Movie Review - Guardians of the Galaxy

Within the successful Marvel Studios, a remarkable collection of superheroes has been ingeniously brought together into what we now know as Marvel's The Avengers! As this group of heroes has now been firmly established into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new, even more original team has been introduced into Phase 2 of Marvel Studio's movie projects with their 10th film: Guardians of the Galaxy! 
Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), is a notorious outlaw and thief, who, while stealing a mysterious orb on an abandoned planet, is drawn into a plot of galactic proportions which jeopardizes the fate of the universe! While escaping from the forces of the megalomaniacal Ronan, The Accuser (Lee Pace); Quill is arrested by the Nova Corps and sentenced to an orbiting penal colony along with the bounty hunters Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) & Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and the assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana). While in prison, he teams up with this motley crew along with Drax, (Dave Bautista) The Destroyer, who has a grudge against Ronan, and escapes prison to find a way to stop Ronan from getting the orb and destroying the galaxy!
Guardians of the Galaxy is an epic, space adventure, which combines Star Wars-like Sci-Fi/Fantasy with swashbuckling action, and irreverent humor; combined with a bizarre soundtrack full of 1970's pop-music.
While characters such as Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor have earned their place in pop-culture for the last 50 years, this team is relatively "new" to the Marvel Universe. The original Guardians of the Galaxy appeared in Marvel Super-Heroes #18, 1969 with heroes such as Major Victory, Starhawk, and Yondu. Although they remained a third-string team through much of their history, appearing alongside other major Marvel heroes such as The Avengers, they finally managed to get their own title in 1990 until it was cancelled in 1995. This Guardians however, is NOT that team! This newer Guardians of the Galaxy team first appeared in 2008 formed in the aftermath of the Annihilation: Conquest story-line in Marvel comics, shortly before the Disney acquisition of Marvel Comics. The current team in the comics includes Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket Raccoon & Groot, along with Quasar and Adam Warlock. For the movie's sake, Warlock and Quasar, not to mention Nova, are not present, which leaves room for their appearance (no doubt) in Guardians 2? [Minor Spoilers]: This movie finally features a full (although brief) appearance from the cosmic villain Thanos (Josh Brolin), who appeared in the end-credits of Avengers (2012), and also an appearance from The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) who made an appearance in the end-credits in Thor: The Dark World (2013). A few surprising guest appearances in this movie as other minor characters including Glenn Close as Nova Prime, John C. Reily as Corpsman Dey and Michael Rooker as Yondu. While it seemed unbelievable that a talking fully-CG Raccoon could convince an audience and become a fan favorite was a stroke of genius with the combination of state-of-the-art CGI technology and Bradley Cooper's comic talent. Also, despite Groot's three-word vocabulary: "I AM GROOT!", this seemingly one dimensional (or "wooden") character voiced by action-star Vin Diesel, is the source of much of the pathos in the team. While actress Zoe Saldana is often comfortable in Sci-Fi franchises (Star Trek) as well as colorful-skinned aliens (Avatar), she holds her own as a strong and complicated woman. While there are few differences from the comic book, one most crucial being that making Star-Lord a space-pirate and not the interplanetary policeman he was meant to be.
Full of Sci-Fi/Fantasy action, humor, and wonder, Guardians of the Galaxy is a new and impressive addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe which, although has been growing in popularity, has also been suffering from lack-luster sequels to make way for their bigger titles while still mired in legal mumbo-jumbo between Disney, Sony and 20th Century Fox on the rest of their comic properties. When Guardians was first announced, I admit, I was not very impressed; convinced that Marvel had finally reached the bottom of the barrel on characters NOT owned by other studios. And along with the controversy from Ant-Man (2015) director Edgar Wright dropping out of the scene, it seemed that Marvel had hit a huge speed-bump. Despite a lack of a clear plot, whether it is the unique combination of colorful characters, tongue-in-cheek humor, Sci-Fi action and special effects, Guardians of the Galaxy is a truly fun and entertaining movie, plain and simple. While Sony still clings to the Spider-Man franchise, and Fox runs the X-Men franchise into the ground, Marvel is still at the top of the blockbuster game, and until the fanboys (like myself) are satiated until Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out in 2015, Guardians of the Galaxy is number one (for now), having already earned $94 million in its first week!

LINKS: Marvel.com, Official Guardians Movie Website, Marvel Wikia

Comic-Con 2014: Top 10 Upcoming Events

It's Comic-Con time again! The International Comic Con happened in San Diego this weekend and bringing with it even more previews and news of some of the biggest pop-culture events coming in the next few years! Hollywood and TV have dominated Comic-Con over the last decade and there is no lack of big announcements from movies and TV projects. Last year I posted about the upcoming events announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2013, so I thought I would follow up with this years events. CHERNOBOG'S BLOG PRESENTS: Comic-Con 2014: Top 10 Upcoming Events! Enjoy!

#10 Interstellar (2014) - Christopher Nolan directs a new science-fiction epic starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway where a group of explorers discover a wormhole in space that allows them to travel the furthest reaches of space.
#9 Godzilla 2 (2017?) - Director Gareth Edwards unveiled his plans for the sequel to this years Godzilla reboot and rumors circulate of the appearances of even more kaiju monsters!
#8 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - Director George Miller previewed his new Mad Max reboot/sequel starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron.
#7 Wonder Woman (2017?) - DC has announced that the Amazon warrior, played by Gal Gadot, will finally make it to theaters despite her failed TV series. Wonder Woman will soon join Batman and Superman in a rumored Justice League movie!
#6 The Walking Dead: Season 5 (October 2014) - The remaining survivors have made it to "Terminus" and it's not what they expected!
#5 Ant-Man (2015) - Director Peyton Reed brings the newest Marvel hero movie to the screen (after Edgar Wright dropped out), starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym.
#4 Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) - Director Zack Snyder returns with a DC heroe extravaganza with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, also rumored as Aquaman, Jason Mamoa!
#3 DC Comics TV Series (2014) - While Marvel has dominated the big screen, DC has taken over the small screen with continuing their highly acclaimed Arrow series with Season 3, and announcing the premieres this Fall for three more DC inspired titles including Gotham, The Flash, and Constantine!
#2 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) - The finale to Peter Jackson's (The Lord of the Rings Trilogy) Hobbit Trilogy comes to an epic conclusion with the dwarves battling to reclaim the Lonely Mountain as fending off all of Middle Earth from their home and Bilbo caught up in the middle of it all!
#1 Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) - Director Joss Whedon returns to direct the sequel to his 2012 superhero epic! The team lead by Nick Fury including Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye, with new additions Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), (and possibly The Vision!) reunite to battle Ultron (James Spader/Andy Serkis?)!

