The Very Not Fantastic 4

From the start of the rumors it seemed this movie was destined to fail. There were complaints about changing races of some of the characters. Forget it about that. There was news that the origin story of how the FF came to be was greatly altered. True Believers can get past that too. Freshly returning from the theater I can sum up the experience of this film with one simple statement, "I'm sorry I paid money for that". Let us begin and yes nothing but spoilers.

Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell & Toby Kebbell are the five stars chosen to be the Fantastic 4 and the villain that is Dr. Doom. I have to admit, I took issue with the changes. But after reading a post from Michael B. Jordan I decided yea, approach it with an open mind. Also I spoke to my cousin a few times who is an avid comic book reader and he was always mentioning how there are alternate realities in the Marvel Comics Universe. To me that started to make the movie make more sense. Even if the people making the movie did not intend to approach the story from that angle, I could see it that way. What really tip the scales in favor of going to see this movie at the theater was the fact that someone had posted something about Sue being back to a weak woman who couldn't do anything. That kind of just like made me say, Okay I need to see this movie just to see how bad it really is. So I went. First and foremost I did not feel Sue Storm was in anyway significant especially since everyone would have died had she not be able to use her powers in several scenes in the movie before it's end.

By the numbers.

Subject... Yes that is what they were called, subjects, by a untrustworthy, evil government. The bogeyman of the modern world. In the Marvel Universe does the government fear and hate mutants and super humans? Yes of course they do. Do they think of weapons first when they see something new and powerful? In some cases, but mostly the government tries to control and/or defend against them. Okay enough about that.

Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. A brilliant young man, emphasis on young, who while still in elementary school, designs and builds a functioning device that transports an object from one point to another. This is also put together with scrap and operated with a mountain of daisy chained Nintendo 64s. The final component for his device is obtained from GRIMM's junk yard. So of course this is how their friendship starts.

Ben Grimm/The Thing. Granted I've never really looked up the reason for Ben Grimm meeting Reed Richards, or any of the other FF. Okay I take that back I just read it on the Marvel website. But in the movie, he is an abused boy that his brother beats on, who their mom gets after yelling at hitting his brother telling him you don't hit children. Yes he hidden message of child abuse was not lost on me. Its never really explained just how Ben assist Reed with her work other than giving him the one piece from the junk yard that Reed was trying to steal in the night like a very bad rogue. Reed who's father is apparently an electrician and a complete genius is using the a flat head screw driver to screw in a Philips head screw. Ben hands him a swiss army knife to keep from stripping the screw. However once Ben helps him move into the Baxter building he is gone from the screen until Reed sends him a thank you text along with a picture of the teleporter as it is finished. Ben is in turn invited to take a trip with a buzzed or probably drunk Reed on the teleporter to another dimension.

Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.




From there Reed is discovered by a visitor at the high school science fair Reed is entered into with a beta version of his teleporter. Having completed one successful experiment to transport something across great distances, the two decide to make public their achievements. Things are a little hectic, but the experiment is a success and quickly dismissed as a magic trick. Ben and Reed are then disqualified from the science fair only to be approached before they can even react to the expulsion. Sue's adopted father, a scientist causally questions Reed while his daughter takes a picture of the device. Reed is offered a position at the Baxter Foundation, accepts, makes a few adjustments to Victor Von Doom's design and they soon build a working teleporter. Sorry, not shuttle or space exploration. But as I said, this kind of makes sense if you consider that maybe they found a way to another Marvel reality. The group, along with Victor  is successful in their test, but the joy is short lived as the board members, brought in to view the test, announce they must contact the government at once and get NASA involved for future tests. Sue goes back to work, Reed, Johnny & Victor decide to get drunk. Like a late night drunk dial, Ben is awoken by Reed, who has had one too many, which probably means, two sips, and he tells his best friend who has been absent since he was accepted to the Baxter foundation that they have decided to teleport themselves but Reed will not go unless Ben goes with him. Easily enough, Ben is allowed into the building, the four guys get ready and set the machine on automatic, the teleport sends them to another dimension where they plant the United States flag and start exploring. Trouble happens and three of the four barely make it back to their dimension. Sue is caught in a burst of energy from the return trip.

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and other assorted giant robots of the past.

Currently Watching: Mobile Suit Gundam 00

If you're like me, you never, ever see things in the order in which they are released. In part, that has to do where I live, not just Texas, but South Central Texas. A place where more influence is found from our/my Hispanic culture from such close proximity to the Mexican border than anything else.

When the Gundam TV series, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, first started airing on TV I was all kinds of excited. Love big robot movies and TV shows.

I still remember the way Robot Jox, made me feel seeing it on the big screen at the local drive in when I was a kid. But of course, with the ease of animation, Gundam movements were way more intricate and at a much faster pace than Robot Jox. Mobile Suit Gundam Wing had the kind of action that was missing in animated entertainment. Dragon Ball Z had been on for a while and now that Gundam was showing, almost directly after (If I remember correctly) my afternoons were looking pretty good. I'm starting to think these were playing while I was an upper class men in high school rather than already graduated.

