Shmee.Me

July 1, 2014July 14, 2015

Transformers 4 Proves That Pandering To Geeks Is Pointless!

If you ask most people that consider themselves to be somewhat of a nerd, they will tell you how awful the Transformers movies are, but despite that they continue to gross about a $1 billion worldwide each. With Transformers: Age of Extinction earning over $300 million in its first weekend it should get close to that number as well. That is not counting DVD and Toy sales. These movies are massive business.

That being said, every time a movie studio is developing a new movie based on a comic book or some other geeky property, geeks will line up to tell everyone that will listen that they will not support it if it is not true to the source material, or that if it is they will see it like fifty times. They will point to the success of Disney’s Marvel movies as proof of their importance, but they are sadly mistaken. If having geek approval insures success then Dredd would have been a blockbuster. It sadly was not, and it struggled to even break even.

Disney’s Marvel movies do well due to great marketing, and a producer (Kevin Feige) who makes sure that they keep up a certain level of quality. The Marvel movies are built with laser focus on how to be profitable and successful. If that meant ticking off the fans, you had better believe they would do that, but luckily that is not the case, and we all get to be happy.

Transformers is also laser focused, but what it is focused on has nothing to do with the Transformers we came to know and love throughout our childhood. It knows its target audience so well that it can get the worst reviews in the world, and have Transformers fans scream about how pathetic they are, but they will still earn money. Lots of it. Worse, those fans that complain about how bad the movie is will go and see it anyway to confirm that the movie was not up to their standards.

All people like to think that they are important, and that they have influence over the things that they love, but unfortunately in this case we geeks don’t account for that much cash. When it comes to blockbusters, cash is king.

June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

Shmee Picks Dr. Strange!

It has been awhile since I have cast a movie, so I decided to help Marvel out by picking Dr. Strange. According to people in the know, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, and Jared Leto are the front runners for this film, and they are good choices, but I thought I would give them some more options! Here they are in reverse order:

5: Jon Hamm

Jon Hamm is fit, and he is funny. Have him grow out his hair a little bit, and he would look the part. He has never done anything action oriented, but Dr. Strange really only needs to be able to concentrate well. I tried to make Hamm Batman at one point, but Dr. Strange is still a good role for him.

4: Aidan Gillen

Aidan Gillen makes my skin crawl, but that is because he is such a talented actor, and he brings to life the slimy Littlefinger on Game of Thrones so perfectly. As you can see above he looks great in a beard, and I think that he that he would fit in well with the rest of the Avengers.

3: Joe Manganiello

If Jon Hamm is fit, Joe Manganiello makes him look like a weakling. This guy was made to be an action hero, and he looks like Dr. Strange to boot! This is the perfect role for this guy now that True Blood is over.

2: Viggo Mortensen

Viggo was made to play strange dudes, so why not play a dude with “Strange” in the title? It is time Viggo came back to the mainstream, and there is nothing more mainstream than the Avengers. If anyone can bring magic to the Marvel Movie Universe it is Viggo Mortensen!

1: Kit Harington

I know it is another Game of Throne actor, and he is a little young, but I think he would be a perfect fit for the movie version of Dr. Strange. For one, he is young, so they could lock him in for a few quite a few movies, and he is how Zoolander says “So hot right now”! Since he is already on a fantasy show, why not have him bring fantasy to the Marvel Movie Universe?

There are my top five picks. Who would you like to see play the Master Magician?

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

Shmee Contemplates List Of Superhero Movies

So the website Nikki Finke claims to have scooped DC/Warner Brothers big Comic Con announcement by getting their list of comic book movies they have in development. It goes something like this:

May 2016 – Batman v Superman
July 2016 – Shazam
Christmas 2016 – Sandman
May 2017 – Justice League
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
Christmas 2017 – Flash and Green Lantern team-up
May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2

Overall it seems like a pretty good line up, and ThePaladin and I agree that a Green Lantern/Flash team-up sounds wonderful! The only thing that really throws me off is that they would try and do a Shazam movie two months after the Batman V. Superman flick. I love Captain Marvel in all his or her forms, or whether he is at Marvel or DC, but it seams like an odd choice since not a lot of people know who he is anymore. The only reason I can see for doing it is to use the Captain Marvel name before Marvel does just so they don’t have to deal with the confusion.

