The Adventures of Captain Otter

We have some big casting news.  Several sources are posting that legendary actor Anthony Hopkins will be playing Thor’s father, the lord of Asgard himself, Odin.  While the rumors that DeNiro and Law would be in the movie are being debunked it seems (they were never too substantial anyway), this appears to be the real deal.  This is kind of weird, because I thought that Brian Blessed had the role, but I always thought it was weird that there was no confirmation on that.  And this leads to even more speculation as to whom Stellan Skargard is playing.  But still, Hopkins is Odin.

Honestly, this is a fantastic choice.  Hopkins is nothing short of a brilliant performer, and can’t you see him playing the wizened old father?  I can definitely imagine the classical Welsh actor laying down the law and being able to discipline his young, upstart son.  Because when Anthony Hopkins talks, you f*&#@ listen.  He also adds a bit of extra credibility to the movie, which is always good with a relative unknown as the main character.  While I think there are alot of actors who could play the role, Hopkins certainly stands out as a great choice.  You have no reason to complain about this.

There are even more rumors about the comic book adaptation.  Thor might be filmed in New Mexico.  It is possible that they are just building sets here, and the fact it’s in New Mexico doesn’t mean anything.  However, it is possible that part of the movie takes place somewhere in Mid/Southwest.  We know Thor is going to be banished to Earth, and some of the casting calls have suggested that the movie will take place in a small town.  The current comic books brought the God of Thunder to Oklahoma, so they might be drawing some influence from there.  The only problem is: what is there in New Mexico?  Once Thor comes to Earth, what does he do?  I guess this problem applies to wherever Thor may go, but I think it would be more fun to see Thor fight a battle in the middle of sprawling metropolis.  It would offer a higher contrast to the battles in Asgard, and we would get to see villains thrown through buildings.  I guess we’ll have to see how this one plays out.

Ah, Lobo.  What an unusual character.  The alien-mercenary enjoys nothing more than mindless violence and intoxication of all kinds.  Somehow, the character is lined up to get movie treatment from director Guy Ritchie, with production starting early next year.  In fact, a recent rumor suggests that Clancy Brown is being considered for the part.  Brown is known for parts in movies like Highlander and the Shawshank Redemption, but you might recognize him as the voice of Lex Luthor.  The guy certainly doesn’t have a big name, but neither did Ron Perlman and he nailed Hellboy.  So even though Superman can’t get a reboot and Wonder Woman and the Flash are still stuck in development hell, Lobo has an A list director and is fully underway.  Kind of funny, methinks.

But back to the title of the article.  Should Lobo get an R-rating?  Right now the studio is hoping for a PG-13, which means a much wider audience.  A PG-13 movie means that the violence and language would be toned down, and that the movie (if done well), would do better at the box offices.  Even good R-rated movies only perform so well, and a PG-13 movie would have a higher upper limit of box office success.  But hey, it’s a superhero movie and these movies should be made PG-13 so they can make as much money and be as successful as possible, right?

Wrong.  Here’s the thing.  PG-13 movies have potential to make more money if they’re good.  IF.  Some characters and genres just don’t work in PG-13, and the movie does horribly.  Could you imagine a PG-13 version of 300?  It would have been awful without all the glorious decapitations.  Instead, it went for the R and become a massive success.  Lobo is one of those characters that you need an R-rating for.  If you’re going to stay loyal to the source material (which you have to), then he has to kill scores of enemies and get messed up in every sense of the word.  Whenever comic book characters depart from the source material, things tend to go bad.  Case in point: Ghost Rider.  A movie that should have been borderline-R or at least a a bit more intense felt more like Spiderman on a motorcycle.  Same goes for the Punisher’s first outing with Thomas Jane.  You can’t have a Lobo movie without lots of violence and general brutality.  If you tone the gritiness of the movie down, or get rid of it, then you lose the soul of the character.  Once you lose that essence, you have a crap movie.

So I will admit that Lobo might need to tone down some of the profanity and excess.  We need some people to go watch this thing.  Punisher: Warzone was so over the top that no one went to see it.  But with an edgy director like Guy Ritchie, I’m confident that they can produce are a hardcore movie with a sense of charm.  That’s what the man does.  He makes moves about pig feeding gangsters and gypsies who knock the living snot out of people.  Cmon Warners, man up and go for the R.

