Marvel Casting News

Marvel has released the first picture of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2. I'm...not quite sure what to say. I don't really know Whiplash as a villain, but thought they would have gone with someone more interesting like Crimson Dynamo. I just watched The Wrestler and thought Rourke did an okay job. It was a really weird and dramatic movie, so it'll be interesting to see what he brings to the table in Iron Man 2. I think Favreau did an amazing job with the first Iron Man so he's got a lot of my faith. But...I'm still not sure about this.

In other Marvel movie news, apparently they have cast Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Chris Hemsworth as Thor in the upcoming Thor movie.

And in other other Marvel movie news, Spider-Man 4 is on. Tobey Maguire, Sam Raimi and (unfortunately) Kirsten Dunst are back for this one. They haven't released who the villain is going to be but early speculation is the Kingpin based on reports that it's a "New York villain" or something. I thought Daredevil handled the Kingpin thing just fine, and I've never really thought of him as a Spider-Man villain. I much rather would see the Lizard just because they've had Curt Connors in the last two films. He's not one of my favorites but he'd be alright. I think my first choice would be Kraven, actually. The Sinister Six sounds really cool but after they totally over-saturated us with three villains in the last piece of shit Spider-Man movie, I shudder to think what they would do with six.

Hulk Vs.

I've been meaning to write this review for awhile now.

So I saw Hulk Vs. about a month ago, it was interesting. It's kind of hard to review because there were two separate stories and each one had it's own look/problems/successes.

I guess I'll start off with Hulk Vs. Thor, which is the first one I watched. This one took awhile to get started, and to be honest, I was kind of bored for most of the movie. There are a couple of good action sequences, but then it's broken up into exposition pieces and it just gets tedious. I liked the use of the spells and magic, especially how they were expressed on the screen.

Hulk Vs. Wolverine was next, and I would say this was the better movie, but it's not by a very wide margin. It's better, it's just not head-and-shoulders above the Thor movie. It's a little more interesting because it goes into more of Wolverine's past and it kind of changes the Weapon X history (as every media version that Marvel puts out tends to do). I thought it had better guest appearances, as I am a fan of Deadpool and to a lesser extent, Sabertooth. I could have done without Omega Red, but he's pretty much a standard enemy for Wolvie now, so I understand why they put him in there.

As far as the main character goes, I like how he was portrayed in the Wolverine story a lot more; he looks a lot more like the classic Hulk than in the Thor story. They took a bunch of liberties (at least I thought) with the character design in the Thor story, and I just thought he looked better in the Wolverine story.

I rented the Blu Ray version, and, I've gotta say, the quality was pretty impressive. The animation is great, but I'm kind of glad I didn't buy it; I think one viewing was enough. Overall I thought it was pretty good, and I hope Marvel keeps developing and releasing these animated movies, they're pretty fun.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Review #2.

Like Chris said, I thought the movie was good, not great, but it was entertaining. They did change A LOT of his backstory, but it wasn't anything major or substantial enough to get anyone riled up about it.

It was kind of disappointing that they did not include the Weapon-X training after the adamantium-bonding session, because I always liked the way the gear Wolvie wore for that was designed. And it would have explained that they were developing it to use on Wade later.

There were some annoying plot holes though. #1 - Gambit comes back during the alley scene (and runs on top of the rooftops for some strange reason) to fight Wolvie so Sabretooth could get away. Then they join forces to go to "the island". It was such an obvious set-up for the end of the movie. #2 - When he escapes from the Weapon X facility and shacks up with that old couple, then they are killed by Agent Zero. Again, it was just an obvious sequence where they needed to move the movie along to the next major plot point and the old couple was just discarded when they weren't needed anymore. In fact, a lot of characters were just discarded when they weren't needed, like John Wraith. I hate will.i.am, but at least they could have kept the character in the movie a little longer.

