Category Archives: Movies
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man is a Brilliant Choice
I still don’t know if this is 100% confirmed by Marvel yet or not, but big time trade publications like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter have announced that Paul Rudd is wrapping up negotiations to play the star of Marvel’s Ant-Man film in 2015. This is fantastic news! Paul Rudd has been the rumored front runner for the role for a few months now, but this is starting to sound gloriously official.
You got this one right, Hollywood
I am fully behind this casting. Honestly, since I first heard Paul Rudd was up for the role, I immediately couldn’t picture anybody else. He’s got the charm, he’s got the comedic chops, but he can also be devastatingly serious with the right material. Plus, just picture him as the underdog class clown in The Avengers cast. He’d be a different kind of funny than Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, while still being able to hold his own and with a unique place in that court of heroes – even if the timing of the movies wouldn’t put him on the team until Avengers 3 in 2018.
Plus the prospect of Paul Rudd working with Ant-Man director Edgar Wright is all kinds of exciting.
Of course, we don’t yet know who Rudd will play. There have been several Ant-Men over the years, though the leading contenders are probably the original, Hank Pym, a super scientist who invented the shrinking technology, and Scott Lang, a single dad who once stole Pym’s Ant-Man equipment, but had a change of heart and used it for good. We don’t yet know which character is going to be in the movie, but I think Rudd could play either one.
If you can’t tell, I am very excited by this casting. Very excited.
Everything Wrong With the Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Finally, after a couple of weeks, the Cinema Sins people have done all three Lord of the Rings movies! They’re just as much fun as you could have hoped!
Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
Return of the King
The Internet can be such a fun place sometimes. We’ll probably do it all again next year when The Hobbit: There and Back Again comes out!
My 6 Favorite Things of 2013
Welp, 2013 is over, and I don’t think I accomplished any of my stated goals for the year. I’m still fat, I’m still broke and I still haven’t been discovered by the comic book industry and handed the reigns of Spider-Man. But why dwell on the negatives when 2013 was arguably a pretty great year all around? At least when it comes to geeky stuff!
From reddit
I don’t normally do these sorts of lists because I have a terrible memory and I don’t know what I was enjoying last week, let alone last March. But I wanted to see if I could pull this off, because there were a lot of great things this year, and I’m a member of the Internet, so of course I’ve got to do one of these lists. They’ll withdraw my membership card if I don’t, right?
Join me after the jump for my six favorite things in pop culture from 2013. And please feel free to share your own favorite things in the comments below!
Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
We all knew a cliffhanger was coming, but this was a bad one. The theater I was in erupted in groans, and I can’t say as how I’ve ever seen that happen at a movie before. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is a nearly three-hour film, and it would be inappropriate to start talking about the ending first. But I can’t help it. As much as I enjoyed 99% of the movie, that cliffhanger overshadows everything. It deserved every groan it got. Even though director Peter Jackson has been dealing with this trilogy thing for several movies now, he picked the absolute worst time to leave us hanging.
At least the rest of the movie was very good.
Movie Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.
Much was said during production of this Hobbit sequel that Jackson and the studio decided to stretch two films into three, and while I’m not complaining, because I like spending as much time as possible with these movies, the stretch is obvious in The Desolation of Smaug. We’ve been in this situation before, with The Two Towers in the middle of the Lord of the Rings, but The Two Towers had a proper ending with its own closure. There was Sam’s big speech to Frodo about hope, and the entire battle for Helm’s Deep. The Desolation of Smaug ends with a battle against the titular dragon, but the film cuts off before the battle is over, robbing us of closure and excitement. Not only that, but the movie shoots itself in the foot by foreshadowing the stilted ending, turning the movie’s climax into an effort in futility.
Fortunately for all of us, by this time next year, we’ll get The Hobbit: There and Back Again, and this cliffhanger ending will be a moot point.
The Desolation of Smaug is a movie for LOTR fans. To really enjoy this film, I would recommend knowing the characters, knowing the world and knowing the adventure, because this film is mostly ‘more of the same’ of the previous films in the franchise. It’s got exciting, CGI’d fantasy action, a rich mythology and the comedic stylings of a band of dwarves. The characters all carry over from the first film and remain largely the same, which isn’t a bad thing. Most of the dwarven band remain anonymous, and the few standouts continue to carry the film – though none of them are as heroic or memorable as Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas from the first trilogy. Gandalf seems to get a reduced role, but he has his own fun adventure. New characters, like Smaug the dragon, Tauriel the she-elf, Bard the human and a guest-appearance by Legolas are all strong, especially Evangeline Lily as Tauriel, who gets the best sub-plot in the film.
The real standout remains Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit. He’s clever and heroic, and the influence of the One Ring starts its mind-boggling effects on the poor guy in this film. Freeman handles the acting challenge well. He’s a very different sort of hobbit from Frodo, even where the ring is concerned, and it’s rather cool.
Join me after the jump for the full review. There will be SPOILERS, so tread carefully.
New Amazing Spidey Trailer Sure is Fancy
I was going to post the Cinema Sins for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the good people behind those haven’t posted all three yet! What’s up with that? I want to post them together. Until then, enjoy this international trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It’s practically a new trailer!
This movie just looks better and better! I loved the first Amazing Spider-Man, and my spidey sense is telling me that I’m going to love this one too!
Henchman-4-Hire 