Agonus
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:You're getting farther and farther off base. Sucker Punch blatantly homages anime and video games in its action sequences. There's no argument to that. But if you're analyzing why the movie shows a squad of girls in stripperific costumes with cool weapons, and a mech, sent FPS style after an army of steampunk nazi zombies, you're missing the point.Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
One could get away with the anime argument if the movies' themes weren't the same. When Gilliam has a giant samurai, though, he's using the visual image to shrink his protagonist down to a child's scale, undercutting the heroic fantasy at the heart of the escapism. When Snyder has one face off Baby Doll (and let's not try to unpack that misfiring nickname), he's only thinking of how cool it looks.
If you're going to claim influence, don't use an example that suggests you don't get the original. (I'm struggling to avoid a derail into how poor the movie adaptation of V for Vendetta was, but that's a separate thread.) -
Quote:Yeah, read Watchmen once. And that was a chore and a half for me.Originally Posted by Starflier
Doesn't make the graphic novel any less bland or plodding. I've read it a few times, and it's a decent work, but it's not 'all that'.
Heh. It's only been brought to my attention recently. I should also mention that I'm about 125lbs. Co-workers actually didn't believe me when I told 'em I used to be as much as 185lbs. So (these days anyway) I'm a small guy. For the most part, I'm the same size I was back in High School, and that's a lot of where my still thinking young comes from.Quote:Originally Posted by Ironik
That's interesting. I've not heard someone say that before, linking stature with age. Speaking as someone who looked younger than his chronological age for quite some time, you should enjoy that part of it as long as possible. We live in an ageist society and always have. (I mean, Oscar Wilde once said that the youth of America is our oldest tradition -- 129 years ago.)
Getting back to the movie, this reminds me of when I about choked when Baby Doll was said to be 20. Maaaybe it's just me, but she sure as hell doesn't look that old. And my friend, who liked the movie, agreed with that to the point that he was put off by the Lolita vibe of the main girls. -
Quote:Am I the only one getting an Ang Lee Hulk level uncanny valley vibe from the CGI'ed 98 lb weakling Rogers?Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Pre-SSS Rodgers is probably a different actor with a mapped Chris Evens face. Did you see The Social Network? The twins were two unrelated actors with one's face mapped onto the other.
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Quote:A lot of people who are attacking the movie are going after Sucker Punch's weak attempt to make the movie more than a bunch of strung together Rule of Cool action sequences. The movie is built on visuals. The plot is... tertiary at best. I think the fantasy vs reality aspect was well done, and the movie would have been a lot better if they would have just stuck with the whole mind screw aspect of what actually happened. I think one of the movie's bigger problems, critically speaking, is that the whole "deeper meaning" of fighting your battles comes across as tacked on as an afterthought.Originally Posted by BrandX
I have to agree. To those seeing all the negative reviews. Don't listen to them. Those reviewers are basically fixating on the action scenes. And not paying attention to the rest of the movie.
Yes. The movie has stylized fights with girls in tight and/or revealing outfits. This is the anime/comic influence for sure.
But I have to say it again. Don't listen to the reviewers. They're not watching the movie to understand it. They're watching the movie to just bad mouth it. No Really. They are.
The plot is simple admittedly. But it doesn't need a complicated plot. There are no major complications, because there doesn't need to be.
Erm... the action sequences are pure eye candy, and analyzing them like some folks are doing completely misses the point. But I wouldn't call the "real world" plot of the movie fun at all. Hell, the bulk of the last 20 minutes of the movie are downright depressing and the biggest thing I didn't like about Sucker Punch.Quote:Originally Posted by BrandX
The story is simple, fun, and leads to the FUN FACTOR. It's seeing this depressing hell, then being taken away to a fantastical world, then going back to the depressing hell, then being taken back to the ESCAPISM!
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I'll be 33 next year. But I'm also 5'6, so I still -feel- like I'm younger when standing next to people in their 20's who are 5'8 and over. And it's also come to my attention that people I've met recently think I'm in my mid to upper 20's anyway. So yeah, I'm right there with you.Quote:Originally Posted by Dark One
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I'm going to be 33 this summer and I know right well that even though I'm that old, I'm not even close to being an actual adult. I don't think I'll ever be an adult in the same sense that my parents and grandparents were/are.
