Blake Edwards Should Have Used The Title

Sometimes we "geeks" (or is it nerds...I can never remember) can be really annoying to each other.

Take for instance, the internet uproar upon finding out that Galactus, the planet eating being made famous in Fantastic Four comic books, was being depicted in the new movie as a giant cloud of debris and energy as opposed to a 28 foot 9 inch human in purple armor. He's where you need someone like William Shatner yelling "get a life" (and they should be angrier about the fact that Stan Lee is not playing Willy Lumpkin, the mail carrier to the Fantastic Four, but is now playing himself...it makes sense that Willy would try and get into the wedding of Reed & Sue, it makes no sense for Stan Lee to try).

Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer is a lot like the first film made two years ago. Little more than a fun popcorn film to keep the masses entertained, both films get in, keep moving and get out before you can be bogged down with brooding, pathos and depth. Sure, the comics had a bit more rounding to them, but if you want a "serious" comic book movie, go see Spider-Man 3.

The plot, as such, involves the Silver Surfer arriving on Earth to prep the planet for destruction by Galactus. The Fantastic Four team up with a revived Doctor Doom (who of course has his own agenda) to save the planet. There's a couple of subplots involving a wedding postponed several times and the old "switching powers among team members" routine (thus giving an excuse for Michale Chiklis to spend at least a few minutes of screen out of full body makeup as The Thing...I think we've seen The Thing turn back into Ben Grimm more times in two movies than we have in 60 years of comic books...but I digress).

Is either film perfect? No. But they're both fun. Nothing more. Try and analyze things and they don't make much sense (for example, the only reason Doctor Doom is "awakened" from his death-like state is because the Silver Surfer passes by...yeah...that's a convenient way to work him in). If you liked the first film, you'll like this one as well. If you hated the first one, move along...there's nothing for you here either.

That said...if there is a third Fantastic Four I'd like to see the potential that's there for a GREAT movie be used. We've done the fun shtick that this super hero group represents. Now let's see them really kick some ass.

Meanwhile, in the "real world" of comic books...we need to make the passing of yet another super hero.

DC Comics has killed off Bart Allen...also known as The Flash (the fourth person to use that name)...previously known as Kid Flash (the second person to use that name)...formerly known as Impulse (the only one to use that name).

This is the latest in what has become a three year long killing spree in the DC Universe (Ted Kord aka Blue Beetle II, Vic Sage aka The Question I, Ralph Dibney aka The Elongated Man, Sue Dibney, Superboy Connor Kent, Jade daughter of Alan Scott the original Green Lantern, the Golden Age Vigilante...I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting but we're almost at the point where it'd be easier to list living characters).

It's a bit sad and odd to have Bart gone. Bart started his life as the grandson of Barry Allen, the Silver Age Flash. Bart was born in our future and raised in an artificial environment (kind of like The Matrix). His grandmother, Iris Allen, brought him to the 20th Century to have her nephew Wally West (the 3rd Flash) help Bart become more responsible. Wally passed that job onto another speedster named Max Mercury and Bart as Impulse (named so by Batman since he tended to leap before he looked) had a good comic book run of his own for around 80 issues.

Two years ago, Bart joined the Teen Titans and took over Wally's old name and costume to become Kid Flash since he had grown up and matured a bit. At the end of Infinite Crisis, Bart, Wally, Max and Barry all pushed the Superboy of Earth Prime into the Speed Force (don't ask) and they all disappeared, leaving Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash) as the only speedster on Earth. A de-powered and aged Bart returned from wherever they all went to and he took over as The Flash...only to be killed off after 13 issues of his own book as The Flash.

Bart worked best as Impulse in my opinion. Its a great series that was a lot of fun to read (and re-read as it holds up well). Bart as Kid Flash wasn't bad, but why move him in that direction only to quickly move him up the ladder again to become The Flash?

Oh well...he'll be missed. of course, this being comics I'm sure he'll be back at some point. Look at his grandfather who's been dead since 1986 and yet he keeps making appearances.

The Flash is dead. Long live The Flash.

Be seeing you.

That Takes Balls!!!

So The Sopranos ended and my wife turned to me and said "Did the cable go out?"

This will probably go down in history as the most talked about ending to a TV series EVER.

I'll decide tomorrow if it was fucking brilliant or a big fuck you to the fans (leaning toward brilliant).

Won't spoil it for anyone who didn't see it yet.

If the creators of Lost even think about trying something like this, I will burn the DVDs of all prior seasons. That show needs a real ending.

The Sopranos not so much.

"It goes on and on and on and on."

Had to comment on it "in the moment."

Be seeing you.

They Always Come In Three...

So...I've been trying to catch up on some movie watching and get a bit current...its gonna take an awfully long time, but little by little I'm getting there...

So...today we've got reviews of three "comedies" (I use quotes because that term can be somewhat subjective).

Tash & I had a chance to drop Malcolm off with his grandparents for an afternoon and take in a new movie in the theaters. We chose to see Knocked Up because we like to be entertained more than anything these days and this film has gotten great reviews. I think the reviews are a bit off. The film is very funny, but more sweet than funny at times. Its also a bit long (over two hours), which for a comedy can be a bit deadly. But luckily, this film is very entertaining and charming...as escapist entertainment, I guess parts hit a bit too close to home since we do have a kid (I swear the conversation between the two leads during sex while pregnant came from a bug in our bedroom).

If you don't know, the film is about a young professional woman who hooks up with a stoner/slacker at a bar. One things leads to another and she winds up pregnant. The rest of the film deals with these two very different people trying to come to terms with what it means to bring a child into the world. The film is worth seeing, but I'm not sure if you need to rush to theaters to see it. It'll be perfectly acceptable on DVD.

Trying to catch up on the DVDs from Netflix we've been sitting on for way too long put us in front of Man Of The Year. This bizarre political satire stars Robin Williams as a John Stewart clone (fake news man) who winds up running for president. That plot could have been an interesting film along the lines of Dave, but the creators of this piece have added a bizarre subplot about rigged electronic voting machines that doesn't make sense and throws the film into other directions. The film also makes a feeble attempt at straddling the political lines. Its not a bad film, but its not a great film. While we probably need someone in our real elections like Robin Williams' character to shake things up in 2008, it ain't gonna happen. So all this film really did was tease.

Lastly, for today's reviews...I watched Epic Movie. Now I use the term "watched" very loosely. I started watching it and left it playing while I was checking on a pork shoulder that I'm smoking on our new grill (more about that some other time). And then I checked e-mail, cleaned the kitchen and did a few other things while this film continued playing in the background. Why I even bothered I don't know. I'm sure this type of film (the bastard step-child of the Airplane school of comedy which needs to be drowned) appeals to someone...but that someone is probably someone who doesn't know what comedy really is, is around twelve and has the attention span of a hummingbird on crack. Last year, I decreed Date Movie (from the same creators) was not only the worst movie of 2006, but probably the worst movie ever made. This film has it beat by a long shot. The worst part is there's some actual talent on screen. I'm gonna give Fred Willard, Darryl Hammond, Jennifer Coolidge and Kai Penn a pass on this one. They probably needed rent money. Crispin Glover has just proved his career died years ago and he's just scraping whatever he can get. Miss this at all costs.

I hope to be back later this week with that wrap-up of the network upfronts. I was holding off until I finished up a few shows for the season. Just about done with that.

Be seeing you.