Feb 12 2016

Deadpool Good. Don’t Take The Kids.

You may have heard that there is a movie based on the comic book character known as Deadpool. I have seen it. It is good. It is not for children. Don’t take the kids. Leave the kids at home. Can we be more clear?

Deadpool Infographic - Douchebags and Heroes

That’s not to say the Deadpool movie isn’t childish. It’s totally childish, in the best way. (See this Nerdist review for more.) I’ve often said that video games should have an “IM” rating for “Immature” instead of “M” for “Mature”, because often “Mature” means dirty jokes and boobies. The Deadpool movie has both of those, but it also does a nice job of showing the darker side of the title character, showing that it would kind of suck to be Wade Wilson.

More importantly for ‘Pool fans (of which I am one), the movie hits a lot of things from the comic books from which DP spawned (including the whole “it would suck to be Wade Wilson” part). That’s something that a lot of the reviews I’ve been reading seem to forget, or perhaps the critics simply don’t know the source material. (“Use the Source, Luke.”) Deadpool doesn’t break the fourth wall because the filmmakers thought it would be “cute” or “subversive”, he does it because that’s how the character is written. He knows he’s in a comic book, therefore he knows he’s in a movie. It’s a fairly simple concept that has huge potential, some of which was realized in this movie.

Also worth mentioning is that the Deadpool movie is not excessively long. It’s under two hours, which these days feels like a gift. We all know I loved The Avengers movie, and that was a long flick. But there’s something to be said for leaving people wanting more instead of dragging on for too long.

Something else: can we get some love for Leslie Uggams? She makes a great Blind Al, and the filmmakers manage to work her into the movie seamlessly, which was a pleasant surprise. I’m a little annoyed that she isn’t getting more attention. Here’s a classic video of her from a long time ago when she messed up the lyrics to a song but kept going anyway. I like Leslie. Always have.

The entire cast is solid, but Ryan Reynolds and T.J. Miller are getting enough press. Let’s hear it for Leslie Uggams!

Bottom line: the Deadpool movie is fun, violent, and not for young kids. You could do worse for a Valentine’s Day date film, depending upon who your date is.

If you want to pick up a good Deadpool comic, this one, the start of a fantastic run by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, with art by Tony Moore (at least for awhile), is a good place to start: Deadpool Vol.1: Dead Presidents, currently available for only $3.99 on Comixology/Kindle, which is a freakin’ bargain. You can read the entire run via Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, which I’ve gone on and on about and is still a great deal.

I leave you with this image. It has nothing to do with Deadpool, it is a public domain image of a comic book featuring characters that are unlikely to ever get any screen time at all. Although Magno & Davey does have a certain ring to it…

FourFavorites0801

FourFavorites0801 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Sep 09 2015

Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron 2-Disc BD Combo Pack Pre-Order

Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. You saw it. (At least you did if you live in my house.) You loved it. Maybe not as much as you loved The Avengers (the first one), but that’s not a big shocker because the first one was awesome and tough to top. Now the 2-Disc Blu-Ray Combo Pack is available from Amazon for pre-order. I’m going to pre-order it, because, well, I love me some comic book movies.

English: Cast of The Avengers at the 2010 San ...

English: Cast of The Avengers at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International featuring Robert Downey Jr., Clark Gregg, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Joss Whedon and Kevin Feige. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

BUT! I won’t get it until October 2, 2015. #FirstWorldProblems

I can’t quite tell, but I think if I want to pay $19.99 NOW I can get the movie in HD *immediately*; SD (standard definition) is available on October 2, like the discs.

Can I wait a month? Of course. Do I *want* to wait a month? No. I want to watch the movie again NOW.

Call the wahhhhbulance. Read more »


May 08 2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron Link Roundup (Ongoing) – UPDATED

Now that Avengers: Age of Ultron is finally here, and I’ve seen it (twice), I can start reading about it until my eyeballs fall out. This page will have an an ongoing list of links to some of what I’ve read that I found interesting.

Me and The Avengers movie.

Personally I prefer The Avengers. Have I mentioned that lately?

UPDATED 5/11/15 (new links after the break; you can tell they’re new because they say NEW LINK.)

As you know, I frickin’ LOVED The Avengers, the first one. To say that Avengers: Age of Ultron isn’t quite as good as the first film is like saying I’m shorter than Shaquille O’Neal. Or, to ever-so-slightly borrow a joke from the movie, that this blog post will be shorter than a Eugene O’Neill play. Bottom line: it was a lot of fun, Joss Whedon did a nice job of balancing all of the myriad demands of a film with a ton of characters and future Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to promote, and I’ve already seen the movie twice and would gladly see it again.

As expected with a summer blockbuster, especially a follow-up to a film as great as The Avengers, the Interwebs are filled with articles and blog posts and charts and click-bait about all things Ultron. I went on Rotten Tomatoes planning to read a few reviews. I got as far as one before being sucked into a rabbit hole (maybe I should say tesseract instead) of Age of Ultron related topics.