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Quote:Tudyk was also in Dollhouse, which scraped to get 2 seasons.Originally Posted by Dark One
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Alan Tudyk - Showed up in V. Character dead by impalement.
Haven't seen Book, Zoe, or Simon in anything else, ttbomr.
The British original is better. Plus it has Alan Tudyk (sensing some patterns here) as the guy spending most of the movie high.Quote:Originally Posted by Starflier
Book (Ron Glass) was in Death at a Funeral which I highly recommend, if only for James Marsden running around high all movie long.
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Erm... it was a rhetorical question, but since you answered...
Quote:As far as I know, DC can continue to use the character of Captain Marvel, they just can't advertise the character using the name "Captain Marvel." That's why his books are always called Shazam something. (Or possibly S!H!A!Z!A!M! going by Flashpoint.) Oddly enough, the rule apparently applies to Mary Marvel too.Originally Posted by Nericus
Possibly due to licensing issues as Marvel has the rights to publish a Captain Marvel comic, while DC has a character named Captain Marvel.
I think if there was money to be made on the property, (and I do) the profits would overpower any company politicking.Quote:Originally Posted by Nericus
Or due to the fact that he was very much inspired by Superman back when Fawcett Comics made him and DC just hates that.
DC doesn't know what to do with the character. Cap's also one of the few "big" DC characters to have it worse than Wonder Woman in that respect. For that matter, Cap's rogues gallery get more panel time than he does.Quote:Originally Posted by Nericus
Or lack of interest.
This is possible. There was rumor a while back that DC was going for a big CM push with a cartoon and the movie and all kinds of stuff. But Trials of Shazam bombed, the movie got stuck in development hell, and Billy and Mary have been stuck in comic limbo for ages. The only freaking Marvel Family characters appearing in an ongoing now are Osiris and Isis, and said book is one of the crappiest DC is putting out right now.Quote:Originally Posted by Nericus
To be honest, DC might want to start considering Captain Marvel/Shazam as a movie character and main comic character in case the lawsuits with the Superman creator estate goes against DC. -
Cool. Good to know.
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Interesting. I go by the show, the first movie, and the movie with Conner and Duncan for continuity. The rest of it is all kinds of blah. And my gods the last movie was horrible. As much as I thought the whole "There can be only ME!" line was amusing, the rest of it was just painful to watch.
But yeah, the whole concept has been kinda borked between the live action show, movies, anime, and cartoon. Highlander is waaay too far into a DBZ-esque Oh! Wait! There's this supertough badass who's been hiding all these years that you never knew about! type territory. >.< -
Captain Marvel. For crying out loud, it's Harry Potter crossed with Superman. Why has this not already been made?
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Quote:Spent a while (a few days, I think?) in meditation to magnetically pull the giant space bullet Kitty was stuck in back to earth.Originally Posted by Rabid_Metroid
...Also, how did Magneto get Kitty back to Earth?
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Quote:I thought the explanation was something to the effect that Raimi couldn't buy that a teen invented a new chemical AND distribution unit for it, that's beyond anything established scientists can do currently, in his room (with a box of scraps).Originally Posted by Nericus
...As to the Spidey movies, I believe that Rami stated that if Peter gained all the other powers of a spider, then why not the webs? Also if Peter can't afford a car, how could he buy the chemicals and parts to make the webshooters? ...
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Quote:This. As I understand it, as long as they show up with benevolent intent, the X-Men aren't turning any mutants away from Utopia. There are a couple other evilish mutants on the island, they just don't get much panel time.Originally Posted by Lightfoot
...There are still less than 250 mutants in the entire world, the X-Men can't really afford to turn any away.
And finally, Magneto brought Kitty back to Earth, at great personal risk.
And as for Magneto, someone was all "Seriously?! We're letting HIM stay here?!" when he showed up, I just don't remember who. I think it was Xavier but I could be wrong. But they have gone out of their way since to show that Magneto wants to help the X-Men. He's pushed his powers drastically to help keep the Utopia afloat, brought back Kitty Pryde, and he trains younger mutants when they let him.
