Thursday, April 22, 2010

The Blog Without Fear Part 1



Most people that know me know that my favorite comic book character is Batman. What a lot of people may not realize is that one of my other favorites is Daredevil. Most of the time when I mention this people give me a dirty look and reference the 2003 movie starring Ben Affleck. Despite its massive flaws, I don’t hate that movie like everyone else. The best way I can describe my feelings on it is that it’s like being in your first band and putting out your first record: It may not be good, but it’s still pretty cool that it got made.

Regardless of one bad movie, the Daredevil comic is the most consistently well written comic out there, even more so than the Dark Knight himself. I don’t think I’ve ever read a flat out bad DD book. So many big name writers have done their best work on Daredevil including Frank Millar, Kevin Smith, Brian Michael Bendis, and Ed Brubaker. With typically more of a crime drama feel than a super hero funny book, the man without fear’s ulter ego, Matt Murdock, is many times just as captivating out of tights as he is in them on the streets of hell’s kitchen. His casts of supporting characters are real people. His issues aren’t just of a super hero nature. More often than not his romantic and personal life is in shambles. Even his super powers don’t seem that far from reality. Just go pick up any DD book ‘cause it’s gonna be good.

20th Century Fox recently announced their plans to reboot the Daredevil movie franchise with a script by David Scarpa (the day the earth stood still remake). Reports reveal that their goal with the relaunch is to make a darker and more grounded film similar in tone to Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, which is exactly the direction they need to take. That and some tips from Law & Order for the courtroom scenes with Matt Murdock and law partner Foggy Nelson.

They have a screenwriter locked in. Great! But who’s gonna direct it? Who’s gonna put on the red tights? Who else is gonna jump on this and show the world that Daredevil is way cooler than a Bennifer 2.0 movie? What names do I wanna see on the poster?

Find out next blog!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Kick-Ass? More like Suck-Ass!



So Kick-Ass opened this weekend. Based on the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. that I didn’t read for some reason despite Millar’s The Ultimates being one of my favorite comics of all time, the movie has been getting rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. My thoughts of the film however will not quite fall into place with the rest of them.

I wasn’t as excited as everyone else was in the first place about Kick-Ass. It seemed from the moment the first trailer hit, people were talking it up like it was gonna be the next big thing. I thought it looked fun, but was doubtful it would be on my top ten list of films for the year. When going to the theatre last night with my girlfriend I mentioned my hopes that my low expectations, along with my love for Mark Millar’s other work in comics, would allow me to come out pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.

I didn’t flat out hate the movie. There was actually plenty to enjoy about it. The fight scenes were well choreographed and shot (something the Jason Bourne people need to take note of), the humor was clever, and the performances were great, including the best performance from Nicolas Cage since I don’t know when.

Despite all these positives, I had a lot of issues with Kick-Ass, the main problem being it’s over all inconsistency. When it was great it was great, but the times in between were so bland and seemed to take up way more time than the exciting moments. Aaron Johnson was amicable as the titular hero, but the character itself wasn’t that interesting. I get that he was supposed to be an over all Peter Parker/Spider-Man homage, but he was so similar that it just felt like a cheap knock off rather than a tip of the cap. If I wanted to watch Spider-Man, I’d watch Spider-Man.

Chloe Mortez was flawless as Hit Girl and Nicolas Cage stole the show as Big Daddy, but there just weren’t enough of either them. Sure the movie should have been called “Hit Girl Kicks Ass”, but I wanted to see more of the banter between the two anti heroes. Their back story that was summed up in five seconds in a comic/animated sequence was more interesting that the main character’s that took most of the movie. Take the interesting characters like Hit Girl and Big Daddy, and give them more to do and maybe give less to the flat and bland characters like McLovin’s Red Mist.

The whole concept behind Kick-Ass is what it would be like if real, average, every day people put on costumes and became super heroes. This theme is kept through most of the movie until it gets completely tossed out the window for the big finale action scene that made me almost want to walk out. If you, the film makers, can’t stick to your point, than why should I stick through watching it. You completely contradicted yourself for a lousy attempt at a bigger action scene. No good.

Like I said, not the worst movie I’ve ever seen, just nowhere near the awesomness that people are making it out to be. If Hit Girl gets a spin off movie I will be first in line, but I don’t think I’ll be in any rush for a Kick-Ass 2.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Avengers Assemble!



Today when I was checking my nerd websites for the latest in fandom I read an article that said Joss Whedon is in talks to direct the Avengers movie. The Marvel Studios movie is already set to star Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and with any luck Edward Norton as Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the Hulk respectively. Most fanboys were ruining their pants in excitement over this news as Whedon has already made a name for himself in the nerd world with his creations of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dollhouse, Firefly, and Serenity as well as his fantastic run on the Astonishing X-Men comic series. At one point he was even working on the script for the Wonder Woman movie that is now in development hell over at DC/Warner Brothers.

This seems like an amazing idea and a good choice on Marvel’s part. The guy gets comics, and more importantly, teams of characters. The show is called Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it was a group effort of Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, and all the other supportive characters. I have yet to watch it, but Firefly seemed to be more about a group of space pirates than a singular hero. And let’s not forget Marvel’s other superhero team. Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men in this nerd’s opinion was the best arc of the series in a long long time. He was also one of the many people to take a crack at an X-Men movie script before it hit theatres in 2000. Sadly, the only line from his script that made it into the final film was the line that nearly ruined the whole movie. “Do you know what happens to a toad when it’s struck by lightning? The same thing that happens to everything else.” Awful. Just awful. But that’s what you get from a guy who got his start writing episodes of Rosanne.

Crappy lines aside, I think Joss Whedon will bring an interesting touch to a movie that already had a lot of potential. I’m not sold on Chris Evans as Cap, but at least he’s not Channing Tatum or Paul Walker, and I’m hopeful for some good banter between him and Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark. It sounds like things are looking up for Edward Norton to return to the role of Bruce Banner and Don Cheadle, Samuel L Jackson, and Scarlett Johansson are all expected to come in from the Iron Man franchise, giving the Avengers even more star power. Even if all that doesn’t work out, Downey could probably carry the movie on his own given his current winning streak. But Marvel has been mapping out all of their self produced movies to lead up to this, and considering the quality of what they’ve produced so far, this should be at the very least an entertaining popcorn flick.

Eh, who am I kidding? I’ll love it either way.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

I’m a nerd. I love comic books, action figures, cartoons, and all the stuff about movies that the average movie goer has no idea about. At the same time, nearly everyone I’ve ever met, at one time or another has come to me with a question, comment, or concern about something in the realm of nerdiness. Whether it’s my opinion of who’s been cast as Captain America, what I know about the next Batman Movie, or who directed Halloween II, I seem to be the most useful to my friends when it comes to dorky trivia. So really, I’m a nerd, but I’m pretty cool ‘cause I know the silly, stupid junk you don’t. Thus I am THE COOLEST NERD YOU KNOW!!!.

This blog will be about all the stuff I think matters in the world, leaving boring stuff like politics, relationships, and world issues at the door (that’s a joke kids!). Expect subject matter such as: Upcoming movies that everyone will be talking about, movies from 5 years ago that no one saw but me, classic comics that you should read, my favorite band putting out a new album, and anything else I feel like jabbering about.

On a back the fuck off because it’s just a blog note: I will not be the least bit concerned if my grammar is correct, or if the writing is in any type of proper format, or if you the reader find my opinion’s flawed or uninformed. It’s for fun and nothing more and if critiquing or criticizing any of those is your reason for reading this then I suggest you stop reading right now.

This is just a warni…I mean taste of things to come. Keep checking back for more.