Oh, the obligatory Spoiler Alert from this point forward. I’m not going to bother watching what I say about the movie, although this isn’t a review and odds are I won’t reveal anything particularly important. But if you haven’t seen the movie yet and prefer to do so without knowing anything about what happens, stop reading now. Then come back. Don’t worry. We’ll wait. Read more »


May 04 2015

Age of Ultron Hard on Joss Whedon Because He Has a Family

Avengers: Age of Ultron ruled the box office this weekend. And before that, it ruled director Joss Whedon‘s life. This was, according to the director, difficult on him because he has a family. Here’s what he said in an interview:

English: Joss Whedon at the 2010 Comic Con in ...

English: Joss Whedon at the 2010 Comic Con in San Diego (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“When I watch it, I just see ‘flaw, flaw, flaw, compromise, laziness, mistake,’” said Whedon. “The reason I set out to make another film is because I wanted to make one that was better, and I wanted to up my game as a shooter and work harder on every aspect of it and sort of give myself up to it in a way that’s hard for me, because I have a family. I started as a writer in low-budget TV, and there was always this element of, ‘This is good enough.’ And with this movie, I never wanted to say, ‘This is good enough.’” (emphasis added)

And now the explanation. Read more »


Apr 17 2015

The Black Widow and Daredevil TV Show We Could Have Gotten

Ah, the 70s. Rich with history. Bell bottoms. Missed opportunities.

This is not one of them.

This photo is from Comic Book Resources (aka CBR), via The Mary Sue, both excellent websites for all things nerdy. Maybe I should say “all things formerly considered nerdy”, since when The Avengers movie makes $1.5 billion, it’s an Avengers world now, which kind of means there are a lot more nerds out there, and therefore how nerdy is it really to be into this stuff?

Answering my own question, caring at all about the fact that David Bowie’s ex-wife Angela Bowie (about whom The Rolling Stones’ song “Angie” may or may not be about, although that’s what most people think, including me until I just Googled it — trivia!) at one time “owned the TV rights to Daredevil and Black Widow”, according to CBR, is pretty nerdy.

This is a picture of the costumes. It is very 70s.

Daredevil and Black Widow That Never Happened

Considering how good the Netflix Daredevil series is, it’s probably for the best that this show never happened. Then again, there was 1988’s The Incredible Hulk Returns, which featured Hulk, Thor and Daredevil. That wasn’t particularly good (although of course I watched it), but it didn’t ruin the current incarnation. (Which really is quite good. You should check it out. Not with your kids, though, unless you have older kids. I’ll write more about it at some point.)

Perhaps it would have been interesting to see what Angela Bowie would have done with the role of Black Widow, since as a CBR commenter points out, “Bowie’s not really the problem in those DD/BW shots, though. That Daredevil costume is ridiculous.”

Indeed it is. But… the 70s. Even the entertainment that never happened was fun.

Comic Book Legends Revealed #440 – Page 3 of 3 – Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book ResourcesComics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources.

via The Mary Sue


Nov 15 2014

All 7 X-Men Movies For Only $31.98 – Time-Limited DaddyDeal

Not going to say much about this because you don’t have much time to buy it if you want it. Here’s the DaddyDeal from Amazonall 7 X-men movies for only $31.98. Free shipping. Deal expires November 15 just before midnight. Your mileage may vary. Disclaimer disclaimer disclaimer.

Amazon.com: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wolverine Collection [Blu-ray]: Movies & TV

According to a commenter, the X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wolverine Collection [Blu-ray] is “missing almost all the special features of every movie. They basically took all the old movies that have 2 discs and only put the first disc in this collection so the special features disc for all the movies is missing. It even says disc one on some of the movies. So basically you get just the movie and that’s it.” (Note that according to the description, you do get special features on X-Men: Days of Future Past.) However, another commenter points out how good a deal this is: “At less than $5 per movie, what do you expect? Rent digital once, or own on Bluray – easy choice. As many have said, lots of people never watch the extras anyway … great deal.”

That’s where I come down on the issue (if issue there be). Getting all of the X-movies for such a low price is a great deal. I bought it. You should buy it before the price goes back up. Which is kinda soon. So do it already!

Amazon.com: X-Men: Days of Future Past and Wolverine Collection [Blu-ray]: Movies & TV.


Mar 28 2014

Watch A Captain America Movie From 1944 For Free

Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be in theaters on Friday, April 4. But if you want you can watch a Captain America movie from 1944 for free, thanks to the good folks at the Internet Archive.

Captain America - 1944 Serial

The film, an old black and white serial, runs 25 minutes and 16 seconds and is titled Captain America, Chapter 1 (1944). It stars Dick Purcell as Captain America, aka Grant Gardner (more on this in a moment), Lorna Gray as Gail Richards, Lionel Atwill as Doctor Maldor (think he might be a bad guy with that name? He also wears a monocle), along with Charles Trowbridge and Russell Hicks. The description from IMDB is as follows: Read more »