Shmee.Me

September 11, 2014September 11, 2014

Let’s Take A Moment To Talk About Comic Book Stuff!

There has been a lot of action in the comic book world recently, so I thought I would give my two cents about everything going on. My two cents are very valuable you know!

The New Batmobile Is Revealed!

As you can see in the image above Batman’s new ride has been spotted. It is a mix between the old stylized Batmobiles and the newer movies’ Tumblers. I like it. It shows that Batman is ready for anything, but it still looks fast, and It looks a lot like the Batmobile from the new Arkham Knight game.

Critics Praise Gotham!

Critics gave Gotham the “Most Promising New Show” award. That is surprising since it is a police procedural, and one based on comic books. Though it gives me hope that this will be a show worth watching.

A Supergirl TV Show?

The team that has brought you Arrow and The Flash are working on Supergirl. Supergirl is an odd choice since she is usually tied to her more famous cousin, but it would be fun to have a bright and bubbly superhero show on TV instead of all the angst. I have heard that they may not want to use the Supergirl name since there is no Superman in which case they would use her Earth 2 moniker Power Girl.

They haven’t picked a channel for the show yet, but I am hoping NBC. She and Constantine would be an awesome duo. Constantine dealing with the magic and Supergirl laying waste to the bad guys would be a match made in heaven. My only fear is that poor TV special effects would make the show look cheap.

Constantine Gets New Friends!

Speaking of Constantine, they have cast Emmett Scanlan as Jim Corrigan. If that name doesn’t ring a bell don’t worry, but in the comic book world he dies and becomes The Spectre. The Spectre loves to use his ghostly wiles to terrorize bad guys, so I think he will be a good fit with Constantine, and hopefully Dr. Fate. This would also make sense since they were talking about making a Spectre TV show, and this way they could just spin it off.

I Was Wrong About The Rock!

He is indeed going to be Black Adam and not Shazam. I guess he didn’t want to sign on for a lot of movies. It might be time to head to the casting couch!

Michael Douglas Will Not Wear The Ant-Man Suit!

Even though Michael Douglas is playing the first Ant-Man Hank Pym, he will leave all the tight fitting suits to Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang. It is a shame, I was hoping for some Ant-Man on Ant-Man action.

My thirteen year old self is super excited for all the upcoming comic book media! I just hope it is all good. I guess time will tell.

September 9, 2014September 9, 2014

Feel The Rush!

Ron Howard is the king of making movies based on true stories. A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13 are classics, so I was looking forward to seeing Rush in the fall of 2013, but it got lost in the shuffle. I am glad my wife pointed out to me that it was available as part of the Cinemax free weekend because while this movie is not a classic it is still very good.

The story follows two Formula One drivers: The free spirited and loose living James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth), and the buttoned up and stiff Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) from their early race days to their storied battle for the 1976 Formula One Championship. They hate each other at first, but over time they come to respect one another. Plus they have a mutual understanding of what it takes to do their very dangerous job.

What I love about this movie is that it doesn’t try to make this story more than it is. It is about two men that race. Neither of them are the good guy or the bad guy, and it doesn’t even try and mold them in to likeable people. They are both quite honestly kind of jerks, but what they did in 1976 was so amazing that to change who they are and were would be a disservice to their story. They were simply dominant.

Chris Hemsworth finally got to show that he was more than Thor, sure he still looks like Thor in this movie, but he gets to show a much wider range of emotion. Daniel Brühl turns in a great performance as well. He makes the arrogant jerk that is Nikki Lauda watchable and human, and from what I have read that is quite the feat.

Ron Howard has an amazing ability to not let his movie making style overwhelm the movies he directs. Each of his films has a unique feel, and that is the same with Rush. If I hadn’t been told that it was a Ron Howard film it would have been hard to discern. He lets this tale progress organically, and he doesn’t force anything to happen. He has earned his place among the top directors working today.

Rush is a very good movie, and for two men to dominate a sport the way Hunt and Lauda did was incredible. Still the movie would have needed something a little extra to push it in to classic territory. I think the two men that this movie is about hold it back because they themselves are not deep enough. They are race car drivers and not a lot more. Ron Howard did not disappoint with Rush, and I am just sad that I waited a year to watch it.

August 27, 2014

Shmee Can’t Wait To Read The Book Of Life!

