Tagged: review
Jeph Loeb’s Wolverine: Makin’ Shit Up As He Goes!
Is it just me or does it kinda seem like Jeph Loeb’s kinda making shit up as he goes on the current Wolverine storyline? After reading issue number 312 I am almost certain of it! I have a theory on how he wrote this stuff and I think it took him about a total of five minutes, which I will explain, so read on!
Now first let me quickly clarify that I kinda enjoyed his absurd “Death of Sabretooth” story arc that he had crafted years ago. I’ve gotta say it, I think Loeb is a hack storyteller. He’s somehow become extremely popular while single handedly changed Logan’s entire history by introducing Romulus, who’s supposed to be his “ultimate” nemesis. Somehow though I just can’t take Romulus seriously, every time he makes an appearance I kinda wanna just burst out into laughter! It’s odd too because I actually am kind of intrigued with the character primarily because of how stupid he is.
Now we have another red head in Wolvie’s life, Remus, Romulus’ twin sister. She happens to have a big crush on Logan and wants him to kill her brother. Uggh…this is truly Loeb working his “storytelling magic” again.
It been seeming to me that Loeb probably is making this shit up as he goes folks. He’s like “Let’s kill off Sabretooth! It will be super bad ass, we’ll have this bad ass sword that Wolvie needs to kill him, then we’ll have this guy Romulus who doesn’t have anything better to do with his time except orchestrate all the events of Wolverine’s life, I mean it too, he has been like secretly involved for like…ever! Yeah, yeah then we’ll have this feral mutant race, evolved from wolves, yeah, Wolverine, Sabretooth, Wild Child, Romulus hell even Sasquatch is gonna be like having this feral gene in his system, and then, then um…Wolverine kills Sabretooth!!It’s gonna be soooo epic! Oh shit Marvel wants Sabretooth now to not be dead? Shit, hmmm well let’s just say Wolverine actually killed a Sabretooth clone! Yeah that’s it…then we’ll backtrack and say Wolverine suspected that the Sabretooth he beheaded back then smelled like a fake! Then Wolverine will find out that Sabretooth is really alive and that there’s like a hundred Sabretooth clones! Shit yeah!
Yeah then Romulus comes back….and um…hmm…shit he’s got a twin sister!! Yeah!! She’s called..um Remus! She’s a red head too cuz Logan loves red heads! She’s like in love with Wolverine too! Then let’s make Romulus dress up like Wolverine from the Weapon X days and put himself in a glass chamber! Yeaaaah! Yeah and then um…now he’s got real claws, made from like new school adamantium, it’s like stronger than the previously strongest unbreakable metal, it’s like even MORE unbreakable! Yes!!! Then let’s say, um Wolverine was actually the mastermind behind the Weapon X program?! Yes!! Yes!! What’s next? Hmmm…I’ll figure that out next month a few minutes before the issue’s deadline!!” I am pretty sure that’s how this all goes down for Loeb.
Seems like he’s having fun putting an ridiculous spin on Wolverine’s previously rad back story…So you know what? I guess I’ll just roll with his laughable story lines an try to have some fun too. At least it’s humorous, something that Wolverines past should never be. What do you think?
Silver Screen Supermen: The Blog of Steel by Chris “Optional” Gray
Hey folks, its Chris “Optional” Gray here bringing you a guest piece for Universal Dork. This blog was promised to Mr. Saturday long ago, and much like the topic this blog is covering there have been many set backs, production delays, casting issues, wardrobe disputes, you know, the typical things that can go wrong with writing a blog. My original idea was to compare and contrast the film making efforts between Marvel and DC, but that subject is for another time and day.Today we will be focusing on the Man of Steel himself, Superman and his adventures on the silver screen.
The first time Superman was brought to the big screen was in 1941 with the Fleischer Studios animated shorts, bringing the Caped Crusader to life for the first time. These shorts are absolute classics and have endured the test of time so much to be readily available on Netflix for your viewing pleasure.They perfectly capture the Superman of that early era.They feel like your reading a short comic in a newspaper fun,fast and a feast for the eyes especially if you love old animation.
