Life Before Glee

Who enjoyed the Season 2 premiere of Glee? I sure did. I've watched the episode Auditions a few times already, mostly for Charice's appearance as new girl Sunshine Corazon. Filipino Pride Ya'lls!

Charice

Upon reading interviews with show creator Ryan Murphy, he blatantly states that he has never watched Disney's High School Musical, which some claim as an influence on the show's rising popularity. I can easily see that as a fact, I however think there might have been some other factors in the media that might have influence the look and feel of this ground breaking show.

Let's start at the beginning with the 80's series Kids Incorporated. While Fame dominated most of televisionat the time, Kids Incorporated is best known for starting the careers of Fergie (then known as Stacy Ferguson), Jennifer Love Hewitt (known simply as Love Hewitt), Mario Lopez and Eric Balfour among others. Like Glee, Kids Inc. would feature popular songs of the period as well as old favorites. Unlike Glee, it had more in common with an sitcom with stand-alone episodes as opposed to a serialized dramedy. The budget even equaled that of a cheap 80's sitcom, so of course it looked awesome to kids of the 80's like myself. The revolving cast made it hard for original fans to stay on board. Pretty much the quality started to decline when Stacy Ferguson bowed out. I loves me some Fergie.

From 1999-2001, the WB's most original show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But aside from Buffy, there was also the immensely popular Popular, which was created by Glee creator Ryan Murphy. The show featured two awesome female leads on opposite sides of the High School hierarchy who find that they will soon become sisters when their individual parents fall in love; an idea that was carried onto Glee when straight boy Finn's mom falls for homosexual cutie Kurt's dad. Also carried onto Glee from this show is the idea of jocks and cheerleaders in musicals, and all of that was waay before Disney's High School Musical as well. Characters occasionally break out into song, but it's too few and far in-between. Glee can be seen as a sort of spiritual sequel to Popular and I wouldn't be surprised if both shows were in the same TV-verse. The show was unfortunately ended too soon before it's prime. Both seasons can be bought on DVD. The Season 2 cover rocks. I voted for it on their webpage back in the day ;-)

Early incarnations of Kurt and Finn?
Popular - The Complete First Season
Popular - The Complete Second Season

After Popular, came a movie called Get Over It, directed by openly gay director Tommy O'Haver.  Get Over It is a long forgotten teen comedy with a musical angle. A high school basketball player falls for a girl, causing him to join the high school musical. This story premise should sound familiar to fans of Disney's High School Musical. The difference is that the movie is dominated not by original songs, but classic hits like "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "I'll Never Fall in Love Again." The original songs that are contained in the movie are awesome and penned by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who also did the music for Hairpspray the Musical. Kirsten Dunst stars in this movie with an impressive supporting cast and does a lot of the singing, and she ain't bad. This movie is well worth a view if you can find it. I have a feeling it's out of print. 

Check it out, Mila Kunis was in it too
Get Over it

Glee is groundbreaking in the sense that it breaths new life into the musical genre. It takes what was before them and brings it to a level of a billion. Here's hoping that it continues to break new ground with it's unique storylines and interesting song-to-scene associations.

Megara - Who's the Damsel Now?

"I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us." - Sara Crewe, A Little Princess (1995)

Disney Animation Studios gets a lot of flack for creating weak characters: Princess that need their Princes to rescue them, to kiss them awake. This very stereotype was mocked in Disney's own movie Enchanted, but is this stereotype really applicable to Disney Films, even in the past? Are Disney Princesses always waiting for their Princes?


In the past, it did ring true. Snow White's longing for a true love when she sings "Someday My Prince Will Come" spells it all out. This chick is waiting for her prince. Cinderella's longing was a little step forward. She didn't want a prince. She wanted to go to a party. Holla! By chance she just happened to meet her prince while there. Briar Rose in Sleeping Beauty didn't even know she met a prince when she fell in love with Phillip. So after Snow White, the Disney Princesses in their own way tried to defy stereotypes of the princess in peril, albeit very subtly.

Beginning with Ariel, Disney Princesses started to have a sass all their own. Ariel was a typical teenager, talking back to her father and defying his rules, as was Jasmine, and she blatantly didn't "want to be princess." Belle was the town oddball who followed her own instincts and was the rescuer of her own prince. Many other strong female characters emerged liked Pocahontas, Kida (Atlantis: The Lost Empire) and Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) but the most interesting of them all would have to be Megara, the female lead in Disney's Hercules.

