Here's what's going on...

Marvel's still promoting the hell out of GotG...which is good.

Yet showing more content from the film to do so bugs me. I don't want to see the film before I see the film. I know I'm in the minority, but this is just a shade away from being a spoiler.

Also,

Mrs. Adorkification and I finally saw THG: CF last night.

I liked it, but at one point shouted to her and Adorkette (both of whom read all the books) if Snow eventually dies. They didn't tell me. Then I got all upity as I tried to figure out how one person can take down a government (surprise, she can't...but will even though she doesn't want to). I was reminded of Philip Seymour Hoffman's tragic death, how awesome Donald Sutherland was in Pride and Prejudice, that that guy was engaged to Miley Cyrus, that that other guy would make a great Aquaman, and that Peeta really doesn't have any kind of skill whatsoever.

I'm in the mood to see good guys actually kick some villain a$$...

...think I'll watch The Avengers again...

Monday Movie Roundup...12/2/2013

Never underestimate the power of Thanksgiving Weekend...

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ran the weekend, making another $74.5 million in the U.S.,

bringing it's domestic gross to roughly $276.5 million.

Internationally, the film has brought in about $573 million.

In just 10 days.

In second place,

which is a surprise.

Frozen made over $93 million so far in the States, and another $16.7 overseas,

making the grand total over the $110 million mark.

That's darn impressive, especially since I haven't heard much about it,

and only found out this morning that Alan Tudyk provides one of the voices.

Thor: TDW finished in third place, with another 11 million U.S. dollars in the bank and a worldwide total of over $591 million.

Putting it in perspective, Iron Man made over $585 million...in it's entire run.

I'd like to think that the execs over at Marvel/Disney will see Iron Man as the bar setter,

instead of other films with numbers nearly impossible to meet.

First Impressions: The Hunger Games

I'll admit that I was the last person in my house to see this film.

My wife and daughter saw it in the theater, and now that Netflix has it streamable, I decided to see what the hype was about.

I liked the film. I got the social commentary, like the class struggle and the references to Nazi Germany.

I knew Woody Harrelson was in this film, along with Mystique. But no one...I mean NO ONE...told me that Dr. Erskine and Arnim Zola were in it, and at one point sitting right next to each other. Mind Blown.

But what I didn't get was the hulabaloo. All I saw was Red Dawn, Twilight, and The Running Game.

I understand that every generation gets (and in many cases deserves) a re-telling of the same themes, where "everything old is new again".

Coming from a youth spent on comics, where everything new was old before, I'm okay with it.

What's new about it (to me anyways) is that Girls Need Heroes.

Which they do.

So if girls like Adorkette (who never got past the first Twilight novel) get hooked on Katniss and read the Games books (which Adorkette not only read, but owns -sitting on a shelf right next to Harry Potter) all the better.

As for me, I'll leave movies and books like this to the younguns, and stick to my numerous comics and comic-based films.

'Nuff Said.

On a side note, I'm taking Adorkette to CT to visit my sister and her family for a few days. If all goes well, I'll be posting again on Sunday so you'll be spared my WTF? Friday this week.

Have a good weekend!

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.