The next time Superman graced the screen was in 1948 when Alan Kyrk starred in the theatrical series, which were very similar in style to George Reeve’s later television series. Unfortunately, Kyrk really lacked any kind of screen presence to pull off the roles of Superman and Clark Kent. The most entertaining aspect of the shorts comes from the lack of budget that prevented them from actually showing Kyrk take flight, those segments had to be animated which while distracting is still very entertaining. It makes even the worst modern day CGI look glorious in comparison, but the shorts still come off as enjoyable.
Now we come to George Reeve’s debut as Superman in the little known B-Movie Superman and The Molemen Continue reading
Do We Really Want a Darker Superman Movie?
I have watched the “Superman: Man of Steel” trailers quite a few times lately since they were recently put on the web for everyone to enjoy. I think so far it looks pretty interesting. However I am just not so certain that this is the Superman movie I really want to see. It’s clearly a darker more realistic take on Supes and it’s clearly trying to use the Nolan / Batman recipe for success. The trailers show a darker more emotional style of filming that may take a bit of getting used to. This however isn’t really what we’re all used to from Superman, so I am not going to jump to any premature conclusions yet, I’m quite sure I will enjoy this one immensely. Yet I would much rather have a brighter, more colorful Superman story to be honest. I could just be feeling this because this is all I am used to?
Hmm…Looks like Superman’s got Dr. Manhattan syndrome if you know what I mean! Blame it on Snyder again I guess…
I just don’t know how I feel about this one so far. What works for Batman may not necessarily work for Superman. I picture a Superman movie playing out a little more like Whedon’s Avengers personally – like a comic book really transformed into reality except without all the dark gritty real world vibe. I enjoyed Singer’s tone on his Superman film, I LOVED Brandon Routh as Superman.
Damn he was almost on par with Reeve in my opinion. He had that perfect charm, innocence and humor as the Man of Steel that is desperately needed to make the character work on the big screen. It’s still a mystery to me how Singer messed it up and somehow made a boring Superman movie! So instead now we get this, a dark Superman movie. It’s going to take a lot of convincing here for me folks…what do you now all think after seeing the trailers? Am I way lame for feeling this way?
MC Chris Don’t Like Your Opinion!!
I just had to at least comment on the nerdcore hip hop news story of the day! If you haven’t heard, MC Chris, semi famous geek rapper, most well known for his voicing of MC Pee Pee Pants on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, finally takes some shit for kicking a fan out of one of his recent shows. Yeah he pretty much kicks people out on a regular basis for stuff like, smoking, being drunk, yelling shit, singing along and putting drinks on the edge of the stage. Basically for you know, having a good time!?
Dude!! Don’t come to my shows if you don’t like the opening act!! I will patrol twitter, find you there at my damn show and kick your ass out!!!!
You can find a lot of these clips on Youtube and honestly they’re pretty fucking ridiculous. It seems that MC Chris maybe grew up never attending a live musical event? Ever been to a real rock show? He seems like a quite an ego maniac and considers himself a nerd god, proving most likely that not all nerds are “nice guys”.
That video above is because some kid said the opening rapper “had no soul.” Ummm….who gives a shit!? Aren’t nerds allowed to have musical opinions too? It’s just funny to me how pissed off he gets at the wimpy nerdy “insults”. Jeezus dude it’s not that big a deal you act like Lucas added more voice over dialogue to The Empire Strikes back or something!
This time though he kicked a kid out of a show because of a tweet he made about MC Chris’ opening act Richie Branson before the show. I guess the kid showed up to the show and Chris asked who he was out to the audience, once he found out he kicked him out of the venue. So what was this incredibly offensive vicious wack ass tweet this kid posted? It went like this:
“Dear nerd rapper opening for Powerglove/mc chris. You’re not good enough to pander to me. Better luck next time.”