However, the very VERY first introduction into giant robots, for me was Voltron: Defender of the Universe. I mean come one, this guy didn't even have hands or toes. he had lions instead. Lion mouths gripped his weapons. Every limb growled when he formed. I don't think ever got tired of the narration when Voltron formed.

Anyhow, now I'm checking out Mobile Suit Gundam 00. It looks pretty crazy, just the first episode had a lot going on. It is interesting how the Gundam's showed up to basically save the planet, but everyone that is listening to their ultimatums towards warmongers is basically laughing at them, both military and civilians alike.All because they said they'd use force/war to stop all war or war like behavior. So by the end of the first episode, their not really seen as  heroes they are kind of thought of as hypocrites. I think i have time for one more episode before i turn in for the night.

Venus Wars and an upcoming Con

So San Japan is just around the corner. I purchased a  Saturday Pass and have to admit I'm a little excited. The down side is, none of this was available to me when I was a kid. I mean a young young kid. There was the occasional MD Geist or other anime at the local Blockbuster, but other than that things were pretty scarce. A few years later after highschool, I think, I discovered Dragon Ball Z. Boy what a mind blow that was. I read comics here and there and played video games, but heroic battles for the fate of the world fought by super powered beings, man this was nuts. The TV Shows of old were no longer around, Transformers, Visionaries, Inhumanoids, Exo-Squad, Centurions, even G.I. Joe hadn't been around in a while. But this, this kind of cartoon i'd never really seen. Now Anime seems like its everywhere, almost mainstream. Now with the internet where it is and local conventions gaining momentum, I can do something simple like buy a ticket to a weekend event dedicated to all things Japanese, their words not mine. So to get myself  into the spirit of things I finished watching season 1 of Super-Sonico and now am watching Venus Wars.

I have somewhat high hopes for San Japan. I won't be too interested in autographs, but I hope to find a variety of anime, manga, models and anything else of the genre available. I hope to find anime mainly, but manga will be fine. Some of the panels seem like they would be fun to attend as well. Oh and of course music, There will be plenty of j-pop and other anime style music available. Even a vinyl exhibit, to showcase what was listen to in the old day. I hope to take a lot of pictures, even if they are just on my phone which doesn't do a bad job.

Marvel's Ant-Man

Finally went to the movies. It's been a while since I've gone out to the cinema. Possible spoilers.

Ant-Man is played by Paul Rudd and with-in the movie's history Michael Douglas. He is a Super-hero from the Avengers corner of the Marvel Universe. The movie itself was a fun experience. I'd compare it to The Guardians of The Galaxy or even more like DC Comics' (Why do we call it DC Comics if the "C" in DC stands for... comics?) Green Lantern. While the movie itself did good to show Scott Lang's (Paul Rudd) rise to Super-Hero Status, it did follow the slightly silly route.

Scott's friends, Luis (Michael Pena), Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (T.I.) did little to add to the movie. I did like Michael Pena as an actor. I particularly liked him in Shooter as well as Gracepoint. I have a feeling I've seen him in more than that, but those were good. In Ant-Man, it seemed that these three amigos were strictly comic-relief and provided about as much laughs that one good actor could have done on their own. I'm not really knocking them, just saying they were the kind of supporting roles that it didn't really make a difference whether they were in the movie or not. I'd probably place them a step above extras, just barely.

Hank Pym's daughter is Hope Van Dyne played by the lovely Evangeline Lilly who has to stand idly by as Scott pulls off the main act of the movie. I would have been fine with Ant-Man sharing the spot light with The Wasp, or as she is sometimes referred to in the Marvel Universe as Red Queen. I had seen the Red Queen's outfit before, but since I'd never read any of the older stories involving Ant-Man and Wasp I did not know they had a child or that she was The Red Queen. I just thought Wasp's outfit had changed through the years. Hope is an educated, strong, skilled, determined young woman who spends half the movie at odds with her father. Until she learns the truth of her mother's death. It is then that her character starts to mend the gap between father and daughter.

Though it was brief, I have to say I was extremely happy to see a flash back of Hank and Janet working side by side to save the day. It does explain why Janet is not around and also shows that Wasp is definitely apart of the universe and has every chance of making an appearance in later movies. I did find myself hoping against hope that Scott would find and bring back Janet Pym when he went sub-atomic.

Yellow-Jacket, who I knew as Hank Pym from The Initiative and Secret Invasion story lines was a villain in this movie. This yellow jacket was Darren Cross played by Cory Stoll. The actor is currently portraying a hero of sorts in the FX TV Series The Strain. In Ant-Man I would say that the villain was a little lacking. He kind of goes through the movie seeming naive then just casually mentions that he was on to everyone from the start. Even as he is fighting it just lacks energy. Even if everything he was doing was a result of the affects his yellow jacket particle was having on his mind it was still weak tea. 

