All posts by Stephen Sanchez

Movie News & Opinions

Could Marvel Studios Get Back Some Characters?

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How’s this for something to make a person stroke their chin in equanimity: A certain character or characters could be returning to a movie home with Marvel Studios in the near future from their very abusive home at Fox. I mean let’s face it, Fox has screwed up with nearly every Marvel movie they’ve churned out of their mediocre studio. Wolverine, the Fantastic  Four movies, Daredevil, Elektra and the Ghost Rider movies have all blown goats of the highest caliber! The only franchise they’ve had some good results with is the X-Men franchise, and even that took a couple stutter steps. I’m always hoping that Fox can step it up and I’m hopeful that Wolverine 2 (The Wolverine) and Josh Trank’s forthcoming Fantastic Four reboot can begin setting things right. Daredevil is another matter entirely and one of the big reasons as to all of the talk and rumors about certain characters reverting back to Marvel.

Like the Hellraiser franchise last year, Dimension needed to do something with the rights or risk losing them. So they produced a crappy movie that was finished in weeks and released on DVD, and now they are supposedly working on a reboot for the franchise. This is the same issue that Fox has with the Daredevil rights. If they don’t start production on a Daredevil movie by October 10th, then ‘the Man Without Fear’ would return to the Marvel Studios stable. This then brings up the rumors of a deal where Fox would trade the characters of Galactus and Silver Surfer back to Marvel so they can retain the rights to Daredevil. Because really, would Fox have the balls to produce a cheap piece of crap like Dimension did with Hellraiser just to hang onto it? I doubt it. They fail at even trying to make legitimate comic movies, let-alone an intentionally crappy one. Studio insiders at Fox are denying all of this of course and as I said it is all rumor at this point, but there has to be some truth to it or no one would be reporting on it.

There are a few different ways that this could boil down.

– Fox could make a piece of crap Daredevil movie and keep his rights, as well as those of Galactus and Silver Surfer, and then make a potentially decent Daredevil flick somewhere down the road.

– Fox could cut a deal with Marvel, letting Galactus and Silver Surfer go back with Marvel and avoid having to make a crappy Daredevil just for the sake of hanging onto the rights.

– ORRRRRRR Fox does absolutely nothing with Daredevil and loses him to Marvel while hanging on to Galactus and Silver Surfer.

Who knows what will happen at this point as the talks continue.

Joe Carnahan (The Grey, The A-Team) is currently in talks with Fox to direct the Daredevil reboot, and as stated before, Chronicle director Josh Trank is going to be rebooting the Fantastic Four franchise for Fox. I don’t see why Fox would have a problem letting Galactus and Silver Surfer go to hang onto Daredevil, because Trank would still have plenty of villains to draw on from the Fantastic Four comics. Dr. Doom is the obvious first choice and could carry over into any sequels. Then they can still use the Skrulls, Annihilus and the Mole Man. Regardless of how stupid the Mole Man looks, they could absolutely change him up to be a legitimate threat in a Fantastic Four movie.

This may just all be wishful thinking on my part since it appears that Marvel is certainly ramping up their foray into the cosmic scene with Thor, Avengers and now an upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Imagine if they had Galactus and Silver Surfer to add into the mix? The Galactus Seed storyline from the Mighty Thor comic in 2011 comes to mind as a great possibility for a crossover movie between Thor and the Asgardians squaring off against Galactus and the Silver Surfer.

I would honestly hate to see Daredevil made into such a terrible film again, but one could only hope that Fox sees how badly it botched the first one. You know, when they cast Ben Affleck and made DD look like the Gimp from Pulp Fiction? And I’d be willing for the trade off of Fox potentially doing that film right in return for Marvel Studios to add more players to its cosmic sandbox.

GAMING

‘Arkham City’ Sequel is Actually a Prequel?

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The epic, geek manga carta I had in my pants for the inevitable sequel to the bestselling Arkham City video game released late last year has just taken a nose dive upon hearing the most recent plans Rocksteady Games has for the franchise. Trust me, it doesn’t start off bad at all. First we are told that (It’s still rumor mind you) the game will in fact be a prequel to Arkham Asylum, so that’s fine right? Maybe a lead up to the first game showing Batman clobbering the various members of the rogues gallery and sending them one by one to Arkham, the whole thing ending with Batman capturing the Joker and leading right up to the beginning of the first game. Sounds great right? But apparently they’re going in a whole new direction.

