Tagged: review
The Avengers: Age of Ultron Trailer: Did it Deliver?!
I know, The Avengers: Age of Ultron probably doesn’t need any more hype, as it’s clearly on it’s way to probably being the most successful movie of all time. But to not chime in a little on this one would be a crime right? I was a big fan of the first one, it was a damn fun movie, I finally got a pretty decent Hulk (though I still am not a fan of an entirely CG character) and it merged all the other Marvel movies together seamlessly. Now I’ll say this I’m not sure that The Avengers with all of it’s slick computerized fx will age very well and I to be honest I wasn’t a huge fan of Loki & The Chitauri as the films main villains. But regardless now we have the first trailer for the second installment and it looks pretty damn awesome! So here it is again, like this fucking thing needs any more attention with it’s near thirty million views in like 2 days…
It’s clear the movie is going for a darker almost apocalyptic vibe to it. It’s tone is much more serious and the trailer clearly lets us know this movie is filled with secrets and clues to future Marvel movies. The first look at Ultron was chilling too, he’s a creepy ass robot the way he should be, so I’m tickled pink that they got that right. It promises to an epic battle between The Hulk and Iron Man (or possibly Iron Man’s armor under the control of Ultron?) that I can’t wait to see. It’s clear there’s some sort of problem with Tony Stark in this one that I suspect could set up the movies for the Civil War plot they have been talking about. I also see potential for maybe a Planet Hulk flick coming out of this one. I cannot wait to see the Vision! And this messed up romance!
Now as cool as Ultron looks I wish and hope that there’s more to flick in way of super villains. I love Ultron, but the whole idea of The Avengers fighting another huge ass group of guys who look the same (ahem the Chitauri in the first film and army of Ultrons this time)) again might be the one thing that I am not too thrilled with. I really would love instead to see some Avengers villains really get into the next movie. Give me The Masters of Evil, Baron Zemo, The Super Skrull, The Absorbing Man, The Leader, M.O.D.O.K., The Wrecking Crew for cryin’ out loud!! Where are all these great villains dammit?
I wanna see the Avengers take on a team of bad guys like in the comic books-Let’s get a roster of great actors for the third movie with a final superhero/villain battle unlike anything we’ve ever seen on film. I cross my fingers for part three to deliver this and more. In the meantime though I am pretty damn pumped about The Age of Ultron, it somehow looks leaps and bound more exciting than the first one. It seems Marvel just can’t be stopped, let’s see Fox or Sony or hell even DC top this! It’s an exciting time to be a fan of the superhero…
The Death of Wolverine #4: Final Verdict!!
Just got done reading the Death of Wolverine #4, the final nail in the coffin for Logan! Now we all know that Wolverine will only be “dead” for maybe a year or two tops. Same cookie cutter superhero death formula as always, a big comic book hubub, news stories, a bunch of comic books that feature the effect of the characters death, funeral issues, blah blah blah..Yeah so Wolverine will be going MIA for a little while and hopefully people will miss him enough that Marvel can then again make some big money on his return as well.
So was the death of Wolverine worth all the media hype, shiny metallic variant covers, director’s cuts and a high cover price of five bucks a pop? I’m gonna say a firm no. This series should have been at least 6 issues better yet 8 to really tell a compelling unforgettable Wolverine story with some serious staying power. Aside from a strong first issue, the story in general while playing on nostalgia from Logan’s past felt incredibly rushed with not much real substance and not much new to offer to his complex story.
On a positive note at least it wasn’t Sabretooth who “killed” him, his final nemesis “Cornelius” was at least a surprise and the series art was pretty fantastic. Shocking? Nah…issue number four brought Logan’s legacy full circle back to the Weapon X program where Cornelius of course was creating super soldiers with adamantium laced bones and of course he needs Wolverine’s healing factor to ensure his test subjects can survive the procedure. Of course when he realizes he no longer possesses it, he’s got little use for Logan and orders a new nemesis Major Sharp to destroy him. Ultimately the ending is in many ways very predictable and I can already see the image of Wolverine literally bursting back into the realm of the living in a year or so.
My final thoughts, I’m glad Wolverine is “dead”. He’s been done to death literally. He’s been around every corner for the last two plus decades, he’s turned into a bit of softie too. Wolverine is not the mysterious anti-hero we came to fall in love with anymore. I think some time apart is healthy, he’s like a lover who you’ve spent every waking second with for far too long, you need some time to breath dammit! I also really hate these ‘Death’ of events. They’re NOT shocking in the least. If you really wanted to shock us have his death take place unannounced in his main core book! Have all this shit happen but don’t tell us he’s gonna die a year before it happens!! Imagine if Robert Kirkman announced every death in The Walking Dead and made a damn spectacle out of it every time someone kicked the bucket?! How shocking would that be?!
