Toaster's Ramblings

Warning: I have many things to ramble about, so this may be a little scatterbrained.

A while back I was given a Nintendo E-shop card from my brother for Christmas or birthday, I forget which since my B-day is only eleven days after Christmas. Anyways, I decided to put this toward the downloadable characters that Nintendo was designing for Super Smash Bros. Wii U. So a little less than two weeks ago I decided to buy the characters for both Wii U and my 3DS. My first discovery was that because of tax, my $20 card wouldn't be able to buy all four characters of Mewtwo, Roy, Lucas and Ryu. So I bought Mewtwo, Roy, both of whom I had sorely missed since Melee, as well as Ryu (including the exclusive Ryu battlestage). I wasn't not going to buy Ryu! I decided to wait on Lucas as he was really just a more unpredictable clone of Ness.

On Tuesday I picked up another $20 Nintendo E-shop card. My main objective was to put the classic Yoshi puzzle game onto my 3DS, a game that previously had only been available for the original Gameboy. I had figured that the remaining balance would be accessible on my Wii U, I mean it should be all under one account, right? Well, apparently not. Somehow, and for some dumbass reason, both work as separate accounts. So to get Lucas and anything else for Smash Brothers, I have to buy yet another E-shop card. Kind of ridiculous. The only silver lining is that there are lots to games to download for the 3DS to use the rest of that card. I added Dr. Mario and Mega Man 6 to the 3DS, so that's cool... I guess. It just seems stupid that the E-shop is not exactly user friendly and work separate from both systems.

Moving on, the title of the sequel to Guardians of the Galaxy was revealed. It will be called: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2!!!!!!!!!!! (note: exclamation marks used for sarcastic effect) What an underwhelming title. Look at the names of some of the other sequels from Marvel... The Dark World, The Winter Soldier, The Age of Ultron, Civil War. Their are numerous titles from comics that the Guardians of the Galaxy could have borrowed (in the same was Age of Ultron didn't really follow the storyline of the same name from the books). I'm avoiding Annihilation as I doubt Marvel can use Annihilus and one shouldn't be used without the other, but Guardians of the Galaxy 2 could have had subtitles like Conquest, War of Kings, Realm of Kings, or there could have been an original title. I get that Volume 2 references Star Lord's mix tapes, but generally the term "volume" suggests a new start, like in comics when a series ends and is picked up later with an issue one. The end of the first Guardians movie really had just established them as a team, which would lead to the next storyline, not a rebirth. For example, the recent run of Deadpool ended with the beginning of the Secret Wars event. Once that event is over, a new series of Deadpool will begin, hence a new volume.

So when it was revealed that the part of Ma Kent in Man of Steel would be played by Diane Lane, it weirded me out a little. I think that, for a woman her age, Diane Lane is very attractive. But I have never ever considered that I would think Ma Kent was attractive. It was odd. So fast forward to a few days ago when it was announced that the Marvel/Sony Spider-man reboot had found it's Aunt May... Marisa Tomei! What the hell? First of all, Marisa Tomei is not that old. She's only 50! Also, not that long ago, Tomei was in The Wrestler where she was topless and still quite sexy. So... now Aunt May is sexy? That disturbs me. Aunt May is supposed to be a sweet old woman, sort of like Ma Kent. You know, come to think of it I've seen Diane Lane topless... many years ago, but still, by proxy I have seen both Ma Kent and Aunt May topless! Aaargh! What the hell is going on?!? The Raimi Spider-man trilogy had Rosemary Harris as Aunt May and she seemed right for the part. Sally Field was younger, but she's at least in her 60's. But again, Marisa Tomei is only in 50! She is not elderly yet! Essentially, Peter went off to live with his hot aunt.

A while back I touched upon the topic of Marvel and Disney cancelling their Fantastic Four books to try to stick it to Fox for still retaining the film rights to the property, I guess so there would be no inadvertent advertising on Marvel's part. Well, the plot has thickened some on that count. XM Studios, a company out of Singapore that sculpts high end collectable statues, was asked by Marvel to put a "hard stop" to all X-men and Fantastic Four related statues they were working on. So my question is, how far will this go? Does it extend to action figures. What about Heroclix... it's been many years since we received Fantastic Four Heroclix pieces. It doesn't appear that Marvel is releasing any new Fantastic Four series after their Secret Wars event; in fact, they appear to be splitting up the team. The Thing is the pilot for the Guardians of the Galaxy, Human Torch is with the Inhumans... I assume Invisible Woman is still with S.H.I.E.L.D. and I have no idea what their doing with Mr. Fantastic. Not sure if the X-men are getting the embargo treatment. I haven't seen action figures of them much lately, but we do get some Heroclix of them. They will also have a few new comic book series after Secret Wars as well.

