Much better. It almost looks like they dragged out one of Tobey Maguire's old suits. In other news, here's a video of what Spider-Man would be like if his powers were scientifically accurate. It's kind of gross.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Spider-news
I liked The Amazing Spider-Man more than other people, but even I had to admit that the Spider-Man suit for the movie sucked. Well it looks like the filmmakers heard us, because new photos from Marvel and spy photos from the set reveal a new Spidey suit.
Much better. It almost looks like they dragged out one of Tobey Maguire's old suits. In other news, here's a video of what Spider-Man would be like if his powers were scientifically accurate. It's kind of gross.
Much better. It almost looks like they dragged out one of Tobey Maguire's old suits. In other news, here's a video of what Spider-Man would be like if his powers were scientifically accurate. It's kind of gross.
The Mandarin revealed
Ever since it was announced that The Mandarin, Iron Man's arch-nemesis, would be the main villain in Iron Man 3, I've been curious as to how he would look. Because he was a character created back in the 60s, the Mandarin had a lot of racial caricature in his design and motivation and there was going to be a lot of re-working to make him work in the 21st century. Well, Empire Magazine has got the reveal...
Love it. At first it seems like the combination of different elements (samurai top-knot, bin laden beard, Chinese robe, terrorist camo pants and combat boots) shouldn't work but I think they come together to create a unique but still recognizable look for the character. That and the vaguely Asian lair, the Iron Man helmet under his foot and the bitching sunglasses give the Mandarin the feeling of an old-school Bond villain. I can't wait to see Ben Kingsley in this get-up playing the kind of villain he should have been in Prince of Persia.
Love it. At first it seems like the combination of different elements (samurai top-knot, bin laden beard, Chinese robe, terrorist camo pants and combat boots) shouldn't work but I think they come together to create a unique but still recognizable look for the character. That and the vaguely Asian lair, the Iron Man helmet under his foot and the bitching sunglasses give the Mandarin the feeling of an old-school Bond villain. I can't wait to see Ben Kingsley in this get-up playing the kind of villain he should have been in Prince of Persia.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Review of the Jedi: To Catch A Jedi
Join the Serial Wordsmith every Monday as he recaps and reviews the new season Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Okay, where did we leave off last week? Well the Jedi Temple got blowed up, Ahsoka was framed for killing the suspect and ran away from Anakin by escaping into the crappy depths of Coruscant. Yeah, that about sums it up. And so we start this week with Anakin returning to the Jedi Temple with his tail between his legs. The council gets a call from Tarkin, according to him Ahsoka's running proves her guilt and it's starting to look like she was the one behind the temple bombing. She killed Letta to cover her tracks. Now we know that's not true, but that's how it looks to the characters. The council decides they need to catch Ahsoka but they don't want Anakin on the case. There's some discussion on the matter but ultimately Anakin and Plo Koon are chosen to go find her down in the shits of Coruscant.
The local cops have been alerted to Ahsoka's escape and are already setting up a search. Ahsoka calls Barriss to inform her of the situation and ask her to investigate from her end. Barriss agrees and tells Ahsoka to find another method of communication. To maintain her low profile, she smashes her comlink and pawns a cloak off some bum. It doesn't help though because the cops catch sight of her on the subway. That'll teach her for turnstile jumping. After a brief skirmish on the train, Ahsoka jumps into an elevator she accidentally breaks and ends up plummeting even deeper into Coruscant's depths. Oh, and there's a Twi'lek kid in the elevator too. While she goes right to cutting a hole in the roof, the kid just hits the emergency stop and they escape unharmed. But now Ahsoka's caught the attention of a familiar helmet...
More after the break,
Okay, where did we leave off last week? Well the Jedi Temple got blowed up, Ahsoka was framed for killing the suspect and ran away from Anakin by escaping into the crappy depths of Coruscant. Yeah, that about sums it up. And so we start this week with Anakin returning to the Jedi Temple with his tail between his legs. The council gets a call from Tarkin, according to him Ahsoka's running proves her guilt and it's starting to look like she was the one behind the temple bombing. She killed Letta to cover her tracks. Now we know that's not true, but that's how it looks to the characters. The council decides they need to catch Ahsoka but they don't want Anakin on the case. There's some discussion on the matter but ultimately Anakin and Plo Koon are chosen to go find her down in the shits of Coruscant.
The local cops have been alerted to Ahsoka's escape and are already setting up a search. Ahsoka calls Barriss to inform her of the situation and ask her to investigate from her end. Barriss agrees and tells Ahsoka to find another method of communication. To maintain her low profile, she smashes her comlink and pawns a cloak off some bum. It doesn't help though because the cops catch sight of her on the subway. That'll teach her for turnstile jumping. After a brief skirmish on the train, Ahsoka jumps into an elevator she accidentally breaks and ends up plummeting even deeper into Coruscant's depths. Oh, and there's a Twi'lek kid in the elevator too. While she goes right to cutting a hole in the roof, the kid just hits the emergency stop and they escape unharmed. But now Ahsoka's caught the attention of a familiar helmet...