ANTS! ANTS EVERYWHERE!!!! I know I was complaining a bit back there, but lets start talking about what this movie got right. It wasn't afraid to use a ton of ants. I was even liking the fact that they used different species of ants. And they were crucial components of pulling things off. The movie explained how the ants were communicated with. I liked that they talked about the ants as more of a creature you had to form a relationship with rather than mindless drones that would follow anything or anyone. He even had an ant that flew which Scott rode into battle with and gave a name to. As an audience member you even feel a bit of sorrow when Ant-ony falls during the final charge. I do feel the ants were giving their due respect and screen time in this film.

The Ant-Man suit! Very cool and well made!!!! Loved the helmet! I also like that you could see there was a person inside the helmet as you could clearly make out Scott's eyes. The initial experience of shrinking had just enough humor and wonder to keep it cool. Explaining about density causing increase in strength allowing Scott to keep his full size human strength even though he was the size of an insect. The effects they used during the fight scenes to show Ant-Man shrink and enlarge between maneuvers and punches were very cool.

Where are the Avengers? Apparently this needs to be explained to some people. If you've ever read an Avengers comic you've seen this saying, "There came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born - to fight the foes no single super hero could withstand". That's what the Avengers are for. To fight a horde of invading aliens, to bring down Ultron. Not to stop a guy from selling tech to Hydra. That's all I'm going to say about that. But they do, do a good job of tying Ant-Man into everything else.

Which is a good lead into the next part. We see the old friends! Obviously there is no one else who could play Peggy Carter, at any age. Even though I didn't know she was in the movie it was no doubt if she made an appearance it would be played by Hayley Atwell. There have been two Howard Starks in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a young and an old. I did like how the young Howard Stark from Captain America: The First Avenger reprise his role in the TV Series Agent Carter. Marvel made another smart choice and used the same older Howard Stark from Iron Man 2 in a scene for Ant-Man played by John Slattery.

All in all I liked this movie. It was pleasantly surprising how much I enjoyed it. Ant-Man wasn't a big box office smash, but I wasn't expecting that. For a 2nd stringer he was portrayed fairly well. The movie it self was just clean fun and at it's heart really just about a dad trying to do right by his child. There was minimal cussing which i love, because there are so many other descriptive words/phrases to be used by characters who have such high educations. There was an attractive female in a supporting role but the movie did't focus on her body all the time (yeah Transformers I'm talking about you). Story line was good. Actors did well. I'd recommend this to anyone just wanting to enjoy a movie. I'm sure I left something out, but its 1AM.

The Strain Season 2 Episode 2 (Spoilers)

Looks like there were two episodes already available on demand. And if I may say, Kelly is FREAKY!!! The feelers, quality control of the newly turned, hardcore! So what is everyone else's thoughts on this show? I see that there are some normal articles about how television has ruined another great novel series. I haven't had any real issues with season one. Season two just started and i'm excited to watch it. So far the second episode is a little slow, looks like they are taking a little time out for character updates and backstories. And so the story is told of how Setrakian obtained the fabled cane sword of Sardu. I feel for Nora and the emotional trauma she suffered. But everyone is suffering some kind of shock or loss and I think in the book she is so much stronger and her TV character seems to fall short. Not the actress herself of course, she's receiving direction to act a certain way. I like strong female characters, but yes retain that humanity that makes you feel. I just think Nora needs to grow a bit.

Lets pause a second. Does anyone remember if you were watching a TV show, the majority would be the TV show and the rest would be commercials. Now why does it seem like these days we get commercials with a splash of TV shows.

I dunno why but I got a sudden craving for eggs... This is what happens when you have too much time during commercials.

I see they think they are on to a possible combatant against the infection. We'll see how those trials go. But again, Kelly man. Wow, her and her feelers are just creepy!

Now do I catch up on Mr. Robot or go get some things done?

The Strain Season 2 Episode 1 (Spoilers)

Technically this should be the start of the televised version of the second book, "The Fall". But it seems like season 2 is starting the way the original book, "The Strain", started. I'm okay with this. I liked the origin story in the book and they seemed to have captured it well. By the way I am indeed writing this as i watch the episode. Getting caught up on TV shows and movies can be a bit of a chore sometimes. Okay now it just took an interesting twist. I'm wondering if i'm spoiling the book that i'm only about half way through reading.  Thought the first couple of episodes would be safe to watch being that I read some of the second book already. The vampire is always looked at from a religious angle. I admit freely that I have not seen every vampire movie or TV show, but I can't think of any that ever tried responding to the threat from a scientific or medical perspective.  I love how Ephraim Goodweather just knew it had to be a virus of some sort he could cure and fought the evidence in front of him. Since I have not finished the triligy i hold out hope he finds a cure. Something tells me Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan are not those kinds of writers. Maybe I just misunderstood Zach, but I read his character in the first book then watched season 1 of The Strain and thought, man i was way off with that one. And congratulations to Kelly, for becoming a mother, again.