noblenonsense's Blog

Comic Book movies

(Thu 12/28/2006 02:58pm)
Some people have preliminary questions to ask potential friends. "Cubs or White Sox?" "Favorite Shakespeare play?" "Love or hate Neil Diamond" "Creamy or crunchy peanut butter". For the record: Cubs, Hamlet, like him, and creamy.

Batman:
My question for potential friends, or what have you, has always been "Favorite Batman". I used this question until Batman Begins came to theatres. Why? Because for the first time the story actually FOCUSED on Bruce Wayne/Batman as he progressed. If anyone said Val Kilmer I stopped being their friend. "Really?! You're picking a blonde guy to portray the Dark Knight? The same guy who has a MAN for his boy side kick and battles Jim Carrey as The Riddler?!" If they chose George Clooney I gave them a free ride. It wasn't the best answer but it was all about circumstances. Forget the whole Nightwing ripoff while the name of the movie is Batman and Robin. Ignore the fact that he had bat-nipples (whoever thought of that should never be hired in Hollywood again). Try and disregard Arnold as Dr. Freeze. Clooney fit the persona of a playboy livin' Bruce Wayne. For that it works.

The right answer? Michael Keaton. Yes he's not the best build for Batman. He's not a major athlete. He doesn't have a dark broodsome voice. But by God he had the menacing demeanor and the brooding playboy down. It was the pivotal "dark" comic book movie. The sequel, as weird as it was, continued the work. Unfortunately the four Batman movies from the 80's and 90's were about something else, the villains. NONE of the characters could do what Jack Nicholson did as the Joker. He brought to life the cheesey, homicidal, and crazy Joker that has been portrayed in both the comic books and cartoons.

Batman Begins upped the anty though. A story about the origin just seemed nutty to everyone. We all know Batman dangit!!! But it worked really well. It brought the character to the forefront and it was well done.

Superman:
I desired three things for Christmas: left-handed acoustic guitar, Gears of War, and the Complete Collection of Superman.

Two out of the three isn't bad by any means. Especially when you can now play the theme song for the 90's Spider-Man cartoon on a guitar (take that Hendrix!).

I love Superman. In every shape and form. From the 90's cartoon that evolved into Justice League and later Justice League Unlimited (seriously...it was great...why cancel it?), Lois and Clark, Smallville, to all the movies. I can't stand the comic book version though. Why hasn't a writer depowered him for like a looooooong time? If they don't fix that then in a short time people won't be able to connect with him. Alas thats a tangent.

Now I've not been able to see the Richard Donner cut of Superman II but I've heard great things. I liked the first two. Three and four...ehh a bit shady but it had Superman! As a kid watching those you didn't care about plot devices or characterization or cheesiness.

Enter Superman Returns. Fans are widely separated on this movie. As well as reviewers/critics. We all picked up the Christianity references, Lex using pretty much the same "plot", and some of the creepiness of him checking up on Lois. But in reality it was a segway movie. Showed respect to Donner's work and the previous films and in my eyes it proved that Brandon Routh is the next Superman. I look forward to the next one.

Blade:
This will be short. I loved the first two. These two probably pushed for more attention to comic book movies. They had a trendy, pulp attitude about them. It was like Marvel wanted a cult classic movie. Unfortunately the third became mainly a a popcorn movie.

Spider-Man:
Some creative changes HAD to happen for these movies to work. Organic webbing, although not originally placed with the character, made more sense for these movies. The first relied on the origin, the build up, and the fight. Basically it was origin plus talking. The second though increased the drama and threw in more action to wet the lips. The third promises to have even more drama and even more action.

I doubt it can do wrong, though it could, and it better not.

X-Men:
Some didn't care for the first but I did. Not only did I have my first "real date" going to see this movie but I also got to see my favorite comic book team come to life. Sure I would love a reimagining of the X-Men. For instance, recruit younger actors and do a founding of the X-Men. But I understand why the need to place Wolverine at front, seeing as he is the most known of the X-Men. With that I enjoyed the first film. X2 though was even better, minus the missing Cyclops for a good 2/3 of the movie.