According to a video at IGN, Rocksteady is furthering this new direction by having the game take place during the Silver Age of DC… Silver Age meaning the flashier costumes and ridiculous storylines like Batman traveling through space and stopping the most asinine schemes that his foes can throw at him. I’m having some trouble understanding how they go from the dark grittiness of the Arkham games into the fluffy and bygone era of the Silver Age. I hope this is one rumor that doesn’t come true. They also report that members of the Justice League will show up and the game will involve the Justice League being formed. Why not just sever all ties completely with the Arkham games then? Don’t even call it a prequel. If Warner Bros. and DC are wanting to start showing off the Justice League before their much-anticipated movie (supposedly due in 2015) then why not do a game focusing only on them? And this isn’t even the worst of it.

Paul Dini, the writer of the past two Arkham games and Batman: The Animated Series from the early 90’s will not be returning for this prequel game. To me Dini and the group of voice actors from the animated show, along with the newcomers completely owned the Batman scene. The voices and story all fit perfect, having the same amount of dark edginess to it that I remember from Batman: The Animated Series that I watched as a youngster. I watched the show and felt a sense of wonderment because so much of the show’s subject matter leaned towards being more dark and adult themed. Paul Dini will be deeply missed and hopefully won’t have to watch the franchise completely go down the crapper.

What do all of our Bat-Fans think? Excited for this so-called prequel or is it too soon to pass judgment? Sound off below!

Movie News & Opinions

Save the Dark Tower! Save the Dark Tower!

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I’ve honestly run out of Dark Tower pictures from writing articles about how many times this damned is happening and then isn’t happening and then is happening again – 4/8/11, 5/6/11, 7/20/11 – but hey, there’s more casting news to report…. recasting that is. It would appear that ‘Maximus’ himself – Russell Crowe will be taking the place of Javier Bardem as the badass gunslinger and main character ‘Roland Deschain’. Of course this is all just speculation at this point.

Continue reading Save the Dark Tower! Save the Dark Tower! →

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Grizzly Graphic Novel Review: Batman Earth One

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By now there have been so many different versions of Batman I wasn’t sure they could really do another variation of the Dark Knight. There’s old Dark Knight Returns Batman, vampire Batman, the ‘Goddamn Batman’ and a whole slew of others. Batman: Earth One introduces us to yet another version of the caped crusader and with Geoff Johns writing. And here’s a big surprise, it kicked some ass. I’m not going to kiss John’s ass by saying he’s one of the best writers out there, and has won multiple awards for his writing or that he’s from Detroit… but I guess I did. Truth be told, there isn’t much this guy touches that isn’t a damned good read, and Batman: Earth One is no exception. Add the exceptional artwork done by Gary Frank and you’ve got a pretty stellar book. No it’s not a masterpiece, or the most unusual work of alternate Batman story, but it works just fine for a good read.

*Spoilers Follow*

Johns obviously drew from other stories like Year One, and even the Nolan Batman films for this re-imagining of the Batman mythos. The Waynes are still the richest M-Fers around Gotham, but this time around Thomas Wayne is running to be mayor of Gotham, and Martha Wayne is his campaign manager…. And her maiden name is Arkham. CRRRAAAAZZZZY. And I mean that in both terms of story, and that the Arkhams are usually effin’ nuts. As you know,  (Or don’t) Martha’s maiden name in the DC universe we know is Kane, of the wealthy Kane Chemical Company. The Arkhams appear to have had a hand in building the city of Gotham in this story, with the Waynes as their financiers. I imagine they could do some pretty interesting stuff with the story and Bruce Wayne having ties to the Arkham family, but we’ll definitely have to wait for a sequel to see anything linked to that.

Watch Batman fail epically in this graphic novel!

Speaking of Bruce Wayne, remember that sweet little innocent kid portrayed in the movies and the comics at times? Well not this time around, the kid is actually quite the little shit and really has a sense of self entitlement going for him in the beginning of the book. He is of course humbled by the murdering of his parents right before his very eyes, and no child should have bear the brunt of something like that. Well, except maybe Joffrey from Game of Thrones, because he is an unforgivable bastard. Bruce and Alfred don’t know one another at all in the start of the story, and their relationship is somewhat strained throughout from everything we’ve seen before. The Alfred angle is similar to the Nolan Batman movies, but Johns is able to make the character his own in several ways. I’ll be interested in seeing where the story goes in regards to them. Let me just say… Alfred is definitely not a butler in this one….but he definitely serves people with ass whoopings!

