It's official!
Marvel has announced that Robert Downey Jr. will fulfill his four picture deal with Marvel Studios by appearing as Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, in both 'Iron Man 2' and 'The Avengers'.
Jon Favreau is also locked to return to the directors chair for 'Iron Man 2' and will server as an executive producer the Marvel super-team film.
The studio has also made official the casting of Don Cheadle as Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes in 'Iron Man 2'. The actor is also on board for 'The Avengers' and will play the character in any Iron movies beyond part 2. As readers know well, Cheadle replaces Terrence Howard in the role.
"We are very excited about working with the extraordinarily talented Don Cheadle as we expand the role of Rhodey in Iron Man 2. It has already become apparent as we prep the movie for production, that the dynamic between Robert and Don will take Iron Man 2 to new heights," said Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios.
Here's the official log line for 'The Avengers':
In a movie event, THE AVENGERS will bring together the super hero team of Marvel Comics characters for the first time ever, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk and more, as they are forced to band together to battle the biggest foe they've ever faced.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Movie Review: MAX PAYNE
Review: Max Payne (Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Chris O’Donnell)
Max Payne is the movie adaptation of the popular third person shooter video game of the same name (2001, Remedy Entertainment). The game was famous for being the first to use “bullet time” – when activated, a player could slow time around Max Payne, allowing his to target and shoot several antagonists before they had time to react. Wahlberg stars in the film as the title character, Kunis is Mona Sax, and Ludacris is Detective Jim Bravura.
Ok right off the top I cannot review this without some spoilers . . . . so if you do not want to know, DO NOT HIGHLIGHT THIS:
(if you don’t care, then of course highlight the invisotext to read)
Ok well the trailers are completely misleading. Every effect that you see ends up being during a hallucination, which was a bit of a rip off. This is a standard action flick that is actually light on action but heavy on imagery. It looks great, but when the winged creatures flying around end up not being there “for real”, it takes quite a bit away from the experience. This would have been scores better if they had gone there with the demons being “real”. There are a few scenes that completely do NOT work after the reveal that there are no demons (like the one in the trailer where the guy gets pulled from the window – what a cheat to show us that and then later say he jumped when he clearly did NOT).
Wahlberg is good, Kunis is cool (well, she loses her accent part of the way through the movie, but I blame the director for not fixing that), and Ludacris is mostly believable. Bridges probably does the best as far as the acting goes. The use of Norse mythology is cool (but when have been cooler if not for whats in the invisotext spoiler). I wanted to like this. The use of bullet time is minimal but effective, and the demon/fire effects are well done, but the invisotext tells you the problems with this one. Max Payne made a ton of money during its first week, but its style over substance approach left a lot to be desired.
Grade: C+ (the snow-turns-to-fire scene was worth the “+”)
Max Payne is the movie adaptation of the popular third person shooter video game of the same name (2001, Remedy Entertainment). The game was famous for being the first to use “bullet time” – when activated, a player could slow time around Max Payne, allowing his to target and shoot several antagonists before they had time to react. Wahlberg stars in the film as the title character, Kunis is Mona Sax, and Ludacris is Detective Jim Bravura.
Ok right off the top I cannot review this without some spoilers . . . . so if you do not want to know, DO NOT HIGHLIGHT THIS:
(if you don’t care, then of course highlight the invisotext to read)
Ok well the trailers are completely misleading. Every effect that you see ends up being during a hallucination, which was a bit of a rip off. This is a standard action flick that is actually light on action but heavy on imagery. It looks great, but when the winged creatures flying around end up not being there “for real”, it takes quite a bit away from the experience. This would have been scores better if they had gone there with the demons being “real”. There are a few scenes that completely do NOT work after the reveal that there are no demons (like the one in the trailer where the guy gets pulled from the window – what a cheat to show us that and then later say he jumped when he clearly did NOT).
Wahlberg is good, Kunis is cool (well, she loses her accent part of the way through the movie, but I blame the director for not fixing that), and Ludacris is mostly believable. Bridges probably does the best as far as the acting goes. The use of Norse mythology is cool (but when have been cooler if not for whats in the invisotext spoiler). I wanted to like this. The use of bullet time is minimal but effective, and the demon/fire effects are well done, but the invisotext tells you the problems with this one. Max Payne made a ton of money during its first week, but its style over substance approach left a lot to be desired.
Grade: C+ (the snow-turns-to-fire scene was worth the “+”)
Comics Review: Final Crisis #4 & Final Crisis: Submit
Review: Final Crisis #4 (of 7) & Final Crisis: Submit #1, DC Comics, (Grant Morrison, writer)
Ok so I am kicking off comic reviews this week on The Blog. They won't likely pop up every week, but I will do them as I can.