Disney has their official line-up of who their princesses are - Snow White, Cinderella, Briar Rose, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, Tiana and sometimes Pocahantas - and a lot of deserving female heroes they have created are not included in that line-up, namely Megara. I think she should be included.

Megara is spunky, strong and beautiful. Most importantly, when Hercules comes to her rescue, she is very quick to dismiss him. She can save herself. The song provided for her is also about "not" wanting a man. In the end when Hercules and Megara are standing side by side after all is said and done, it's not because of a grand wedding they are having, it's because there's no doubt in the world that their experiences throughout the film have led them to each other. Their future is no doubt full of love, but they're story doesn't have to end with a wedding.

So how about it Disney? Wanna include Megara in that Disney Princess line-up? She's died twice, I think she deserves it.

The Wizard of Oz - A Parody Review

(The following parody review may contain spoilers) 

MGM's The Wizard of Oz is based off of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; the first book of the Oz series by L. Frank Baum. Newcomer Judy Garland plays Dorothy, a role originally offered to Shirley Temple, who looks more like how Dorothy does in the books. Veteran actors Ray Bolger as Scarecrow, Jack Haley as Tin Man and Bert Lahr as The Lion also star with Billie Burke and Margaret Hamilton as the two witches. A little on the lack of witches later.

Are you a good book? Or a bad movie?

While the film follows the book pretty closely, a huge portion of the classic children's novel is left out entirely, alienating the real fans, the fans of the books. For starters, they've added a huge portion of unnecessary exposition in the Kansas scenes. What was once a few pages in the book, is now a whole side story in which Dorothy's dog Toto has to be put down or something by Miss Gulch (Played by Margaret Hamilton who also plays The West Witch).

The Kansas scenes are in black and white and all the Oz scenes are in color, giving a striking affect. Probably the only faithful thing to come out of this film as Baum does describe Kansas as being "gray".

The Witches are all out of wack in this one. Glinda is now a combination of both The Witch of the South and The Witch of the North. She also replaces the role that The Mouse Queen plays in the original novel, so no Mouse Queen in this movie. Another insult to injury is the drastic changes to The Witch of the West. Where is her magic glass eye and her hat that controls the monkeys? Since when was she green?

 

And while on the topic of colors, ruby slippers? That's right. Just like our now green skinned Witch of the West, Dorothy now has these ruby slippers. What was wrong with the silver ones from the book? And remember the plot device of The Emerald City being only green because of the green glasses our characters are given? Gone also.

Other scenes like their confrontation with the Kalidahs, The Wizard's other two personas, and our main four characters' journey to the land of people made of china have been excluded, presumably to make space for hollow songs that do very little to move the plot along.

Instead of these lame songs, they should have included some friggin' story like how the Tin Man came to be and why Dorothy can't just take a cab back to Kansas, or even that rainbow horse carriage.

It's a nice try really, but a convoluted twist ending in which the whole movie was a dream makes it hard for the future books to be made into installments. If Oz isn't real then how will they adapt the rest of the series into film?

It's a nice fluffy movie, but as a companion to the books, I don't hold it that high.

If you enjoyed this article, you should check these links out:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 100th Anniversary Edition (Books of Wonder) - The original. A must read if you want to be a real Oz fan.
The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy (Popular Culture and Philosophy) - A discussion of both the books and the film adaptations.
The Princess of Oz - An unfinished Oz movie by yours truly ;-)

(Don't panic, the previous was a parody, only a parody)

Blood: The Last Vampire - Got Blood?

Nowadays, a girl kicking vampire ass immediately brings to mind Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer - hopefully the TV series version. America hasn't really had a real iconic female super hero with Buffy's iconic status since then. When you say Buffy the Vampire Slayer, images immediately sprout to mind, both good and bad. With that in mind, watching Blood is like watching one of those Slayer flashbacks from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.You almost expect Anthony Stewart Head to start narrating.

In Japan, it's no real stretch to have a strong female lead. Bubblegum Crisis, Sailor Moon, Cutie Honey, Devil Hunter Yohko, all had strong female leads - or several leads - that could kick your ass.

As an American, I loved the original Blood animated short. It was very well rendered. Even to this day it looks gorgeous. It was well acted, well scripted, and just an awesome production all together. I'm not sure how it did in Japan as it does resemble so many other of their animated features at the time, but I knew I loved it.

Viewing the live action version felt like such a treat from the get go. The opening is almost shot by shot taken from the original short. The whole first half of the movie is pretty much an homage to the original short.

The real treat comes in the film's second half when the film branches away from it's animated origin. What lacked in the original was any sense of history that our main character Saya had. It was touched upon, but never explored like how it is here.