X3 was just blasphemy to an X-Men comic book fan. Killing Cyclops, Jean, and Xavier? Rogue giving up her abilities? Storm being a crap leader? Just overall badness for a fan, average person not so much.

And lastly...(though I could go on; Punisher, Hulk, V for Vendetta, The League, Hellboy, etc)

Fantastic Four:
Based on the first movie I saw this as a horrible excuse for a movie. Creative differences is one thing but completely screwing it up is another. Doom absorbing metal and control over what..electricity? Complete crap. Ian Gruffold and Jessica Alba have little chemistry on screen. I mean ones not that attractive and the other is on fire. The only saving point was Chris Evans and Michael Chilkis as their roles. Two good casting jobs.

I was real quick to write off the future film until I saw the trailer. Although I haven't completely turned 180 on my opinion of it, I've moved my opinion atleast 45 degrees and am now hopeful. If the entire movie can be darker then it may turn out to be an enormous success.

Until next time fanboys and fangirls...BANG! 

FF2: Rise of the Silver Surfer Trailer

(Tue 12/26/2006 09:23pm)
http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/fantasticfourriseofthesilversurfer/large.html

Thats the trailer for FF2.

Personal view:
Loved it. Silver Surfer looks badass.

Religion in Comics

(Fri 12/22/2006 11:58am)
The idea was inspired by the recent "frenzy" on Wolverine #49 review. To be honest that issue doesn't deserve any real frenzy other than to be noted that the writers of Wolverine are lacking in a decent potrayal of an oversaturated character. He regained his memory folks! Write more about it! We would love to hear more. Alas, the frenzy deals with religion.

I was brought up with the belief that people should not talk in good company about politics and religion. Even a slight slam on the current administration at the dinner table with my straight ticket Democrat voting grandfather will garnish a quick but disgruntled look followed by "that's enough!" On another tangent I once blew my nose at the table and had to eat in the kitchen for the rest of Thanksgiving.

But religion is a touchy subject. So I'm putting out my entire bias out there before I get into it. My fathers Methodist, mothers agnostic (her mother died when she was 13...so I don't blame her), and my sister was agnostic but now Methodist. Me? Atheist up until four years ago. My best friend is atheist. I converted to Roman Catholicism.

The idea behind finding your faith is extremely personal and spiritual. Some people really FEEL the calling to their spiritual side, as did I. Some find their faith out of habit. Some out of a sense of duty to family or loved ones. I'm not judging WHY people go to church or what their reasons are for it but some times you just don't know. It's okay to be atheist, some sect of Christianity/Judaism/Islam, Hindu, etc. I'm not giving my okay or want it to sound like I'm giving approval or being condescending. Just noting an observance that being atheist, Islamic, Buddhist, Protestant, Orthodox, long list of other religious beliefs, works for different people and I respect it. Lot of people have issues with the paradigms in Christianity. How can some sects do interpretation while others are literal? If they are doing the literal then just existing is a paradigm and a complex mess of hatred. Its a mess and trying to find a point in it all without sounding harsh or critical sucks. So in general I go by what was taught to me: be respectul, listen, and learn.

Now apply all the mess of religious debate to the comic world. Yeah...not fun. After 9/11 I really wanted to see Captain America (I'm guessing a Protestant based character...my assumption) team up with the Arabian Knight so they could do some sort of unity between religious/cultural beliefs against violence. Didn't happen. Would've been a good one folks.

Comic writers, editors, etc. address real life issues and on occassion bring up the issues of religion and politics. In most cases the political mindset can be easily viewed or interpretated. Religion not so much for the big 2 publishers. People, in this age atleast, are more vocal about their political views. It's the norm. So thats reflected in comics. But religion...well thats not always thrown out there. I mean its hard to do that. Look in Marvel Universe. You've got cosmic beings, demons, mutants, super powered humans, and gods of all different origins. A bit hard to have a set of religious beliefs there. Though you could make a comparison to Creed and the Friends of Humanity and their killing of mutants to extremist Christians that have attacked and the killing of homosexuals (or for those uptight, uber sensitive Christians reading this....the Islamists who attack women that are not wearing their full clothing). But thats an interpretation. Which is really common for X-Men. Much praise for their creation to show aspects of society.