More after the break,
Monday, February 18, 2013
Review of the Jedi: The Jedi Who Knew Too Much
Join the Serial Wordsmith every Monday as he recaps and reviews the new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Woo, Hitchcock title homage! Welcome back dear readers as we return to intrigue on Coruscant. We begin at a funeral for the victims of last week's hangar bombing. Yoda gives a very nice eulogy and Ahsoka tries to console Barriss Offee, she of the indeterminable accent, who was close with one of the deceased. Later, Admiral Tarkin reveals to the two and Anakin that Letta, the bomber, has been moved into military custody. Apparently because clones died in the explosion that classifies as a military matter not a Jedi one. Umm, weren't they trying to avoid that last episode? Whatever.
Tarkin also tells them that Chancellor Palpatine is trying to remove the Jedi as much from military matters as possible. Ahsoka gets very pissy about this and the fact that Letta's been taken from Jedi custody. She says a lot of things about getting justice on her that are going to bite her in the ass later. Tarkin and Anakin head off to a strategy meeting while Ahsoka tries to console Barriss, seriously what is her accent, some more.
Two things about this scene. One, how much does Tarkin know? His dialogue is very ambiguous here but it sounds like he knows Palpatine's secret identity. And given his friendly relationship with Anakin, does he know who Darth Vader is later? What's your deal Peter Cushing? Two, the Barriss/Ahsoka relationship. This is one of the things that annoys me about this show. It's a good scene and their friendship's been established before, but it'd be nice if we'd have seen it. The last time we saw these two together was like two seasons ago. The scene between them would work better if we saw them together more. And what is Barriss' accent? It sounds vaguely Mediterranean.
More after the break,
Woo, Hitchcock title homage! Welcome back dear readers as we return to intrigue on Coruscant. We begin at a funeral for the victims of last week's hangar bombing. Yoda gives a very nice eulogy and Ahsoka tries to console Barriss Offee, she of the indeterminable accent, who was close with one of the deceased. Later, Admiral Tarkin reveals to the two and Anakin that Letta, the bomber, has been moved into military custody. Apparently because clones died in the explosion that classifies as a military matter not a Jedi one. Umm, weren't they trying to avoid that last episode? Whatever.
Tarkin also tells them that Chancellor Palpatine is trying to remove the Jedi as much from military matters as possible. Ahsoka gets very pissy about this and the fact that Letta's been taken from Jedi custody. She says a lot of things about getting justice on her that are going to bite her in the ass later. Tarkin and Anakin head off to a strategy meeting while Ahsoka tries to console Barriss, seriously what is her accent, some more.
Two things about this scene. One, how much does Tarkin know? His dialogue is very ambiguous here but it sounds like he knows Palpatine's secret identity. And given his friendly relationship with Anakin, does he know who Darth Vader is later? What's your deal Peter Cushing? Two, the Barriss/Ahsoka relationship. This is one of the things that annoys me about this show. It's a good scene and their friendship's been established before, but it'd be nice if we'd have seen it. The last time we saw these two together was like two seasons ago. The scene between them would work better if we saw them together more. And what is Barriss' accent? It sounds vaguely Mediterranean.
More after the break,
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Crystal Skull: 1 Nitpickers: 0
I will defend Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull until the day I die. While I admit it's not perfect, it is and has never been as bad as the Star Wars prequels. And the people who treat as some historically awful thing like those are just being hyperbolic whiners. One of their biggest complaints is about the "nuking the fridge" scene, where Indy survives a nuclear blast by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator. "Oh, he could never survive that. This is just stupid", they say. Well guess what Crystal Skull haters, Science is on my side. Behold!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Review of the Jedi: Sabotage
Join the Serial Wordsmith every Monday as he recaps and reviews the new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Heading into the home stretch people, as we kick off the season's last story arc this week. And we start off strong with Anakin and Ahsoka flying in to halt the invasion of Cato Neimodia. Wait, isn't Cato Neimoidia already a Separatist planet? I mean the Neimoidians head the Trade Federation which is the backbone of the Separatist Confederacy. So shouldn't they already control their own planet?
Whatever, it doesn't matter. Anyway, our heroes fly in in their Jedi Interceptors (from the beginning of Episode 3) but it isn't long before they're swarmed by buzz droids. I meant to mention this back in the 100th episode review, but I like the buzz droids. A droid destined to just tear your ship apart is a clever idea for a space weapon. Plus, their saboteur nature ties into this episode's theme and title. Ahsoka avoids the buzz droids but Anakin gets covered with them, getting him knocked out and causing his fighter to crash. Ahsoka ditches her fighter to save her master, so she and R2 crash Anakin's fighter (on purpose).
