About 911 times better than I thought it would be.

I will admit I was not expecting much from this movie.  Halle Berry has never before been on my list of actresses who are so engaging that I need to see whatever she stars in.  As far as I was concerned all she was known for would be a really bad Storm from X-Men and a really, really, awfully super bad Catwoman in Catwoman.  I have been told she did some good work in Monsters Ball but I was so annoyed about Catwoman that even the promise of seeing her topless could not entice me to watch that film.(X-Men image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category)

In a sense I’m actually annoyed at this film for not sucking more because now I have to take Halle Berry seriously as an actress.  I won’t say she made the movie happen but she was in every scene and played her roll very well.  Of course in almost every scene she was either stressed out or freaked out and for all I know that might be her natural state of being, making her role very easy.  Since I liked her for the most part in Cloud Atlas I guess she is starting to unbury her needle for me.  She will have to do a lot more great movies to undo Catwoman, but this is a great step in the right direction.

What made this movie good in my mind is the fact that the director Brad Anderson (Transiberian, Session 9, the Machinist (awesome movie BTW)) managed to take a pretty formulaic story and have my friend and I gripping our armrests in true tension for most of the film.  Having seen so many bad movies the part of my brain that actually connects with the films and feels such rarities as excitement or worry about the characters has shriveled up and more or less almost died, kept alive only through the occasional episode of the Walking Dead.  This film however managed to connect to that dejected little clump of brain cells and throw a wild fiesta for them.

That’s not to say the film is perfect.  Like I said, the story is really formulaic and about as simple and straightforward as riding a subway through a long tunnel.  Towards the end the film shifted gears from a cool CSI style crime drama into an episode of Scooby Doo meets Saw, but for the most part it kept the tension levels high.

The story.  Halle Berry (Cloud Atlas, X-Men, New Year’s Eve) plays Jordan Turner, a 911 dispatch operator working for the LAPD.  It is established early on that she is very competent and experienced.  A young girl calls in to report a man breaking into the house.  She hides under the bed but when the phone disconnects Jordan calls her back, alerting the intruder as to where she is.  The girl is kidnapped and later turns up in a shallow grave.  Flash forward six months and Jordan is now in charge of training new operators and no longer works calls.  One of her trainees gets a call from another girl (Abigail Breslin-Zombieland, Little Miss Sunshine, Signs) who is being kidnapped and is trapped in the trunk of the kidnappers car.

At that point the tension ramps up dramatically.  The phone the girl is using is disposable making tracing it very hard.  Jordan takes over the call and uses a series of really cool and interesting police tactics to try to find the car.  You get to see a lot of neat internal stuff that I hope is actually accurate and not just made up for Hollywood.  The girl kicks out a taillight and waves at another car.  She pours a can of paint out and tries to leave a trail.  The kidnapper (Michael Eklund-the Watchmen, 88 Minutes, the Divide) gets waived down by another car.  He kills the guy and switches the car.

The story progresses this way, with the police doing all they can to track down the kidnapper.  Eventually the trail goes cold at an old cabin his family owns.  Eventually the story changes lanes from really cool to kinda stupid when Jordan opts to Scooby Doo it out herself.  Things get creepier but dumber at the same time.

The stars.  As much as it galls me to say this with the taste of Catwoman in my mouth I have to give props to Halle Berry for a very credible performance.  One star.  Abagail Breslin was pretty good too.  One star.  I’m not sure how best to describe this, but the fact that the movie kept me engaged as well as it did was awesome.  Three stars.  Pacing was dead on perfect for the story and genre.  One star.  Seeing how the 911 dispatch service operates was very cool.  One star.  Overall a very exciting time.  One star.  Total: eight stars.

The black holes.  The story was stupid simple and so formulaic that had it not been for the tension it would have felt like filling out your tax return.  One black hole.  The villain was every sociopathic stereotype possible and extremely one dimensional.  They tried to give him some back story but for the most part it didn’t really work.  One black hole.  The Third Act was lifted straight out from Saw.  One black hole.  Total: three black holes.