LINKS: ComicCon.org

Summer Blockbusters: May Reviews

The Summer Blockbusters have arrived!!! Every month in Summer holds more excitement and hype that my movie reviews can't be contained in just one blog entry, so I've decided to give each month it's due with brief reviews of my favorites. Let's kick-off the Summer with May's releases: Enjoy!

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 (2014)- Directed by Mark Webb, this squeal to 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man establishes the new franchise trilogy with Andrew Garfield as the new "Amazing" Spider-Man! This movie sees the return to the classic Spider-Man costume instead of the more "modern" costume in the last movie. As Peter Parker graduates High School, he is kindling his relationship with Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone) while still trying to be a superhero, while he's haunted by the death of Gwen's father Captain Stacey (Denis Leary) at the hands (or claws) of The Lizard, who Peter promised to leave alone! This new movie introduces a new villain Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, as Max Dillon, a socially awkward and eccentric electrical engineer at OSCORP, who's obsessed with Spider-Man, after being saved by Spider-Man from a speeding armored truck, he later falls in a tank of electric eels and becomes Electro, able to absorb and project large amounts of (blue) electricity! Thinking Spider-Man either tricked him or forgot about him in his deranged mind he goes on a rampage sucking power from New York City. Meanwhile, Peter's childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) returns as his father Norman Osborn lays dying from a mysterious disease, and it just so happens that Harry is also afflicted with the disease that coincidentally Peter's father was working on a cure before he disappeared! As Peter and Harry both realize the only thing that can possibly cure Harry is Peter's spider-infected blood, Peter has to decide whether or not to risk his secret identity which may or may not save his friends life! With this movie we've started off the multiple villains angle way to early as we deal mostly with Electro throughout the movie we are introduced to new villains including the new Green Goblin and a few brief cameos (which I will not spoil) leading into the next movie. Overall Electro makes for a weak addition to the new Spider-Man franchise. While many fans including myself were disappointed with the Lizard in the last one, it seems the movies have begun to dig at the bottom of the barrel for Spider-Man villains, while Spider-Man has always been known for his colorful rogue's gallery, yet not too many of them could possibly carry an entire movie. That is why the next logical step would be to introduce many villains in the next movie, namely "The Sinister Six". While this seems promising for my fellow Spidey "fanboys" out there, it doesn't necessarily lend itself to a good movie. When is more villains, too many, when we introduce too many characters we become Batman & Robin (1997), lets not forget it hasn't been that long since the disaster that was Spider-Man 3 (2006).

LINKS: Official Website, Marvel.com

GODZILLA (2014) - When news first came out of the new Godzilla movie, fans were both excited and skeptical, since the epic-failure of 1998's Godzilla directed by Roland Emmerich and the 2004 release of Godzilla: Final Wars, marking Godzilla's 50th Anniversary, it seemed that a new Godzilla would never be made. Through all the pre-production and production difficulties, it was finally announced that Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. with rookie director Gareth Edwards (Monsters (2010) would bring Godzilla back from the depths. While the movie appears like a Godzilla reboot it actually draws upon previous Godzilla films and story-lines making it seem relevant to the long tradition including a reference to a discovery of a large creature in the Pacific Ocean in 1954 and the discovery of a colossal skeleton in a mine in the Philippines in 1999. While many Godzilla movies feature a seemingly unbeatable Kaiju monster, which no one can defeat except of course for Godzilla, who,  throughout his long 60 year history went from nature-avenging destructor to civilization-saving hero! The movie begins with tragedy at the Janjira nuclear plant in Japan where a supposed meltdown attributed to an earthquake is the cause of a area-wide quarantine. Plant supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) loses his wife in the disaster and feels guilty for sending her to his death. 15-years later, Joe is still trying to uncover the conspiracy of the disaster. After having been arrested for trespassing his son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a Navy EOD now living in San Francisco with his family, goes to Japan to bailout his father. There Joe and Ford attempt to return to Janjira and uncover the truth. As they are captured (again), we also meet Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) who studied the skeleton in 1999 and reveals that the disaster was caused by an unknown creature designated MUTO, now hibernating but coincidentally is awakened and wreaks havoc on Hawaii. Suddenly Godzilla appears and battles the creature however we learn there is yet another creature in Nevada, which destroys Las Vegas. The showdown with two MUTOs and Godzilla occurs in San Francisco Bay and if you've seen at least a few of the 30 Godzilla movies over the years, you know what happens. The initial appearance of Godzilla is somewhat anti-climactic and it seems as though the focus of the film is more about the MUTOs than Godzilla? If the producers of the film had gone with tradition and made just "another" Godzilla film it wouldn't have held up to the hype. More fitting it should've been called "Godzilla VS. MUTO" (or vice versa) and not just simply Godzilla. In the end, it remains just another mediocre Godzilla movie with very little originality besides the redesign of the creature and being an American production. While it is fun and entertaining to finally see a new Godzilla movie after waiting a decade, it remains somewhat of a disappointment. In the words of a good friend of mine: "Only Japanese people should be allowed to make a Godzilla movie!" (Thanks OrcDorc.com!)

LINKS: Official Website, Godzilla Movies, Toho

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (2014) - While the X-Men franchise has had it's ups (X2, First Class) and downs (X-Men 3, Origins: Wolverine) over the years, the franchise has finally come to it's ultimate apex with the original franchise along with the prequel franchise coming together in one explosive finale!  Director Bryan Singer returns to the franchise after abandoning it for Superman Returns (2006) and leaving us with Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand) Thanks (NOT!) "Loosely" based on the 1981 story-line written by Chris Claremont with art by John Byrne, Days of Future Past takes place both in the Past, Present and Future of the X-Men cinematic universe. In the near future, the world is a much darker place, giant robotic Sentinels hunt-down and destroy the last remaining mutants as they make their last stand to ultimately change the past and thus remake their future. With new additions to their fighting force Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Storm (Halle Berry), and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), led by Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) together again with Magneto (Ian McKellen) to fight a common enemy! The plan is to send Wolverine's mind (with the aide of Kitty's new and unexplained powers) back in time to 1973 to stop the assassination of Bolivar (Peter Dinklage) Trask, (a scientists who created the Sentinels) by Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) aka Raven. Wolverine wakes up in the past and has to convince the young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and young Beast (Nicholas Hoult) to help him stop the assassination. first they have to break young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) out of a highly secured prison under the Pentagon with the help of Quicksilver (Evan Peters). The fate of the past and future comes together in an epic battle for the ages! Some of the newer additions to the mutant menagerie in this movie (however brief) is Bishop (Omar Sy), Blink (BingBing Fan),  Sunspot (Adan Canto) and Warpath (BooBoo Stewart). The newest mutant to create controversy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is of course Quicksilver, while having a small part in this movie is a big part of X-Men history, but who will also be appearing in the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron (also the end-credits stinger at the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier) played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass)! Although not as faithful to the comic books, Days of Future Past functions as a proverbial reset button to the errors of the franchise. With the convenience of time travel, it causes major effects on the story and characters in the franchise which will be revealed in the end. Overall it is an impressive and intense turning-point within the X-Men movies (which remain a property of 20th Century Fox!). Be sure to stay for the end-credits for what could quite possibly be THE most epic moment in X-Men movie history, equal to the Thanos reveal at the end of Avengers!

