DCnU: 52 questions asked. 52 questions maybe answered.

1.  What caused the new 52/ DCnU?

It's the end (of DC's) world as I know it

Week one of the relaunch, where do I stand after all of the huffing and puffing?

Spoiler Warning: Issue 9

Spoiler Warning. Issue Nine.

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet. There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.





Our topic today? Doctor Who Season Six Part Two.

C-Note Returns!: Trade Waiting Edition #1

C-Note Returns!:  Trade Waiting Edition #1
For graphic novels and trades there is a short list when it comes to September.

Spoiler Warning: Issue Eight.

Spoiler Warning. Issue Eight.

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet. There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.



Our topic today? Season Two of Walking Dead.

C-Note Returns: Number One

C-Note Returns!  For the Month of September!




C-Note Returns! is a new monthly article series where I go over Next months comics and line up a 100 dollars worth of comics.  I group them into ten dollar batches to help out anyone on a lower priced budgets.  I also include other books I recomend or am hopeful about.  This concept is totally and wholley ripped off an old IGN Comics article series called C-Note.  I liked the concept and they stopped doing it over a year ago so I have reupped it.  You will also find C-Note Returns!: Trade-Waiter Edition One week after this goes live but it will be covering two months in advance instead of just the next month.  This article will appear about mid month each month in order to properly give you a chance to check out what's to come.
Hit Read More to find out what's on the list this month.

Spoiler Warning: Issue Seven.

Spoiler Warning.  Issue Seven.

Today we discuss The Avengers(2012).

A Vote For Change - a Barbara's Not Broken Article

For some reason, DC comics has decided that a character being reconizable is more important than the fans who are already invested in the character; more important than character evolution; more important than hope.  DC Comics thinks it is okay to take a wheelchair bound redhead and force her to stand on two legs under the entire premise that she needs to be more reconizable. 

Because in all honest, that is what Barbara represents.  I hope that we as an audience might have some diversity in our comics. 

Spoiler Warning: Issue Six.

Spoiler Warning.  Issue Six.

(NOTE, THIS HAD BE SCHEDULED FOR EARLIER BUT BLOGGER DIDN'T LIKE ME, MY BAD)



This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet. There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.


Our topic today? The Dark Knight Rises

Spoiler Warning Special Edition: Issue Two: MORE TDKR

Spoiler Warning Special Edition

Issue Two

More The Dark Knight Rises

Spoiler Warning: Issue Five

Spoiler Warning.  Issue Five

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet. There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.


Our topic today? DCnU

The Catwoman has Been Spotted on the set of The Dark Knight Rises

Now we've known for months now that Selina Kyle was going to be featured in The Dark Knight Rises.  But now we can see what she looks like.

Spoiler Warning: Special Edition Number One: Miles Morales-Spider-Man

Spoiler Warning

Special Edition #1:  Miles Morales aka The All-New Spider-Man

Spoiler Warning Issue 4

Spoiler Warning: Issue 4

or

Why The Legend of Korra is going to be more important than Avatar

Spoiler Warning: Issue Three

Spoiler Warning.  Issue 3.

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet. There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.

Our topic today? FlashPoint

A Real American Hero - A review of Captain America.

Captain America Punches Hitler in the Face, nuff said.

Spoiler Warning: Issue two

Spoiler Warning.  Issue 2.

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet. There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.



Our topic today? Schism

The Captain America we need

It is a strong opinion of mine that Ed Brubaker needs to write the Death of Bucky Barnes one-shot.  That is to say, a filler issue, set between The pages of Fear Itself covering Bucky being killed by Sin, and Steve needing to pick up the mantle.  This story beat was glossed over and deserves a far superior introspection on the event.  Hell, I'd even take an issue that is just the funeral for Bucky Barnes, flashing back over the event.  But I need some kind of conclusion on the character from Ed.  I need it.  Ed is the scribe for Cap now.  It honestly never feels quite right unless he is writing Bucky or Steve.  I need the conclusion for one major reason:  Captain America Omnibus vol 4.  The end of Gulag doesn't quite feel right as a grand ending for this story.  This missing chapter is needed to close out the fourth volume in a meaningful way.  Not a way that says go read this book by this other guy.  And don't get me wrong, I think Matt Fraction is doing a good job on Fear Itself, but he dropped the ball on this.  It's time for Ed, like Steve, to pick up that shield and write  the ending we deserve for Bucky's story.  I know it isn't the end.  He'll  be back one day.  But right now?  Right now we need some kind of closure.
So please Ed, give me the best damn Death of Bucky Barnes one-shot possible.

Spoiler Warning: Issue One

Spoiler Warning.  Issue One.

This is going to be a new style of discussion for things that haven't ended yet.  There is an obvious spoiler warning attached and these are all my best aproximations of what's to come.

Our topic today?  Fear Itself

this isn't blackest night, but it certaily isn't brightest day - a review of Green Lantern

Warning:  This review was written on the fly and without any proofreading, the article may change by the end of the day. 

Green Lantern




Yeah. I've been dreading writing this for weeks. I saw it in June but I figured I needed to bring up my opinion on it. And in a word it is Mediocre.

Absolutely and attrociously meh.

So you want to read about: Hal Jordan

Welcome to So You Want To Read About, Part One.  More than most other characters, there are some very specific, and very named events in Hal Jordan's life.  Being the DCU, I don't recommend this for beginners. 

If I were DC EIC, how would I restructure the DCU...(A What-If scenario)

Alright so If I was EIC of DC, then obviously I'm going to have my own eddicts and the first is this:
Number one:  No character shall star in more than 2 books.

The True Secret of Pottermore. No joke.

Oh wait.  I lied. 
OR DID I?!?
Okay, no I didn't.

The top 11 DCnU titles that I believe are going to be terrible.

This is the companion piece to my top 11 most excitable titles.

The Marvel Restructuring (A What-If Scenario)

So CBR posed an interesting question, if Marvel was to reboot their whole line of books, which books would I want hitting the shelves.  Well here is what I would want.  52 titles to make up their entire line of titles(not including the Icon imprint).  Every book that is branded Marvel with the Marvel logo is listed that I would want.

The Top 11 DCnU titles I'm excited about

Well after a strong two weeks of announcements, I suppose we are going to see a little bit of a slow down, but as a response I'm going to spend the rest of June talking about the DCnU as the subject seems to have a lot of things to talk about.

Why The World Needs Jean Grey to Stay DEAD.

Why The World Needs Jean Grey to Stay DEAD

The Secret to Pottermore.com

What is the secret? Well....

A PSA: Avoiding corupt reviewers

Capone of Ain't It Cool News has this to say:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50065


[...]let me warn you about some terminology that you may stumble upon variation of while reading any positive reaction to this film.

What do the DCnU titles mean to you(Giant Sized Finale)

And now the moment like four people have been waiting for. 

Why did I choose the books I am going to read:

Superman is about to leave his Wife

READ ON DEAR READER'S, YOU CAN'T MISS THIS ONE.

What do the DCnU titles mean to you (Part Five)

Here we are,continuing to examine what little infomation we have on the upcoming books.

What does the DCnU titles mean to you?(Part 4 of 5)

Here we are,continuing to examine what little infomation we have on the upcoming books. 
Now in next to no detail!

What do the DCnU titles me to you? (Part three of five)

In Day three we continue to look at the various titles being launched!

Where to start reading comics: Appendix number 3

Appenix 3: Great stand alone stories.

The idea behind these collections is that they don't require you to be familiar with their concepts before hand. You can go in and enjoy the story. They are meant to be single volumne adventures that continue but do not require you to continue.