Something that always bugs me in movies is when they are in one part of the country and then they need to get to another part of the country, so they just drive there and they just cut it to when they arrive. It's just lazy writing. Like Wolvie was obviously in the Mid-west where he gets the motorcycle from the old couple, but then drives to Vegas, and he doesn't have any money on him mind you, and then he and John Wraith drive to New Orleans. Right.

Something that also slightly annoyed me was including Cyclops in the movie. Was that really even necessary? I mean, I thought it was cool and all, and having it set up that the Professor picked him up was nice, but it really didn't serve any kind of purpose, just a cheap way to get the fan-boys excited.

I know I listed a lot of negatives, but it was entertaining, I didn't look at my watch once, so it does keep your attention on the screen. I would give it a slightly above-average rating though, I don't know if that's because I was expecting a lot more than they delivered, but that's what I though; good not great.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Okay, first things first - did they really need to title this movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Does anyone not know who Wolverine after three X-Men movies grossed over $600 million? I guess they did so you kind of get the sense that this doesn't pick up where X-Men: The Last Stand left off, which it definitely doesn't. In fact, it doesn't even make it into the 1980s but we'll get to that. Spoilers ahead!

Overall, I thought the film was good but not great. Some of the love story stuff with Silver Fox seemed to drag on, and some of the new characters they introduced didn't enhance anything, like Bolt and Blob. They were just kind of there but I guess they had to set up the whole black ops team storyline. The introduction of Gambit was nice, and I think Ryan Reynolds did a great job of Deadpool. I didn't really like how he kinda came back in the end but whatever.

Apparently there are two different post credits scenes depending on whichever one they show.

Overall, I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars. A good ride but left me wishing for something a little more.

The Phantom TV Movie.

A friend of mine emailed me this sneak peak article about the Phantom TV Movie that Sci-Fi (or SyFy as it will be known by the time this movie airs). If you scroll down to the comments, you'll see that it got skewered by the internet. I really don't have as big of a problem with it as other people seem to; yeah I think the cowl/hood is awkward, but I really like the trench coat/street clothes idea at the bottom. I don't really watch as much of the Sci-Fi channel as I used to, so chances are that I'll probably miss this movie, but I do like the futuristic take they're choosing to use with the character. It could be interesting.

Megan Fox.

I just read an article on Yahoo! about Megen Fox and a couple of her upcoming movie roles. Two of them are comic book related, but neither of them are Wonder Woman. One of them is Jonah Hex, which also stars Josh Brolin as the lead character. Sounds interesting.

The other movie she has committed to is an adaptation of Fathom. To be honest, I've never heard of that comic, but apparently, she is a huge fan of the book and will receive a producer credit, alongside ex-finance Brian Austin Green. Probably the best news I've heard in a very long time was a couple of weeks ago when it was announced that she had dropped BAG like a bad habit. I always thought he was a douchebag. But he has been surprisingly good on The Sara Conner Chronicles.

I am hoping the the Jonah Hex movie turns out half-way decent, I actually think it could be a pretty big hit if it was done correctly.

Man-Thing - A Review. Kinda.

With my fiancee out of town, I decided it was time to rearrange my Netflix queue and bump up the movies she would have zero interest in seeing. So, of course that meant Man-Thing.

I'll go ahead and state that I didn't watch the entire thing. I mean, I watched about 30 minutes then got bored, and fast forwarded through the remainder of it. On the plus side, the movie looks nice. Visually, it's interesting and it doesn't come off like a movie shot for basic cable. But yet there is a reason it went straight to basic cable. Even Man-Thing (when he finally shows up 40+ minutes into the movie) looks kinda cool. Sadly, this movie comes off as a decent looking horror movie - completely with cussing and a set of boobs five minutes into the movie. The acting is decent but yeah, it's not exactly the awesome Marvel faire we've come to expect in recent years. Rent it if you must...?

Another Look at X-Men: The Last Stand

A few weeks ago, I watched X-Men: The Last Stand for the second time. I saw it in the theaters, liked it a lot and got the DVD but never watched it. I know this one didn't get the best reviews but I think it stands up with the first two. Most people's complaints about this one stem from too many fight scenes and less emotion throughout the movie.

