Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 10

We are back at the wonderful Martin Rd. Studios to bring the nerd news to all.
Join Chris, Paul, John and Producer Scott this week as they discuss:

The Week in Geek - Lobo going to the Big Screen, New Line goes to Middle Earth and back again to bring "The Hobbit", Marvel's MiracleMan news, Wizard's Convention constriction, the PAX-Pox and DC Comics' new deal.

The List - What books have us heading to the shop the week of September 16? Find out here.

The Main Topic - What bigger news could their be then, Disney buying Marvel? Hear why Chris is excited, Paul is worried and John feels the way he does.

The Movie Fix - Halloween 2, does Rob Zombie's remake slash its way into our hearts, or just leaves Paul with an upset stomach?

If you haven't already, there's no time like now to subscribe to the Bagged And Bored Cast on iTunes. Also, be sure to rate and review us at the iTunes store and follow us at http://twitter.com/BaggedandBored as well!

Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 8

It's time again for that weekly dose of all things nerdy, now with an All-New, All-Different intro! Join Chris, Paul, John and Producer Scott this week as they discuss:

The Week in Geek - Todd Macfarlane's Spawn heads to the big screen again, sometime. The debut of the new season of Felica Day's The Guild, and the related Legend of Neil. Then we jump into big news out of BlizzCon, including the new World of Warcraft Expansion, Diablo III, and the WoW big screen movie.

The List - What books have us heading to the shop the week of September 2nd? Find out here.

The Main Topic - On the eve of the Bagged And Bored crews trek up to the Great White North, find out what the team does to prepare for comic conventions, what we look forward to when we're there, and some of our favorite stories from conventions past.

The Movie Fix - We jump into the wayback machine and remenisce about Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and discuss the recent live presentation from the MST3K crews newest venture www.rifftrax.com and their tearing apart of the B-movie classic: Plan 9 From Outer Space.

If you haven't already, there's no time like now to subscribe to the Bagged And Bored Cast on iTunes. Also, be sure to rate and review us at the iTunes store and follow us at http://twitter.com/BaggedandBored as well!

Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 7

That's right another week, another podcast. Join us in our weekly semi-round table discussion of all things Geek, in our 4 part episode.

The Week in Geek: Discussion of the PlayStation Price drop, and Comics coming to the PSP; No comics on December 30th?!; Ostrander sneaks into the Secret Six and Spider Woman spins her web on the web.

The List: Hear which comics coming out on August 26 that strikes the gangs fancy.

The Main Topic: The complete history of the "Ghostbusters" be it on the Sliver Screen, the small screen and in video games.

The Movie Fix: Do we let the Swedish film "Let the Right One In" into our hearts? Plus a little talk about the upcoming American remake "Let Me In" releasing in 2010.

Please, subscribe to the podcast via, iTunes and leave us a review.

Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 6

Episode #6 of the Bagged and Bored Cast is now up for download at iTunes! Join Chris, Paul and John this week as knock back a few (more) and discuss:

The Week In Geek - Our quick hits of nerd news from the past week, where we talk about a verbal throwdown at Wizard's Chicago Comic-Con between a jaded fan and creator Rob Liefeld, how it spilled out onto the internet, the Walking Dead on AMC, the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo and the XBox Live Update.

The List - The comics we're looking forward to the most next Wednesday.

Main Topic - Nostalgia. We throw on our Underoos and sit in front of the tv and lose ourselves to what we loved growing up. Chris tags Thundercats, Paul hits on X-Men, and John wraps up with GI Joe which leads us into...

The Movie Fix - We suit up and take on Cobra with a review of the new GI Joe movie.

So make sure you subscribe and review us on iTunes today, and make sure you follow us over at http://twitter.com/BaggedandBored for all of our latest updates.

Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 5

Episode 5 of the Bagged And Bored Cast is now up on iTunes! Join us as we have a few to drink and discuss:

The Week In Geek - Our quick hits of nerd news from the past week, where we talk about XBox Live's release of the arcade game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time, new Lost Webisodes, the demo for Madden '10, more DLC for Left 4 Dead

The List - The comics we're looking forward to the most next Wednesday.

Main Topic - Gateway Comics. Every comic fan (but especially us) has certain books that they like to pass off to friends to get them into the sequential art medium, here's where we discuss some of our favorites to hand to people.

Movie Fix - We break into the latest DC Animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight.

So make sure you subsribe and review us on iTunes today, and make sure you follow us over at http://twitter.com/BaggedandBored for all of our latest updates.

Exciting News!

Hey everybody, an exciting bit of news, the first episode of the Bagged and Bored Cast is now live! This little project will be our grand venture into the world of podcasting, with each episode bringing you a roundtable discussion of the comics were most looking forward to in The List, a rotating weekly rotating topic as well as a movie review.

This week's episode has us tackling The List in which we discuss the upcoming Blackest Night #1 from DC Comics, then we discuss the rising cost of comics today, and finally wrap up with some words about the film Time Crimes.

