Thoughts & Rambles

Random thoughts & rambles, simple!

[drzblog]

New Blog - New Home

Greetings ye ol’ followers of Thoughts & Rambles,

I’ve decided to take my blogging to a new areas, and if you’re still interested hearing about my opinions you can follow me here or my twitter!: bearlypopculture.blogspot.com

https://twitter.com/BearlyPopCult

[globegander]

Introduction

One of Richard Wagner’s greatest operas, Der Ring des Nibelungen is namedropped and featured in the latest chapter of Grant Morrison’s Multiversity maxi-series. The tone of the narration and the promises of a greater story beyond the issue’s final page may put one in the mind...

[alexhchung]

According to RoboCop: The Definitive History, RoboCop 2 producer Jon Davidson approached Alan Moore as well as Frank Miller to write the sequel because of their work on Watchmen and Dark Knight Returns. Due to the writer’s strike, Davidson could not hire anyone within the union so he went to comic book creators. "I got a very curt reply back from Alan but Frank was very enthusiastic," Davidson said. I could only imagine what an Alan Moore RoboCop story would be.

[drzblog]

Damian Batman is still the best

[ungoliantschilde]

Marvel by Moebius.

[jimzub]

A great artist can take a classic design and make it their own while keeping the essence intact. Moebius was definitely one of the greats.

[aleskot]

"You fellas think of comics in terms of comic books, but you're wrong. I think you fellas should think of comics in terms of drugs, in terms of war, in terms of journalism, in terms of selling, in terms of business. And if you have a viewpoint on drugs, or if you have a viewpoint on war, or if you have a viewpoint on the economy, I think you can tell it more effectively in comics than you can in words. I think nobody is doing it. Comics is journalism."

— Jack Kirby

[technochaun]

[brianmichaelbendis]

Doom Patrol covers by Simon Bisley.

[pfeiffer-pfan]

I’m sorry… but this show looks beautiful.

[drzblog]

Thanos: the Infinity Revelation by Jim Starlin

Rating: 4/10

Marvel’s Original Graphic Novel series 4th installment is a Jim Starlin story dedicated to his most famous & his (presumably) favorite characters Thanos the Mad Titan & Adam Warlock!

Thanos the Infinity Revelation is about Thanos & Adam Warlock having a discussion for 100 pages, steam rolling thru the Annihilators, a group composed of power house characters like Ronan the Accuser, Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill while the protagonist of the story sits comfortably at his throne, are comic fights supposed to be engaging with obstacles or for Starlin to demonstrate that his characters are better than anyone else’s?

If by chance, you are new to Marvel comics and you're intrigued about this mysterious mad Titan who has had two small appearances in the cinematic universe, Starlin happily spends 6 entire pages giving exposition about Thanos' entire continuity from all the important events. This comic is riddled with references to other comics, loaded with exposition about characters or what X or Y is to Z or Ö characters/events. It doesn't show you these things much, but it will tell you everything.

Starlin happily concludes the story by making his characters, literally become the focal point of the entire Marvel universe. I honestly do not doubt anyone at the Marvel office nor will fans (outside of Starlin’s own) ever reference to acknowledge this comic at all.

It's not new reader friendly, or engaging to older Marvel fans.

[drzblog]

Guardians of the Galaxy - Movie Review

The Guardians of the Galaxy is the 10th movie from the ever growing imperium of Marvel Studios. Written & directed by James Gunn with Nicole Perlman as co-writer. It’s based off the comic title of the same name, by the work of Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning from their 2008-2010 run.

Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is the legendary Outlaw, or is he? Paired with misfits like the bounty hunters Rocket Raccoon & Groot (Bradley Cooper & Vin Diesel), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) & the assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), you have a group of outlaws becoming the heroes.

Each character gets defined; with moments to shine, hilarious jokes, background development & setting up for a characterization arc. You’ll relate to these characters because the actors deliver solid performances. Vin Diesel has a single line to say, but he delivers those lines perfectly with each given scene, added with awesome moments, making him an audience favorite. Bradley Cooper & the CGI-animation on our furry little friend Rocket gets the most devilish grin on an adorable raccoon ever. You’ll just love to see the mayhem he creates & giving Boba Fett the run for his money.

Drax the Destroyer, who begins as a slight bore, gains impeccable character growth, which will lead to more spacious intriguing character arcs, I wish would have had a better fight choreographer for Dave Bautista’s hand to hand combat scenes, but Drax definitely gets one of the best laugh out moments of the movie.

Gamora is a slight disappointment, from the world’s most dangerous woman; she suffers heavily under women in distress tropes & gets rescued too many times by our leading male hero. Luckily, these little nuisances are forgettable at the end of its day. You’re just here to laugh, don’t take this film too serious from its basic script.

