CaptainFoamerang

I think the Saint of Killers could probably be killed with his own guns.

Haven't seen this yet, which is weird considering I'm viewed as the pop culture geek in my family and everyone else in my family has been watching it and liking it.

I'm sure I'll hate it. >.>

There's other characters like Shaw with absorption powers of some kind, and most of them seem to have limits as to the amount of energy (type varies) that they can absorb.

For instance, Rogue could only absorb so much of Juggernaut's power before losing her sense of self. Also, when Strong Guy (who has energy absorption powers more comparable to Shaw) fought Hulk during World War Hulk, he had to be careful not to get hit too much otherwise he'd max out his powers and his body would crash.

So Shaw could definitely go toe to toe with a lot of heavyweights, but when you get to the cosmic level he's going to be screwed, because not all of them are as mindless as Shaw would hope Hulk is should they ever cross paths.

*EDIT*

As far as I know, Shaw still needs to breathe and a lot of the time these energy absorption metas are defeated in a way that safely allows them to get rid of their stored energy to the point they are no longer a threat, such as keeping them in a force field of some kind or having an extremely durable meta hold them in place while they exert themselves.

Eh, it'll be a new show for my nephew to watch, at least. Unfortunately, his first exposure to Green Lantern was the movie.

I'm excited to see Ridley Scott returning to the horror genre. I'm also excited that Russell Crowe isn't playing the crew in a variety of fat suits as well as the alien. >.>

Aaand more photos.

Hopefully we see the screened footage sometime soon.

Lindelof interview reveals info on characters.

Looks like Charlize Theron will be playing a corporate honeypot, while Michael Fassbender plays . . . a robot??? I think we're all in agreement that more Fassbender movies are a good thing, but I'm not sure if or how this role will limit him.

Also, official, albeit short, synopsis.

They're still being coy about the relation to the Alien franchise officially, though the Fassbender interview in that link seems to at least confirm it's in the same universe.

If you look around a little more you'll see that those headshots are going to show up on Entertainment Weekly's cover of their issue featuring the Avengers. It seems like these were cheapy headshots used for on-set purposes that they threw to EW while saying, "Go away, we're making a movie." But that's just me.

Headshots of Avengers characters

I'm not sure anyone told Mark Ruffalo that he's just supposed to hang out in the background until Hulk shows up.

Also, sorry to anyone to through this was about a Hulk/Blue Steel team up. >.>

*EDIT*

And here's some more photos to make this thread a little more worth it.

Oookay, I googled "new 52 starfire" to see what the fuss was about and ran into a page of Catwoman and Batman doing some public dry-humping.

Sounds neat, but it'll probably end up being too short like the rest of the animated movies. I wish they'd just make these into live action movies, but they must love watching Marvel have their way and they must hate making money.

Oh and I'll add Sucker Punch to this as well.

Have you ever been sold on a movie based on the trailer only to find the trailer was actually better than the movie?

This was my experience with Transformers 3. Any others that come to mind?

I didn't see a thread about this yet, so hopefully I didn't miss it if one's been started. Anyway, I went to see Warrior on my birthday last week because 1) I heard this was basically "The Fighter with kicking" and I enjoyed The Fighter a lot and 2) I wanted to see how Tom Hardy would pull off a physically imposing role with him playing Bane in next year's The Dark Knight Rises (as if you didn't know already). This film was also receiving good reviews and I'm always looking for a good story.

The good news is that I think Tom Hardy will have no trouble convincing anyone he can go toe to toe with Batman next year, as his character in this movie was just destroying guys convincingly.

Perhaps the not so good news is that, after having several days to digest the movie, I'm not sure it was all that good. There are similarities between Warrior and The Fighter, with the sports aspect and focus on the family dynamic, specifically between two brothers. Most of the time it's fairly easy to make and enjoy a sports movie because they tend to include an underdog and a relatively one dimensional demonized antagonist. What makes Warrior a bit different is that it's a story that belongs to both of the brothers, and they both have very good reasons for entering a $5 million mixed martial arts tournament. Some of those who came to see the movie with me even turned to me during the film and remarked how they weren't sure which one they should root for.