While I want Marvel to get the film rights back to the Fantastic Four, I have mixed feelings about their embargo strategy. Will it make any impact at all (considering the majority of movie-goers do not read comic books) or is it really just "cutting off their nose to spite their face?" Doing that with the Fantastic Four is obviously much easier than banning all X-men related books. Fantastic Four's popularity is minimal these days while the mutants still make up a big chuck of Marvel's profits. At the same time, it's messed up that outside of the books themselves, all X-men merchandising seems to be at risk of being cut off. A long-time X-men fan (Uncanny X-men was the book that got me into comics in the first place), I would be pissed to not receive any more new X-men related Heroclix as long as Fox holds the rights. Let's face it... it's doubtful that Fox will ever lose the rights to the X-men. It makes them too damn much money! X-men First Class proved they don't even need Wolverine to sell a film! Until the public gets sick of comic book movies, which may be coming sooner rather than later, and Fox no longer brings a profit from X-men movies, the mutants aren't going anywhere. That's okay with me... Marvel doesn't need the X-men as much as they need the Fantastic Four and more importantly the universe (Skrulls, Kang, Annihilus, Galactus, Dr. Doom, Silver Surfer) they bring with them.

Finally I want to point out another reason why Dave Grohl is awesome. The Foo Fighters frontman recently broke his leg in a stage accident, so to complete the tour, he had a throne made for himself to rock out in... the rock n' roll equivalent of The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones! Replacing swords are guitars and those black things lining the top? Laser projectors. Further proof Dave Grohl is the man! 

Until next time, Stay Strange

F'N Toaster's Movies of 2013 Review-a-rama-thon Spectacu-Looza-Mania 2000 (+ 13) - Part 2

It's time we continue the series of summer movie reviews with the not at all excessively titled F'N Toaster's Movies of 2013 Review-a-rama-thon Spectacu-Looza-Mania 2000 (+ 13)!   

Man of Steel – I’ve already spoken a bit about this movie concerning the end controversy and a list of weird things I observed in the film, so I won’t go back into that. What I am going to address is what I liked about Man of Steel and why. There was a surprising amount of hatred toward Man of Steel that I don’t entirely get. I’ve heard complaints about the tone being too much like a Batman movie. I heard a lot of people didn’t like Superman killing Zod (the aforementioned controversy). Honestly, I haven’t given much time to listening to people’s V-log bitch sessions about Man of Steel. I know I like the movie; I don’t really need to be convinced otherwise. So, what did I like? I thought Henry Cavill did a great job as Clark Kent and Superman. He affectively walked that line between kindness and aggression. Cavill also captured what director Zack Snyder and writer David Goyer wanted in a young man trying to find his identity… without it being too artsy like Superman Returns was. I also thought Amy Adams was the best Lois Lane I have ever seen. Not only was she actually attractive (sorry, but I never got Superman’s desire for Margot Kidder… maybe it’s just me) but Adams made Lane a very capable, tough and smart woman… a far cry for the damsel in distress she has been portrayed as in the past. I particularly love how she was able to figure out who Superman was. I mean, she is a journalist after all! But now, we won’t have to sit through that old shtick of “Clark! Where were you? Superman was just here!” and bumbling Clark Kent goes “Oh, well Lois I got stuck in the bathroom stall. What did I miss?” It’s kind of refreshing, really. Michael Shannon made for a truly vicious and driven version of General Zod. I do think that Terrence Stamp was the better Zod in Superman II, but that’s just because he was such a pimp in that movie! But Shannon brought a very different Zod, in some ways one more fitting of the title “General” than Stamp. I was really surprised about how much involvement Russell Crowe had in the movie as Jor-El. He did a good job in the role (when does he not?) and his portrayal as Kal-El’s father really brought heartfelt warmth to the film. Remember that Jor-El, for much of the movie, is only a ghostly recording… a father’s attempt to connect to the son he was forced to surrender so that he may live. By contrast, I always found Marlon Brando’s interpretation of Jor-El was too cold and stuffy. He came across more like a college professor than a loving message from beyond the grave to guide Kal toward his destiny. (I really feel that Brando was cast because he was Brando.) One thing I really appreciated about Man of Steel was that SUPERMAN ACTUALLY FOUGHT SOMEONE! Seriously, out of 6 Superman movies, the strongest and most powerful superhero on Earth has only fought, and I mean really fought, a super powered villain in 3 of them! And out of that measly half, you have to count that terrible Quest for Peace bad guy Nuclear Man!  I was shocked to hear how many people preferred Superman Returns to Man of Steel considering how boring it was. I felt Man of Steel had a good plot, amazing action sequences, awesome villains (I actually thought Faora, the female Kryptonian in Man of Steel, was better than Ursa in Superman II) and to me was the Superman movie I have always wanted. It took itself seriously. It didn’t have the goofiness of the Richard Donner films. On a nostalgic level I do love those movies, but I can do without the amnesia kiss or the weird cellophane “S” shield and especially turning the Earth backward. Personally I think that is the heart of the matter here. I suspect that the majority of those who detest Man of Steel were hoping it was going to be like the Richard Donner films (Superman and Superman II) from their childhood. I base this theory on the fact that I have not met a single comic book geek (such as myself) that disliked Man of Steel. The Richard Donner films were great representations of the “silver age” Superman and all of the wackiness that came with that era. Man of Steel, however, represents the modern age Superman… which is something comic fans like me have wanted to see on screen for years. 

