Toaster's Ramblings - New Year's Edition Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 of my new years ramblings! (I can't believe it's February already.) In this part I want to touch upon some of my anticipations for 2016 as well as some plans I have for future posts. So let's start with the year in film... or what may come to be known as The Year Movie-Goers Drowned in Superhero Films!

Yes, 2016 could be the year that people finally get sick of superhero movies. Why? Because this year will see the release of Deadpool, Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, X-men Apocalypse, Suicide Squad, and Doctor Strange! Also, to the best of my knowledge the Gambit movie is still tentatively scheduled to be released this fall, but I am guessing it will be moved to 2017 because I don't think the project has progressed very far.

Clearly this is a huge year for Warner Bros. and DC Comics. If their Batman Vs Superman movie doesn't impress, their plans to push out a Justice League movie as well as establish their movie universe could be over before it begins. Personally, I think the movie has a steep uphill climb to succeed with several factors working against it.  For one thing, Man of Steel was not nearly as well received as DC and Warner Bros. would have liked.

Second, some of their casting is questionable. I still have reservations about Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor (I am still predicting that Ultron from last year's Avengers movie will turn out to be a better Luthor than Eisenberg!). Some people also don't like the casting of Ben Affleck as Batman, citing that the movie Daredevil was bad. In my opinion, Affleck will be fine, but what do I know? I actually liked Daredevil... though the Netflix series makes the movie look like a turd with frosted tips.

Third, the plot seems kind of weird. The premise itself of Batman fighting Supeman is interesting in of itself, but the recent trailer showed they will be facing Doomsday as well... a Doomsday with CGI from the early 2000's. There's also a rumor about Bizarro showing up too. Again, it's a little weird.

This leads to the fourth reason, one that I think may kill this movie... it's too damn crowded! I was reading off the various celebrities and characters set to be in Batman Vs. Superman to TivoGirl and she was shocked! We already have Batman, Superman, Lois Lane, Percy White, Martha Kent, Lex Luthor, Mercy, Alfred, Doomsday, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and we are rumored to also have Victor "Cyborg" Stone, and Bizarro. But wait, that's not all! We also have Jena Malone (possibly as Barbara "Batgirl" Gordon), Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Thomas Wayne as well as Holly Hunter and Scoot McNairy. That's pretty damn packed. Now also consider that out of that long list, only Superman, Lois Lane, Perry White and Martha Kent were already established in Man of Steel. That is a hell of a lot of characters to introduce!

Now I will concede that likely a lot of these appearances will just be cameos (Cyborg, Flash and probably Aquaman and Wonder Woman) but that is still way too many big characters to establish and devote time to. Perhaps the fact that it is a two-part movie will help with this, but as Han Solo would say... OUCH! Um... I mean "I have a bad feeling about this."

Consider this, whenever a comic book movie tries to introduce too many new characters at once, it always becomes a jumbled mess. Think about it... Spider-man 3, Amazing Spider-man 2, Batman & Robin, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine... even Avengers: Age of Ultron bit off more than it could chew. To tell a proper story, you need time invested into the characters to understand their struggles and goals. When a studio tries to turn a movie into a jumping off point to create new spin-off franchises, it always comes at the sacrifice of story and character development, the end result being a dissatisfying movie experience for the fans.

Now I want to be clear... I do not want to hate Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice... man, that is a really stupid title when you write it out like that. Anyways, I am not walking into the theater with my opinion already set. I want to like this movie. A film where Batman fights Superman is new and interesting. Plus, I want new superhero films for characters that have never had one before.

So after that long, rambling diatribe, what are my opinions of other major upcoming movies for this year? Here's a rundown:

Deadpool - This movie seems to be the real deal, a Deadpool movie that feels authentic and is everything fans like myself wanted from that stupid Wolverine Origins movie. The trailers show an irreverent anti-hero prone to smart ass comments and extreme violence. In other words, everything looks freakin' awesome! I am very excited for this one.

Captain America: Civil War - Less excited for this one. I have a lot of the same fears for this that I have with Batman Vs. Superman... too many characters, a convoluted plot and an unsatisfying movie. However, most of these characters are already established and the directors made the awesome Winter Soldier movie, so Civil War has that going for it. My bigger problem is that I am not the biggest fan of the source material. Marvel's Civil War started out good and then degenerated into a series of weird directions and a very disappointing ending. Also, the comics event had lots of characters on both sides, involving virtually every Marvel hero (and some villains) except the X-Men and the space characters like Nova and Solver Surfer (who subsequently were involved in a way better major storyline called Annihilation). This movie has five on each side (not including Spider-man... not sure where he fits into the film yet). Five versus five seems more like a 50's gang "rumble" than a civil war.

One thing that I do like about Civil War is that it continues Steve Rogers' story concerning his world. The first film had his origin back in his world of the 1940's and led to his awakening in the present. The next movie (as well as Avengers) saw Steve's world turned upside-down as the government that he trusted and represented turned out to be corrupted and his best friend, seemingly killed in World War II, survived as a Soviet super assassin with no memory of the person he was. This movie appears to show Steve Rogers abandon his loyalties to help save his assassin friend, the last remnant of his former life back when his world made sense. That does make for compelling story-telling and I hope that story doesn't get buried under cameos, explosions and "universe building."

Hopefully Civil War will be good. Either way, they already have my money.

X-Men: Apocalypse - I'm weary of this movie... though to be fair I was weary of the last two X-Men films and both of those turned out great. However, I have high expectations for this one. It's supposed to be massive global damage, end of days kind of stuff. But the villain looks like Ivan Ooze! Why is Apocalypse look rubbery and purple? He doesn't look menacing!

I am interested to see what Apocalypse does to augment Magneto, Storm and Psylocke as his Horsemen. It looks like they are going with the comic version of Archangel so I just assume I know what he does... big metal wings that help him fly and throw metal blade "feathers" at his opponents.

I also want to see Sophie Turner use an American accent to play Jean Grey. She may be a good choice to play that character. It looks like Jubilee may be combined with Dazzler to some extent. I did notice in the picture of her with Turner that Lana Condor was wearing a "Light Brigade" shirt. It will be cool seeing more of Quicksilver too.

I have been waiting a long time for this X-men film. I hope Fox and Bryan Singer don't mess it up!

Suicide Squad - I am way more excited for this one than I am Superman Vs. Batman. The recent trailer looks great. I love it when we can get movies about lesser known comic book characters. There's less pressure to make a certain kind of film and allows the writers, directors and actors a level of freedom to make something unique. (Case in point: Guardians of the Galaxy.)

