Before we get started today, I want to mention the passing of Dave Cockrum this past weekend. Dave was a talented, familiar comic book artist who spent some time working with Superboy and The Legion of Superheroes at DC, and did amazing work on Uncanny and Giant Sized for Marvel. The family asks you not to call, but provides the following email address for those of you who wish to offer condolences: magnetorampant@yahoo.com.
It has been, well, years really, since I last picked up and read any of the Star Wars Extended Universe novels. Admittedly, I'm more than a touch behind, as I stopped reading somewhere in NJO and haven't caught up to anything new since my sophomore year of college. However, when standing in the middle of my study surveying my bookcases for something to occupy my lunch break a week or so back, I found myself picking up the first of Michael J. Stackpole's X-Wing series. As always, I enjoyed it tremendously; perhaps more so because it had been a number of years since I'd last visited. Currently, I'm in the middle of Aaron Allston's Wraith Squadron, and am planning to hit a selection of other New Republic era novels to get my space legs going before diving back into the NJO from Vector Prime. Honestly, the past several years of new Star Wars movies had soured me to the point I'd almost forgotten how much I love this universe. (Please note, there is also a lot of abject crap in the Extended Universe, and probably as many books which should be ignored as there are which should be read. I should know, I own most of them.) so all this rekindled geek literature love, combined with my insane desire for a Jedi game on the Wii, has driven my thoughts towards a galaxy far, far away. As George Lucas and company gear up for their TV series set between eps three and four, I find myself wishing I could control the direction of the franchise. What do I want?
Ready for your lessons from geek movies? Following up on last week's Ten Things I Learned From the Fantastic Four, we're going to pick out a few general pointers for life from theX-Men film trilogy. Without further ado, I give you: The Geek Beat -- Eight Things I Learned From the X-Men (again, movies only, not the comics):
1. Wear hats frequently, particularly ones crafted from special materials. If you are an evil villain, all you need to do to escape the dangers of Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men and most powerful telepathy on earth, is wear a nice hat. Not only will it keep Professor X out of your brain, it will also keep your head warm during the winter months and dry during unexpected rainfall. If you design it well, it can even be a fantastic addition to your villain ensemble. Nothing says super powers like a matching cape, costume and helmet.
2. Avoid city living, as it is far too complicated and laden with troublesome people. Again, a good note for evil villains -- if you want to conquer the world, try starting someplace other than New York. The crazy city is home to half of the known superheroes in America. I know there are a lot of cool buildings around to serve as labs/headquarters/hanger bays, but country living has a lot to offer you as well. For starters, you won't find the X-Men chilling out in Montana. Granted, your enormous headquarters will probably stand out a bit, but that's why we invented underground bunkers, right?
Regular readers of Geek Beat are very familiar with my opinion of Joss Whedon. Essentially, it boils down to the following two points.
I don't really dig Whedon's work. This is in no way a shot at Whedon's creative ability, or a shot at those of you who really like his stuff. It's just a statement of personal taste. You know, like "I don't like broccoli." It may mean my personal taste in the realm of modern sci-fi is very poor, but so be it.
I have a deep and profound respect/admiration for the man, which probably borders on hero worship.
I want George Lucas to be awesome again. I don't know if he can be, and I certainly don't expect a project like Indiana Jones 4 to be the film to do it, but I want the old man to find his magic again. For the last several years it's been geek-vogue to slam George Lucas, and yours truly has been no exception. And yet occasionally I pause to remember how much I love the man, and how much the geek community at large owes to his creative genius. I encourage you to remember the way you used to feel about Star Wars before the new trilogy. It's easy to hate the man for taking away our love, but we should remember he is the one who gave it to us in the first place.
Maybe George Lucas has grown fat and lazy on his own excess. Maybe the rich old man is too far removed from the edgy creative youth which brought us the struggles of the heroic rebellion fighting the Galactic Empire. If I had to place bets, I'd wager on it being so. But perhaps the edgy, creative George Lucas still exists somewhere beneath the layers of CGI and dollar bills. If he does still exist, the best way for him to re-emerge would probably not be to continue on producing huge blockbuster movies with zillion dollar budgets. Who knows, maybe the best way to bring him back is with the smaller, shorter, more experimental flicks he's talked about lately.