This is a big action film, but thankfully it never reaches bullet time, or Matrix-like special effects. The action scenes are long, but I found it refreshing to have this petite Asian woman doing the actioning as opposed to someone like that guy from Crank.

The demons she fights have this Ray Harryhausen quality to them. They gave the movie this sense of fun, but they were still incredibly scary. I was genuinely terrified once they finally made their appearance. It was like I was a kid again :-) I wanna watch Ghostbusters now.

Though I personally loved this movie and will be saving up for the Blu Ray, I'm not sure if it's very welcoming to non-genre fans. I think some knowledge of Horror and Anime would be very integral to enjoying this film. It is worth a rental though. It's a kick-ass vampire movie, it'll be a fun ride at least :-)

Might I also recommend:

Blood: The Last Vampire [Blu-ray]  - The original animated short on Blu Ray :-)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Collector's Set (40 discs) - The complete Buffy TV series.
Charlie's Angels [Blu-ray]  - A similiar visual style as the live action Blood, but perkier

Disney's The Little Mermaid and Gay Allegory

There's a moment in Disney's The Little Mermaid when Ariel is in her secret treasure grotto and she's dancing with a statue of Prince Eric. Uknown to her, her father is nearby watching her, disgusted at the display. When Ariel notices her father, she reacts with shame, and then meekly defends the world she wants to be a part of and the man she admires. The scene turns ugly once her father, the great King Triton, uses his magnificent powers to turn her secret grotto into a pile of rubble, ending with the complete destruction of the statue of Prince Eric, and the spirit of his daughter.

This scene always made me cry as a child. I'll always remember it, mostly because it happend in my 3rd grade class. We were watching The Little Mermaid since it came out on awesome VHS a few days ago, and this scene just made me tear up like crazy. Pointing and teasing followed as well as the nickname "Cry Baby" for the rest of my stay in elementary school. The taunting of my fellow schoolmates didn't break my spirit though, like Ariel's in her rubble-ized grotto, but it gave me strength.

I wanted to understand that scene and why it affected me the way it did. It wasn't until years later at the age of 17 that I found out the meaning of the scene. My parents entered my room, and told me they needed to talk to me. They wanted to confront me about the "gay thing." I felt ashamed and dirty, but most importantly, lost and alone. I never really had a close relationship with my father and my mother had already proven she had a closed minded view of homosexuality when she kept making the claims that gay people aren't real, just characters on Will and Grace. They made me delete everything gay from my computer, from my bedroom, from my life.

Of course I can't change who I am, and what my heart wants, so I sought out the Sea Witch Ursula...

I'm just kidding. I did though plunge head first into San Diego's gay scene, lost my sense of identity - or my voice - and only regained my sense of identity back again - or my voice - once things with my parents got better. Not perfect but better.

Parents of those who come out should really spend some time watching Disney's The Little Mermaid. It's an illustration of what happens when parents don't accept their offspring for who they are.

In the end of The Little Mermaid, Ariel is given legs by her father. Unlike Ursula - who bargained with her for her voice and left her naked without a voice on a beach confused - King Triton's gift left Ariel with her voice, her sense of identity, and clothed in the love of her family with the strength to make it in the strange new world on her own.

I know, she meets a Prince and marries him, but it is a fairy tale after all. It's all about symbols.

If parents could just sit and talk "with" their children, as opposed to "down on" them, our gay youth could be sent out into the world with their own voices, their own legs to walk on and the strength to take on all the hate, ignorance and whatever else can be thrown at them.

If you liked this article, you might enjoy these links

Feminist Fairy Tales - a collection of fairy tales retold with a feminist point of view. My favorite is Snow Night, the author's take on the Snow White story. Also included is a very different version of The Little Mermaid.

Another Gay Sequel- Uncut Theatrical Version - Features the adorable Brent Corrigan as a gay Merman

Tiana and Charlotte - Princess Evolution  - A look into the friendship between two of the stars of Disney's The Princess and the Frog.

The Princess and the Frog - Almost There? - A review on the movie, by yours truly, as well as commentary on the media hype this movie brought with it.

Thanks to All My Readers

I'm starting to get a steady number of readers daily, and I really appreciate it. I enjoy writing just for the fun of it, but to know that I'm getting a regular amount of readers daily just makes me want to do it more.

I really love movies and dissecting them inside and out. Hopefully in the future I get to write a book, several, hehehe. I'm using this blog as practice, so all kinds of critiques are always helpful.

Please continue to leave comments, and even leave ideas for future articles if you've got them. Always check past articles. You never know what you might find you like.