I am still not sold on "Jokallo." I realize that the filmmakers wanted to separate this version of Joker from Heath Ledger's and others, but I'm not sure that covering him in stupid tattoos and giving him a dental "grill." is the right direction. That said, I am intrigued with what Jared Leto may do with the character. I joked when he got the part that the only way Warner Bros. could find a way to one-up Heath Ledger's Oscar winning Joker from The Dark Knight was to hire someone who already won for Best Supporting Actor! Leto's backstage antics make me think he gets the character and won't just be redoing Ledger or Nicholson's Jokers.

Jonny and I have running bets on who will die in the movie. Generally, if we haven't really heard of the character, consider them dead. Deadshot and Harley Quinn? They're safe. I hope Will Smith will do Deadshot justice. Margot Robbie seems to have been a good choice for Harley Quinn. Killer Croc? Maybe. Diablo and Slipknot? Oh, they're dead. One of them might be killed before the mission even starts (like that one obstinate kid in Battle Royale).

I think Captain Boomerang is safe given that they hired up and comer Jai Courtney for the role and that having an established Flash villain may be good for the upcoming Flash movie. Jon, however, dislikes Jai Courtney and thinks he will die. Clearly it's just wishful thinking on his part.

Doctor Strange - Not very much is known about this movie. An image of Benedict Cumberbatch all decked out as Doctor Strange looked fantastic. That guy with the unpronounceable name from 12 Years a Slave was cast as arch-nemesis Baron Mordo and 'suspected robot due to never aging' Tilda Swinton will play the Ancient One. That's about all we have. Hopefully it will be good. I've never been a huge Doctor Strange fan, but before 2008 I didn't give a crap about Iron Man either, so who knows. I just hope we see Dormammu... maybe even Shuma "totally not Cthulhu" Gorath. That would be cool.

Moving on to the next year for this blog. I am thinking of reviving a few things I either stopped doing or just haven't had time for... such as Live Action Casting, Guilty Pleasures, The Underrated and Running Commentary. I have topics in mind for all of those. It comes down to motivation and time, but I will try to post a bit more than I did last year.

So until that next post,

Stay Strange

Toaster's Ramblings - The Fantastic Flop!

It looks like I got my wish. The new Fantastic Four movie is a massive failure, likely to be remembered as the big budget flop of 2015, the worst major studio super hero film ever and a bomb on par with Lone Ranger and (sadly) John Carter. The big question is... now what?

As of right now, Twentieth Century Fox seems to be trying to push ahead with the planned sequel to Fantastic Four, despite the estimated $60 million loss and the overwhelmingly negative reviews (an incredible 9% on Rotten Tomatoes!). Nobody is sure if this is out of the stubborn will to force a square peg into a circle hole or if Fox just really wants to stick it to Marvel Studios. I think it might be a combination of both.

As I said before, Fox clearly wants to make their own 'super ensemble' film like Marvel's Avengers movies. They are hoping to have the Fantastic Four crossover in some bizarre fashion with the X-men... possibly to fight Galactus. Personally I think fighting the Shi'ar would be better, but the whole idea is sketchy to me. The two sides don't have much in common. The biggest crossover between the two teams that I know of in the comics involved Reed and Sue Richards' mutant son Franklin, a character that is a far way from even being born yet in the films, especially with the reboot.

I honestly think Fox should cut their losses and either outright sell the property or make a deal with Marvel Studios to co-own the movie rights to the Fantastic Four the way Sony and Marvel did with Spider-man. Selling the property could recoup the losses from this latest reboot folly, while a deal would potentially lead to a Fantastic Four film that works and still brings money to Fox. As a fan, I would be far more interested in a crossover with the Avengers than one with the X-men.

I think Fox is far better off just focusing on the mutants. There are hundreds of characters to choose from, many teams to create and many villains to face. Plus, as I said before, the mutants existing in their own world makes more sense anyway. Why would the public love Spider-man and Thor but fear Colossus and Iceman? That said, if a possible deal involved Marvel being able to use mutants, that could be amazing. Wolverine could join the Avengers! Deadpool could mess with every hero from Spider-man to Iron Man!

One critic's review brought up something that Fox should really consider. He asked whether moviegoers were actually eager to see a Fantastic Four film after the last two movies in 2005 and 2007. This is a really good question. I would also add, who is really excited for a movie where the Fantastic Four meets the X-men? It's like a bizarre Abbot & Costello experiment gone wrong. The Avengers works as an ensemble film because they are an established super team in the comics; people want to see big names like Captain America, Thor, Iron Man and Hulk team up and battle super villains. However, if people don't really want to see your Fantastic Four movie, why would they turn out in droves to see them alongside the X-men? Sure, you will likely get the crowd that was already going to see an X-men movie, but that isn't what Fox wants, now is it? They want their own Avengers-like cash cow where people will cram the theaters to see. But if people don't give a crap about the Fantastic Four, then Fox will be pretty much just showing us an X-men movie featuring four new mutants with the powers of super-stretching, invisibility, fire and being a big rock monster.

Yes, the argument can be made that Guardians of the Galaxy may not have had a big fan-base salivating over a live action film (for note: I was), but Marvel was well aware of this. They knew the risks, but placed faith in their script, the director and the finished product... all things that based on the rumors Fox never did. Plus, Guardians never took itself too seriously and preferred to be seen as a comedy-action film. Fox clearly wanted their Fantastic Four film to be a super-team version of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, something that doesn't really work with the source material.

I also want to point out that Marvel Films got lucky with Ant-man, another lesser known property that turned out to be a hit for them. If you recall, they had a falling out with their director and had to find a new one as well as do script rewrites. This often spells disaster, but Marvel was able to pull it off for the most part (Jonny and I think the movie was a little uneven at points). Now Marvel had the advantage of more time to work with, something Fox never gave themselves when forcing reshoots and edits to Fantastic Four. If Fox had given themselves another six months to a year, maybe the movie would have turned out better... maybe not.

As Jonny Prophet reminded me, after Amazing Spider-man 2 under-performed, Sony held firm to the idea of moving ahead with a Sinister Six movie, Amazing Spider-man 3 and a bunch of other spin-off movies. Less than a year later, Marvel Studios is having Spider-man make a cameo in Captain America: Civil War. Pride can be a difficult thing to swallow, but over time things can change. I definitely think it is in Fox's best interest to either sell the Fantastic Four film rights back to Marvel or at least cut a deal with them. They should just focus on making their mutant movie universe the best it can be and stop wasting time and money on a failed franchise. It's time to let go, Fox. It's just better for everyone that way... better for you, better for Marvel Films, better for the legendary comic book that deserves a great film franchise and better for the fans.