Some stray thoughts I've been pondering while not caught up in the NFL and NCAA football seasons or Marvel's Civil War:
Are you following the events of Marvel's Civil War summer crossover spectacular? Was I the only one to get an instant mental picture of Robert Downey Jr. and Tobey Maguire slugging it out upon hearing the Iron Man casting information shortly after reading the latest Amazing Spider-Man? And who else is getting tired of the Iron Spider suit? I suppose that's all good and well, since he's getting a costume change soon enough anyway.
Speaking of, what do you make of the Robert Downey Jr. casting? Is it wrong that one of the first thoughts which crossed my mind was "let's see, Tony Stark has been an alcoholic struggling with inner demons in the past, while Robert Downey Jr. has been ..." See where I'm going?
Before I start, let me say thanks to my very alert readers, who picked up a mistake of mine in a story which ran on Sunday. I wrote about new pictures from the set of Fantastic Four 2, but mistakenly put the link to older pictures. The new pictures can be found here. Again, thanks to readers Ryan, CharlieBrown, Andy and Tim for catching my mistake. Well played, gents!
News of the week which caught my attention: Yet another rumor of Japanese anime being turned into American movies. This one comes to us via Comic Book Movies (the financing company) and Ishimori, Inc. You can read the whole story here.
I continue to have mixed feelings regarding major motion pictures based on anime titles. I am an anime/manga fan, and while I'm certainly not as knowledgeable as some of you true buffs out there, I've certainly seen and read my fair share. With the overwhelming popularity of comic book/graphic novel movies in Hollywood these days and the ever increasing presence of Japanese media in America, anime movies would seem to be a forgone conclusion. And since American audiences seem to have a tough time accepting non-children's animation in major theater releases, live action is undoubtedly the way to go.
I've written morethanonce about sustaining optimism for the upcoming Fantastic Foursequel. I know many of you True Believers find this a difficult proposition, and I don't blame you. While I didn't dislike the first film as strongly as many of you did, I will fully admit it came nowhere close to fulfilling my (perhaps far too lofty) expectations. As a long-time reader of The World's Greatest Comic Magazine, I wanted so much more than director Tim Story gave me. Nonetheless, I refuse to give up hope for the Four. I saw promise in the first film, and I enjoyed watching it despite the shortcomings.
I want part two to be better. Maybe this strong desire has lead me to over-optimism. In fact, I'm sure it has. However, I'm willing to buy into it for a time, and let myself believe the denizens of the Baxter building will be as fantastic as their name intones. Are there reasons to worry? Sure there are -- you can think of any number of them yourself. Yet, there ARE a few good reasons to be hopeful. In that spirit, The Geek Beat brings to you five good reasons to look forward to the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer:
Let's talk Transformers. I love them. You love them. We were all very excited when we heard they were being brought to the big screen -- in live action no less -- with the aid of modern technological magic. Like our precious Ninja Turtles, the Transformers stand out as an icon of a generation, and big screen cinematic glory seems very appropriate. I mean, the suckers are giant robots having a giant robot battle, how can that not equal movie glory?
For many people, the film's director Michael Bay has personified the answer to that question. The man has taken heat from all sides of the geek community for his involvement in the project since his name was first attached to it. Yours truly, despite occasional attempts to see the good, has been scathing in regards to the man. I hate the decision to put him in charge, and I have since day one. It took me months to stop calling him "The Clonus Horror" -- but here he is, and here he will stay. I balked when he changed the alternate forms of some of the Transformers, I made fun of his casting call, and now he has hit me with early images of the Transformers themselves. Initial reaction nearly sent me into fits. Since then, a few readers have left some interesting comments and I've perused some of the more forgiving thoughts shared by other writers. Here are the thoughts I'm having now, shared with you in a mix of cohesion and stream of conscious. I'll try to wrap them into one final opinion at the end.