A total of five stars.  I’m as surprised as you are.  I rolled into this film sharpening my canines in anticipation of delivering a brutal mauling to a crap movie and was pleasantly shocked.  I know I am enjoying a movie when I stop writing the review in my head and just watch.  This film got some bad reviews from other people but I think it worth seeing.  Date movie?  If you are in a relationship and know she likes serial killers go for it.  Otherwise not a good one.  Some of this gets pretty creepy.  Bathroom break?  The scene where Jordan finally leaves the dispatch building and goes driving out is pretty unnecessary.  Go for it.  Honestly if you just pretended they caught the guy when they raided his cabin you might enjoy the movie more anyway.

Thanks for reading.  I’m actually in town this week so expect to see a couple more reviews this weekend.  I might have to go to LA to deal with some stupid crap Sunday night.  Feel free to post comments here for this movie or my review.  Off topic questions or suggestions can be sent to david@nerdkungfu.com.  Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu.  Thanks again and have a great day.  Talk to you soon.

Dave

I have had about eight of my friends ask me to express my opinion on this recent major change in the geek-osphere.  To be perfectly honest, I am kind of apathetic.  Thirteen years ago, prior to the Phantom Menace, I would have seen this as a betrayal and disaster on the order of Benedict Arnold having sex with the captain of the Exxon Valdez in the reactor room of Three Mile Island and giving birth to the most treasonous, mutated disaster in the history of the universe.

That, of course, was when I still believed that Star Wars and George Lucas were paragons of sci fi virtue to which nothing short of season 4 of Star Trek TOS could compare.  However, like finding your sisters journal and discovering that not only is she no longer a virgin but has had enough action to put some porn stars to shame (at the time I remember being both really upset and jealous at the same time) George has ruined whatever virtue Star Wars ever really had by whoring it out to death and then selling it’s corpse to weird sexual fetish people.  Like a creepy child molester dressed as a clown (ugh!) he has put his filthy hands all over his own creation and touched all of it’s bathing suit parts in ways that will continue to resurface for decades and the question I have to ask is “Can Disney really screw it up any worse?”

Sure, as their acquisition of Pixar has proven they can’t absorb anything without infusing it with their weird brand of cheerful corporate smiley totalitarianism, but say what you will about them (believe me, I have) the one thing they are good at is making films.  It does seem that whenever they dip into the science fiction pool they seem to come out with John Carter of Mars or Tron Legacy, but as bad as films may be I would take all the bad in every Disney sci fi movie combined (yes, even Around the World in 80 Days) to having to watch even one full minute of Jar Jar Binks on screen.

The thing is, George Lucas might have been visionary and a special effect genius back in the 70′s but honestly he sucks at making movies.  Disney can actually hire good actors (rather than guys who should haven’t even been considered for the role of C3PO) and create a romance that doesn’t make me want to sterilize the entire human race.  While their stories are pretty pat and lame they don’t look like they were written by a brain damaged eight year old.  Most importantly, they don’t have a Death Star sized ego or the drive to control every aspect of the film.  They are fully capably of hiring good directors, writers, and producers rather than feel the need to do it all themselves.

I think the recent amazing hit the Avengers is a perfect example of that.  They seem to have understood that the fans didn’t want to see Tinkerbell team up with the Hulk (image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category) in a fight to save dogs from Cruella DeVille and for the most part gave us what we wanted.  I can only hope they have the same understanding with Star Wars and opt to stay away from giant racist cartoon rabbits who make me want to punch every fat white bearded man I see in the head.

So bottom line, I think I am OK with this huge merger.  Lucas scored big ($4.05 billion.  Remember begging your mother to buy you that Hoth Han Solo action figure?  Guess where all that money ended up) and I hope he enjoys it.  My only hope is that Disney hires Joss Whedon to direct the next one and he produces a movie that makes all other Star Wars (after Empire, of course.  I’m not asking for the Second Coming here) look like the dross they are, and that George Lucas is so shamed by what he did to a great series that he either moves to Tibet to become a penniless monk or chokes on his own bile.

Sorry no new reviews for a while.  Headed to Texas tomorrow and am painting my ass off tonight.  Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu.com.  If you have comments on this topic feel free to post them.  If you have off topic questions or suggestions feel free to email me at david@nerdkungfu.com.  Thanks, and have a great night.