June 2011: What is Marvel Planning?

To think that Marvel isn't planning something would be silly.
For every DC action Marvel usually has some kind of reaction.  And so far, they've been silent.  And moreso, Marvel has far less options than DC since Fear Itself won't end until November. 

Where to start reading comics: Part Two

The Best places to start reading comics.

What do the DCnU titles me to you? (Part two of Five)

Previously on what do DCnU titles mean to you...  We discussed the titles billed as the Justice League Titles.  Today we tackle the Green Lantern and partially the Batman franchise.

Oracle. Batgirl. Let's Talk.

Oy.
In case you weren't aware the DC comic universe is changing.  In massive, strange, wonderful, exciting, and frightening ways.  For some, it's a new beginning.  Or others, this is their getting off point.  And a few of the changes are extremely polarizing and the changes that are undergoing are painful and frightening for some of us.  And one character in paticular is about to change in a way that is devestating.  In fact, this is one of several changes that reverts things to a pre-Alan Moore state.  The character I am talking about is Barbara Gordon.  Former Bat-Girl.  Now Former Oracle.  Bat-Girl again. 

What does the DCnU titles mean to you?(Part 1 of 5)

Absolutely nothing, say it again.
Hoorah.


Okay but seriously, Let's talk about these titles.

Where to start comics: Glossary

Terms you might need to know.
(this is constantly being updated over time, so check back with each new article posted to see if any new terms were added.)

Embracing the DCnU

To say I was furious at DC when they announced their relaunch(then misquoted as Reboot) is an understatement.

A Classic Spielberg film, with someone else directing - a review of Super8

Do you ever wonder what happened to blockbusters nowadays? That mystery, that magic. It's pretty much gone. We know every film that is coming out and when it's coming out. Hell, we know when they are filming, when they are working on effects and how long it takes for one of these projects to come into existence. We can figure out entire plots just from a brief description, a title, and the trailer. We see so much footage that we can piece together the movie into a cohesive adventure without much effort. The magic of wonder, the mystery of having no idea what a movie is about except a title and brief teaser trailer is gone. Now we have interviews upon interviews, clips everywhere, stills, leaked scripts, early screenings. All of our progress in communication has destroyed the mystery of movies. Super 8 tries to recapture that magic.

Where to start reading comics: Appendix one Intro Books

Appendix one: intro books


The idea behind each of these volumes is that you can start with just this volumne and get a full, complete, enjyoable story. They are jumping on points and at the same time are great sign posts for how to expand outward towards other books.

Where to start reading comics: Appendix two

Appendix two: Intro indie books

DCnU Complete List

DC has announced 52 new issues to rekickstart the universe.
Here I am going to write down each and every title as they are revealed. More to come on this subject.

Where to start reading Comics: Part one

Part one: Where not to start.

I've actually been asked this question a few times: "Holy F. Where do I start reading comics?"
And I usually tell them to start with what looks interesting. For starting comics you kind of need to start with characters you like. There are plenty of stories I love but I know that a large number of them aren't for new readers.

Using Telepathy to get chicks? Winning. - a review of X-Men First Class

Once upon a time two boys had very different, very startling changes occur in their life. For Erik it was the loss of his mother. For Charles it was the discovery of a young girl named Raven who had wandered into his house. These two events would send these men in search of answers to a problem that exists in the world. An issue of Fear and Xenophobia. And for almost everyone these themes will ring true. And soon enough these two boys would become men. And those men will seek out answers in their own way, only to one day have their paths colide and be changed forever. Two men who have very much united in a cause.

FlashSchsFearPointItselfIsm - Part one a discusion of event comics.

There are a handful of Event Comics out there.
The Flashpoints and the Fear Itselfs.
Then there are the Schisms and the Battle for the cowls.
The Return of Bruce Waynes and the Messiah Wars.

Then there are the Second Comings and Chaos Wars.

There are also the Three's and the Death of Spider-Mans.

The Final Crisis and the Ultimatums.





So to write this up into categories.
Some events are line wide and represent a through line, a marker post.
These are books like Flashpoint, Fear Itself, Final Crisis, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, Infinite Crisis, House of M, Civil War.


Some events are family wide.
These are the events like X-Men Crossovers, Shadowland, Ultimatum, Batman Inc./Batman Reborn, War of the Green Lanterns, Sinestro Corps

There are also crossover events. Things like Utopia, Widowmaker.

And some are simply events in their own right out of their solo books.
These are Fantastic Four Three, One More Day, The Death of Captain America, Return of The King.




Some books are events in their own right. Some books are merely stepping stones to the next thing. That isn't to say they can't be both. And often they want to be one and end up being another.

Let's start with when books are events in their own right. Civil War. While Marvel had been teasing this event for months and months leading up. the only time we really saw books that lead into it were right before civil war. And even they just layed the ground work for really show casing the event. Spider-man showed off Tony Stark going to congress. But if you look at Civil War it was just this precursor that set up Tony and Peter's relationship and Tony's connection to congress. And as we approached the end, we speculated the ending but never it was never hyped. And when it came we had a new landscape for comics. But Civil War still mattered. We were still talking about the contents of Civil War as this new era came on.
Then jump forward to Marvel's next big event. An event they spent years setting up. Secret Invasion. for months and months before hand we were watching as the conspiracy and the distrust built. It played on the setup and fallout of Civil War. But after the event started we were suddenly told about this mysterious end point. Kept Hush Hush and called only Dark Reign, we were told that the entire event was pitched on the ending. And once the Dark Reign happened, we didn't care about Secret Invasion. We didn't talk about secret invasion or the big moments. Except to complain about how illogical the ending was. Sure the Dark Reign was a really interesting idea, but the logistics about how it happened didn't work and everyone knew it. It suddenly didn't matter about the events of that transpired before. It was merely a transition event.

Now looking forward we see three major events. Flashpoint. Schism. Fear Itself. In all honesty, I have heard nothing about the end game of Fear Itself, much less the post Fear Itself landscape. and while we haven't heard about the post Schism landscape we know that "things will never be the same." Which means that the entire event might become a one line in a recap, not unlike secret invasion. And then we have Flashpoint. This is likely the most talked about event since Civil War. If you follow comics news then the only thing you've heard in the last few days is about September. DC is relaunching the whole line at number one. We don't know the exact details but the common rumor is that the main continuity and the Flashpoint continuity will merge and create a new younger continuity. But the problem is, we've stopped talking about Flashpoint. We've stopped caring. We know that most of it doesn't matter. We only care about September. Not Flashpoint. Geoff Johns(writer of Flashpoint) has said the first rule of Flashpoint is don't talk about what comes after Flashpoint. And yet here we are, talking about it. DC dropped the ball. They needed to transition us into this, not force us to accept this change. WE needed to be eased into it, or better, kept in the dark until September. I know I was bashing the way marvel transitioned into Dark Reign story-wise, but preview wise they handled it skillfully. They put out solicits with titles, numbers, and creators, but ever solicit and cover said Classified or "Not final title." It was an expert way to hide the truth. And in the end it got us to a good point where we could see some unique stories. Flashpoint was not good at this. They let the reboot cat out of the bag, and whether or not you agree with the change, all it did was stir the pan, not flip the flapjack.
When done right, an event book is a book everyone wants to read because it's well written. This is the civil war's and the Blackest Nights. The bad ones are the events that make us consider them non events designed only to get us to point B, I.E. Battle for the Cowl and X-Men's Utopia. And so we have to stand back and watch as Schism, Fear Itself, and Flashpoint stir until we reach the end of the summer and find out what really happens.


