Marvel vs DC: The Movie

 I am a Marvel fanboy and the only DC stuff I've read is Batman. Now that's out of the way you can see I might be slightly biased and take anything I say that you don't agree with, with a pinch of salt.

The Avengers movie was a game changer. That moment when Nick Fury told Stark he was a part of a bigger universe, Marvel had started the long game. To be fair it was a big risk, if the films that followed Iron Man flopped only the hardcore comic book fans would've gone to see The Avengers. But as we all know, it worked. All the pieces fell into place and the MCU was born. The Avengers was a box office hit and the millions rolled in.

The kerching from The Avengers cash registers were heard by the big wigs at Warner Bros. They had the rights to make DC movies but only Batman was doing well. They tried to make Superman return but it fell flat. Next they tried Green Lantern and the less said about that, the better. All the while the Dark Knight was rising. Only Batman seemed to work and Chris Nolan had decided to bring that to a close. With no more Batman and Harry Potter also wrapping up, WB had no long-running franchise left. Cue Man of Steel.

Now I find no other superhero as boring as I find Superman. I see him as an overpowered boy scout from outer space.  With that said MoS was an okay film, so that coming from me must mean it's a good film. The money backed this statement up. So WB now have the base to build a new franchise.

At comic-con 2013 Superman v Batman was announced. Since then it has evolved into the start of the Justice League with the new subtitle Dawn of Justice added. It's now clear Warner is not going to follow Marvel and do solo films, they are clearly going to concentrate on the Justice League. This is probably the best approach looking at their history of solo films and I'm personally looking forward to it.

One last thing I've yet to talk about: Batfleck. Now I know this was a hot topic when it was first announced and I just want to put my two cents in on the subject. I have a good feeling about it. Now I know Affleck has got poor form when it comes to superheroes with his previous in Daredevil but he is a good actor. Don't believe me? Check out Argo and Hollywoodland. Besides he did the best he could with Daredevil, it wasn't all his fault the movie was poo. For me this casting has echos of Heath Ledger with the Joker. When that casting was revealed, I was not happy that the guy from 10 Things I Hate About You was going to portray my all time favourite villain, especially after Jack Nicholson had already put in a fantastic turn in the role. But Ledger ended up being the definitive Joker in my mind and completely stole the whole film.

So in summary: WB could be onto a winner with the road map they have for their films and the casting of Batfleck. This will keep Marvel on their toes and a little healthy competition never hurt anyone.

Wright or Wrong?

It has now come to light that Edgar Wright left Ant-Man after clashing with Kevin Feige over re-writes of his script and the new direction that Feige wanted to take. I was initially upset when it was announced that Wright was to leave the project as he has produced some fantastic work and I wanted to see him play in the Marvel sandpit. But now when I look at the bigger picture, making a film for the MCU is always going to be different to normal film making due to the shared universe. This is where creative control can not be held by the director of one single film. It has to be held by the person overseeing the entire universe, because a single aspect of one film could rock the boat for many others. The man in charge of that universe is Kevin Feige and what he says goes because so far he has not put a step wrong.

All in all I would love for Wright to do a Marvel film but for now its probably for the best that he has left. To take a quote from Hot Fuzz "It's for the greater good".

Good Time For Geeks

I do believe Jesus was misheard when he said "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth". He clearly said "Blessed are the geek: for they shall inherit the earth" and inherit it they have. 

At the moment you can't escape comic books. Go to the cinema and it's superheroes all the way. Drive home and you will likely see Captain America or the X-men looking at you from a bus stop. Get home and put your telly on and slowly but surely more comic book shows are starting to appear. Even the theatre is getting in on the act with Spider-Man the musical!

Gaming has become an acceptable hobby with more people owning a gaming console then ever before. Games are starting to become more and more cinematic with trailers shown on the TV as if it were a blockbuster film. Even your grandparents can get in on the act with the OAP friendly Wii. It truly is an experience to get your arse handed to you by your grandad whilst playing a computer game.

See what I mean? It's a good time to be a geek!

