Shmee.Me

November 25, 2014November 25, 2014

DC Comics TV/Movie News!

First up it looks like Constantine might be DC TV’s first casualty. According to Deadline, NBC has halted production after 13 episodes. Now for most shows this would be the end, but it looks like NBC is going to continue to evaluate how the rest of these episodes do. The ratings are getting better. Its per-episode reviews are going up, not that they were ever bad, and its online fan base continues to grow, so it has a better shot then a lot of shows to get picked up for another 13 episode run next year, maybe as a midseason replacement or something. Though once production is halted getting back on the air is always a long shot.

Now to the two DC TV shows that are no where near getting canceled, Arrow and The Flash, it looks like we will not be seeing Batman or Superman any time soon. In an interview with ComicBook.com the producer of those shows, Andrew Kreisberg, has said that the big two are completely off limits, as are their cities. It looks like Nightwing is still on the table though, so we may not get Batman, but we still may get his former ward. It is a shame Warner Brothers Movies and Warner Brothers TV can’t work together better. If we can have two Flashes, we can certainly have two Batmen. Heck it would make my Earth 2 theory work better anyway.

From TV to movies, Wonder Woman has a director! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michelle MacLaren, who has directed some of The Walking Dead‘s best episodes, has signed on to direct this block-buster for Warner Brothers. It has been long rumored that DC/WB was looking for a woman to direct this movie, and it looks like they found her. She has been doing good work on TV for a long time now, so it is a great time for her to make the move to feature films.

November 20, 2014July 7, 2015

Chris Pratt Snags Another Comic Book Lead!

It seems that if you have a little known comic book that you want to make a movie out of you call Star Lord, err I mean Chris Pratt. Here is good look at the handsome fella.

He has just signed on to be the lead in Cowboy Ninja Viking. Never heard of it? That is fine, almost no one has, but it looks like Universal is not content to let Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, and Fox make all the comic book movies without them.

I am fine with Universal making movies out of Image comics, but I am not sure that I would have started with the odd Cowboy Ninja Viking. I would have preferred they started with Invincible, or at least Witchblade or something. Still it seems that Pratt can do no wrong these days, so I am sure he will make a fun movie out of it.

It is strange that Disney is letting Pratt take on another comic book film considering that they wouldn’t let Jaime Alexander (Sif from Thor) try out for Wonder Woman. Maybe they didn’t have faith in their space opera and didn’t lock him down the same way that the other Marvel actors have been, or maybe he just has a better agent that wouldn’t let him get locked down. Whatever the case, we will see him suit up as a Cowboy, a Ninja, and a Viking sometime in 2018.

November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

Shmee Hangs Out With The Big Hero 6!

So what happens when you combine Marvel and Disney Animation Studios? Magic of course! I don’t think there are two studios on more of a roll right now than Marvel (Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man) or Disney Animation (Frozen, Wreck-it Ralph), so to combine their efforts in to a superhero movie for families was bound to be successful. Big Hero 6 will be a favorite for years to come.

Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) is a young genius, and when his groundbreaking invention is stolen by an evil guy in a kabuki mask, it is up to Hiro to bring him to justice. Of course Hiro will not be going alone. He and his super-smart friends will create awesome superhero suits for themselves so they can deliver justice!

I left a lot out of that plot synopsis because I didn’t want to ruin anything, but I got to give it to Disney for not pulling any punches, and really making a touching film about loss and grief. I know you are now looking at my previous paragraph and wondering what you missed, but like I said I left a lot out. It was also smart of them to pick a fairly little known, and not even a particularly well liked comic book to adapt in to a film because it let them change the characters and their motives without a bunch of pointless geek backlash.

As you can guess Disney Animation Studios is still making good looking movies, and Big Hero 6 might be their best looking yet. The fictional San Fransokyo looks like a real living and breathing place, and one that I would love to visit. The characters all look great and move wonderfully. This studio is at the top of their game right now.