The main reason I love it is because of all of the mutants! We spent the first film getting introduced to the core characters, then the second brought us more new ones. That opening sequence with Nightcrawler was amazing and made the fanboy in me quite happy. Plus, we got Lady Deathstrike, Shadowcat and Colossus.

And what does the third one bring us? Even more mutants! Beast, Madrox, Juggernaut, Callisto, Arclight, Kid Omega (Quill), Psylocke, Angel, Leech, Spike, Moira MacTaggert and Phat! To me, that's the best thrill of comic book movies - seeing these characters come to life. So I'm a dork and I just want to see more, more and more. I think that's why I got so psyched about the Wolverine trailer, which shows us glimpses of Deadpool, Gambit and Blob.

Getting back to TLS, I also like the death factor. Cyclops is always annoying and I think the actor wanted to go work with Bryan Singer on that crappy Superman movie, so good riddance. Phoenix's death was expected and Professor X's was still shocking. Even at the end, when they're killing mutants left and right, you're like, who's going to survive this thing anyway? It truly does feel like a last stand. I know it's not a popular opinion but I love this part of the X-Men franchise.

By the way, as I was reading up on the X-Men film franchise on Wikipedia, I came across this quote on the X2 page: "Shaquille O'Neal wanted a role in the film but was ignored by the filmmakers." Excelsior!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Photos.

They had some problems with the pictures last week, but Marvel released an article with new pictures of the Wolverine movie. It is starting to look pretty decent.

There are only two problems I see so far, but they already see to have built-in solutions.

1. Gambit it in the movie. BUT, apparently, he's not in it for very long.
2. Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool. BUT, he'll probably be wearing a mask for most of his appearances in the movie, so at least there's that to look forward to. He will probably get some facetime when he's brought to the Weapon X facility though. I really wish they could have offered the role to another actor.

Daredevil - Director's Cut

Had a chance to watch the Director's Cut of Daredevil the other day. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie in its original form, though it was certainly better than other Marvel movies like Ghost Rider. I remember thinking the theatrical release wasn't gritty enough for the Daredevil character, but that's been fixed with this version that's a half hour longer and got the grit. They take out some of the romance elements and add more depth to Kingpin and Foggy Nelson. I was never interested in buying this movie, but for the Director's Cut, it's going on my Christmas list.

For fans of Daredevil, apparently they're thinking of doing a reboot of the Daredevil franchise with Jason Statham taking over the role. That's good since I think Affleck was pretty unconvincing and stoic in his performance, and he's been quoted as saying that playing a superhero in a costume was a source of humiliation for him. Whatever, ass.

I just hope they do something different for the costume in the sequel. I guess you have to do it in leather, but something about it always looked silly.

DC Films

Apparently DC had a meeting with Warner Brothers to figure out what the hell they're doing with DC movies. Even though The Dark Knight is still tearing up the box office, I really think DC has dropped the ball with their films. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are both stellar movies, but Superman Returns sucked. What else has DC put out in the last few years...? Oh, that's right - nothing. They're sitting on Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, The Flash, JLA, etc.

Meanwhile, Marvel has churned out 3 X-Men films, 3 Spider-Man films, 2 Hulk films, 2 Fantastic Four films, 3 Blade films, 2 Punisher films, not to mention Iron Man, Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost Rider and many more on the way. Granted, not every one of this films has been good but they've all been pretty profitable.

As that article mentions, no single person at DC has the power to take the ball and run with it. I'm not a huge DC fan but I'd totally go see a Green Lantern (or any other DC property) movie just to see it.

In other movie news, I thought this article where Robert Downey Jr. gives his thoughts on The Dark Knight and ends it by saying "F--- DC Comics" was kinda funny. Given how long DC is taking to get their ass in the movie making department, I'd have to agree.

