The Sunday Supdate: 21/08/11

So I've been away for some time now, and while I could just easily write it off to you as me being on holiday or something, I won't because that would be lying. And you know what they say about liars... "That they will burn in a special kind of hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk in the cinema?" Uh, no I was more referring to - you know what, it doesn't matter... So no, I haven't been training with monks in the Himalayas or assembling a team of the greatest bloggers ever known or playing Volleyball in Tanzania with Rolf Harris or even hunting down Nazi sympathisers in Finland. However, if you really want to know why I haven't been blogging lately, then you can watch this rather pointless vlog I attempted yesterday, in which I murder myself. Or if you don't want to know, save us both the embarrassment and skip past this 3 and a half minute video of awkward silences and gargantuanated "Uhm"'s.

 
It's funny, whenever I have a great month of hits (>1000), the next is always a rapid decline. Perhaps I have this subconscious fear of not reaching there by trying, so I just naturally shy away. I should really stop paying so much attention to the Stats really, and that might stop this autonomous cycle.

Alright, enough about me, here are some new (I use that term loosely) movie stills:
SORT OF SPOILERS AHEAD... BUT NOTHING MAJOR... UNLESS YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE REALLY PEDANTIC FANBOYS... IF SO GET LOST... OR DON'T BECAUSE I'M DESPERATE... BESIDES, YOU'LL SEE IT ALL IN THE TRAILERS...

Henry Cavill stands... hunched as the new Superman in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel (2013). Looks like Snyder had some of the 300 costume parts leftover, with Supes' long, flowing cape. You can also see that his costume looks like the "Basket Ball" material that the new Spider-Man is sporting (The Amazing Spider-Man), which I've got no problem with (though some do). The classic S is still emblazoned nice and wide on the chest, but there's no sign of "over the tights" pants, although that could be a trick of the (utterly atrocious) lighting at work here. And hopefully his face won't be this menacing throughout the whole movie when it drops 14th June 2013...

And here with have the lovely Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises.  The costume's looking very latex-y as per usual with such a character known for her tight leather duds. Seen here on the Bat-Pod, it would seem our feline friend has pinched it from good ol' Bats, either that or she's using it under his digression (perhaps he's in trouble?). Whether those goggles are part of the costume or just simply for when she's zipping round Gotham on the bike, has been the source of many an internet (read: fanboy) debate. I'm a little on the fence on this one... Although if there were alternatives for a face mask, I'd like to see them. Flowing hair's cool though, I'm down with that. For the most part, it looks like they're keeping the costume clean and simple, ditching the cleavage-y look that comes clichéd with Catwoman, and keeping Hathaway's boobs tucked away in there. (But if you happen to want to see them untucked, I suggest Love and Other Drugs). The Dark Knight shall Rise on 20th July 2012.

Yay! It's The Hunger Games! Nothing too overwhelming here, mind. You've got Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: First Class) as our hero Katniss on the left there, a headstrong girl who must fight for her life in the savage Hunger Games against 23 over kids in this dark dystopian future. Then on the right is Liam Hemsworth (Uhm... He's the brother of Chris Hemsworth (Thor (Oh snap! Double bracket. Wait know it's a triple! This is like...(INCEPTION! Que the giant horn music! BWOARRRRRRRRRR!(Okay, getting a little off topic now... So how many close brackets do I need to put to end this now?))))) (I think that's enough...) as one of two romantic interests, Gale. Now Gale is Katniss's bud from back home, the guy she used to (illegally) hunt with, and both were crack shots with a bow. So this little scene must be before the games starts in their home "District" of 12. Both are very well interpreted from the books, particularly for how I pictured them. My only issue is that Gale looks too shiny, if you know what I mean. A guy who lives in near-poverty and spends his days running through forests shouldn't look so perfect. Where's the rugged edge to him? Anyway, The Hunger Games will be in cinemas March 23rd 2012 and may the odds be ever in your favour.

Well, I'm all "stilled out" after that (not to be confused with "stooled out"). Yeah they're 3 weeks old but who cares?! They're sweet aren't they? 

Happy 99th post by the way! The next one will be celebratory of course, although I've got no idea what it might include. 5000 hits would always be nice... But so would the knowledge that you're all happily reading this and being at least an inkling amused by my internet musings. Ta-rah for now friends, but come back soon, won't cha. Cause if you don't it'll be like leaving me hanging on a high five. Just standing there for hours, hand raised waiting for a sporting clap - that fractional touch that let's me know "Yeah, we cool.". So, are we cool?

ATR

The Sunday Supdate: 17/04/11

I've got no opening sentence, so let's just get on with this.