I'm working on turning some of my posts into Podcasts. I even have a theme song picked out and all, just got to get on it.

Thank you all for reading.



Suggested readings for the movie fan:

Screenplay by Disney
Juno: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Scripts)
The celluloid closet: Homosexuality in the movies (Triangle classics)
Writing Television Sitcoms (revised)

Fan Boys of the Universe - A Bumpy Start

After trials and tribulations, we finally meet:
the final volume of Wolverine and the X-Men, and Ed

I got a gig writing for a blog called Fan Boys of the Universe, a blog for gay geeks. Last week they gave me my first assignment and were going to mail me the DVD I was intended to review.

I was so excited. Not only did I get to write for them, they were sending me DVDs. That made me so happy. When my partner Mark found out, he kept asking me to request more DVDs, but I'm taking this gig day by day. Or day by gay.... hehehhe.

So they sent the DVD out on tuesday, Wolverine and the X-Men: Final Crisis Trilogy, and I didn't recieve anything from them that week. It didn't help that Mark and I were enjoying our new Netflix subscription or that we purchased both Pokemon Season 1 and the Ultimate Watchmen Blu Ray boxset. It was payday, gimme a break.

I finally wrote to Chance - my contact to Fan Boys of the Universe - about the whereabouts of the DVD he sent me. Supposedly our neighbors, the car insurance place, signed for it and it was in their office... for 6 days!!! Can you believe that? Is it so hard to go next door and be like, oh I have your package?

So I got my DVD finally and reviewed it. Working on the article right now which should be posted over at their blog in the future. In the meantime, check out Fan Boys of the Universe. I linked it enough times, right?

The Movie Affect - How Does it Affect You?

Whenever my friend Brian tells me he's seen a movie that I plan to watch and haven't had a chance to, I immediately put my fingers to my lips and tell him to "shhhhhh." I don't want to hear his opinion yet, and it's not that I don't ever want to hear his opinion, it's that I don't want his opinion to affect my viewing experience.

We all do it. We all let outside forces affect how we watch the movies we watch. It's all right though. We can't help it. The people in charge of marketing a film makes it their job to affect how we view movies way before we sit in a theater, or pick up that DVD at the store. Sometimes we won't watch a film unless it's in the top ten that week. We assume that since so many people are watching it, that it must be good; or the other way around, that because no one is watching it, it must be really bad.

The people in charge of marketing watch a film and then try to figure out how to market said film to the lowest common denominator. And who can blame them? We live in such an ADD world; one of the most popular animated shows on TV is Family Guy. With that in mind, who could trust some of the trailers and posters that are released for movies? I'm not saying that all trailers and posters can be misleading, but sometimes we as an audience really let that sway our decisions on wether or not we should watch said movie.

I hate the preconceived notion that just because a movie has a low audience attendance, that it's a bad movie. To anyone who's seen The Star Wars Prequels, you know very well that a high attendance does not make a good film. The Bratz movie was pulled from theaters due to low attendance, but it's not a bad movie, especially if you're the demographic it was created for. I mean come on, it wasn't Gigli. A low attendance means just that, a low attendance. A movie cannot be judged if is not seen.

You want to know how to decide wether or not you should watch a movie? Check out the director. Are you a fan? Most likely you will have a good experience. Do you admire the writer? Check it out. You might find something you'll like. Just sit back and enjoy. Watch the movie. Don't let the movie watch you.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse - New Supergirl Movie?

Now I was a little excited reading about this title on Amazon, especially when I saw that Kara Zo-rel was on the cover; Supergirl herself. I got more excited when I watched the trailer and realized that this movie was based on the origin story of Supergirl. I read those issues when they were released in graphic novel form. I even bought the hardcover copy of it. It was one of the best written Supergirl stories and really helped re-envision her into the modern DC world.









I am a little disappointed to see that Supergirl's role in the movie feels greatly downplayed. As is Wonder Woman's who plays a huge role in the graphic novel as well.

Now I'm all one for adaptations being separate from their source material, but this story is Supergirl's story and it seems that only Batman and Superman will get top billing. No doubt I will view this movie but unless Supergirl is more than just a cameo, I won't be along for the purchasing ride.

Nightlite - A Twilight Parody Novel

Harvard Lampoon takes
a bite out of Twilight

Vampires Suck is coming to theaters soon. This Wednesday to be exact. But parody comes in more forms than just film. At your local Borders, Barnes and Noble, or at Amazon.com, you can pick up a copy of Nightlight, a novel that spoofs The Twilight Saga.