If you go to wikipedia (or www.marveldatabase.com) and type in say....Hawkeye. You won't get his religious affiliation. I don't know and or care what he is. In fact the only two people I know for certain their religious beliefs are is The Thing and Kitty Pryde. Both Jewish. Which come to think of it The Thing being Jewish makes sense in a comparison to the legend of the Golum. I doubt that was the intention though.

But I guess the main reason for this post is this question: Should writers address religion in comics?
I guess I'm mixed on this. I mean to some degree I want to know that my favored characters have some sort of spiritual side. Except I think it would be hard to have a religious belief in said universe. I know it can easily be argued that it could change my opinion of the character if I knew their religious affiliation. But in reality it really hasn't. I still like Thing. Doesn't bug me at all that his religion is different than mine. He saves the world who cares if he's not my denomination of Christianity?! Kitty Pryde is still my third favorite X-Man.

But I can see the argument. Would Iron Man being a Scientologist change my mind about him? Yes...I'd like him less...which is hard because I like him very little at the moment.

I think religion in comics can be done REALLY well and for the most part interesting enough. But to be an active reader it almost requires people to be open minded when they read. Readers need to understand that their belief isn't the only one in the world and someone else thinks THEIR belief system is right. If you can step outside of that for a moment then its all gravy. I mean The Preacher dealt with religion but wow...what a great read.

As always I love hearing other peoples opinions. And if Kurt reads this...I think the topic would make a great comicscape piece. Even though you try to keep your beliefs (political and/or religious) private it'd make an interesting column.

Until next time fanboys and fangirls...BANG!

XMas Facts

(Thu 12/21/2006 10:16am)
To those that are Jewish, Buddhist, Atheists, Agnostics, Muslim, Scientologists, and Mormon, I'm sorry but I don't practice your seasonal holidays. To be fair I don't practice Kwanzaa either...because I've no idea if a Catholic Irish American is allowed. If I am then sweet Jesus add another holiday to my calendar!

Since it's the season I thought I would throw out some random Christmas facts that you may or may not know:

-Saint Nicholas' birthday is December 6 and that day is traditionally celebrated by giving gifts to children. Dutch colloquials interpretation of his name is "Sinter Klaas" and when the Dutch came to America they brought the name. Instead of interpreting the English settlers transformed it into Santa Claus.

-The Gregorian calendar has 11 fewer days than the Julian calendar which is still used in many parts of the world. This explains why most of the western world (that which was influenced by Roman Catholicism, including Protestantism) celebrates Christmas on December 25 and Eastern Orthodox (and Armenian Christians) on January 6th and 7th.

-Jesus was not born in a wooden stable. He was born in a cave. Common nativity scenes place him in a wooden nativity are merely the Americanized version not the biblical version.

-December 25th was chosen for Jesus' birth due to a Jewish tradition. In the Jewish tradition, that was picked up by Christians, it was believed that when a prophet died they died on the day they were either born or conceived. Early Christians deduced that Jesus was crucified on March 25th, and 9 months later has him born on December 25.

-Male reindeer lose their horns in the winter. Santa's reindeers must either be all women or purely magical. I'd imagine magical since they fly.

-Most traditional (alive) Christmas trees are edible. Pine needles are high in fiber and vitamin c.

-The idea of Santa's elves and reindeer are due to a Celtic mythology of "nature folk" who assist in the Yule celebration. The reindeer are associated with a Celtic god.

-December 26, Saint Stephen's Day, is commonly referred to as Boxing Day in Canada and the U.K. The reason for the name is that money is collected in alms-boxes throughout the holiday season. On Saint Stephen's Day the money from the boxes is distributed to the poor (in food or monetary donations).