I'm back, faithful readers. After a delightful week in the Caribbean with the Geek Beat Gal, I have returned to my laptop to pound out another edition of the wildly loved (well ... by me anyway) Geek Beat. Before I break into today's topic, let me quickly address the reply to my recent "Movies to Date By" column.
Boy did we get a good list. Over 80 movies were suggested by readers, and while either Holly or I had seen a good majority of them, there were at least 60 or so we had not watched together, which makes them great date-experiment fodder. I've compiled a nice little list, and we're busy deciding exactly what to do with it. I'll be sure to let you know my plans for sharing the results with you soon -- and once we get through the list, a prize or two will be awarded for the top suggestions.
On to today's topic: Heath Ledger. When the announcement of Ledger's casting as the Joker in Nolan's Batman sequel The Dark Knight first broke, I had no legitimate opinion to share, but I promised one as soon as I had time to figure out what it was. I've been sitting on that thought for several weeks now, trying to settle my mind on the prospect of Ledger as The Clown Prince of Crime. It didn't sit well with the community at first blush, and it hasn't exactly gained steam in the meantime. After a number of days thinking on it, my entirely personal opinion is one of cautious optimism. Let me explain.
First, you should know I'm an optimistic guy at heart. I've been very accurately described in the past as a cynical optimist, although I'm not entirely sure of what that means. So keep it in mind when you dissect my thoughts for what they are worth to you.
I love baseball, but it depresses me because my team, the once-proud Pittsburgh Pirates, haven't had a winning season since I was nine years old. So to give myself something to enjoy in the realm of baseball, I've made it my project to construct two baseball teams with rosters filled out by Marvel characters as they have appeared in recent movies. Last time featured the Hero All-Star Team; this week The Geek Beat proudly presents the Marvel Villain All-Star Team!
(I threw down a challenge to readers asking you to predict my team, and some of you made some very smart guesses.)
Welcome back to The Geek Beat, readers. Last week we did the "what if Marvel fielded a baseball team" game, and this week we were scheduled to do part two of that column -- the All-Star Villains. A few readers made some very astute guesses, but you'll have to wait one more week to learn my starting nine, because this week's column is dedicated to a full-on, all-out wrap-up of the crazy week that was Comic-Con 2006. Geek movie news aplenty was pouring out of San Diego these past few days, and we're going to sum it all up in case you missed out on any of the action. If you read this and know of some fantastic bit of movie-related news which I overlooked, click on the comments and let us know. We'll make it a team effort. Ready? Here it goes:
Day 1
Lots of interesting news from a comic book perspective, including some great panels with DC and Marvel, but precious little movie news hit from the big two. Mostly, everyone was just gearing up. Marvel does, however, completely destroy DC in a softball game.
The agent for Doug Jones, the guy who played Abe Sapien in fan favorite Hellboy, said to expect a major casting announcement from Doug. Popular rumor expected this to be a deal to play the Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four 2. Which, by the way, still has no official title despite what you've been hearing.
It really is good we have such competent, talented and knowledgeable writers here at Cinematical to provide you with all manner of insightful movie industry commentary -- because you sure won't get it in this column. Every now and then I let myself slip and actually produce a piece filled with meaningful dialog, but typically you just get a strange, rambling foray into what I loosely claim to call my mind.
If you enjoy high caliber, industry professional work, I suggest you try out the likes of Martha Fischer, Kim Voynar and the ever-popular James Rocchi. If you, like me, have trouble keeping your mind focused on meaningful things, I suggest you join my on today's flight of fancy. I'm not going to bother explaining how this concept gestated in my tiny brain, I'll just jump right in. Today's Geek Beat explores the results of crossing America's current summer movie trend -- superhero flicks -- with America's traditional summer pastime -- baseball. Now I'm probably journeying into difficult territory here, crossing a jock topic with a geek topic, but stay with me. Without further ado, The Geek Beat Presents: Marvel's All-Star Baseball Teams!
Note: This IS a movie website, and I am discussing summer superhero flicks, so the teams will be comprised only of those Marvel figures who have appeared in Marvel movies. Otherwise, we'd be looking at a whole different ballgame. Ha-ha-ha.
