Sunday, June 30, 2013

Tomorrow is Canada Day

Ah June is over and it's Canada Day, a day of celebration, red, white and the Scotia Bank mascot handing kids cards during the parade. Ah what a joyous celebration.

Where we get a bench and watch a bunch of old guys in motorcycles and kids who went to some martial arts thing perform.

A day where we actually enjoy. I know right, it's not like those other days where you guys come onto this blog wondering what the hell there is left to do on the computer. I mean it gives us a day to GO OUTSIDE. That is powerful.

No I am not high.

We asked for our independence politely and got it. Quebec asked for it meanly by way of that de Gaulle bastard so we slapped them in the faces and hoped that senile old man died! AND HE DID!

Before I offend anybody else, goodbye! And have a good Canada Day tomorrow! Wave that red and white flag, be proud if your Canadian!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

I WILL FIND HIM!

So the garden behind my house has been infiltrated about three times, three confirmed times. Other possible times I may have been playing video games, sleeping or exercising (We all know that's a lie). The first recorded time I had it cornered, but I let my cockiness get in the way and it nearly escaped, using it's friend, who was in escapable position to distract me. I still nearly got it, though, getting it to fall on it's ass, but I got too close before I was ready and it ran off to the school, where the open field gave it a space I could not catch it from. The second time, upon my return he was there to greet me, he knew that last time was not fair and wanted a rematch. I was not ready though, and I slipped, dress pants will do that, causing him to run, laughing in my face.

Two weeks later he returned, this time actually officially threatening the garden. It knew I was weakened, a flu you see, and in the garden I picked up my weapon (a bucket), it ran to one side, I met it. I was slow, and unprepared (I should have used the bucket to through and a stick to hit) and it escaped off the side. I saw it's friend on the other side of the road, and three times I said it, each time louder and more maniacal than the last: "I WILL FIND HIM!"

I know those European Rabbits, invasive bastards, can't use the Internet, but as long as I'm too lazy to build a rabbit snare, I will find him! I will kick his ass, knock him unconscious (no way I'm picking up a conscious one, rabies you kn0w), put him in a cage (don't worry, I'll feed him) and put him on display for about a week, a warning to all rabbits, not to mess with me.

That's my Tide. What's yours?

Friday, June 28, 2013

What Next?

Honestly, if the rumours are true and an Aquaman film is announced at SDCC then a lot needs to be taken into consideration. The first thing would be that, as evident in The Others and Justice League, Aquaman is at his best when he is in a team. Although I would prefer a Team 7 movie before Justice League, that probably won't happen any time soon. So, honestly, in my opinion, if Aquaman is used as the first non-Superman film in the DCCU, then it has to be a team-up film. I would personally say an adaptation of The Others and Aquaman 0, but there are a few other choices that work out well as well.

While normally I say a superhero movie needs to be about itself, a reason why the new Fantastic Four is going to be so hard to adapt, so that the audience learns to care about the heroes, not the world they are in. Aquaman, cannot work this way. He is a hero who two decades ago was badass, a decade later B-List and now the brunt of Family Guy jokes. A film that builds him up needs to have other star power in it. Here are the options:

1) Wonder Woman - Aquaman is deeply rooted in Greek Mythology, as is Wonder Woman. An easy way to do this would be a war between Amazon and Atlantis that is being manipulated on both sides by a common enemy. On Atlantis - Ares is manipulating Orm. On Amazon - Ares is manipulating Hippolyta.

2) Shazam - No, not Captain Marvel, adding Marvel now would be a huge mistake. If Shazam is brought into consideration, then Aquaman would be the best way to jumpstart it. Have Billy Batson be an orphan who helps out Arthur Curry and gets him to embrace his destiny. It would also add a huge needed touch of lightness to DC Films.

