RAINBOW CONNECTION

THE OLD MAN

Logan, and the Man in Black

SUPES AND SUPERGIRL PREVIEW

BATMAN GO! GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/513044925567142/permalink/532797136925254/

IGN SUPERGIRL, MANHUNTER, SUPERMAN VIDEO

WONDER WOMAN TRAILER

wonder woman trailer

JUSTICE LEAGUE TRAILER!

THE WYRDROAD

By the way, I’ve mentioned this before but I have a new Facebook Gaming page up. It reflects the interests of this blog and you are welcome to go there and join and then participate and make your own posts.

Here is the Address: Wyrdroad

WYRDROAD

I have established a new Facebook Gaming Group.

I haven’t had much time to build up the membership yet because I’ve been busy but I have tried to build up some interesting content. The primary interest of the group is gaming, but like this blog it will cover history, archeology, warfare, science, technology, fantasy and science fiction, literature, pop culture, comics, etc.

You’re welcome to visit and to join. Just hit the links provided.

 

WRONGEST THERE IS!!!

This made me laugh… not this scene, the article

WRONGEST THERE IS!!!

 

THE PACIFICATION AND PUSSIFICATION OF MARVEL’S CIVIL WAR – ALL THING

THE PACIFICATION AND PUSSIFICATION OF MARVEL’S CIVIL WAR

(Spoilers included: so if you get all emotional about spoilers then take a powder, this ain’t for you.)

My wife, the girls and I went to see Civil War this evening. Before you come to the conclusion that I didn’t like the film based on the title of this post, actually I did, let me just say the entire subject matter of Marvel’s Civil War was completely pussified and pacified by this particular film. Not that the film wasn’t good, it was at a certain level. It just had nothing to do with Civil War.

What Marvel did so bravely in the comic series Civil War (to the outrage of couch potato fisticuff Captain America’s throughout this great land) they completed pussed out on in this film and in that sense entirely ruined it. There was no tyranny of the government, nor was there a real rebellion against the government. A real shame since what this nation actually needs is a real and certifiable Civil War. The closest the film even got to the real ideas and ideals in the Civil War series was in just speaking the terms “vigilante” and “criminals.” There was nothing really about the series evident in the film. Hell it wasn’t even an initiative of the US government, it was a damned United Nations effort. Any time anything is a UN effort you can bet it will be entirely pussified, and completely ineffective at attempting to achieve it’s true goal. As this certainly was.

Nothing about the original Civil War was evident, not the fact that the government tried to suppress the rights of the individual (and not just for the Avengers, narrowing the Civil War down to just the Avengers completely missed the point, not that I disagreed entirely with what the government was attempting to do) and tried to tell individuals what they could do with their own talents and abilities and “powers.” Nor did it ever truly address the issue of what is the proper response of the individual to such an attempt at tyranny by the government? How Far does the individual have a right to go in rebelling against government oppression? (All the way – he has a God-given right to go all the way to destroy such a government. Well, all the way short of murdering the innocent. He should leave that kinda shit to the government. They’re really good at it.) All of that, all of the really important stiff, was completely missing. This was Civil War Lite, the balless Millennial Edition. The pastel and collegiate safe-zone/safe-place edition. You know, still-mint-in-box with that plastic smell. A shame Marvel pussed on that very germane and pertinent point, especially at this time in our history.

I think back to Batman-Superman (and Superman-Batman had it’s share of problems, but being about true ideals was not one of them) and how Superman, realizing that Luthor’s mark was about to explode and kill everyone in the US congress chamber did not even bother to move, did not even bother to attempt to move to save anyone at all. Not anyone at all. Didn’t even use his body to mitigate the explosion so at least some could survive. He just passively watched it. Just stood there shaking his head as if to say, “if only the government had allowed me, if only I had permission.” Now that’s actually about something, a critique of Modern Man, of the Modern American actually. Hell, that is the modern American. The passive, uninvolved, don’t drag me into this, that’s someone else’s job, “do I actually have your permission to intervene” modern American. Or modern Christian, take your pick. (Superman was at one time the quintessential American of Action, now he is the quintessential modern American as well. Welcome to your true selves modern Americans. Even your superheroes are now in on your pathetic act.) Civil War never rose to that point, to being about something nearly that big. It was, as a super-hero film, more or less just a kick-ass superhero film about nothing more than, you guessed it, mere superheroes. Ina tiff about their own drama-club, their own Dr. Phil episode. Civil War was not about something really important, such as the people and population that the superheroes are supposed to represent, either as wish-fulfillment, or as a real critique on their actual natures. In a way though that is unfair criticism, because unintentionally this was a critique on the character of modern Americans. How by absence, habit, and training we don’t really have any anymore. So in that sad sense it was Batman-Superman all over again, just without all the outright honesty. This film though never truly gets a chance to succeed at failing like that because it fails to be about what it was supposed to be about.