Give it a list at at the streaming site: http://baggedandbored.mypodcast.com/ or make sure you subscribe for FREE on the iTunes store, and soon the Zune Marketplace as well to have the newest episodes downloaded directly to your portable music machine of choice.

So please subsribe and rate us today, and thanks for the support! This is just the start...

Bend It Like Aang

"Avatar: The Last Airbender", debuted it's live action movie trailer last month with the release of "Transformers 2". Being marketed and named "The Last Airbender" (to reduce confusion with James Cameron's upcoming film "Avatar") will be the first in a trilogy retelling the cartoon fantasy epic that aired on Nickelodeon.



I have to admit that it was not the first season of "Avatar: The Last Airbender" that really dragged me into the series, since I first caught it on Nickelodeon during season 2. Going back and watching the first season, it does seem a little slower then the rest of the series which is to be expected, since the first season is a journey tale. A journey tale allows the viewer to experience new places, sites, people and cultures along side the main characters. "Avatar Book One" uses this plot device well, going from village to village giving a complete sense of the world. I have always enjoyed maps of fictional places in stories, from "The Lord of the Ring" books to the "Under Sea Over Stone" and "Narnia" series, as a kid I would pour over the maps included in the front and back of books. Luckily enough, each episode of "Avatar" starts with zooming into a map, harking back to my first travels into the fantasy genre.



Even though the setting for "Avatar" is one of high fantasy, the first season hits with humor hard. This could be the creators' roots showing up in this work both Michael Dante DiMartino and Byran Konietzko got their start in T.V. on "Family Guy" "Mission Hill" and "King of the Hill", not so much the kung-fu action. Granted the laughs can be immature at most points, though there are a few quick turns of phases and call back jokes for a little more sophisticated chuckle. I'm not saying animal snot doesn't make me laugh (it does), but it is nice to have another level of comedy mixed in to it.

It's that mix of comedy with action that has me nervous about M. Night Shyamalan's written, produced and directed adaptation "The Last Airbender". Shyamalan has been able to weave his plots in the past to surprise audiences, though I haven't thought of him as working well with comedy or action. I won't be surprised if his rendition focuses heavily on a small group of friends being chased throughout the world by the army of firebenders, instead of a coming to age journey. Playing up tension and suspense which are strong suits for Shyamalan, might not leave much room for humor in a 2hr. movie.



Watching the trailer and seeing this poster, point out M. Night's other calling card: his use of muted colors. Coloration in his past works have been important, the use of red in "The Six Sense" and purple in "Unbreakable". "The Last Airbender" however was a cartoon, a brightly colored spectacle. In the trailer and poster I don't see a vast color palette. Where the visuals missed for me the audio was a direct hit. James Newton Howard the composer from "The Dark Knight" nailed it. Every episode of "Avatar" was filled with eastern sounding drums, driving the action and emotion. I'm excited to find out if James Newton Howard is signed to do the whole trilogy or just came to work the trailer.

Overall I'm excited and no matter how "The Last Airbender" turns out next year, I will always have the DVD sets to watch over and over again.

Does Busting Make Me Feel Good?

What is it about 80's nostalgia, that make me run to the theatre on an opening night or, in this case, to the store to buy the latest video game? I'm not completely sure but, I blame Ronald Reagan. From movie studio re-makes of 1980's horror movies, to new release of old Saturday morning cartoons, there seems to be a cash cow for anyone willing to push past the rubik's cubes and pet rocks to find gold. Though for a while it seemed, there was one major 1980's gem that would never see a new millennium make-over: "Ghostbusters".



Rumor has it that both Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd had plotted a third Ghostbusters film shortly after the release of the slime time sequel "Ghostbusters 2". For reasons unknown this plot has never seen the silver screen, but has now been released on video game systems world wide. "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" was released 25 years after the first film and over 2 years after the game's announcement. It wasn't an easy two years of development, Activision dropped the game a few months before its first scheduled release date of last holiday season, but even before that Bill Murray was not signed on to come back to provide the voice of Peter Venkman. Luckily for all, Bill Murray realized he had nothing better to do with his time and got to a recording studio and another star from the 80's stepped up to publish "Ghostbusters", Atari.

The promise of more ghostbusting is something I think few of us children of the 80's could pass. "Ghostbusters: The Video Game" takes place in 1991, one year after "Ghostbusters 2". You take on the role of a new buster, whom is referred to only as "kid" "rookie" and other assorted nicknames. As luck would have it, on your first day a strange paranormal wave sweeps through the Big Apple, making a ghostly mess only the Ghostbusters can clean.



