Tag Archives: Harry Potter
Wolverine, and other movies coming soon.
This past Friday I saw the movie that claims to start the summer, X-men Origins: Wolverine. For years the back story of Wolverine has been incredibly confusing. However this all changed a few years ago with a min-series entitled, “Origins”. This finally put the beginnings of one of the Marvel universes most celebrated characters. The movie holds close to this part of the story. However when it comes to other bits of Marvel history it is far less faithful. There will be a few “spoilers” but lets face it, no one who goes to see this movie was expecting The Usual Suspects.
Wolvie is treated fairly well, but the same cannot be said for his costars. So many different mutants are put on screen that it is sometimes hard to keep track of them. I think that the only reason I was able to track some of them was due to the years that I’ve spent reading comics. To summarize a few of my fanboy problems I’ll provide a small list. Someone who is not a comics fan would likely find no problem with any of these changes, and would merely enjoy all the fun explosions. However I wouldn’t be a true geek if I didn’t nit pick.
- What the hell did they do to Deadpool? He was the best part of the film’s first 20 minutes then they “kill” him offscreen. I’ve read some stuff online that points to possible spin-offs with his character, and I can only hope they come true.
- While Gambit’s character is introduced in the Big Easy he doesn’t sound like a Cajun. While it’s nice to not see an actor try to Costner their way through an accent I’m sure that they could have found someone to teach him. The accent was a huge part of the characters cool factor from the old cartoon, and was missed on screen.
- Emma Frost is NOT Silverfox’s sister. That was a silly plot point that added nothing to the story and was put in just to irk fanboys. Job well done.
- While I’m on Ms Frost, the diamond form was NOT her primary mutation. She was a telepath only eclipsed by Professor X, and Jean Grey, and a few others. It looked cool onscreen, so that one gets a bit of a pass.
- Liev Screiber is one of my favorite actor’s working today, and he did as much as he could with his role as Sabertooth, definitely more than Tyler Mane did in X-men. However there just wasn’t that much for him to work with. He kicks the hell out of Logan, then Wolvie gets cutlery for claws and is unstoppable? Yeah that didn’t make much sense to me either.
- He was called Logan by several characters, but they never explained why. It’s a small thing but an example of the lazy approach they took to the story.
- And most important of all, What the hell did they do with Deadpool.
As I said non comic fans will probably enjoy the generic summer actionness of the movie. Comic fans will find plenty of room to gripe, but its a slow comic summer so we’ll let that go.
7/10
Other movies coming up, and quick thoughts on them.
Star Trek: It’s gonna be great, we all can’t wait to enjoy the geekgasm that will erupt this Friday.
Angels and Demons: Dan Brown’s book is superior to the more lauded Da Vinci Code, my hope is that the movie will follow. Also Christians, and Catholics need to relax. Really all you’re doing is providing free advertisement.
Terminator Salvation: I’m not sure if the world was really crying out for another Terminator movie, but this one looks like it should deliver on the action front. Christian Bale hasn’t made many bad movies so I’ve got high hopes. It’ll probably be the only Terminator we get cause the TV show is on the chopping block.
Transformers 2: Should be good action. ‘Nuff said.
UP: It’s Pixar, it’s gonna be great.
Public Enemies: Johnny Depp stars as real life bank robber John Dillinger. It’s directed by Michael Mann, who I’m a huge fan of, so you know it’ll be good. If there was ever a better time to root for the guy who’s ripping off the banks I don’t know when.
Harry Potter 6: Will also be great, but really we’re just waiting for 7 at this point. All this one will be is filler.
Inglorious Basterds: Tarrintino’s look at WWII. It stars the man of both mine, and my wife’s list Brad Pitt. Should be fun and ultra violent
Julie & Julia: The bio-pic of famed chef, and professional alcoholic, Julia Child will be what my wife goes to while I’m reliving my childhood in G.I. Joe. Then I’m sure I’ll see it a few weeks later, cause lets face it I’m fan of both Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.
G.I. Joe: The one I’m most excited for after Star Trek, and also the one that no one is really talking about. I know it doesn’t come out till August, but I’m really looking forward to this one. Any chance to see Christopher “Doctor Who” Eccelston chew up the screen is a rare treat.
Did I miss anything?
Lego + Geeks = True Love
A fully functional PC built out of Lego
I have a question that has been plaguing me recently: why is it that geeks love Lego? One of my earliest memories is of receiving a Lego space set. It set me on a multi-year journey to accumulate as many of those bricks as possible. To this day, I am still drawn to Lego sets but, much to my wife’s relief, finances keep me from filling my house with them. I honestly don’t get it though. Why do I love them so?
I have a few theories about why we as geeks are drawn to Lego sets. The first is that we love to build things. Whether it’s building a computer or a model of the USS Enterprise, we like the process of assembling. I’m not saying that geeks would all like to be working on construction sites, our hands are far too delicate from years of typing on a keyboard for that, but our desire to build seems pretty obvious. Since we aren’t out working construction, we need to somehow appease our inner engineer. Enter the Lego.