What then was Civil War the film actually about? The closest it ever got to being real was a running (literally, a lot of running) discourse about friendship, loyalty, and how far a man will go to remain loyal to a true friend. (Black Panther by the way had an excellent little sub-plot which was aloes instructive, about vengeance for the right reasons versus vengeance for the wrong reasons. I truly enjoyed watching Black Panther.)

Now didn’t get me wrong, friendship and true loyalty (that is to say the kind of, “I will fight and die for you loyalty”) is an extremely rare commodity in the modern world. And in modern America. Hell most modern Americans won’t risk themselves for anything, much less other people. See the Superman reference above, and so that’s precisely the point. So I am in no way denigrating or negating a film about true loyalty and real friendship. It’s important subject matter for modern myths, like comic superheroes. The shame is that it could have been that and still been about an actual and real Civil War. Oh, I understand that the film had to be limited (in comparison to the comics) in actor numbers and scenes and the overall plot had to be pared down, but it could have still been about a real Civil War. And friendship. Like the comic series was. It wasn’t. It wasn’t about a war at all really, and that’s the real fault of the thing. Mostly it was only about superheroes and character development and all of the other comic book bullshit that so floats the hole filled chalk anchors and thrills the nascent testicles of comic book fangurls everywhere. But it really wasn’t about anything. Other than that. Superheroes, entertainment, diversions, fist and laser beams fights, explosions.

If only there had been a Real War. An actual Civil War. But Marvel pussed out. They could have taken what they did with the last Captain America film, Winter Soldier (an excellent film about a real rebellion against government) and went all the way. Instead a cold wind blew up their skirts and they pulled their panties up and went home. And there ya go. Civil War as a faux entertainment and superhero fight fight, rather than one about a well, ya know, a war…

This was more like a hat-tip to fangurls and continuity agitators so they could babble more Nerdspeak while Rome burns. The real Rome I mean. Not that I blame the actors and actresses. They did superb jobs especially Falc, Panther, Cap, Iron Man, Vision, Widow, the kid playing Spiderman, and Bucky. No, this film was entirely a failure of writing and balls. Not acting, and maybe not even of directing. Just an horrendous and total lack of balls. No balls and you can’t write around that kinda thing. It becomes obvious quick.

Technically though, and as an entertainment, I give it a 4 out of 5. Because technically it was a superb film. And as a comic book superhero film it was also pretty good. Just not Winter Soldier good.

As far as being an important film, I give it a 2 out of 5. It was an urban film. Unlike the Winter Soldier it revolved around urban thinking. Petty turf fights. Avoidance of reality. And that showed the whole thing through.

In other words it was just another superhero fun-flick, rather than a film about what it actually means to be a Hero fighting for a truly important cause. You won’t get that in this flick. Nothing really important happens. You will get some boom-boom and some pretty flashy fights. Just not many fights about anything really worth fighting about. Or about anything applicable to the Real World. And if a story isn’t really applicable to the Real World then let’s just call it what it is, a pussified wish-fulfillment, or put another way, just another diversionary fantasy. I hope Marvel stays far away from ever again doing this kind of thing to their best work in the future.

You want something much, much more entertaining and infinitely more important then read the original Civil War comic series.

Better yet start your own Civil War. It’s way past time anyhow.

That’s my take on the thing. What’s yours?

’66 AND COUNTING

Recently I’ve been reading the Batman ’66 set of graphic novels. If you haven’t read them then you really need to do yourself a favor and read them as soon as possible.

They’re superb! Absolutely superb!

 

YEAH THAT BUGS ME TOO…

CAFE TIME

FF4 TRAILER – DESIGN OF THINGS TO COME

Final ‘Fantastic Four’ Trailer Brings the Team in Full View

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BY: BRAD BREVET
TUESDAY, JUL 14, 2015 AT 7:08 AM

Photo: 20th Century Fox

The biggest thing the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot has going for it is its cast. Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Miles Teller and Jamie Bell make up the titular superhero team and they, and they alone are the reason I have any modicum of interest in this movie as it’s become harder and harder to actually muster interest for superhero movies nowadays as they all feel part of a larger whole that’s more about selling toys and tickets than telling a good story. In fact, the supposed turmoil behind-the-scenes concerning director Josh Trank may actually be further evidence the goal here was to make something more than just another visual effects extravaganza. I guess it all depends on how you choose to look at it.

Today a final trailer for the upcoming Aug. 7 release has arrived and it offers the most extensive look at the film yet. For video see link.

 

 

SUPERGIRL – ALL-THING

I think my wife and daughters will like this. I’m not sure I won’t.