Why? Why not let the character advance a little more and stay a vampire?Quote:Originally Posted by Lightfoot
...Hopefully, this situation will be resolved shortly, and upon Jubilee's return to life she will have her powers restored. -
Quote:We're essentially making up these guidelines as we're going here though, aren't we? But considering that the general public outnumber fans by like, lots and lots and lots, I'd say so. Unless we're specifically going for new icons for the fans and not, well, everyone.Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
Is it more important that the general public (which has no taste in superheroes) can identify the character or that they should be recognized by the average fan (who by definition as some taste, however debatable it may be
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Quote:Robocop responds.Originally Posted by UltraTroll
That group raised $50,000 dollars already for the Robocop statue.
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Shame about The Cape.
And even though I'm a fan of the show, Supernatural coming back -again- does seem to be a bit odd. I'd love to see a spinoff, but they seem to be intent of wringing everything they can from the Winchesters.
Save for Smallville and an article from a while back about how badly Lone Star bombed, I've never even heard of the rest of the shows on the canceled listed.
Any word on the Being Human remake, while I'm at it? -
Quote:Erm, isn't that sort of the idea here? Characters that the general public can identify and know at least a -little- about due to, well, whatever?Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
If we're now factoring in "popular cultural recognition" for a character's qualifications for iconic status...
I think Venom should get credit because even though his movie debut sorta... sucked, they still fought to include him due to his popularity. And various people are still trying to get a Venom spinoff movie made.Quote:Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
then Venom, as the weak link in the Spider-Man movie franchise, gets demoted in the same fashion as film-flops Spawn, Judge Dredd, Tank Girl, or the evidently unadaptable Punisher (whose movie career has a whopping three strikes against the character).
Sure Punisher's movie's have bombed, but I'd be willing to bet his skull logo is one of the top identifiable comicy images out there.
As I understand, Dredd's comics are still going strong. Plus there's the new faithful movie in the works. And 2000AD's supposed to be doing a big North American comic push in time for the movie.
Movie success, maybe. But I think "mainstream recognition" goes hand in hand with an iconic character.Quote:Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
On the other hand, one could argue that mainstream recognition is overrated, especially if Hollywood's imprimatur is required. Doc Savage and the Shadow, both iconic pulp heroes, bombed at the box office, but their premiere status is indisputable. Certainly fans recognize them without prompting.
True, but we'll see if the GL movie does well, and if a Deadpool movie ends up development hell.Quote:Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
After a disastrous cameo in the Wolverine movie (which was, incidentally, held afloat only by Hugh Jackman's star power, not the character), Deadpool's movie fortunes look increasinly dim as once-favored leading man Ryan Reynolds devotes himself to Green Lantern. The odds of his breaking through are fairly low at this point.
I'll give you that. Same with Hellboy as others have mentioned too. The Tick is still riding the coat-tails of the cartoon as far as recognition goes though, in my opinion.Quote:Originally Posted by TrueGentleman
If pop culture penetration is the defining factor for iconic comics heroes, i.e. blockbuster movies, then Pixar's The Incredibles, which got their comic book after their movie, should definitely be considered iconic. -
Quote:As far as Iron Man goes, sure he's been around for ages, but I think it's debatable that the character never cracked the "iconic" glass ceiling until the movie.Originally Posted by Schismatrix
Okay, Spawn and Venom i can see as being fairly recent iconic comic book characters having been created in the 90s, but Iron Man has been around longer than Wolverine.
Within the context of comic book characters i think Deadpool is currently somewhere near the same level of recognition as Venom and Spawn.
Offhand i can't think of any DC characters created in the last two decades who have a similar level of recognition.
Even though Marvel has been going out of their way to mutilate the concept of the character the last 10 years, Venom's still recognizable -and- popular due to his 90's (over)exposure. Whether or not that lasts after this new series will be another matter though.
Spawn was up there, when there was a cartoon and a movie and the toys were new. Now? Hard to say. The character is -still- recognizable by most folks familiar with 90's books, but I'd say Spawn's on the verge of fading out, if it hasn't already. MacFarlane insists they're still doing a straight to DVD movie though.