Alfred isn’t the only character that has undergone some changes in this story. Plenty of characters are given a face shift, as I like to call it, including Harvey Bullock, Commissioner Gordon and even Harvey Dent in a vague way. They are each different in their own subtle ways and as I’ve said before there is so much that can be done with them in a volume of this new adventure for Gotham City.

The story featured a version of one of the Gotham Rogues that is a little more grounded in reality than he is used to in the comics, once again Johns going for the Nolan angle. The end gives us a glimpse at the next possible foe for Bats to throw down against and it looks like to be off to a good start. I’m wondering if we’ll see more than two villains in the next volume and better yet another original villain. The Birthday Boy was definitely an original villain though not very multi-faceted… and yes that is a terrible name but just give him a chance, it’s not so bad.

HAPPY BERFDAY MISTER FALCON!

Batman Earth One is a damn good read, though that also means that it’s a quick one at only 144 pages. The book isn’t something that will knock your socks, but it’s something new for the Dark Knight that will definitely entertain and leave you wanting a bit more. One thing that strikes me as odd is that with the Earth One Batman, the costume shows his eyes instead of being white like in every other comic. To me this adds a bit of mortality to the character, showing that he is only human and not yet built up to his legendary status like he is in the DC universe we all know and love. Maybe after having a few more notches under his belt we’ll see the white eyes come back. But then again, the eyes showing cowl hasn’t been this cool since Adam West donned the suit…. (That’s debatable of course.)

TV

Clone Wars: Season 5 – Maul, Savage, Mandalorians & Jetpacks!

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There were a couple of clips from season 5 of the Clone Wars released around Comic Con time, and there were some good-uns. After watching the season 5 trailer it would appear that Maul and Savage Oppress will be crossing paths with the Mandalorians at one point. My thoughts from the trailer were that they were obviously going to team up with their mutual disdain and need for vengeance against both Count Dooku and Obi-Wan Kenobi. After watching the clip below I’m not really sure what is behind all of the Mandalorian mayhem on display…. But I like it. Check out the clip below:

Seriously, what the hell is going on? Is that Sidious choking out two Death Watch Mandalorians? And why is Obi-Wan wearing Mando armor and working with Bo-Katan who was all about killing Jedi last season when she crossed paths with Ahsoka?  Bo-Katan whom is voiced by the lovely Katee Sackhoff I might add. And are all of the Mandolorians fighting one another Death Watch? And why are they fighting?! AHHHHHH… head exploding! Apparently we’ll be waiting until September to find out. I also loved the incorporation of John William’s music into the scenes, too bad it won’t stay in there.

The next clip is a little less thrilling, but is still quite cool. It shows Maul and Savage infiltrating some sort of space station possibly controlled (or patrolled) by security droids. Check it out below:

Yes it was short and clearly beneath the Maul bros. to be cutting up simple droids but it’s definitely good to see such a deadly pair work together so seamlessly… now to see them fight some Jedi, that would be great. Overall I can’t wait for this upcoming fifth season of the Clone Wars. It’s a show that is constantly outdoing itself each season in terms of animation, story and scope and I would love if it was on for the next five years. Check out the season 5 trailer below if you haven’t already and stay tuned for further upcoming Clone Wars info and news!

Movie News & Opinions

‘The Dark Knight Returns: Part 1’ Blu-Ray Releasing September 25th

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It’s official. On September 25th 2012, multitudes of Bat-fans like myself will be able to experience the splendor that is Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns… in high definition! That’s right, the first part of the animated version, of perhaps the best Batman story out there will be available to watch over and over again. The Dark Knight Returns may be one of, if not the best Batman story out there, and also one of the best comic book stories as well.

Check out the trailer below as some of the best scenes from the comic are played out before our very eyes. In particular, Batman’s fierce brawl with the leader of the Mutants:

Definitely epic. The part with Batman rising out of the mud is simply chill inducing in it’s badassery. My favorite clip is probably the all too brief glimpse of the Joker’s lips smiling while he is watching the re-emergence of Batman unfold on the TV. As good as part one will be, part 2 will be the one that I’ll be most excited for in 2013.

Aside from what looks like top notch animation, the voice of Batman sounds pretty excellent even after being spoiled for years by the tremendous job Kevin Conroy has done. Peter Weller of Robocop fame seems to have the old man Batman voice nailed down tight. Weller also has a damn decent voice cast behind him. Ariel Winter from ABC’s Modern Family will be playing Robin, and Wade Williams and Michael McKean will also be voicing characters.

Anyone else as stoked as me about this release? Anyone never read the Dark Knight Returns and still interested? Sound off below!