I have to say this game falls below the 1984 classic film, but well above the horrid 1997 cartoon "Extreme Ghostbusters". Most of the voice acting comes across as a mailed-in effort at worst or a "Ghostbusters" the experience ride at Universal Studios at best. Adding to the feel of an amusement park ride verses a whole new movie, is the fact the first 3 levels are locations from the first film. The hotel we first saw "Slimmer", another fight with the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man, and lastly the public library where the ghostbusting trio failed to "Get her". Maybe I was looking for a gentle nod to the past instead of a full drag down memory lane, since I can pop in the DVD and see those scenes and places at anytime. The is no real death mechanic in this game, there is however, the doom of acting like a turtle flipped on its back (those proton packs are heavy mother pussers). When your teammates start shouting "Help I've fallen and I can't get up" the player has to go around and pick-up each other. If the whole party is knocked over then game over. Expect your teammates to get knocked over a bunch, leaving most boss battles to be running from one fallen friend to the next fallen man. That makes the game feel more like babysitting then ghostbusting.

On the plus side, the wrangling and trapping ghosts feels exactly like it should, like catching fish, a real big heavy ugly undead fish... It feels good. It feels good enough to keep me playing through one controller throwing aggravation filled boss battle to the next. The moments where I was along side some of my childhood heroes, zapping away at ghosts were awesome. Come on, I even got to try the fire pole. Isn't that what I was really looking for, that feeling of empowerment I once got when I strapped that Kenner toy plastic proton pack to my back and press the trigger to send a piece of yellow Styrofoam a spinning? Yes, yes it is.

My advice is if you are like me and you bought the game new, order some Chinese take out and chew slowly, cause you just spent a little too much of the petty cash. I'm not seeing all that much in replay value. The game also, does not work out well as a pass the controller party game, as it is a little too frustrating for a complete casual gamer to have fun playing. This game is a real strong rental or a wait for a price drop.

EXCHANGE RATE ON KRUEGERS

In 2010 New Line Cinema will be releasing A Nightmare on Elm Street, a remake of Wes Cravens' hit 1984 movie. I don’t know about you, but I don’t get why they are rebooting all the slasher franchises. These movies don’t need a rebooting, they need to be taken seriously. To have Toby Hooper make a big budget remake of his own movie The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, was unnecessary; just have him make a new installment. We know their histories- just give us good movies. Wes Craven who has given his blessing on three remakes of his early low budget movies (The Hills Have Eyes, The Hills Have Eyes 2 and Last House on the Left) is as displeased with the idea of A Nightmare on Elm Street remake as I am. Why restart something that has more than 20 years of history and such a colorful character brought to life by Robert Englund?


Englund who has reprised the Freddy Krueger role 9 times in movies and TV; his last being the 2003 highly anticipated Freddy VS. Jason, where he showed he still has the chops to play the sadistic dream demon.


Unlike Jason and Michael Myers who are monsters that show no emotion and have no dialogue, Freddy Krueger is all dialogue and emotion. Finding someone new to bring Freddy’s personality (which is what really makes the Nightmare On Elm Street series worth watching) to the big screen is really important. Thank God they didn’t hire Harland Williams to play the Dream Master, but instead the man who in 2009 showed what it takes to be a super hero in the movie Watchmen.

Jackie Earle Haley became the twisted hero Rorschach- let’s hope he can bring half of that intensity to Freddy Krueger


NERD4LIFE

Review: X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I thought I knew how I'd write this review, but the more I think about it the more my opinion changes.

Wolverine isn't a perfect movie. It's not a great movie either, but I think I'm comfortable with calling it "decent". When Wolverine hits it's marks it does so well, but those actual moment where it scores are far between.

SPOILERS AHEAD

In a movie that bears the word "Origins" in the title, an obvious starting point for the movie would be the Wolverine 2001 miniseries of almost the same name.

While the ideas explored in the series are touched upon, it's done in a haphazard way that really provides no real background for the character.

In the series we're introduced to a young sickly boy named James Howlett and his friends the orphaned red-haired Rose and son of the groundskeeper Dog Logan. Right from the get go we're set up to believe that the gruff and violent Dog is the boy who will grow up to be Logan, but later it's revealed in a way similar to the movie that it's young James who will grow up to be Wolverine when his powers manifest for the first time when he pops his bone claws.

After this moment in the movie James takes off with his friend Victor who has taken over the role of Dog in the movie, and will ultimately become his nemesis Sabretooth.

We're treated to an amazing opening credit sequence that shows Logan and Victor fighting through the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and Vietnam, before being recruited into the Weapon X program.

This was arguabley one of the strongest points of the film and another missed opportunity to expand upon some history as Wolverine's origin encompasses more than just Weapon X, but that's fanboy griping there.

Here's another one of those few and far between strong points that I was talking about before coming up:

The introduction of Wade Wilson.



As long as there's been talk about a rumoured Deadpool movie, Ryan Reynolds name has been mentioned in the same thought. The man was born to play the Merc with a mouth. And the brief moments we see Wade onscreen are fantastic, but that's just what they are: brief moments. Kinda silly since they built a marketing campaign around the guy.

Wade will be the only member of Weapon X I talk about, since it's at this point in the film that everyone else doesn't matter. Yes, even Dominic Monaghan. Sorry Charlie...

Yeh ghonna die. Again.

But it's after this point that the movie becomes one of those meh moments. I remember the film, I know I saw it, but there's really nothing that sticks out. We're treated to some pretty decent fight scenes, there's a story about the Moon and a Wolverine, because Native Americans have stories that relate to anything, my favorite being about the burrito and the river.

This comes up when you Google Image Search "Burrito River". I'm guessing it's a spirit animal or something.

Wolerine gets his adamantium, more fight scenes and then HOLY CRAP! CAMEO AVALANCHE!

Cyclops, as portrayed by a young Hunter S. Thompson


Emma Frost!


Gambit!

Ok, remember where I said I wasn't going to talk about characters anymore because they don't matter? Well I'm making a big Nahlin's exception.

Gambit was always one of my favorite X-Men. Was it the purple shirt and duster combo? The black and red eyes? The will they/won't they sexual tension with Rogue?

ALL OF THE ABOVE. Gambit was the man.

Gambit could do and then get away with everything. He's tied with Raphael as a cartoon character that could bang his way through your family tree and you'd be cool with it.

Not pictured: Raph having his way with your sister.

So what really let me down about Wolverine was the lack of Gambit. Everything you see in the trailers is about it for him, with a little more thrown in at the end. Understandable since the movie is called WOLVERINE, but man, people have been aching for some Remy LeBeau action since the first X-Men movie. Way to tease us Wolverine, your almost as bad as Rogue...

Look, but SERIOUSLY don't touch.

And while I'd like to end this review with two words, I can't. But's they can lead up to it:

ADAMANTIUM BULLETS.

Yes, adamantium bullets. They can shoot through Wolverines skeleton and result in him losing his memory without killing him. Which really doesn't make sense, how would that matter? Wouldn't his brain just heal? Weapon X has billions laying around to fill people with metal and it's told that they have mind wiping technology, so why not just do that?

Nope. Adamantium bullets.

So if you want a decent start to the summer movie season, Wolverine might be for you. Just don't go in with high expectations for the plot, especially don't try to wrap your brain around the twist with Logan's lost love Silver Fox, you'll be wishing for a magic adamatium-forgetting bullet as well.

I can't Stay Silent Anymore - A Watchmen Review/Discussion

After more than a month there's something I need to say...

Watchmen wasn't about big blue radioactive dong.

Almost every single conversation I've had about this movie has centered around the glowing nether regions of one Dr. Manhattan.

Now did Zack Snyder HAVE to show the irradiated Jon Osterman's cash and prizes to the extent he did? Not really.

But the whole reasoning behind it was lost on a majority of people I feel. Throughout the storyline it's shown that Dr. Manhattan is losing his humanity. As the years go by he cares less and less for the day to day affairs of what we consider life.

Why would a being beyond human morals and understanding care about what was hanging below his belt?

All the humanity had been drained from his being. Manhattan was so far gone nothing mattered to him, so I'm sure throwing on a pair of pants in the morning was the least of his worries.

But moving on, I found Watchmen to be a fantastic film. While not sticking straight to the original story, it was indeed true tonally and managed to dwell within the moral grey area needed to convey the story properly.

Every member of the cast did a fantastic job of bringing their characters to life.

Patrick Wilson created an incredibley likeable and more importantly, a relatable Nite Owl. As Watchmen's most (arguably) human character, Nite Owl serves as the voice of reason and our entry point into the world of Watchmen, and as such Wilson did a fantastic job.

Jakie Earle Haley played Rorshach just as psychotic and lost in himself as portrayed in the comic. Haley brought a depth to the character that couldn't be beat, and ultimately delivered some of the most powerdul acting in the entire picture.

Jefferey Dean Morgan's Comedian was stradled the line between hero and unlikeable bastard quite well, and as the centerpoint for the entire picture, he carried the role quite well.

Matthew Goode was really standout as Ozymandias, a character who never clicked with me in the book, but on the screen really worked well. Veidt was played so well, you knew what he was doing was wrong but you just couldn't help but agree with him. Again, Goode dwelled right where he needed to in that grey area.

Malin Akerman's Slik Spectre was just kind of there. While I'm afraid that Ackerman delivered the weakest preformance in the cast, after further review of the original series I couldn't help but notice that throughout the entire thing Silk Spectre is just kind of there on her own, and the only thing she really does is act as a tether from the original Sally Jupiter to the story. So I guess in that case, Ackerman played the part fantasticly.

Billy Crudup however was phenominal. Playing disinterested might seem easy, but to sound so distant as Dr. Manhattan, I cant imagine the chops necessary to pull it off.

On the whole I found Watchmen to be spectacular.

Dare I say, I think it was far better than The Dark Knight.

But I'm afraid the almost 2 hour running time, R rating and all the talk of glowing man bits may have scared away potential viewers. Which is a shame, because just as Watchmen the comic served as a deconstruction of the books of the 80's, so does the film of todays genre work.