(End of Part one)
Look for Part two this fall upon the completion of Flashpoint and Schism and part three upon the completion of Fear Itself.

Broken bones, muscles, spirits, and wangs - its a review of Mortal Kombat 2011

Mortal Kombat is the best fighting game that has come out since the 16-bit days. I had more fun playing this game that I have had playing any other fighter that has come out. Let's start with the most obvious part. The characters. The roster here is nothing we haven't seen before(well, that's not true, there are two, but that'll be covered in the spoiler section) but the characters are all well designed. New takes on the old designs. The best bits are the costumes of characters before they become what we know them as. Particularly Cyrax and Sector. I can't praise this game without telling everyone that this game has a good story, a story that outshines every fighting game to date. Fully voice acted, this integrated combat will set the precedent for how all fighting game stories have to be connected. And as you progress you'll unlock stages, costumes, and characters. All of which sets you up for one hell of a local multiplayer experience. Though it is sometimes a bit trickier as you have to go into the Krypt and try and find some extras like costumes, fatalities and art. The Krypt is well animated, able to create scares and creepouts. Every character has access to four finishing moves: Two Fatalities, A babality, and a stage fatality. The variety and complexity of these moves are awesome. They are also gross and sick as you'd expect. The special moves are easy to perform, and often intuitive. Then after you have finished the story mode, there is the challenge tower which while providing unique challenges, it also pits you in some off story matches that could have easily fit in between chapters.
So that's the good, let's talk about the bad. For example, the worst part of the story mode is the broken boss battles. Boss Battles are not a test of strategy, but of luck and mini game timing. Bosses prevent blocking, hitting, and combos. I spent almost three hours trying to beat the final boss and every strategy I sought out(because eventually you just want it to be over) basically boiled down to spam a move, use a simple attack. And it still takes about 10 minutes, and a whole lot of luck. A few other problems exist, such as 1 on 2 matches, including a match that is 1 man versus 2 bosses. The inability to skip cut scenes is an issue. Particularly after you restart and it plays the previous cut scene, some of which are dreadfully long on second viewing. Also there is no option to restart a match mid fight, so in some instances where it is otherwise required to win the first round or have a certain amount of super bar(such as boss battles) this is a major time sink.
There are times when hit detection, combo breaking, fatalities, and special moves don't respond correctly and instead become a hindrance rather than an advantage. A personal issue for me is that this is yet another fighting game that focuses on juggling and combos over any amount of skill that can result in a novice player being juggled and completed hammered by a skilled player before even having a chance to hit said player.
And lastly, for a game that focuses on a tournament, there isn't a tournament mode....



+
Story mode
Variety
Local Multiplayer
The Krypt
Stages
Fatalities
Costumes and their relevancy
Challenge Tower


-
no restart.
No skip cut scene
No replay chapters.
Balance
Boss Battles are not a test of strategy, but of luck and mini game timing
Bosses prevent blocking, hitting, and combos
attacks not working consistently
Fatalities not being performed correctly.
Juggling still persists to exist.
Game relies too much on spam and juggling.
collision detection is awful.
Inconsistent recovery times and animation times.
Lack of proper counters
Glitchy controls.
No Tournament mode.


Spoilerssssssssss:

(1)Back in the day, Smoke was a ninja. And then he was captured and coverted for the cyber initiative. And he became Cyber Smoke. Here however, time has changed, and Smoke was not captured, but instead the second Sub Zero was. Leading to a wonderful conflict between Noob Saibot and Cyber Sub-Zero. Furthermore the ps3 version comes fully equipped with Kratos, the God of War.
(2)
Khan is one of those bosses that breaks the rules of the game. It is common for all of the bosses but it is in the final bout that you really see him hit the spam hammer. The lack of reaction makes him nearly impossible to beat without resorting to boring tactics. It is because of this that the game becomes almost unplayable at this juncture.
End of spoilerrrsssssss




All in all, the game is a B-. More of a try before you buy, because not everyone will like it. That said, you owe it to yourself to play through the story mode.
*I attempted to use MK online, however it only ever found 1 opponent and they backed out before the match began.

*There are a few attack spams possible and they are an issue that needs to be addressed and you can tell a difference between gamer types based on their answer to this problem. You can always tell the difference between the good players and the hardcore players. Hardcore players are the dumbasses who think adding more broken moves to the characters who aren't already broken will make the game better. the good players know that the solution is to take away the teleport moves.

Yo Ho Yo Ho, oh sorry didn't mean to call you a name - a review of POTC On Stranger Tides

Oh Pirates, you had a whole lot of promise once upon a time. And then you failed to edit movies. Instead, you sat and pretty much put word for word the script on screen. That wasn't really pretty. And while I do enjoy all three films, they were absolutely flawed in various ways. However, On Stranger Tides, while faulty, is the first of the film series since the original that really feels like it knows what it wants to be. And what it wants to be is the pirate equivilent of Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Gone are the nagging characters and the insane budget(one of which you can partially mourn for). Instead we have a cast full of characters you want to spend time with. Other than the spanish, who for some reason get no respect and no names and no screen time, the rest of these characters are set about on their course and developed into a team of characters who will go on to inhabit this world. And really, the plot here is kind of flimsy other than to create an atmosphere for which the characters can monkey about. This movie is a bridge between two different franchises. It fully links the previous trilogy of meh, and a potentially awesome future. The movie is a throw back to serials of the first half of the twentith century. Therefore you have to stick around to the end to see what's on the horizon. I am ready for a dozen more of these movies, released every other year. Why? Because these films, soon, will realize what they have to do. They have to become James Bond. What I mean is the day will come when we will have to let Johnny Depp go and let someone else pick up the mantle. But that is another day. Our new additions, BlackBeard and Angelica are wonderful new additions to the universe. Ian Mcshane is absolutely menacing in his role,and while he doesn't outshine Bill Nigh he does do a strong job to keep up with the often under appreciated Geoffry Rush. Penelope Cruz mostly just stands arond and is hot. Her only real action sequence is clearly a stunt double, never once even looking like she was in the scene. And lastly you have my favorite pair of characters, The Priest and The Mermaid. They are a perfect example of characters who DON'T need to return. I thought they were great and will often be forgotten, but in my mind they are the through line for this movie. I'm firmly hoping for a bunch of stand alone tales about various mystical objects. I'd love for the POTC version of Bermuda Triangle.

Okay, most of this is rambling, but the movie is very much worth your time and this film, is a B. It's a good time to be had.