On to Superman, though, obviously we will be getting Man of Steel II, hopefully called Last Son or Man of Tomorrow, around 2015 or 2016. So expect Aquaman a year or two afterwards. The best way to do this, as I believe I've said before is Lex Luthor. Don't imprison him at the end, though, and keep him active, with the people split between Superman and Luthor. Set up Man of Steel III with Luthor secretly funding Bruno Manheimm of the Intergang, use this as a way to put Darkseid in the franchise. Let's say he used Manheimm as a host to enter Earth. Superman banishes Darkseid, but only temporarily, lets say.

Since the New Gods are deeply rooted in Wonder Woman, this could set her up. If she's already set up in Aquaman, though, then in the sequel to that film we could see Steppenwolf or DeSaad. It's all to set up Justice League in the end, though.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Man of Steel Review

Better late than never, even after my Superman week ended! As expected, the review is here, but late.

The first thing I noticed was how tonally different the film was than well, any Superman adaptation. If a guy looks back, the first Superman film is pretty dark, but not in the gritty way this is presented in. The way that film is dark is the same way the original Crash Bandicoot was dark, an unintentional but impressionable method. Most of the film features Clark Kent struggling not with his powers, but what to do with his powers. How Snyder approaches this is, as the Joker would put it, "fangasmic". Some of the flashbacks may seem awkwardly placed at first, but it's one of those things that when you reminisce it is perfectly done.

The character of Clark Kent is done in such a way that the viewer is led to believe that the man fighting the Kryptonians is leftover anger from the past. It is not Clark Kent fighting Ursa Faora-Em, but rather all that anger he contained to hide what he was from when he was a child. The anger he had when he was a kid. The anger that he was taught to only use when the time was right. Henry Cavill plays this to damn near perfection.

* Near perfection = I may have only been born by the time the original was old enough to be considered a classic, but I understand that no matter which iteration you like better (I.E: I prefer The Dark Knight Rises, but The Dark Knight is the best), the best is still the best. It means Christopher Reeve is perfection.

Through Lois Lane we finally get a superhero film heroine who makes sense. I mean her role in the story is something that is expected, not something that is thrust in our faces. That way we don't find ourselves thinking: "That bitch!"

In General Zod we find a villain who is not a villain, but merely somebody doing what he is genetically programmed to do (get to that later). It is this form of evolution that makes him the perfect villain, because unlike Clark, he needs to do it. Zod only becomes the villain at the very end, when Krypton is taken from him. Both times, the character is played very well by Shannon and dare I say it, better than Stamp.

Now, on to genetic programming. It pays a very good visit to think about the film's tone again and how it was way darker. This is really what leads to that loneliness. No matter what, he is different, Clark Kent is an alien amongst men and heresy among aliens. It is a very GATTACA-esque approach, but it has the power to change morality and such and that is the big factor. Like Faora, Jor-El could have chosen to take out mercy from Clark in order to ensure he survives. Clark has a purpose, but it is his to decide.

The fight scenes are visually thrilling. Almost everything Superman does, from that first flying scene is awesome. I hoped that Snyder would make flying cool again and damn right he did just that! The fight scenes, people can claim to be prolonged and Transformers like. But will a fight between Gods be resolved right away in a Batman fashion? No. Not at all. Yes, the last fight scene may have been a bit too long, I agree, but it was still phenomenal camera work.

As for the destruction in Metropolis, I really do not think that hundreds of thousands died. Probably hundreds, yes, but a thousand is the max. Now, if one reads early drafts, this chaos was always intended, but in the early drafts it was meant as a means to introduce Lex Luthor. I feel that this was removed and then forgotten, it is still likely, though, that given the backlash, the damage will not go unacknowledged in the sequel. Hopefully Snyder doesn't hit us with a sucker punch and forget about breaking Broadway.

So, as an overall, I give the film an 8/10.

Monday, June 17, 2013

The Anomaly of the Reviews

Man of Steel has gotten 56 % on Rotten Tomatoes, and that doesn't necessarily mean the movie sucks, because if it did we would have gotten what we got before. Lets just think about this for a moment, many people loved the film, many reviewers loved the film and the fact that we see that score, it's startling right? Well, here is the thing, all the reviewers that gave it the negative review, it is because they did not get the Superman that they wanted. The positive reviewers give their review because they got the Superman film that they had been waiting for.