Toaster's Ramblings - The Convergance of the Secret Wars (or How Marvel and DC Had the Same Summer Event)

It seems that Marvel and DC both have pretty much run the same storyline event for the summer. Both Secret Wars and Convergence deal with time and reality getting smashed together into a jumbled mess of different characters from different worlds, where they all fight and eventually everything gets (sort of but not really) rebooted. I do find it amusing that DC has had the New 52 around less than five years and already needs to do a "soft" reboot. (A soft reboot, by the way, is when some parts of a universe get a fresh start while others continue on as normal.) Now maybe it was just a coincidence that both comic companies ran similar events, but I doubt it. Marvel has apparently been working on Secret Wars for five years, while reviews suggest that Convergence felt rushed in many ways. DC probably got wind of what Marvel was planning and set out to do their own version and release it a few months early (Convergence started this past Spring and is already over. Secret Wars is currently ongoing.)

Honestly, I haven't been following either event. Five dollars an issue for Secret Wars is too much, I would rather wait for a trade edition. As for DC, I'm pretty much done with them. Not only have I grown to hate the New 52, but DC decided to implement a new way of placing advertising into their comic books...

DC You? More like DC... You Suck!

Yeah, so as long as that ridiculous shit is going on, I'm out. If Marvel does it too, I'll be done with them as well. I don't mind a page add, or even a two-page add, but I will not share comic book art and storyline on the same page as an advertisement. That's bullshit. Not only does it take you out of the story, but it is disrespectful to the very medium of comic book art. Imagine if instead of specific commercial breaks on television, commercials randomly play in the middle of your show. Let's say you're watching CW's Arrow and Ollie is about to fight Deathstroke and just as the first punch is thrown, we cut to a Clearasil commercial, then go back to the punch in mid-swing. It would kind of piss you off, now wouldn't it? Well, split-page ads piss me off just the same way.

I don't really know what the post-Convergence DC universe looks like, but the Marvel one is interesting. First of all, much of the pre-Secret Wars developments remain intact. Falcon is still the new Captain America and Steve Rogers is still old. Thor is still a woman (Jane Foster). Wolverine is still dead. The Fantastic Four, as a team, is also dead with Human Torch hanging out with the Inhumans and Thing the new pilot for the Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not really sure where Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman will end up, though the latter was an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. before the event.

The list of the post-Secret Wars title launches has been released and while some really don't interest me at all, others are quite intriguing. Here are my thoughts on the upcoming books:

A-Force #1 - AKA the "female Avengers." Seems a little on the nose to me. "You want more gender diversity? Have an entire book of woman Avengers!" It almost borderlines on gimmicky to me. I will say that there seem to be far more women Avengers than their were in the 90's when most seemed to be female versions of popular male heroes (She-Hulk, Spider-woman), but that may just be due to the fact that in the last 10 years, EVERYONE seems to be an Avenger. I also wonder, who will a team of female Avengers fight? Will they face female villains? How many female villains does Marvel have that are an Avengers level threat? I might thumb through the first issue to see what this book is like, but I don't expect much.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 - I don't watch the show, why would I read the comic?

All-New All-Different Avengers #1 - I might actually get a subscription to this one. I like the younger line-up of Nova (Sam Alexander), Ms. Marvel and Spider-man (Miles Morales) contrasted with veterans like "Falcon America," Jane Foster Thor, Iron Man and Vision. It has a Young Justice vibe to it.

All-New Wolverine #1 - While it's interesting that X-23 is the new Wolverine, I doubt I will buy the book.

All-New X-Men #1-  So are they still the original X-men from the 60's (or whenever they're supposed to come from, something tells me the present Cyclops isn't in his mid-50's)? I don't know. I didn't read the book before and I'm pretty sure I won't read it now. It seems like the novelty of young versions running around with their older counterparts would have worn off by now.

Amazing Spider-Man #1 - I'm guessing this is the Peter Parker Spider-man since Miles Morales has the non-adjective Spider-man book. I don't know... I might look at it. Maybe it will be unique. I doubt I will buy it, though.

Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #1 - I liked when Angela was time-displaced and hung out with the Guardians of the Galaxy, having a friendly rivalry with Gamora. Then for some reason it was revealed she was Asgardian... which is weird. I guess Marvel wanted to start over with her back-story, but I would have preferred that she is the same character from Spawn that now is stuck in the 616 universe... and occasionally alludes to her former life. I'm just not sure I care about her as Asgard's assassin... the Asgardians already have Sif and the Jane Foster Thor... I might flip through the book, but I doubt I will be impressed.

Ant-Man #1 - Never been much of an Ant-man fan. The whole shrinking thing never seemed that useful unless you are evil (like Atomica in Forever Evil). Then you can scramble people's brains or enter their body and grow to normal size so your victim pops like a balloon. But commanding an army of ants? Um... I guess you could get them to bring you all the loose change on the ground for miles around. I guess there are actual uses in espionage, but I never really cared. I doubt I will pick up this book.

Captain Marvel #1 - I'm glad that Carol Danvers is getting her due as Marvel's elite super heroine. However, I haven't read any of her books so far. Not sure if I will start here, either.

Carnage #1 - I don't get the point of this one. Is Carnage still a serial killing monster or are they trying to make him a hero now? Either way, I'm not sure it will work as an ongoing series.

Contest of Champions #1 - Place your bets now about how long this book will last! If the writer's are smart, there will be an end point, like with Avengers Arena. This is not a premise that will last long.

Daredevil #1 - I might flip through this book. I loved the Netflix series (who didn't?) and am curious if Marvel will try to make the comic more like the show. I think Daredevil is in serious need of new villains, good new villains. Most of his villains are lame. They can't just keep going back to Kingpin and Bullseye. Like I said, I will give it a once over, but I'm not expecting much.

Deadpool #1 - I like Deadpool and as such will probably get this book. The writers, however, have big shoes to fill. The previous volume's writing team, including comedian Brian Posehn, made a really good run full of hilarity, some genius moments (the various "lost" throwback issues of Daredevil from decades past), and a great supporting crew including ghost Ben Franklin.

Doctor Strange #1 - Maybe the film will give me new appreciation for the Sorceror Supreme, but it won't be in time for me to start reading this book.

Drax #1 - I will check this book out for one reason... former WWE star CM Punk is co-writing. It doesn't guarantee that the book will be any good, but like with any celebrity writer, it's worth a look.