It's sad to see such a great film suffer over a 60% drop off in revenue from the first week to the second. And then a further 60% drop from the second to the third. And I know box office numbers mean nothing in the times of dvd and direct tv, but its still sad that more people havent experienced the awesomeness.

But luckily those that have can hold a discussion about the morality plays of Adrian Veidt, and I guess at the very least the hypnotic swaying of Dr. Manhattan's "project"

More Movies for 2009

I don't know how this one escaped me when I typed up my list of "Movies To See In 2009" but it did, and for that I am sorry.



While usually Dreamworks Animation stuff is hit or miss with me, but this one seems really solid. A strong, recognizable cast (Seth Rogen, Steven Colbert, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett and Reese Witherspoon), top quality animation and more importantly a fun story. Dreamworks may as they say be on a roll.

Because I haven't used an image yet

Which factors in well if you're a reader of Jim Hill Media where today's article is about how Disney should get out of the CG animation business and focus solely on their hand drawn feature animation again and leave the CG to their Pixar division.

But I digress.

Now that the Super Bowl has happened we've been allowed looks at two other blockbusters for this coming summer. Strangely enough, both of them based off of cartoons that were created in the 80's to sell toys.



G.I. Joe looks promising, but if not for Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow bouncing around you really wouldn't be able to tell what you were watching until they threw up the title at the end.

I think a better title would probably be: Holy Crap Ninjas and Sienna Miller in Glasses! But that really doesn't look too good on an action figure blister.

Still seeing this

Transformers looks to have more of exactly what people liked in the first one, namely giant transforming robots, explosions and Megan Fox. It's like a Michael Bay wet dream.

+

=

But regardless, how awesome is it to be an 80's kid right now?

Hopefully soon we'll get a kick ass Thundercats flick and all will be right with the world.

Movies of 2009

Ok, I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to this one. It's something that's been kicking around in my head for a week or so, so it's about time before January is over.

Here's my list of 10 movies to get excited for in 2009:

10. They Came From Upstairs - Yes, the studio that brought you Alvin and the Chipmunks ripped off what looks like both Gremlins and Lilo and Stitch, but I can't help it. I'll see anything with Ashley Tisdale in it.



9. Coraline - If it looks familiar, that's because it's by the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone. I know, I probably just rocked a lot of worlds there, but yes. Tim Burton didn't direct those movies.

Coraline is straight out of the mind of Neil Gaiman so you can count on an inventiveness you don't normally get out other writers. I could say it's because he's better, but I don't want to make anyone feel bad. So we'll just say it's because he's British instead.



8. 9 - Yes, my #8 is 9. Another computer animated film but this one boasts some real star power behind it with, Elijah Woods, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau, Jennifer Connelly, and Crispin Glover.

Based on an 11 minute, silent shortfilm this looks all sorts of epic. Probably helped out by Coheed And Cambria's "Welcome Home" in the trailer.



7. Up - I've loved almost every Disney/Pixar film except one, but this one looks like it'll be one of the good ones. There's not a lot to judge by yet, but Pixar has a way with characters like nobody else. I'm looking forward to this one.



6. Transformers 2: Rise Of The Fallen - I really enjoyed the first one. It was the right amount of action and eye candy. I guess there are going to be giant robots in this one though?



5. Dead Snow - Hopefully this foreign Sundance Film will see a wider release in the states. Zombie Nazis and black humor. What more could you possibly need?



4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Yeah, it probably won't be the best movie ever, but it looks better than X3. Also, Wolverine going berzerk and killing Stryker's troops was one of the best parts of X2. So I'm expecting that plus Gambit and Deadpool, which means a fun movie more than anything else.



3. Star Trek - This reboot by JJ Abrams looks like it exceeds the awesome-levels 10x over. With Simon Pegg as Scotty and Leonard Nimoy making a cameo as old Spock, I'm more than pumped for this one.



2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Yeah I'm sad this got pushed back, because that means we could have SEEN this by now, but it just makes this coming summer awesome for movies. Hard to say if it can match this past summers hype level though.



1. Watchmen - I just don't know what else to say about this one.



It's going to be a good year.

Super-Hero Bailout Plan?

According to USA Today, the comics market is booming thanks to films like The Dark Knight and Iron Man.

Really?

Because the #1 selling comic book of 2008 was Marvel's Secret Invasion #1.

The #1 selling *ahem* "graphic novel" was Watchmen.