 

CIVIL WAR CAST

Excellent!

Civil War is the future Marvel film I am most looking forward to seeing. Especially after seeing the Age of Ultron. (Which kicked ass by the way.)

If you ask me Civil War was the best, and by far the single most realistic thing, Marvel ever did with their comic book superheroes. It also finally got me to firmly liking Captain America.

Who before I had always thought of as a naive government dope.

But afterwards I thought of as an independent, stand-up, fearless, patriotic solider beholding to his true and best ideals (American ideals) rather than to a corrupt US government.

And when he brought down both Hydra and SHIELD in Cap 2 I could really, really respect him.

 

Marvel Studios Reveals Captain America: Civil War Synopsis, Confirms Cast

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR BY SPENCER PERRY ON MAY 7, 2015 Marvel Studios has commenced principal photography at Pinewood Studios in Atlanta, Georgia onCaptain America: Civil War, the third installment of its Super Hero franchise. The production will shoot on location in Atlanta, Georgia, which serves as the base for the film’s production, as well as locations in Germany, Puerto Rico and Iceland. Set for release in the United States on May 6, 2016, Captain America: Civil War is directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, “Community”) from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The Winter Solider, Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger). The film returns Chris Evans as the iconic Super Hero character Steve Rogers/Captain America along with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Paul Bettany as The Vision, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes/War Machine and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. After his debut in Marvel’s Ant-Man on July 17, 2015, Paul Rudd will make his first appearance alongside the Avengers as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War. The cast of the film also includes Chadwick Boseman (42, Get on Up) as T’Challa/Black Panther, Emily VanCamp (“Revenge”) as Sharon Carter/Agent 13, Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds,Bourne Ultimatum) as Baron Helmut Zemo, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow/Crossbones, William Hurt (Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk) as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey). Captain America: Civil War picks up where Avengers: Age of Ultron left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After anotherinternational incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain. Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War is produced by Marvel Studios’ president, Kevin Feige, with Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Victoria Alonso, Patricia Whitcher, Nate Moore and Stan Lee serving as executive producers. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s creative team also includes director of photography Trent Opaloch (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Elysium), production designer Owen Paterson (Godzilla, The Matrix), and three time Oscar-nominated costume designer Judianna Makovsky (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone).

THE IMAX INFINITY WAR

Interesting…

 

Avengers: Infinity War to be Filmed Entirely with Brand-New IMAX Cameras

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR BY SPENCER PERRY ON MAY 7, 2015 On the heels of the reveal of its nine-month production schedule, Marvel Studios, the Russo brothers and IMAX today announced that Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 & 2 will be shot in their entirety using IMAX and ARRI’s next generation revolutionary 2D digital camera – a joint customized digital version of ARRI’s new large format camera, the Alexa 65. The two-part “Avengers” saga marks the first time a Hollywood feature film will have been shot completely using IMAX cameras and will feature IMAX’s exclusive aspect ratio, providing moviegoers a uniquely immersive experience. Prior to filming Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Parts 1 & 2, Joe and Anthony Russo, who also directed Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, will use the IMAX/ARRI 2D digital camera for select action sequences on the forthcoming Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War, which will release in IMAX theaters in May of 2016. “The intent with the Infinity War films is to bring ten years of accumulative storytelling to an incredible climax,” Joe and Anthony Russo stated. “We felt that the best way to exploit the scale and scope required to close out the final chapter of these three phases, was to be the first films shot entirely on the IMAX/ARRI Digital camera.” “Over the years, IMAX has had the incredible good fortune to work with some of the world’s finest, most talented filmmakers, who continue to push the envelope both technically and creatively,” said Greg Foster, Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. and CEO of IMAX Entertainment. “We could not be more excited to deepen our partnership with Joe and Anthony Russo, a pair of filmmakers we believe are next-generation trailblazers. Marvel’s Avengers franchise has become aglobal phenomenon and to have it pay off in this epic way using the IMAX/ARRI digital camera is the very definition of event movie-going.” The next-generation 2D digital camera – co-developed by IMAX and ARRI – is meant for use by today’s leading filmmakers working in the IMAX format. The joint solution is designed as a complementary tool to IMAX’s high-resolution capture technologies – including its 3D digital and 15perf / 65mm film cameras. Moreover, IMAX worked with ARRI to achieve the highest level of digital image capture for playback on IMAX’s xenon and new laser projection systems. Set to be directed by the Russo brothers and featuring a script by Marvel favorites Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1 is slated for release in IMAX theaters on May 4, 2018; Part 2 will open on May 3, 2019.

CAPTAIN AMERICA – FREEMAN?

Martin Freeman Joins The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Who Will He Play?