Chris Pratt, our main hero who hasn’t act as lead in blockbuster movies before, nails it. Charismatic & is a genuine heartfelt dick-head, who was trained in the art of douché by Yondu (played by your favorite thug Michael Rooker). Star-Lord is freaking awesome, his combat style is both clever & fun to watch. He’s definitely up there with Robert Downey Junior when it comes to charm levels.

With the only memory left of Earth is his Mother & a Sony Walkman with his personal mix tape of Awesomeness, James Gunn enhances the movie with pop culture sweetening jokes and great bits of musical blast from the past. Puma Swede, Michael Jackson & the Jackson Five, David Bowie, Redbone, it’s just so beautiful.

Story motivated by a magical MacGuffin, another Infinity Stone to build up the ongoing story of Marvel Cinematic Universe, with yet another one-dimensional villains to oppose our heroes; Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), & his acolytes Nebula (Karen Gillan) & Korath (Djimon Hounsou) but look. You’re not here to care about the most basic adventure to save the world plot from more one-note villains Marvel is duking out. You’re here to experience cinema! You’re here to laugh, cheer & fell in love with each of these assholes.

The Guardians of the Galaxy will return & so we will us.

PS. Hey kids! Did anyone notice Lloyd Kaffman had a cameo in this movie?!

[entertainmentweekly]

The poster for Quentin Tarantino’s Hateful Eight is siiiiick

[drzblog]

GET HYPE

[un-accounted-for]

[aleskot]

Shots fired, shade thrown

From Secret Avengers #5, drawn by Mike Walsh, colored by Matt Wilson, written by…me.

[drzblog]

:)

[dorianpavus]

The Inquisitor

The British male voice actor for the Inquisitor is Harry Hadden-Patton, and the American male voice actor is Jon Curry.

The British female voice actor for the Inquisitor is Alix Wilton Regan, and the American female voice actor is Sumalee Montano.

The...

[drzblog]

Thoughts & Rambles turned 3 today!

[drzblog]

X-Men: Days of the Future Past – Movie Review

Bryan Singer, the original director of X-Men & X2, and producer of Matthew Vaughn’s excellent X-men: First Class is back in the director’s seat.  The film was written by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman & Simon Kinberg, based off Chris Claremont and John Byrne's Days of Future Past comic book storyline.

It’s a dystopian future where Mutants are placed in internment camps, or slaughtered like animals by the mutant hunting robot Sentinels. There isn’t any hope for the co-existance of Mutants & Humans in this world; it is a fight for survival or extinction.  Here the X-Men & Brotherhood of Mutants have joined forces, but even with Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) & Magneto (Ian McKellen) together, these seasoned warriors can’t save the Mutants from the inevitable defeat. Luckily, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) is able to project a person’s consciousness back in time, and so it’s Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) mission to ensure this future never happens, by sending him back to 1973, to prevent the event that triggers anti-mutant hysteria; Mystique’s (Jennifer Lawrence) murder of the Sentinel program’s creator: Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage).

The heart of the story is Charles Xavier & his path to regain his self-confidence. A decade has passed since the events of X-men: First Class, and it hasn’t been a pleasant time for Professor X. Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) left him crippled, his childhood friend Raven “Mystique” abandoned him, and only Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) has stuck by him. It’s Wolverine’s time to return to favor & assist Charles Xavier through his struggles, to ensure Charles rescues Magneto from the Pentagon prison & stops Mystique. James McAvoy’s performance is excellent, his portrayal of a man whose lost everything is incredible, and he pulls you in on this wild ride—this one chance to change his future and prevent catastrophe for all mutant kind. Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique is equally entertaining. The character had always been dangerous under Singer’s direction, and she returns to top-notch form here, displaying incredible capabilities throughout the film. In this story she has adopted the path of vengeance Magneto was on in First Class, and Lawrence does a fine job of bringing Mystique’s rage and anguish to life on screen. Not to be left out, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto is more dangerous than ever.  This is Magneto in his prime, he’s angry, vengeful, and so convinced of his beliefs that it’s difficult to sympathize with him—still; no villain is greater than a truly just man. His eye for an eye approach is shown to be quite understandable, and allows the audience to be just as caring about his view as we are about Xavier’s. It’s also nice to see that, while Wolverine is important to the film, this is not another “Wolverine and the X-men” movie.  This is Charles Xavier’s fight, Wolverine’s just there to inspire him to make his stand.