Wow. That shit’s crazy huh?!! Dayum!! It seems nerdcore rappers get their feelings hurt pretty easily these days huh? Good thing he’s not a Gansta rapper huh? He’d have to kick out everyone from his damn shows! Anyway, I just had to take a moment to tell Chris to mellow the fuck out! Who cares if some nerdy pimply teen doesn’t like the opening act for cryin out loud! Your pushin’ 40 dude! I guess this topic has gotten a lot of negative press for MC, as now tons of people are posting their own stories about Chris and how much of a dick he is to all of his fans. You can check the whole story out here
Well it seems to me Chris has gotten a little to big for his tiny lil’ britches. Seems to me he just enjoys the whole power of being able to kick people out perhaps? Maybe it makes him feel like Darth Vader or or a nerdy Donald Trump?!! His Facebook page is pretty crazy right now it seems. I personally think it’s kinda funny actually. I think MC Chris is a pretty rad rapper but far from a nerd god. So all you fans out there who are tired of his BS I suggest you move on to new horizons. You can all start with some Mister Saturday 😉
The Amazing Spider-man & Punisher’s Dirty Laundry….
Well I did it! I finally went out and saw The Amazing Spider-man. I guess that shows you exactly how excited I was for the movie huh? So I thought it was a decent Spider-man movie about on par with the Raimi franchise. It wasn’t leaps and bounds better but I am glad to say I got seeing the movie out of the way or crossed off my “to do” list. It was pretty much exactly what I was expecting sadly with no real surprises. Garfield did a decent job as the new, more hip, high school Parker. No longer do we have the geeky nerd, now we have the skateboarding hipster Parker with his skinny jeans, hoodie, assorted leather jackets and fingerless black gloves. Parker is not the nerd we remember anymore, he’s a dark mysterious loner. He walked straight off the set of Twilight. Not really my ideal version of the character but Garfield put some good emotion into it and therefore it sorta worked especially for this generation of tween movie goers.
The movie kinda lost me however with the Lizard. Everything felt pretty real for the most part until he appeared. Often times the movie’s flaws unfortunately were it’s action scenes jam packed with cartoony CG pulled straight out of an Xbox game intro. It’s shiny and slick but often times a little too slick for my liking. Emma Stone did a fine job as Gwen Stacy and it was pleasure to see Martin Sheen and Sally “Gidget” Field back on the big screen. I honestly wish I had more to say about this one, but it just wasn’t memorable enough for me to rant on and on about. I am however happy I got the origin of Spider-man out of the way here, it felt like yesterday that I was watching Raimi’s version so this new installment really could have skipped the whole introduction again and gotten into some new uncharted territory. The one good thing is that it seems that we’ll get another shot at The Green Goblin as this film got The Dark Night treatment, they obviously will be putting him in the sequel, as they put the Joker in The Dark Night. Let’s hope this time he at least looks like the Green Goblin. Please though Hollywood The Green Goblin DOESN’T need to be a CG character. Don’t I repeat DON’T screw it up the second time around!
Hey Marvel this is the Green Goblin remember? He should look like THIS.
Also I am sure you’ve all seen the Thomas Jane short film “Dirty Laundry” he recently unveiled. This seems to be his attempt to woo Marvel back into letting him play The Punisher again. It was a neat little film for what it was and it was pretty violent as well, that is if you consider a lot of CG blood splatter really “violent”. I personally was never really to keen on that 2004 Punisher film. As much as I love Jane as an actor I just don’t think he really screams Frank Castle to me. So Should Marvel bring back Jane as Frank Castle? I am sure the fans reaction will have a lot to do with it. What do you all think? For me I’d like to see two more short “fan” made films, one by Dolph Lungren and one by Ray Stevenson before I make any endorsements!!
The Walking Dead #100 : Shocking Yet Oddly Unfulfilling….
So today ends the wait for issue number 100, an issue that writer Robert Kirkman never thought possible for the series when it all started. Issue 100 had a LOT of speculation and mystery surrounding it, people were waiting to be blown away. Well now the question is after all the hubbub did it deliver the goods? I didn’t think so personally…
I will say that it was truly the most brutal issue we’ve yet seen. Some of the panels were undeniably hard to look at. The blood ran cold and here we are once again with the death of one of the books longest lasting characters. Yes it was a sad and depressing issue and one that I have no doubt will have fans talking and mourning the death of Glenn for a long time to come. So what’s wrong with it then you might ask? I am most likely a minority here, but aside from the extreme carnage in this issue it really didn’t have much to offer even with it’s added extra pages. It seems to me that this book is in serious need of new ideas, new scenery and the sheer adventure that should fuel it’s readers. Issue 100 feels a little too “been there done that” to me.