Sorry for the lack of recent posts.  I’ve been busy playing Arkham Asylum and finding every last riddle, so my time has been taken up (that, and I’ve been ridiculously sick for the past week.  mainly the sick part).  But, I have beaten Arkham Asylum, and I know I’m not the only one who wants more.  With a character like Batman, you have a never ending source of stories and settings.  So where do we want to see Batman go to next?  The game did set up possible tangos with Two-Face, the Riddler, and Ra’s Al Ghul.  And we still have Bane, Scarecrow and Killer Croc roaming around.  Here are a few possibilities.

Gotham City

-Stick Bruce right in the middle of Gotham.  They could change up the gameplay, incoropating more of the Batmobile and less sneaking.  Still, I think they can easily create a game environment with the same chances for the invisible predator mode.  A big part of the game would be infiltrating enemy buildings from the outside, taking out sentries and getting rid of security and power.  I think a GTA sandbox style game would be too much, but a big environment with lots of opportunities sounds like a good Batman game.

They could use the Joker again as the villain, since he always works.  They could decide to use Two Face, who is a huge Batman villain that wasn’t featured in the last game.  The ending of Arkham Asylum included Two Face robbing a bank, so they could directly jump off from there.  They could also throw in other criminals like the Penguin or Black Mask for other new villains, or even Catwoman.

Batman could fight the mob, with some good old fashion Long Haloween or Batman Year one style escapades.  I expect Al Pacino as a boss if this is the case. 

Ra’s Al Ghul and Mass Destruction

-This would make for a very different game, but a game against Ra’s Al Ghul could be for alot of fun.  Chase Ra’s across the globe as he unleashes a plot to cleanse humanity.  Ra’s is one of Batman’s greatest foes, and they share a personal connection to boot.  The occasional castle of fortress is always interesting, and this would allow the designed to incorporate a wide variety of enivorments and enemies.  Not to mention ninjas.  Lots and lots of ninjas.

More Arkham Asylum?

-Another option would be to keep the game set in Arkham.  It did serve as an amazing location, and we can expect plenty more secrets inside the nefarious establishment.  Although I’m sure they could make another great game in Arkham, I think they should try to explore the rest of the city.  Now that they have the core mechanics down, they can work on making the game itself bigger.  There are still plenty of villains that they could throw in, and they can easily pick and choose the most appropriate of the bunch.  No matter what, I demand another game.  The designers can’t give us such a gorgeous, perfect game and not give us a sequel.  It doesn’t work that way.  That’s economics.

After months of waiting, I finally got my hands on Batman: Arkham Asylum.  And damn, was it worth the wait.  It’s probably the best game I’ve played this year, and the fact that it has Batman in it is simply icing on the cake.  Most games we see based of comic book characters are tied to movies, and that usually doesn’t work out so well.  Arkham Asylum was given all the resources of a normal video game, and not one thrown together before a movie.  Combined with flawless voice acting and a top notch story written by frequent Batman scribe Paul Dini, you have a gaming experience that shouldn’t be missed.

The gameplay itself was close to perfect.  There are three ways of proving you can be the Dark Knight: the freeflow combat system, invisible predator mode, and detective mode.  The detective part of the game is probably the weakest.  You get to use alot of fancy tech, but you don’t “solve” to many problems.  It’s still fun, and it definitely gives a full Batman experience.  And of course you can’t have a Batman game without lots of beatings.  The combat system is tons of fun, and certainly looks gorgeous.  It’s worth getting the game just to watch Batman in action.  And then there is my favorite aspect the of the game, the invisible predator mode.  Here, you get to prey on a group of unsuspecting psychopaths, and use all your gadgets and cunning to take them down one by one.  Only a Batman game can combine all these styles into one experience.  Think Metal Gear Solid meets Bioshock meets God of War.

The story itself is solid.  For a videogame, it’s one of the best, but leaves a tiny bit to be desired.  The beginning of the game has a great sense of mystery, and by the final boss battles the game has devolved into “go here, do this, done”.  It felt like I was just going through the motions from one fight to another, rather than working my way through the story like in the first half.  The game does explore Batman’s psyche and inner torment, but if you’ve read comics or seen The Dark Knight you’ll know that they could have done a bit more.

