The Greater Marvel Universe

A few quick things to note now that I'm decompressing my viewing of Iron Man 2 on Sunday, and the movie was fantastic by the way.

Any minor plot threads that have been left "unresolved" at the end of Iron Man 2, and I can honestly think of none at the moment, were probably left open because they play into the larger Marvel Film Universe.

Marvel is doing something brand new that hasn't been tried before. This company is creating a movie franchise that spans multiple, and unique properties, tying these films together in a consistent and clear universe.

Films so far include Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 2. Coming up next is "Thor." So far they've done a pretty good job tying in these films. Iron Man introduced Nick Fury. The Incredible Hulk had a nice cameo of Tony Stark. Iron Man 2 established that it takes place during the events of The Incredible Hulk and includes a fantastic tease... Stick around until after the credits (you may as well for all films since theaters have its people rush out of the theater the second the film ends so you're not going anywhere for a few minutes anyway).

This may benefit the narrative of this fictionalized universe far better than some of these other comic book franchises have been handled, where the "goal" is a "trilogy" and that's that. If Avengers is a hit (I see no reason why it wouldn't be), I suspect that that least the rest of the decade will be filled with additional Marvel comic book films that will tie directly into new comic films with tons of cameos from already established characters with zero "reboots" of the franchise anytime soon.

This prospect is far more exciting than knowing every few movies they'll just "reboot" Spiderman again.

Is this the last season of Heroes?

I suspect this is it. That was a perfectly fine series finale. Should the show not continue, I'd suggest they change "Chapter Six" to "Epilogue."

After Season 2's nominal disaster (opinion was much lower than season one), they should have sat down and really mapped out the future seasons right then and there. They weren't able to plan out a suitable ending to that season, even though they had ample chance to actually write it ahead of time, with the assumption that they may not make it to the end of the season. They only got 11 episodes in.

Even today, two seasons later, the writing staff still appear to only be pumping out episodes about 4 episodes ahead of one another, with no foresight into what is coming next. This season has been erratic at best, with "twists" that show up as quickly as they're gone (or as quickly as they are ignored).

With that said, I thought that the season's overall plot was a lot more cohesive than I expected. Way better than Volume 3. It was slightly better than Volume 2, but not as good as Volume 4, and doesn't even reach the greatness of Volume 1. I thought that the Carnival was a good idea, however the season was muddled with way too many subplots, and minor plot points that either never started, or appeared to have no foresight to what was going to happen just a few episodes down the road. There was far too much hesitation from the characters, and in turn, the writers.

I liked the concept behind the Carnival, but the execution of the season was pretty poor (mostly due to Claire's subplots this season). I just felt there was absolutely no "art" in the way they handled the show’s story lines, which is sad. It felt as though they just jumbled a few scenes together with no grace at all. Stories that occurred in adjoining episodes that that would have worked perfectly together, were just thrown by the wayside, losing any kind of deeper meaning that they could have.

They've had numerous chances to write out characters last year and this year, though that goes without saying. Every season shows characters complete their character arc, and could promptly ride off into the sunset. Nathan, Hiro (with Ando), Mohinder, Parkman, all could have been written out of the show entirely at the end of last season. Parkman's out, which was provided in one episode this season would have gone down as one of the best exits ever. Nathan's exit made a lot more sense last year compared to the one given to the character this year. Last season it was a shock when his character died, but this season it was lame. It was the kind of lame that makes you wish they had just killed off the character once and for all a while back. For those who kept up with the show, it was almost as lame as D.L.'s exit, entrance, then exit again in a flashback. Those were “perfect outs" for characters were given that were never taken, and unfortunately that meant that the resolutions were poor.

Hiro's silly tumor subplot which appears to have been resolved. This was without resorting to his acceptance of death, which would have made for a good character departure. Instead he healed by his dead mother, in some mental vision. Huh? Parkman, who would have had the *best* character departures in the show's history had he been gunned down when he tricked the person who was controlling his body, "head Sylar," into a showdown with the police.