Negan is clearly designed to be the books next “Governor”. However the Governor was done first and done better and really Kirkman after all the “Lucile is coming” hype it turns out that Lucile is a barbed wire baseball bat? Um… pretty disappointing. I feel like sometimes I may have been mistaking “good writing” in this series lately for the sudden shocking deaths of characters. It seems Kirkman can kill major characters every so often amidst a rather monotonous storyline and somehow get away with his book still being praised as the most epic series out there. Now don’t get me wrong, I still like The Walking Dead, I thought this was a good issue and I still will keep on board most likely until the series ends. However I can honestly say that I really don’t love it in the way I used to. I’d like to see something new brought to the table, I have grown seriously tired of the “sitting in one place and trying to start a community” scenario again and again. I think these characters need to get off their asses and get some answers to what is really going on, I’d like to see a little less of how terrible humanity is over and over. Yes we get it Kirkman, zombies bad, humans even worse. Let’s see a little supernatural development above the rather blah zombie infection or let’s send the crew off somewhere completely different, perhaps out to sea or hell as Kirkman continually jokes maybe now is the time for the Alien’s to appear! Heck I think it’d be more exciting than watching another “shocking” character death don’t you?
Take Me To Unicorn City Please!
Being a big fan of D&D, LARP-ing has always been a serious curiosity of mine. I hope someday to actually try it for real as it’s become quite popular over the years. However what is the real reason why it’s gotten so much attention? To me it’s apparent that it’s an easy thing to poke fun at. Yeah I do see how silly it is, I mean grown women and men playing pretend in the forest. To me though it looks like a great time and a great escape from this mundane world we currently inhabit.
This form of entertainment has been featured in quite a few films, like “Role Models”, documentaries like “Monster Camp” a more serious thriller in the awesome “Wild Hunt” and even popular music videos (Red Fang). So let’s add another comedy to the list the upcoming “Unicorn City”.
Even if it’s another tear on LARP-ers it’s still getting the word out there and getting me a step closer to some day try it for myself! Check out the trailer!
The Walking Dead #100 Predictions!
Wow I can’t believe we’re almost one hundred issues into The Walking Dead! Still one of my most anticipated comic books every month. Kirkman never thought it would become the sensation it is today. So now obviously this has gotten us all wondering what the hell is going to go down in the big issue? What could possibly top some of the last surprises we’ve endured? Carl getting shot, Tyreses’ death, the Governor being “killed” by Michonne, Lori and the baby’s death and most recently Abraham’s death were hands down some of the most intense and emotional deaths in comic book history. But is issue #100 going to be purely witnessing, once again, deaths of our current roster of Rick’s minions? Only time will tell, however here are a couple things I think would be a big surprise for this milestone issue.
First let’s think about what Kirkman could possibly do to blow our minds. I have felt for quite sometime that perhaps Lori and / or their baby may not actually really be dead! My guess is that sometime soon, perhaps even in this next issue Lori could be revealed to still indeed be alive. We really only saw her get shot, it was never confirmed by anyone that she was truly dead. My guess is this would be a major move Kirkman has at the very least considered. Would this shock you?
Second would of course be the big one. Rick biting the dust! I am certain this won’t happen soon but I am certain it will happen and perhaps Carl will lead the team or grow into a leader. However imagine if Rick was bit and the disease took. This alone would pack a powerful punch, the issues that follow showing the remaining members of his group watching him slowly descend into becoming the walking dead. Imagine Carl and say Michonne heading out into the world on their own. This, when it happens is will be a powerful end or new beginning to the book.
I guess anything could really happen, however I highly doubt Michonne has anything to worry about as she just made her wildly popular tv appearance. Personally as much as I love the title I’d love to see it move into a different direction. I have been a little bored with this whole “setting up a community” thing for quite a while now. I would love to see them on the road again, it’s so much more exciting and I think more believable. I mean how many times are we going to see the gang meet up with psychotic people and get into an altercation? It’s all been good and fine up til now but i think we need to get a little more adventure back into the title.