Pretty slow week here, considering I haven't been at school. Sorry about the lack of a certain Tuesday feature involving theatrical movie previews, but I just couldn't find the motivation. Never fear, because I've already got the next one figured out. Or should I say I've "opposable thumbed" it out. Eh?

    On an unrelated note, here's an awesome video from Peter Jackson about The Hobbit:

Awesome or what? This movie is going to freakin' rock. And did you know the whole thing's being recorded not only in 3D, but in 48 frames per second! What does that mean? It means twice the picture quality of the usual film standard, baby! 2012, hurry up already! But not the end of the world 2012. You, sir, can wait!

  Saw Sucker Punch earlier today. I won't say anything now, so you'll have to read the RE:View (which should be dropping tomorrow) to get my honest-to-god opinion of Zack Snyder's latest Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Stripper/Thriller epic. And hopefully, I'll be seeing Your Highness on Wednesday, so a RE:View of the Fantasy/Comedy/Another-Film-Natalie-Portman-Is-In movie should also be inbound. Oh, and I'll be picking up the new Mortal Kombat game on Thurs/Fri when it releases, so maybe my first fully-fledged game RE:View could be coming.

  Also, after my post-Kapow! blues wore off, I got in touch with the Beast Cosplayer from the con, and am now recognised by him and his wife, along with their kick-ass review site, hesaidshesaidfm.com! Expect a feature on them very soon.

     1800 hits now, so that's pretty cool. Although I gotta say, I'm a little disappointed with the amount of views my God and Satan post got. After all, you guys did mostly vote for more editorials like that. Oh well, maybe it's God's way of telling me not to mess with religion. Or it's your way of telling me "We don't care.". But perhaps this mention will boost the hits.

  That's me updated out for today. Thanks for reading and stay tuned. In the words of Toby Turner: "Bless your face! If you sneezed during this Supdate* bless you. Peace off." BOOP.

*Supdate in place of the usual "video" that he says.


Buy Mortal Kombat Here!

Trailer Tuesday: X-Men: First Class

I know, I know, another Marvel movie... I was going to do something else, but this trailer just blew me away, so I just can't resist. I'll try and do something different next week... Promise.

Anyway, onto the trailer at hand, here's the Wikipedia Plot Summary:


"Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men." 

Click here for the actual link, especially if you want 1080p HD goodness.

And the rundown, including some of my own included facts and speculation:

•  0:00-0:30 - Some dramatically done character intros for Magneto and Prof X (or, should I say, Charles and Erik), featuring some tight snippets from the original X-Men trilogy. Plus, first shots of James McAvoy (Wanted) and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Basterds) as their respective characters.
• 0:44 -  Here's the whole mutant gang together in Charles' mansion, atop a JFK speech regarding the Cuba Missile Crisis of 1962. That's right, it's set in the 60's.
• 0:48 - Same scene as above, but what's interesting here is that Erik/Magneto is holding a gun in his right hand. ???
• 0:53-1:04 - Now here each individual mutant gets a shot, so I'll detail them each in chronological order, starting with:

1.  Emma Frost - a future villain who posses powers of Telepathy and the ability to shape shift into diamond form (see 1:19) - inside a glass box/prison cell.
2.  Next shown is the mutant known as Angel/Tempest, who has magnificent bug like wings on her back, as demonstrated as she shows Charles and Erik while...topless. Note the tattoos on her left shoulder, which resemble her wings, so maybe that's her way of concealing them. 
3. Then it's Beast, who you may remember form the original films as the big blue monster guy. Here he's in human form, as played by Nicholas Hoult (Skins,  About a Boy), and is holding a needle, presumably holding a serum linked to his powers of beastliness (see 1:12/1:17).
4.  After that, Havok is shown in some sort of boiler room. Havok is Cyclops' younger brother and like him can fire energy beams, but from his chest rather than eyes (see 1:21). 
5. Token black guy, Darwin here; a mutant who has the strange power of radioactive evolution, (hence Darwin) which means he adapts and develops an immunity/resistance to anything he was injured by or exposed to. Cool, right?
6. Now this is Moira MacTaggert, the only human one of the team. She acts as the group's link to the CIA...Interesting.
7. Finally, it's original films classic, Mystique (you know, the weird blue shape shifting lady...), looking like she's ready for some sexy-time.
8. Although not in this section, but seen in the mansion part is Banshee, a mutant who can emit super sonic screams (something I can also do from time to time).