I really like the back-and-forth between Anakin and Ahsoka here. It seems like we don't see them together much, despite supposed to be Master and Apprentice, so when we do see them together here it's nice that they have a visible relationship. Like Anakin and Obi-Wan. Anakin wakes upad thanks Ahsoka, but before they can get on with stopping the Separatist invasion of a Separatist planet they get a call from Yoda. He says they have to come back to Coruscant. Anakin rightly points they're kind of in the middle of something, but Yoda says what's happening on Coruscant is more important. The Jedi Temple has been bombed. Dun DUN DUN!!!!!
More after the break,
Heading into the home stretch people, as we kick off the season's last story arc this week. And we start off strong with Anakin and Ahsoka flying in to halt the invasion of Cato Neimodia. Wait, isn't Cato Neimoidia already a Separatist planet? I mean the Neimoidians head the Trade Federation which is the backbone of the Separatist Confederacy. So shouldn't they already control their own planet?
Whatever, it doesn't matter. Anyway, our heroes fly in in their Jedi Interceptors (from the beginning of Episode 3) but it isn't long before they're swarmed by buzz droids. I meant to mention this back in the 100th episode review, but I like the buzz droids. A droid destined to just tear your ship apart is a clever idea for a space weapon. Plus, their saboteur nature ties into this episode's theme and title. Ahsoka avoids the buzz droids but Anakin gets covered with them, getting him knocked out and causing his fighter to crash. Ahsoka ditches her fighter to save her master, so she and R2 crash Anakin's fighter (on purpose).
I really like the back-and-forth between Anakin and Ahsoka here. It seems like we don't see them together much, despite supposed to be Master and Apprentice, so when we do see them together here it's nice that they have a visible relationship. Like Anakin and Obi-Wan. Anakin wakes upad thanks Ahsoka, but before they can get on with stopping the Separatist invasion of a Separatist planet they get a call from Yoda. He says they have to come back to Coruscant. Anakin rightly points they're kind of in the middle of something, but Yoda says what's happening on Coruscant is more important. The Jedi Temple has been bombed. Dun DUN DUN!!!!!
More after the break,
Monday, February 4, 2013
Review of the Jedi: The Lawless
Join the Serial Wordsmith every Monday as he recaps and reviews the new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
I got it. Oh dear lord, I got it. And it was incredible. But we'll get to that. Welcome back to Clone Wars, where Sith Lords rule Mandalore and Lady Starbuck and her Boba Fett cover band are on the run. When we left last week Darth Maul had killed Pre Vizsla, head of Death Watch, to gain their loyalty and installed a puppet leader to cement his control of Mandalore. Vizsla's second in command Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff a.k.a. Lady Starbuck) was going to turn her back on her dead leader, so she and a bunch of other loyal Death Watch members had to escape. This is where we start off this week, with Maul in charge of Mandalore and Death Watch. They've even decked out their armor in red and black to honor their new leader.
Satine's still in prison but gets busted out by Bo's traitor Death Watch and some loyal citizens. We also learn there's some history between Satine and Bo. Hmmm... They need to send a message to the Jedi but Maul has blocked all transmissions out of the city. So prison break ho! There's a chase and a firefight between the two Death Watches but they get out of the city and Satine has just enough time to send Obi-Wan a message before they're swarmed by Maul's Death Watch. We cut back to Maul and he does the "all is going according to plan" like a classic villain because he wanted Satine to call Obi-Wan. Have I mentioned how much I like Sam Witwer's performance? Because it's great when he does this stuff.
More after the break,
I got it. Oh dear lord, I got it. And it was incredible. But we'll get to that. Welcome back to Clone Wars, where Sith Lords rule Mandalore and Lady Starbuck and her Boba Fett cover band are on the run. When we left last week Darth Maul had killed Pre Vizsla, head of Death Watch, to gain their loyalty and installed a puppet leader to cement his control of Mandalore. Vizsla's second in command Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff a.k.a. Lady Starbuck) was going to turn her back on her dead leader, so she and a bunch of other loyal Death Watch members had to escape. This is where we start off this week, with Maul in charge of Mandalore and Death Watch. They've even decked out their armor in red and black to honor their new leader.
Satine's still in prison but gets busted out by Bo's traitor Death Watch and some loyal citizens. We also learn there's some history between Satine and Bo. Hmmm... They need to send a message to the Jedi but Maul has blocked all transmissions out of the city. So prison break ho! There's a chase and a firefight between the two Death Watches but they get out of the city and Satine has just enough time to send Obi-Wan a message before they're swarmed by Maul's Death Watch. We cut back to Maul and he does the "all is going according to plan" like a classic villain because he wanted Satine to call Obi-Wan. Have I mentioned how much I like Sam Witwer's performance? Because it's great when he does this stuff.
More after the break,
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