It is not often that a movie is able to have a unique look, and still be something that I want to watch, but The Book of Life by Fox Family is just that. It is being produced by Guillermo del Toro, so I would probably want to watch it anyway, but even without him it looks like a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy the trailer as much as I did.

August 25, 2014

Man Of Steel Update!

I finally got around to watching my Blu-Ray copy of Man of Steel, and I would usually just give my impressions of the disk, but I will just say this. It looks look good. Zack Snyder uses a lot of filters, so it is a little grainy, but it is on purpose. It just will not be a movie I use to show off my TV’s visual fidelity. Instead of a disk review I am going to talk about the movie itself. FYI this post includes major spoilers, but hey the movie is over a year old.

A lot of people have a problem with this movie because they feel like Superman didn’t act a lot like Superman. He fights General Zod in the middle of Metropolis, and instead of directing the fight somewhere else, he throws Zod in to a bunch of buildings and causes even more damage. Making the already high body count no doubt go higher. Worst of all he kills Zod at the end of the fight.

On the city destruction thing, I give Supes a pass because he is just trying to stop Zod at all costs and he isn’t thinking about the consequences, and I am sure there will be consequences in the next movie. The Zod murder thing is a little harder to forgive. It is not something that Superman does. Plus it gets rid of one of Superman’s greatest enemies. Again I think Superman’s crime fighting problem solving skills are not at peak levels. He will get better and be the Boy Scout we all know and love.

The thing that this movie gets right is the action. The final fight between Kal-El and Dru-Zod is punishing, but the fight that is really impressive is Superman’s ultra high speed fight with Zod’s minions in Smallville. It really shows how outclassed humans are against these Kryptonians. The human soldiers keep shooting at the Aliens, but they are a minor nuisance to these super-beings. There is nothing they can do to stop or help Superman or his foes.

It was also interesting that Snyder really decided to focus this film on how humans would view Superman. It is what Clark’s Dad worries about. It is why Louis Lane drops the news story. They are all worried about how humans will react when they find out that they are not alone in the universe. But like Louis says “It didn’t matter in the end”. It doesn’t. Zod shows up and murders at least 30,000 people, and only Superman can save the day.

This movie has its flaws. It is really hard to deal with Superman killing someone, but there is more good here then bad, and I can’t wait to see how they clean all this up in Batman V Superman in a couple of years. I just hope that Superman doesn’t snap Batman’s neck.

August 20, 2014August 20, 2014

We Know Who Shazam Is, So Who Will Be Billy?

According to the AP (they are usually reliable), The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) will indeed be in the new Shazam movie. He hasn’t said if he is going to be Black Adam or the title character, but I highly doubt that DC is going to pay tons of money for the most likable action hero working right now to be the bad guy. I mean everyone would instantly be rooting for Black Adam if that was the case! Pretty much The Rock is Shazam, but with the confirmation that DC is even making a Shazam movie it begs the question who will Captain Marvel’s twelve year old alter ego Billy Batson be played by? I, as always, am here to help, so I have my top 5 picks:

5: Nolan Gould

Nolan is best known for his role on Modern Family as Luke, and since Shazam has always been a more light hearted comic book, his comedic talent would come in handy. My only fear is that he would not be able to do the more serious parts of this film.

4: Dylan Sprayberry

If your thinking he already looks like a superhero, you would be correct. He was one of the young Clark’s in Man of Steel. He did a pretty good job, and they could just renew his contract, but then change up which movie he is in.

3: Zachary Gordon

Zachary already has been in several movies, but they are all pretty much Dairy of a Wimpy Kid flicks. Much like Nolan, I think his time in comedy would help him in this film, and he really, really looks a lot like Billy.

2: Joel Courtney

Joel was great as the main character in Super 8, so I know he can do the “kid adventure” part of this film well. I can almost see him falling off of a building with his mouth taped shut, but then just before he hits the pavement freeing his lips enough to say “Shazam!” Then the bad guys will have to smell what The Rock is cooking.

1: Liam James

I was blown away with Liam’s acting talent in The Way Way Back, and this could be his breakout role. As much as the other kids in this list have got the comedy down, I think Laim could straddle the line between the lighter Shazam and DC’s more serious movie universe.

Those are my picks, and honestly I was just surprised that I knew the names of five actors under the age of twenty.

On a side note, I blame all of you for not telling that there is Sour Patch Kids gum! It is great, and I am not sharing any of it!