• 1:09 - Okay, back to the footage now, and here is Erik and Charles on a jet plane over a certain ocean, readying for some sort of battle. Also seen here are the original yellow and blue outfits seen in the classic comics.
• 1:12 - Beast flying a jet in all of his over-sized furby glory.
• 1:13 - ...That's a lot of missiles...
• 1:16 - Aggressive looking Magneto making a Soviet soldier turn his own knife on himself. That's brutal, even if he was a communist....
• 1:17 - Ahh, the transformation of Beast. But the question is, who's the better blue? Avatar or Beast?
• 1:19 - First look at Kevin Bacon (no eggs included) as antagonist, Sebastian Shaw, leader of what's known as the Hellfire Club, a society for wealthy elites looking to "sway" certain world events. Alongside him is the previously mentioned Emma Frost, this time showing us her diamond form.
• 1:20 - Pre-fur Beast in action, followed by him possibly getting it on with Mystique. Ooh la la!
• 1:21 - A peek at Havok's chest beams power. Nice beans/beams.
• 1:22 - Magneto stabbing some guys hand in a bar. Standard UK pub stuff, really.
• 1:24 - An early version of the Cerebro machine, used by Professor X in the original movies to detect fellow Mutants.
• 1:25 - Remember Night Crawler, from X-Men 2 or X2? He was the blue guy who could teleport into smoke and had an awesome tail. Well here is his red-ass Daddio, looking Satan like as he uses similar powers to cut down some government looking guys. His name is Azazel, after an old Jewish demon thingy and is being played by Jason Flemyng (Lock Stock, Clash of The Titans). 
• 1:30 - Magneto in full costume standing in the same room Emma Frost was seen in earlier. Coincidence? I think not!
• 1:32 - The beginning of the fall into darkness... Charles tries to stop Erik from doing bad shit.
• 1:36-1:40 - Magneto picking up an entire submarine with one hand (only one!) over some sort of naval battle scene. Note the Russian flag flailing on one of the boats and the island in the background. Could this be how the Cuban Missile Crisis was really stopped?
• 1:42 - The iconic X-Men logo. June 3rd people, mark your calendars. 

Congratulations to anyone who managed to actually trawl through all that info and I hope you feel more knowledgeable for it. So that's X-Men: First Class, the official prequel to the original films. I love how it's actually set among real world events and how it will all play out in the cold war era. Definitely going to be an interesting one. I'd also like to point out that it's being directed by Matthew Vaughn, director of one of my favourite films ever, Kick-Ass. That's it for this week, but come back next Tuesday when I'll have a non-Marvel trailer to inform you all about.

Phoenix Jones: Inspiration or Fantasist?

From this picture, I'd go with 'International Knob Head'

So you may of heard of this Phoenix Jones guy lately, the so called 'Masked Guardian of Seattle'. He's basically a guy that's trying his hand at vigilante crime fighting, costume included. But is this man a heroic inspiration of humanity or just another comic-obsessed lunatic in PVC?

    Phoenix started out 9 months ago, nightly patrolling the Seattle suburbs to serve justice to any bad-doers. Since then he's claimed to have been stabbed, had a gun pulled on him and (quite recently) had his nose broken, but has come out of it all relatively unharmed, and that's thanks to his costume. Incorporating a bullet proof vest, trauma plating and a a utility belt (containing a taser, mace and tear gas), Phoenix's suit seems like it jumps right out of the pages of a Batman comic. "When I walk into neighbourhood, criminals leave because they see the suit"  he proclaims.

  Sounds awesome right? A real life vigilante dude, prowling the city streets at night and has a bad-ass suit. It's basically a fan-boy's dream come true. There's just one slight issue... He sucks. Seriously, I don't mean to put a downer on things, but he's not exactly turning crime lords black and blue or foiling evil plans to take over the world now, is he. It's just him going out each night onto the quiet streets, occasionally chasing off rowdy drunks or breaking up local punch-ups. Not exactly Superman...

    But let's not be too hasty. I mean, maybe he's just a normal guy; a normal guy simply trying to make a difference in his community. Nothing more, nothing less. And shouldn't something like that be a good thing? That someone's actually decided to try and do something about the things that bug them, instead of whining about it all day. He's stepped up to do something he believes in and I guess that's something in its self, to be honest with you.

     So maybe he has read one too many comic books, and yeah, I'm not going to lie, he does look like a bit of a prick, but he's certainly standing up for something. And that's what we should look up to him for; that he's  had the balls to do something. How many of you have had moments in your life when you just felt like going against the flow and doing something you felt was right, just to have those feelings pushed back down by the way of modern day society? It doesn't matter that he sucks at what he's doing or that he's probably just some geek extremist in a costume. This guy is one of the few people who's acted on those feelings of righteousness and therefore should be an inspiration to us.

 But then again, maybe he just gets off on it, in which case, you should ignore this entire post....

What are your thoughts on Phoenix Jones? Weirdo? Hero? Publicity Stunt? Pervert? None Of The Above? Share them in the comments, folks.