous. Secret Invasion looks like a pure retcon machine. Hank Pym as a skrull seems like the perfect avenue to shed his wife beating past and give him a chance to be heroic once again. Secret Invasion feels to me like the spider clone saga on a massive scale. Which although it discredits years of continuity, I think that is something comic book companies have to do, but why can't marvel do it like DC in the form of directly reshaping reality and time so that past stories aren't tainted. (Side note: I've never seen the new BSG but i've been reading all over the blogosphere that the plot is ripped from BSG. Is that true?)

As far as my claim of this Secret Invasion marketing being all BS. Marvel is not only prone to hyperbole, which bothers me, it's the fact that I think they believe it. I'm not alone either. Also I am reminded of issue 2 of Civil War Spider Man unmasks and Joe Q goes out publicly and said this is the direction were taking the character we're not going to undo it. How did that turn out?

On the point of DC doing superior cross overs. I'd say marvel has been jumping from one event to the next. The only events that seemed logical to being back to back was Civil War and World War Hulk. House of M came out of the blue, same as Secret Invasion(although I hope Bendis does a good job explaining why the New Avengers has been building to this). There events call for all of the heroes in the Marvel U which means that every book needs a crossover, or maybe affected  by the result of the event. Which was the case for New X-men which lost it's happy fun teen angst filled high school drama after house of M. To be replaced with mourning students, and apocalyptic extinction melodrama. DC on the other hand has had Identity, Infinite and Final Crisis. Identity was pretty self contained but it changed the dynamics of the Universe for a short time but was wrapped up with Infinite Crisis in a satisfactory way, uniting the heroes that had divided. 52 was totally self contained. So there wasn't crossover fever. It also allowed the new DCU to find it's place and setup a status quo. Countdown despite it's poor quality didn't interrupt the status quo for any of the major players.It seemed, to instead of push stories outwards onto other books, pulled stories into it's main theme. With Karate Kid and the lightning saga, to the death of Bart Allen, etc. Both 52 and Countdown gave the spotlight primarily to secondary characters. Allowing them to shine and find a new voice for these new times. What i find most comforting about DC universe cross overs is that although worlds change and planets collide, characters never get the short end of the stick(except for Max Lord). 

So Bombardem am I just a DC punk on Dan Didio's jock? Or someone that has thought this crap through?

Chat with me and The Watchers Here and Now

From now on every tuesday night at 10, I will be in the watchers chat room. Watching them and chatting talking movies primarily but if comics come up all the better.  So if you want to chat check it out. I'm going to keep this a recurring theme for a while.

type / your nickname to change your name

Also check out and join in this.

Links for Spoiled Brats

This may possibly be fake seeing as today is April Fools Day.

Slash Film is reporting that the Siegel's obtaining the rights to Superman, which is being talked about all over the internet, has resulted in Siegel signing Superman to Marvel for a Spiderman/Superman team-up movie to be co-directed by Singer and Raimi.

Also if anyone has seen Southland Tales they are going to chat it up tonight at geeks of doom and always watching. I'll be there, I did it last week it was a lot of fun.