Some movie-based video games seek to recreate the plot of the movie itself, which I feel is dangerous ground to tread. Some tell a story completely separate from the movie, which, as long as it doesn’t contradict the movie it’s based on, can be good. Some tell a story that bridges the gap between one movie and another, which can provide a great deal of fill-in, which is always entertaining for a geek like me. Some tell a story that fills in gaps in time within the movie itself, which, when pulled off correctly, can be more entertaining than the rest, because you get a more complete story than just one or the other. Captain America: Super Soldier is a game that takes place during Captain America: The First Avenger, as one of the montage-missions to destroy Hydra bases during WWII. Did SEGA and Next Level Games manage to pull it off, or is it just another in a long line of disappointing comic-movie game adaptations? Read the full story

There are times when I become horribly confused as to what the majority of critics are thinking. This is one of those times.

Read the full story

Happy MVC3 Day! You already don’t own all of MVC3. Capcom is gonna release some new costumes and stuff soon. That’s just terrific. Read the full story

Moments ago, Marvel did a live-streamed press conference announcing a new seven issue series, Fear Itself, starting in April of 2011 with a preview in March 2011, starring Captain America and a few others back in World War II. Brought to life by Matt Fraction, Stuart Immonen, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Laura Martin, this seven-issue series will run $3.99 per issue, except for the larger-than-normal first and last issues. Read the full story

Today, in a press release from Capcom, gamers across the world were given the news they’ve been desperately waiting to hear: the official release date for Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Read the full story

Capcom announced the upcoming game, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds at PAX at the beginning of the month, and Lindsey jumped on it to share that tidbit of excitement with the world. Well, I’m hopping on her bandwagon -  I have a new trailer to share with you now!

Read the full story

In a move to help make sure teachers in Maryland keep their jobs (and of course scare up some votes for her reelection campaign), Senator Nancy King is running an ad showing what would happen if kids were left teacherless. Oh, and by the way, this ad make it seem like comics are only for the uneducated. Thank you Senator King.

Read the full story

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or have no interest in comic book movies, you’re well aware that there is a Thor movie in the works. Details have been scarce, and so have images…until today.

Slated for a summer 2011 release, Marvel Studios confirmed today that, like the upcoming Captain America movie, Thor will be released in 3D (ugh). Personally, I’m sick of 3D, so that tidbit of news was a major turn off, but fortunately there was more.

Sir Anthony Hopkins, Mr. Hannibal Lecter himself, is playing the role as Odin. If you’re unfamiliar with Norse mythology, Odin is the equivalent of Zeus, making him the chief god. So far, the only image released has been of Thor, portrayed by Chris Hemsworth. Fans of the Thor comic series, and those eagerly anticipating the movie, were given a second image today that featured Odin:

What. The. HELL! I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not excited by this. The armor is too much, and honestly, a simple breastplate would have done. Simple, not complicated. What we have here has a strange mech look to it, and reminds of me clock gears. Also, what is up with that eye patch? Yeah, Odin has one eye, OK. But a shiny, bright gold eye patch/monocle? C’mon people…how difficult would it have been to replicate this Odin:

Also, if you notice, we get our first look at Loki, portrayed by Tom Hiddleson, so that was nice. I’m assuming, that since everybody is together, and Thor and Loki aren’t going for each other, that maybe this shot is taken from the beginning of the movie. If I’m correct, then maybe where they are is Asgard? I always imagined Asgard would look more Nordic, with a lot of wood, tables everywhere, things hanging from the walls, and have this badassViking feel to it. From what I am able to see, which honestly isn’t much, it has this cold feel about it and appears to be concrete.

Anyways, Hopkins is a phenomenal actor, so I’m not worried about that at all. I guess I’ve been disappointed by so many comic book movies (X-Men series, Fantastic Four, etc), other than Iron Man and Watchmen. Hopefully the movie is solid, we don’t get dicked over like Edward Norton did, and we better get winged helmets!

- Me

Tony Stark is such a badass. When you think about it, he has everything people want. Fame, fortune, intelligence, good looks, a way with the ladies, and he is a fucking superhero.

I loved the original Iron Man movie, and while I was sure I’d love the sequel, I still had some reservations. Chris and I love going to midnight premieres, so it wasn’t even a question if we would be attending the one for Iron Man 2. Armed with our Iron Man and War Machine cups from 7-11, and my purse filled to the brim with bottled water and candy from Target, we waited in line for what felt like an eternity.

We live in Fresno, California and for the most part it’s OK. For some reason, the freaks and assholes always tend to come out at midnight releases, and more often than not, it’s for a comic book movie. I’d bet every single one of my internal organs that over half of the people standing in line had no prior knowledge of Iron Man other than what they remembered from the previous film. A news crew was out there, filming the idiots of course, and I had to be next to this group of annoying teenagers who felt the need to sing loudly at random moments. It was when we got in to the theater where things started to really get juicy.