Written by the Harvard Lampoon crew, the story is all too familiar: Our heroine, Belle Goose, feels that outsider classmate, Edwart is a vampire. There's no real evidence to support her theory other than the fact that she wants him to be. In reality, Edwart seems to be just a High School boy who loves video games too much. There are vampires in this novel though too, and clever stabs at Twilight author Stephenie Meyers' writing style. 

Nightlight is written for both the fan and non-fan of Twilight in mind and is a billion times more clever than recent parody films that have been released as of recently. 

So pick this up if you want to skip Vampires Suck. Or go and watch Vampires Suck. If you hate it, pick this up.

Nightlight: A Parody

Pokemon: Black and White - New Pokemon Show and Game

It's really hard for me to watch anime nowadays. Kids don't know how hard it was for anime fans back then. Back in the 80s and early 90s, I literally had to hunt for titles. Even American releases like Voltron, Robotech and Starblazers were hard to find, and if I could find it, it was usually around 29.99 for one VHS copy. Remember VHS kids?

Also, there wasn't a lot of variety back then. We had no Funimation doing our releases. We had ADV, Animeigo and Streamline/Harmony Gold. It didn't help that most of the titles tended to be more towards the adult side. You kids have it so easy.

When anime became more mainstream, I was a little though. It was now much easier to get titles, but that was mostly because anime was now marketed towards little kids. Shows like the heavily edited down Sailor Moon, Yugi-Oh! and Pokemon helped paved the way for anime in America currently.

Pokemon hasn't had a new title for a while, but a huge comeback is right around the corner. Two new game releases are coming soon to the states. The two releases are Pokemon Black and Pokemon White. Both for the DS. The accompanying anime series is called Pokemon: Best Wishes, or at least that's what it's called in Japan. I'm pretty sure they might change it for it's American release. Here's a preview from Japan of the new show.



Looks cute to me, though I don't consider myself a Pokemon fan. I do like Jiggly Puff though. I'm a singer ;-)

Git It! Git It!

Speculation: Nicole Scherzinger in Wicked?

After performing in Rent directed by Neil Patrick Harris, Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger surprised many with her portrayal of Maureen Prescot. The role of Maureen is usually reserved for Broadway belters like Eden Espinosa and Glee's Idina Menzel, who originated the part on stage and reprised it for the film version.

I for one was not surprised at the level that Nicole performed. Before leading the Pussycat Dolls, she did various theater projects - like performed in Cabaret - and fronted the reality show girl group Eden's Crush. This chick has the vocal chops people.

With Wicked the movie coming into fruition, many had hoped that Idina Menzel would play Elphaba, The Wicked Witch of the West, another part she originated on stage. Many speculated that studio executives would find her too old for the part so Wicked fans started championing Lea Michelle, who plays Idina Menzels' daughter in Glee and has a striking resemblance to Idina, both physically, vocally and other things: They're both Broadway Singers. Lea also sang the show's Act 1 ender, "Defying Gravity" in an episode.

It looks like Nicole might be a good choice to play Elphaba as well. With the new Pussycat Dolls line-up, she might find herself too busy to film a movie musical, but she would be the easiest choice when Studio Executives are concerned. Nicole headlining Wicked would mean bringing in a new audience who probably know nothing about theater, but they love Nicole so they would naturally watch the movie. Nicole in Wicked might also alienate the fans of the stage version, but not enough to keep them away from the movie theaters.

This is just all speculation of course, but if Idina and Lea don't want to do the Wicked movie, Nicole looks up for the part. She'll just have to get rid of the skimpy Pussycat Dolls outfits and get used to wearing green skin, a black frock and a big ole' black pointy hat.

New Live Action Scooby Doo Movie

Warner Bros. is really getting on the ball when it comes to Scooby Doo. Not only has a new series premiered, but a new live action movie based on the series is set to be released later on this year. I saw the re-boot movie at Comic Con last year and even met some of the cast. Very nice people. They sat right in front of me.

This new movie is a sequel to Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins, which brings back the young new cast playing The Scooby Gang.

Scooby Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster is set to premiere on Cartoon Network with a blu ray/DVD release in early 2011.

Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated - Do the Doo

The Scooby Gang is back, and boy are they better than ever. Please excuse my cliched statement, but there's no other way around it. The Scooby Gang is back, new and improved.