But is it getting too big? Will the bubble burst? Yes it probably will as all things eventually come to an end. But for now I'm going to ride this wave and enjoy every minute of it!

Too Soon For Next Gen?

Is it me or has the launch for this generation's new consoles been a bit lacking? Granted the hardware has flown off the shelves but the software has just left me feeling a bit...meh. I can only really comment on the Playstation side of things, but from what I've read on the interwebs it's not much better on the other side.

Of the PS4 launch line up, all games, bar Killzone and Knack were also released on the PS3. So the only games to really buy the machine for is Killzone and Knack. Killzone scored a so-so 78 on Metacritic but seeing as it is an FPS, it was never gonna out do COD or Battlefield. Knack on the other hand scored an abysmal 58. I think it has done so badly, it might go down as the worst launch title of any generation! So from the off, nothing stands out except for the games that could be bought on the PS3 at a slightly lower price.

Where are all the innovative games that will make this new generation stand out? Even today there is no game that is a next gen exclusive that has been an exceptional game. Watchdogs was hyped to be that game, but from reviews I've read, its been described as GTA5/Assassins Creed/Arkham City but not as good as any of them, but still a good game.

Maybe the industry pushed itself too fast. If Sony and MS had both just waited until this year's E3 to announce the new machines then maybe the launch titles could've been a bit more impressive. Instead we are now desperately waiting for E3 to hear news of the next gen games to go with the next gen systems we have collecting dust.

Am I wrong? Have I missed any games that are truly next gen? Let me know in the comments below.

Have a good day!

P.S
It's rumoured that Charlie Cox (Stardust, Broadwalk Empire) has been cast as Daredevil in the upcoming Netflix Original, as reported on Latino Review and other sites. (Cheers for the heads up Pete!)

Watching Telly On A Wet Bank Hoilday

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Well the new X-Men film is out and I'm broke so cant get to see yet. Because of this inconvenience, I don't have a lot to say about it except I hear it's the best X-film yet. I was slightly worried about it at first after seeing pictures of Quicksilver (he looks like a futuristic glam rocker), but it turns out he is one of the highlights of the film. Looking forward to Aaron Taylor-Johnson's portrayal of him in Age of Ultron and seeing which one is the better one.

I will try and write a review once I have finally seen the film. It will have a lot to live up to, since I've read the original and seen the 90's cartoon version which, is my favourite arc from the show.

Game Of Thrones

Well I was gonna write a bit about GoT but its not on this week. Arse.

Arrow

Every cloud has a silver lining so with GoT not being on, it meant I got to finish season 2 of Arrow. I was taken by surprise when it first started as I'd not heard anything about it. Not being experienced in Green Arrow, I did not know what to expect. Part of me thought it might be similar in tone to Smallville. Boy was I wrong! Arrow starts off with villains being killed left right and centre as Ollie crosses them off his list. So it was a lot darker. As the show went on, my interest went up and down throughout the first season but ended on a high and the same can be said for season 2. I think the problem stems in the number of episodes there are. If they were to shorten the length of a season to say 13 - 15 episodes then there would be less filler and more killer.
But all in all its a really good show and looks set to be the first of many from the DC side of things. More on that in another post. For now I'll leave you with this...

Daredevil

So a little bit of news has surfaced about the Netflix original series of Daredevil. Steven S. DeKnight will serve as executive producer and show runner after replacing Drew Goddard. DeKnight has an abundance of experience when it comes to superhero shows from working on shows such as Smallville, Buffy, Dollhouse and Angel. He also has heavy connections to Joss Whedon after working with him on those last 3 shows. This could help focus the interconnectivity between the big and small screen. Drew Goddard will still be working on the show as executive producer whilst fulfilling his duties on the upcoming Sinister Six film.

I've got high hopes for this show as Daredevil is top of my pile every month. The current run from Mark Waid has been fantastic and has really brought DD back to the top of people's lists. This is my favourite book at the moment as the writing is superb and the artwork is gorgeous. If you are not already reading this book, then you need to go and have a little look.

Any way I hope your Bank Holiday wasn't as wet as mine and I'll see you in the comments.