But anyway, back to Hiro’s brain tumor. In one episode, Hiro, the time traveling character, with his own wacky "brain tumor" sub-plot, sent Mohinder, one of the original cast members, to an insane asylum presumably to keep him safe from the main villain of the season, Samuel. Of course, the writers are on record for not planning more than 4 or so episodes ahead of themselves, so it may not be too much of a stretch to believe they had absolutely no idea how they would resolve him being in the institution when they filmed the episode, though it did make for a "shocking" cliffhanger. Kind of like the fantastic cliffhangers and lame follow-ups written by Russell T Davies for Doctor Who. Mohinder’s addition in "Close to You" and "Pass/Fail" was filler at best, when he was eventually rescued. I'm still not really sure why the writers didn't just send Mohinder "home" when Hiro made him "disappear for a while" - Samuel didn't appear to really pay attention to the outside world beyond a few people (Claire and everyone surrounding her, Emma, and a handful of other 'specials'). Mohinder would likely have been forgotten by Samuel, like a good storyline is forgotten by the writers from time to time. Claire, the perpetual cheerleader of the series, more than probably any previous season, ate up the screen time. And more than probably any previous season, this was a huge detriment to the overall story.

What is sad is that the show is one of (if not the most) pirated shows on the air today. If people watched the show through legal means on HULU or NBC.com (if they failed to catch the initial broadcast), or watched the show during native country's broadcast (for international viewers), the show could probably survive at least one more season.

Unless we can be sure that Tim Kring (or someone more competent in the role) actually maps out 18-22 episodes FROM THE VERY START OF THE SEASON, it's time to end the show right where it ended. Since I don't think that's going to happen, just change "Volume Six" to "Epilogue" and be done with it.

Spider-Man franchise dead, will be rebooted. Others just as cursed?

In a shocking display of incompetent decisions, the powers that be have decided that if they can't get Sam Raimi to direct the 4th installment, that they'll just reboot the franchise and start all over again.

What? Peter back in high school? Another origin story?

I don't need to see a 3rd origin story of Spider-Man. Yep, I said third. I contend that Spider-Man 2 is basically a remake of the first film, rehashing the same themes and villainous behavior as the first film, and actually serves as a fine introduction to the franchise as it turns out the first film *is* unnecessary to watch because the second film does such a good job covering all the plot points that we *don't* see on screen during that film.

Spare us, please. Find a new director. Re-cast the principles if they refuse to work on a 4th film without Raimi. Keep any of the actors who chose to remain in the series. If worse comes to worse, make Spider-Man 4 like a vague sequel/reboot in the vein of Superman Returns. Say what you want about how boring the film was, but it was clever enough to serve as an unconventional reboot since Superman is already Superman. We didn't need to see him launched from Krypton again, or growing up for 50 minutes in Smallville again, or get a job at the Daily Planet again, or meet Lois Lane for the first time, again. It was already done and the film implied that.

I can only imagine that the tedium of seeing Peter Parker go through the motions of high school life, get bit by a radioactive/genetically altered spider, and then grow into his powers will seem, well, sort of unnecessary. Should they begin the film with Parker already Spider-Man, along the lines of Batman (1989); The Incredible Hulk (2008); or even Hellboy, where we're not forced to sit through the tedium of seeing the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense created and Hellboy "fit right in"; I may be less perturbed.

Though this does not bode well for any franchise.

In my occasional lambasting of the Star Trek franchise, I like to point out that I can't imagine that this young cast will stick around for more than 2 or 3 films before at least one of the main cast wants out, or asks for too much money and is written out (either in a quick cameo death scene or has been "transferred" and never seen again). Especially if follow up films take so long to get even pre-production started. I fully expect that within the decade they'll "reboot" Star Trek again.

The Hobbit was a sure fire green-lit project, and what even with the legal issues a few years back, it may not even be released in 2011? What a joke. The first drafts should have been completed 8 years ago, and the moment any legal issues were finally resolved (it was always a matter of *when,* not *if*) the film should have gone into real pre-production. The film(s) should have already been released.