The original series, made in the 70s, had a very simple formula. The Scooby Gang, comprised of character archetypes, would ride around in their mystery machine, go to a scary place, and have to convince Shaggy and Scooby to aide with the mystery solving with the help of the promise of Scooby Snacks. The gang would spilt up, Velma would find clues, Daphne would always open the wrong door, or get kidnapped, and Fred would come up with a plan to catch the supernatural culprit, Shaggy and Scooby would be funny.

Over the years, the formula had been retooled, or abandoned all together. Sometimes only Scooby and Shaggy have made an appearance with the occasional inclusion of Scrappy Doo. I actually like Scrappy Doo.

Recently there was the hit live action movie, it's sequel and the prequel (which included a brunette Fred and an Asian-American Velma) along with the newest animated incarnations, What's New Scooby Doo and Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue.

I thought the live action movies were funny and well written, and Miss Sarah Michelle Gellar played Daphne in two of them so I kinda' had to watch them. What's New Scooby Doo was also cute, but I felt more could've been done with the Scooby Doo formula, especially when the re-tooled animated series came out afterward.

Now we've got Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated. A new series airing on Cartoon Network. The new series focuses more on our beloved Scooby Gang as people rather than caricatures. What used to be hinted at in the original series when it came to character relationships, is now push to the forefront. Daphne makes it really obvious about her affections for Fred; Shaggy and Velma have a few suprises of their own.

The voice work in this show is excellent, as is most productions from Hanna Barbara. Fact's of Life's Mindy Cohn, who played Velma in What's New Scooby Doo, reprises her role here as our favorite girl geek. The legendary Frank Welker does his double duty as Scooby Doo and Fred Jones. Fan favorite Grey DeLisle voices Daphne flawlessly. I almost thought she was the original voice actor Heather North. I was most impresses with Mathew Lillard's Shaggy. Being cast as Shaggy in two of the live action movies, he was a highlight in that he really just let himself get absorbed into the part. This man IS Shaggy. Aside from original voice actor Casey Kasem of course, who's voice also makes it into this series as Shaggy's father. Also includes celebrity voices Vivica A. Fox and Patrick Warburton.

I've only seen the first episode, but I am already excited for the rest of this new series. Aside from the drama our classic characters are having with each other, they're going to have to solve a huge mystery that is too big for just one episode. The show now has some continuity in it that was missing in previous incarnations.

This is definitely a show I will be watching weekly along with my regular viewings of Glee and Desperate Housewives.

New X-Men Film in the Works for 2011 - A Return to Basics?

A new X-Men film is in the works for 2011 with an impressive rumored cast. Alice Eve will play Emma Frost with James McAvoy as Professor X. This film will be a prequel and will take place before the events established before the original three movies and probably after the events in Wolverine.



The first two X-Men films were instant classics and very ground breaking when it came to comic book films. The focus on these characters was amazing. These were people we were dealing with who just happen to have powers. Their struggle for mutant rights at the fore front mirrored the rights minorities had to fight for, most importantly gay rights. It didn't hurt that openly gay director Bryan Singer was helming these first two films. Many scenes mirrored that of experiences that the gay community are all too familiar with: Wolverine getting told to leave a bar because they don't want his kind there, Iceman's "coming out" scene with his family, the constant defending oneself against prejudice. These first two films were very multi-layered and very powerful.

Next up was X-Men: The Last Stand; the last X-Men film in 2006. No doubt it left some fans disappointed: A new director took charge and that came with new directions that fans of the first two movies were not too sure of. Contract negotiations with the actors affected how the characters interacted; sometimes it was for the best, sometimes for the worse. The Phoenix Storyline, epic in the comics and the animated series, was now a B story to the film, taking a backseat to the Gifted storyline involving a cure for mutants. The action scenes took over and it was hard to differentiate this movie from any other typical super hero film. It wasn't completely hopeless though. Halle Barry as Storm finally got to shine and I felt Storm was finally Storm. Ellen Page (who would later play the title character in Juno) was introduced as Kitty Pryde and became an instant fan favorite.

The Wolverine spin-off was a few steps in the right direction - it didn't hurt that Hugh Jackman was naked for a nice part of it - and introduced some characters that X-Men fans have been wanting to see in the film franchise for awhile now. In this one movie we get Deadpool, Gambit AND Emma Frost. It's success meant that more X-type movies could be made.

Aside from the new X-Men movie in 2011, Wolverine might be getting a sequel with Deadpool getting his own spin-off too. For now, X-Men: First Class is next for our favorite mutants. A lot of new cast members playing younger versions of established characters, so no Halle Barry or Ellen Page sadly, but I hope it means more of a return to the character driven action of Bryan Singer's first two X-Men films.

