Comic Book/Animated Heroes in Film

Saturday blog! Always a good time, especially because my counterpart Paul Felice doesn't update his blog - so perhaps his followers will flock their way over to my facebook page to satisfy their cravings for some good reads.

Probably not, but hey...one can hope.

I saw Transformers: The Dark of the Moon last night and if you can get past some of the typical cheesy Michael Bay comedy and mediocre acting it was a pretty awesome movie. The story line itself was a whole lot better than the 2nd one, so I was pretty relieved. A lot of the critics ripped the movie to shreds, which always confuses me because I thought the whole purpose of movies was to entertain. And believe me, it was a VERY entertaining movie with a whole lot of Robot vs. Robot action. I could write a review for this movie in two words: BAD ASS.

That's what SHE said.

Interesting fact about Michael Bay. Apparently in the first film he was the human that gets flicked by Megatron. You learn something new every day.

And in case you were unaware,

This.............

Got replaced by this.........

Thoughts? I still preferred Megan Fox, but it's pretty hard to resist the accent.....

So the next movie I am planning on seeing is Captain America, which comes out July 22. I never got into Captain America but the movie looks pretty awesome and I feel I need to watch it to prepare for the Avengers film. If there is one thing that the past decade and this decade will be remembered for it will be for the ridiculous wave of Superhero films. Let's face it, the Comic Book Industry was dying until X-men came along. I know X-men pretty much pulled Marvel out of a financial hellhole they thought they'd never recover from.

And if you saw X-men: First Class, you know they are still standing strong. That was probably the best Marvel film I have seen.

It should also be mentioned that Marvel also teamed up with Hasbro to bring us a comic book series surrounding the beloved Transformers. So if you wanted to live every child's fantasy of seeing Spider-man battle Decepticons, you have a chance.

You thought I was kidding about Spidey and Megatron, didn't you?

Ah, what would the world be like without comic book or cartoon heroes? I grew up on Transformers, Thundercats, G.I.Joe, and a little bit later Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The first three were my after school line-up. Who knew at age 7 I had my very own daily routine?

But the thing about Transformers, Thundercats, and G.I. Joe is that by today's standards these cartoons are total garbage. However, I still go back and watch them for the nostalgic value - and in their time they were EPIC. I'm ok with live action film adaptations (although, Thundercats would be a little tough to pull off) but what I can't stand is the new releases of animated series. Some things should be left as antiques and should not be

recreated.

Eeek. Ok yeah let's just can the whole Thundercats Live Action idea all together. In fact, forget I even mentioned this as a possibility.

Anyway, I pretty much share a common belief with everyone else I know between the ages of 28-36. The kids of today - they love that shit. And I guess I'd rather them be watching those shows than Hannah Montana or ICarly.

But rebirths of nostalgic fads is nothing new to Hollywood. But what is becoming ridiculously more common is rebooting of franchises. The most recent and popular occurence of this was the Batman Franchise. A part of every human died when Batman and Robin was released, yet Christopher Nolan swooped in and saved the day. This is what we call a successful reboot.

I am expecting the same treatment when Mark Webb takes the Spider-man driver's seat, although that franchise was really going in the right direction......till Spider-man 3. Way to fumble on the one yard line, Raimi. The difference between Spider-man and Batman is that the Batman franchise was inevitable because the Cast AND the Crew changed between the 2nd and 3rd movies. With the reboot, Nolan highlighted Burton's original depiction of what the Dark Knight was supposed to be and completely obliterated the Joel Shumacher bright lights and glamor version of the Caped Crusader. I could not have been happier.

The best part about the new Batman film series is that they don't kill off the villains. Yes, if you have been reading up on your batman you will know that NONE of the villains have died because the third film marks the return of.....

If you want to stay true to the comic books, you don't kill off the villains. Then there would be no need for Arkham Asylum, and there'd be no need for powerful reoccurring villains such as Lex Luthor and Magneto. Props to Mr Nolan on maintaining this philosophy of Comic Book film making.

But alas, what doesn't work for me works for others. I guess I can understand that with all of the directors and producers there are, chances are I will not be satisfied with every film depiction of a childhood fantasy world. Then again, perhaps I should have more of an appreciation for the art that goes into each and every film and applaud their attempts to resurrect things we once loved as kids but were lost in the 'New Age'. With the technological possibilities seeming to be endless, they can pretty much recreate anything these days. Thank God for technology.

Well, that is my blog for today folks. Thanks again for reading, and keep checking it daily!