Dylan Dog: Mediocre Detective - a review of Dylan Dog Dead of Night

Alright, I don't want to spend to long thinking about this film. You see, this is the kind of film where if you spend too much time thinking about it, it's a bad movie. It's genuinely got poor effects, poor sound, poor practical effects, poor kittens, and poor hot chicks.
So let's break this down. This movie is poor. Or rather, Cheap. This movie originally was going to have a big budget, but just before filming began they had that budget eviscerated. So suddenly what could have been a great summer opener became and indie film to be released when no one was looking. Hell, I saw an ad for this movie, and had a hard time finding it. In fact, the only reason I ended up seeing it was because I got sent Run Of Engagement passes and happen to be at the right place at the right time. And then, unsuprisingly there were four people in my theater: myself, an older gentlemen with a pad and paper, and a late twenties couple loudly making out.
I know all of this because this movie has a few parts that drag. You see, there are two performances that are at the very least entertaining to watch work their magic, and I'd love to see them go head to head in something calibrated to them. I'm talking about the awesome Taye Diggs, who plays a vampire that runs a vampire club, and Brandon Routh who plays our former detective, Dylan Dog. This movie is the classic detective story with a supernatural twist. I won't say horror, because it really doesn't feel like horror. It's a mystery(though not a thriller, a subgenre that often gets ignored) with elements of comedy mixed in. There are some genuinly interesting ideas here, and a handful that are actually pretty good in execution. But outside of Brandon and Taye the acting tops out at Hey, it's Jimmy Olsen, droping back down to "This is my emoting face. Can't you tell since it's my horny/angry/betraying/sad face." There was clearly some good visions here in concept, likely the source material, but in execution most of it falls flat. When it eventually reaches netflix, as these things do, it'll be worth your time to gander. Think of it like a direct to video movie or a scifi original movie. Not good by most standards, but sometimes if just ever so watchable.
Do I say go out of your way for this? Not really unless you are a hardcore fan of Brandon or Taye, which being both made this movie a worth my hour and fifty minutes.
The plot is really predictable, the music is very meh and the graphics are about on par with doctor who. But the perfect audience for this movie is 10-12 year olds who want something that is their kind of humour but not too complex or too scary or too adult. There is only one real pg-13 moment, but it's so brief that most 10-12 year olds will be watching worse on their programs.
I'd give the movie a D. It's not a failure, but it's never good.

The God Of Thunder Reigns Supreme - a review of Thor

In a world where movies never quite reach our expectations, where we are forced to sit through the trite, and the mundane, we find Thor. Thor is all about the acting. In every way we are talking about performances that are nuanced and varied in ways that the one two punch of talented director and talented actors fused together can bring to the table. Everyone makes the part but there are a handful of actors who jump leaps and bounds above the rest. In third place we have Sir Anthony Hopkins, whose role as Odin is quite pressing. His voice, his presence, even the looks he give feel the weight of Odin. He absolutely is the Allfather and in every way is playing the role he was born to play. But if Anthony Hopkins, a talent actor to play a character then Chris Hemsworth is Thor who happens to be an actor. You will believe a Thor can fly. Or something. He is both Charming and Arrogant. He is skilled in every way possible. And then, then, Then, There is Mr. Tom Hiddelson who completely became Loki. He is both vulnerable and vengeful. You will both relate and despise him. He is the pure embodiment of Mischief.
The plot uses the Iron Man origin formula, but has one advantage: Better third act. Here there is no down time, no moments where you go “really?”, everything happens and it works. Almost. The biggest weakness of this movie is that Thor’s turn to humility feels rushed. It’s not quite 100 percent. It’s about 90 percent there; it was just missing that last Omph to get it to 100 percent. This far outshines Iron Man 2, it offers much in the way of getting us to the Avengers, but that paving doesn’t feel like the point of the movie. Instead it feels like an extra moment of being ready. The film even ends on a note to set up future Thor sequels rather than marvel movies, though with a cameo by Jeremy Renner, you absolutely could set up more of the world.
Overall, this movie is a solid A. No ifs and ors about it, the absolute best Marvel movie to date, and by extension, the second greatest comic book movie to date.

Supernatural's Anime Dawn...Is it as good? - A review of Supernatural the Animation Eps 1 and 2

I am going to try and keep this as Laymen friendly as possible, but it'll be tough, so sorry if you can't keep up.
Interestingly enough the series might actually work for non-supernatural fans better. The show is rather based in mysteries and the animation keeps that up well. Give it a try for sure.
Now for fans, the first two episodes are adaptations of two classic Supernatural(SPN) episodes, Skinwalker and Road Kill. On first glance, both of these episodes seem a bit out of place. Certainly not the introductions we all were familiar with. But if you were to pick out the best ghost episode, would it not be Road Kill? It tells an incredibly somber and unique story within the context of supernatural. And Skinwalker of course plays on many fears that the brothers have and really establishes certain themes of the series early.

Both episodes, plot wise, are good half-hour adaptations of otherwise hour long stories. But it'll be a later post where I discuss the story and the choices therein regarding adaptations and episode selection(and should it come up, the strength of original stories). The animation is very pretty. They certainly keep up with the visual style of the show, while still taking advantage of the format. The major improvements we get is that limited view of the monsters are a style choice instead of a limitation of the budget and due to completely different standards of decency, the blood level is upped considerably.
I haven't had a chance to hear the Japanese voice actors, but i'll edit that in as an update later once I've had that chance. With that said, the american voice actors are mostly competent. There are two exceptions. One is Jared Padalicki who is at the same quality as his Live Action counter part. On the flip side Jensen Ackles voicing Dean comes off as cheesy and sounds wrong. Now the wrong portion is likely because over the course of six seasons his voice has changed and Jensen is now giving him a more youthful voice. After two episodes its starting to grow on me, but we'll see if that lasts. But it just feels a bit off. This is one of the grey areas I think non-spn fans will be able to look past because for what he is doing, Jensen is quite good.

My biggest complaint is I don't feel like I know that much about the brothers in the anime universe. I know that Dean is older and stayed with his father as Sam went off to college, but that's about it.

And finally, having seen what the third episode is, I must say, Home as episode three? That's...special. On the brightside, this means we will never ever have to see the anime version of Racist truck, Houses of Holy, or Bugs so we the fans, win.
I recommend this for fans, of course. But I'd even say that without being a fan of the original this show holds up and would rank a solid B and is certainly worth your time.

Son of Bowie doesn't hit it as far, but still scores - A review of Source Code

Son of Bowie, Duncan Jones, hits it out of the park again(though not quite as far). I will say, I'm a little disappointed it wasn't the sequel to Moon I was expecting. And it didn't sucker punch me with it's topic the way Moon did. in general, I'd say that that it was a success though it felt more mainstream and less brave than his previous effort.

This will remain a spoiler-free review but the basic premise is that Captain Colter Stevens is dropped into the body of another man and suddenly has to solve a crime, with only 8 minute bursts to figure out when a terrorist will attack again.

What does this movie rock? Storytelling. It its well paced and unfolds the story perfectly. The movie never does anything to telegraph things(except a few things that I could easily figure out just by setting, but my companion could not). The plot takes some really interesting turns, and overall never fails to put character and heart over plot and convenience.

The acting is incredibly solid and often is pretty impressive.

The flaws? Well there are some loose ends and the endgame scenario feels a little bit out of place from the rest of the movie. In fact, the last 2-3 minutes feels like it was shoehorned in,easily the weakest segment of the movie. So what can I say, this is a solid B.

The Prince of White Man:Sucking of Time - a review of Prince of Persia the Sands of Time

Whew, that is one long title ain't it?
Ugh, I sort of reviewed this one on facebook as I was watching it but it was so bad that I need to warn everyone I can about it. I know many people, myself included, were vaguely interested in this movie. In fact, my love of Prince of Persia games caused me to ignore the bad reviews and say, "hey, maybe this is one of those movies that get badly reviewed that I enjoy". I wasn't expecting greatness, just entertainment. I didn't get entertainment.

Of course, most of you are likely aware of the fact that we have a bunch of white actors playing Persia or various middle eastern originated characters. We've all complained, and race bending is an unfortunate practice we need to break. if nothing else let this be your warning sign that yes, this is in fact much worse. now the one bright side I can say is that because Jake is playing The Prince(who has a bs name which is unforgivable), they actually crafted a tolerable origin. They didn't risk anything trying to pass him off as Persia so I am thankful for that, but beyond that I can't give them much. However, we are supposed to believe that Alfred Molina and Sir Ben Kingsly are Persian. For comparison, according to the wikipedias, Ben is English, his father of African/Indian descent, his mother of Russian or German descendant. A very English man, who was even knighted. Alfred's mother was Italian, his father was Spanish, and he was raised in England. So Englishmen. and no, they (thankfully) don't try to fake Persian accents, though they do put a considerable makeup on them. And worse yet is all of their acting is mediocre for mediocre actors, meaning that for these two titans of acting, it was especially disappointing.

