Oh man I was worried that I would have to review Pompeii today, but the Fantastic Four came to the rescue! Not having to write about Pompeii, if even for one more day, makes this group my Heroes! Also that being said, it doesn’t look as bad as I was expecting. I mean there has been complete radio silence about this film, and it comes out in August. I really hope this comes together since this is Fox’s other big chunk of the Marvel Universe. Fantastic Four plus the X-Men could be really great. I got my fingers crossed! But with the history of the Fantastic Four movies, I am hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
Get Evil With Maleficent!
When Disney decided to make the 2014 movie Maleficent, I was skeptical, but then I saw the perfect casting of Angelina Jolie, and I become hopeful. While Jolie was amazing, I wish the rest of this film could have pulled its weight a little. This movie grinds to a halt when she is not on the screen, luckily since she is the star that is not often, but still it keeps this movie from becoming great.
The film is a retelling of the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty, but instead of following Aurora, we fallow the titular Maleficent, and that change of focus changes the story quite a bit. Instead of a villain, Maleficent becomes a tragic hero, and the forlorn King Stefan takes the role of evil doer.
This shift in roles make sense considering following a straight up villain would be a hard movie to write, let alone market to families, but I felt it was unfortunate. Maleficent is one of Disney’s greatest, if not the greatest, villains of all time, so to cast her as a hero made her loose some of that mystique. Now she was simply betrayed and misunderstood not dastardly and wicked.
Still that is not the main strike against this film, no that would be its pacing issues. There is a lot of nothing happening in this film. It takes awhile for Aurora to grow up, and for her and Maleficent to bond. That would be fine if it was interesting, but even though it spends so much time doing it, it almost seems like it is a montage and glosses over it at the same time. It doesn’t dig deep enough to excuse the running time.
The other problem is that beside Jolie, no other character is given anything to do. Elle Fanning as Aurora just gets to be chipper and wide eyed. King Stefan played by Sharlto Copley gets to be crazy and evil. No one is given anything to work with. They are just window dressing for Jolie’s Maleficent.
Jolie was wonderful, so it almost saves the film. It did for my wife, and a few other friends I know, but it didn’t quite do it for me. Maybe I was just hoping for something else. A true villain movie, but whatever the reason this movie could never find its footing. Considering how successful this movie was, I am sure Disney will try again with another villain, and maybe they will figure it all out next time.
Well We Finally Know Supergirl’s Identity!
Melissa Benoist will get to bring life to Supergirl on the small screen according to TheWrap.com, and then confirmed by Benoist’s Twitter account. She has done a lot of things, but she is mostly known for her role as Marley Rose on seasons four and five of Glee. She is also in the award winning movie Whiplash, so an up and comer for sure. If you are worried that she has the wrong hair color, worry no more:
She has taken care of it. I can’t wait for this show to start! If they don’t pick up Constantine for season two I will need something to watch (I am totally going to watch it anyway). I wish her the best of luck. They took a long time to find her, so I am sure she will be great in the role!
Microsoft Goes Crazy At Windows 10 Event!
Well I have to tell you Microsoft really blew me away yesterday. I was expecting a boring rundown of all the new consumer features of Windows 10, and they did go over that, but I was not expecting the rest of what they announced.
1: All devices will have the same version of Windows and will be able to use the same apps. Finally. They mentioned Xbox One, but I am not sure how that will work just yet. Oh yeah and if you are on Windows 7 or higher you will have a year to upgrade for free!
2: All Windows 10 devices will be able to stream Xbox One games from your Xbox. I am hoping that means someone can be using the apps on the Xbox at the same time, but we will have to wait and see.
3: Speaking of Xbox, Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs will be able to play games together, so that should be fun. The first title to support this feature will be Fable Legends.
5: This is where it starts to get crazy…..Surface Hub. It is a 84″ Windows 10 tablet:
I am sure this is going to be pricy, but for medium to large business this will be killer. Say goodbye to crappy interactive whiteboards, this all in one should do it all.
6: Then Microsoft went full out insane. Windows 10 HoloLens:
These are like Google Glass mixed with Oculus Rift. They trick your mind in to seeing holograms all over the place. It is augmented reality taken to the next level. If it works that is. People are getting their hands on them as I type this, so we should find out soon. I would love to try on a pair.
Yeah like I said Microsoft pulled out the big guns. I hope this all works as well as they say it does, because if so Microsoft just became cool again!
Marvel Is Pulling A DC!
So Marvel is kicking off its Secret Wars, and it looks like it will kill off the Marvel Universes as we know them. The heroes will face off once again in Battleworld to fight for their survival, and not just their survival but the survival of their little piece of the universe.
One of Marvel’s biggest draws has always been its long almost never ending story line, but that is all coming to an end. Really this is their version of DC’s Infinite Crisis. Marvel fans are more than a little upset, but really this is Disney’s way of making Marvel its own. They get to pick how these heroes move forward, and I am sure that they will start to look and act a lot more like their movie counterparts. Because movies are where the money is.
If they do this right it could be fun, but if they do it wrong there will be a lot of Marvel fans calling this the Marvel version of the New 52. Though unlike the New 52 there will be only one universe when this is all over. DC still has its multiple universes and I am pretty sure they always will have them. My question is: how long will they be able to stick to their guns and keep to one universe? I give them six months. Maybe.
Here is the announcement video: