2 more months before my birthday

.. and the walking time bomb that is the Avengers will then be Assembled. Who are the Bad Guys (aside from Loki, of course)? Metal drones and snakes? I thought they were fighting the Skrulls/Chitauri?

webbing up

Electro? the Vulture? Kraven? what character will Rhys Ifans play?

seriously? i want the Sinister Six. with Alfred Molina back as Doc Ock!

MJ 2.0

goodbye, Kiki Dunst! can't say i'll miss ya, snaggletooth!

so if they make this movie ...

... they're only paying one actor?

a vain, greedy and cruel boy

why, you old fart - oh, wait, Odin wasn't taking to me! whew!



am glad to see these things happen in my lifetime. i just need to live up to 2012.



via NY Magazine/Trailer Addict

asgar3dians

Norse Gods get 3D treatment, according to Marvel. (via comicsalliance)

speaking of Asgardian fashion, this reminds me of Chris Giarusso's shoulda-be-classic cartoon.

Kick-Ass, baby!!!

i mean ... i don't really know what to say. (via CNN)

Marvel, you're missing the point.

Bruce Banner IS A JERK. so Ed Norton fits the goddamn role!

T-Ho babywiped!

less War Machine, more Crash (via comicsalliance.com)

heavy mettle 2

and here it is - the most anticipated movie since Samuel Jackson showed up in the end credits of the first film, and the opening shot for a great summer of movies. Robert Downey Jr reprises the title role as hotshot billionaire Tony Stark, whose skyrocketing ego made him reveal to the world that he was Iron Man, and is now being badgered by the US government to turn the armor over to them. even worse, other enemies have crawled out of the woodwork, notably Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke, with a reworking of the Mark-Scarlotti-Am-I-Whiplash-Or-Am-I-Blacklash character), son of the co-designer of the arc reactor, the only thing keeping Tony Stark alive and energy source of the Iron Man armor. the trouble is, continued use of the suit (due to palladium in the reactor) is slowly killing Stark, a nod more to the nerve damage storyline rather than Demon in a Bottle. and to make things worse, competitor Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell playing him like a second skin) just opened his bank account to Vanko, in his bid to one-up Stark and swipe his military contracts.

this sequel builds on the 2008 hit and can now go crazy. upping the ante with more armored suits? check. more babes than you thought? check (Leslie Bibb, Olivia Munn, Kate Mara and of course, Scarlet Johansson). roll out some supervillains? check. but they try to keep it real, no Mandarin or Ultimo (yet). i was actually terrified for an injured Stark with Vanko wielding those whips bearing down on him. Stark one-upping emo Peter Parker in a party/dancefloor? check. wait - what? yes, and i thought it was that stupid Burger King commercial. i can suspend my disbelief with everything else - but not Iron Man dancing to DJ AM's spinnings (R.I.P.) and shooting bottles out of the air with his repulsor rays (wait, they're not really repulsor rays - because repulsor rays just push things, not break things, or am i reading into this too much?).

transparent to the regular moviegoer who doesn't know anything about comics, is Marvel's concerted effort to build the Avengers movie by putting characters into play. Jackson signed on for a 9-film appearance as Nick Fury, head of America's supersecret spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and he's inserted the Black Widow in Stark Industries to review Stark's viability as part of the Avengers group. Johansson somewhat veers into salad dressing territory, with few speaking lines and one action sequence, and this is a problem with ensemble films. it will be a problem for the Avengers as the cast of major characters keep growing unless they decide to greenlight a three-hour LOTR-type spectacular, with the Hollywood bean counters fingering their worry beads from production to summer opening. going back to the regular joes, those same type of customers probably didn't stay for the Mjolnir appearance, and now you have an issue trying to sell the whole idea of "Thor".

director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Theroux puts in the nice touches for the hardcore fans (Howard Stark's influence, Pepper's finally-requited affection, J.A.R.V.I.S. - really? was Michael Caine too much of a character already? - and the friendship with Rhodey) and kept the action ball rolling for non-fans. it may not break The Dark Knight's box office receipts, but is a worthy sequel and should be a big blockbuster on its own right.