LINKS: X-Men Movies Official Website, Marvel

Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

With Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe already underway, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the next chapter in the story of "The Star-Spangled Man". In this politically-charged comic book/superhero movie from the studio that brought The Avengers (2012) together in THE Ultimate comic book movie team-up, Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) must fight for his country like never before as he questions his purpose and the meaning of freedom. Meanwhile, Cap continues to deal with being a man out of time in an ever-changing world. Now working directly with S.H.I.E.L.D. under Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Cap is sent on assignment with Agent Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), to rescue hostages taken by foreign pirates at sea. What begins as a simple hostage situation, literally "blows up" into a world-wide crisis with S.H.I.E.L.D. as the target of the mysterious "Winter Soldier" and Captain America is branded a fugitive. Cap and Black Widow now must fight this new threat and avoid capture, along with a new sidekick Sam Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon (Anthony Mackie). A surprising added character in this film is Senator Alexander Pierce played by Hollywood veteran Robert Redford, who adds an interesting yet dull addition to the story and a weird twist to the plot. This sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) is a fast-paced and much more violent movie with an added darker tone combined with the military/political intrigue of a Tom Clancy story along with James Bond-like action. It's a much more exciting and intense film than the first movie, which was plagued by a slow-moving plot and slightly over-the-top comic book-style storytelling from director Joe Johnston. As a fan of both Marvel Comics and Marvel movies I always feel there have been some hits and misses since Marvel started this cinematic franchise with Iron Man (2008), while almost all of them have been huge box-office success it often leaves fans wanting particularly within the sequels (i.e. Iron Man 2 (2010). The Winter Soldier however, does not disappoint, with a much needed realism and tension within the story and also growing chemistry between the characters, namely Cap and Widow. This movie also brings audiences just one-step closer to Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, as we are treated to an end-credits stinger (No Spoilers!) which reveals two new major characters! The Winter Soldier is a great experience, not only as a Marvel movie, but also as a stand-alone action movie itself and a must see for fans and action-lovers alike!

"...It's more about his [Captain America] discourse with the way society is and current political climate...given the technological advancements we have today, it brings up the question of how far are we willing to sacrifice our civil liberties and our privacy in the name of security."
- Chris Evans from a D23 interview



 

LINKS: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marvel.com

Movie Review: The Wolverine

THE WOLVERINE...undoubtedly, the X-Men's most popular character ever! Having appeared in numerous comic books, cartoons, video games, even music videos since 1974; he finally achieved life on the big screen when Hugh Jackman portrayed him in the 2000 X-Men movie. Since then, his popularity has grown immensely, slashing his way to the top! Jackman, now #3 in Forbes’ Top 10 List of Highest Paid Actors, returns for the fifth time (sixth if you count his brief, but hilarious cameo in X-Men: First Class (2011)) on screen as the short-tempered, Canadian, mutant in The Wolverine!
We find Logan, a.k.a. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), living like a hermit in the Yukon wilderness. Haunted by the death of Jean Grey, a.k.a. Phoenix (Famke Janssen), by his own claws (in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Logan seeks solitude. When reckless hunters attempt to kill a grizzly bear with a poisonous arrow, it draws Logan to a local bar where he exacts justice. Soon he is found by a forceful, red-haired, young-Japanese girl named Yukio (Rila Fukushima), who offers him an ancient katana sword and requests he accompany her to Tokyo. Her employer, Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), wishes to thank him for saving his life at Nagasaki during WWII. Reluctantly, Logan goes to Japan with her and he meets Yashida, now a powerful industrialist, who is dying of cancer. To thank him, Yashida offers to make him mortal, thus ending his "curse". Logan also meets his son Shingen (Hiroyuki Sanada) and granddaughter Mariko (Tao Okamato). With the death of Yashida, after Logan denies his request, he attends the funeral and becomes involved in a sinister plot by the Yakuza, to kidnap Mariko! As Logan becomes infected by the venomous-villain, Viper (Svetlana Khodchenkova), he loses his healing ability. Although wounded, he tries his best to keep Mariko safe, soon realizing he has become even more involved in this twisted plot!

Yukio (Rila Fukushima)

With intense, fast-paced action and exotic, foreign-locales, The Wolverine is a beautiful combination of James Bond-like action, with a more subtle approach to the typical super-powered, comic book movie.
The story of The Wolverine borrows heavily from the height of his comic book popularity, particularly the storylines in Uncanny X-Men #s 172-173 (1983) and of course the 1982 Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. As reveled early on in the comic books, Japan has always been a big part of Wolverine's past, especially when it involved his future fiancée Mariko Yashida, who first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #118 (Feb. 1979). One of Wolverine's most admirable characteristics came from the time he spent in Japan. As he had long been attracted to the self-discipline of the samurai, he adapted the warrior code of Bushido as a means of coping with his animalistic tendencies. While the romantic elements in The Wolverine are not as strong as in the comic books, the love that gradually grows between Logan and Mariko is nonetheless powerful. Also, is the strong bond of friendship that forms between Logan and Yukio, who despite being very different from her comic book-counterpart, is also impressive. The image of Yukio with her deep-red dyed hair is particularly striking as her tiny, petite form serves as a disguise for her deadly abilities.