World War Z – I already did a post about what little this movie actually has in common with the novel, so I won’t really get into that again. For what its worth, World War Z is a decent zombie flick. I’ve seen better and I’ve definitely seen worse. Even Jonny thought it was okay and he tends to avoid horror films. There were some great scenes of tension, like in the apartment building, in Israel (I really thought the Israeli soldier woman would have died at some point in the movie) and in the CDC (a scene that was apparently written by Damon Lindelof as a new ending). I did think it was weird that the little boy that joined Brad Pitt and his family in the apartment building really didn’t seem too torn up over having just lost his own folks to zombies. Kids are just so desensitized these days… I blame the video games! I was curious as to how Hollywood would make a movie of Max Brooks’ novel, which was written as an anthology of stories about survivors of the zombie war ten years prior. When put together, the anthological tales made for a chronological overarching story of the entire beginning, middle and end of the war. The movie was not that at all. I think that those who saw it were probably pleased enough, as those who were hardcore fans of the novel had to have figured the movie would stray significantly from the source material and thusly just stayed home. All I can say is Pitt and the studio dodged a major “flop” bullet as World War Z, with its rewrites, production problems and runaway budget, looked like it was going to crash and burn hard. Thank God for those international numbers! 

Despicable Me 2 – This is the only movie I didn’t see in theaters with Jonny. Instead my wife TivoGirl joined me. After all, we both enjoyed the first Despicable Me so why not. The sequel was pretty good, about as good as the original from my perspective. It was definitely just as funny. If you like the Minions (and if you don’t, why would you ever watch a Despicable Me movie?) they are just as funny if not funnier in this one. (I do worry about the upcoming Minion movie. 90 minutes of all Minions nonsense has serious potential to burn out their amusing factor. In a possibly related fun fact, I once watched a one hour special of all of Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python cartoons in one montage… I thought my brain was going to implode.) I will say as a criticism that out of Gru’s daughters, only Margo (the oldest) gets any major screen time. Her subplot of starting to date boys was hilarious, though. Kristen Wiig’s Lucy character was amusing, but I couldn’t help thinking it too closely resembled her Looney Tunes Show character of Lola. To be fair, since Lola is one of the best characters on The Looney Tunes Show, that isn’t a terrible thing, it’s just not very original. I think Despicable Me is one of the better non-Pixar animated franchises out there and offers something I am always on the look-out for… kid friendly movies that don’t suck. Now that I have a Little Toaster crawling (very close to walking) around, I have been building a collection of such shows and films. I already own the first Despicable Me and I am sure I will buy the second.

