the READ pile - 8/13/08

BOOSTER GOLD #11 - This cover is beautiful. I'd hang this up on my wall like a piece of fine art. 

ACTION COMICS #868 - Geoff Johns owns this. I'd love to see his take on Metallo my favorite supes villain. 

LONE RANGER #12 - Great book. Read it. 

BATMAN #679 RIP - Still confused but I'm interested. 

FINAL CRISIS REVELATIONS #1(OF 5) - I might drop this if its not revealing enough. 

SECRET INVASION #5(OF 7) - This book sucks. 

GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #11 - The art by Cliff is a joy. I wish we could see more of Ollie at home with his wife being more husbandly and dealing with husbandly responsibilities.

HELL BOY THE CROOKED MAN #2(OF 3) - This is a pretty cool Hellboy story, it seems like he's going to meet the devil. 

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #27 - Love this cover and not for the Green Lantern bulges. . 

TINY TITANS #7 - I wish this book was just like a weekly back up in the regular Teen Titans book. 

LAST DEFENDERS #6 (OF 6) - I already bought the first 5 last one ain't gonna kill me. 

TRINITY #11 - This series is working for me thus far. I find my self really interested in how they produce the comic. 

6 reasons to HATE Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express did not deliver for me. I was very hyped for this move. I loved Superbad and I am a big Apatow fan. I thought this movie was going to blow Step Brothers away but it didn't at all. The wierd thing is that i hated this move and Ebert liked it, and I loved Step Brothers and Ebert ripped it. 

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS!!!

6. Poor Plotting - A film that mixes genres successfully is From Dusk Till Dawn the first half is action the second horror. The style changes halfway through and there's never any foreshadowing or tease that the characters can expect to run into vampires it just happens. Like it would in real life. This film doesn't do that. Going from stoner comedy to buddy action isn't smooth at all. They just begin flailing about punching and shooting each other out of nowhere. The action or tension never rises. In action movies things usually escalate in this movie things only fizzle out.

5. 4o minutes too long -The film is 15 minutes too long but it feels like forty. A comedy shouldn't be more than 90 minutes especially a bad one. The film drags maybe its the plot that never seems to develop a goal or motivation beyond find those guys.

4. Rogen and Franco - - Rogen's Dale Denton is hard to like. He has a girlfriend in high school which requires some suspension of disbelief. His dialogue just doesn't work with him in the lead. Superbad, and Knocked Up were ensemble enough that everyones acting and screen time is equal so you never really get sick of anyones one dimensional personality. In this buddy flick Rogen and Franco own the screen time and they got on my nerves. There is only so much ineptitude I can stand to watch. 

I love Franco I think he is the best actor of our time His portrayal of James Dean is magnificent and his work on Freaks and Geeks is so honest he looks like he's in a documentary half the time. This movie doesn;t show off his range. It doesn;t even give him that out there a character. Saul Silver is basically a quiet drug dealer who is contemplative but quick to action. He isn't horrible but he isn;t all that great in the flick.

3. Red - Red is played by Danny Mc Bride and he is hilarious. He almost saves the movie. He is probably the only good performance in the film simply because he has a schtick. Therest of the movies villains are lame and kind of standard.

 

2. Shitty Action - This films intent seems to me, to be to marry the stoner comedy genre and the buddy action movie genre. In doing so it serves neither master. The action is lame, and not in a funny lame like Steven Seagal where its funny because it takes it self overly serious. It's lame because it's really trying to be cool but is only mediocre. I've seen better production value on tv. The Killpoint which was a mini-series on spiketv which proably didn't have half the money this flick had, had superior action.

1. It didn't deliver- This movie's trailer was perfect.

 

It had an awesome song, the promise of cool action, and few laugh lines. It is still probably my favorite trailer of the year. However, MIA's Paper Planes is never used in the movie only the trailer. I guess this is good because they probably would have wasted it and now some other director like Guy Ritchie, or Rob Zombie can take it and use it for one of their films right.

What did you think?

Did I dissuade you enough?

Are you still interested in seeing Rogen's Green Hornet?

6 lines to LOVE Step Brothers for

Step Brothers!!!