The Dark Knight - Another Review

Ah...The Dark Knight. Finally got around to seeing it on Saturday night. This is the third weekend it's been out and the theater was packed. I'm not sure why this keeps packing theaters - is it repeat business or is it Heath Ledger? Either way, here's a rundown of my thoughts. Overall, I really liked the movie and I liked that it was dark dark dark. I was going to reply to Tyler's post but I'll just address things here:

That looked like a new title logo for DC Comics, which kinda rips off of the Marvel Comics logo with comic pages flipping through. I'm heavily pro-Marvel, so maybe I'm being nitpicky about it.

The film has a lot of plot lines going on, but they kept intersecting in neat ways so that was okay. It still felt like a long movie at times. I think the coolest part of the movie (call me lame) is when someone goes to remove Batman's mask and gets an electric shock. I thought that was so clever and was like, "How come no one else thought of that in their version of Batman?" Such a small detail, but I really liked it.

I was surprised by how much Harvey Dent was in the film. I thought we'd just get the introduction of Two-Face but then they ended up rushing his plot through and killing him off. I know he needed to be there because he's Batman's foil. Harvey Dent is a public and heroic figure, while Batman keeps to himself and is a vigilante. I liked how Batman is struggling with his role, too. He knows he can't go on forever and the people need public heroes they can believe in. Seeing that personal struggle side was very well done.

Heath Ledger as the Joker was badass. He kind of kept popping in and out of the storyline, which I liked. Oscar worthy? I'm still out on that one. I lean towards yes, but I know the academy usually goes with more established / older actors.

I like how Scarecrow popped up in the beginning of the film. I've often wondered why Spider-Man movies don't start off with him beating the crap out of someone lame, like The Shocker. It's not like Spider-Man only faces supervillains every two years in the comics. So that was a nice touch back to Batman Begins.

I liked the ending a lot. Batman, by his nature, kind of has to be an outcast and now he knows, and more importantly, accepts it. Although it will be difficult, I think they'll have to bring The Joker back. They totally set it up for that and I don't know who could fill Heath's shoes. Batman vs. Joker is that eternal struggle in Batman's life. Christopher Nolan has stated that The Penguin is a bit too cheesy to fit in with what they've established so far, so I'm guessing that also rules out Riddler. I've heard early rumor for the next film is Catwoman, which might be okay. They did a great job with a second rate villain like The Scarecrow in the first one, so whoever they bring in for the next one will be done well, I'm sure.

Hellboy II Movie Review.

So, Hellboy II; not bad. I mean, it wasn't like it was the worst movie I've ever seen, but it certainly wasn't the best movie I've ever seen. I guess it was just a pretty average movie.

:::::SPOILER WARNING:::::

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU STILL PLAN TO SEE THE MOVIE

My sister's review of the movie was "eh", and she thought that it was a good excuse for Guillermo del Toro to use monster designs that he couldn't fit into Pan's Labyrinth (which I still have to see). This is true in a way, and there were also a couple of things that had already been done before, del Toro just executed them much better (like the Troll Market, which was very similar to the market that the Harry Potter movies originally did).

There were a couple of things I really liked about this movie:

1. The beginning. I kind of liked the flashback scene with Hellboy as a little kid, it was pretty fun. I also really liked the animation style of how they told the story of the Golden Army.

2. Elves. Personally, I like Elves and feel they should be put in more movies. And Dwarves too. But not halflings, they are annoying.

3. The battle scenes at the end of the movie evolving the Golden Army. Those scenes were pretty rad and it would have been a bomb if they weren't. Basically you were waiting an hour and a half so you could get to the point where Hellboy and company started kicking giant, golden robot butt.

4. I really liked the character "Wink" (the Prince's sidekick) and was a little sad when he was killed, even though you could see when and how that was going to happen from a mile away.

On that note, the story did seem to be very predictable. Obviously you knew Hellboy and the Elven Prince were going to have to throw down at some point. Obviously you knew Hellboy was going to win. Obviously you knew that Abe and the Elven Princess weren't going to be allowed to be together, because obviously the Prince had to die, ergo the Princess had to die because their lives were interconnected. So, a pretty formulaic story, and there were several concepts that I thought would be explored further and/or set up for the next movie.