I suspect that with the financial problems that are plaguing MGM, that Daniel Craig may only get one more James Bond film in under his belt before hanging up his Walther PPK. Franchises like James Bond, which will almost always be guaranteed an additional film, should already begin lining up their script for the subsequent film before the previous film has even been released. Script revisions can (and should) be done if any carried over elements from the prior film into the current script needed tweaking. The film should lock down the roles of Bond, M, and Leiter far in advance and production should begin within a year for the next film to be released two calendar years later.

Do I blame Spider-Man's reboot woes entirely on long gaps between production of sequels? Not entirely. I do see it as an industry wide problem with studios unable to keep their shit together, especially when it comes to handling franchises. It really should not be that hard. They used to be able to do this with a lot more ease in the past. What is happening?

Bryan Singer returns to X-Men franchise

Bryan Singer will develop and direct "X-Men: First Class" for 20th Century Fox based on an article I read at IMDb. I'm not sure how to feel about this after seeing his Superman film, however he did make two solid X-Men films and none of the Superman films have been "great."

Before you freak out, the first Superman film has wonderful Smallville scenes at the beginning than collapses into parody, the second film has some moments but just isn't that good, and the less that's said about the next two, the better. Singer's Superman film wasn't an awful Superman film, but it wasn't a good film. However, I'd consider X2 a good film, and not just a good X-Men film, so there is promise.

Guy Ritchie directing "Lobo"?

Woah no. The "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" director will begin production of Lobo in early 2010.

Early reports claim the film will likely have a PG-13 rating, which would likely be his second one after "Sherlock Holmes," which debuts this December.

Marvel at the news: Portman cast in 'Thor' film

Natalie Portman has been cast as the character Jane Foster. Chris Hemsworth, who appeared in a short scene as George Kirk at the start of Star Trek, was previously cast as the title character.

Kenneth Branagh is attached to direct.

Ryan Reynolds as The Green Lantern?

Back in February I blogged on my initial thoughts on a Green Lantern film.

Well, they got a director, Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye) - now they have their Hal Jordan. Ryan Reynolds, most recently in the comedy The Proposal and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (and will be in the follow up film, Deadpool), has been cast as the Silver Age hero.

Heroes Season 3: Volume 3

Volume 3: Villians was the continuing saga of how not to run a television show that at one point was actually relatively good.

The main story arc of this season was developed and originally would be part of the second season, but due to the writer’s strike – many of the plot elements were apparently transferred over. Since I’m basing this entirely off my memory – the central story arc of this season was certainly not as well defined as either of the previous two seasons. The “Villains” that we were introduced to were underused, and honestly were not very threatening at times.

Like the second season, the storyline is split up, with storylines competing for airtime in practically every episode. In a way it almost feels as if they divvied up airtime so each character got equal airtime. However, Claire’s storyline apparently grows in this volume (for no reason), as does her importance to something we had never been introduced to before (ret-conned into the show). I guess she has a better agent.

Again we have a story arc that is missing a good central villain, because too much time is focused on Sylar. In this case, Arthur (a new character introduced in this season) should have been the real "big badguy" of the season. The problem here was that Sylar was used far too much and in too many differing ways. Good Sylar, trying-to-be-good Sylar, buddy-buddy Sylar, "brother"-Sylar, and finally Evil Sylar again.

The Jessica-Micca is officially over at this point. However, not to escape Heroes, Ali Larter returns as another character entirely. Those darn compromising photos she has of someone on staff come back to bite the show in the butt! I kid… I kid… (unless it’s true – then you heard it first from me!). The Maya storyline that bogged down Season 2 is almost gone (almost). It still unfortunately rears its head again before disappearing for good.

Most of the people I know who are still watching Heroes are either out of habit or obligation. Volume 4 is a vast improvement, and (almost) worth the wait.

** 1/2 out of *****

Heroes Season Two

Not long ago I went back and re-watched the first season of Heroes, and reviewed it here and here. In my previous reviews of this work, I pointed out the potential and well execution of basically a long, comic book on the small screen.

Season 2 unfortunately does not learn from any of the mistakes it made in the first year, coupled with the writer’s strike of 2007, the season ends up truncated, and unable to fully correct itself before the end.

Unlike the first season, a shift occurs between the minor characters and the main characters in the show. Unlike with the first season where Claire and Peter’s stories were obviously the central focus, the storyline is fragmented, with competing, and largely unrelated storylines competing for airtime in practically every episode. They all get their time, and unfortunately that leaves little progress per episode across the board.

Again, with this season some of the characters are heroes, some are villains. The main story arc of this season deals with a deadly virus, and the possibility that it will be unleashed on the people with special powers, or even the general population. The story still revolves around the Petrelli Brothers, Peter and Nathan; Claire, a teenager who can heal herself; Matt Parkman, a man who can read people’s thoughts; Mohinder Suresh, a doctor living in New York; and Niki, a resident of Las Vegas. David Anders appears as Adam Monroe, and Zachary Quinto returns as Sylar. Dania Ramirez appears as a new character, Maya Herrera, on the run for killing countless people in her home country.

I think the major downfall of the second season was keeping the character Sylar, the main villain of the first season, around after season one ended. With Sylar, the entire "travel across Mexico and the southern US" for nearly the entire season was almost absurd, and unfortunately introduced us to the Niki and Paulo of Heroes (pointless new character from Lost), Maya and her brother. This undermined the character and served to remove whatever menacing aura he had.

At best the season should have seen the return of Sylar at the end of the season. Adam, the character which who was being set up as the big bad guy of the season, should have had the focus. The entire thing became just far too crowded for its own good.

What really sold the show for me in the first season begins to falter and get stale. Hiro, a character I loved starts showing signs that the writers just don’t *get* it. His character is overly enthusiastic, and shows many lapses in judgment that are unlike how the character was presented in season one. The biggest failure of the season was the inclusion of the Jessica-Micca storyline. Season one dragged their storyline on far too long, and this season expands on this, with Micca moving in with his cousins. Their story arc is perhaps the worst of the entire show, and I can only thank the writer’s strike for killing it off.

*** out of *****

Barbarella

This is probably one of the most baffling films I have ever seen. My first reaction was to hate it. A film that I should absolutely despise as nonsensical Eurotrash. It came across to me as silly, absurd, pointless, and dumb.

The film is based on the “adult” comic book by Jean-Claude Forest. Upon further review I see a bizarre charm in this film, a campy cult classic. However, in no means does it make this a good film. It isn’t. The film is the equivalent of soft core pornography. The opening credits is nothing short of Fonda stripping for the camera.

The film stars Jane Fonda as the title character, who is technically not the “Queen of the Galaxy” as the promotional title suggests. In this film, Barbarella is contacted by the President of Earth (snicker, har har) to rescue the doctor by the name of Durand Durand (snicker, har har) to keep any potential weapons from being created since that will potentially destroy the eternal peace that has been created across the universe (snicker, har har). Upon crashing on this planet, she is introduced to the concept of physical intercourse (“civilized” people just take pills that do the trick).

I’m still trying to think if the director was ahead of his time or if his director of photography was just insane. The camera work is not typical of the era it was filmed in, and the film have some, how shall I say it, interestingly composed shots. And I’m not even referring to the “acid trip” sequences of flying through space, or escaping the evil city on SoGo.

The film has no pace or rhythm. Things appear to happen, but with no plausible or logical progression between sequences. By roughly the second half of the film we have some idea of what the characters are “really” doing when they make plans with members of the underground of SoGo. Before that it is just touch and go.

The quaint film is enjoyable, but only if you can stomach silly, pointless, meaningless films of the past. It’s clear that they knew what kind of film they were making, along the lines of another Dino De Laurentiis produced film in 1980, Flash Gordon.

