X-Men Origins: Wolverine launches today (well, at 12:01am this morning), and io9.com is providing a beginner’s guide to Wolverine lore. Topics include his history, origins, family, powers, and other topics. You can find the guide here.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine launches today (well, at 12:01am this morning), and io9.com is providing a beginner’s guide to Wolverine lore. Topics include his history, origins, family, powers, and other topics. You can find the guide here.
Paramount released a production photo from Iron Man 2 in today’s USA Today. It’s shown up at various film websites too – you can find it at /film, for example. The image features Tony Stark working in his lab, with a series of suits lining the wall behind him.
I’ve been following director Jon Favreau on Twitter, and he’s been teasing fans with tidbits such as “Downey is donning the suit.” I’m getting antsy for the movie to come out, and it won’t hit for another year.
io9 has footage from Sci Fi’s (they won’t be SyFy until July) upcoming TV movie High Plains Invaders. Just as Marsters is about to be hanged for an unknown crime, an alien invasion saves his neck and gives him a chance to be the hero. io9 has several clips to watch here.
It looks like High Plains Invaders will premiere on June 1, on the Sci Fi Channel.
Let me start by saying that I liked X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It was fun, and I thought it was better than X3 (but not as good as the first two). Even so, there was a lot of stuff I found myself laughing or groaning at, and not for the right reasons.
8. Annoying Camera Work. I lost count very early on of all the wide, “scene setting,” landscape shots. We get it. It’s Canada, and Canada has beautiful geography. Move on. Also, when shooting dialogue, you don’t need to cut back and forth every time someone speaks. It’d be okay for the audience to be looking at the side or back of someone’s head when they talk. People can figure it out.
7. The “Wouldn’t It Be Cool If” Factor. Pretty much every scene in the movie (and a huge chunk of the dialogue) can be attributed to one 13-year old saying to another, “wouldn’t it be cool if _____?” If the answer is yes, the scene goes in – no questions. Everything about Gambit’s character fits in this spot (aside: you probably wouldn’t nickname someone after a chess strategy because he’s good at poker).
6. Bolt v. Deadpool. This is an action movie where Domininc Monaghan has more screen time than Ryan Reynolds. 2-3 times as much, by my estimate. I’m guessing this is because more eighth graders have seen Lord of the Rings than Blade Trinity or Smokin’ Aces.
5. Continuity & Canon. This ties in with the “wouldn’t it be cool” issue – a lot of things happen that contradict or conflict with the existing X-Men movies. Accepting that the movies take place in a slightly different continuity than the comic books, they still have to work together and play nicely. For example, a certain colonel probably shouldn’t have the same rank in 1980 that he will in 2003.
4. Lacking Internal Logic. The cousin of reason #5, Wolverine also has trouble with its own internal consistency. Characters can or can’t use powers and abilities when it’s useful or convenient for the story. Or bones that are uneven and knobby become smooth and sharp when coated with adamantium. A little bit of work would’ve cleaned this up a lot.
3. Trying Too Hard To Be Funny. A lot of the one-liners work, and some are great. A lot of them don’t work, though. Even worse, the story arc is often completely derailed by scenes that are supposed to be funny (and aren’t). For example, anything with the Blob.
2. Special Attacks. “Back to back!” This line was used TWICE in the sense of “let’s use our special move!” And then Wolverine double-jumped over Bowser and hit Sabretooth with a red shell to win!
1. It Was Fun. Really, this was all Wolverine had to do to be fun. If eighth graders had made the movie, it would’ve been their first priority, and clearly it was the focus of the director and writer. So despite any other complaints I may or may not have, check the first X-Men Origins movie off as a success.
Seriously, if you’re trying to avoid Dollhouse spoilers, go away now.
Yesterday, Alan Tudyk held a conference call interview about Alpha, his newly reviewed character. Topics included Alpha’s goals, philosophy, and the thought processes involved in having 43 competing personalities.
io9 has a summary of the call here.
With a new Star Trek movie coming out (which by all accounts will completely vindicate those of us who were teased as children), io9’s put together the Top Ten Rules of Space Opera as a handy reference. One of my favorites is
10. Somebody wise should predict something, but nobody will pay attention or be able to understand the prediction.
Nevertheless, words from the prediction will be repeated over and over throughout the space opera, in echoing voiceovers that grow increasingly portentous as the ending draws nigh.
The full list can be found here.
To be fair, everyone KNOWS that Harry Dresden could beat that Potter kid in a fight. Wouldn’t even be fair.
But the argument over “who would win” is usually the fun part, which is why we’re excited about a story over at THR.
Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli from Heroes)’s company DiVide Pictures is working with Agility Studios to produce the web series ‘Ultradome.’ Episodes will be 3-5 minutes, and will feature characters who first debate the crossover battles, “then are transported to a stadium where the duo engage in single combat using all the weaponry, skills and pop culture touchstones from their respective hero’s creative arsenal.”
The producers are hoping to launch this summer, so you’d better watch out, Potter. I’m just saying.
Okay, I’m gonna keep this as spoiler free as we can. I’m gonna try really, really hard.
Season one of Dollhouse has been something of a mixed bag, both hit and miss at different spots. At this point, we still don’t know if it’ll be renewed for a second season. After a few stumbles early on, though, the show seemed to find its stride and continued to improve through the finale.
On the whole, the acting has been very strong. Fran Kranz has been amazing as the sarcastic, egotistical Topher (think Xander from Buffy with about a thousand point jump in IQ). Miracle Laurie, Dichen Lachman, and Enver Gjokaj are impressive as dolls, which means they’ve often had to play multiple characters per episode (sometimes characters that were developed by another actor first). Olivia Williams, Amy Acker, Reed Diamond, and Harry Lennix are great as the staff of the Dollhouse. One actor who appears near the end and is almost all spoiler gives a masterful performance.
The only frustration for me has been Eliza Dushku. In the midst of very strong acting, it feels like she’s just putting on a face. “Upset.” “Sexy.” “Happy.” Even her “doll” face stands out, because you can see the muscle tension as she tries to look blank. Still, because this is an ensemble show, the strengths of the actors around her make up for Dushku’s weakness.
The writing for the series has strengthened over time. While the first few episodes stand mostly alone, as the season progresses the continuity between shows increases and the strength of the overall story begins to shine. The finale even made a few subtle references to early episodes, attaching them to the series through-line. My only major complaint would be with the show’s premise – as with most epic conspiracy stories, the scope of the Dollhouse’s operations contradicts the fact that virtually no one knows they exist. Once you accept this premise, though, there’s nothing to stop you from enjoying the show.
If you haven’t watched it yet, I’d suggest checking out Dollhouse. Episodes are on Hulu if you want to watch now, or you can wait for the DVDs (which will have an unaired episode).
If you watched season one of Dollhouse, what did you think? Let us know in the comments.
Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto went on Saturday Night Live last night to plead with diehard Trek fans who may be having trouble accepting the new versions of their heroes. You can watch it below or over at Hulu, whichever floats your boat. Or keeps your starship airtight.
There’s a stigma attached to movies based on video games. With a few notable exceptions, they’re pretty much expected to suck. Movies ABOUT video games, though, are a relatively untested market. Gamer, starring Gerard Butler and Michael C. Hall, looks like it could be a successful entry in that column. The trailer hit XBox Live over the weekend, and has since found its way online. You can watch it over at YouTube, or here below.
Gamer will launch on September 4.