Pacific Rim – On one hand, Jonny and I wanted this film to do well as it was pretty awesome and could be a cool franchise. On the other hand, Pacific Rim was amazingly self-contained and could easily remain a standalone film. Whether the international ticket sales have given this film hope of a sequel remains to be seen. Jonny and I really liked Pacific Rim. Was it high art? Hell no! Did it deliver what it promised? Hell yes! Giant robots fighting big monsters! It looked awesome, the battles were great and it was just a lot of fun. There have been some criticisms of this movie. One I read was that you couldn’t see the Kaiju well enough because all the battles were at night. Well no, not all the battles were at night and I saw the Kaiju pretty clearly, the exception being the class 5 one in the ocean at the end. Another complaint was that the humans could have been given more character development. I thought the humans had okay character development, it could have been better. I will say in defense though that nobody goes to a movie about robots fighting monsters for the human subplots. Watching Godzilla movies as a kid, I always felt the humans were just boring filler that I had to sit through to get to the rubber suited monsters fighting and destroying model cities at the end… you know, the good part!  My complaint was that Charlie Hunnam needs to learn to speak with a damn American accent! I swear, he changed accent and dialect repeatedly throughout the movie. It’s now a running joke with me, one that might just strike a certain nerve with the Sons of Anarchy loving Jonny Prophet. Seriously though, Hunnam isn’t a bad actor but considering how long he has been acting in the States, I would have thought he would have had a better American accent. In speaking of Sons of Anarchy, since fellow SoA co-star Ron Perlman was in the movie, Jonny and I joke that Pacific Rim is the second weirdest episode of that show ever. (The first is still Frankie Goes Boom… Ron Perlman in drag, to quote the Sea Captain on The Simpsons, will “replace the whale in me nightmares!”)  The cast was comprised of relative unknowns and television stars, which worked well. Idris Elba is just awesome in everything. Charlie Day was hilarious as always. Ron Perlman is great in whatever he is in because he is Ron Perlman. (Yes, I admit Jonny and I lean heavily into Ron’s corner because we love him so.)  If you just want to watch a fun sci-fi action flick, you can’t go wrong with Pacific Rim… unless you want the Kaiju to win. (By the way, while watching Pacific Rim, I kept repeating to Jonny how great it is to live nowhere near an ocean so we don’t have to deal with this crap. Besides, what are the monsters going to do… destroy Detroit? They’ll just think someone already did and move on to Cleveland. Take that Cleveland!) 

RED 2 – When people ask me “How was RED 2?” I always reply the same way… “It had a better plot than the first one, but it wasn’t as funny.” Now don’t get me wrong, RED 2 was plenty funny, but I found the original funnier for two main reasons. The first was that the novelty of elderly people, particularly Dame Helen Mirren, being bad asses had slightly played itself out by the sequel. The second was the funniest character Marvin, played by John Malkovich, was at times the voice of reason in the second one… which was kind of weird. It was sad that Morgan Freeman (who died in the first one) and Ernest Borgnine (who died for real) weren’t in RED 2. Jonny and I were also disappointed that Karl Urban wasn’t in it as well. (He is, after all, one of the Enigma Society’s favorite actors!) Instead the role of somewhat antagonistic bad ass younger man that gets schooled by Bruce Willis went to the guy who played Storm Shadow in the G.I. Joe movies… which is a pretty good consolation prize. Newcomer Anthony Hopkins (I don’t think anyone has associated that word with him in a long time) gave his usual Anthony Hopkins performance, but he was a good character. That’s the weird thing about Hopkins; even when he gives a phoned-in performance there’s something about him that still seems like a he did a great job at it. Maybe it’s his accent. Like I said, the plot was better in RED 2, at least in my opinion. I thought the plot of the original was a little outlandish. I get that a Vice-Presidential hopeful would want to cover up that he went insane in combat and slaughtered a village of innocent people. I just don’t get how he could put together a team of Special Ops soldiers to take out the other people from his platoon and manage to keep that a secret as well. This one dealt more with old cold war weapons and protocol, something that seems more apt to the characters whose heyday was fighting communists and such. I didn’t really care for the Catherine Zeta Jones character. She seemed to be thrown in for the sole purpose of creating friction between Willis and Mary Louise Parker. Zeta Jones’ character was pretty cliché, the attractive but untrustworthy enemy agent, was pretty cardboard. However, I was really surprised that she was killed off; it seemed like they could have brought her back in future sequels (assuming there will be any). I was happy to see Brian Cox made a special appearance, though learning one of his character’s fetishes was a little unsettling. Jonny and I were both amused that RED 2 had their own “Not a nuclear bomb but everyone knows it’s basically a nuclear bomb” with the red mercury device… which creates a nuke sized explosion but without all that nasty radiation. (Red mercury is actually a theoretical explosive thought to have been created by the Soviets… so the writer did do some homework.) I don’t know if RED 2 did well enough to warrant an additional sequel, but frankly I was surprised a sequel was made at all! I didn’t think the first one did that well. 