The story was...Okay? It loosely follows the plot of the first game, and even has a few elements that improve upon the story. So the two major improvements are A) the female lead and most of the actions she takes make sense. Her acting is bland and really disappointing, but on a script level she works well. The other big change is that the betrayal is done via a magical artifact. This is a pleasant surprise because in all other incarnations our first introduction to this being a world of magic are via the Dagger. This sets a precedent for this world being bigger and more magical and that goes a long way. But then there is the execution. Every action. Every Betrayal, every shift, every reveal, feels forced and telegraphed. If you don't foresee the uncle to be evil from the very second he starts talking then you aren't paying attention. All in all the plot felt like a rehash of some elements of the games plot minus the good stuff. I mean, why couldn't we see an army of sand monsters? and then there comes the real, real problem.
Dastan as he is known, rarely if ever pulls off any Prince moves. A little bit of scaling the wall with arrows at the beginning, and jumping along a collapsing room at the end and that's it. This movie didn't need a lot of be awesome in action. Some running up walls, some swinging, some climbing, and some intricate traps. And then some fighting. Too much to ask for some awesome action in my action movie? Apparently.

In all, I'd rather watch Live Free or Die Hard because at least it had entertaining action("you just killed a helicopter with a car!"). This? No. This needs to be avoided at all costs. The acting is wooden and fake, the plot is predictable and boring. This is an F. A complete and total failure.

Guest Review: Unknown in under a paragraph

Unknown

Guy wakes up and doesn't know who he is, stabs a guy in the neck, and everyone gets corn. The End.


This review brought to you by Lady Elara

Science fiction Love Story where the love comes first - a review of Never Let Me Go

Ah Childhood love. It was a growing trend last year in 2010. Okay, so two films really don't count as a trend but whatever. Now a man whose opinion I generally always agree with(DAMN YOU ABOUT SUCKER PUNCH), and who even when we disagree I still respect the opinion he establishes, called this his favorite movie of last year. And thus I HAD to buy it and watch it. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Is it the best movie of the year? That's arguable because I was and as I learned tuesday night, still am, in love with Scott Pilgrim vs The world. So let us start with what works because it far out weighs the little problems this movie had. The first and foremost is the fact that this is a science fiction movie about clones bred for the sole purpose of organ harvesting to keep people from dying who are raised to adulthood. They are done this so that they can still live a full life. It is this really fantastic premise. And I'm labeling this spoilers but I don't think it needs the spoiler tag because it's part of the synopsis. But here's the real kicked to the story, they don't dwell to much on this fact. It really is a coming of age story that happens to be about clones. Yes we get some fantastic story work done involving morality and humanity but that isn't what is at the core of this story. The core is the acting. Oh wow, is it ever amazing here. Andrew Garfield should have won an Oscar for his work here. He shows such a dynamic range of acting that I knew as soon as I watched it that this kid could not only pull off Peter Parker in the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man, but that he is going to go on to be a star. Keira Knightly delivers in her non-POTC skills where she is fantastic. But the heart, the soul, and really the real gem of this movie is Carey Mulligan. Your heart will break for some of the absolute real emotion she brings to the table. Fully dynamic, and an absolute delight to watch, she will defy your expectations. So the only real downfalls in this film is that the score doesn't do a whole lot and the plot is a little simplistic, never rising above the basic premise. But when you see this twisted three dimensional love story, you'll be swept away. I can completely and whole heartily say that this is an amazing movie that you owe it to yourself to see. This is an A.

Soulless War Movies Seek Characters inquire inside - a review of Battle Los Angeles

Straight up, I’m very meh about this movie. It didn’t grab me, didn’t distract me, and had me looking at my phone on a regular basis for what time it was and how long it’d take to get to a good action scene. The flaws in this movie are fairly glaring, not the least of which were the script. This script sucks, the dialogue is stilted and only made passable by some decent actors. But even good, some great, actors can’t save these characters. The main character played by Aaron Eckheart of The Dark Knight, gives a rather uninspired performance here. His character’s arc literally is at the beginning of the movie he is the stereotypical one week (or in this case, one day) from retirement cop(Marine) who gets pulled into one last case(war). And at the end he is gung ho to keep fighting. Which as far as bad clichés go, it’s not the worst, but it is never earned. And that is ultimately the problem here. None of these characters earn the end result of their stories and I never once cared that anyone died. In fact, I only cared when by the end a character DIDN’T die. And it made me cranky. The characters are all bland, two dimensional caricatures that belong in a Roland Emerich movie. And that isn’t a bad way to compare this. All you have here is big sequences that look cool but don’t amount to much. There are clearly some cool ideas going on with these aliens, but the story is so vague and unspecific about them that they come down to the role of Invaders! And we never get to know what they really want or why they are here or who any of them are. In a post District 9 world where we clearly can be told the motivations and desires of alien forces, we shouldn’t be forced to live with faceless enemies especially in a movie that clocks in at under two hours. In many ways this is the movie form of a game called Resistance: Fall of Man. Which takes a similar aesthetic to an alien invasion, but in that you get better characters and story, so I’d say go check that one out. There even is a fantastic moment of product placement for Resistance 2 on one of the billboards, so I’d say the creators knew it too. I can’t in good conscience recommend this movie, but I also can’t claim it to be good. It’ll likely go down in my mind as one of those films that failed spectacularly to live up its potential. So is this movie Black Hawk Down with Aliens? Yeah if you want to boil it down to that, but you have to foot note that there is not character here. None. So this is without a doubt, a D movie. Not worth your time, not a complete failure, but ultimately just a footnote towards some better set pieces to come.

Some of Them want to be used - A review of Sucker Punch

“If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”
Okay so before I get into spoilers, here’s the thing. SEE THIS MOVIE. I can’t sing it enough praise, but if you do yourself one favor, see this movie. It is this year’s Scott Pilgrim and Kick Ass.
So
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILERS
So the plot of this movie is some bad, traumatic events happen to this young girl. She is then wrongfully placed into an asylum and has five days to figure out how to get out or be lobotomized because her stepfather paid the right guy off. So what does she do? She supplants a fantasy world into her view and begins a cunning plan by some old man in her imagination.
Sounds weird right? Gets weirder. See in this fantasy world, whenever she dances she creates a new fantasy world where she(Baby Doll) and her allies form a team of ass kicking women and fight in various fantasy realities including an alternate World War II, a horde of Orcs sieging a castle with a dragon in its heart, and feudal Japan fused with modern day guns. It’s an amalgamation of everything awesome and as such it creates a wildly visual movie. Now there isn’t a whole lot to say plot wise going on here. There aren’t too many deep levels to it, frankly, and it’s ambiguous when it comes to the stuff you can analyze. It is in many ways the girl equivalent of 300 in that it is a group of five young women fighting for survival.
The acting ranges from fantastically emotive to kind of dull and predictable. The “villains” are fairly one note and don’t have a lot to offer to the plate. Only four of the characters have any development, and two of them are entwined by being Sisters. Baby Doll gets the most story out of this and her backstory visual montage is quite the spectacle. And yet, I can’t call this movie shallow. Yes, it is a bunch of girls in skimpy outfits being bad ass and gun toting and at time there is homoerotic subtext going on between them. But it is in every way about empowerment and improving the esteem of these young women.
The best parts are absolutely the visuals, but even more so is those visuals combind with an amazing soundtrack. Zach Snyder has a habit of releasing movies with killer soundtracks and this is no different. But what is different is that in a large handful of action scenes or scenes without dialogue you have music and their lyrics telling the story for you. So much so that I would call this a new genre of musical. It is in every way an action movie, but it follows so many tropes of a musical that it blows my mind away.
My biggest complaint is A) the third act isn’t as strong as the first two and feels kind of rushed. Sure, it is exactly what the film told us and telegraphed to us via the five items she has to collect in her fantasy world. And B) it wasn’t in 3D. I know, that sounds stupid but when you see this movie, it was clearly a film that could have gained from being in 3D rather than in simple 2D.
So in all, no the film isn’t perfect, but it is absolutely an A-. I might amend this on further viewings to be an A, but this is such a fun adventure that everyone really needs to see it. So get out there and do it now!

A Super Bowl Glee Half time Show - a review of Glee

So I just finished watching the super bowl Glee and the Valentine Glee so this will be in two chunks.

chunk A I loved, Chunk B I hated.

So the Super Bowl episode of glee was...A total tease, it sets up the idea of Glee going back to the days of old. Aka episode 1-13. Those first few episodes were a great series, but where the show has gone has been nothing but good. So when I say this episode is a tease, I mean that in the sense that the episode is good, the season sucks. Good character moments, good strong development that makes sense for characters. Characters who have no right being in the episode aren't present, an almost bittersweet end to a fun adventure. The only downside is the music was pretty terrible, who ever at the studio said "these kids won't know classic rock, why use it" were retarded and are teh same people who think we need a Justin Beiber song. Fuck. You. Fox.

And the other episode. Well, everything that the super bowl episode got wrong, this episode got worse. Everything SBGS got right,wrong. There wasn't a whole lot here that was right. It makes most of the characters downright unlikable, piss poor musical numbers. Music that doesn't even make sense.

This series has a problem where it wants to give the fans more of what they want. Except they don't get what they want and give them a bastardized version of it. Every inch of this show oozes with execs don't know what they are doing. Likely it is working something like this: Studio does polls, surveys and what nots(asking the wrong questions of course) and figure out roughly what some fans want. Then they look at their advertisers and who they want to reach. So they find a middle ground and tell the shows creative team here is what you should do. The creative team, being morally, creatively, and intelligently bankrupt think it's a great idea and in their heads they think it is a great way out of not knowing what to do.
The show reacts much like a show run by internet fan boys meet studio execs. It doesn't work out for anyone. So what we the audience get is a series of never ending reused storylines, (seriously, we get it, everyone is in a love triangle, square, or pentagon and it plays out exactly the way it's expected). The show likes to default to a handful of couples, I.E. Shue/Emma, Finn/Rachel, Finn/Quinn. And such any status changes are very clearly temporary and have no emotional weight. It's like someone saw Dawson's Creek. Saw the epic Joey/Dawson/Pacey Love triangle that was developed and played out over six seasons and said, you know what would be better? Doing it over the course of six episodes. And someone was like FUCK YEAH. And it all went to hell. So this series pretty much blows. In the first season they showed logic and reason behind each characters knowledge of songs, they weren't just random and they served purpose and feeling. Instead the show has become a shell of something that was once good. Much like Heroes, I hope they figure out how to tell a good story again before it all falls apart and they are canceled.


A note, unless I'm really angry(which I'm not) I usually try to avoid the F-bombs. Today I am sick and offer no inhibition about the quality. This show sucks and it really needs to fire it's entire writing team, hire a new team composed of Tehater people and Television writers(maybe some of the guys that used to work on Dawson's creek) and figure this out. Oh and if they give us that bullshit no one ever grows up nonsense where they are in high shcool for eight seasons I'm going to punch someone...

Because what would 2011 be without me giving you expectations I can't live up to

Because what would 2011 be without me giving you expectations I can't live up to.
I feel like this is a running joke, like I say I'll eventually cover YYZ and never get around to it. What can I say, I'm human. As I depart from a film or book or movie I'm less invested to care. So instead I vote that we continue the tradition of me mentioning things I want to review but don't get around to.
The Town
Never Let Me Go
Monsters
Epic Mickey for the Wii
Assassin's Creed(ps3)
Killzone 2(ps3)
Resistance(ps3)
FalloutNewVegas(ps3)
MetalGearSolid4(ps3)
BioShock(ps3)

Some of this I really will review, some of it I don't have any intent to. I guess that's up to you to decide what's what. The only thing in 2011 I am gurenteeing is that in September or November you will see the 2011 edition of the top 100 film list. And maybe like 50(?) ish percent more hookers this year. I like to keep it classy here.

And these are your 2011 oscar nominations for the year two thousand and Eleven

for each of these catagories I will be ranking the choices.


Actor in a Leading Role


3.* Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
1.* Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
5.* Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
2.* Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
4.* James Franco in “127 Hours”


Actor in a Supporting Role


1.* Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
6.* John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
4.* Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
5.* Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
3.* Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role


5.* Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
3.* Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
4.* Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
1.* Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
2.* Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actress in a Supporting Role


4.* Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
3.* Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
2.* Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
1.* Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
5.* Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Animated Feature Film


1.* “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
No.* “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
2.* “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

Art Direction


4.* “Alice in Wonderland”
Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
5.* “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1”
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
3.* “Inception”
Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
1.* “The King's Speech”
Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
2.* “True Grit”
Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

Cinematography


2.* “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
3.* “Inception” Wally Pfister
4.* “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
5.* “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
1.* “True Grit” Roger Deakins

Costume Design


1.* “Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
4.* “I Am Love” Antonella Cannarozzi
3.* “The King's Speech” Jenny Beavan
5.* “The Tempest” Sandy Powell
2.* “True Grit” Mary Zophres

Directing


1.* “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
3.* “The Fighter” David O. Russell
5.* “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
4.* “The Social Network” David Fincher
2.* “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)


* “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
* “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
* “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
* “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
* “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)


* “Killing in the Name” Nominees to be determined
* “Poster Girl” Nominees to be determined
* “Strangers No More” Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon
* “Sun Come Up” Jennifer Redfearn and Tim Metzger
* “The Warriors of Qiugang” Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Film Editing


1.* “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
4.* “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
3.* “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
2.* “127 Hours” Jon Harris
5.* “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film


1.* “Biutiful” Mexico
2.* “Dogtooth” Greece
* “In a Better World” Denmark
* “Incendies” Canada
* “Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)” Algeria

Makeup


2.* “Barney's Version” Adrien Morot
3.* “The Way Back” Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
1.* “The Wolfman” Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)


3.* “How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
4.* “Inception” Hans Zimmer
2.* “The King's Speech” Alexandre Desplat
5.* “127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
1.* “The Social Network” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)


* “Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
* “I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
* “If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
* “We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3" Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Best Picture


2* “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
3.* “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
6.* “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
10.* “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
1.* “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
7.* “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
5.* “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
8.* “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
4.* “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
9.* “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Short Film (Animated)


1.* “Day & Night” Teddy Newton
* “The Gruffalo” Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
* “Let's Pollute” Geefwee Boedoe
* “The Lost Thing” Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
* “Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)” Bastien Dubois

\Short Film (Live Action)


* “The Confession” Tanel Toom
* “The Crush” Michael Creagh
* “God of Love” Luke Matheny
* “Na Wewe” Ivan Goldschmidt
* “Wish 143” Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

\Sound Editing


2.* “Inception” Richard King
3.* “Toy Story 3” Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
1.* “Tron: Legacy” Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
4.* “True Grit” Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
5.* “Unstoppable” Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing


1.* “Inception” Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
3.* “The King's Speech” Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
5.* “Salt” Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
2.* “The Social Network” Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
4.* “True Grit” Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

A triumphant celebration of Humanity - a review of The King's Speech

As the days roll closer to and pass oscar season, you'll hear more about this film. It is a film that is going to be leading the charge and for good reason. The King's Speech is the story of the Duke of York, his rise to the status of King and dealing with his Speech impedement. This is one of those great experiences where you want to talk about it about the end of time and yet you don't want to spoil the experience for anyone else. Let's be frank though, I should likely qualify the experience I had so that I can give some kind of credence to calling myself a reviewer. The music is quite good. It has such poise and grace that it sets up the entire experience without trying. It is one of those great soundtracks where the first time you watch you might not notice it, but by the end of the second you will be in love. I know, that's a lot of hyperbole to say that it was great, but whatever. If you didn't get it by now this isn't a review so much as a love letter explaining why I love this movie. The acting is simply sublime. Colin Firth out does himself here and is quite moving and personable. Geofrey Rush does a great job here as well and really reminds us why he is so brilliant. And then there is Helena Carter who is the true gem here with her most understated performance, ever. I wasn't overly impressed by the directing but I can't say I was anywhere near disapointed by it either.
This is an absolute A. Easily one of the two best films of the year.

You know you're in good company with this cast - a review of The Company Men

It seems like I'm doing this more often lately, walking into movies blind based on a poster and a convienent time. I'm not complaining, I've just found it odd. So when you enter a movie like Company Men, you have certain expectations. By you, I of course mean me. But hey, I could be you. Ya neva' know. Comapny Men is a strange little event. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it was so quiet and so submerged by big ticket oscar winners like Social Network, King's Speech, and True Grit that no one really focused on it. For those of you who don't know, and frankly, why would you, this is a movie about our current economic hardship. It is about the second great recession and it is a fairly human and humbling experience. It follows, primarily, three men. Chris Cooper, Ben Afleck, and Tommy Lee Jones. The Majority of time is spent with Ben Afleck. Ben represents our everyman in this situation even though he isn't. He's a fairly well respected and high ranking employee so he is understanbly suprised when they let him go. He goes through the culture shock of not knowing what to do when you can't find a job. He is humbled by his experience. Next we have Tommy Lee Jones, now it is about an hour into the movie before both he and Chris Cooper loose their jobs. But once they do they each take a different path on figuring out what to do with their lives. Chris takes a darker path that i don't want to spoil. And Tommy takes a brighter path, using the events to empower himself. It is an uplifting movie about hope and about rising above your situation and not surendering to it. Then there is the supporting cast that just adds a great level of sub plots to the piece. Maria Bello, Craig T Nelson, and Kevin Costner all do their parts to match the bar set by our three leads. And really the acting here is what will keep you coming back. The story is fairly predictable and not at all unexpected response, a far better effort than Wall Street:we need more money, but it is this uninspired story that never allows it to leap above the pack. Further, the music doesn't stand out. So when your main draw is your actors, you've certainly got a fine piece. And in many ways this film succeeds for that matter, but in the same vein as the Expendables, it just doesn't go that extra mile to prove it's worth.
Overall this is a B experience. Certainly not a disapointment, just not as great as it could have been.

A good Actor can't fix this movie - a Mechanic Review

Have you ever walked into a movie 99 percent blind? Literally the only things I knew about this movie were that Jason Statham was in it and that I’d heard zero reviews or comments about it. And that it was an action movie. Having that information I had an interesting experience.
The Mechanic is your standard Jason Statham movie. He’s a hitman and he has a job he doesn’t want to do. Then some boohoo’s and then he picks up a teen sidekick played to perfection by Ben Foster. Now for the spoilers.
Yes Spoilers.
Turn back now.
Too Late.
So the first act consists of Jason killing a dude, meeting up with his friend who is one of the partners in a company that sends out hitmen. This friend is played by Donald Sutherland. Or as I call him Exposition Man. Because he really serves no purpose other than exposition and isn’t interesting until he’s dead.
Yeah he dies. See you know how I mentioned he was a partner in this operation? Well the other guy shows Statham some info that says he’s a traitor (News flash, he was lying) so Statham makes it look like a normal mugging. Now this set up scene is one of the two best moments in the whole movie.
Now Statham is all sad because he killed his friend. So he goes and visits his hooker friend and his alcoholic boat friend. They are Zero consequence. But then he goes to the cemetery and finds Donald’s son, played by Ben Foster. Ben is awesome as he often is, and plays this almost an asshat guy who is looking for revenge. So he goes out and tries to kill some carjackers(thinking his dad was murdered by carjackers) and Statham stops him and then quickly ends up taking him on as an apprentice hitman. It is at this point that Statham becomes completely unimportant and every character arc and development is put on Ben’s character. They do a couple jobs and eventually because of some Deus Ex Machina intervention from the writer, the plot moves to taking out the guy that betrayed Statham. As they get most of the way through the steps to find the guy, Ben discovers that his mentor killed his father. And so he starts plotting. He doesn’t take immediate vengeance. He builds it up. He plans. And in the meantime we as an audience get some delightfully delectable moments where Statham and Ben have awkward conversations. Leading up to some very heavy handed dialogue followed by what seems like a great scene at the time. We see Ben pump gas onto the car and into it, walk away and then fire a gun at the gas can. It is an explosion. Wheeeeeee. And it looks like Statham died. And had it ended there and this had all been about handing the torch off this would have been a GREAT film. But the good guy, aka the lead, had to win so we find out from security footage Statham rolled out of the car, and that he left some explosives on a car and actually blows Ben up thus negating any possible good moments. The real sad part about all of this is this could have been a really good drama had they put a capable actor who has some kind of depth of emotions in the part of Statham. It isn’t a perfect fix, but a different actor in that part would have solved some problems. The rest are just the clichés that bog down most action movies. This is the kind of movie where it throws around cool ideas but never fully executes them. Now when it comes to action, it is on par with say The Expendables and Machete. But the best parts, the soul has been frankensteined back into a shell that probably didn’t need it. I wish I could take this plot and build a good drama out of it. And I bet I could too. Oh and the title really doesn’t mean a lot. It’s a term mentioned once or twice as another name for a hitman but really feels forced like they needed to justify the title to a movie going audience who is deaf, dumb and blind. Unless you are Ben Foster the acting is mediocre at best. The directing is okay, but there are a few times, especially early, where the director isn’t clear with the editing to give us a sense of what is going on. And also it looks bad. Like the picture itself looks Last Airbender with 3D glasses bad. I don’t recommend watching this film, you know, ever. But if you have to, it does work as a pop corn flick and will get you through the hour and a half run time perfectly sound.
All in all, I think foreknowledge only really affects your expectations and not the film going experience as a whole. All in all, this film wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t good either. Grade is a C.

Coming Soon: The Weekly Release

Hey folks, I'm going to start doing a little write up on what I bought in a given week, at what price(or the price I am allowed to reveal), and my thoughts if it is something I haven't discussed.
This week I bought Buried and Bioshock for the PS3.
This Upcoming week I am buying Red and How to Train Your Dragon.


Often the movies will be a mix of new releases and older releases on sale.
Games will almost always be ps3 and will likely be older.
Graphic Novels will be from who knows where, but since I buy them off ebay it'll likely be a comment on the quality of the book. Also 99 times out of a hundred it'll be Hardcover.

