I’m glad that Starz decided to give us an advanced viewing of the pilot for one of their newest series, Camelot. It premiered on February 25th after Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and I’m just reviewing it thanks to my DVR.
The story of King Arthur has been told many times, in a variety of ways, and this is the newest interpretation. I am hoping for something similar to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, but set in Medieval times. After seeing the pilot episode I think we may be in store for something similar. It seems to be a retelling of the Arthurian Legend much like in the 2004 film King Arthur starring Clive Owen and Keira Knightley, where they attempted to tell a more historical version of the tale with no magic or myth. Camelot is similar to King Arthur in the aspect that, the magic thus far, though present, is not over the top. Merlin isn’t some long bearded, long robed wizard throwing fireballs left and right, and Morgan le Fay isn’t a full-blown sorceress.
It’s a well known fact that Geoff Johns is the ‘King Midas’ of the DC universe.
He has the ability to turn a certain title that may have a casual readership, into something worthwhile for fans both old and new. There aren’t many characters in the DCU that Johns hasn’t written. He literally resurrected Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern title in Green Lantern: Rebirth, and has done the same with The Flash in Flash: Rebirth.
The guy is comic book gold!
After writing characters such as Superman, Flash and Green Lantern in some of the finest stories I’ve had the opportunity to read, Geoff Johns is now set to write another superhero back into prominence; Aquaman. According to an article over at IGN, Johns will begin writing Aquaman’s story after Brightest Day is finished.
There has been no artist announced thus far so let the speculation begin. I’d like to see a Geoff Johns and Jim Lee team up myself!
I think this will be a great thing to revitalize Aquaman, though the buzz currently going around is that the dweller of the depths has been pretty badass as of late in Brightest Day. As always, we will keep you posted on all developments with Geoff Johns and Aquaman.
It seems like Oz: The Great and Powerful is gearing up to be quite a flick. This is a prequel to the much beloved Judy Garland classic from 1939. It takes place years prior to Dorthy and Toto’s arrival, this time focusing on the arrival ‘the Wizard’; James Franco. I’m a big fan of Franco, and I can’t wait to see him in his portrayal of the Wizard, as he arrives in the land of Oz. His character is described as such:
“a fast-talking snake oil salesman and illusionist who flees a traveling circus and winds up whisked away in a hot air balloon by a tornado to Oz where he must face off against real magic and the sisters battling for control of the land.”
Yesterday I was perusing a colleague’s blog and noticed a video she had posted that was simply titled “Top Spin 4“. It had a screen shot of an attractive woman’s behind with the play button overlaying it. Me being a typical guy instantly clicked the video to watch. (What guy wouldn’t?)
It took me a minute to realize the woman starring in it was Serena Williams, because I’ve never thought she was very attractive to begin with; or maybe that was her sister Venus. Either way Serena was looking good in this now controversial video, so take a minute to check it out. Seriously though, the video is one minute long:
Here is Yahoo Sport’s take on it:
The 60-second spot for “Top Spin 4” features a scantily-clad Serena playing the new video game against an actress wearing even less clothing. The matchup is billed as “the world’s sexiest tennis player” against “the world’s sexiest tennis gamer.” There are shots of nearly bare bottoms, unseemly facial expressions and lots of cleavage, accompanied by a thumping techno beat and suggestive moaning. At the end of the ad, Williams asks breathily, “You realize this is a fantasy, right?”
Was the video super sexy? Yes. Was I offended by anything in it? No. Was their outrage over this commercial? Apparently there was, but that depends on your point of view. I’m not sure who out there was complaining about it, or who deemed it too sexy, but I would assume a lot of women see it as objectifying them. There were probably groups with no stake in it complaining like the NAACP or the NRA. Maybe PETA was offended by the leather booty shorts she was wearing, or that her fishnet stockings were offensive to fish.
I did enjoy the irony of the ‘E for Everyone’ rating that showed up before the sex charged commercial.
2k sports has come out to say:
“As part of the process for creating marketing campaigns to support our titles, we pursue a variety of creative avenues, this video is not part of the title’s final marketing campaign and its distribution was unauthorized.”
But one has to wonder if that’s the truth. A lot of time and money obviously went into making the commercial, and it looked pretty final to me. Even amidst the flurry of “outrage” Serena Williams has twittered how she is proud of the video, and how it turned out. I say more power to her.
I can’t figure out why people in this great country of ours get so offended by things like this. If it was Derek Jeter swinging a bat in his underwear and grunting suggestively, would there be an uproar? (Hoepfully that never happens.) What was 2k sports going for with this ad? Was it intended to be leaked like some sort of celebrity sex tape to garner a viral buzz about their new tennis game? Maybe, and if it was then mission accomplished. What the hell, I might even watch a little tennis this summer.
And by the way, Serena Williams is not the sexiest tennis player in the world. This is:
Caroline Wozniacki
Sincere apologies if this offended or outraged anyone. I apologize you have a stick up your ass.