About 10 rows in front of us there was a very drunk Canadian man. How do I know he was Canadian? He said so, and I will take his word for it. Plus, I doubt America will want to claim that man as one of our own. Anyways, Drunkers was going through each and every row asking people for a high five, and for those who wouldn’t give it to him, he would point at them and loudly call them out as a “Debbie Downer.” Oh joy. So Chris, a huge germaphobe, and I, an introvert who would rather stay inside than have to deal with the morons that dominate our society, sat there dreading the moment when he would come to our row. When he did, he had to pass by this rather large Hispanic man, and that didn’t go over too well. The guy immediately stood up and got in Drunkers face, pressing his chest up to his like some angered cave man, and it ultimately ended with Drunkers getting shoved a little.

Next was us. Chris told him flat out he wasn’t touching his hand, and I didn’t even look at him although I did have it in me to flip him off. Drunkers would quickly find out that he was about to be engaged in a Round 2, but with a group of buff, highly aggressive black males. Every single one of them got in his face, and I don’t think Drunkers realized that he was in a poor location to fight – right on the stairs. Getting shoved for the second time, and it being much more forceful this time around, Drunkers stumbled backwards a few steps, but that was the end of it. **PHEW**

Once the actual movie started, we didn’t have to deal with many disturbances. The movie opened with Tony having to deal with the government telling him that he needs to hand over the “Iron Man weapon,” and if you know anything about Tony Stark, you know he won’t go down easily (That’s what she said! -Sneaky Edit from Chris). Without giving too much of the plot away, I will say that I enjoyed it. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark, and he did another amazing job portraying him. Going into the movie, I was very skeptical about Don Cheadle playing James Rhodes aka War Machine, and I was pleasantly surprised. Not once did I think about Terrence Howard, or how he would’ve done a scene different. I did enjoy him in the original Iron Man, but I didn’t feel like his presence was missed this time around.

I was also worried about Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. Now, when I say that, it’s not because of Rourke and his capability as an actor because he is a very talented man. It’s because of what I had seen in the trailers. I don’t find a man with whips to be scary, but when I had the chance to find out more about him as a person in the film, it clicked. I loved how there were times you could see exactly what was going on in his head, his true motivation, and just how determined he was to take down Tony. Off the top of my head, the only thing I can say I felt was a bit of a let down was Nick Fury. I wanted Sammy L to bust out a line having ‘mother fucker’ peppered in, just once. JUST ONCE! Other than that, I thought he did a good job as Fury, and his performance was one I was looking forward to going in. I could talk about Scarlett Johansen, but all I have to say is this: boobs. BAM… done.

If somebody asked me what a favorite scene would be, I’d have to go with Tony during his birthday party. He has a huge bash at his house, and while going through a bit of a personal crisis, he decides to live it up. Incredibly drunk, and in the Iron Man suit, he does a little fake DJ bit (with the late DJ AM behind the turntables), and starts shaking his thing. I laughed so hard because I know that if it were my birthday, if I drank, and if I had an Iron Man suit, I would totally do the same thing! I bet you all would too! Mentioning that scene also makes me need to bring this up – the soundtrack. Iron Man 2 has such a kick ass soundtrack, and here is why: a couple of tunes by The Clash, Queen, 2pac & Dr Dre’s California Love, and Daft Punk’s Robot Rock. Obviously there are more songs in the movie, but the ones I listed are the only important ones

All in all, the movie was fantastic, and the special effects were top notch. I’d love to go and see it again, I think everybody should go and see it, and I’m so thankful for Jon Favreau because Iron Man is one of the rare comic book movies out there that isn’t shit. Favreau let it out in a recent interview that for the villain in Iron Man 3, he wants to do The Mandarin, and I can’t wait.

(btw… I highly suggest you stay for after the credits, and that’s all I am going to say)

Lindsey and I both love comic books and nerd culture.  We were both born nerds, grew up as nerds, and will pass our nerdish traditions down to any little nerdlings we may have in the future as best we can.  As nerds, we also love little collectibles like statues, bobbleheads, figures, busts, etc.

This is a shelf on our center DVD bookshelf.  It contains most (but not all) of our comic and movie related items.  There are more at my mom’s house, and some in storage, but this is a good sampling of what we have:
From the left, in the front row we see a Spartan helmet from the movie 300, a Mighty Muggs version of Starscream, an Iron Man bust, a Superman bust from Superman Returns, a little R2D2, a barely visible Mario, and a Darth Vader.  In the back row, from the right, we can see a Galactus, Sentinel, Apocalypse, and finally one of a set of six statues from the Dark Phoenix Saga series, Storm.

But wait, there’s more!

Mario and Yoshi on the very top of the DVD bookshelf…

Bowser on top of the TV…

And the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything on top of the DVD bookshelf!

We have much more (such as a 16″ tall resin statue of Bruce Campbell as Ash from the Evil Dead movies), but not anywhere it can be seen.

Huh.  I just noticed that the “42″ picture has a picture of my grandmother holding me as a baby in the background.

-Because I said so