I can see how this kind of ambiguity can be appealing and even enough to convince folks that this is perhaps twice as good as the standard sports movies because you can root for either one of these brothers, but the more I think about it, the more it feels like they wanted to make a movie about one brother and one about the other and in the end each was given half a story and half a movie. This was particularly true of Tom Hardy's character, Tommy, who plays a very rough around the edges ex soldier with a dark past. We're introduced to Tommy first as he confronts his father, Paddy (played by Nick Nolte), after a decade-and-a-half estrangement that began when Tommy and his mother fled from his abusive father. Tommy's older brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton), stayed with Paddy to pursue his high school sweetheart. To Tommy's surprise, Paddy has been sober for years now, as Tommy has obviously taken to drinking to drown out his ghosts, including the memory of his mother, who became ill and died after they fled. Tommy uses virtually every opportunity to throw his father's past nature in his face; it's clear Tommy despises his father, yet returns several days later to ask his father to train him for an upcoming MMA tournament due to Paddy's great success as Tommy's childhood wrestling trainer.

With all of this potential for drama, it may be puzzling to note the assessment of Tommy only having half a story. However, the reason I think the movie fell short of exploring the dramatic potential was because Tommy is constantly acting like a ****** bag, and all of his redemptive qualities seem to be buried in his past along with his demons. There are adequate opportunities to explore the strenuous bonds between his father and him and between him and Brenden, but the movie has Tommy slamming the door on these chances time and time again. Of course, there is understandable resentment and anger Tommy bears towards both of them, so it makes sense that he doesn't break down and try to begin anew with either them right away. But, this isn't the problem; the problem is that there is a distinct lack of exploration of these issues brought on by the writers keeping him in the same gear throughout the movie. It felt as if there needed to be another character in this movie that Tommy could express himself to so we could get a better look inside his head, because when the redemptive moments do come, they seem almost forced, and when the reconciliation moments come, they certainly seem too quick.

Brenden, on the other hand, has his motivations laid out for us. It's revealed he used to fight in MMA matches but has since given that life up at the behest of Tess, his then-sweetheart and now-wife. Brenden is now a high school physics teacher and raises two kids with Tess, and their family maintains a wide emotional and physical distance from Paddy. Tess and Brenden have three jobs between them, but still struggle to make ends meet. A major blow comes to the family when Brenden is informed that he doesn't have the money needed to keep their house, which will be repossessed in a matter of weeks. Desperate, Brenden enters a minor cash prize MMA fight and wins, but the telltale signs of fighting put a strain on his marriage and cause him to get suspended without pay at the high school. Low on options, he convinces his wife to let him start fighting again in order to keep the house, and he enlists the help of his friend and old trainer, who also happens to be training another participant for the major MMA tournament in which Tommy will participate. During the obligatory montage of training and minor fights, this other fighter is injured and Brenden convinces his friend to let him take the fighter's place in the tournament.

The stage is set and the brothers collide as revealed by the trailers and the cage is where the brothers have most of their interaction. Throughout the tournament, Tommy proceeds to dominate and Brenden maintains an underdog status. Brenden's motivations are clear throughout, but Tommy remains a mystery to the film's audience and fans of the tournament until bits and pieces of his past come out. The revelations of Tommy's doing what he does and being who he is are painted in about the most undeniably selfless way possible, which is in stark contrast to the belligerent jerk he is to everyone, so it's hard not to feel the filmmakers poking you with a stick and demanding you like him.

I have no doubts, though, that some will look at what Tommy's done and been through and find him easily justified and likeable, but this wasn't my only gripe with the film, despite being the major one. It was unavoidable to compare this movie to The Fighter, and this comparison doesn't help Warrior very much. First off, the acting was far superior in The Fighter, from Christian Bale's chameleon-like portrayal to Amy Adam's edge providing a pleasant departure from her wholesome roles. You can say that Tom Hardy effectively pulls off his character's angry and aloof nature, but the character provides so little room for Tommy and Paddy's words and emotions to carry a dynamic with, leaving no real stellar performances. Secondly, there was a distinct lack of pure entertainment moments that are associated with sports films, the ones where the underdog or the trainer pulls off a pitch-perfect one-liner or completes a move that's smart, sneaky, yet still within the boundaries of the rules; this was particularly evident in the dialogue, which wound up largely forgettable.

Despite the filmmakers wanting to achieve (by any means necessary) a double helping of heroes to root for, I felt that both characters of Tommy and Brenden were shafted in some aspect, with the writers keeping Tommy in neutral through too much of the film and the director demanding very little from Edgerton's Brenden. Still, Brenden comes out more likeable and relatable. The movie was good enough, but I felt it could have been better had the dialogue distilled the character's emotions and motivations more clearly and punctuated the scenes. It should get some credit from deviating from standard sports movie fare, but not to the point where we overlook its flaws and overrate it.

I'd give it a 3-3.5/5 stars, largely because I am a sucker for sports movies.

Sorry, folks, was out of town for almost two weeks, and during that trip I actually got around to reading the fourth Sookie Stackhouse book that this season is based on. I'll post a recap after I grab something to eat.