Stay tuned to the EPIC conclusion of my summer movie write-up... or don't. Come on, don't be that guy. Where's the love?

Toaster's Ramblings: Batfleck Edition

Can everyone just stop and take a deep breath? Okay, Ben Affleck certainly would not be my top choice to play Batman, but this level of insanity is a bit much. How can anyone honestly know that Affleck would be terrible as Batman? Because he made some bad movie choices 10 or 15 years ago? Because he dated that American Idol judge? Could Affleck really be a worse Batman than Val Kilmer or George Clooney? And as I said before, bringing back Christian Bale would make no sense given how the Dark Knight trilogy ended. This diatribe here isn’t my declaration of love for all things Ben Affleck. I just think it’s unfair and kind of ridiculous to chastise a man based on what he might possibly do rather than what he's done.

The biggest outcry is that “Ben Affleck was terrible in Daredevil!” I actually liked Daredevil. (And yes, that statement got me laughed at by a sexually ambiguous video rental clerk many years ago.) The movie wasn’t great and certainly wouldn’t appear anywhere near my Top 10 comic book movies list, but I was entertained. I certainly didn’t walk out of the theater proclaiming that Affleck should never be allowed to play a super hero again! I even own the Director’s cut on DVD (I probably got the movie for $3 on sale or something). Truthfully, I thought the crappier acting came from Jennifer Garner as Elektra. I never had a problem with Affleck’s acting in the movie; personally I think he did the best with what he had to work with. I will concede, however, that had Colin Farrell not stolen the show as Bullseye, the movie would not have been as good to me.  

But hey, I’m not necessarily an astute critic of acting unless it really sticks out to me. But even if Affleck did suck as Daredevil, what makes you think his acting hasn’t improved in the decade since that movie premiered? I loved him in The Town and he was good in Argo too. (How can the actor who starred in last year’s Academy Award winning Best Picture possibly be so terrible as to not be able to dress like a bat and beat up criminals?)  Granted, Affleck did direct those movies, so maybe he knows how to get the best possible performance from himself… but I also have enjoyed him in Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting as well as Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy and Jersey Girl (yes, I was one of the dozen people who saw that one in theaters!). And Jay is certainly a fan… 

One online petition for his ouster from the film cries “Ben Affleck Doesn’t Look the Part!” I actually think he does. He’s handsome. He’s got the chin. He can pull off the brooding serious stuff (just look at him in Argo). He can pull off the Billionaire Playboy thing (he sort of lived it for a while in the 90’s). And personal trainers can do wonders to get you in defined muscular shape… not that Affleck is necessarily out of shape from what I’ve seen in the last few years.

I actually wonder how many of the people crying foul on this casting were the ones proclaiming Man of Steel to be horrible. Come on, can Batfleck really make something horrible even worse? Zero times any number is still zero. If you thought Man of Steel was so bad, would you really entertain going to a sequel by the same writer/director team?

Plus, whatever ever happened to “wait and see?” What happened to having an open mind? Since when does a casting decision automatically equal a bad movie? Sure, I have had reservations about certain film-making decisions but I am always willing to give it a chance… at least by watching a trailer or two. I was pretty leery of J.J. Abrams’ take on Star Trek with recasting the original crew, but I ended up loving that movie! I wasn’t sure about casting the gay cowboy that was in A Knight’s Tale, but Heath Ledger was brilliant as the Joker! I wasn’t sold on Chris Evans as Captain America, but he was really good too! Just give it a chance, people. If it sucks, then by all means bitch, moan and shit allover it like a geriatric almost making the toilet. But going nuts about it before the damn script is even written is just stupid. Plus, you’re playing into Warner Brothers’ strategy. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad advertising.