I also don’t like all these tie in books, I for a second considered buying “The Logan Legacy” #1 today until I saw how terribly drawn and stupid every panel of it all looked. I for one look forward to a good loooong ass break from Logan. When they do bring him back, and they will,I hope Marvel learns from their mistakes. Give him a spot in the X-men(One title), give him one solo book of his own, get his hairy ass out of The Avengers and make him more like the guy who we used to all wanna hang out with! Make him pissed, mean and most of all a loner like he was meant to be. I look forward to the day I miss me some Wolverine!!! ‘Nuff said…..
Don’t Put Shatner in The Next Star Trek!
Can you believe it-I’m asking for William Shatner to NOT be in the next Star Trek flick?! It’s something I thought I’d never say, but after hearing recent news that the original Captain Kirk might now be appearing in the next installment of the big screen Trek adventures I came to the conclusion that sometimes you have to just leave nostalgia alone. After an excellent reboot of the Star Trek universe that didn’t diminish or erase the original series/the movies, but rather connected them together perfectly and adding Spock Nimoy Prime to the equation successfully, somehow we still got the god awful sequel “Into Darkness”. This was a movie that somehow dumbed down the Trek mythos into a cheap action flick while totally ruining the legacy of the series number one villain Khan. Pondering what would come next in the series as a Trek fan for the first time wasn’t something that I was particularly excited about.
So now we have a Abrams-less Star Trek film and now they’re planning on putting William Shatner back into the equation. Sure this sounds like a possibly entertaining trip down memory lane, something that true fans might totally dig. I say it sounds a bit like a bit of a mess. They got lucky once adding Nimoy and for the most part pulling it off quite well. However I’d much rather just have an intriguing compelling science fiction adventure without all the corny business. Stop with the Khan, Shatner, Nimoy nostalgia while you’re ahead and just give us a solid trek through the unknown regions of the galaxy with the crew that you so carefully set in place. We don’t need William Shatner in these movies or any other original series actors. Let’s for this next movie forget about the past.
I’d love to see some new threats to the crew, hell I don’t even want to see a damn Klingon yet in this series! The reason why Star trek was “reset” was so that we could boldly go where no one has gone before. Adding Shat to the mix would be a cheesy move at this point, we already did the whole time travel thing once. Twice might not be quite as charming. They mentioned that Shatner could appear as the old version of Chris Pine’s Kirk-but really Pine’s Kirk is quite different than Shatner’s. To jam him in the movie would be just so that Shatner could be in it because they can.
There’s really no other other reason and it’s a shame for them it’s not as graceful as putting Mark Hamill in episode 7. Shatner is the real Kirk and always will be but I don’t think he needs to be on the Enterprise this time around-what do you think?
The Signal: Totally Tense Cerebral Sci-Fi!
If anyone out there likes their sci-fi with a side of brains and heart like I do then look no further! “The Signal” delivers and then some! Not to be mistaken for the zombie type “The Signal” flick from 2007, which was actually pretty decent. This is a completely different movie that only recently came out on dvd, Itunes ect. I’ve seen quite a bit of dumb ass sci-fi making it’s way to the masses over the years, so it’s great to see movies that actually challenge the brain like “Moon”, “Looper” or “The Europa Report” to name a few. The Signal, starring Brenton Thwaites and Laurence Fishburne is quite an adventure that will have you scratching your head in confusion and wonder all the way to the films incredibly tense climax.
The films premise starts out simple enough,On a road trip, Nic and two friends are drawn to an isolated area by a computer hacker, who’s been toying with them online all school year. Upon investigating an old seemingly abandoned house where the traced the hacker’s signal, one of them disappears. When everything suddenly goes dark, Nic regains consciousness – only to find himself alone & confused, in an odd medical facility. To give away anything would be a crime, but this one is indeed filled with some great twists and turns that will have you guessing all the way.
The Signal has top notch acting, incredible special effects and a ton of thrills that will have you on the edge of your seat. I’m excited to check out what else the film’s director William Eubank has done and what he’s got planned next. He’s certainly a director to watch in the future. I’m hoping that we can get more serious sci-fi elements into the next installments of something like Star Trek on the big screen, as even with the old episodes from the 1960’s they often had some really great plots that really made you think. An element that is often missing from modern sci-fi, instead we often end up with sci-fi for people with A.D.D.! So I say waste no time and check this one out right away if you want something truly unique, original and totally exciting!!