While the story in The Wolverine is not directly adapted from the events in the comics, (which include complex and often convoluted backstories) many of the characters also change for the benefit of the movie, especially the involvement of Viper and the Silver Samurai. While the character of Harada (Will Jung Lee) appears in The Wolverine, he is NOT the Silver Samurai, as he is in the comics, instead he remains a highly-skilled (non-mutant) ninja, part of the "Black Clan" (removing the connection to "The Hand" ninjas, as seen in Elektra (2005), who protect the clan Yashida. The choice to make the originally non-mutant character of Viper a mutant (like making Juggernaut a mutant in X-Men 3) is somewhat perplexing, but it gives her a fascinating snake-like power, as yet unseen in the X-Men movies. She plays the role of a lesser-villain and also the "catalyst" to Wolverine's predicament in the film. As the majority of the film takes place in Japan and it's major cities, the whole feel of the film has a very exotic James Bond-quality to it and it's intense sword-swinging action hearkens back to the western-inspired, samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. The fight scene on-top of Tokyo's bullet train is particularly exciting!
Although many fans were disappointed with 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the X-Men franchise was saved by the prequel X-Men: First Class (2011). The Wolverine marks a turning point in the franchise as it also sets up  the plot of the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014, see the End-Credits Stinger!).  As 20th Century Fox currently owns the rights to the X-Men, Fantastic Four characters as Sony owns the Spider-Man franchise, the Marvel Universe has been temporarily separated by corporate copyrights. As the Marvel Universe itself in the comics is all-encompassing, the Marvel movies has yet been able to merge or "team-up" characters as successfully as in Paramount/Marvel/Disney's Avengers. It will be several years before copyrights return to the original owners as we will no doubt see more films and franchises based on Marvel comic books. The Wolverine makes up for the disappointments that were X-Men 3 and Origins with it's highly-engaging story and successfully not overcrowding the movie with unnecessary, ancillary mutant characters as in Origins (i.e. Deadpool). With intense, fast-paced action and exotic, foreign-locales, The Wolverine is a beautiful combination of James Bond-like action, with a more subtle approach to the typical super-powered, comic book movie. The Wolverine is close to becoming the perfect Wolverine movie fans have waited years to see, exploring more of his roots, as well as his mysterious past. As Hugh Jackman has become the ideal image of the beloved character, it will be very hard to accept another actor portray him in the near future.

LINKS: The Wolverine Movie Website, Marvel.com, 20th Century Fox

Comic-Con 2013: Top 13 Upcoming Events

COMIC-CON is this weekend! Specifically Comic-Con International: San Diego 2013, THE biggest convention in the world dedicated to all forms of entertainment including comic books, movies, video games, TV and more! Comic-Con International: San Diego is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation for, comics and related popular art forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and culture. Comic-Con began in 1970 when a group of comics, movie, and science fiction fans banded together to put on the first comic book convention in southern California. Now over 40 years later it is the largest comics convention in the world, completely selling out every year since 2008. For those like me who aren't able to enjoy Comic-Con in person there are still plenty of websites, blogs and live video feeds covering the event from the comfort of your home. This weekend at Comic-Con, audiences can get their hands on tons of exclusive merchandise, and also attend many exciting panels with creators, artists, writers and celebrities of all kinds, and not to mention, see previews of some of the biggest events in entertainment coming up later this year and next year! CHERNOBOG'S LAIR.com always tries to stay on top of the latest entertainment news through my blog, twitter feed, and Facebook; so this weekend I thought I would post my Top 10 list of Upcoming Events featured at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Enjoy!

#13 Ender's Game (2013) - Based on the classic Young-Adult, Sci-Fi novel by Orson Scott Card, 70 years after a horrific alien war, an unusually gifted child is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future invasion. Starring Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and Asa Butterfield.
#12 Godzilla (2014) - Director Gareth Edwards' (Monsters) remake of the classic Kaiju franchise! A giant radioactive monster called Godzilla awakens from its slumber to wreak destruction on its creators!
#11 I, Frankenstein (2014) - Aaron Eckhart stars as Adam, Dr. Frankenstein's (Aden Young) creature, who finds himself caught in an all-out, centuries old war between two immortal clans.
#9 300: Rise of an Empire (2013) - New director Noam Murro's sequel to Zack Snyder's 300 (2006), The Greek general Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) battles an invading army of Persians under the mortal-turned-god, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro)!
#8 Riddick (2013) - Vin Diesel is back as Riddick, after almost 10 years since Chronicles of Riddick (2004). After he is left for dead on a desert planet, Riddick is up against a new alien, predatory species and a  group of mercenaries after his head!
#7 The World's End (2013) - Director Edgar Wright reunites Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and others in the third installment of "The Cornetto Trilogy"! A group of old friends go on a pub crawl in London when they come to the last pub, "The World's End", they find the town has been taken over by strange alien robots!
#6 Batman: Arkham Origins - The highly anticipated third part of the Arkham Asylum video game series features new villains: Black Mask, Deathstroke, Deadshot, and Copperhead!
#5 Kick-Ass 2 (2013) - Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Hit-Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) return with a few new allies including Col. Stars & Stripes (Jim Carrey), to take on some new villains including formerly Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse)!
#4 Vikings, Season 2 (March, 2014) - Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and the Vikings return to pillage and plunder in the new season on History Channel!
#3 The Walking Dead, Season 4 (October 2013) - Based on Robert Kirkman's award winning graphic novel series, the survivors led by Sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) live on in the Zombie apocalypse after dealing with the onslaught from The Governor (David Morrissey)!
#2 X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Director Bryan Singer returns to the X-Men franchise with Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) reprising their roles as "older" characters from the previous X-Men movies. Also featuring a few new mutants including Bishop (Omar Sy) and introducing a new threat: The Sentinels!
#1 Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Fall 2013) - The new TV series marks the return of Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), leading a small group of agents from S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Note: Unfortunately, it was announced by director Peter Jackson through YouTube that The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug wouldn't be at San Diego Comic-Con!

LINKS: Comic-Con official Website, Comic-Con on Facebook, Comic-Con on Twitter,

Comic-Con Movie

Top 10 Best Wolverine Stories

THE WOLVERINE...He's "the best there is at what he does, but what he does isn't very nice". When he first appeared in the last panel of "The Incredible Hulk" #180 in 1974, who knew that this short, Canadian-born, berserker would become one of the most popular mutant superheroes today! Created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein and designed by John Romita, Jr., Wolverine had a fierce temper, a bad attitude, and claws to boot! Unlike any comic book hero before him, he had a mysterious origin to go along with his mutant powers. He also possessed an adamantium skeleton and claws which for the longest time, remained unexplainable. Later, appearing in "Giant Size X-Men" #1 in 1975, he became part of the new class of X-Men and soon rose to become a fan-favorite. Upon getting his own long-running comic book title in 1988, after a successful mini-series (1982) by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, his popularity grew even more!