All I’m saying is just, give Ben a chance. Let’s allow him to try on the cape and cowl and give us a barely coherent growling of 'Why do you want to kill me?' before we send the villagers after him with torches.

 Yes, he may suck and then all the haters can dance the dance of vindication in the streets. But maybe he won’t be so bad. Maybe he might even be a decent Batman.

Toaster's Ramblings - San Diego Comic Con Edition

So the San Diego Comic Con has ended. What was once an actual convention involving comic books has now become little more than a pop culture drive-by shooting. Its like Cannes for geeks, except instead of showing films, we get clips and Q & A panels. Once upon a time Jonny Prophet and I wanted to attend SDCC, but now it seems like a clusterfuck... nothing but crowds and lines and the desperation to be part of something limited to a few hundred seats or a few thousand exclusive copies. Not really our cup of tea.

As with any SDCC season, we are left with lots of news and trailers and such. I figured I would touch on a few tidbits and highlights that stuck out to me this year.

- Bryan Cranston is a freakin' genius! He attends the convention dressed as his character Breaking Bad Walter White! Nobody is going to expect the guy wearing the Bryan Cranston mask to actually be Bryan Cranston! But now that this trick was revealed, I just fret that future attendees doing cosplay might be assaulted by ravenous fans. Remember, just because he's wearing the Spider-man outfit doesn't mean its actually Spider-man.

- In speaking of Spider-man, Fox is just pumping out those films, aren't they? As long as they are as good as Amazing Spider-man, I'm okay with them squeezing out every last drop of life before they lose the franchise to "the Mouse."

- I call bullshit on Hasbro releasing the first of their 6 inch Star Wars figures (something I have wanted for years) as a SDCC exclusive. I call even bigger bullshit that its Boba Fett! WTF?! Okay, sure they said Fett would be re-released in the exact same colors in Wave 2 of the actual set, but come on! Plus, I doubt that one will have Han Solo in carbonite! Now I just have to wait for Wave 2 and not give into the temptation to drop a hundred or more on the exclusive. (I'm not that strong, dammit!)

- DC comics is apparently dropping 4 comic lines from its 52 line-up. They claim to be unable to support that many lines at once (Jonny and I think that number to be a lot lower... like around 30, but nevertheless). So now they can't be the New 52 anymore. Now what do I call them? How about the "Oh, Great... 48"? I think it can catch on.

- So the Thanos clip at the end of Avengers was for Guardians of the Galaxy? I guess that's cool. Kind of an odd cast. We have buff Andy Dwyer as Star-Lord, Batista as green Batista... I mean Drax the Destroyer. (Oh, Mr. Bautista? I'm sorry, Drax might be able to take Thor, but no way he can beat Hulk. Not gonna happen.) Michael "Merle Dixon" Rooker as Yondu? Yondu was part of the future GotG team! Lee Pace, the pie maker from Pushing Daisies, is Ronan the Accuser? That's just weird to me. Benicio Del Toro is awesome, but I don't know about him as the Collector. The whole time I'll have "flashbacks" to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. (As your attorney I advise you to take a hit out of the little brown bottle in my suitcase.) Zoe Saldana as Gamora is probably the best casting I have heard for the flick.  

- So GotG is going to have the team itself along with Ronan the Accuser, another Kree Accuser (whose name I forget and don't feel like looking up), Nebula, The Collector and Thanos? I hope this doesn't get too bogged down. Hmmm. I wonder if Fox has the rights to the Shi'ar since they were affiliated with the X-men?

- BTW, Karen Gillan with a shaved head? Still hot.

- I'm cool with Avengers 2 being 'The Age of Ultron', but I've heard that Dr. Henry Pym is not Ultron's creator. Considering that Pym is getting his own movie soon (Ant Man) that's just stupid. Why not introduce him early on? Please don't tell me Tony Stark made Ultron. Iron Man does not have to be the center of the Avengers universe you know! Wait, do you think the dunce cap wearing robo-arm that Stark has evolves into the human hating Ultron all because Tony was an asshole to it? Now that would be karma!