Since it's hard to dissect a comedy with out giving up the best jokes. I'm going to highly recommend this film. I thought it was hilarious. It's dirty as hell, the musical choices are perfect, the setting is unique, the characterizations are very innocent and extremely creative.  The trailer which i thought was hilarious actually doesn't give the funniest parts of the movie like most comedies do. 

Instead of listing performances or themes, I am going to give the top 6 lines from the movie in no particular order.

6. "I want to roll you into a little ball and stick you in my vagina. Where you can live..."

5. "I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins."

4.  "Eat shit Derek!"

3. "Boats n' hoes"

 

2. "Call me Dragon" "Call me Night Hawk"

1. "You and your mom are a bunch of hillbillies. This is a house of learned doctors."

moment of weakness

Decide to make moment of weakness it's own thing so from now on expect it on fridays. 

This week is all about a possible Goonies 2 and Lost Boys 3. Still haven't seen Lost Boys 2 so I'm on the fence till I see it. However, Goonies 2 is what i want almost as much as Ghostbusters 3. This photo should give hope everyone still appears to be pretty good looking for the camera.

 

I would like to see hollywood really reat this sequel like Indiana Jones and accept the passage of time. The modern day goonies should be just as fun and edgy as the original. A hard pg-13. The Goonies is one of the best films of the 80's mixing fantasy and the feeling of really being a young teen. 

Any fellow Goonies fans out there?

Or as a Goonie would say "Hey you guys!"

AVENGERS MOVIE

What if the upcoming Avengers movie was based on this. Would that be good or bad?

6 reason to LOVE The Dark Knight

THE DARK KNIGHT

6. MAYOR BAT-MANUEL - Nestor Carbonell of Cane, Lost, and The Tick(live action tv series). Has a small part as the Mayor of Gotham. Why should anyone care? He helped lampoon the elements of the Batman mythos ad the one and only  Batmanuel. This inside joke is almost worth the price of admission. Nestor is also a terrific actor and a fellow cuban-american like myself so I'm a big fan of the guy and I hope this flick gets him more film work. 

5. BATMAN UNIVERSE - The universe truly is Batman's. The same way the Incredible Hulk and Iron Man realy seel the Marvel Universe. This film sells the Batman Universe and Gotham city. It makes the city a real world place and treats its characters like real people. Gotham is busy and complex. The fact that Batman first faces of against the Scarecrow makes the city feel busy and it helps you believe that a Batman villain is hiding behind every alley. 

4. THEMES - The Dark Knight plays expands upon the themes of the last film. Choas and order. Crime, the law, and vigilantism are questioned. The movie really gives you more to chew on after the film than any comic book movie I've ever seen. My favorite theme is the way that Joker gets caught with his human experiment which proves Batman right for believing in humanity. 

3. HARVEY "TWO-FACE" DENT - Two Face for some inexplicable reason is quite possibly my favorite bat villain. I love his origin and love the way it ties to and affects Bruce. I always imagine and this movie almost supports it, Harvey Dent was Bruce's plan to fix the earth. I think wayne imagined one day Harvey becoming president and reforming the entire country. This film supports the idea that Dent is more hero than Batman and what happens to him helps prove why batman needs to wear a mask.  Eckhart's performance is outshown by Ledger but it is equally as good his anger is fearsome and his two-face logic (shooting the driver) is spot on perfect.

2. BATMAN - This is be far my favorite batsuit of the films it moves better although I don;t like the all black but I'll talk about that later. The Bat's gadgets were better than last time. The batpod was super cool. Wayne's playboy penthouse was pretty cool. I'm still don't like the way Bale portrays the bat. The voice is horrible and his soulless Bruce Wayne isn't as emotional or endearing as he should be.  

1. JOKER - Ledger is perfect. His intro in the opening sequence is cool, effective, and classic. The Joker is a criminal genius. He makes you laugh and feel terror for his next move. He is sadistic and represents all the worst and wild elements of Gotham. He is every bit a match for Batman and his dialogue is amazing. "You complete me" is the most genius Joker line ever. He never asked "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" 

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

What did you think?

the Read Pile - 8/6/08

I'm not going to rate them on how much I anticipate them for a while. Also I'm going to throw the moment of weekness up from now on as it's own thing. 

 FINAL CRISIS #3(OF 7) - I love this cover. I wish I loved this comic.

HOUSE OF MYSTERY #4 - This book is interesting and subversive check it out.