i can haz millions

and to that, i contributed $24 (not counting the overpriced popcorn and soda).


bring on Mjolnir!! (and maybe its not too late to change it - Don Cheadle ably stepped into Terence Howard's shoes - but Agent Phil Coulson should be AGENT JASPER SITWELL, GODDAMMIT!!!)

skullduggery

its official: Hugo Weaving is the Red Skull (via majorspoilers.com)



anybody know a single actor who's had bigger footprints in quality sci-fi/fantasy/comic movies in the past decade or so? (yes, we're kinda counting his Megatron voiceover in those abominable Transformers films, only because they earned kajillions)

i say thee yea!!

first look at Chris Hemsworth as Thor. and to think i casted John Cena in my mind. stupid.

Thor 2011, baby!!!!!


via @JoeQuesada

kings of pain

being a fan of the comic, i was amazed that it was actually optioned as a movie even before the first issue. as a result of that, the shipping schedule basically suffered and we basically ended up with a short storyline. maybe creators Mark Millar and John Romita Jr planned it that way. for better or for worse, the early appeal with the fanboys and the modest success in the box office ($42M and counting) has opened the doors for aspiring comic writers to look for that hit book that translates well to Hollywood.

to their credit, Kick-Ass was unlike any other: what if ordinary people aspired to be superheroes, silly costumes and all, notwithstanding the lack of any superhuman talents? Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) wants to find out and promptly lands in the hospital, courtesy of a stabbing and a hit-and-run. despite the obvious injuries, and the unfortunate effect of being rumored as gay in his high school, though opening the door to be the BFF to his crush Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca), Dave resolves to give it another shot and becomes a YouTube sensation following a bloody standoff with some gangbangers.

by the end of the first half, the movie shifts your attention to two people who do a better job than Dave - Big Daddy (real life comicbook fan Nicolas Cage, who's a better fit here than in Ghost Rider) and daughter Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz in a breakout role), a precocious cross between Natalie Portman circa Leon, a profane Dakota Fanning, and GoGo Yubari. the Big Daddy character was changed from an accountant to an ex-cop with an actual beef with mobster Frank D'Amico (Mark Strong, an uncanny Andy Garcia doppelganger in his second straight major villain role). Hit-Girl, trained early on to maim and kill, is the movie's secret weapon, as she completely steals every action scene she's in. in effect, she kicks more ass than the titular character. her epic attempt to rescue her father and Kick-Ass from execution, streaming live on the Internet, is one of the best action sequences ever. director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) knows what he's doing and has thankfully not dialled down the tone.

the comic was visually much more brutal and Romita goes all-out with cartoon violence (Romita also created new artwork as a montage for Big Daddy's new backstory), although they did a good job of translating that to the big screen. you would notice though, that despite the severe beatings Dave takes, he's able enough to go through the next phase without limping or anything. but that's okay, this movie was meant to entertain. i actually thought they did a better job with the movie than the comic itself, the latter being plagued by delays. and for true New Yorkers, they'd be cheering at the extensive screen time for Maurice DuBois (take that, Pat Kiernan!).

not that Anjelica Houston!

decided to hand over some money tonight to Mark Millar. next week, your turn, Andy Diggle/Jock.

i'm officially losing it

via @andydiggle

American Torch

at this rate, when they make the Invaders movie, he's also going to play Namor and both the Torches (which he's already familiar with!). can he play Bucky too? (via Newsarama)


Chris Evans, torch bearer of the new American superhero film revolution

take that, Clor!

Thor movie plot revealed (via Daily Pop)

a new Marvel movie every year leading up to 2012's The Avengers. fantastic! i expect Loki's machinations to partially lead to the formation of the Avengers (since Samuel Jackson/Nick Fury has been doing the rounds already). will we see the Warriors Three though? no mention of them at all.

a birthday gift for me

they started it!

i have my beefs but damn if it doesn't make you go yeah!!! especially when Jensen "shoots" the security guards with his hands. [via @andydiggle]



they turned a bit brighter and hipper than the original darker tone of the Diggle/Jock series. it won't give the A-Team a run for its money, but who knows?