Incredible Hulk #181

Having appeared in numerous comic books, cartoons, video games, even music videos, he finally achieved life on the big screen when Hugh Jackman appeared in the 2000 X-Men movie. Since then, his popularity has grown immensely, having his origin completely retold in the comics ("Origin"), getting the adamantium ripped out and put back in again, several lovers and marriages, learning he had a son (Daken), and not to mention dying and going to Hell! With the upcoming release of his fifth (sixth if you count his brief but hilarious cameo in X-Men: First Class (2011) movie appearance in The Wolverine (2013) and next year's release of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), I thought this would be a great time to look back at some of Wolverine's best stories over the years. Wolverine (a.k.a. "Ol' Canucklehead") has been one of my favorite comic book characters since I started collecting comics when I was about 10 years old. His attitude, ferocity and overall badass-ness is just a few of the reasons why he has endured for almost 40 years! CHERNOBOG'S BLOG PRESENTS: "Top 10 Best Wolverine Stories"! Enjoy, "bub"!

#10 Origin (2001-2002) Written by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins, and illustrated by Andy Kubert - One of the most controversial Wolverine stories ever, this six-issue limited series presented readers with the "definitive" origin of Logan/Wolverine as it is revealed he was born James Howlett in Alberta, Canada in the 1880's. A moving and dramatic story, it was a successful story-arc with it's final issue breaking sales records. However, to most fans and readers it only did more damage to the already convoluted and confusing origin of Wolverine.

#9 "Just Don't Look In Its Eyes", Classic X-Men #25, (Sept.1988) - As an obsessive hunter tracks down a feral bear in the frozen north, what he ends up hunting is Logan. This short story appeared in the back of the reprinted issue of The Uncanny X-Men. It also appeared in the booklet for the deluxe edition of the heavy metal album Entombed, "Wolverine Blues" (1993).

 

 

#8 The Uncanny X-Men #s 139-140, (Nov.- Dec. 1980), "The Wendigo Arc", Written by Chris Claremont, art by John Byrne - Wolverine reveals more of his origin as he returns to his home in Canada where he reunites with his old team Alpha Flight and an old enemy: The Wendigo!

#7 The Uncanny X-Men #268, (Sept.1990), "Madripoor Knights", Written by Chris Claremont, Art by Jim Lee - While in Madripoor (Logan's old Casablanca-like turf) with Psylocke, Jubilee and Black Widow they take down the Hand Ninjas and Logan remembers a similar situation in 1941 when he teamed-up with Captain America to take on the Nazis!

#6 X-Men Vol.2, #25- Wolverine Vol.2, #75, (1993), "Fatal Attractions", Written by Scott Lobdell, Fabian Nicieza, larry Hama, art by Adam and Andy Kubert - In one of the most epic crossovers in X-Men history, the final confrontation between the X-Men and Magneto! In a fit of rage after nearly being gutted by Wolverine, Magneto tears the adamantium out of Wolverine's skeleton. Professor X, enraged by Magneto's actions, mind-wipes Magneto. Remarkably, Wolverine recovers from his injuries and reveals that his claws had always been made out of bone. As a result, his mutant powers cause him to revert to a feral state until his adamantium is later replaced by the villain genesis (Wolverine Vol.2, #100, 1996)

#5 "Wolverine Vs. The Hulk", The Incredible Hulk #340, Feb. 1988, Written by Peter David, art by Todd McFarlane  - Regarded as "one of the most intense, visceral and shocking savage Wolverine stories ever!" As the Gray Hulk accidentally brings down a plane near DFW, Texas, Wolverine and the X-Men barely miss it. As Wolverine investigates the damage, what begins is a knock-down, drag-out fight between Wolverine and Hulk!

#4 Kitty Pryde & Wolverine Mini-Series, (1984-1985) - One of the best stories in Wolverine's saga came from an  unlikely team-up with a 6-issue limited series. Kitty Pryde, a.k.a. Shadowcat, was the X-Men's youngest member of the 1980's. Wolverine and Kitty Pryde struck up a deep kinship during that time and in the story while Kitty is trying to rescue her father from the yakuza but is captured by ninjas and the evil Ogun, Wolverine's former mentor, who brainwashes Kitty and sends her to kill Logan!

#3 The Uncanny X-Men #s 172-173, (Aug.-Sep. 1983), Written by Chris Claremont, art by Paul Smith - Logan invites the X-Men to Japan for his wedding to Mariko Yashida. When Markio is captured by Viper and Silver Samurai Wolverine and the X-Men must rescue her but soon after Mariko cancels the wedding telling Logan he is unworthy.

#2 "Weapon X" (1990) by Barry Windsor-Smith - Originally presented in the pages of Marvel Comics Presents (Issue #s 72-84), a long-running monthly anthology comic book, this tells the story of how Logan was turned into the ultimate human weapon in the "Weapon X" project under the direction of Dr. Cornelius. Subjected to experimentation and torture, Logan eventually fights his way out and escapes. An impressive "piece of work" (said writer Larry Hama), "Weapon X" is the most brutally violent, bloody and intense Wolverine story ever!

#1 "Wolverine" Mini-Series (1982) - Written by Chris Claremont and art by Frank Miller, Wolverine stars in his first solo-comic where he returns to Japan to find his one-time fiancée Mariko Yashida and winds up in a lot of trouble with Lord Shingen, her father. With the help of the assassin Yukio, Logan must challenge Shingen and win the hand of Markio.