The Walking Dead #132: The Zombies Stay Stupid!
Late last night I finished reading Walking Dead #132, and just as this book was finally starting to grab my interest again it kind shifted back into the same gears it has been for far too long. So stop reading now if you fear any SPOILERS! I’ve said it here for quite some time now, that this title needs a major injection of something different to add some new excitement to it’s ongoing apocalyptic story. Well most recently we had a stir of exactly that, when a group from Rick’s settlement stumbled upon supposed zombies that could speak! The idea of this alone was exciting and intriguing to me, perhaps a little nod to “Day of the Dead” and full of possibilities for future story lines.
Could you imagine a new threat in the form of an intelligent horde of flesh eaters! Now that’s frightening! I imagined villains far more ruthless than Negan or The Governor, an undead villain and the threats that they could pose to the existence of the human race. Well along comes issue #132, and it once again hits upon this new threat now being confirmed by Dante and his crew, the dead indeed are speaking! I felt that surge of excitement I haven’t felt in quite sometime in this title-but then I turned the page and yet something entirely different was revealed, something I had been hoping would not be the case here…The undead are still mindless-we have a new group of evil, evil humans once again…uggh….only this time they are dressing up as zombies. I had figured this might be the case when the idea was first crossed in the book a couple issues back.
My balloon is officially deflated. It seems that Kirkman wishes to keep this title on the same rails it always has been, Zombies=bad, Humans=more bad!! We have read this story countless times here in this title, it was great for the first 100 issues if that. Now though a great opportunity has been missed, the chance to do something different here. Perhaps people are totally digging this comic book still and I’m totally off base here and runnin’ my mouth like a mo-fo?!
Still I can’t help but wonder how this title could be if Kirkman wasn’t so afraid to break the mold he’s made for this series. What about the rest of the world? No one in Rick’s company cares to know if perhaps there are areas that are safe or unaffected? They just wanna build this little settlement and live? No one cares about a cure? What if there’s more to this whole story, one that’s larger than Rick? Are we at this point just supposed to accept that Rick is starting civilization again and that the rest of the world is a total wasteland? I’d love to see these questions answered and I’d love to see this threat evolve into something more interesting, if zombies can be a reality what else might be out there? Unfortunately that’s a subject Kirkman doesn’t feel confident enough to explore, I love a good drama but come on, this book could be SO much more today…please tell me what all of you think?! Am I just a Walking Dead hater?!!
Automata: Antonio Banderas Shows The Fresh Prince How to do The Robot!!!
Been really digging what I have seen lately on the the upcoming “Automata” trailer starring Antonio Banderas! Can you believe it? I have a bit of a soft spot now for Antonio after seeing him in the latest Expendables movie, where he totally stole the show. Now we all can officially forget about the terrible pile of robotic bull shit that was I, Robot from 2004, you know the one with The Fresh Prince prancin’ around like a wise ass dipshit?! Here we have something that really looks quite a bit closer to Isaac Asimov’s vision, at least by the trailer, which is quite impressive.
It for starters blends some amazing special fx both digital and practical the way that it should have been done in the first place. Second it looks like it’s got a bit more heart and mind to it as well and even reminds me a bit of Blade Runner in the best ways possible. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet for this check it out, this looks like Sci-Fi done just the way I like it…
The New Batmobile: The Verdict is In!
Today we get a picture of the latest Batmobile for the upcoming Superman Vs. Batman flick. I’m going to say this, to be honest I wasn’t a fan of the Nolan Batmobile and to me this new version looks like it’s on a similar path. These military style combat machines just don’t register for me as a “Batmobile” in any way shape or form. I’m not a fan of Batman crusin’ around in some sort of fast moving tank. To me the Batmobile should be a sleek, fast and powerful vehicle. I know it’s considered cheezy now but I really liked the original from the 1960’s, now that was bad ass! I’m not saying Batman should go retro, though honestly that would be pretty cool if Batman actually had cool style and decided he was going to drive something more classic. Instead of something that looks like it’s headed to War in Iraq.