So The Dark Knight did what exactly? According to Diamond, the top 10 comics of '08 were:

1 Secret Invasion #1 (Marvel)
2 Secret Invasion #2 (Marvel)
3 Secret Invasion #3 (Marvel)
4 Secret Invasion #4 (Marvel)
5 Secret Invasion #5 (Marvel)
6 Secret Invasion #6 (Marvel)
7 Uncanny X-Men #500 (Marvel)
8 Secret Invasion #7 (Marvel)
9 Final Crisis #1 (DC)
10 Secret Invasion #8 (Marvel)

and the top 10 Graphic Novels were:

1 Watchmen (DC)
2 Batman: The Killing Joke (DC)
3 Joker (DC)
4 Y the Last Man Vol. 10 (DC)
5 Walking Dead Vol. 8 (Image)
6 Batman: Dark Knight Returns (DC)
7 Fables: The Good Prince (DC)
8 Wanted (Image)
9 Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future for You (Dark Horse)
10 Y the Last Man Vol. 1 (DC)


Sure I guess you could chalk up The Killing Joke's sales to The Dark Knight, same with DKR and Joker, but everything else on that list sold on it's own merits without the help of the "Hollywood Bump".

What I find most interesting from these numbers is while the top 10 comics list was dominated by Marvel, they don't even appear on the top 10 list of Graphic Novels.

Where's the Iron Man or Hulk books on those lists? Where's the Spirit and the Punisher?

I think we're just seeing patterns where none really lie. The only thing that seems to really have gotten any huge media hype is the Watchmen trade. It's a "new" property that not a lot of people outside the medium know about, nevermind the fact that even before the movie the Watchmen tpb was always on the best selling of the year list anyways.

Sure maybe not #1 but it was always ranked somewhere on the top 100 list. Which for a book that was first published more than 20 years ago, that's quite a feat.

My main problem with this article is that it's almost trying to make it sound like there's some big comic boom going on.

There's not.

Sure there's some really good stuff out there right now, but there's also lots of crap. I'm spending less on comics now than ever before. Yes, there are other economic factors at play but the main thing about comic books is: if there's something I love, I'll buy it.

What we're seeing is a lot of movies based on comics coming out because there were a few that performed really well, and the market got flooded. Think back to penguin movies a couple years ago.

See what I mean?

With quite a few underperforming films this and last year, what I think we're going to see is studios being a little more wary when it comes to not only grabbing rights for comic properties, but also putting more care into the films themselves. The studios have now realized that you can't fill seats alone with the tagline "Hey look, Comics guys!"

The Spirit - What Happened?

After it's Christmas day release, the film adaptation of The Spirit has gone on to earn $15 million at the box office. The film has also earned it's self a 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

I think it's safe to say that The Spirit is indeed a flop of a film.

So what happened?

Will Eisner's The Spirit has risen to the forefront of the graphic medium over the past decades as an example of how comic books should be done.

Frank Miller's The Spirit has shown us exactly how comic adaptations shouldn't be.

Noticably the movie went from being Will Eisner's 'The Spirit' to From the creator of 300 and Sin City: Frank Miller

The main problem with the adaptation was that it really wasn't The Spirit. Miller has often noted Eisner as a big influence of his work but the two had very different views on how comics should work as a medium. A big part of what The Spirit was became lost when trying to shoehorn it into the "Millerverse". Meanwhile the Darwyn Cooke version of The Spirit comes off quite well on it's own while paying homage to the original.

The Spirit doesn't work in the same way as Sin City. The books are two different tones and trying to make the Spirit film work the same way as the Sin City films is absolutley ridiculous.

A big part of why the Sin City movie worked was that it looked just like the Sin City books, and the main reason of that was Robert Rodriguez bringing their creator onboard as a co-director. That move proved the Sin City film the truest comic adaptation ever. But having Miller as the sole director and in turn having him cop his own visual style, The Spirit seems to have been damned.

If only the movie industry had asked comic fans about this first, we could have saved their golden boy creator of blockbusters like 300, Sin City and Robocop.

See, we've already seen what Miller is capable of. Or as I guess I should say not capable of.

Frank Miller has created some of the most memorable works in comics, and this is going beyond his own work with 300 and Sin City.

Miller was responsible for giving Marvel's Daredevil title new life, with the introduction, death and eventual rebirth of Elektra.

His tale Batman: Year One went on to cement Batman's place as a character with real potential, a story which later went on to influence the film Batman Begins heavily. His other Batman work The Dark Knight Returns was lauded as one of the most inventive Batman stories ever, and alongside writer Alan Moore the two made comics matter in the 80's.

But then Miller started to slip. His next Batman related works, the DKR sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman and Robin both came off as too over the top and as if he was someone trying to write a Frank Miller story.

Yes. Frank Miller has gone batshit insane.

So here we stand now, The Spirit adaptation will fade overtime but what does this mean for Frank Miller? There were plans for a Sin City 2 put into motion right after the first film came out, what will this mean for that?

Will Frank ever work in this town again?

More Batman rumors

Seriously. The movie just came out on dvd.

It's going back into theatres in January.

Stop thinking about the next one already.

The new rumor is that Rachel Weisz is coming on board to play Catwoman. Yeah, that sounds good and all but this is following the rumor that Cher was going to play Catwoman, and before that one was the report that Phillip Seymore Hoffman was going to be playing the Penguin with Johnny Depp playing the Riddler.