X-Men and Watchmen Motion Comics: Comic Books on the Move

 I really love Motion Comics. They remind me of old Hanna Barbera and Filmation cartoons from the 60s, but better written. With the Astonishing X-Men: Gifted Motion Comic making it's way onto DVD, and hopefully onto Blu Ray, I got to re-watching the Watchmen Motion Comic.



The Watchmen Motion Comic was originally released on iTunes in anticipation of the upcoming Zack Snyder film version of the famous graphic novel. I grew up with the knowledge of how legendary this comic book mini-series was. I was also aware of how many times it was been attempted to be put into film. This was not just a comic book in my eyes, this was a piece of multi-layered literature that my teenage mind could never have wrapped it's tiny head around. At the time I was still going through my New Kids on the Block and Jem periods. Truly Outrageous!

When the Watchmen Motion Comic was released on DVD, I figured it would a nice introduction to this world that Alan Moore had created. Of course he also had the help of Dave Gibbons and John Higgins doing the amazing artwork.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this release. I never read the book, and the movie was weeks away from opening. I popped the DVD into my widescreen television, and I was transported into another world. The words of Alan Moore, read by  Tom Stechschulte, who does all the voices in this piece. He's a really good narrator that holds your attention. Once he gets into reading for the characters, even the females, he's flawless. This man can act.

The "motion" part of this production is highly impressive. Sometimes CGI assistant is used. CGI usually has a tendency to detract, but in this case, it only adds to the visual presentation. The animation is limited as can be expected, but so much movement is added into these comic book panels, that one can almost forget that it's a Motion Comic. Almost. The word balloons can still be found littering the presentation and can be distracting at times.

The music is sad and haunting. It really compliments the story and gives the narrative a sense of dramatic urgency and nostalgia. The production as a whole is like looking back into a past that's not your own, but not all too unfamiliar as well. If you want to experience a cinematic version of the graphic novel, then this really is the best way to go.

So as DC had Watchmen the Motion Comic, Marvel had to produce their own. Thus comes the Motion Comic version of the "Gifted" story arc of Astonishing X-Men, helmed by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Astonishing X-Men takes the Motion Comic idea a few hundred steps further than Watchmen. Not only are the word balloons gone and the mouths move with the dialogue, but it's also cast with many awesome voice actors doing individual characters. The voices really fit in with these well known characters. Big kudos to this cast.

The plot involves The X-Men re-teaming themselves with Emma Frost now into their fold and Kitty Pryde as a main character. Kitty has been said to be Joss' inspiration for Buffy. Check out the first episode right here:



There's so much more on the DVD obviously. More comic book studios should really do this. Motion Comics are a good introduction to this world of comic books, and if not that, it's a different way of discovering a good story.

Astonishing X-Men - Gifted (Marvel Knights)
Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic (+ BD-Live) [Blu-ray]

Wolverine and the X-Men: Get it on Blu-Ray

Wolverine has always been a very popular Marvel Comics character, but coming off of the heels of Wolverine's popularity in the X-Men film franchise meant that he could be marketed to a much wider audience, most notably, the Saturday morning cartoon franchise.

Wolverine has been seen in animation form so many times whether it's in episodes of the 80's cartoon Spider-man and Friends, on the failed X-Men pilot Pryde of the X-Men or the two X-Men series on Fox and Kids WB. Wolverine was always a main character, but he could never be the violent maverick he was in the comics due to the practices and standards of television censors. It wasn't really a big deal because Wolverine had the other X-Men there to support him. If he ever got out of line, they'd put him back in line and that was that.

When Wolverine and the X-Men was announced, expectations arose. It sounded like a catastrophe: an animated series that centered on Wolverine? How fluffy would he be? The answer here is, not that fluffy. Surprisingly, Wolverine and the X-Men is one of the most faithful adaptations of the X-Men stories combing both new storylines from the comic book line (Emma Frost joins the X-Men) and old storylines. (Rogue is in The Brotherhood of Mutants, Pyslocke, and other surprises.)

The first episodes set up Wolverine as the leader of the X-Men due to Jean Grey's disappearance and Cyclop's inability to cope with her absence. I naturally would think that Professor X would have assigned Storm the leader, like what has happened numerous times in the comics and in the last X-Men movie, but who would watch a cartoon called Storm and the X-Men? I would, but marketing has put Wolverine front and center for this one.

The series takes a while to set-up situations, but once it gets started, boy does it FLY!!!!!!! Some of the best moments of the X-Men storylines are captured in this series and some of the most interesting couplings as well. Storm and Angel? Who'd have thought? Also, characters that almost never get to shine properly in the animated form, like Scarlet Witch, Marrow and Polaris, make their appearances here.