Alright, I'll have reviews up at the end of the week for stuff and this week, baring weather and work, I have at least two different films I'm reviewing.

What genre is this movie? That's the real dilemma - a review of The Dilemma

Every so often I, on a whim, pay to see a movie I have never seen nor heard anything positive nor negative about. In fact, these excursions are often on the kind of projects that I have heard no buzz about. Occasionally I discover true gem's using this process. Occasionally I see crap like Awake, and spend the next twelve months warning people off the movie. Well congratulations, this isn't a warn people off it movie. But it wasn't a memorable film either. You see, I saw this movie some eight or nine days ago. And I had all intentions to write a review of the movie. But I forgot the movie existed. Hell I forgot I even saw it. That's not a good sign. But I do remember walking out of the theater thinking if the film had made a decision it would have been stronger. Instead the film was half comedy, half drama. And the drama elements were all better than the comedy elements. in fact the film told me flat out that Kevin James is an actor who flat out needs more work as a dramatic actor. He steals this show, almost as much as Chantum Tanning(name correction later). Chantum does a fantastic job playing an asshole. And as the opposite end of the spectrum you have Kevin James who knocks it out of the park as a best friend. And here's the thing about this movie, it is one hundred perfect feels real. These aren't caricatures, these are people. They have reasons and dreams and logic and it is really fantastic the way it works out. I would love to look at the script because the four leads(Winona, Jennifer, Kevin, and Vince) really feel like a tightknit group of friends and so when someone feels betrayed you really see it and really see the pain these people go through. There is also some really dark issues at work here, some underplayed, some overplayed. But Ron Howard works his directing magic and pulls out something that wants to be so much more. For every element that works, there are three to four things that feel, not nessisarily wrong but, almost off. There are elements that feel under utilized or like they went in the wrong direction. And again,this movie makes you feel like Kevin James isn't used to the best of his abilities. Now on Vince Vaughn, he is very Vince here. But he is the least Vince he's been in a movie since Jurassic Park:The Lost World. And it's one of those things where he and Kevin both fall under the Joss Whedon law of Comedy. "If you can do comedy, usually you can do the other thing". or as Smallville put it "German Philosophy is easy, Comedy is hard." This is a movie that isn't bad, but it isn't great. It is just shy of recomended. Finally Queen Latifa will scare the pants off you with talk about her "Lady Wood." It's creepy.

So should you avoid this movie? No. Should you hunt it down? Not really. Is it worth a rental? Certainly. Some people will love this movie, but like me, most will forget the movie ever existed. So I give it a C.

Don't be fooled by the trailer, the film is awesome - a review of Fighter

In every way the trailer doesn't depict this film well enough. This is a film that will defy your expectations with something a little more grounded than most boxing movies. Now of course this film is based on a little history, but unlike a few other based on history films, this one doesn't force you into needing to believe the unbelievable. This is a film that doesn't pull punches. This is the kind of movie you walk out of knowing that you just watched something special. I know I did. This is a movie about two men, brothers from a very large family. One Brother, Christian Bale, thinks he's on his comeback tour. Mark Wahlberg is just trying to do what he does. And this movie is about these two characters journeys. One spiraling out of control until his life explodes, the other on the rise to something greater. Our three leads, Mark, Christian, and Amy Adams, do wonderful jobs and they really show you things you don't see out of them, with a more sexual and adult Amy Adams than is typical typecast for her. The writing and the directing are both spot on. Where this movie really shines though is that its story doesn't ever shy away from the hard truthes. This is a movie about Drug addiction and about being torn between love and family and in many ways it deals with them in a very real manner. You can relate to the need to be honest and relate to the hard choices that you have to make in the name of family.
This movie is an A. This is an absolutely solid film and in every way deserving of your time.

A movie that didn't know what it had going for it - a review of the Social Network

I want to start by saying I didn't fall in love with this movie. It is well done, it is strong, it is filled to the brim with amazing performances and fantastic dialouge. However, it is also a little blind as to what the story is about and doesn't seem to know where to focus. This is a movie about the creators of Facebook.
But instead it focuses pretty specificly on Mark Zuckerberg. But for me the real star and the only really likable character with a good storyarc is his best friend Edwardo. And I understand that Aaron Soarkin was likely focusing on Mark either because he had to because that was the story that was licensed or because he was the character he could most relate to, however to much of the movie starts to fall apart in the last third for me to be able to champion the writing. But again, the dialogue is spot on.
The director, David Fincher, is of course a genius at what he does and other than a few exploitive shots his work was expertly crafted.
Okay, now that I've gotten my unremarkable critiques out of the way I want to talk about the part that I agree with everyone on. The acting is phenomenal. There are some incredibly well performed performances here and the film is fantastic for it. Andrew Garfield is subtle and loveable. Justin Timberlake is cruel and the man you love to hate. Jesse Eisenberg falls in the middle of the two types of characters and really feels a bit like Orson Welles at times. The supporting cast works well with what they are given but outside of those three, none of the actors are really given a chance to show something resembling good, emotional acting.
This movie for me is an A-. It really is a great film, but in a sea of great films for me to choose from, all boasting great acting, this movie didn't live up to the hype for me.

A parable about how to make a classic scifi film - A review of Tron:Legacy

If 2008 was the year of the comic movie, and 2009 was the year of the underdog, then 2010 was the year of the nostalgia. In every way Tron:Legacy is following the trend and trying to appeal to the original fans without pushing away the newcomers. The movie is fun and often very true to science fiction. And the whole thing screams eighties. But that's the point. Here we are, twenty five years later and it looks like that era but with better graphics. But it is such a love letter to Tron that it is hard to not look on in awe.

And the graphics are very pretty. Yeah it's superficial, but they are pretty in a lighting kind of way. Because of the very nature of the Tron universe, everything is all about light and shadow. And because it is about light and shadow the visuals reflect this. This is the kind of movie you watch in hi-def with the very best quality screen/projector possible. True Imax given the chance. It will own your very soul. But the movie does something else, it gives you something that is enjoyable to watch. It isn't Avatar where everything is so dull that the only thing you have to enjoy is the pretty, here the pretty is icing on the cake.

The story is a continuation of what came before. It in every way honors it but it in no way hides from it. We get a full view of this world and the movie works wonders because of it. It is not without flaws. There is some pretty heavy handed christian symbology and alegory that in the last half hour becomes nearly distracting. I don't want to say too much but I will say that it honors its predecesor and builds on it in a way that the star wars prequels and the Abrams Star Trek didn't.

The acting is good. Yes. no. Well. Kinda? Okay, some of the performances are a little hokey. But again, that's the point. Jeff bridges and his CGI body are pulling double duty again and it works great. The idea of deaging someone with graphics has finally reached the level of the technology we have. Olivia Wilde does a better job here than she does anywhere else in that she's playing a different character. For once she wasn't type cast and she actually gets some oppertunity to shine and show subtlty. The main actor does a capable job. He never overplays it, but he never underplays it either. He never defies expectations. He also reminds me considerably of Jensen Ackles every second he is on screen. Only I keep wishing he was Jensen Ackles.

I would be doing a disservice if I didn't recomend the soundtrack composed by Daft Punk. Everyone whose seen it knows what I'm talking about, it's sold out at Best Buy RIGHT NOW. Two weeks later. That's impressive. It is an amazing soundtrack whose full musical quallity is worth it's weight in gold and then some.

Overall I would say that this movie is an absolute A-. It's not perfect, it is actually a really enjoyable flick. Go check it out.

Tron
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