Extraordinary X-Men #1 - Good news... in addition to being Uncanny, All-New, All-Different, Extreme and Astonishing, the X-men are also Extraordinary. It has an interesting line-up with Colossus, Iceman, Jean Grey (from the past), Nightcrawler (whom I thought was dead), Magik, Storm and Old Man Logan... because Marvel is really serious about Wolverine staying dead. Will Jean Grey discuss with the Iceman of the present about how his past version is gay? Only time will tell. I might glance at this book, but I'm not expecting anything "extraordinary." (see what I did there? I'm clever.)

Guardians of the Galaxy #1 - I was reading the previous run and loved the Abnett/Lanning run that has inspired a new age for Marvel's space universe and renewed love for many forgotten characters. (Ten years ago, did you think you would see a movie starring Star-Lord? Did you even know who the hell Star-Lord was? My point exactly.) Brian Michael Bendis is still writing this new volume, but I guess now Rocket Raccoon is the leader and Thing is the new pilot. And Star-Lord is a woman. I'm game, why not?

Hawkeye #1 - The only time I ever read a Hawkeye book was when he led The Thunderbolts way back when. I'm okay with leaving it that way. If I need my bow and arrow fix, CW's got me covered.

Howard the Duck #1 - Um... no.

Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 - This one will be among the first wave of cancellations, mark my words. Unless they go back in time to fight Nazis with the real Howling Commandos... that I would check out.

Illuminati #1 - What is the purpose of a book about the elitist secret club of Marvel? Do they fight as a team? Are they a team? Do I care? I can answer one of those questions.

Invincible Iron Man #1 - I might glance at this book. Here's the thing, I love the movie version of Tony Stark, because Robert Downey Jr. gives the character a great deal of wit and fast comedic timing, because if not for those, let's be honest, we would all think Tony Stark was a self-righteous prick. Well, the Tony Stark of the comics, even after the debut of the first Iron Man movie, is a self-righteous prick. However, I did enjoy Tony Stark during his brief tenure with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Why? Because Brian Michael Bendis writes Tony as witty and fun. So, since he's writing this book, I will give it a look.

Karnak #1 - The only reason I'm going to check out this book is because Warren Ellis is the writer. I expect I'm not the only one who shares that sentiment.

The Mighty Thor #1 - Is this still Jane Foster Thor? That's cool. I didn't read her book before Secret Wars, why mess with success?

Ms. Marvel #1 - I missed the boat on this book. I've heard great things and will probably check out trades of the previous volume. As such, I might thumb through this new volume.

New Avengers #1 - Not sure why they didn't just call this A.I.M.: Avengers Idea Mechanics. This line-up is crazy. The team is led by Sunspot and features Wiccan, Hulkling, Squirrel-girl, Hawkeye, Power Man, White Tiger and Songbird. I may have to check this book out based on the line-up alone. However, I am not confident on this book's success.

Nova #1 - I love Nova. I was a fan of Richard Ryder. I came to love Sam Alexander was well. The cover of this new book shows Sam in his Black Nova get-up with an adult dressed in classic Nova Corp attire. My question is... is that adult Sam's dad or Ryder back from the dead? (Really hoping for the latter.) This is one book I will be picking up.

Old Man Logan #1 - So what, is Old Man Logan now in the 616 Marvel universe? Do I care? Not really.

Sam Wilson, Captain America #1 - I'll be honest, the only time I ever gave a shit about Falcon was in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I don't really get why he is Captain America. Does he have the Super Soldier Serum? Otherwise he's Falcon with a shield. I'm still not really giving a shit.

Silk #1 - I know nothing about this character except she is somehow connected to the "Spider-verse" which I guess is a thing now. Is their also a Hawkeye-verse and a Paste-Pot Pete-verse?

Scarlet Witch #1 - I've never been a big Scarlet Witch fan, so... yeah.

Spider-Gwen #1 - She's got a following, but I've never read anything about the alternate reality Gwen that got powers. It's still part of the Spider-verse. I want to read a book about the Groot-verse!

Spider-Man #1 - I think it's cool that Miles Morales will be the main Spider-man after Secret Wars. He's a great character that allows Marvel to explore Spider-man in high school again without resorting to deals with Mephisto or de-aging Peter Parker. Best of all, Miles' creator, Brain Michael Bendis, is writing the book. I might check this book out... partly to know how Miles came to be in the 616 universe when Parker is still alive (unless he's the same from the Ultimate universe and just "displaced"). I'm not always on board with Bendis, but he does to Spider-man really well.

Spider-Man 2099 #1 - Way back in the day I actually had a subscription of Spider-man 2099 mailed to my house (the town I was raised in was without a comic shop of it's own). The book was only okay, primarily for a lack of great, memorable villains. I mean, Spider-man has the best rogues gallery of any hero in the Marvel universe, yet his counter-part from a hundred years in the future really didn't have many to speak of. I'm actually having a tough time remembering any beyond 2099 versions of Vulture and Venom. There was a cyborg bounty hunter whose name escapes me and some guy named Thanatos that looked like a Roman gladiator (no, his skin wasn't purple, I don't think he had anything to do with that Thanos). I think the new book takes place in the 616 universe, so I guess he can borrow current Spider-man villains. I doubt I'll read the book... I might flip through it out of curiosity. I like his costume at least.

Spider-Woman #1 - Never cared for Spider-woman. I'll pass.

Squadron Supreme #1 - I might check this one out. It could be interesting... or it could be a waste of time. It's a real toss-up.

Star-Lord #1 - Why is Star-Lord a woman? I thought I saw cover art that showed the character with a feminine body. But then I saw another where he was wearing his trademark mask while wearing an astronaut outfit and a "Quill" name badge... so I have no idea what is going on. I might flip through the book to see if they answer it, but I doubt I'll care enough to buy the comic.

The Totally Awesome Hulk #1 - Is the Hulk "totally awesome" now? He has been Incredible and Invincible and... red. Why is he awesome? I guess he may be someone other than Bruce Banner. After Red Hulk, Skaar, A-Bomb, She-Hulk and Red She-Hulk, that's just what we needed. As long as he's "totally awesome."

Web Warriors #1 - So it's another book based on the Spider-verse, but this time loosely affiliated with a cartoon? I don't get it.

Ultimates #1 - So it's a book with nothing to do with the Ultimate universe. It's just an Avengers book under a different name. It has Black Panther, the current Captain Marvel, the past Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) as Spectrum, and Blue Marvel... a character that a month ago I had never heard of. Might glance at it, but I am doubtful I'll buy it. 