As for the voice acting, you couldn’t ask for more.  Mark Hamill (yes, that Mark Hamill) and Kevin Conroy reprise their roles from the animated series, and have only refined their talents.  Half the fun of the game is listening to the Joker’s taunts.  He’s just that good.  The general design of the game is amazing, and you certainly feel like you’re in Arkham Asylum.  If you like video games, then you should buy this game because it’s just so much fun.  If you don’t play too many games, but love Batman, check it out just for experience.  Crank the difficulty down to easy, enjoy solving the Riddler’s clues, and live out your dream of being the Dark Knight.  If you’re reading this blog, you have no excuse not to play.

When Chris Hemsworth was announced to play Thor, I was thrilled.  He wasn’t some huge superstar, but felt right for the role.  Marvel then chose another up and coming actor to play his archvillain Loki, who would have a huge part to play in the movie.  I figured that when they got Natalie Portman to play Jane Foster, that would be their “star power”.  She could bring people in, and the rest of the minor roles would be filled out by respectable actors who could do their parts well.  After all, you don’t need A-listers to play Heimdall or the Warriors Three, so I figured any other casting rumors would be small and cool, but nothing major.  This trend was confirmed with the casting of Jamie Alexander and Colm Feore, and I thought I had made a good call.  Apparently not.

 The newest rumor?  Jude Law and Robert DeNiro have joined up.

 WHAT?!?!!?!

How are there this many parts left for people to take?  I don’t know how many more characters this movie could use, or how this happened.  The rumor was revealed in an interview with Matthias Schweighöfer, who is auditioning for a part himself.  He says Law and DeNiro have already been cast, but is not revealing who they will be playing.  I’m not sure how reliable this rumor is, or how much this guy knows, but we can at least consider it.  I think Law must be playing Balder the Brave.  Balder is an important part of the mythos, and if there are more movies he will certainly have a substantial part.  In the comics right now, Balder is leading the Asgardians while Thor is exiled.  Law would actually be a great choice for the character, and I can’t imagine him playing anyone else at this point.  Although if Loki’s part wasn’t taken, I would have assumed he would be playing the God of Deceit.  The weird part is Robert DeNiro.  I have no idea who he could play.  Odin seems to be filled already (I think, at least), and that is the only role I could imagine him playing.  DeNiro would have to play an aged, venerable character with ancient knowledge.  Sounds alot like Odin.  Unless they want him as a human of some kind, I’m downright confused.

Still, having such well known actors is only going to give this movie more buzz and bigger number box office numbers.  A movie with Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and Robert Deniro is going to catch people’s attention, although I would like nothing more than to see Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston to dominate the movie as the two main characters.

Green Lantern is in a weird place.  DC has officially pulled production from the land down under, and is now looking for a new shooting location.  This is kind of a problem, since production was supposed to start in November.  They also need to make some more casting decisions, and it looks like they might have found their Sinestro.  The leading contender?  Jackie Earle Haley.

Haley has recently been seen in the adaptation of the Watchmen, in which he played the masked vigilante Rorschach.  The Watchmen wasn’t my favorite movie, but Haley completely blew me away with his riveting portrayal of the character.  The actor will also be playing Freddy Kruger in the remake of a Nightmare on Elm Street, and the trailer looks pretty sweet.  The man has done nothing but impress me, and I would love to see him in more movies.  So, is he a good choice for Green Lantern’s greatest foe, Sinestro?

Kind of.  He certainly has the acting chops, and can bring an incredible amount of emotion to his work.  But Sinestro also has this regal, arrogant quality to him.  We saw the perfect Sinestro in the animated Green Lantern: First Flight, and the movie should go for the same kind of performance.  Alot of fans have been clamoring for Huge Weaving to grab the part, and I still feel like he would be the best choice.  Haley doesn’t scream “Sinestro”, and I don’t think too many people had him high on their pick lists.  Then again, no one ever thought of him as a good choice for Rorschach.  If he can act well enough, he might be able to bring that kind of authority to the role. 

And if you’re wondering if he “looks the part”, that doesn’t matter too much.  Sinestro’s an alien, so he’s going to be covered in prosthetics and lots of CGI.  Makes casting easier doesn’t it?  We’ll have to see soon enough if this rumor is true, and it’s probably only a matter of time before they start making these announcements.

Most heroes are somewhat reliable.  Sure, Batman may walk a fine line, and many heroes are conflicted, but some guys are crazy by anyone’s standards.  I break down the top three craziest heroes and why we love them so much.