Deadpool's definitely Marvel's newest "star" even though the character first appeared in 1991.
As far as DC goes, I'd put the Green Lanterns in the same boat as Iron Man, though word is the movie won't do anywhere near as well.
Can't think of any new DC characters though. Lobo, maybe? -
The most successful tabletop RPG campaign I'm involved in right now is a Shadowrun game that's been going on and off for around a year or more. Got my street samurai guy down to .3 essence, but I'll need an insane amount of money to upgrade his current cyberware to a higher class to make room for the cybernetic left arm to go with his right. All kinds of fun regardless. Especially when we -had- the opportunity to steal a submarine from Tir Na Nog and go pirate. Well, that's what -I- wanted to do, but I was outvoted. >.>
We just ended a Pathfinder/D&D 3.5 campaign that went from level 1 to 16. We've moved on to starting a new one, that's sorta D&D by way of Sliders or Exiles. I'm playing a knightly version of Street Fighter's Ryu, essentially.
There's a secondary Pathfinder/3.5 game, where we've gone from level 5 to 12ish. Epic warring kingdom stuff. My character is a (crap... not a Half Dragon, but the other one. Draconian something? Forget the name) who's basically a fighter but thinks and acts like he's a bard. I've mentioned eventually cross-classing, but the rest of the group thinks it's more amusing if I don't. Heh.
I just joined a new group in State College that's running a WoD Sabbat game with the Mind's Eye Theatre rules. Still not sold on MET though, especially the way the group just seems to use it in place of dice. *shrug*
Personally, I'd like to run/join a Star Wars game with the last rulebooks they released, or a run/join DCU game using the new M&M books, but I'm at a loss for enough players for either. -
After taking a look at the preview at the online store, the pieces sound cool and all. And looks like there's a lot of them too. So that's awesome. Whoever is responsible, thank you. Great job.
But.
No hand talon option for Claws yet?! All these new beast people will STILL have to use Wolverine claws?! (Or Super Strength. You know what I'm getting at.)
*sigh* -
Sad and unexpected news. Big fan of his work too.
McDuffie wasn't even that old, was he? -
Quote:Not necessarily.Originally Posted by Nericus
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Also his Prime Directives:
1. Serve the Public Trust
2. Protect the Innocent
3. Uphold the Law
....hm. Is it me or is one and three pretty much the same? Isn't upholding the law serving the public?
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Just a guess (going by an episode of The Wire I watched last night) but I -think- PD 1 is more of a social appearances sorta thing. Like on the Wire episode, civilians were telling politicians they missed the days when police officers were able to stop by and talk to them directly, allowing for police to actually know who they were protecting. As opposed to modern times (of the show, anyway) when police were absorbed in the war on drugs 24/7. -
Quote:Humor aside, more'n likely not. Unless Alonzo changes the previous "rule" that cosmic Marvel was essentially it's own pocket setting that barely affected what happened on Earth.Originally Posted by CaptainFoamerang
Oh so this time it'll actually affect the other titles?
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Quote:I'm far from an expert on such matters, but I think it holds up partially because they used an actual suit. The stiff, slow movements helped with the "yeah, that's an experimental cyborg" illusion of the whole thing.Originally Posted by CaptainFoamerang
The original Robocop holds up surprisingly well. The only way they could improve on it is to not make the anti-commercialism so heavy handed.
Ye gods, unless they get like... Del Toro's people, a Robocop remade these days will be another cgi monstrosity, probably bouncing around like Yoda/'Zilla too.
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Quote:Jennings seemed to catch on that Watson had trouble with pop culture, but there were still more than enough categories based around pure facts for Watson to mostly (Toronto?!) steamroll through.Originally Posted by Vox Populi
I think Watson liked to choose categories that have already been started. The categories sometimes confused him at first, but he would figure it out after a couple questions. That's why Ken Jennings kept going for the harder questions first, to get them before Watson could catch on.
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Quote:Ayup. Also considering all the bad early word on Green Lantern, and not just from the lackluster trailers.Originally Posted by Zikar
If the trailers are anything to go by, Marvel has this one in the bag.
Verily!Quote:Originally Posted by Golden Girl
Use not thy taser upon me, brother?