Uncanny Avengers #1 - So this book is kind of odd for me. Initially, I loved the book. It fulfilled that craving I had for super teams fighting massive threats, first with the Red Skull, then against the Apocalypse Twins. Then, the book got weird. Havok, one of my favorite X-men, got disfigured... like on a Two-Face level. Wolverine lost his healing factor and would soon be dead, Steve Rogers was old, Rogue had absorbed Wonder Man... then after the Red Onslaught storyline, the entire line-up changed (save for Scarlet Witch and Rogue). I wanted to like the new line-up. It had Quicksilver, whom I haven't read in a book since X-Factor and there was Sabretooth, seeking redemption. However, the team focused all of it's time fighting the High Evolutionary... a character I've never really cared for. Plus, we were treated to the old Avengers soap opera from back in the day that led to my hating the book and team... the bizarre love triangle (obligatory New Order reference) of Scarlet Witch, Vision and Wonder Man. Ugh... so stupid. This new book once again has a new line-up adding Spider-man, Human Torch, some new chick named Synapse and Deadpool. I will give the book another shot.

Uncanny Inhumans #1 - I've never been huge on the Inhumans. I like them as part of the overall Marvel universe, but not for their own stories and drama. I doubt I will get this book.

Uncanny X-Men #1- This is a book that intrigues me. It has Magneto leading a team with Psylocke, Mystique, Fantomex and Sabretooth... with some other as yet to be revealed mutants. It's like a Brotherhood of Mutants team under the X-men banner. I will definitely check this one out.

Venom: Spaceknight #1 - I doubt this book will last. Despite the popularity of the character, a Venom-centric book has never been a big hit. I do like the reinvention of the character with host Flash Thompson. Instead of a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, this is apparently continuing his space adventures since joining the Guardians of the Galaxy. But what's this "spacknight" thing? Is that like Rom the Spaceknight? It might be interesting, but I have my doubts about the book's future. I will give it a once-over however.

The Vision #1 - Remember how I said I was never a Scarlet Witch fan? The same applies to Vision. The two of them made an awful soap opera storyline for so long... I hated the Avengers for years because of them. 

So yeah. I will have some new Marvel comics to check out and will avoid DC like the plague.  Time will tell whether this will improve the Marvel Universe, or make it more convoluted, or have no effect at all. I'm just glad they haven't gone the New 52 route and rebooted everything. I think at that point I just would have been done with comics... except indies. Come to think of it, I should check out indie books more often. Valiant's been looking pretty good lately. 

Until next time, Stay Strange!

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

Top 10 Least Likely to be made Marvel Movies We Want to See!

Jonny Prophet has sent me a list of his Top 10 'Unlikely to be Made' Marvel Movies. I added my italicized thoughts to each one.

1. Joe Fix-It & Patch (it's like a mob movie with Hulk and Wolverine) (Probably not, unless Fox decides they no longer like money)

2. Squirrel-Girl (I would say, given the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, it is possible. I guess we will have to see how Deadpool does to get a feel for how oddball superhero movies can do. Though her origin would have to change as she's supposed to be a mutant.)

3. The Invaders (Need Namor for Invaders to work. Personally I would save it for when Disney inevitably reboots the Marvel movie-verse.)

4. Starfox (its like Entourage in space!)  (Yeah, doubtful. And who would be his entourage? Please tell me Pip the Troll is part of his entourage!)

5. The Midnight Sons (Actually, I think this one is very likely to happen. Marvel owns Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider and Blade so all the necessary parts are there. Plus, it's a mini-Avengers type of film.)

6. Giant Size Man-Thing (Don't we all want a Giant Size Man-Thing?)

7. Eternals (It's possible, but they are way too obscure. Seriously, I am having trouble naming any beyond Thanos, Starfox and Mentor!)

8. Doc Samson (You just want to see Phil Dunphy with green hair and super powers. So do I. We can maybe get in in an Agents of S.M.A.S.H. movie... as dumb as that sounds.)

9. Dazzler (set in the 1970's or in the Mojoverse) (I doubt it, since we just had our "70's" X-men movie. Though in the released photo of Jean Grey and Jubilee, notice that Jubilee is wearing a "Light Brigade" shirt! Interesting... I would persoanlly like a Chris Claremont themed X-men movie, true to the line-ups and story telling. I would love a Mojoverse movie too!)

10. Squadron Supreme (it would be like a darker Justice League movie) (Could actually happen, but they would have to follow the MAX version for both a good story and to try to distance itself from being a straight JL rip-off. although, by the looks of things, Zack Snyder is already making a "darker" Justice League movie. *cringe*)

As for me, my Top 8 unlikely Marvel Movies would look something like this:

1. Runaways - I've heard rumors that this could happen, even some casting rumors. However, my hopes are for a story faithful to Brian K. Vaughn's amazing run with no stupidity. That's probably the most unlikely part.

2. New Warriors - I'm talking the original six members of Marvel Boy (Justice), Speedball, Firestar, Namorita, Nova and ghetto Batman... er, I mean Night Thrasher. Could Marvel make this movie? I think so. They might have to change Namorita's name. The real probalem is that if they wanted to make a superhero team about a younger team, wouldn't they just make the currently more well known Young Avengers? Hell, it has the name Avengers in it... that's practically a done deal right there. Oh well. Young Avengers was good too... though much of the team's backstory would have to be changed (Hulkling has no Skrull genetics... Wiccan and Speed are made by Scarlet Witch as love children of her and Vision... a relationship that hasn't even happened yet... huh. Hey, whatever gets us closer to having Kang on film, right?)

3. Annihilation - More of a storyline than a super hero storyline, it involved virtually every inch of Marvel's space universe when a massive army from the Negative Zone (owned by Fox) led by Annihilus (also Fox) lays waste Xandar, home of the Novas, to various space empires like the Skrulls (again, Fox) before being stopped by the likes of Nova, Star-Lord, Silver Surfer (Fox), Super-Skrull (Fox) and Galactus (hey, what do you know? Owned by Fox). So unless they plan to do a half-assed version of the story, which would make me cry, I don't think they'll bother.

4. Exiles - Could it happen? Yes, through Fox. Should it happen? Absolutely not. Let's keep time out of our mutants, please. Unless the rest of the Marvel Universe can take part, it will make no sense and suck.

5. Agents of Atlas - It's an obscure team of people you've never heard of that originally operated in the 1950's... and it would rule! The team has all kinds of sci-fi influenced characters like M-11, an unstoppable robot, Gorilla Man, a gorilla man... duh, a young man from Venus and even an Atlantean woman. They would fight the forces of The Yellow Claw. It would never happen, but damn I would love it!

6. Avengers: 1950's - Sort of like Agents of Atlas, it was a non-cannon team of super beings brought together by Nick Fury (the white one from World War II) that included monster-hunter Ulysses Bloodstone, Kraven the Hunter, Silver Sable (the father of the woman from the Spider-man books) and most interestingly... Sabretooth! While Agents of Atlas could happen, this one can't unless they remove Sabretooth from the line-up... and at that point, why bother?

