"It's never as bad as it seems. You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me." - from All-Star Superman

If you haven't seen the recent "Man of Steel" movie, the following ***Contains Spoilers***. You've been warned.


I've never been a big Superman fan.  The older movies aren't really that great (yeah, I said it), and the character always seemed to be to perfect and "goody two shoes".  I like my superheroes flawed and prone to making mistakes.  That's why I found the newest Superman movie, "Man of Steel" to be a pleasant surprise. Its not a perfect movie by any means, by I went back and watched it a second time, and wouldn't mind owning it when it comes out on DVD.

The movie isn't going to win any awards.  But it did some things pretty dang good.  Like  how they characterized Clark during the movie.  I enjoyed how they used flashbacks opf him growing up so we didn't have to spend to much time on a young Clark Kent (plus I've never been a fan of child actors, because they usually suck). Also, Michael Shannon did a hell of a job bring General Zod to life.  It was one of the best portrayals of a comic book villain I've ever seen. Because of all this, I thought the end of the movie was fan-freaking-tastic.

But I think Im in the minority in this.  I know of a few friends that didnt like it. And it seems some people on the internet are in some sort of nerd rage over it.  Because no one thinks that Superman snapping Zods neck at the end of the movie is, well, very "Superman" like.  But let me try and explain why its important.

The Superman we get in this movie isn't your Boyscout, a standup citizen of America. Someone that doesnt kill.  Instead of the confident, in front of the camera do gooder that everyone is use to, we now have an awkward, shy and somewhat of a loner Supes.  And he doesnt know his place in the world quit yet. But that comes to a resolution by the end of the movie.  In killing Zod, Clark firmly casts himself into the corner of the Humans. I think in that act he finds his place here in Earth.  But since he did have to kill Zod, I think you'll be seeing more in the other movies (if they DO more) that he wont be killing anyone.  Because Zods death is still going to be weighing on him, and he'll turn from any such acts in the future.

For future movies, I'd like to see the following.  Sadly, we're not going to have a Superman Trilogy without having Lex Luthor in at least one of the movies.  I think they can do the character right if they step away from the damn "wringing hands and a evil maniacal laughter" type of villain they generally type cast Luthor with.  They need to portray him as the super intelligent, arrogant egotist that he is.  Since he has a harder time standing up physically to Superman, it would be very easy to bring Luthors power armor into the picture.  He could've got his hands on the armor that Zod drops when he starts to fly, and Bam! Basis for Luthors power armor.

And for a third movie, Id like to see them bring in Doomsday.  Since he was genetically engineered, (I know this deviates from Superman Cannon), have Lex escape from jail ('cause he does that), and have him start tinkering with another "Acquired" alien tech, the Genesis chamber that got wrecked. Have Lex be the one that makes Doomsday. But that's just my rambling.  Im sure they're going to do something completely different, but one can wish, right?  Either way, Im looking towards more...

"Nothing ever goes as you expect. Expect nothing, and you will not be surprised."

Its been awhile since I've done a YouTube Friday clip.  And as such, I have gathered a few more videos to share with you over the next couple of weeks. 

This weeks video is going to tug at your Heart Strings, but that's why I liked it so much.  So, please watch.  And try not to cry.

Get your ass to Mars - Total Recall

I recently saw the new Total Recall movie this weekend, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I'm not really seeing why it's received the negative reviews. Granted it's not the best movie ever to come out, but I didn't want my two hours back and I'll most likely buy it when it comes out on DVD.

After the matinee I went and rented the old "Classic" version of Total Recall. I've forgotten how cheesy it really is. It's campy, filled with classic one liners but overall not that great anymore. I don't think it's held up that well at all.

The new version, I feel, holds actually pretty close to the same story. Granted there's no Mars and no mutants, but thats the only really differences. It really adapted well without those. The acting is solid, but compared to Arnold that's not saying much.

There are those that are going to get there panties in a bunch when they watch the new one because they probably believe that they can't match the old one. But it's really wasn't that great to begin with.

I have a theory about this. People are going to love movies/tv shows/(insert favorite thing here) from there childhood and teenage years. For example, take the old G.I. Joe and Transformer cartoons. As a kid, you loved them. And if you want them to remember them with fondness and greatness, you should never, ever watch them again. Ever. Because they're awful. Truly. I watched a half a dozen of the old Transformers cartoon a few years ago, and I had trouble getting through them they were that bad. Nostalgia does weird things to you.

Granted some things from your past hold up and you can still watch/play/whatever with them on a frequent basis. And to be honest, usually when Hollywood execs remake an old movie it's just to make a quick buck and aren't that great. But sometimes the original movie isn't that great to begin with, that the new one can't help but BE better. So put your nostalgia aside and go see it.