3. The Sentry

The Sentry is arguably the most powerful hero on the planet.  He’s basically Marvel’s version of Superman.  Although, unlike Superman, the Sentry is batshit crazy.  Certainly spices things up.  His archvillain is the Void, who I think is nothing more than a figment of his own imagination.  Maybe.  I can’t really tell.  Anyway, after drinking a special serum in order to get high (what better reason could there be to drink a mysterious serum?), Bob Reynolds inherited God-like abilities and the power of a million exploding suns.  Still, he can’t control those powers, and for every person he saves the “void” will kill one more.  Bob is agoraphobic and schizophrenic, and is pretty easy to scare away from big battles.  But when he cuts loose, boy is it something.  During World War Hulk, the green goliath was close to maximum power and took on just about every hero on the planet.  After alot of coaxing, the Sentry took on the Hulk, and completely lost control.  The two nearly destroyed the planet in their battle, and used up extreme amounts of energy.  The Sentry isn’t always written perfectly, but adds an exciting element of danger, even when he’s fighting with the good guys.

2.  Moon Knight.

“Mooney….rhymes with looney”.  Spiderman summed it up best.  Marc Spector started out as a wayward mercenary before being brutally beaten by his future archnemesis, Bushman.  Dying, he was revitalized by Khonshu, the God of Vengeance.  His powers are somewhat moon based, although he mostly relies on his own physical skills.  Spector has dissociate personality disorder (taking psychology taught me something!), and frequently sees images of his god, Khonshu.  Moon Knight’s impressive list of mental hiccups includes killing his nemesis.  If that doesn’t sound crazy, then the fact he carved off Bushman’s face and wore it like mask certainly should.  The guy even tried to take down Dr. Doom single handedly.  If that isn’t a sure sign of insanity, I don’t know what is.

1.  Deadpool

Was anyone else ever going to win this list?  Wade Wilson is crazy in the extreme.  At least if you talk to the Sentry or Moon Knight you can get a coherent response.  With Deadpool, you can never expect how he’ll react.  He might make you pancakes, he might shoot you in the foot.  Or both.  After being tortured and experimented on, Deadpool lost the plot and often struggles to maintain some sense of humanity.  Deadpool is also one of the few (maybe the only) characters to realize that he is in a comic, and breaks the fourth wall every now and then.   The merc with a motuh is completely and utterly hilarious, and is something truly unique in the realm of comics.  Let’s face it, when you think a crazy superhero, Deadpool is your guy.

If you like comic book movies, Jon Favreau should be your hero.  He directed Iron Man, and alongside Christopher Nolan, elevated the idea of a comic book movie to new levels.  Favreau is a bit of a fanboy himself, and has a massive understanding of the background and source material.  He was the guy who started bringing comic book writers in to help work on the script, a trend that just about everyone is now trying to emulate.

Fareau is busy working on Iron Man 2, which is setting up to be bigger and better than the first.  Seeing as the guy is spearheading the new Marvel franchise, many people are expecting him to direct the Avengers.  I would have fully supported this.  The guy clearly knows his stuff, and is a smart director.  But, it is not meant to be.  Favreau recently mentioned in an interview that he’s unavailable to direct the movie, and won’t be behind the camera.  Don’t worry too much though.  The actor/director is now adding executive producer to his resume, and will still be playing a big part in the movie.

 So, if not Favreau, then who?  Will Marvel pick someone who has directed another one of their movies, or will they bring in some fresh blood?  If Captain America and Thor prove to be successful, Joe Johnston or Kenneth Branagh could be selected.  I wouldn’t count on Branagh though, since it doesn’t seem to be the director’s style.  Thor is going to be a very personal story, and he might not be the best choice for the epic Avengers movie.  Johnston could come in, but he hasn’t talked too much about Captain America yet so it’s hard to say what’s going on.  And then there is Louis Leterrier, who directed the Incredible Hulk.  He really wants to direct the movie, and seems to have a good relationship with Marvel.  My guess is that they bring in someone new, although I really don’t know who this could be.  Matthew Vaughn, the director of Kick-Ass, has expressed interest in the gig, so he just might get his shot. 

Just as long as it isn’t Michael Bay.

Also, Favreau had a few words to say about potential cameos.  When asked if there would be a Samuel L. Jackson-level appearance, he skirted around the question.  He did note that a cameo like that could be added almost at the last minute, and filmed towards the end of the editing process.  So, if Thor starts filming in January, and things work out well, they might add in a little sneak peak.