- I'm glad that Warner Bros. is not releasing Justice League in 2015 like I had heard, but 2017 isn't that much better when (unless they plan to count the Green Lantern flop) Man of Steel is the first movie leading to it! And Superman vs Batman in Man of Steel 2? I'm not sure how that will work, both in making sure Batman doesn't come across as a villain and him actually fighting the most powerful man on Earth. It does seem desperate, though. Sad that the only DC Superhero movie currently planned between 2015's Man of Steel 2 and 2017's Justice League is The Flash. I guess Wonder Woman and Aquaman will have to pop up real quick in Justice League. I'm sure it won't take long to explain the Amazonian warrior princess demigod and the half Atlantean king in a 120 minute movie... just so long as there isn't a villain. (The first movie is about them becoming a team. You'll have to wait for the sequel for them to fight anyone.) 

- X-men: Days of Futures Past looks more and more like it will be a train wreck. Jonny and I both cringed at Right after Bryan Singer took over for First Class director Matthew Vaughn, he made Jonny and I cringe upon saying "Days of Futures Past is going to fix the problems with First Class." What problems, Bryan? Okay, there was a little bit of continuity problems like Alex "Havok" Summers being Cyclop's younger brother who was in the 60's before Scott was born or Emma Frost being an adult in the 60's and a kid in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But beyond those, First Class was the best of all the X-men films as far as Jonny and I are concerned. Honestly, Mr. Singer, I would be more concerned with fixing the problems of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Those movies had real problems.

And now I will leave you with this simple message from your lord and master... Loki.

All hail Loki.

THIRTEEN Weird Things in Man of Steel

SPOILER ALERT!

1. Despite explaining in detail the various differences between Krypton and Earth, such as gravity, atmosphere and cellular structure, Kryptonians just happen to speak perfect English.
2. After seeing Jax-Ur in Man of Steel, it’s great to find out that Krypton had evil German scientists too.
3. They killed off Dr. Hamilton, a sort of go-to support character to Superman and the man worked for and at some point ran S.T.A.R. Labs. Now who will Superman ask when he doesn’t know how some futuristic weapon thingy works?
4. While devising what Zod’s “World Engine” was trying to accomplish, Dr. Hamilton revealed that the villain was trying to turn Earth into Krypton. How the hell did he figure that out considering he had no knowledge of Superman’s home planet or even knew its name?
5. In the old Superman movies, Kryptonian technology was all about white crystals. In Man of Steel, Kryptonian technology is all about morphing liquid nanotechnology.
6. Wait, so Krypton had dragons?
7. So all of the information about the entire Kryptonian civilization is in Superman’s blood? So if he gets a nose bleed, Krypton’s ‘Industrial Revolution’ could be lost?
8. You would think that if Superman was so concerned about the safety and preservation of human life that he would have led the fighting away from Smallville and Metropolis rather than, you know, smash through a gas station and cause a massive fiery explosion.
9. Was Kryptonian armor designed by H.R. Giger?
10. Jor El, having been genetically bred to be a scientist, was a total bad ass that even defeated General Zod, who was genetically engineered to be a fierce warrior. (Note that while Jor El had the added determination of a ‘father protecting his son,’ Zod professed that his entire purpose was to defend Krypton. Zod knew that the Codex, representing the future of Krypton, was being launched into space with Jor El’s son. He should have been just as determined.)
11. Jonathan Kent gave Clark lots of fatherly advice about choosing the correct path in life and being a good person… then was quick to tell Clark to never use his powers… Not even to save his fellow classmates from drowning!
12. Jonathan Kent tells Clark not to save him from the approaching tornado, even though Clark could have probably moved fast enough not to have been seen by the other people. So Pa Kent just stands there? He doesn’t try to lie flat on the ground or huddle under a car? He just decides to traumatize his son and wife and the other witnesses? And how the hell was he able to stand so still next to a freakin’ tornado? The winds from those can be hundreds of miles an hour, I guarantee more than just his hair would be blown around.  
13. Why was Superman’s outfit inside an ancient Kryptonian scout ship that had been trapped under ice for 18,000 years? And why did it have a cape?