Number two (snigger)

So the difficult 2nd post. Where to start? Maybe give a brief outline of the stuff this blog will probably cover and a bit of my history with it.

Video Games

Gaming has been in my life for a long long time. The earliest gaming machine I had was a Commodore 64. That should tell you how long I've been gaming. I'm now rocking the PS4, PS3 and Vita. I'm working my way through my PS3 back catalogue at the moment since there is a lack of good PS4 games out there that I haven't already played. Currently I'm playing Batman: Arkham Origins and it has carried on the tradition of the Arkham games being awesome. I was concerned when I heard Rocksteady were not making this game but WB Game Montreal have done a good job with the foundations they were given. There is not a lot of differences from the last games, but when the last games were so good, more of the same is just fine. Now it turns out Rocksteady have been busy building Arkham for the next gen (or is it current gen now?) and it looks like all their hard work is going to pay off.

Comics

I've only just started really collecting comics in the past 2 years, but I have had a love for superheroes since the 90's when the X-Men and Spider-man cartoons were on the Saturday morning tv show "Live and Kicking". These shows were the first introduction to serialised television as well as Marvel comics that I'd had. The animation was the best, but the story lines were well written and kept you coming back for more.They dealt with themes that other shows might have thought were too mature for younger audiences. For example the X-Men having to deal with fear and hatred from the people they were trying to protect. Mutants being rounded up and put into camps with echos of the Holocaust. These were not your average stories on a Saturday morning. The crossover was also brought to my attention when the X-Men turned up in Spider-Man. Never before had my two favourite shows been meshed together in one shared universe. Who knew that years down the line Marvel would do it again on a grander scale?

I tried collecting single issues of comics back then but was too impatient (and poor) to wait and keep buying monthly. So I stopped buying comics, but still followed anything to do with them. Once I got a full time job, someone introduced me to graphic novels and trade paper backs. That was me sold and I started collecting them. Now I'm on single issues and I'm slowly losing space.

That's the 2nd post done. Feel free to chat in the comments because I'd love to build a community here, might even set up a Facebook group if it takes off well. You guys could also suggest topics for future posts.

Starting Again

Well this is not my first blog. I started one about 3 years ago just before my son was born and it lasted for all of 3 posts. Now I could put this down to the birth of my son and being too busy to write but in all honesty it was down to the fact that a friend of mine found it and ridiculed me for it. I don't know why I let it get to me and make me stop, but it did.

The other night for some reason, my wife reminded me of my old blog and suggested I started again. At first I wasn't interested but after looking back at my 3 posts (you can find them here) it made me remember how much I enjoyed doing it. So here I am doing it again, but this time I've decided to branch out from just gaming and write about comics, movies and TV shows as well.

Now that the origin story is out of the way lets get to some news.

EDGAR WRIGHT LEAVES ANT-MAN

Well this came as a shock! I've been looking forward to this film since it was announced way back before Iron Man came out. Edgar Wright seemed to me, to be perfect for a Marvel film; what with the way his movies contain good humour and excellent action scenes. See the gun battle in Hot Fuzz and the toilet fight scene in The Worlds End for proof of how good his action scenes are.

Both sides are citing creative differences for the split. What the differences are? We don't know and probably won't find out unless someone spills the beans. But knowing the House of Mouse, there will most likely be something in place to stop anything becoming public knowledge that might make them look bad. My guess would be Disney wanted something a little more kid friendly than what Wright had in mind and since Wright has been developing this for so long he didn't want to change his vision. Who knows?

Apparently the release date will not be affected and nor will the cast with a new director being announced soon. 

My one worry is this

Now it does show Joss has some class and supports his fellow directors. The worry is where does this leave him with his bosses? Will this upset them? If it does is he untouchable? I hope he is untouchable as this man has created this shared cinematic and televisual universe that is getting bigger and better with each film. If he were to go, is there someone that could handle this behemoth of a project and keep it all connected?

Well that's all for this post, hope it goes down well. If there is anyone reading this please comment below and let me know what you think!