It’s here! The newest Green Lantern event! I’m hoping this one is at least almost as good as Blackest Night, and on par with the Sinestro Corps War. And let me tell ya, the first part did not disappoint. Not one bit! In the prologue for War of the Green Lanterns we learn that Krona, a member of the Guardians’ species, and antagonist of the story, was once to be inducted onto the council of the Guardians. And he might still be there if not for his insistence that emotion is a necessary part of being a Guardian, and life for that matter. Because of this he draws the ire of the council and is arrested. It was unclear if he escaped, but the ring leader’s of each emotion are shown visions of Krona’s past where he reprogrammed the Manhunters to turn on the Guardians, and annihilate a whole sector. This sector as it turns out was the homeworld of Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lanterns who vows vengeance against Krona and those who stand in his way.
Have you checked the Zodiac lately? Because it is of course the year of the sequel. That’s right, 27 major studio sequels to be exact. It must be the current Hollywood fad right now to give every movie a 3D sequel. Below are recently announced and upcoming movies that follow up other movies that did not warrant a sequel to begin with. Actually some didn’t even deserve to have a first one made, but let’s go over them:
Bad Santa 2
According to IGN Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to reprise his role as the foul-mouthed mall Santa from the first 2003 movie. But the biggest question is why? Do we really need a sequel to such a let down, crude movie starring an actor who hasn’t had a decent role since his only noteworthy acting turn in Sling Blade? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for crude movies. I love ’em. But a sequel to Bad Santa eight or nine years after the fact seems like doing a sequel to Battlefield Eartha decade later. Admittedly, I may just be hating on Billy Bob because he effectively ruined any fantasy I could have about Halle Berry, after sloppily plowing her in Monsters Ball. Thank you Mr. Thornton, that is now burned into my retinas.
American Pie 4: American Reunion
I’m not really sure how this one will go, but I’m pretty sure they’ll have no problems rounding up the likes of Chris Klein, Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Tara Reid to do this movie. Lord knows they aren’t doing anything of note at this point in their careers. Eugene Levy and Sean William Scott are the only ones who will add any entertainment to this, the fourth entry into the American Pie franchise. Well, it’s the fourth if you’re not counting the four Direct-to-DVD sequels starring no one from the originals except Eugene Levy.
Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance
The first Ghost Rider was so bad I honestly think I’ve somehow erased it from my memory, or aliens did because the recurrent nightmares I kept having from its suckiness interrupted their sleep study of me. This is one movie there should not be a sequel of. Reboot? Maybe. But a sequel, yet again starring Nicholas Cage? No! No! No! I don’t care if nothing from the first film is mentioned, because having to look at Cage’s face the entire time will only be a constant reminder of how much scum inhalation the first movie performed. (Basically the movie was a scum sucker.) Seriously Cage, turn Drive Angry into a franchise and get it over with.
Honestly, I did enjoy the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans. It was entertaining to me, and I saw it in 2D instead of that “slimy piece of worm ridden filth” (Thank you Han Solo) they tried to pass off as a 3D feature. Imagine how I would have enjoyed it if actors like Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson were utilized better, and the story didn’t seem like a fan fiction written by a 16-year old ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ fan. The effects and action were good, but I was hoping they would just end it with Clash of the Titans being an entertaining, dumb action flick. But no, they’ve come back for more. At least the story for Wrath of the Titans sounds decent, you can read about that here.
Fast Five
This Fast and the Furious sequel just got downright lazy. Maybe the next one will just be called Fast6, all bunched together like that. I was not a fan of the first movie, didn’t get a chance to see the second one, and flat out refused to see the Tokyo Drift. And though I actually enjoyed the fourth movie, Fast and Furious, Fast Five looks extremely entertaining to me, so I will be checking it out even if it wasn’t warranted. I mean come on, they are throwing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson into the mix. However, if they had decided to end the franchise with number 4 I wouldn’t have cared at all.
Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon
Two words sum up Revenge of the Fallen for me; Colossal Failure. It took me awhile to come to grips with that, but multiple views at theater, and a purchase on DVD finally did it. That’s when I noticed more and more how terrible the film was when robots weren’t beating the ever-loving cybernetic crap out of each other. Shame on me. Even though the franchise should have ended with part two, it was a given with the amount of box office cash it raked in that a 3rd installment was inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it should be happening. This is another I will be seeing, giving Michael Bay a second chance to make something even comparable to the first Transformers. I may be setting myself up for a huge fit of gouging my eyes out at the theater, but that is a risk that I’m willing to take.
Now I understand I’ve committed to seeing half of the movies I just described as being ‘sequels we don’t need’, but I can’t do anything to stop them from being cranked out of the Hollywood machine. So I’ll just buckle up and hope the ride doesn’t suck too much.
I’m glad that Starz decided to give us an advanced viewing of the pilot for one of their newest series, Camelot. It premiered on February 25th after Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and I’m just reviewing it thanks to my DVR.
Grizzly Bomb 