Dave

P.S.  I suppose I should say something about Disney also acquiring the rights to Indiana Jones.  However, again, after the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull how much worse can they damage it?  Honestly, I was never that much an Indiana fan.  Also, can someone explain to me how the 13 crystal skeleton aliens all died in the control chairs for the space craft and the last one cut off his own head to hide out in the jungle somewhere?  What part of that makes sense?  You can thank Lucas for the aliens as well.

D

For those of you who don’t follow this sort of thing, Warhammer 40,000 just got their 6th Edition rulebook last week.  In the world of miniatures this is kind of a huge event, and as a fan of the game and a huge fan of the 40K backstory I have been following it closely.

So I came up with this scenario and am wondering who would win.  Space Marines are incredibly tough, with reflexes, strength, and training to put the hurt on almost anything.  Furthermore, they are to a man encased in advanced battle armor and armed with very destructive weapons (bolters, for the most part).  Finally, they would see the alien symbiote part of Venom as a xenos abomination and Eddie Brock as a heretic for consorting with xenos.

On the other hand, I honestly believe that Venom would be able to force itself in through the respirators of the power armor and choke to death or even spike the brains of the Marines inside.  His ability to enhance Eddies already high strength makes him capable of throwing a Rhino around.

It would be close, and I think it boils down to equipment.  If the Space Marine squad were armed with one or more flamers I think it would go badly for Venom.  I’m going to give this one to the Marines.

The Venom face I got from Dave’s Marvel Comic t shirts by the way.

Jason

Can someone please explain to me why this movie was made?

I’m not saying it was bad (I’m also not saying it was good.  Like so many movies lately it qualifies as entertaining and not a whole lot more).  I’m just saying that the best term to use in describing this movie is unnecessary.  It doesn’t add anything to the Spider-Man story as told by Sam Raime 10 years ago.  It is a reboot, but not truly a reimagining.  It doesn’t come up with anything new or exciting.  That acting is not any better.  The special effects are superior (after 10 years I would be shocked if they weren’t improved) but the action scenes are significantly less exciting or well shot.  Overall it’s just another Spider-Man movie that will fade into the mishmash of other mediocre comic book movies like an Alka Seltzer tablet dropped into a toilet bowl.

(Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category)

It’s really hard to do a review about a franchise reboot without comparing it to the first film and since today is the 4th of July and I have a BBQ to get to I’m not even going to try.  Honestly, this film, while better technologically, is not as good as the first Tobey MacGuire film.  Sorry fan boys.  There it is.

There are a few other words that could be used to describe this movie.  I suppose I have to give them competent.  The movie is competently made in the same way you expect your dentist to fill your cavity competently.  You would be shocked if he was incompetent and drilled the wrong tooth, or slipped and drilled a hole into your brain.  However, would you want to go to a tattoo artist who was merely competent?  Obviously competence would be a requirement for a good tattoo artist, but I would want someone both creative and artistic, with the ability to come up with something amazing that I had not thought of myself.  For a hallowed franchise such as Spider-Man competence is not enough.  There are no glaring plot holes, bad direction, or bad acting.  Just nothing mind blowing.

Another term I would use to describe this story is glossed over.  Every aspect of the Spider-Man story felt rushed and glossed over.  The spider bite?  Glossed over.  Remember how in the first one Peter Parker spent a lot of time trying to even figure out how to use his powers?  They sort of did that here but rushed through it and kind of, well, glossed it over.  Ben Parkers death and the dramatic effect it had on Peter Parker?  Glossed over and hardly mentioned.  Development of a villain to fight?  Glossed over.  The action scene were brief, glossed over, and felt included out of a sense of obligation rather than a desire to make an action film (I liken it to my mom forcing me to bring my little sister along to everything as a kid).  Even the romance between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, which seemed to dominate the screen time, felt stunted and malnourished.  Critical aspects of it was seriously glossed over.  I hate myself for saying this, but I found myself missing Kirstin Dunst as Mary Jane Parker.  At least she and Tobey MacGuire had some on screen chemistry and the romance was allowed to develop organically.  Here the romance is shoved on the screen and we are told they love each other but not offered any real evidence.  The movie feels like they took every minor story from the Spider-Man canon and trimmed off all the corners in order to fit them all into a single 136 minute film.  The funny thing is Sam Raime did the same thing and managed to come up with a great movie.  Here it all just feels rushed and abbreviated.