Nevermind the fact that both writer David S. Goyer and co-writer/director Christopher Nolan have both come out saying they haven't gotten remotely close to starting work on a sequel yet. People have heard rumblings.

No they haven't, it's all speculation. And thats how it's going to be until the unnamed sequel (yes people are already saying who is going to be cast as a villain in an unwritten and unnamed sequel) is officially cast and announced. So in lieu of "casting" actors, who could possibly be the antagonist for the film?

Bane - The superstrong drug fueled behemoth has already appeared in the original Bat-franchise as more of a lackey than anything. Which unfortunately is the only way to have Bane appear unless doing a Knightfall type story where he can really be front and center. But the thing is what made Knightfall a successful comic event was the fact that it focused on Nightwing, Robin and Azrael as the new Batman, something that wouldn't work in the film.

Black Mask - The mob boss Roman Sionis could work as a lesser villain. He'd bridge the gap from the first films Falcone-type mobster to the dark "supervillain" turn Gotham takes as it's criminals need to adapt to Batman's presence.

Catwoman - Ahh, here we are. Could her third bigscreen appearance be the one? Nolan seems to be handling the franchise with the utmost respect, so why not give Catwoman another chance? This time without the scenery-chewing Michelle Pffeifer or franchise crashing Halle Berry. Well Nolan may shy away from it because possibly the Catwoman film is still a little to fresh in peoples minds.

That's not to say Catwoman may not be in the cards though. Consider: Rachel Dawes appears in Batman Begins as a love interest for Bruce Wayne. Then actress Katie Holmes drops out of the sequel in which she was supposed to reprise her role. Nolan recasts the role with Maggie Gyllenhaal filling it (there are way too many 'L's' in that last sentence).

No big deal right? Except for the fact that Rachel Dawes is the only character created for the movie, and the character of Rachel wasn't really necessary in the sequel. In the first film she did humanize Bruce Wayne/Batman, but in Dark Knight she was more the apex of the Bruce Wayne/Harvey Dent love triangle, a role that could have been filled by anybody really.

In the comics Bruce is known for his "girl of the week", proving Rachel almost unneccesary especially since now she's "dead". Tied in with the fact that the previous Catwomen "died" in their movies only to be reborn into the Catwoman role. So could Dawes have been bred for this purpose? It's possible.

Clayface - While the shapeshifting brown glob of a villain may not work so well in Nolan's "Real Universe" setting, the original of a normal actor turned serial killer would work. But again, he'd be a lesser villain, since honestly could a non-shapeshifting Clayface fill theatre seats?

Firefly - While the burning of Gotham would be good visually, it would harken back too much to Batman Begins with the Ra's Al Ghul plot. Firefly is definitely too far down the villains roster to prove too big of a threat to Batman, even if teamed up with Killer Moth. He might make for a good opener though, someone Batman beat's before things really go down.

The Joker - Sure they just made a flick starring him, I mean co-starring him, but there's a reason the Joker has been around just as long as the Batman. Goyer and Nolan could easily whip up another storyline featuring the perennial Bat-villain, but who would honestly sign on to play that role after Heath Ledger? Nevermind the fact that there are dozens of other Rogues in the pool to pick from.

Killer Croc - If they stay away from the mutation aspect and have Croc as a deformed strongman, maybe but again as with most Bat-villains he's just not a big enough threat to have on his own and fill 120 minutes of plot.

Killer Moth - The original could work as the anti-Batman who helped criminals escape, but on his own? Meh, again even with Firefly just no.

Mad Hatter - A fan favorite of sorts, but how do you work mind controlling hats into the plot without jumping the shark? I don't know if you can really.

Man-Bat - Could be awesome visually, but maybe too sci-fi and horror based for the "real world".

Mr. Freeze - Honestly? He would probably work. If Goyer and Nolan can work a hallucinogenic agent into the waterline with Batman Begins Scarecrow, could a freeze-ray be such a hard sell? Science can do a lot, including freeze things. People would buy into that since it's not to fantastical, mix in the fact that Freeze is something of a tragic character and there's the potential for real storytelling there.

The Penguin - A pretty decent chance here, but Nolan would have to steer clear of a Penguin similar to Batman Returns. Which without that you have well, a normal criminal who's more akin to a Dick Tracy villain.

Poison Ivy - Yeah she already appeared in a Batman film, but so did the Joker. I think the character has real depth that was barely touched with the film Batman and Robin. Given a science based origin that could be tied into Wayne Corp. and I think we have a pretty solid villain here.

Ra's Al Ghul - The eternal eco-terrorist was a surprise for the first film, but I can't see Nolan and crew going back to that well for a third installment. Especially since he "died" in the first film. Sure Ra's has died in the books, but always returns via the Lazarus Pits, which may come off as too hard to buy into with Nolan's groundlevel, more human approach for the movies.

The Riddler - I never cared for the Riddler too much, what good is a criminal who leaves clues? Kind of counter productive unless you're something of a masochist I guess. Jim Carrey gave us the Riddler in Batman Forever, but a toned down actual Riddler may be decent character.