** 1/2 out of *****

Heroes Season One Retrospective

While working through my backlog of DVDs, a backlog that never seems to disappear, I finally got around to watching my Heroes Season One HD DVD (yes, HD DVD) box set. I purchased it a year ago and finally got around to watching it.

Well, considering that most of the people I know who still are watching Heroes is either out of habit or obligation, it's no surprise that I find a different show when I began to re-watch the first season. I'm struck by how solid the writing is. Few shows have such a solid story laid out, a plot that's actually well executed.

Heroes is an interesting look into a world where "super heroes" actually exist. This is different than the world that Watchmen is set in, where there was "one" super hero – and everyone else was a masked vigilante. No, this universe is one where normal people begin to develop extra-human abilities that manifest themselves in seemingly random people across the world.

Some are heroes, some are villains. The main story arc of this season is simply "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World." The story revolves around the Petrelli Brothers, Peter – a nurse, and Nathan – a candidate for Congress; Claire, a teenager from Texas; Matt Parkman, a Californian cop; Mohinder Suresh, a doctor from India; and Niki, a resident of Las Vegas. The main villain of the series is Sylar, a serial killer out to kill as many "special" humans as possible.

It’s a wonder where it all went wrong (expect reviews of subsequent seasons expanding on that statement). My earlier review of this season back in May 2007 covers some of the weaker points of the season, many of which I am able to overlook now. How time changes.

**** out of *****

Scarlett Johansson cast in Iron Man 2!

More news on the Iron Man 2 front.

Scarlett Johansson has been cast in the upcoming sequel to Iron Man as the character Black Widow. She will join the cast which includes Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Don Cheadle as the recasted Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes.

Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler, Sin City), has been cast as the movie's villian.

The film is scheduled for a May 2010 release. The Avengers will be released in 2012. Fellow Avenger Thor, will be making his film debut in 2011. Spiderman 4 will be released along with Iron Man's sequel in 2010.

Gunslinger "Jonah Hex" coming to the cinemas

Based on what I've read from the article, Megan Fox lines up comic-book movies, it appears that DC and Warner Bros are making a "Jonah Hex" film.

Jonah Hex is a Western comic book anti-hero, comparable to Clint Eastwood's many western characters.

John Malkovich will play Quentin Turnbull, making him the most likely candidate for the main adversary of the film.

Somehow I still don't really know who the heck this Megan Fox person is.

Dark Knight hits $1 billion at box office

I knew it would happen eventually. Batman has finally crossed the billion dollar mark. Occasionally I checked out the box office numbers for the film, and saw it ever so creep closer and closer to the billion dollar mark. Just a few days ago I saw how close it was, with just thousands to go. Very impressive!

Image of Horror

This image brings horrible ghastly spasms to my body:

I wish I had owned these when I was a kid

Ozymandias action figure:

Who should be the new villian in the next Batman film?

The Penguin. A short fat gangster who has a passion for birds.

Poison Ivy, an attractive eco-terrorist obsessed with exotic poisons.

Outside their odd passions, they should be otherwise normal in the context of the film. Easily done.

Hellboy

2004
Staring: Ron Perlman, John Hurt, Selma Blair, Rupert Evans, Jeffrey Tambor, Doug Jones, Karel Roden
Director: Guillermo del Toro

I feel like a complete and utter idiot.

So I did my top 10 comic book films a while back and completely missed this one. To be honest the reason why this film seems to always be forgotten by not just me, but by many, is due to the subtle nature of the entire thing.

It stars long time actors and a fantastic array of supporting cast, but fails to garner the notice of the sector of the entertainment world that focuses on "star-power" (also known as "The movie could be crap but I'll go see it because [fill in Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, what-have-you] was in the film. It also doesn't help that the film's sequel seems to be forever in development hell, but that it seems to have finally begun and that we'll see a sequel in '08. Only 4 years in-between films...

*** 1/2 /*****

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

2007

Staring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, Laurence Fishburne
Director: Tim Story

Okay, well I meant to do this review a while ago, but I really just needed to put it off. I was disappointed by the film, I really was. They had the perfect opportunity to pull themselves out of the whole they started to dig and make this a truly amazing experience on the level of X2.