Another term I could use here is enhanced, and I don’t mean it in a good way.  The only time they really did anything different from the Sam Raime version is in making Peter Parker a super stud even before the spider bite.  One of the greatest thing about Spider-Man is Peter Parker was pretty much a mundane “every man” before gaining his powers.  In this film instead of being an awkward nerd about to graduate high school he is a good looking, skateboard riding, fashionable, scientific genius, contacts wearing hipster-esque dreamboat.  There is none of the “Peter Parker coming of age” development that so aided the first couple movies (emo Peter Parker in the last one kind of derailed that aspect pretty badly).

A final word I will use to describe this movie is predictable.  I don’t think I need to explain it any further.

Anyway, I could go on but won’t.  Here is the story: Peter Parker gets bit by a genetically enhanced spider.  Now go rent the 2002 Spider Man and you are good to go.  Substitute Dr. Curtis Conner for Norman Osborne, the Lizard for the Green Goblin, Gwen Stacy for Mary Jane (blond for red head, basically), and Police Captain Stacy for J. Johah Jamison.  Add in some odd ball continuity issues (how is it Peter Parker’s dad’s glasses are exactly Peters prescription?) and cut out a lot of the cooler story aspect in order to make more room for awkward chemistry-less romance.  Get rid of the huge sweeping camera shots that made Spider Man swinging through NYC so cool and instead use the camera quick cut editing that has plagued movies for the last five years for everything that even smells like action.  Throw in a grandiose evil villain plot that makes little sense and you are done.

By the way, a few weeks ago I posted a discussion as to why TWOK is the best of the Star Trek movies that I think applies to this movie in comparing it to the Sam Raimi one.  If you recall, in the first movie the Green Goblin was more or less motivated to keep his company from being sold out from under him and then to either recruit Spider Man or destroy him.  There was a personal and believable motivation that worked extremely well in conjunction with a well developed villain.  In this movie Dr. Conners seems to have no real motivation for what his sceme is, and instead of having an axe to grind with Spider Man he has some dumb plan to save humanity by destroying it.  The scope of the story actually hurts itself.  Movies are always better when there is a personal reason for the antagonist to go after the protagonist.  As soon as you expand his (or her) animosity to include the faceless unwashed masses of humanity you stop caring.  As an audience we need to connect with a character and care about what happens to him or her.  There isn’t enough caring to be had for the entire population of New York City.

Another issue I had was something Jason brought up a while ago about Spider Man running around without his mask on.  In the comics he was religious about always wearing the mask.  He never, ever ran around in the suit without it, to the point that even as a zombie he always wore the mask and talked about how it reminded him of his humanity.  In this movie he couldn’t find enough excuses to take off the mask while wearing the suit.  It’s like someone filled it with itching powder.

Finally, there were some real inconsistencies with regards to Spider Man’s powers.  Did he have spidey sense or not?  Sometimes it seemed like he did, like when he had to dodge bullets fired from three feet away.  Other times he couldn’t sense a bus coming at him.  Can he cling to buildings or not?  He seems to do it all the time but then at the end needs someone to save him and haul his ass up the side of a building.  When you see it you will understand.

Sigh.  The stars.  Comic book movie.  Two stars.  I am a Spider Man fan and will give it a bonus star for that.  One star.  No real glaring plot holes.  One star.  In spite of the difficulty in generating chemistry, I thought almost all of the acting was pretty well done.  One star.  I am a huge Emma Stone fan (Crazy, Stupid Love, Zombieland, the Help).  I wasn’t really digging her as a blond but still.  One star.  CGI and special effects were nigh flawless.  One star.  Overall I was generally entertained and felt I got my money’s worth.  Two stars.  Total:  nine stars.

The black holes.  Somehow not quite getting the story right IMO.  One black hole.  Very limited action, and what action there was felt purposefully shortened and rushed through.  One black hole.  The whole “glossing over” of so much of the canon.  One black hole.  Peter Parker as the cool kid.  One black hole.  It feels weird calling a movie derivative when it pretty much clones the original.  I guess I will have to say I am awarding a black hole for lack of imagination or vision.  One black hole.  Finally, one more for creating a totally unnecessary film.  This is basically the appendix of movies.  One black hole.  Total: six black holes.