Okay, so the hot topic in all of Cinema these days is of course Johnny Depp's triumphant return to the silver screen as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. It is a movie that seems to transcend all viewer blocs and appeal to practically everyone, definitely geeks inclusive. For this reason, I feel entirely compelled to dedicate this week's issue of the Geek Beat to the flick. The whole industry is talking about this movie, and I want to join in the fun.
Now here's the deal. Those of you who read even semi-regularly are fully aware I don't do movie reviews. I'm not a critic, I don't pretend to be -- I leave that to better minds than my own. I find that if I get caught up in trying to be a critic, I entirely lose sight of the geeky fanboy nature of movie watching. It ceases being fun for me, because I'm too busy focusing on the minutia and trying to sound intelligent. I'm just not talented enough to pull it off. Besides, we here at Cine already have two fantastic reviews of the film for you to digest if that's what you are after, and Scott and James are far too talented of an act for me to follow. Instead, I'm going to do what the Geek Beat does best: offer the off-the-wall thoughts of your resident geek. So here, in no particular order, are the thoughts which ran through my head as I watched this summer's dandy (which, by the way, I absolutely loved). SPOILER HATERS BEWARE, I imagine the following will incidentally touch on some major plot points.
I like to have background noise while I am working. I don't know if it is because I am a product of the age of multi-tasking or simply because I have concentration issues, but my mind tends to get bored when it only has one thing going on. It is not particularly unusual to find me seated at my computer desk typing an article while simultaneously watching television, throwing down some Nintendo action, and chatting with my fiancee (I like to call this "living the dream"). After years of functioning in this manner -- as a college student, it is now nearly impossible for me to be working at my computer without at least one other function happening simultaneously -- I feel like I'm wasting good time if I'm only working. Ergo when I sit down with my laptop to blog, it is almost a guarantee that I'll be either listening to a Pirates game online or watching a film. Sometimes, I'll substitute Gamecast instead of audio for the Pirates; then I can keep track of the Pirates game while watching a movie.
Now as you'd expect from a guy who gets paid to write about movies, I own a lot of movies. However, It'd bankrupt me to own enough movies to have a new one for every time I blog or do other work on my computer. I've written before about my love of commentary tracks, as a good one can double the watchable length of a film. Every now and then you get a great DVD with two or more commentary tracks, and you've got that many more good viewings of the DVD in store. Bonus documentaries, featurettes, and making ofs can also extend the life of a DVD. But what do you do when you've got nothing new on the shelf and are jonesing for a good flick? You go to one of your standbys. We've all got them -- that handful of films you could watch on seemingly endless repeat for eternity and never get bored. It is a quality that video games refer to as "replay value," and although some films (like The Princess Brideand Monty Python and the Holy Grail) have almost universal rewatchability, some are highly dependent on the individual viewer. Here are a select few from the very top of my list, the movies I am most likely to grab off the shelf when I'm in need of something to watch:
The Scene: Spent the weekend in Pittsburgh, taking in a Pirates game and celebrating Father's Day with the two most important father figures in my life. Also managed to fit in a nice family reunion and a birthday party for my brother's girlfriend (complete with a birthday cake shaped like a 3D duck). All in all, it was a great weekend. When I returned to my apartment on Sunday evening, I settled in with my laptop to catch up on the world after spending a weekend without the internet. I tossed in a movie and put some popcorn in the microwave.
The Dilemma: Popcorn is, of course, the perennial movie snack food, and for good reason. I armed myself further with a bowl of melted cheez wiz and a glass of apple cider, but midway through the movie the popcorn was gone and I was still peckish. I hunted through the cupboards, but could find nothing which appealed to my movie-watching munchies and returned to the couch unsatisfied.
The Solution: Hey, I write a column that a whole lot of people read every week. What better way to use this column than to ask for snacking advice? Some of the best recipes I have come from people I barely know, so why not some of the best snacking ideas? Here's what we're going to do. I consume movies in three primary fashions. I'll describe these and let you know my usual snacking habits for each. You can respond in kind, or simply suggest one or two of your top notch favorites.
Okay, so the hot topic in all of Cinema these days is of course 