The Scarecrow - Again, we just had him in Batman Begins and a cameo in The Dark Knight, I think it's safe to say that Dr. Crane has had his time in the spotlight.

Two-Face - Here we go. He was set up brilliantly in The Dark Knight, and we're told he "died", but honestly that fall? Probably not enough to kill someone. There could easily been a cover up to keep Dent's tragic fate a secret from a City that loved him. Should Dent turn up alive he'd have his reasons for hating Batman and Gotham for what happened to him. Two Face actually was able to steal the spotlight from the Joker with his appearance, think of what he could do with a whole film?

The Ventriloquist - A throwaway villain that people keep bringing back. He's basically a crazy man with a ventriloquist dummy, and the dummy just happens to be a mob boss. Sorry, he worked in Batman: The Animated Series but not in a movie.

So for one of the biggest rogues gallery's in comics there aren't a lot of characters strong enough to carry a villain role in a feature film who already haven't. I guess we'll have to see if and whenever Nolan and crew decide to have another go.

Wolverine trailer

So the Wolverine trailer went internet-live the other day.



I have to say it looks a hell of a lot better than X3 did, and I'm not just saying that because it has Gambit in it. Sure the movie looks like a launching ground for future franchises like more Wolverine flicks, Deadpool and future X-Men installments, but the movie looks like an enjoyable popcorn flick. Hopefully it'll be heavy on the fight scenes, and will make up for the lackluster Wolverine/Sabretooth stuff from the first X-Men.

Review: Punisher: War Zone

Marvel's quintessential anti-hero (no, not Wolverine, the other one) makes his big screen debut, again, with this weekends Punisher: War Zone.



I enjoyed the last Punisher movie, Thomas Jane did a pretty respectable job as Frank Castle, the man who after watching his family get gunned down by the mob takes the fight to the criminals. But I have to say this, with no slight to Tom Jane: Ray Stevenson IS the Punisher. Right from the get go we're treated to a bloody display of just what the Punisher does best, which is indeed punishing. And what really propels this movie ahead is the fact that unlike Frank's last venture into the theatre, this isn't an origin story. While they do touch on it briefly, what this move does best is just letting the Punisher go on his own. It doesn't need to explain why the Punisher kills people, it just lets him have at it.

Ray Stevenson, as I said before IS the Punisher.

Stevenson pulls off the calculating cold-heartedness well, but unfortunately the Irish born actor can't pull off the american accent all the time. While it's not too big of an issue, at time's its apparent that Frank ain't actual from around here.

The supporting cast does well on it's own too, with Buffy and Angel's Julie Benz making an appearance as a dead FBI Officers widow. She does her best at attempting to bring some humanity to the world of the Punisher, as does Wayne Knight playing the role of Wayne Knight, I mean Punisher ally Micro.

We're treated to a much stronger villain than John Travolta this time around as well with perennial Punisher foe Jigsaw showing up.

Unfortunately much of Jigsaws thunder is stolen by the films other main villain, his brother Looney Bin Jim, and anytime they both appear on screen Jigsaw is reduced to just standing there trying to look menacing. While War Zone is far from the best movie let alone best COMIC book movie ever, it's definitely the best of the Punisher adaptations and a pretty fun movie all around.

Overall: 7/10

Dead Snow

So have you ever been writing a movie and thought, "Man this movie needs Nazis". But then you think, "No wait, it needs Zombies!".

Then you're stuck in the eternal holding pattern: Nazis or Zombies? Zombies or Nazis?

Well my friend, Norway has figured it out for you:



I don't know just what it is, but there's something about watching Nazi Zombies charging through the snow to Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" that makes me want to just sit back and say: Thank you Norway.

That's Moranic...

I've just discovered some unsettling news:

Rick Moranis hasn't had a job since 2006.

Not only was his last appearance in a direct to dvd sequel, it was a sequel to Disney's animated "Brother Bear", cleverly titled "Brother Bear 2".

Yes, the man who brought joy to millions and starred in such films as "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" and "Ghostbusters", hasn't had a major, let alone any role in almost 3 years.

If that doesn't depress you, consider this: Pick a Baldwn. Seriously, anyone of them will do. Alec? Stephen? William? Daniel?

They've all gotten work within the past year, hell all of them have films coming out next year. But the star of "Little Shop Of Horrors" and "Spaceballs"? Nothing slated for the forseeable future.

Starred in The Flintstones 2 as Barney Rubble. Rick Moranis did not.

If that doesn't surprise you howzabout this little nugget? Daniel Stern was in a movie last year. Forgot about him, didn't you?

Seriously. This guy.

Sure, Moranis is probably living off of fantastic royalty checks from "Little Giants" and "Strange Brew", but does the world really need to wait three more years before this relatable nerd makes us chortle again at the inherent awkwardness that lies inside all of us?

I hope not.