A grand total of three stars, which in my mind is a terrible score for a comic book movie.  The Avengers scored a total of nine stars, and in my opinion is pretty much exactly three times as good.  I still want to see the Avengers a second time, and honestly would not see this one again.  Should you see it once?  Sure, why not?  It’s not bad, and you will probably enjoy it.  However, a year from now it will have faded into the background.  Overall it seems made more for kids that adults, and the kids in the audience seemed to love it (especially the little rug rat next to me who spilled his drink all over the floor, ruining my popcorn and more or less screaming through the first 30 minutes of the film until his dad had to take him out.  Kids are generally cool, but parents generally suck).  See it on a big screen, and honestly this is one of the few movies I am going to recommend you see in 3D.  Seems like most of the action was designed to go better in 3D.  Date movie?  I supposed.  This is another one that will neither enhance nor inhibit your campaign to get her into bed with you.  Bathroom break?  Dead easy.  The dinner scene with Peter, Gwen, and her family is 100% worthless filler.  The first time you see Peter Parker tap on Gwen’s window feel free to cut out, use the restroom, check your email, make a couple phone calls, and chat with the theater manager for five minutes.

By the way, during the course of writing this review I found out an answer to my original question as to why they made this film.  Turns out the Sony license for Spider Man requires them to produce a movie in a timely manner or else it reverts back to Marvel (Disney).  They had to rush something out and opted to go with mediocre rather than good.  Too bad.

Thanks for reading, and I’m truly sorry I couldn’t gush about this movie a little more.  It’s not bad.  It’s just not great.  Follow me on Twitter @NerdKungFu.com.  I don’t know if I am going to have time to see a lot of films this week as I am getting ready for Comic Con.  If you have comments on this movie or my review feel free to post them here.  If you have off topic questions or suggestions email me at david@nerdkungfu.com.  Have a great 4th of July!  Talk to you soon.

Dave

Anyway, Brave.  If this were a stand alone Disney movie I would have to call it brilliant.  As a Pixar film I’m going to have to call it mediocre.  Still entertaining, but just not to the standard that I have become accustomed to.

Have you ever known a couple who start dating, move in together, and over the course of time end up looking, dressing, and sounding exactly like each other?  This seems to be what is happening with the marriage of Disney and Pixar, except in this case it is Pixar, like the subservient personality in the relationship, that is evolving into Disney, not so much the other way around.  This film definitely has a Disney flavor to it, and I for one feels this bodes ill for Marvel laboring under the thumb of Disney.  Of course, the Avengers was amazing so maybe I don’t have to worry so much.  (Marvel Comics Con image courtesy of the Marvel Comic T Shirt category)

Let’s see if any of this sounds familiar to any of you Disney fans out there:  a young princess is being cajoled into something she doesn’t want to do by her parents and wants to rebel.  She meets a witch who gives her a spell that goes horrible awry and has to spend the rest of the film dealing with the consequences and trying to fix it.  This is where I get disappointed in Pixar.  I expect them to come out with some thing clever and original, not something so formulaic and Disney cookie cutter.

Not to say it wasn’t fun or entertaining.  (some modest spoilers incoming so if you want to miss them skip ahead a couple paragraphs)  The story is of young Merida, a Scottish princess and tom boy who loves archery and horseback riding.  She is the darling of her giant father the king, Fergus, who lost his leg to a terrifying bear Mordu, and the constant headache for her uptight mother Elinor.  She has three young triplet brothers who are total scamps.

Anyway, her mother wants her to marry one of the sons of the three clan heads.  She doesn’t want to get married (and given that she is like 14 in this movie I can’t really blame her) and causes all kinds of trouble.  She wanders into to forest and finds a witch who gives her a spell to cast on her mother to change her.  Her mother gets turned into a giant bear and it is up to Merida to keep her hidden from her father (who is known as the “Bear King” and kills all bears on sight) while trying to figure out how to reverse the spell.  Scottish highlander hijinks ensues.

As I do with pretty much all kids movies I will forgo my normal star/black hole rating system.  I generally judge them on how the kids in the audience reacts, and in this case they were enjoying the hell out of it.  Lots of cute action, bright colors, and funny Scottish accents.