7. Brute Force - Animals with cybernetic attachments that can talk and fight crime against those that harm animals... COME ON! Hell, give us a Big Hero 6 style movie of them. I would watch!

8. Nextwave - Warren Ellis' deranged take on the super hero team would be awesome on film. Unfortunately, Marvel doesn't have rights to Tabitha Smith (she is a mutant so she is owned by Fox) but you could make a new character to fill her absence. Marvel owns the others... The Captain, Aaron Stack the Machine Man, Monica Rambeau, Elsa Bloodstone. I want to see them fight the forces of H.A.T.E. dammit! The movie would be on par with Guardians of the Galaxy as far as humor.

That's all I have for now... I might add more later.  Until next time, Stay Strange!

Toaster's Ramblings - Marvel Cancels the Fantastic Four Edition

By now, those of us in the geek world are well aware that Marvel Comics has cancelled their Fantastic Four book. The reasoning for this seems to be causing a bit of a stir. While the book sales have been low, they weren't as low as some other books in Marvel's line-up. This has lead many to speculate that Marvel, under the command of their mouse-eared overlords, are trying to stick it to Fox, which owns the movies rights to the Fantastic Four.

For those unclear of this whole situation, back in the 90's, Marvel Comics was in a bad way. Staring down the barrel of bankruptcy, those in charge began selling the movie rights to some of it's bigger properties such as Spider-man, the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Ghost Rider, Daredevil, and the X-men. Why the Avengers were not a part of that sell-off I don't know; perhaps Marvel wanted to keep a piece of the puzzle for themselves or maybe the Avengers were just not that popular in the 90's... which they weren't. Seriously, the 90's were all about the X-men. Granted, if popularity was an issue, then I have no idea why Namor the Submariner was sold... that guy hasn't been popular since the 40's!

So fast forward to the present and Marvel is owned by Disney and making a butt-load of money off of what properties they do possess. While they have gotten back some of their character's movie rights, there are three major successful holdouts. Sony still possesses Spider-man (though there have been rumors that they have been negotiating with Disney to have the Webslinger cross over into the Marvel film universe... I hope that's true) and Fox still owns the rights to both the X-men and the Fantastic Four. Thanks to the success of the sort-of reboot Days of Future Past film from this past summer, the X-men don't seem to be leaving Fox anytime soon. However, the Fantastic Four is another story entirely.

Fox has been down the Fantastic Four movie road before, making two movies in the past decade that... well... sucked. They weren't without their plusses (as I have mentioned before, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans were great as Thing and Human Torch), but compared to other comic book movies of the time (X-men 2, Batman Begins, Spider-man 2) they were definitely subpar. Now Fox is trying again for a reboot, this time creating the assumption that failure will bring with it their surrender of the film rights back to Marvel. Marvel of course wants this as the Fantastic Four are one of their biggest franchises, having driven their success by bridging the gap between the sci-fi popularity of the 50's and the superhero boom of the 60's. Plus, the Fantastic Four movie rights bring with it characters such as Silver Surfer, Galactus and Doctor Doom (and maybe the Skrull alien race, Annihilus and everything Negative Zone related... not sure about those though).

So getting back to my original point, the big rumor is that Marvel Comics has cancelled their Fantastic Four book to try to stick it to Fox, as not to advertise for them I guess. However, I have a problem with this rumor. It doesn't really make sense when you think about it. Comic book movies tend to bring attention to the comic. Proof of that can be seen in the resurgence of Iron Man's popularity after the 2008 film, the huge influx of Avengers books after the movie did phenomenally and the skyrocketed price of the original Days of Future Past issues from the Uncanny X-Men.

In general, comic books have far less readers than those who go to the theaters to see their film adaptations. From what I've heard, the Fantastic Four was recently only selling around 30,000 books a month, not great numbers. However, unless the rebooted Fantastic Four is a colossal, legendary flop, they are bound to get more than 30,000 people to buy tickets to see it. Frankly, I doubt it could flop on that level considering that the 're-imagined' origins and all around mystery surrounding the film is bound to create some curiosity from the masses. (That said, I wonder if the curious moviegoers would largely be comic book fans themselves as the casual viewer, those that really make or break the success of a subsequent film adaptation, would likely not care about revamped origins and such.) While the film may be at serious risk of not making enough of a profit after budget expenses, the movie is more than likely going to get more viewers than the comic book had buyers. Therefore, cancelling the Fantastic Four comic book would only really be hurting Marvel. I mean, they already don't advertise their character movies produced by Sony or Fox.

Now I am inclined to boycott the new Fantastic Four movie as I would rather the rights revert to Marvel... a company that I think could actually make a good adaptation of the franchise. Plus, it seems weird to have their movie space universe without Silver Surfer or Galactus. However, I do like the actors Fox and director Josh Trank have chosen for their reboot. I don't know if I like them as the Fantastic Four characters, but I think Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell are all great actors in their own right. I also thought Trank did a good job directing Chronicle. I don't want them to fail, but at the same time the reboot sounds dumb (the Fantastic Four aren't explorers but government weapons?) and I think those involved will be just fine even if it does flop.

Is there truth to the rumor that Marvel has cancelled the Fantastic Four as a protest of Fox rebooting the on-screen franchise? Maybe. It was recently revealed in an interview with Chris Claremont that those writing the X-Men books are banned from creating new characters as it will give Fox film rights to those new characters. But Marvel knows better than to cancel their mutant books as it makes up a large sum of their sales. Perhaps one of Marvel's higher ups wanted to feel like the company had some power against Fox and that cancelling the Fantastic Four book might, however small, do some damage to the reboot and therefore be worth it.

Personally, I think Marvel cancelled the book because of poor sales and the hope that by creating a buzz around the cancellation, maybe interest can be rekindled in a property that in recent decades has struggled to maintain an audience. It worked when they "killed" Johnny Storm a few years back, so maybe by eliminating the entire team (not killing the characters mind you, just disbanding the team) they can do their own reboot of the book and gain a new following. That makes a lot more sense to me than Marvel cutting off it's nose to spite it's face. 

Hey! I Saw Some More Movies - Neighbors, Godzilla, X-Men: Days of Future Past

Ugh... I've been under the weather, so these reviews are a lot later than I would have liked.

Neighbors

Neighbors was a pretty funny movie. It started kind of slow but once it found it's groove, it was pretty hilarious. Interestingly, though Neighbors is another in a long line of raunchy comedies, unlike most it has heart. There are real themes about what it means to grow up both from the perspective of the fun-loving college kid and the young parent that still wants to be cool.

So Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are parents to a baby girl and stuck in that phase I like to call "baby jail" where-in the parents are seemingly imprisoned by having to take constant care of their child. New neighbors move in next door in the form of a fraternity led by Zac Efron and Dave Franco. Rogen and Byrne decide to introduce themselves to the college kids in the hopes that they can curb any rowdiness and loud music that might disturb their baby. They end up hitting it off with the fraternity. But their relationship goes sour when, unable to reach Efron's character to ask the music to be turned down, they call the police. The situation devolves from there into a prank war.

One problem that Neighbors runs into is the same problem that any college comedy encounters... living in the shadow of Animal House. It's not anybody's fault, but regardless of how good the movie is, be it Van Wilder, PCU or Old School, it more than likely pales in comparison to the John Landis classic. Beyond that, I'm sure one can nitpick a lot about Neighbors, but in a raunchy comedy, I try not to expect too much. As far as I'm concerned, if a comedy can consistently make me laugh, as Neighbors did, then mission accomplished.

I want to point out something that helps set this movie apart from many other raunchy comedies. With the help of Seth Rogen's real life spouse Lauren Miller, the part that Rose Byrne would eventually was changed. Originally the part had Rogen's on-screen wife be the stereotypical nagging wife. But after some revisions, Byrne's character seemed more equal to Rogen. She wanted to have fun just like him and as a result, their relation reflected the mutual respect and adoration they had for one another. It was actually really refreshing and I give major props to those involved for making those changes.

Neighbors has a real heart behind it's raunchiness, though. You have this interesting dichotomy where Rogen and Byrne try to keep their youth alive by sharing the antics and fun lifestyle that the frat boys have, but inevitably have to come to terms with their adult lives as parents. On the flip-side, Efron has spent most of his time at college having fun and not focusing on his grades. Now that he is staring down the barrel of graduation and the knowledge that afterward his amazing life and status within the fraternity will cease, he clings to Rogen's character as an example of how even grown ups can still be cool. When Rogen calls the cops Efron both feels betrayed and disillusioned, and takes out his fears and frustrations on the couple next door. That's pretty deep for a movie with penis jokes.

Overall, I liked Neighbors. I didn't like it as much as some of the other Goldberg/Rogen films like Superbad, Pineapple Express and This is the End, but it was pretty funny and worth the matinee ticket I paid to see it.

Godzilla

I don't have much to say about this new Godzilla flick. The lizard was fat... it didn't seem as bad on the screen, but the various toys representing this new Godzilla make him look like he ate Rodan.  The movie was enjoyable, far from perfect, but a hell of a lot better than that Roland Emmerich crap from 1998. Although, I did like the Taco Bell tie-in commercials:

(apparently someone spliced new footage to make an update of that first ad)

 

Most of the criticism I have heard of the Gareth Edwards Godzilla movie concerns the human characters. I will admit their plot was kind of weak, feeling more like observers in Cloverfield trying to survive than active participants in the plot. But I need to point out that the human subplots in any Godzilla movie are crap! Nobody has ever sat through a Kaiju movie for the humans, it's always about the monsters! Seriously, as a kid I would basically sit through 80 minutes of boring human subplots to get to the 10 minutes of people in rubber monster suits fighting and smashing models. Honestly, I thought the human subplots involving Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson (or as I like to refer to her as... "The Talented Olson") were better than the others I have seen. (If only Raymond Burr was still alive). But to read some reviews that talk about how much more interesting Matthew Broderick's character was in that terrible 1998 movie, that's just insulting. Everyone sucked in that movie except Jean Reno, because regardless of how bad a movie he is in, Reno gets a pass for Leon the Professional. (Granted, if he were to star in White Chicks 2, I would be forced to revoke that pass.)

My biggest complaints concern how little we saw of Godzilla until the very end (although the end was awesome). We have a slow build to him, with short glimpses here and there, which would have been more rewarding if everyone sitting in the audience had no idea who Godzilla was and what he was capable of. I did like that there were two other monsters for Godzilla to fight, which was admittedly more fulfilling than having the King of the Monsters fight humans with futile weapons. But it was so frustrating that everytime Godzilla started to fight one, we would cut to something else human related. That was my biggest complaint.

However, I paid to see monsters fight and in the end, that's what I saw. Toward the climax, we got to see Godzilla go balls to the wall fighting both the other monsters at once and leveling much of San Francisco in the process. During that fight, the movie achieved the one thing I had demanded of it, or else it would not have been a Godzilla movie. In 1998's Godzilla, the monster DIDN'T BREATHE FIRE! The trailer tricked us into thinking it did with the breath from it's roar kicking up a burning helicopter, but that was a lie. The Godzilla I knew would light up it's spiky fins and breathe blue atomic fire at it's enemies... and by damned that's just what we got in this Gareth Edwards movie! In the end, I was pleased enough with what we got, which was finally the Hollywood version of Godzilla that was faithful to the Toho films I grew up watching!

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Okay, so in lieu of a regular review for the newest X-Men movie, I am doing a list of ten things I liked and 10 things I didn't like (or were kind of weird).

10 Things I Liked About X-Men: Days of Future Past

1. I am happy X-Men: Days of Future Past wasn't the train wreck it could have been. I said the same thing about First Class and like with that movie, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the new one. For a movie concerning time travel, the plot mostly made sense.

2. I give mad props to Bryan Singer and the casting department for having Peter Dinklage play the part of Bolivar Trask, not because Trask was supposed to be a little person (the Marvel Database says he is supposed to be 5' 10") but because Dinklage is a great actor. It's extremely rare for a little person to get a role for any reason other than the character needing to be small, so this is a pretty amazing thing. Hell, there wasn't even a mention of Trask being small in the film, he was just treated as the character. That, and he had an incredible moustache. The 70's really were a great time to have a moustache.

3. The dystopian future scenes were used really well. I thought it would have been a five minute scene at the beginning of the movie and it was done, but no... it was a recurring segment that helped create tension throughout the film (and especially toward the climax). Also, it made pretty good use of the characters. We didn't learn about the newcomers to the franchise (Bishop, Sunspot, Blink and Warpath) but we saw their powers in action.

4. The Nimrod Sentinels were awesome. They were like creepy futuristic evolving Destroyers... you know, like that thing from the first Thor movie?

5. Blink. Yeah, I know I already mentioned her, but she was cool in the movie and she's one of my favorite Marvel characters. They did a great job showing her teleportation powers.