Bryan Singer weaves an amazing spectacle, the special effects in this film are astounding, and we get to see some of the most top-notch mutant power displays ever shown in the X-men series, and we finally get to see the X-men doing what they were always meant to do, working as a team. Blink’s (Fan Bingbing) teleportation portals create stunning combat possibilities when combined with the unbridled power of Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) and the pin point marksmanship of Bishop, while Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Sunspot (Adan Canto) & Storm (Halle Berry) create elemental fury on beautiful new levels.  Magneto’s use of magnetism is merciless. However no one gets a better scene demonstrating their powers than Quicksilver (Evan Peters), accompanied by the smooth Jim Croce song “Time in a bottle.”  This film makes excellent use of its fiction to create eye-popping visuals displays, stellar combat scenes, and explosive moments, without actually relying on literal explosions.

Singer has given his best X-Men movie to date! There’s amazing visuals an excellent story, and performances so great that I am truly invested in the story, and left highly anxious to see what he has in store for us in X-Men: Apocalypse

[drzblog]

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – Movie Review

Marc Webb returns to his Amazing Spider-Man world with a fluid sequel continuing the story, with the Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) & Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) relationship going through the ups & downs. What makes Amazing Spider-Man 2 stand out is that we have these two excellent actors with such great, believable sexual chemistry. It expands the concept of superhero movies & gives us a movie that focuses on youth’s passionate love.

Spider-Man’s charm comes not only because of his cool powers, good costume & a great villain gallery, it’s downright the fact that he is such a human being and a real hero. Spider-Man’s spirit is performance with great detail, from within the action sequences through saving human lives to montage scenes of everyday assisting: saving a young child from school bullies, helping people, etc. Spider-Man takes great notice on the people and his surroundings, using his clever quips to encourage people in today’s cruel, narcissistic world where no one truly gives a damn about anyone but themselves. Peter Parker, while abandoned as a child, was still raised in a home of loving & appreciatory parents thanks to Uncle Ben & Aunt May (Sally Field).

 This is why the villains of our story, Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) & Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) are his opposites. Max is a lonely person who suffers from it, delusional that fame would bring him joy & lacking any proper social skills. He is a brilliant minded scientist being taken for granted. Harry Osborn is the prodigal son of the great Norman Osborn, but all he’s done since 16 is drink scotch, date models and waste his father’s money because Norman doesn’t even love him. They both suffer loneliness, because the world hasn’t shown them tenderness. There’s a great chemistry between the actors; they’re both miserable, but also creepy. However, I do want to nitpick about a certain villain character: Dr. Kafka (Marton Csokas). Who on earth thought a “German mad scientist” was needed for a Spider-Man movie? Why is there a doctor with such a ridiculous name? Why does it have to be a mad scientist who speaks with an awful German accent & listens loudly to Strauss? C’mon now, this was some awful stain on the movie.

The combat sequences are a spectacle; they’re not choreographed action beats of fists & kicks, but a beautiful acrobatic demonstration of the total imagination that only a character such as Spider-Man can achieve. It’s very pleasurable to look at, with Electro sporting a very kick-ass theme song composed by Hans Zimmer, the Magnificent Six, Pharrell Williams & Johnny Marr. The Point-of-view shots of Spider-Man web-slinging & slow motion demonstrations of his spider-sense tingling danger are truly visual entertainment that does justice to the character.

Marc Webb’s story spins webs of new stories, but the way things ended for the Amazing Spider-Man 2, I am more keenly interested in the announced spin-off movie the Sinister Six than I am for Spider-Man 3.

[drzblog]

Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business by Mark Waid & James Robinson

Rating: 7.5/10

Marvel’s Original Graphic Novel series 2nd installment gives us an action/thriller spy starring everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Spider-man. Co-written by Mark Waid & James Robinson, with stunningly beautiful illustrations by Gabriele Dell ‘Otto, is a standalone story providing readers with a fresh look at Peter Parker’s parents.

Did you know Richard & Mary Parker actually used to be world-saving CIA agents who fought against Hydra? No? Well the story opens with an even bigger shocker; Peter Parker has a Sister, Theresa Parker, who is a special agent! Say what now? Also, what does the Kingpin of Crime have to do with all of this?!

The story gives you those expected Peter Parker fumbles as he stumbles through daily life thinking about the future and his relationships with other people. Most of the jokes in this are only chuckle-worthy, but I got a good laugh out of Spider-Man making fun of DC Comics’ Batman Incorporated.

There’s a handful of action, but the importance is placed upon a well-paced story that nails down Peter Parker’s altruistic persona, because Spider-Man is the real human being, the real hero with his down to earth feels.

The writing in this is safe for both hardcore and casual fans, but it’s a one-note story without any deeper meanings, just a showcase of Spider-Man being Spider-Man.  What makes this one stand out is solely the stunning artwork from Dell ‘Otto; from the rainy New York nights to thug fights at a casino, to the beautiful city of Cairo, to Spider-Man’s stunning look, it’s easily the selling point of this graphic novel. You also gain a free digital copy as an extra, alongside behind-the-scenes featurette of Dell ’Otto’s art process, which is pretty nifty.