LINKS: Marvel.com, X-Men Wiki, The Wolverine Official Movie Website

Dallas Comic Con 2013

This weekend I went to Dallas Comic Con 2013 at the Irving Convention Center in Irving, Texas. This is the second Comic Con event I've been to in the last year including Dallas Comic Con: Fan Days back in October. Dallas Comic Con is considered to be one of the largest "Mega-Cons" in the state along with smaller sister event the Sci-Fi Expo under the management of OfficialPix produced by C2 Ventures, Inc. This years' Comic Con was the biggest by far with 25,000 attendees! This years' Dallas Comic Con ran from May 17 to 19. Among the many special media guests included were: William Shatner, Richard Dean Anderson, John Noble, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Kevin Conroy, Ernie Hudson, Brandon Routh along with many others! Also in attendance were some great comic book creators, writers and artists such as Jim Steranko, John Romita, Jr., Arthur Suydam, J. David Spurlock and many more! The two biggest disappointments this year was the cancellation of special guest Nathan Fillion and the Art of Akira exhibit. Although the con was incredibly crowded with incredibly long lines, a broken escalator and over priced food, I managed to meet and get autographs from all the guests I planned to this year including: John Noble (Denethor, Lord of the Rings Trilogy), plus Brent Spiner and LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and also Kevin Conroy (voice of Batman, Batman Animated Series, Arkham Asylum)! The biggest thrill came from when me and my family met LeVar and Brent as we were dressed in our Star Trek uniform shirts, LeVar was overjoyed and took a picture of us on his own phone! I also had the pleasure of meeting comic book artists Jim Steranko and John Romita, Jr.! I was also able to attend several panels including the Kevin Conroy Q&A on Friday, the John Romita, Jr. Q&A on Saturday, and the Star Trek Q&A on Sunday. I love comic cons, the special guests, the vendors, the costumes/cosplay, but unfortunately, there is always the crowd. While I feel the crowd was somewhat manageable, the lines in the morning just to get in seemed so unorganized as we were lined up inside the convention center parking garage for hours! As for things that the con organizers had no control over, they were unavoidable such as the escalator breaking down Saturday afternoon and the convention center café running out of food on Sunday. But thankfully that did little to diminish the whole experience. I hope to return to Comic Con next year and may possibly attend the next Fan Days in October, there is also the Sci-Fi Expo in February.

LINKS: Dallas Comic Con Official Website, Dallas Comic Con on Facebook, Dallas Comic Con on Twitter

Movie Review: Iron Man 3

Let the Summer Movie Blockbusters Begin!!! The release of Iron Man 3 marks the beginning of what Marvel Studios is calling "Marvel: Phase 2". After the release of The Avengers in 2012, which brought all of Marvel's superheroes (those NOT owned by other studios) together in one epic, blockbuster; the Marvel movies can now continue in what is already a billion-dollar franchise phenomenon! With "Phase 2" underway, Marvel studios will set in motion a string of more movies to be released over the next few years which will include: Thor: The Dark World (2013), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Ant-Man (2015), Guardians of the Galaxy (2015), and then of course Avengers 2 (2015)!

Iron Man 3 takes place after the events in The Avengers when Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) sacrificed himself by taking a nuclear missile intended to destroy the Chitauri army in New York City but instead, took the missile through a dimensional rift and destroyed the mother-ship, thus ending the invasion! Since the battle of New York, Tony Stark finds himself plagued by panic attacks and nightmares. Unable to sleep, he loses himself in his work, making yet another upgrade to his Iron Man armor with 'Mark 42'. Meanwhile, his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), now the head of Stark Industries, is having troubles. While on top of that, his best friend, Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle) has been using the 'War Machine' armor, now known as 'Iron Patriot', to wage a one-man war on terrorism and a new threat known as "The Mandarin" (Ben Kingsley), a mysterious enemy with a flair for the dramatic, who is making threats on the U.S. with random bombings. While Pepper is being wooed by fellow industrialist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pierce), head of A.I.M., Tony's former bodyguard 'Happy' Hogan (John Favreau), now head of security at Stark Industries, is injured in a bizarre explosion in Hollywood. At his wits end, Tony issues a public statement to The Mandarin in an attempt to draw him out, but The Mandarin's forces calls him on it and completely destroys his home and lab. Now stranded in the Midwestern U.S. and without power, Tony must find out the plot behind The Mandarin's attacks and regain his technology and his sanity!


The Mandarin

Directed by Shane Black, action-movie screenwriter (Lethal Weapon (1987), Last Action Hero (1993)) turned director (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Iron Man 3 is THE biggest budgeted and also the longest Iron Man movie to-date! While nothing can obviously top the sheer epic-magnitude of The Avengers, Iron Man 3 certainly tries to come close with it's over-the-top displays of firepower, featuring dozens of Iron Man suits for the climactic final battle! With this movie, like many superhero sequels, we are introduced to two villains, however one (without giving away any spoilers) is not what he seems. The main adversary, which is a formidable match to Stark both in technology and firepower, comes from Killian (whose character appeared in the recent Iron Man comic story-arc "Extremis"). Once spurned by Tony Stark's arrogance, Killian intends to develop his "Extremis" project, which not only allows damaged/missing limbs to re-grow, but also has explosive side-effects! The biggest apparent threat comes from The Mandarin and his terrorist forces referenced in the original Iron Man (2008) movie, as the supposed leader of "The Ten Rings". Fans were excited to finally see Iron Man's arch-enemy appear in the movie series, but his role in the movie does come with some disappointments. Dating back to his first appearance in 1964, The Mandarin had a magical edge to him with his 10 power rings. Much like Flash Gordon's nemesis Ming the Merciless, the character played on the publics' xenophobic fears of the Chinese-Communist, Cold War-era villain. It is interesting to note how Ben Kingsley often plays somewhat type-casted "Asian" roles (i.e. Gandhi (1982), Prince of Persia (2010) throughout his career, although born in England, his father was of Gujrati/Pakistani descent.


Iron Patriot?

While Iron Man 3 focuses mainly on Tony Stark dealing with complete loss of everything (as if him dying in the second one wasn't enough!) along with his mental instability, much of the comic relief comes from his interactions with a young boy named Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) in the middle of the film. Seeking a  kinship with the boy, Tony is both impressed and annoyed with the boy and often engages him in childish banter most of the time. Aside from the special-effects driven action of the film there is somewhat of a buddy-cop element to his relationship with Rhodey (Cheadle) mostly in the final scene of the movie, whereas through most of the movie they hardly interact/fight at all as they did in Iron Man 2 (2010). Pepper's (Paltrow) character has a much stronger role in the movie until she becomes the proverbial "damsel in distress", but then is literally "transformed" into a much more powerful person in the end. The unexpected twists involving both The Mandarin and Pepper Potts make the ending of this movie such a confusing downward spiral that by the end credits you are so overwhelmed with everything that's happened, that you can hardly believe there will be any room for another sequel. As far as I'm concerned, the Iron Man trilogy ended with disappointment much like all the other Marvel movies in the past (i.e. X-Men: The Last Stand, Spider-Man 3) even though audiences were promised a much stronger and satisfying franchise with the new Marvel Studios involvement. With The Avengers, Iron Man has become such a pivotal character in the franchise that anything else just seems wasted and unnecessary. This may be due to the fact that like X:Men 3, the loss of the director of the first two movies (Bryan Singer, Jon Favreau) leaves the ending of the series wanting and inconsistent. Especially considering the rumored falling out between Robert Downey, Jr. and Jon Favreau after Iron Man 2, but Jon agreed to return as Happy Hogan in 3. Although the end credits assure us that "Tony Stark will return!" most likely in Avengers 2, but after seeing Iron Man 3, I guarantee we will see much less of, and a much different Tony Stark in the future than we expect. As of now, Iron Man 3 has already earned $174 million, coming very close to the success of The Avengers and recently Robert Downey, Jr. announced on Jimmy Kimmel his $200 million Kickstarter campaign for Iron Man 4 which may just be a joke? If you go in expecting a full-on special effects overload with Michael Bay-levels of explosions, you get what you pay for. If you go in expecting a satisfactory close to the Iron Man Trilogy, you may be in for a disappointment.