BY SEAN O’CONNELL 9 HOURS AGO 30 COMMENTS

There’s one sure-fire way to improve your movie or television show: Cast Martin Freeman. So by this logic, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War just got better, because Marvel just revealed that Freeman has been added in a mysterious role.

In a press release, Marvel notes that Martin Freeman, of Sherlock and Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, has joined the cast of the third Captain America movie, which has begun filming in Atlanta. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige talks about Freeman’s “range” in the announcement, and notes that Marvel couldn’t be more “honored or excited” to have the actor in the movie.

But you know what Feige doesn’t tell us? Who Martin Freeman will PLAY in Captain America: Civil War!

My best guess is that Martin Freeman will assume a supporting – possibly political – role, the kind occupied by the likes of Tommy Lee Jones or Robert Redford in the previous Captain America movies. Freeman’s not playing a superhero, or a villain. His casting wouldn’t be posted to Marvel.com casually if that were the case. One colleague already has suggested that Freeman could be cast as Henry Peter Gyrich, a government liaison who interacts with The Avengers, and eventually became a member of the Commission on Superhuman Activities… something we assume will have to be very popular in the Civil War storyline.

It’s very possible Martin Freeman is playing a small role, something like Garry Shandling’s character in Iron Man 2 and, later, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But let’s expand out minds a little and have some fun. What if Marvel cast Martin Freeman as Norman Osborn, and is putting him in place for possible use in the untitled Spider-Man movie for 2017?

Norman Osborn played an unusual role in the Civil War storyline, leading up the government-sanctioned Thunderbolts, a team of villains hired to round up heroes who refused to register. (In a way, the act like the Suicide Squad… wouldn’t that be funny if the Thunderbolts were introduced the same year that DC tries to beef up its universe.) It would take a lot of set up on Marvel’s part – probably too much set up – to adhere to Norman’s traditional Civil War arc. But since we expect to see Spider-Man in Civil War, and Marvel now knows it needs to seed Spidey material ahead of the 2017 movie, it’s not that far-fetched to guess that Freeman’s role might have more implication than just a Senator of Congressman who sides with either Tony Stark or Steve Rogers.

MARVEL’S ANNOUNCEMENT

Marvel Encodes: I have two theories of my own but let’s see…

By the way, the images are on the original link.

Marvel Has A Big Surprise Coming, Here’s A Clue

By Eric Eisenberg 43 minutes ago 27 Comments

The next few weeks are going to be rather huge for Marvel Studios. This Friday will see the release of their first Netflix series, Daredevil; then Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron will be dropping on May 1st; and soon after that the company will begin production on Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: Civil War. That’s all pretty huge stuff, but evidently it’s not enough, as now a big Avengers announcement has been scheduled for tomorrow morning.

This extremely exciting news comes to us from Marvel Cinematic Universe star Robert Downey Jr. himself, who teased the special reveal on his personal Twitter account. In addition to revealing that there will be big Avengers news tomorrow morning on Good Morning America, he also presented us fans with a rather cryptic image as well:

Given the source of the tease, the metallic plates, and the red and gold coloring, it’s pretty clear that what we’re looking at is a close-up of some kind of Iron Man-related “thing” – but what the hell is it? Is it a new suit of armor? Is it something bigger? Is it some kind of vehicle? (UPDATE #1: As one of our commenters pointed out below, it looks like this shot is a closeup of Iron Man’s shoulder from his character poster). Perhaps even more importantly, what’s up with the very strange and very specific white spaces. My first instinct is to look at them as letters, but that still doesn’t really clear things up.

Because the image isn’t much help, let’s look at this mystery from another angle. It’s interesting to note that Downey Jr. says “Avengers announcement” as opposed to “Iron Man” announcement, and while that could be a reference to The Avengers: Age of Ultron, what if it is instead something to do with The Avengers: Infinity War? That movie is certainly many years away, but Marvel Studios has earned a reputation for always thinking 10 steps ahead.

Without more information, it’s tricky to figure out this puzzle at face value – and hopefully throughout the day we see more clues pop up and give us more of a hint of what to expect. Of course, speculation is always fun, and this is a fun and exciting jumping off point to do just that. Hit the comments section below to tell us both what you think the image is and what you think the big announcement is going to be tomorrow. And be sure to come back in the morning, because you can be sure that we will have full coverage of what goes down!

UPDATE #2: The official Good Morning America Twitter account has posted a clue of their own, which appears to be Hawkeye-centric, and has more of what now definitely appear to be big white letters. Check it out below:

UPDATE #3: Now the official Jimmy Kimmel Live! Twitter account has chimed in with their own post, this one featuring Captain America’s chest star. It’s pretty clear that the letters here say “Jimmy,” and as one of our commenters pointed out below, it looks like the lettering in the Iron Man image above is very similar to the logo of Jimmy Kimmel Live!