-In Scotland Christmas is downplayed. The Prebytirian Church sees the holiday as "Papist" or Catholic. (Note: If you actually check your facts you'd know that the Presbytirian Chruch actually killed/tortured more people in their Inquisition than the Spanish and Italian Inquisitions. Take that Calvin!)

-Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is based on the fact that reindeers CAN have red noses. This is due to sickness or a sunburn.

-Using XMas is not seen as being irreligious. In fact it was common to use the X in place of Christ in most cases. Almost all Christian churches support the use of "XMas" because of the roots to the cross.

And to finish off my Christmas Fact list...my top five favorite Christmas movies:

(Special nod to Scrooged with Bill Murray and to A Christmas Story which was shot in my home state of Indiana)

5) Home Alone. I LOVED this movie growing up. Culkin had a great performance and the work of Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as Harry and Marv was well played.
4) Santa Claus The Movie. This Dudley Moore and John Lithgow movie may be old but it still gets me every year. Candy canes that make you fly? Best movie that addresses the origins of Santa.
3) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (both oddly enough). Okay so a lot of people hated the live action version. I liked it for what its worth. Jim Carrey to me was the PERFECT person to be cast as the Grinch. Every time I see the part where he is the taste tester cracks me up. "7pm dinner with myself. I just can't cancel that. 8pm lay awake in bed crying myself to sleep. That's a must." And the cartoon, although REALLY short, is still a classic movie for everyone. Boris Karloff, the legend, gives a perfect performance narrating and giving the voice of the Grinch. And who can forget the singing of Thurl Ravenscoft (aka Tony the Tiger) in this cartoon classic? I still sing with the Who's each and every year.
2) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That's right this piece of work is a MUST every year. Chevy Chase brings hit wit from "Fletch" to this piece. Its a work of genius. Chevy Chase+Randy Quad+dog named Snot+giant rant about his boss=Box Office PLATINUM! Yeah...I went there and I'm proud of it.
1) Elf. Before this movie came out my list would've changed a little. NL Christmas Vacation would take number one and Scrooged would be on the list. But...I love this movie. I love this movie with a passion. The first time I saw it I was begged by a couple friends to go with them. The first time Will Farrell goes to talk to the puppet pals my friend leaned over and said "I'm so sorry I made you come to see this". But she was wrong. Classic classic lines come from this movie. "Fransisco......Fransisco............Fransisco...." "CALL ME ELF ONE MORE TIME!" "You're an elf." "He's an angry elf! He must be from the south pole!" "Buddy the Elf what's your favorite color?" "Watch out! The yellow ones don't stop!" "IT'S SANTA!!!!!!!!!!!" "You're not Santa! If you're Santa what did I sing to you on your birthday?" "Uhh Happy Birthday" "Your breathe smells like beef and cheese" "You sit on a throne of lies"

Ahhhh the humor of Will Farrell. Let me know your favorites.

Happy Holidays!

Until next time fanboys and fangirls...BANG!!!

Quick note: Kwanzaa was initially created for African Americans as an "alternative" (this is debated apparently) to holidays of the dominant society (ie Christmas and Channukah). But apparently its okay for everyone to celebrate it. Hmmm.

Glorious Games

(Wed 12/20/2006 11:16am)
The first console that I embraced was the Intellivision. For some reason my parents thought it was a good investment and that my sister and I would enjoy it. Although I spent hours playing the Asteroid knockoff and Masters of the Universe, I really didn't care too much for it.

Enter the NES. Now many people have their favorites for NES but here's a look at mine.

Contra (all of them): I suck at everything Contra. I really do. But I loved the game. I loved getting that spread shot or the long laser. It was common that I would die and steal my partners life. Then I would die.

Mario/Duck Hunt/ All Mario games: I hate Mario. I really do. There are those that are fans of the games and those that aren't. I thought Mario was a major pain. I wasn't all too good at the game. That's probably why. In fact I'm not good at any of those Mario games. It still befuddles me as to WHY people love Mario like they do. I give mad props for Mario 64 but after that it's nothing. I loved Duck Hunt more...except that stupid dog that laughed you.