Toaster's Ramblings - Man of Steel Controversy Edition

After seeing the Man of Steel it is safe to say that it is the best Superman movie ever made. Granted, the bar wasn't exactly high. Don't get me wrong, the Richard Donner films are still a nostalgic treat to behold and, with cherished childhood memories attached, hold a special place in my heart. But those were of a different Superman for a different time; Jonny Prophet and I both agree those movies represent the often silly, and random super power possessing Supes of the Silver Age. The next two films were abominations made watchable only by adding RiffTrax to them. And then there is Superman Returns.

There are those critics and movie-goers that claim that Superman Returns was a better film than Man of Steel. On a cinematic "art house Superman film" (thank you Kevin Smith for that quote) level they are probably right. Superman Returns was shot beautifully and, like Ang Lee's Hulk, brought a more existential story with complex characters. But like Ang Lee's Hulk, it was boring. Why? Because audiences don't want to existential films about the Incredible Hulk and Superman, they want movies where they fight bad guys and destroy stuff. With the exception of moving a mountain of Kryptonite, Superman Returns didn't have a climactic battle. But I've already bitched about Superman Returns before.

So the big controversy now is...

SPOILER ALERT

At the end of the movie, Superman kills General Zod. Lots of ardent comic book fans are angry about this because as a rule Superman does not kill. Generally, yes this is true. There was even a great storyline in the comics where Superman fought an "extreme justice" super team called The Elite (an animated movie of the storyline was also made). 

I am completely okay with Superman killing Zod. It wasn't done out of spite or in a 'Dirty Harry with a cape' sort of way. Zod vowed to kill every human on Earth out of revenge for Superman foiling his plot to resurrect Krypton at our world's expense. Zod went so far as to proclaim that the only way he could be stopped would be to kill him, taunting Superman's sense of morality. After a long fight, Superman was trying with all his might to restrain Zod, who was trying to kill a family with his heat vision. Seeing that he could not prevent Zod's heat vision from reaching and incinerating the cowering people, he could either watch as the family of four, including two children, were burned alive or he could end it right then and there. So he broke Zod's neck.

To be fair, Superman didn't take it well. He immediately cried out in anguish over his actions and the situation at large. General Zod knew that Superman had a strong moral code that prevented him from arbitrarily killing his enemies the way he and his fellow Kryptonian rebels did. In some sense, Zod may not have expected Superman to break his code in order to end his reign of terror. Perhaps the movie could have been written differently, but given the script and the plot, I feel Superman did what had to be dome. It's just like in Trigun when Legato forced Vash to kill him, or watch as the mind-controlled villagers killed Meryl and Millie. It was a bad situation but it had to be done. It helps mold the character. Superman can still be against killing, he clearly was before and I'm sure he will be after that point.

Also note that Superman has killed in the comics when he had to. The most famous example is when he killed Doomsday (at the sacrifice of his own life) to prevent the monstrous killing machine from leveling Metropolis and taking countless lives. It was a last ditch effort and I think the Superman in the comics would have made the same decision as the one in the movie.

I find it funny that nobody seems to bitch about Captain America killing people with guns or Iron Man killing numerous humans in their movies. Hell, I don't remember anyone complaining when at the end of The Dark Knight, Batman killed Harvey Dent in a very similar situation where the life of a child was at stake. Frankly, Batman's anti-killing policy is even more intense than Superman's when you think about it. Even after the Joker killed Jason Todd, paralyzed Barbara Gordon and killed Commissioner Gordon's love interest (at the end of No Man's Land), Batman still insists on the legal system handling the fate of the psychopath. 

Was Man of Steel perfect? Definitely not. But it was highly entertaining and gave us the Superman movie I, and fanboys all over the world, have wanted for years... a movie we really hoped Superman Returns would have been. Superman didn't kill General Zod in any John McClane "Yippy Kay-ay" manner. I doubt Superman will kill anyone on film again (except robots or maybe Doomsday if they make that storyline into a movie). This was one of those formative lessons for a superhero, not unlike Spider-man learning his actions indirectly lead to the death of Uncle Ben. Had he killed Zod in cold blood, I would agree with everyone else that it was against everything Superman stood for. But that's the thing... killing Zod is against everything the Man of Steel stands for. That's why they wrote it into the movie the way they did.