IRON MAN VIVA LAS VEGAS #2(OF 4) - It's been way too long since issue one.

TWELVE #7 (OF 12) - This is my favorite of the ww2 heroes in present day maxi-series that are out.

ULTIMATE ORIGINS #3(OF 5) - I don't really get it but i'm still buying it. 

VENOM DARK ORIGIN #1(OF 5) -  With a possible Venom movie on the horizon this book may very well serve as the basis.

JONAH HEX #34 - Meh.

TRINITY #10 - This series is really very good. 

WAR THAT TIME FORGOT #4(OF 12) - I like this series a lot. Every issue has people fighting a different dinosaur which is kind of genius.  This cover is the weakest out of all the ones they've done so far but I still like it. 

DETECTIVE COMICS #847 RIP - I liked last issue with HUSH I hope he doesn't take the bat mantle though.

AVENGERS INVADERS #4(OF 12) - Great cover. alex ross is really busy huh?

FATHOM #1 - No idea who or what this is. picking it up cause it has a cool sounding title.

TOR #4(OF 6) - Haven't been reading this, I'm collecting it to read all six together. 

reel geezers have a dark knight

My Dark Knight review is coming soon sorry for the delay but it's taken a while to put my thoughts together. i was watching reel geezers review on dark knight which you can see here.

I never heard of Batman's origin as Bat's being all criminals common fear and that's why he chose it as his mantle. It's campy, cool, and kind of neat. Although kind of lame. It got me thinking what other explanations for Batman's style could or have people come up with. If anyone knows any better justifications for dressing up as a bat please let me know below.

Near Miss!

Old Man Logan #2 comes out tomorrow and I'm pretty hyped. I almost missed the first issue but thanks to a cover of the week nod by nick, i checked it out in the store and after perusing the art was sold. 

OLD MAN LOGAN! is the coolest freaking book out there. Millar is really owning the comic book industry. He's delivering a lot of fun cool stories. Between 1985, Kick-Ass and this. I think it's safe to call myself a Millar fan especially after reading Wanted. 

Imagine Wolverine as a pacifist in a post-apocalyptic Marvel Universe. The giant villain uprising that happens in Wanted is now applied to the Marvel Universe. 

 

Only Marvel's villains are too gawdy to run the world in secret peacefully. They have to own it publicy and feud against each other.

 The Hulks redneck kids were a joy.

 

Wow all of the Hulks offspring are dangerous.

 

By the way, Wolverine has a son named Scott! LOL!

ThE Read Pile - 7/30/08

#1 GREEN LANTERN #33 - This story is perfect. I love the way that Johns writes Sinestro. He's so pompous. 

#2 JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL #1 - This looks awesome. Doc Retro must be hyped.

#3 WOLVERINE #67 - Old Man Logan is awesome. The Marvel version of wanted with a little bit of Escape from New York thrown in. 

#4 STAR TREK YEAR FOUR ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT #4 - This book is solid and I love the art is has a very nostalgic felling which i dig. Keep it up IDW.

#5 TEEN TITANS #61 - Kind of pissed my favorite Titan Ravager is off the squad hope she returns soon. Until then Blue Beetle and Kid Devil will have to do.

#6 BLUE BEETLE #29 - I like this cover. Is that supposed to be the Texas Mexico border?

#7 BATMAN DEATH MASK #4(OF 4)  -More Batmanga. I love it. I'd love to see the Manga take on Scarecrow or Joker or Killer Croc.

#8 JOKER'S ASYLUM TWO FACE #1 - meh.

#9 SECRET INVASION FANTASTIC FOUR #3(OF 3) - I like this book i thought I would've dropped it but it's a good read and new reader friendly.

#10 HUNTRESS YEAR ONE #6(OF 6) - One of the best year one's i've read.

#11 PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #5(OF 7) - Meh. 

#12 SKAAR SON OF HULK #2 - This is fun. I'm currently reading Planet Hulk in trades and enjoying it. 

#13 REIGN IN HELL #1(OF 8) - Hope this doesn't suck eight issues is a long time for a mini. 

#14 TRUE BELIEVERS #1(OF 5) - I don't know what this is but I'm getting it.

#15 STAR TREK MIRROR IMAGES #2 - Pretty good worth a look at least.