So, Siege is coming.  My initial guess was that the big villains would be Doom and Loki, but Doom is off doing other things.  Siege is looking to set Norman Osborn’s massed hordes of villains against the remaining Avengers.  He has his Dark Avengers, newly restructured Initiative, lots of criminals and an international police agency.  So, whatever is left of the New Avengers is going to be teaming up with the Mighty Avengers (I think) and the resistance from the Initiative.  Not the best of odds, but the good guys have a trick up their sleeve.  The classic Avengers trinity of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, are going to be rejoining the Avengers.  For the first time in 10 years, these three are going to be on the same team.  This is big stuff for me.  The Avengers trinity is my favorite thing in comics, and the only stuff on them I’ve been able to read is old school.  Siege is supposed to bring about huge changes to the Avengers franchise, yet is somehow only 4 issues long.  Most events are at least 6 issues, and the bigger ones are 8, so I’m not sure how this is going to work out.  The writers seem confident that this is a good length, but maybe this event is as big as I thought it would be.  For now, check out this early pic courtesy of marvel.com.

 The other big event is Doomwar.  Never to be outdone by his fellow villains, Doom is sturring up plenty of trouble.  While the Avengers take on Osborn and work to end Dark Reign, everyone else is going to be taking on Doom.  The X men, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, and the Black Panther are going to getting into a big conflict with the supervillain.  Alot of this event has been built up in the newest Black Panther series, which I havn’t looked into that much.  A new female Black Panther and lackluster reviews don’t work with a pull list as bloated as mine.  Still, this mini event looks interesting, mainly because Dr. Doom is such a fantastic character.  The war is going to be waged on several fronts, and I’m sure there is going to be plenty of violence.  And it has Deadpool in it.  What else do you need?

So this summer doesn’t have a single massive event.  Instead we have close to half a dozen mini events.  Siege, Doomwar, X-men necrosha, X men second coming, world war hulks, and probably something else in the works.  I’m not sure I like this approach.  I know that all of these are organic and occuring naturally, but it feels like a bit too much is going on.  I hope we can get break this barrage of crossovers and have some downtime.

If you’re following comics, you should know that Dick Grayson, the original Robin, has taken up the mantle of the Dark Knight.  However, Dick might take up the mantle of an altogether different hero: Captain America.  Wait, what the bloody hell?

Rumors are starting to come in that Chris O’Donnell is entering final talks to play the icon we know as Steve Rogers in the upcoming live action movie.  If you know O’Donnell, you know him as Robin in Joel Schumaker’s Batman movies.  He hasn’t done anything huge since then, appearing in a few movies like Vertical Limit and a a handful of TV shows.  He’s current in NCIS: Los Angeles with the lead role.  The actor is 39 years old and around 5′10″.

Alright, first up is the validity of the rumor.  It comes from a fair source, but I’ll believe it when they announce it.  Considering how this only turned up in one source, I have a somewhat strong feeling that this is wrong.  The sources seem iffy at best, and the entire thing is sketchy.  I mean, it turned out that the Beyonce as Wonder Woman rumor was complete shenanigans (not even inaccurate, a downright lie in fact).  Anyway, I’m not too certain that this guy is the best choice.  He certainly has that all American quality to him, and in some ways looks like Steve Rogers.  But when I look at his face, he seems to old to pull of a younger Captain America, and not quite grizzled enough to look mature.  Then again, I havn’t really seen him in too much recently, so I might be a bit unfair.

 I’ll reserve final judgment until I hear something official.  At the very least, this choice doesn’t seem as clever as others.  Robert Downey Jr. was a flawless choice for Tony Stark, because he’s one of the best actors of all time.  Edward Norton was a good Bruce Banner because he is a great actor.  Chris Hemsworth seems like a great choice because he looks like a movie star, and has a certain quality to him.  O’Donnell hasn’t shown me he’s a great actor, or that he has a star quality.  I’d rather they take a guy a bit more like Jon “Don Draper” Hamm, who is just so freaking cool he could play almost anyone.  So we’ll have to wait a bit to see if this is true.  Marvel did say they would announce the casting choice in October, and this is an understandable choice.  When they announce who does get the part, expect a full report.

Update: Rememer how I said this thing looked sketchy?  Yeah, that would be because it is.  Comic Book Movie has taken down the article altogether, which either means Marvel is upset that this info got leaked or that this rumor is completely bogus.  I’m going to to go with the bogus answer.  You should too.