The series juggles multi-storylines all at once: Jean Grey's disappearance, Emma Frost's motives, The Sentinels, Xavier in the Future and many more I don't care to list, but the strength in the show lies in the strong storytelling aspect.

And finally, Wolverine is not "fluffy" in the show. The original X-Men animated series and X-Men Evolution always had him being tamed by his team mates. In this new incarnation, Wolverine has chosen to tame himself for the sake of the team, and I think that works for his character.

A season 2 was planned for this series, picking up after a kick-ass cliffhanger, but those plans have been scraped. But with good news comes bad news. Wolverine and the X-Men is now going to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on October 12th. You know I'm going to be all over this.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - "It's not modern, it's ancient."

And that is probably one of the most thought provoking quotes said in Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight film series based off of the books by Stephenie Meyer who has denied ever having watched a single episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I believe her. If Meyer had seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer the series she would have easily avoided the many cliches that sprinkle her book: the forbidden romance between a human girl and a supernatural being; werewolves as the symbol of unveiled masculinity; vampires as the symbol of the outsiders of society.

To her credit, Meyer does do some original things with the werewolf and vampire mythos. Who else would have thought to make vampires sparkly underneath the sun? And doesn't every vampire movie have their own set of rules? Buffy, Underworld and even Nosferatu both had different takes on the mythos and the Twilight Series isn't any different.

After two movies, Bella (Kristen Stewart) and Edward (Robert Pattinson) seem to finally be happy with each other. If only she could still be friends with Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who's heart she broke in the previous movie. If only that darn Victoria would stop trying to kill her. It appears that Victoria (Bryce Howard Dallas) has been making an army of the undead to come and attack Bella and it's up to her vampire friends and an alliance with their enemies the werewolves to save the day. Of course, Edward is a vampire and Jacob, Bella's other beau is a werewolf. Jacob spends most of the time with his shirt off - and for a brief moment naked - in his human form. This is the heart of the story really, this never ending love triangle, not the shirtless teen. 

The movie is very well paced and full of self referential humor. Edward asks Bella in one scene if the mostly bare chested Jacob even owns a shirt and Jacob in a later scene replies to Edward "I am hotter than you." The film does suffer from too many scenes of Bella and Edward conversing in what appears to be conversations they've already had a dozen times. Some of the editing seems sloppy. In one scene, it was very obvious that not all of the actors were all there at the time of shooting. The film also suffers from way too many oddly framed close-ups.

Eclipse already has a built in audience, so no matter how I review this film, it's going to make the money it has been destined to make and more. It's worth a watch, and it's very well acted compared to the first two, but personally I feel out of it's teenage demographic.

Vampires Suck - Twilight Parody Movie Trailer

I almost never post trailers here for reasons that deserve it's own post. I couldn't resist posting this trailer up because it was bound to happen: A Twilight Parody Movie.

Sadly, there hasn't been a really good parody movie released in a long time. I think the last good one was Spaceballs, seriously.

This trailer looks cute though and I have a feeling it's a billion times better than the actual movie, but go ahead, take a gander.

Glee - DVD Roulette

Glee has had such a weird and interesting first season. A show that featured football players dancing to "Single Ladies," a pregnant cheerleader singing "A Man's World," a refreshing portrayal of homosexuality, and I haven't even begun to talk about anyone who's ever won a Tony Award making guest appearances.

A very like-able sugary series with a very sordid home video release. Originally, Glee was 13 episodes. Those 13 episodes were planned to be released on DVD as Glee Season 1. When Fox decided that Glee was making them a helluva lot of money, they made more episodes, causing the DVD release to be retitled Glee Season 1 Volume 1 - Road to Regionals.


This left fans with the expectation that a Volume 2 was going to be released. They were wrong. Instead Fox was going to release Glee Complete Season 1. It would include everything in the Road to Regionals release and the extra episodes produced afterward. No Volume 2. Those sad fans who bought Volume 1 now had to buy a whole box set that already had the majority of episodes they already purchased.

Of course, customers complained, and of course they complained to the wrong people: the stores. I mean come on, the stores just sell the products, they have no say in how they're released. I got that a lot when I worked in Fry's Electronics. My response to them was always the same: "Write a letter to the studios."

Luckily, Fox listened to the demands of those purchasers and have decided to release a Season 1 Volume 2 set to go alone with the DVD and Blu Ray release of Glee Complete Season 1. Life is good again :-) Power to the people. Look for it in stores September 14.