All-in-all, I give this movie an "ok". I have not decided what to do when it comes out on DVD, but I think I'm going to pass, or wait a year or two and pick it up cheap.

The Dark Knight: Review #1.

Shockingly, I saw a comic book movie before Chris did. And wrote a review about it and didn't procrastinate. Shocking turn of events. There are spoilers aplenty. I guess I should make it official and say this;

:::::SPOILER WARNING:::::

DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU STILL PLAN TO SEE THE MOVIE

So, The Dark Knight. Pretty good movie. It was also very long. I never looked at my watch during the movie (which is a sure sign that a movie is boring me) because it had plenty of action and there was always something going on, but I felt they could have cut some things out, spend some things up and shortened some of the scenes. And it could have ended a couple of different times. It wasn't even close to Return of the King's four endings, but it was getting awfully close.

I liked it a lot better than Batman Begins. I did not see Begins in the theater, and when I finally saw it on DVD, I thought it was good, but not great. I was very impressed with the Dark Knight. They bumped everything up a few notches. And Heath Ledger WAS amazing. I'm glad the hype was finally warranted. He played the character perfectly and his lines were great and delivered perfectly. The part where he made the pencil disappear during the mob scene was great. That whole mob scene was outstanding. It sucks that he won't be able to come back an reprise the role. And they set it up with a lot of lines like, "We're just going to have to do this again" and "I can see us doing this for a very long time".

I loved the darkness of the movie. I was always drawn to the Frank Miller and late eighties version of the character. The really did their homework and got that version of the franchise right. You can tell what source material they were using, obviously the Dark Knight series, but also things like The Killing Joke One-Shot that I still have. I saved up for a first printing of that one and must have read it at least 500 times.

One thing about the movie that was very interesting was the ending. Obviously, if they knew what was going to happen, they would have killed the Joker and let Two Face survive to come back in the third movie.

So, in my opinion, they've got a problem in the next movie as to who the villian should be. They can't bring someone in to play The Joker. They just can't. Heath Ledger owned the character and will be the definitive movie version of the Joker for the next 20-30 years. The Riddler is too campy, Mr. Freeze still left a bad taste in everyone's mouth from Batman & Robin. The Penguin is a possibility, but again, that's been done. They killed Two Face. So, what's next? Killer Croc?

My guess is they try and bring Christian Bale back for the JLA movie, after Man of Steel and the Wonder Woman movie. Kind of like how Jon Favreau says he sees the third Iron Man movie as being the Avengers flick. It just makes sense. That's how I would do things.

Some other observations, I thought the movie was a little too predictable, there were more than three or four times I said something was going to happen and it did. And I did not read any spoilers online. BUT, Gordon faking his death was a pretty nice surprise. It got me, I didn't see that coming, and was a little upset that they did it until he came back. But I did think the way they brought him back was pretty cheesy.

And I understand what they were trying to do with Harvey Dent being the "White Knight" for most of the movie, but he was Two Face for a VERY short amount of time and then they killed him off at the end. Very strange. And killing Rachael was an interesting choice. One part that I thought was pretty lame from that whole sequence was the way he fell over in his chair and tipped over one of the gas barrels. It just seemed very forced to me.

And could anyone make out Gordon at the end of the movie? It was weird, it was like they had the mix of the score turned up too much or something. I talked to a friend of mine at work today and he noticed the same thing. And when Bale was talking when he was Batman was also hard to understand in spots. Way too guttural.

Overall, I thought it was a great movie, and I will probably be buying it on DVD. In fact, I'll probably buy Batman Begins on DVD when the Dark Knight comes out just to have them both.

Wolverine Origins Update 7/9/08

Marvel posted an article today about the newest still from the Wolverine: Origins movie. The release date is May, 1 2009, which is less than a year away. Pretty cool!