The other odd thing about this list is that it lacks a date for Batman. You remember Batman right? The guy that makes all the fat stacks for Warner Brothers. Probably the most loved superhero of all time. It seems like they would want to get a Batman movie up and running real quick, especially after spending all that money on Ben Afleck.

We will see if this list comes true or not in July, and if it does Nikki Finke may become the entertainment scoop blog to watch.

June 10, 2014

So It Is E3…

All the big companies kicked off E3 yesterday, and while there were a few cool announcements, for me there was nothing ground breaking. Let me run down what happened: Every major game that sells well got a sequel; If there was a new game announced it looked a lot like games we have played before; Microsoft and Sony are willing to pay a lot of money for timed exclusives, and they both (Sony in particular) announced a few remakes.

The remake thing caught me off guard. I knew, as did the rest of the world, that Microsoft was going to release some sort of upgraded Halo, and they kind of needed to with Halo 5 not due out until next year, but Phantom Dust? That came out of nowhere. Sony went all in with remakes: an upgraded Last of Us, Ratchet and Clank, a timed exclusive of Grim Fandango, and a not at all exclusive GTA 5. GTA 5 came out after the new consoles did, so everyone knew it was going to happen; Grim Fandango makes sense since it is a cult classic that not a lot of people have played, so why not introduce it to a new generation, but The Last of Us seems odd since it just came out, and everyone played it. Oh well if you have a PS4 you are getting another game.

Both Microsoft and PlayStation tried to show that they are hip, and that they are down with the indie dev scene. Sony still seems to have the indie upper hand, but Microsoft is at least starting to get quite a bit of interest in its ID@Xbox platform, so lets see if they can keep it up. I am not sure that indie games are system sellers yet, but they are cheap and bring in fresh ideas to consoles.

The fact that Conker is going to be available for game makers in Project Spark kind of threw me off. Why just Conker? Why not a lot MS owned properties, so people can have Conker and Voodo Vince team up to save Master Chief from the Brute Force guys? Maybe they will in the future, but to make a point of saying that just Conker would be available was strange to me.

After the first day of announcements, some of the games I am interested in are: Tom Clancy’s The Division, Batman: Arkham Knight, Sunset Overdrive, Destiney, The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Cuphead, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection (It has over 100 multiplayer maps!). Yes I know that list has a few of the sequels and remakes I was talking about earlier, but they do look very good. I just hope that some of the original games being made make it big, so we can get a little more variety in next year’s E3 press conferences.

Anything strike you about this year’s E3 kickoff? What games are getting you all hot and bothered?

June 6, 2014June 6, 2014

The Paladin puts Ant-Man under the microscope

…hear him sizzle!

Ant-Man… Marvel superhero with the ability to grow and shrink in size (I had to check Wikipedia for a second just to be sure) and star of the upcoming film Ant-Man. There are several problems with Ants (as like to call him) the foremost being nobody knows who Ant-Man is. Well that’s not true, he has his fan base and he is a founding member of the Avengers. However after umpteen years and who knows how many events in the Marvel universe, does that really matter? The second problem is this film… it has no director. They had originally tapped Cornetto Trilogy director Edgar Wright to write and direct; they had even started filming. Then about a week ago he left and they haven’t been able to replace him (nor should they). The rumor was Disney, who owns Marvel, had a new script written that tore the heart out of the film for Wright.

So that leave us, the potential viewers, wondering if this film should even be made. I’ve liked Wright’s movies, so I’m sad to see him go. I greatly enjoy what Marvel has done with their comic book movies. But Ant-Man doesn’t carry any real weight with me and there is a second, lesser script. I think Ant-Man should go back down… to the ground… to get out of the way for far more interesting characters have their films made (Shmee would probably suggest Power Girl). I don’t see our hero escaping this one!