6. It was great to see the old X-men again. Beyond Xavier and Magneto, we get to see Storm, Shadowcat, Iceman, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast and Rogue... for a second, but Rogue nonetheless. I will also compliment Kelsey Grammer for sitting in makeup for what must have been hours just to appear on screen for literally 3 seconds!

7. Quicksilver was great. They clearly amped up his speed to Flash levels, but his character was perfect. That one segment set to Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" was one of the best of the entire film.

8. It was nice to see them actually use Ellen Page. It seemed like she was barely in The Last Stand. Later on, Jonny Prophet and I were watching the disturbing movie Hard Candy, and marveled at her performance (made all the more impactful that only she and Patrick Wilson were the on screen characters for about 95% of the movie). We both surmised that Ellen Page was tragically underutilized in X-Men 3. Thankfully in Days of Future Past she got a pretty important role.

9. Days of Future Past pretty much ret-conned The Last Stand from continuity! No more vaporized Xavier! No more Morlocks with wrong powers like Psylocke. No writing out Cyclops! No having Angel in the cast for no reason at all! No Dark Phoenix being a dumb psychic split personality! It makes me so happy! (I wonder if it also fixes the crap from X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Deadpool deserved better, dammit!)

10. Michael Fassbender.

10 Things I Disliked About X-Men: Days of Future Past (or were just weird)

1. So we learn that Bolivar Trask captured and killed several of the characters introduced in First Class in order to perfect his Sentinels. These characters are Azazel (okay, red Nightcrawler isn't a big loss), Riptide (aka the Hellfire Club guy nobody can remember the name of), Angel Salvatore (I liked Zoe Kravitz's character and was hoping that the X-men would have to face her since she went bad, but I guess it's not a huge deal since they're already doing that with Mystique), Banshee (WHAT?) and White Queen (THE FUCK?!?) Part of me can let Banshee go. His character is long dead in the comics and the actor who played him wasn't even Irish (one of my complaints of First Class), but Emma Frost is dead? She is actually a huge part of the X-men-verse and the Marvel Universe! Beyond her involvement in the Hellfire Club, she led her own young mutant team called The Hellions, co-led another in Generation X (with Banshee no less), became the Head-Mistress of the Xavier School, was a member of the Dark Illuminati and has been a major player in the Marvel Now (post Avengers vs X-Men) mutant books. But no, I guess the films have no use for this interesting fan favorite character. If things didn't work out with January Jones, fine, but you can recast! Frickin' stupid!

2. How the hell did Charles Xavier get his body back? Up until the end, everything that led to the dystopian future followed the movie path, meaning Xavier's body was still vaporized by "Phoenix" Jean Grey. Yet in the future, he's all Patrick Stewart. What the fuck, movie? Yes, I have heard the theory of Xavier having a perpetually comatose twin, but that's just about the most convenient bullshit I have ever heard.

3. Wait, so John F. Kennedy was a mutant? What was his power? Sexual Persuasion? Wait a minute... what if during his famous speech in Germany, he revealed himself as a mutant by declaring he could become "a jelly donut" at will!

4. You know, there's a missed opportunity here. What if instead of the Angel Salvatore character in First Class, they had used Warren Worthington III as Angel? Now let's say he reprised his role in Days of Future Past, but was seemingly killed at some point? The next movie is Apocalypse... wouldn't it have been bad ass to have Archangel debut as the Horseman of Death? (Of course, since the Zoe Kravitz's Angel is dead, what if she were resurrected by Apocalypse with metal wings as a female Archangel? That would actually be awesome!)

5. Since when does Kitty Pride (Shadowcat) have the power to send a human consciousness back in time? That could actually be explained with the "secondary mutation" thing. The same way Emma Frost could turn to diamonds, some mutants gained another power... for some reason. Kitty Pride could actually be given that power in the comics, thus rendering this whole argument moot. However, that would just be silly.

6. I am a little sad that Days of Future Past moved the franchise back toward Bryan Singer's X-Universe. It makes me wonder what might have been if First Class had stayed course. You had a team of X-Men having to cope with loss and betrayal after the Cuban showdown. You had Magneto (for the first time on film actually looking like classic Magneto) with his Brotherhood of Mutants running amok. You had a whole new world of mutants both good and bad to explore in the awesome setting of the mid to late 1960's. I mean, I would have loved to have seen the influence of the "Summer of Love" and hippies on the exploits of the X-men. First Class had such a unique feel unlike any of the other X-men films and while Days of Future Past tried to bring about the 70's in the same way, it wasn't quite the same.

7. I didn't really get why so many students and teachers of the Xavier Institute were drafted into the Vietnam War. The draft wasn't that all encompassing. It wasn't like World War II where there were so few working age men left that women had to run the factories. It wasn't like the American Civil War where all able-bodied men would be drafted from a town. Draft ages are typically 18-25, so why were the teachers drafted? Also, I thought there were exemptions for students (I could be wrong about that). Also, seeing Havok there made me wonder why America wouldn't have done better? Screw Agent Orange and napalm, that guy can clear a jungle with one energy blast! Granted, the movie made it seem that Havok and his fellow mutants kept their powers on the down-low for fear of bad government stuff happening to them. That just seems weird though. The US government knows they have mutants living among the humans, you'd think they want them to fight for America with their gifts! Come to think of it, the X-men started as a government funded operation in First Class. You'd think the US Military would love to get their hands on mutants to be their new weapons.

8. Okay, so now we've had the 3rd actor to play Colonel William Stryker? I get not using Brain Cox, he looks too old. Why not use Danny Huston again? I doubt he's doing much. Plus, his appearances in X-Men Origins Wolverine started right around the time of DOFP and into the 80's. Maybe he just aged really badly.

9. In speaking of aging badly, what the hell happens to James McAvoy in between DOFP and the 1981 flashback of Xavier and Magneto visiting a young Jean Grey? The dude lost all his hair and aged considerably! He looks like a completely different guy! (See what I did there? Yeah.)

10. So Hank McCoy created an anti X-gene serum that in addition to temporarily deactivating the X-gene, had the strange side effect of curing spinal injuries? That's just weird, but I thought it even weirder at the end when McCoy took several syringes worth of the serum to temporarily 'deactivate' his X-gene to avoid being targeted by a sentinel. I don't see that working so quickly and effectively. It's not like a switch in your brain, DNA runs through every cell of the body. Think about how long it takes for aspirin to take effect, you think an increased number of shots of the serum will speed things up?

In the end, I did enjoy X-Men: Days of Future Past. My expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised and despite my complaints, the negatives didn't outweigh the positives for me.

So will Channing Tatum have to grow out his hair to play Gambit or will he wear a wig?