Incredible Hulk Review

Spoilers ahead!

I caught Incredible Hulk on Saturday and thought it was pretty good. I've never been that big of a Hulk fan whatsoever. I thought Ang Lee's version a few years ago was decent, but then again, I only saw it once. I was a little concerned about this new version since I heard Ed Norton was doing a bunch of re-writes on set.

Overall, it was a good movie. Not as strong as Iron Man but that may be because I'm not as well-versed in the Hulk character. This movie doesn't spend a lot of time going through the Hulk's origins - most of it is told in quick flashbacks, which I liked. I did like that the Hulk and Emil Bronsky aka The Abomination square off three times in the flick. It felt like it established a real rivalry between the two, rather than just "okay, this is where Spider-Man fights the villain and we end the movie."

The cameo at the end of the movie was kind of a waste, since it just reiterated the cameo at the end of Iron Man's credits. I'm still looking forward to how they tie together Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America and then The Avengers but I thought Tony Stark's cameo could have offered a little bit more.

All in all, a decent movie and Marvel continues on a strong roll.

Big Pun Teaser.

Marvel released an article about the new Punisher teaser poster. Looks pretty cool. I hope the movie is good, Marvel's on a roll, but I think that one bad movie could derail thing. Look at how many years Daredevil and Elektra set them back. I'm just sayin'.

Captain America's Shield in Iron Man

Haven't been able to find too much information on this but apparently Captain America's shield makes a cameo in Iron Man. It's way early, but my guess is when Cap got frozen, he either didn't have his shield or it was recovered before his body. Billionaire Tony Stark would have been purchased the shield and kept it, which will lead to their friendship when Cap is found and defrosted. Awesomeness. I can't wait for Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and the rest of these films to come out and keep interconnecting.

Iron Man Review #2.

I saw Iron Man yesterday. I thought it was very good. My girlfriend had been dreading the thought of seeing it for about a month, and she even admitted after it was over that she was it was so good. I guess "shocked" would be a good word to use. So that should pretty much tell you what the average non-comic fan thought about the film. She even thought the part after the credits was worth waiting for.

I thought it a very good movie, nicely-paced (but it did lag a little in a couple of spots) and it was very faithful to the comics. Stark's Mansion in Malibu was exactly like his West Coast mansion in the comics; I thought that was really well done. Robert Downey was very convincing as Tony Stark and Terrance Howard was great as Rhodey. There were a lot of subtle nods to the comics and a couple of hints at what will happen in the sequel. I do have a couple of complaints though. They are:

1. Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. I am a huge Jeff Bridges fan, but a couple of times during the movie, he sounded like he was reprising his role as The Dude from The Big Lebowski, only he had a goatee with a shaved head; and he was in a block-buster comic book action movie. I thought he did a great job in the last half of the movie, but he played it a little too Dude-like in the beginning of the movie.

2. Jon Favreau inserting himself into the movie. Did we really need this? Couldn't they have casted someone else in this meaningless role? And he got a lot of face time very early on in the movie. I just found it highly annoying. I hate it when Tarantino does it, and I hate it when other directors do it too.

3. The Stan Lee cameo. Can we please stop this as well? It's getting real old, real fast. I know he was great and all, but I'm just really over his cameos in every single movie Marvel is involved with.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow/Pepper Potts. She was serviceable, but the character she played (Pepper Potts), was very badly written. I thought there were times where she came off as a ditz, and then a few minutes later she would be doing something very outrageous; like hacking into a Stark Industries server. Yeah, ok then. Her character was just very uneven. And obviously they needed her to be the love interest, but that part of the movie seemed a little forced.

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good movie, I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. So go out and see it if you haven't already.

Movies Assemble!

Chris talked about this yesterday, but Marvel officially announced the next batch of movies on their the website. That's good news, because I was starting to think that the Avengers Movie was going to end up like the Justice League movie that has been delayed for awhile now. I am planning on seeing Iron Man this weekend, and it looks like a good popcorn movie, so I'm pretty stoked.