Disney always does an amazing job of getting good voice actors. Other studios just try and get a lot of big names to make an impressive credit list, but instead Disney gets the right people for the job. Sure you may know Damon Wayans, Jr. or T.J. Miller, but they are not a box-office draw. They are however wonderful in this movie, and Ryan Potter really manages to convey all of Hiro’s emotions extremely well.

I really liked this movie, and I can’t wait to see Disney Animation Studios’ next film. Plus we will just mark off yet another hit for Marvel while we are at it. Disney has become an almost unstoppable force these days, and now the only people that could slow them down are themselves, but with movies like this, I don’t see them stumbling any time soon.

November 14, 2014November 14, 2014

Do TV Ratings Even Matter Anymore?

So I think we should be less than surprised that Constantine’s ratings have not been great. Not horrible, but not the ratings hit like Fox’s Gotham or CW’s Arrow/Flash have become. Why should we not be surprised? It launched on a Friday, and not just any Friday a Friday that had a World Series game. Then the next week it was Halloween. I am not sure that NBC wanted Constantine to be a hit with a one two punch like that. Now in week three the ratings did go up a bit. Not a lot, but enough to at least get it to respectable levels.

Friday’s are always bad for a show, and are the death knell for shows that skew younger because kids got stuff to do on Friday nights. However something interesting has started to happen. NBC is adding in all the “Other devices and media” views, and the ratings grow by over 2.9 million people, and that doesn’t even track all the places that Constantine is viewable on. Now that is not a run away hit, but a large group of people are watching, and it looks like they are tuning in every week, just not on “live” TV.

Now if we were just to use the Nielsen Ratings alone Constantine would probably have enough viewers to justify one full season, and then shut it down, but if you throw in all the extra watchers through “other media” it would be hard to cancel. I know Nielsen is doing its best to try and come up with a way to track online TV viewers, but it looks like it is doing a poor job. People are watching TV in a totally different way now, so it might be time to gage the public’s interest in a TV show differently too.

November 12, 2014July 7, 2015

Shmee Casts The Suicide Squad!

With news that Jared Leto is going to be the Joker and Margot Robbie will be Harley Quinn in the new Suicide Squad movie, no doubt as the villains, and Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor somehow attached, I thought I would do DC a favor and cast the rest of Task Force X for them. It is a big crew, so it was hard to find good people, but I think I did pretty well.

Deadshot:

I figure they will need a big name to head this group, and it took me awhile to come up with someone, but I think he will be perfect: Ryan Gosling. He is young and strong, and he looks good when he is not talking. All good things for Deadshot. In case you have been living under a rock here is what he looks like:

Vixen:

This one was very easy. Since they didn’t take my advice on Wonder Woman, I got to use her again: Gina Torres. She is tough enough to hang with the boys, and you would take her seriously as a hero.

Captain Boomerang:

I figure this a good spot to introduce some humor, and why not give someone from TV a chance to get in to the spotlight, so I picked Jensen Ackles. He is my favorite part of Supernatural, and I am sure he would be a great addition to the Squad.

Blockbuster:

Blockbuster is pretty much a villainous Hulk ripoff, but you know what? A guy with super-strength is always a good addition to the team. Since you need someone huge for this role if you don’t want to use CG, I went with Randy Couture. He has been in several movies, and he doesn’t need to bulk-up any more.

Multiplex:

I decided that they should pick someone that is already in the DC family, so I went with Cillian Murphy. He was great as Scarecrow, so why not let him loose as another DC villain, but this time with a bomb in his head and forced to be good!

Jaculi:

I wasn’t really sure on who to use with this one, but I dug deep and came up with Adam Beach. I know he was in Walker Texas Ranger, but we are going to have to get past that. He has been pretty good in everything else he as been in, so why not the Suicide Squad.

Mindboggler:

Last one! Mindboggler. She is a super minor character, but I thought since she is the only other female member this time around, that I would give her some star power, so my choice is Keira Knightley. She has done action in the past, and I think she would have a lot of fun in this movie.

Well that is my Suicide Squad movie team! What do you think? Or what choices would you have made? Or what members would you rather see? Let me know!