They failed.

As a film on its own, it was decent. What was not good was the direction and editing, the two biggest things that needed to go for it this time around. As I stated a few reviews back, I was really looking forward to this film. The advertisements for it were spot on, and it looked like it could be a very serious film. Then I found out it was PG (the original was PG-13 and mostly harmless), and then soon afterward I found out that it clocked in at 92 minutes (about 87 when you take away the credits at the end of the film).

So my buddy Matt and myself get to the theater. The tickets are outrageous for the theater we’re in (they were kind of retro looking seats that weren’t even stadium seating), and the screen was kind of tiny. Damn I thought, we’ve blown the movie experience. In the meantime we’re joking on this poor guy who is “counting down” the time before the film starts by introducing some flavorless band-of-the-week or crappy straight-to-DVD show (since it wasn’t the late summer they couldn’t plug some show that would be cancelled 2 months before they stopped airing the promos in the theaters). Poor guy.

Thankfully the screen had a digital projector, and the size of the screen increased right after the trailers. Good. Then there were… what? Opening credits… for a film that has less than 90 minutes of scenes? Scratch that, more like 84 minute long film. Regardless of my feeling the graphics were pretty decent for the opening montage.

The story opens with Sue and Reed getting ready for their wedding. Reed is approached by some military suit who the audience has no set up for, so they give him outrageous and out of line dialogue to make him look like a complete jerk. The rest of the film is pretty much Johnny being relatively cocky and completely reckless, like an adult version of Bart Simpson character that sleeps with every attractive lady he comes across and a small, and almost useless return of Dr. Doom, who is greeted with open arms because it’s convenient for story purposes.

The film is pretty much aimed directly at the kiddies. The “jokes” – if you can call them that – are lame. The film has no urgency throughout, and only marginally gets close in the last 2 minutes – far too late to really care by that point. A kid might be frightened or worried, but no one over the age of 10.

The only decent scene is the end fight with Doom – who surprisingly just disappears for the last 10 or so minutes of the film without any real trace of where he is or why he’s gone. Jessica Alba is bleached completely – a striking difference between her in the first film where she just looked like she had a tan. Her contacts are absolutely terrible, and her glasses and hair make her look like the makeup and hair person was a fan of pornstar Nina Hartley.

I said this of the first film when it was released – there will be an extended cut of the film adding in at least 20-30 minutes of footage to bring it to a reasonable and logical length that actually allows the story to make sense.

Verdict: ** ½ /*****

Comic book extravaganza #1: X2

2003
Staring: Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Brian Cox
Director: Bryan Singer

If there is any comic book film to aspire to, it’s this one. X2 is just about the perfect comic book film that has ever been made. Only building on the first films success, this film takes the characters and the plot to an entirely new level.

The first film, compared to this one, is terrible. And frankly, the first film is still pretty amazing.

Of course, like the other X-men Films, McKellen and Stewart shine. They’re easily the best of the cast, and best acted people in this film. Hugh Jackman surprisingly does a fantastic job, even if you start to realize he probably doesn’t want to be there for many more films.

It might have the presence of a “typical” Hollywood present-day empty-headed film, with absolutely nothing going for it, but that simply isn’t’ the case, especially when you attempt to compare it to other superhero films, there is simply no comparison, that is, if you have taste.

The film deserves all the hype it has received since it was released. If you’re a comic book fan/super hero fan and you’re sorry you spent money on this film you’re a complete moron and without a doubt have the worst taste in cinema. That means you probably liked Hulk or Elektra.

One of the best aspects of the film is that it’s an absolutely serious rendition of the X-Men story, without any of the camp that is thrown in so many other comic book films. When will producers realize that that isn’t the way of doing things?

And with that I’m finally done counting down the top 10 of these films. If not for actually having a real job to go to, it would have been done in exactly 10 days. There are some things that just have to be dealt with. Also, please remember to actually publish posts instead of just saving them, they'll actually display that way. Enjoy!

***** / *****