The reviews have either been top notch, or down below. Mixed reviews around the 5/10 score are truthfully far and few. Because of the huge split in reviews, the film gets a halfway score, giving you a halfway chance that you either will like it or wont.

Looking at that score may scare you, but learn the story behind it first.

This is the second out of third posts I will do to commemorate Superman's 75 anniversary.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Oh, Zod... Where Art Thou Zod?

Dead with a broken neck that's what.

Oh should I have included spoilers? No. Why? Screw you that's why.

One of the things about Man of Steel that seems to be bugging a lot of people is Superman killing General Dru-Zod at the very end. The main reason is that Hollywood has led to the perception that Superman, like all other superheroes does not kill. This is reinforced by Alan Moore's Superman doesn't kill line in his famous work Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? and Mark Waid's recent sentiments. Everybody is subject to their own opinions but the truth is that nobody can interpret a character fully without looking at all the evidence first.

The first thing I want to do is say for a fact that Superman has made a history of killing Zod. As I'll list his comicbookkills, I'll just give the first one here: De-powers Zod and throws him in a pit of doom. That is Superman II for you.

Now on to the comic kills:

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow: This is an honourary mention. It doesn't count, especially because of how Superman killed Mxy, the dam imp essentially killed himself. Reinforcing this as a mention, Superman depowers himself stating that he didn't have the right to take five dimensional life.

John Byrne's Run: Here is the second Zod kill. Superman meets an alternate universe Zod, depowers him (there's a history to this method, a dangerous method) and then kills him. Why? Zod threatens to regain his powers and kill everybody in Superman's world. This story is no longer "canon", but that is what we make of it. But still, this story showed that he's not a killer, but he has killed. What is the significance of this death? That Superman killed a Kryptonian, affirming that despite his heritage, he would do anything to protect humanity.

Doomsday: The most famous example of Superman killing was this moment. No, neither stayed dead and yes, Doomsday "evolved beyond death". I do believe in evolution but that was just stupid. Doomsday would not stop his onslaught and Superman had to decide, either not kill and let Doomsday thrive or kill the unstoppable force. He did just that, and like the comic era of the 90s, it didn't last. Significance of this death? Superman will do the unthinkable only if he needs to.

Superman/Batman: Basically an evil Superman from an alternate future comes and Superman shoots him with a Kryptonite bullet, getting him crushed by a car. Some people could argue that it was the car that killed him, but come on. The significance of this death? Only Superman can stop Superman, and the only way to stop Superman is to kill Superman. Did I say Superman too many times there?


There that's three official with one unofficial. Now lets go to the Man of Steel death. The point of that death was that Superman had to choose between making himself the Last Kryptonian (whose not in prison) and saving humanity. Maybe he could put his hand in front of Zod's lasers, but that would be plain stupid. What happened was the right thing, Superman saying I will not let you kill an innocent family. That was Superman being pushed to his limit and being forced to do the right thing. That was Superman doing what he needed to do to show that his adopted world was what meant most to him.

Some time around Thursday to Sunday I'll have my Man of Steel review up.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

It's Forgotten - It's Gone - I'm Sorry

It's Forgotten:

The Komagata Maru video I promised you guys, I hadn't put it up because the quality simply was not up to par with the videos I'd been strolling out recently. I meant to put it up after World's Finest, so it could be forgotten.

It's Gone:

What I meant happened, I guess, and it's now forgotten - again. This time, though, it's gone. It will not be up now and you will probably never see it up, in fact, let me get out probably, it will NEVER be up. It is gone.

I'm Sorry:

I apologize. I know I promised one more video, I'm not sure many of you guys would have liked it anyways, but I still promised it. I don't have it anymore and I cannot put up another video until September, so I apologize. I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep up with commitments. Hopefully I am able to make more videos before September, if I do, remember this - they will be gaming videos.

Keep those hopeful thoughts in mind "so we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past." (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)