"...London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained." - Dr. Watson

I recently had the pleasure of viewing the movie Sherlock Holmes in the theater last week, and I wasn’t disappointed. To my mind, it was rather well done. The dialogue was witty throughout without becoming overly cheesy. Robert Downey Jr., a rather solid choice, played a believable manic Holmes and I rather liked Jude Laws portrayal of Watson instead of the portly henchman he’s been played as before. Rachel McAdams character was rather underwhelming, and because of such, was usually pushed aside by the other greater performances.
I’ve heard that people didn’t think it was as true to the Character of Holmes that were in the books and there was too much brawling and explosions for its own good (and on a side note, I thought it really added something to the movie). I can’t give a definitive response to this because I’ve only read one Sherlock Holmes story, The Hound of The Baskervilles, and that was 10 years ago in High School. But one of my friendly acquaintances, who is an English Major and have read several of the stories, was of the opinion that this version of Holmes was truer to the one in the stories than any of the previous incarnations. If you have any qualms about seeing Sherlock Holmes in the theaters, it definitely is worth a cheap seat or two. 3.5/5 stars.
Update: I went and saw Avatar again, but this time in 3D. If you haven’t seen this film already, go and see it now I 3D! I might have to give it an extra half a star for being such a great looking film.

"To train the mind to its full potential, you got to train your body" - Full Metal Alchemist

Avatar. Was it worth the 10 year wait, the hundreds of millions of dollars it cost to produce, and deserving of all the hype? Probably not. CGI aside, it wasn’t really anything ground breaking. But still, I really liked it.
The story has been done before many a time. People encroaching on others territory, trying to drive them out because they have something of value, and getting their butts handed to them because they’re essential cornering a cultural badger. Pretty much it was Cowboys vs Indians wrapped oh so well in Fernguly trappings. The aliens were so blatantly Native American rip offs, it was laughable.
The acting was decent enough to make you care about the characters over all, but it wasn’t anything to cry over. The pacing was actually pretty good. It didn’t make you feel you weren’t watching a movie that was just shy of 3 hours long.
Graphic wise, it’s going to knock your socks off. The CGI flawesley flowed from one frame to the next, where you couldn’t tell where human and computer interacted effortlessly. In some CGI heavy movies, you get the occasionally scene or 2 where it’s painfully obvious there was someone standing in front of a green screen.
I don’t think this movie is going to change the way you watch movies like the way they were claiming, but it was damn good. I wish I would’ve seen this in 3D, because that’s what this movie was made for. It was good enough I might have to go see it again, just so I can have the 3D experience. I will urge you all to see this in the theatres, because it’s of such a scope that you won’t be able to realize it in a living room. I’m giving it 3.5/5 stars. Now for Sherlock Holmes this next weekend.

"An errand is getting a tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo." - Harry Dresden; The Dresden Files

Yeah, this has been a long time coming. But that’s what I get for having a blog; The option to ignore it and attend to it on a whim. So what do you get today? Movie reviews!


First off the ramp is District 9. I got to say, its defiantly in the top 5 movies of the year for me. The main actor, Sharlto Copley, is a relative new comer. And wow, he did damn good job. The CGI was impressive, the story line was rather original in its scope, and the ending, while not depressing, is not what you would expect. I’m going to urge you to go rent it I’m giving it 4/5 stars.

And then we have Zombieland. Simply put, this show was awesome. And I mean Awesome! Usually I’m not a fan of the Horror/Scary/Blood and gore movies that like to come out around this time of year. Cause one, I don’t really get scared by them (there is a few exceptions like the Exorcism of Emily Rose), so what is the point in watching them? And 2, refer back to previous statement. But I liked Zombieland cause it didn’t even pretend to be, or even try, scary.

Zombieland, like most zombie movies out there, follows the similar zombie plot of everyone gets affected, there’s only a few stragglers left in the world and everyone seems to have a shotgun and be wielding a fire axe. And then all funny breaks loose. I really liked the humor in this movie. If you liked the movie Shaun of the Dead, I think you’ll like this one more. I certainly did. You don’t really need to see this in the movie theatre, cause there’s no special affects to really gawk at on a big, huge screen and there’s no big explosions to flatten your senses into submission over 100,000 watt speakers. So if money is an issue with you, at least try to rent it when it finally gets there. I give it 3.5/5 stars. Now to go see the movie “9” before it’s no longer playing in my small and humble valley.

And now my very great opinion is out of the way, if any of want to hear the voice of Smurfs blab on about a certain subject, just let me know. Cause I run out of subjects to blog about on a regular bases.

And remember to Stay Thirsty My Friends...