WTF? Fridays...3/15/2013

I want to start off by apologizing for my lack of meat in my recent posts...I've been back-and-forth to NH for work-related stuff this week and it sucked.

Now let's see what's been going on in the world:

Bryan Singer has been quoted that he's bringing some "science-fiction aspects" to X-Men: Days of Future Past.
...
That's like Whedon saying he's going to bring "action" to Avengers.
But I will say this - Singer is the Whedon of the X-Men Movie Universe.
In fact, I'd call him a fine blend of both Whedon and Chris Claremont. He's able to gather all this talent, and all these characters, and make the story work.
I'd still prefer the XMU under the Marvel Studios banner, but if it were, I'm sure Feige would have Singer in the director's chair.

Injustice: Gods Among Us has introduced a new Blackest Night DLC pack - heroes (and villains) playable in Zombie form. This is awesome. The trailer above is from Germany so the text is weird, but you can get the gist.

Speaking of Injustice...

...Doomsday (and Raven) are going to be playable. Can you imagine what Doomsday in Zombie-Mode would look like?

And finally,
I saw John Carter From Mars recently with the wife and kid - and we liked it.

I couldn't understand the...I don't want to say hatred...but the complete lack of interest in this film.

The CGI worked, the characters were well rounded, Dejah wasn't an empty-headed sex-pot, and the story was well told.

I think the film got a bad rap. It's possible Disney did some stuff to make it look worse (so they could get a better deal with Marvel, 'cause remember: this came out just before the deal was made).

Anyway...

If you haven't seen this movie yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. I can't see myself reading the books due to the language of when they were written, but it did make me go back and re-read Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. II.

Hunger Games vs. Game of Thrones vs. John Carter...

I'm old.

Or maybe just too set in my ways to change.

I can't believe The Hunger Games makes a ton of money while John Carter is now called the biggest movie bomb of all time.

How is this possible?

Some may say "It's the story", and I'd accept that...if it weren't for the fact that John Carter of Mars came out in novel form roughly 90 years ago versus The Hunger Games that came out around 2007.

And don't tell me "Special Effects" because I call B. S. on that. There's no question John Carter has more.

"Okay, how about the 'we've seen it all before' argument?"

So you're telling me that thanks to James "f**king" Cameron, there's no longer a market for high budget science fiction films (loosely based on a Disney film btw) but there's a HUGE market for Twilight-like angst that's been parodied everywhere from SNL to Youtube (with a bit of The Running Man thrown in btw)?

Never mind the fact that the book was written to cash in on the Twilight reading market in the first place?

I'll give you the marketing angle. Disney totally screwed the pooch on that one. The Hunger Games was promoted exactly for what it is, while John Carter ads had different tones, themes and even titles.

I'll probably end up seeing both when they're available of Netflix, but I have to save my cash for The Avengers.

As for Game of Thrones, it looks to me like Conan the Barbarian meets Lord of the Rings with a little Walking Dead mixed in. My wife has started reading the books, and loves them. Just like she loves the LotR books...which I have yet to read.

Both GoT and LotR have a shit ton of characters, and I know I'll never be able to tell them apart.

"But aren't there a lot of characters in The Avengers and comics in general?"

Yes, there are. And they all have costumes...with colors in them...that make them easily identifiable. In every clip of GoT I've seen, all the men wear leather, all the women have their hair tied up tight, and all the kids sound whiny and annoying. The only character that stands out is the dwarf...who's name I can't remember but the actor is dead-on to play Puck in the eventual Alpha Flight Marvel Studios film.

But as before, I'll probably watch the show when I have access to it, but I'm going to need a lot of help keeping track of it all.

I have read The Hobbit though, several times in fact and I love it. THAT is a movie I also can't wait to see...

Maybe I'm not old, just more Bilbo-y than I used to be.