LINKS: Iron Man 3 Official Website, Marvel Studios, Iron Man Movie

Spider-Man 50th Anniversary Top 10 Stories

During the early 1960's, Marvel Comics began a new age of modern comic books with the introduction of a new super-hero team The Fantastic Four in 1961 trying to compete with DC Comics' Justice League of America. Created by Writer/Editor Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, The Fantastic Four quickly gained popularity and Marvel began introducing more characters such as The Incredible Hulk, The X-Men, Iron Man, Thor and of course Spider-Man. Co-creator Stan Lee envisioned a teenage super-hero with the powers of a spider, until then teenagers usually took on the role of side-kick (i.e. Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash). Artist Steve Ditko designed the now-famous webbed, red and blue costume and thus "The Amazing Spider-Man" first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 August, 1962. The book was on the verge of being canceled so Marvel took a gamble introducing the character in the last issue of the series. Months later, Spider-Man created such a positive reaction that it was inevitable he get his own title. And so The Amazing Spider-Man #1 was released in March, 1963. 50 years later, Spider-Man is one of the most popular comic book superheroes of all time. He has been adapted into movies, cartoons, toys, video games and is known all around the world! To celebrate Spider-Man's 50th Anniversary, CHERNOBOG'S BLOG Proudly Presents The Top 10 Spider-Man Stories:

#10 "The Conversation", Spider-Man (Vol.2) #38, 2001 - Written by J. Michael Straczynski, Art by John Romita Jr. - Aunt May (finally) discovers that Peter is Spider-Man!

#9 "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man" - The Amazing Spider-Man #248, January, 1984 - Written by Roger Stern, Art by Ron Frenz - Spider-Man meets his biggest fan, young Tim Hammond who is terminally ill with leukemia and even reveals to him his secret identity!

#8 The Black Costume - Secret Wars #8, December, 1984 & The Amazing Spider-Man #252 -  The cosmic entity The Beyonder teleports many superheroes and supervillains to "Battleworld" for the ultimate battle! After Spider-Man's costume is damaged during a fight, he finds a mysterious black substance that envelops him and becomes his new black costume. Although Spider-Man is unaware that it is in fact an alien symbiote and will later abandon it.

#7 The Origin of Venom - First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #299, April, 1988 - Written by David Michelinie, Art by Todd McFarlane - When Spider-Man abandoned his black costume after discovering it was alive, the alien symbiote found Eddie Brock, who hated Spider-Man as well. The two join and become Venom, one of Spider-Man's deadliest and most popular villain of the 1990's who would later get his own title as an anti-hero.

#6 ""How Green Was My Goblin!" - The Amazing Spider-Man #39-40, August-September, 1966 - Written by Stan Lee, Art by John Romita Sr. - Green Goblin learns that Spider-Man is Peter Parker and captures him, then reveals his true identity as Norman Osborn!

#5 "The Master Planner Saga", The Amazing Spider-Man #30-33, November 1965-February 1966, Written by Stan Lee, Art by Steve Ditko - While Peter Parker/Spider-Man has to deal with the Master Planner Gang,  Aunt May is very sick.  After a gang fight Spider-Man is trapped under tons of wreckage. Through force of will and determination he frees himself. Issue #31 also marks the first appearance of Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn.

#4  "The Death of Gwen Stacy" - The Amazing Spider-Man #121-122, June-July 1973, Written by Gerry Conway, Art by Gil Kane - One of the most tragic storylines in the history of Spider-Man! The Green Goblin kidnaps Gwen Stacy and challenges Spider-Man on top of the George Washington Bridge. When the Green Goblin throws her off the bridge, Spider-Man catches her by her leg with his web which inadvertently snaps her neck and kills her. In his anger Spider-Man nearly kills the Green Goblin but he is impaled by his own glider.

#3 "Kraven's Last Hunt", Web of Spider-Man #31-32, Amazing Spider-Man #293-294, Spectacular Spider-Man #131-132 - Written by J.M. DeMatteis, Art by Mike Zeck - In this multiple-title story-arc, this story features the final battle between Spider-Man (Black Costume) and Kraven the Hunter, one of Spider-Man's most dangerous villains!

#2 "Spider-Man No More!" The Amazing Spider-Man #50 -Written by Stan Lee, Art by John Romita Sr. - Frustrated with his life, Peter Parker tries to give up being Spider-Man, but realizes he is unable to quit.

#1 "The Origin of Spider-Man", Amazing Fantasy #15 August, 1962, Written by Stan Lee, Art by Steve Ditko - When young Peter Parker is bit by a radioactive spider, he gains the proportionate powers of a spider and seeks to use his new powers and a costume to earn money in show business. After a criminal kills his Uncle Ben he seeks out his killer and vows to fight crime because "with great power comes great responsibility."

LINKS: Marvel.com, The Amazing Spider-Man Official Movie Website



Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

As Super-Hero Summer 2012 continues after the release of Marvel's biggest blockbuster ever: The Avengers and in anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises; comic book fanboys like myself can wet their appetites with The Amazing Spider-Man! Barely ten years ago director Sam Raimi's trilogy starring Tobey Maguire as the (not-so young) web-slinging, crime fighter gave us Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and the disappointing Spider-Man 3 (2007). Now we have to ask ourselves: "Do we really need another Spider-Man trilogy?" Not to mention after last year's laughable and highly accident-prone Broadway musical, "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark", it seemed as though the Spider-Man craze had died off. But since the announcement of Sony/Columbia's reboot of the Spider-Man franchise back in 2010 under director Marc Webb ((500) Days of Summer (2009)) and starring Andrew Garfield (The Social Network (2010)) as the newest wall-crawler; fans and movie-goers were at odds with this latest reboot released so soon after the originals. Despite the hype and the outcries of fanboys everywhere, The Amazing Spider-Man is the beginning of a whole new trilogy!