First up – DC’s Final Crisis #4. A little back story: This is the 3rd part of a trilogy that started with Crisis on Infinite Earths back in the 1985. At the time, DC Comics was a bit of a continuity mess – full of multiple storylines that could not possibly work together. Example - there was a Superboy comic, but Clark Kent did not put on the suit until he was an adult in Metropolis – so how does that work? So they explained this by saying that there were several realities that bled in and out of each other at times. This was still pretty much a mess, so in the first Crisis they destroyed all the different realities and timelines, creating one “true” Earth with one distinctive history. Over time, different writers made the same kind of “mistakes” – people came back from the dead, character elements were simply ignored or forgotten, etc. So in 2005, DC released Infinite Crisis, which effectively recreated 51 of the other “lost” realities, and explained away all the continuity mistakes that had been made over the 20 year gap (in a lightweight dumb way, but it all worked out). Since then, they have been laying the groundwork for Grant Morrison’s twisted idea for the 3rd part of the Trilogy – Final Crisis. In this mini-series, the villain Darkseid has unleashed the “Anti-Life Equation” on Earth via all media (internet, tv, radio, cellular), causing all who see or hear it to submit to the will of Darkseid. In the new world that is created, Anti-Life justifies ignorance, pain, abusing the weak, etc – Life is a question and Anti-Life is the answer. Basically, everyone who has submitted is evil and worships Darkseid completely. Final Crisis is the darkest of the entries into this series. In this one, evil wins right off the top.
Ok so this week we got Final Crisis: Submit #1 and Final Crisis #4, where we find the few heroes who are left beaten down and not in high spirits. Submit tells the story of how hero Black Lightning sacrifices himself into submission to save a “super villain” (The Tattooed Man) and his family. This one is a great read – a bit melodramatic in showing how much the “hero” and “villain” really are alike – but overall this is a great moment for Black Lightning. In the end, he is transformed by the Anti-Life Equation, which serves the bleakness of the main story well – but he also transforms the villain into a bit of a hero.
In Final Crisis #4, we learn that the heroes can only communicate through the Daily Planet newspaper – printed secretly from the Fortress of Solitude – and are scattered across the world at “safe houses”. This is a bleak, bleak mini-series. The bad guys have almost completely won – and while we know at the end they have to fix it, seeing what they are putting some of the characters through still has resonance. Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Black Lightning have all been forced to submit, Martian Manhunter is dead, Superman and Batman are missing, and people are basically snapping off all over the world – killing each other or worse. This issue basically drives the point home that even if the remaining heroes win, the world will have been put through hell and there should be some consequences. Important characters are dead; most of the heroes have submitted and are hunting “survivors”; and a very small list of B-Z list heroes are trying to fix it – but they are dropping like flies and have no idea how to do that.
I have no idea where this one is going, which is a good thing. I have always been a fan of Morrison, and I hope he is on his “A” game and he can bring this home with issues 5-7, and with the upcoming Final Crisis: Resist.
Grades: Final Crisis #4 - B+, Final Crisis Submit – B.
Ok so I am kicking off comic reviews this week on The Blog. They won't likely pop up every week, but I will do them as I can.
First up – DC’s Final Crisis #4. A little back story: This is the 3rd part of a trilogy that started with Crisis on Infinite Earths back in the 1985. At the time, DC Comics was a bit of a continuity mess – full of multiple storylines that could not possibly work together. Example - there was a Superboy comic, but Clark Kent did not put on the suit until he was an adult in Metropolis – so how does that work? So they explained this by saying that there were several realities that bled in and out of each other at times. This was still pretty much a mess, so in the first Crisis they destroyed all the different realities and timelines, creating one “true” Earth with one distinctive history. Over time, different writers made the same kind of “mistakes” – people came back from the dead, character elements were simply ignored or forgotten, etc. So in 2005, DC released Infinite Crisis, which effectively recreated 51 of the other “lost” realities, and explained away all the continuity mistakes that had been made over the 20 year gap (in a lightweight dumb way, but it all worked out). Since then, they have been laying the groundwork for Grant Morrison’s twisted idea for the 3rd part of the Trilogy – Final Crisis. In this mini-series, the villain Darkseid has unleashed the “Anti-Life Equation” on Earth via all media (internet, tv, radio, cellular), causing all who see or hear it to submit to the will of Darkseid. In the new world that is created, Anti-Life justifies ignorance, pain, abusing the weak, etc – Life is a question and Anti-Life is the answer. Basically, everyone who has submitted is evil and worships Darkseid completely. Final Crisis is the darkest of the entries into this series. In this one, evil wins right off the top.