Pinball: There was this old school pinball game (I think it was for NES anyway) that we (as in parents, kids, neighbors, relatives, etc) would play CONSTANTLY. I think I beat it once.

Tecmo Super Bowl: Best. Sports. Games. Ever. Loved this game even though I was TERRIBLE at it. I was great at the hockey games though. Never knew why.

Who can forget the Sega Genesis? And Playstation? Or even N64?

X-Men: COTA (Children of the Atom)/X-Men: I loved any and all things X-Men...even their fighting games.

Sonic: I NEVER beat this game. Why? Well the no saving thing really put a damper on it.

Street Fighter (all of them): Best. Video Game. EVER. The amount of time playing Street Fighter is enormous. You could meet someone at an arcade that you don't know and play for hours. You could have tournaments. By the way on the tournament route I played with some friends who always chose the good ones, Chun-Li, Ryu, Ken, Dhaalsim, etc. So I would choose Guile. Not my favorite. I won three tournaments in a row and told that I couldn't use him any more. Remember that upside down kick thing he did?! Glorious, glorious move. Not as cool as the ryuken (sp?) though.

Wrestlemania (no idea of the name): This was back in the day with Diesel and Razor Ramone. Ahhhh Diesel and HBK as tag team. Maybe it was Royal Rumble..? I would play this game with my best friend and his brother. The best friend would pick Bret Hart, his brother Owen Hart, and I'd take Boink the Clown or Diesel. Go into a Royal Rumble and just DOMINATE. Good ol' days...

Quick top five favorite N64 games:
1) Mario Kart 64: Never played the original Mario Kart but loved the 64 version. Dueling was a blast.
2) Mario Party: With the Wii being out and all it reminds me of Mario Party. Gather 4 friends and put this game on. Someone is sure to sick a ghost on you...and you will hate them the rest of the day.
3) Mario 64: I wasn't good at this game but the graphics really brought a lot to the industry.
4) Starfox 64: I never beat it but it was hella fun. I was pretty good at the duels as well.
5) Golden Eye 007: Three words: Multiplayer, Stacks, Rocket Launchers. Seriously in the stacks with rocket launchers I was unbeatable.

Current/Next Gen
Gamecube games: Super Smash Bros. is probably the only game I really enjoyed on this system. I know Resident Evil 4 looked great but I couldn't get into it.

PS2: Grand Theft Auto: Loved this game. Unfortunately my PS2 was stolen early on after owning it. Why buy it again?

XBox: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) I and II: I never NEVER wanted to get an XBox. I thought that it was a waste. That is until I visited my best friend at his college. KOTOR looked amazing. You get a lightsaber?!?!?!?! Your actions make you good or evil?!?! SOLD! I think I had four games for this before I sold the system (KOTOR I and II, X-Men Next Dimension, Madden 07).

Nintendo Wii: I don't have this system nor do I want it that much. I think the idea behind the games are universal. The fact that its making it more open to new people is awesome but I like my games pushing the limits in regards to graphics. If Microsoft can pull off what the Wii is doing right now with better graphics...then thats the system I'll want.

PS3: Label me cheap but this system is too expensive. Do I care about Blu-Ray DVDs? NO!

XBox 360: Okay so I became a 360 fan. Although it doesn't offer Street Fighter II as a classic game (I hate you Capcom for this) I still love it. And whats with me not being allowed to play KOTOR I and II on this?!?!?!
Call of Duty 2: Beatifully done. I only wish this game had more levels. It also brings me back to playing Golden Eye (no I never got into Halo).
Elder Scrolls IV: This makes up for KOTOR. Excellent excellent game.

The problem I face with video games is the love for the old games. Sure I think Elder Scrolls IV is awesome and I've bairly scratched the surface of it. But I long for the days of playing Street Fighter, Sonic, and Contra. Although simple as they may be, they were the greatest things in the world. Well thats my walk through memory lane.

Have a game idea for the 360 you could recommend? Gears of War looks good, as does Call of Duty 3, and F.E.A.R.

Until next time fanboys and fangirls...BANG!