My second theory is somewhat tied to the first. Beginning in 1911, geeks were playing with Erector Sets. In 1949, the Denmarkians began production on a plastic interlocking brick. Although I have no proof, I’m sure that in the minds of children, this brick was far superior to the collection of small metal beams found in Erector Sets. When the company that manufactured the Erector Set went bankrupt in 1967, a giant void was left that opened the door for Lego to thrive. Without the Erector Set readily available, how else would geeks satisfy their urge to build if it wasn’t for Lego?
Today there are numerous websites dedicated to the interlocking brick that Lego created and people from all over the world assemble at conventions to show their creations and to find out what new sets Lego has in store. When you add geek-friendly franchises such as Star Wars and Harry Potter to the internet and convention aspects of this hobby, it appears to create the perfect storm that allows geeks to be sucked into its vortex. Maybe that’s part of why geeks love Lego?
I think that I have answered my question. I believe that this can all be summed up in one simple mathematical formula: Internet + Conventions + Geek Properties + Assembling = True Love
Really Good, but Overrated
Recently the film Righteous Kill was released in theaters. Now let me start by saying that I’ve not yet seen it, I’m planning on it, but not yet. It stars two actors you may have heard of; Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. These two are widely acknowledged as two of the “greatest” actors of our time. Since this movie was announced I though, “Yeah they’re good, but are they really the greatest?” I’d have to say no.
As I write this I have IMDB open in another window and am looking at their filmographies. While both have some truly brilliant films in their repertoire; Raging Bull, Serpico, Godfathers 1-3 (yes I count 3 as brilliant), Awakenings, and Scent of a Woman etc etc. I probably didn’t list some that you may enjoy, but between the two they’ve acted in round about 100 movies. However while they have many great films, there are lots of bad movies among the list where they both seem to only be playing themselves, or some variation on themselves. I realize that many actors, in fact many of my favorite actors regularly play the same character over and over again. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but if we are going to call someone “Greatest” then they should really earn the title.
Now if I’m going to say they are not, as any strongly opinionated geek should I’m going to give you my pick for “Greatest” His name is Gary Oldman. Now stop and think about this for a second…….. Have you thought? Good. He has himself been in, according to IMDB, 59 films. These cover a wide range, and in each he plays a totally different character. Off the top of my head I don’t think I’ve ever seen and interview with him, and thanks to his wide range of work I have no idea who he actually is. Think about these films; Harry Potter, Batman Begins, The Professional, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, Romeo is Bleeding, True Romance, Dracula, J.F.K., and Sid and Nancy. Some you may have seen, and some not. But think about the films that I’ve listed and for one try to think about who he played in each film, then compare them and see how many similarities there are. You won’t find many.
Here is his IMDB page for reference. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000198/
If variety is the spice of life, then it should also be a good measuring stick for greatness.
What To Watch With Your Kids
I know that some of our readers and contributors are parents. Obviously we’re all geeks of one form or another and so our children are doomed to have inherited some of our geeky genes. Is knowing that they’ll likely be geeks, causing them to be tortured by the “cool” kids, a bad thing? Would you prefer your child to know that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is 42 or would you like to see them run a 4.4 40 and hit a baseball 500 feet?
These are questions that I’ve debated for a while and I’ve determined that my kids can choose their own path. My eight-year-old daughter thinks I’m the coolest guy in the world and wants to be just like me. Lately she’d rather play video games or watch a movie than play outside. My wife hates it but what can I do? I turned out OK.
Anyways, I told you that so that I can tell you this. I came across an article over on Wired where they list the ten geeky movies that we should raise our kids on. I disagree with some of their choices but some of them are extremely obvious. Here are their choices.
- Star Wars
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- The Last Starfighter
- My Neighbor Totoro
- Time Bandits
- The Dark Crystal
- WarGames
- Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang
- The Goonies
- Back to the Future
I agree with most of these choices; however, there are some glaring omissions. I’m going to have to give a strong “second” to Star Wars and The Goonies. I would also add The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Granted this is a bit scary for the smaller kids but it’s such a staple in the geek world that it has to be included. The Indiana Jones trilogy, UHF, and The Princess Bride are also a must. Finally, Ghostbusters has got to make the list of geeky movies to raise your kids on.
Because of the age of my kids, there are certain movies that I won’t let them watch now that I can’t hardly wait to sit down and watch with them when they’re older. My daughter loves to watch Ghostbusters but it gives the younger kids bad dreams so we can’t watch it very often. She’s also been begging me to watch Gremlins with her but, again, bad dreams for the younger kids.
Are there any other movies that you think should be on this list? What do you watch with your geeks in training, or if you prefer, your younglings?
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