Ok so this week we got Final Crisis: Submit #1 and Final Crisis #4, where we find the few heroes who are left beaten down and not in high spirits. Submit tells the story of how hero Black Lightning sacrifices himself into submission to save a “super villain” (The Tattooed Man) and his family. This one is a great read – a bit melodramatic in showing how much the “hero” and “villain” really are alike – but overall this is a great moment for Black Lightning. In the end, he is transformed by the Anti-Life Equation, which serves the bleakness of the main story well – but he also transforms the villain into a bit of a hero.
In Final Crisis #4, we learn that the heroes can only communicate through the Daily Planet newspaper – printed secretly from the Fortress of Solitude – and are scattered across the world at “safe houses”. This is a bleak, bleak mini-series. The bad guys have almost completely won – and while we know at the end they have to fix it, seeing what they are putting some of the characters through still has resonance. Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Black Lightning have all been forced to submit, Martian Manhunter is dead, Superman and Batman are missing, and people are basically snapping off all over the world – killing each other or worse. This issue basically drives the point home that even if the remaining heroes win, the world will have been put through hell and there should be some consequences. Important characters are dead; most of the heroes have submitted and are hunting “survivors”; and a very small list of B-Z list heroes are trying to fix it – but they are dropping like flies and have no idea how to do that.
I have no idea where this one is going, which is a good thing. I have always been a fan of Morrison, and I hope he is on his “A” game and he can bring this home with issues 5-7, and with the upcoming Final Crisis: Resist.
Grades: Final Crisis #4 - B+, Final Crisis Submit – B.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Maxx Payne Movie Trailer
Mark Wahlberg, Chris O'Donnell, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Mila Kunis . . . based on the video game
Monday, July 7, 2008
The Day The Earth Stood Still Trailer
Keanu & Jennifer Connelly headline this remake of the 1951 Classic
The Verdict - Hancock
So I had high expectations for Will Smith's super hero movie, Hancock.
If you have seen the trailers, you know that this film is about the redemption of a down and out super hero, known to the world at large as "John Hancock" and portrayed by Smith. The under-used Jason Bateman is image consultant Ray Embrey, and Charlize Therone is his wife, Mary. Was a fan of Bateman back in his teenage days, and more recently on the brilliant but cancelled show Arrested Development (watch it if you have not).
Hancock starts with the promise of being a great movie. The comedy is on point (I will be telling people I am gonna "shove your head up his ass" and laughing to myself about it for at least the next few weeks), the effects are obvious but not off-putting, and the acting is good . . .
But then, the plot kicks in . . . and I fell asleep. I never fall asleep in the movies. As a matter of fact, 3 other people were with me - all of whom NEVER fall asleep at the theater - and they well all snoring at some point in this movie. It goes from boredom to kind of bad at about the middle point. This was hailed as a "different spin" on the super hero movie . . . sure, if that spin is "BAD". After the great summer flicks Iron Man and Incredible Hulk, this is just not good. I Am Legend was better . . . Wanted was better . . . M. Knight's Unbreakable was better . . .
I am disappointed with the writing, the pacing, the action, and the Damn Eagle (do not want to "spoil" this crap so I won't explain the eagle, but its dumb). The plot twist is huge and changes the ENTIRE point of the movie, taking it from an interesting character study to a big mess of stupidness. See this at the $5 pre-matinee . .or do not see it at all. Bad Boy, Will. Do better next time.
C- for Hancock.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
WANTED - The Verdict
After saving the world and picking up all kind of Brown kids from around the world to wear as ornaments (see Niecie Nash from the BET Awards), Angelia Jolie is back with Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy (Atonement, Last King of Scotland), and Common in the comic-to-film adaptation of WANTED. The source material for this flick was a great comic mini-series, written by award-winning Scottish writer Mark Millar (The Ultimates, Ultimate Spiderman, Marvel's Civil War).
Right off the top, the film is NOT really true to the comic. After the initial "origin" it skews pretty far from the story that Millar originally presented in print. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but I had to get over it as I was watching the movie.
I am an anti-spoiler type of guy, so I will not discuss the plot too much other than to say it has some decent twists to it and definitely is not boring. Some of the characters are not totally fleshed-out, but any more time spent on background would have taken away from the action, - which is really what this is about. Many critics are comparing WANTED to The Matrix, but I think it stands on its own and really shares little resemblence to that film.
Jolie looks GREAT, James McAvoy carries off the lead role very well (and if you saw Last King of Scotland, you know this guy is a good actor), and Freeman is his usual self. Common does not get to do much, but he has the "mean mug" pretty much down so he does his job. The stunts are big and spectacular, the special effects blend into the action seamlessly, and the humor had the audience laughing out loud at points.
WANTED is not the second coming of the action film - nor is it better than Iron Man or Incredible Hulk - but its worth the admission for the stunts, humor, and overall kinetic pace that it keeps. Jolie has one HELL of a personal trainer because you would never think she had a kid before this filmed. Not perfect, not totally flawed, this gets a B-.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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