Not the case in 2014, nope Batman has got one thing in mind, killing people with his huge fucking guns he’s got mounted on his hulking beast of a road machine! I’m a little doubtful of this movie honestly, I’m not a big fan of Zack Snyder to tell you the truth. His movies in my opinion don’t age well and though he’s got good intentions I believe, I think his whole “dark”, “gloomy” & “gritty” approach and look is a bit dated already. The whole “emo dude” Superman didn’t work for me either. I’m not certain DC is gonna have the same success as Marvel with this universe they are trying to create. Time will tell I guess but in the meantime here’s a coupla’ Batmobiles I personally dig….
If Batman was actually a cool guy he’d have this one out on the streets!
The Classic is still amazing…
The Death Of Wolverine #2: The Best There Is? Hardly…
The Death of Wolverine #2 is a comic book I’ve really been looking forward to for the last week! I was super impressed with the first issue even though it was five bucks and had a bunch of useless filler, it felt in part like the old Wolverine stories I used to love! So issue two continues the story in the classic setting of Madripoor- One of my favorite places in the Marvel Universe! There we meet a disguised Logan (“hipster Logan”, I personally would have preferred “Patch”instead) who’s been hanging out there for weeks looking for Viper, with some valuable merchandise for sale. This leads Logan to an odd encounter with several villains from his past. Sounds cool huh?
Well I don’t wanna spoil anything but it all seems a bit too forced. We’ve got important characters that disappear from the pages of the story as fast as they appear. Maybe this series needed to be a six or eight parter instead of four? It already is feeling a bit rushed, issue #2 feels quite a bit different from the first. I would have liked to have seen at least two issues of Madripoor and now it appears at the end of this issue we are off to yet another “classic” locale.
The story at issue two has lost it’s flow and lost my interest substantially. I get it now, they’re trying to cram as many classic characters into this four part series as possible and it seems issue three is likely to continue doing the same. Considering that how large the panels per page are in this series so far (a lot of panels simply divide up on single drawing into multiples) it’s likely that we’re not going to get the quality story telling we’d thought we were promised with issue number one. I’m on board for the last two though, I could easily be proven wrong and might be simply dazzled by the last two.
However, with issue number two and it’s rather paper thin plot, uninspired and unnecessary fight sequences and mish mash of random classic characters coming and going I’m starting to think it’s hard to make Wolverine interesting anymore for more than a single issue. At least McNiven’s art is still beautifully rendered. Oh yeah this issue is also 5 bucks and jam packed with a bunch of dull extras that somehow Marvel thinks justify the high cover price. What I predict we’re in store for is a rushed storyline that could have been amazing. If they don’t pull this off correctly I doubt anyone will be be anticipating Wolverine’s return from the dead anytime soon…
Honestly, That Godzilla Movie Wasn’t That Good….
I had to share this awesome “Honest Trailer” from the most recent American Godzilla flick. I’ve been thinking about it a little bit here and there and the more Ido the more I realize that the movie just kinda well…sucked! I don’t wanna be a hater on the Hollywood Blockbuster version of Godzilla, well, yeah I kinda do, I really could care less if they make a sequel. So instead of me ranting about it I figured I’d just post this amazing Honest Trailer that really hits the nail on the head in every way. check it out and admit to yourself the truth, that last Godzilla movie did indeed kinda suck…
Give Me More Awesome Puppet Horror Movies!!
Let’s face it, puppets totally rule. Period. They are making a big time comeback too. So now that we’ve got that out of the way take a minute to check out this awesome upcoming all puppet horror movie “The Mill at Calder’s End”! Pulling inspiration from HP Lovecraft & Edgar Allen Poe we get something truly unique to feast our eyes upon. This one was funded on Kickstarter and made twice it’s projected goal. Knowing that stuff like this is getting made without the help of major movie studios really make me happy and thankful that Kickstarter exists and has changed the game for film makers and fans alike.
Here’s a brief synopsis of film:
“The Mill at Calder’s End is a gothic ghost story in the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft that will be told with 30 inch tall bunraku puppets and old fashioned in-camera special effects.Featuring the voices of Jason Flemyng (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,X-Men:First Class) and horror legend Barbara Steele (Black Sunday,The Pit and the Pendulum) , this film celebrates two of my great loves: the art of puppetry and gothic horror.”
“From my experience working as a special effects artist in Hollywood for over twenty years and now collaborating with some of the most talented creature effects artists,concept artists, and puppeteers in the industry, The Mill at Calder’s End will be unlike any puppet film you have ever seen before.”
Check out this epic gothic puppet trailer! Hopefully the full movie will drop soon!
A little behind the scenes too:
Universal Dork 