Listen up Kirkman, I think a logical choice of action would be perhaps them trying to get to an island somewhere and finding a boat? Get to some water. I know that’s been an idea in movies already but so was your whole opening to the story which was basically a blatant rip from 28 Days Later. Expanding on that concept would be very intriguing. I think searching for a small plane or meeting a pilot would be a great exciting new direction for the crew. It seems a little strange to me that the characters seem content with giving up and just accepting making a community somewhere. They need someone who’s looking for solutions and bigger answers to the problem other than Rick’s flawed one dimensional thinking about restarting civilization at some purely random location without knowing what the hell is really going on. Doesn’t anyone wonder what the big picture is?!
I also am NOT a fan of Kirkman stating there will never be explanation for the undead. I feel not exploring that idea is uninspired. What if there was a mutation? What if there was more than just zombies out there to fear? The book needs something new and exciting to happen in it or we’ll get the same scenarios happening over and over. Yeah we all get it, the living people are more scary than the zombies, how about letting that idea rest for a bit and get back into the monsters being more threatening? It’s time to introduce some new ideas into this book while still keeping with the tone so far. So I hope for something great to down in issue #100 and not just an issue where more supporting characters die off. What about you?
The Second Coming of Judge Dredd!
Step aside Stallone! We are all getting a second chance at Judge Dredd finally on the big screen! Yes we have tried for years to erase the Stallone version of the legendary sci fi comic book with no luck. We can all agree that movie sucked the big one big time, but I can also honestly say Stallone looked the part perfectly! Too bad in his version he only wore the helmet for like five minutes in the whole damn film. One thing I can’t stand is when we get big actors who play super heroes and don’t wear the costume enough, like when at the end of most big Hollywood movie versions the mask rips off in battle. I can’t stand it! Uggh like seeing Tobey Maguires face wearing the Spider-man costume and losing the mask at the finale of every single installment! We want to forget that an actor is playing the character, so Hollywood keep the masks on our movie superheroes please!
Sorry for the rant, I couldn’t help it I had to say it! Anyway…..I don’t claim to be the biggest Judge Dredd fan ever, but back when I was a kid I did read the comic book and most of all was inspired to read the series because of speed metal genius’ Anthrax! I even had the Anthrax tee with Dredd on it “I am the Law” was their song and it fucking ruled the damn school!
They even put out a rad t-shirt back in the day with Judge Death on it. Oh how I love old school speed metal! I also have to mention that one of my favorite artists ever, Brian “Killing Joke” Bolland helped make Dredd a must for me when I was in my teens. Dredd had a lot going for him in the eighties…
Here though we get a second cinematic shot at Judge Dredd with this brand new trailer-I have to admit it looks pretty legit so far to me and it seems so far that Dredd wears his damn helmet quite a bit!! This time we’ve got the new Bones from Star Trek Karl Urban as the ultimate enforcer and he looks great! The judge, jury and executioner faces a female drug king pin pushing a new reality altering drug, Slo-mo! So far so good! Now could we just get a little Judge Death in there too? I know, I know I am so damn picky….
A Duo of Hopefully Rad Upcoming Halloween Horror!
This Halloween season I will be once again looking forward to some great new horror, at least something good I can see in the theater! So far what’s looking the best to me are two movies in particular that will most likely show up in theaters across the nation. First we have “Sinister” which looks so far like it’s going to be a creepy ass little ghost story which stars Ethan Hawke.
It makes you think twice about setting up a projector and playing random strange films that you uncover from an attic! Check it out, So far I am digging the creepy monster dude who appears to be the movie’s “Freddy Kruger”. Yeah it’s kinda humorous seeing that creepy guy appear everywhere especially since he kinda reminds me of Mortiis, black metal superstar who used to make rad dungeon core music..
Second is one that pretty is fantastic, all but for the fact that it appears to be another “found footage” horror movie. Yeah I think we can all agree that the found footage genre is losing it’s luster quite a bit for me at least. However there’s always an exception as this movie V/H/S undeniably looks pretty damn entertaining…so far at least! This is cool also because it’s an anthology ala Creepshow with various directors bringing their flare to the movie. This movie promises thrills, monsters and the supernatural..
It seems this one has quite a huge buzz around it already. This movie is yet another one (like The Ring) that will make you think twice before watching or in this case stealing random vhs tapes from strange locales..
Universal Dork 