After his parents mysterious disappearance, a young Peter Parker is left with his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field), who raise him like their own son. Still left with questions Peter soon finds his father's briefcase which leads to seek OSCORP's leading scientist in cross-species genetics: Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans). With the help of intern and fellow student Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), he searches for answers on what his father was working on and the cause of his parents disappearance. Meanwhile, Peter is bitten by a genetically engineered spider which gains him super-powers like the ability to crawl walls and super-human reflexes becoming Spider-Man!

Gwen Stacy

Like anyone who has seen the previous movies or who has ever read a Spider-Man comic book in the last 50 years, we all know this story! It's hard to write a review of this movie without citing the previous movies, while this isn't a sequel or a prequel it is only fair that it be measured so. As a reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man really brings nothing new to the origin of the friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man we all know and love! Everybody knows how Spider-Man came to be. The main difference being the return to a younger version of the character more akin to the early Spider-Man comics. As we return to Peter Parker's high school life, which the 2002 movie barely focused on, we get to see him more as a teenager. True, while Andrew Garfield, 29, is no younger than Tobey Maguire, who was 27 at the time of the first Spider-Man movie. But with his youthful, thin physique, he is just as appealing as Tobey's boyish looks which convinced audiences that a young, twenty-something man could still play a 17-year-old (just look at Luke Perry!). While Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker was more of the shy/nerdy teenager, Andrew Garfield's portrayal is more of an "emo" outcast. While he demonstrates an ingenious level of intelligence, he appears more like the stereotypical hoodie-wearing, skateboard-riding teenager! While this Spider-Man is also much more playful and wise-cracking at times like in the comics, at other times he is very dull. Another difference is that the new Spider-Man deals with his parents which the others never even mentioned. There is one aspect of the new Spider-Man that hearkens back to the original comics in that of Spider-Man's mechanical web-shooters. While the 2002 Spider-Man has organic web-shooters like the Ultimate Spider-Man version. While the new Peter Parker is creative enough to make his own web-shooters, the material he uses is however OSCORP's creation and not his own. One of the biggest differences in the 2002 and 2012 versions is, of course, the love interest: instead of Mary Jane Watson, as played by Kirsten Dunst in the first movies, we get Gwen Stacy, who had appeared previously (however briefly and rather blandly) in Spider-Man 3 (2007) played by Bryce Dallas Howard (26 years-old at the time). Now Emma Stone (Zombieland (2009)), age 24, is the newer, younger Gwen Stacy. As most Spider-Man fans know, Gwen Stacy was Peter Parker's first crush in the comic books. While Emma Stone certainly looks the part, her character is completely changed making her a science geek too, even going so far as to make her an intern at OSCORP while she's still in high school! Captain Stacy also has a more prominent role in this movie, whereas James Cromwell played Capt. Stacey in only a few scenes in Spider-Man 3, Denis Leary plays the police captain in the new movie. Which seems a very fitting part since he recently played a firefighter in the FX TV show Rescue Me (2004-2011).

The Lizard: Comic To Screen

While Spider-Man's rogues gallery is comprised of many bizarre and colorful villains, and as how the original trilogy had already introduced both Green Goblins (Norman and harry Osborn), Dr. Octopus, The Sandman and Venom, the next most logical villain to appear was of course: The Lizard! Being one of Spider-Man's earliest and most ferocious villains (and my personal favorite!), there of course is some major changes to his origin. Making Dr. Connors an employee of Oscorp for one, makes for some huge ramifications in the story. While the movie mentions Norman Osborn (who must inevitably become The Green Goblin) on several occasions, he is never actually seen! (SPOILER: be sure to stay a little longer for the credits, you just might be surprised, or confused!) As Dr. Connor's researches various reptiles' ability to regrow limbs, as he suffered from the loss of his right arm, (although it is never mentioned how, either from birth or by injury) yearns to regrow his own and others afflicted with lost limbs. In developing a serum derived from reptile DNA, he is able to regrow his arm but with the side-effect of turning him into The Lizard! It is interesting to note that many of Spider-Man's villains in both comic and film are most often some form of mad scientist from Green Goblin to Doc Ock and Dr. Connors and there is always a tragic aspect to their experiments. It is also interesting that in the new movie, the vile of green liquid/gas which turns Dr. Connors into the Lizard is very reminiscent of the concoction used to turn Norman Osborn (Willem Dafoe) into the Green Goblin in the 2002 movie, they both have the OSCORP logo on them too! As The Lizard goes insane (talking to himself too, sound familiar?) he seeks to turn humanity into reptiles as well. While the movie version of The Lizard looks very similar to the comic book version, even in wearing the tattered lab-coat at times, his face remains very humanoid-like, keeping the facial features of the actor visible. While the CGI Lizard is impressive, I can't help but notice a very strong resemblance (particularly in toy form) to a Goomba from the horrible 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie! My biggest picky about this movie comes from an effects standpoint whereas the rest of the movie is chock-full of CGI goodness, it is when Peter Parker happens upon a "batch" of genetically engineered spiders who are kept in this black-light room, which makes the spiders glow-in-the-dark like some cheap carnival haunted house prop!
While many may wonder why Hollywood and Marvel Studios insisted on rebooting the Spider-Man franchise, the super-hero/comic book movie shows no signs of slowing down. The Avengers showed that super-hero movies are still popular, even more-so, and especially profitable in earning almost $600 Million and The Amazing Spider-Man itself pulled in $75 Million in it's opening weekend! Essentially it all comes down to money and keeping the property and franchise alive. While The Amazing Spider-Man is entertaining I would have been just as happy if they simply continued from the original trilogy or even made it a prequel of sorts. It wouldn't be that hard to continue the story with another actor, Marvel movies have done it before with three different actors playing Hulk and also two Punishers. Yes, I enjoyed the 2002 Spider-Man much more than The Amazing Spider-Man, but they are very similar movies in many ways. The originals were fun, and even a little campy thanks to Sam Raimi but Spider-Man has never been as dark as Batman, as this new one tries to make him. Spider-Man has enough character flaws already than to just make him into another "Emo" teenager. Take a lesson from Uncle Ben, Hollywood: "With great power, comes great responsibility." Just because you have the money and ambition to reboot a franchise, doesn't mean that you should. I've accepted the new X-Men with X-Men: First Class and I can't stop singing the praises of The Avengers, but we shall see what this new Spider-Man franchise will hold. Only time and box-office returns will tell...

LINKS: The Official Amazing Spider-Man Website