The animation was as amazing as I have ever seen.  When you see it I invite you to pay particular attention to the animation of Merida’s horse Angus.  It is unreal how cool and real it is, while still being a cartoon.  The story is linear and simple enough for kids, but the characters and dialog are entertaining enough to engage an adult.  Overall a very good movie.  If I were to pick one thing to complain about it’s in calling the movie “Brave”.  While no one in the film acts in a cowardly manner I didn’t see anything I would consider examples of extreme bravery.  Normally if you call a movie Brave it’s because you want to impart some important lesson about bravery.  Maybe a young warrior froze up on his first battlefield and has to face the demon of perhaps being a coward.  I didn’t see Merida do a lot that would be considered excessively brave, and her father seemed brave enough when backed up by 200 of his clansmen.  The title of this film feels like a final comprise among producers after a long debate.  I’d be willing to bet the original working title was something like “Merida” until they realized it was pretty much exactly like Mulan.

So should you see this film?  Absolutely.  Bring the kids if you have them, or see it with some adults at a late showing.  You will not be disappointed unless you are a hard core Monsters Inc. fan.  Date movie?  Are you kidding?  This film was made to be a date movie.  If this doesn’t get her blood pumping plug her into a power outlet as her robot battery needs recharging.  Bathroom break?  Honestly this is one of those movies where it is hard to find a dead space.  No one scene is really critical, but they are all entertaining and add to the story.  If I a gun to my head (or, more relevantly, a bursting bladder) I would probably say the scene where Merida teaches her mother how to fish.  It drags on a while, and while entertaining is not really a critical element to the script.  Plus, if you didn’t have to use the restroom before seeing all that splashing water will probably make it a priority, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for reading.  Please vote for me in that contest.  Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu.  If you have comments on this movie or my review feel free to post them here.  Any off topic questions or comments email to david@nerdkungfu.com.  I am getting super busy in the next two weeks getting ready for Comic Con and the biggest Warhammer tournament of the year for so I might be cutting back on movie reviews for a little while.  I will probably see Ted this weekend and if I can find the time and stomach for it Magic Mike, although my early warning suck radar is blaring on that one.  Today I’m off the Sacramento, party capitol of the Central Valley.  Have a great day.

Dave

So I have a question about Spider Man.  It looks like in the new movie they are adding in the artificial web shooters that he should have had from the beginning.  I know I asked about this stuff before but another question occurred to me.

As any fan of the comic knows, Peter Parker used science to invent his web shooters and web fluid, which creates webs that dissolved after an hour.  While this is cool and all, I have to wonder about how Peter Parker keeps himself supplied with web fluid.

Think about it.  Spider Man shoots webs at every opportunity and in the comic he would often have to stop to replace his web cartridges.  However, give the fact that he is a full time student, photographer, and spends hours a day patrolling New York City when does he have time to cook up more web fluid?  He is pretty broke most of the time, so where does he get the raw material?  I would imagine it’s it made of pretty esoteric chemicals.  Where does he go to get his stuff?  Also, couldn’t someone trying to find him analyze the webs and track him down through his suppliers?

Anyway, that’s it.  This image I got from Dave’s Marvel comic t-shirt collection.  Very very cool IMO.

Jason

I saw a trailer for the new Spider Man move and I have to say I had my first “Uh oh” moment.  First of all, the one thing that Toby Maguire had right was he looked like the kind of dork Peter Parker really was.  They managed to emo that out of him in the last movie, but he looked exactly like what I would imagine Parker looking like.  This new kid looks like some kind of male model.  Sure that might work for the girls out there, but are they really the target audience for this film?

The second thing was in all the Spider Man comics I read in my life I can count on like three fingers the number of times he would run around in costume but without the mask.  It was so a part of his personality that he even wore it in the Marvel Zombies series.  Yet the trailers show him without mask more than with.  I guess they want to show the new guys pretty face.

Finally, while I know the quest to find Peter Parkers lost parents was a part of a few comics, first of all it wasn’t the burning question on his mind all his life.  He had a very pleasant childhood with Ben and May and until the Ultimate series never even seemed to care that much.  Furthermore, when he did find out he had to go to Algiers to investigate.  Another thing that made Spider Man so cool was the fact that Parker was pretty much an average kid like everyone else, but this movie seems to want to make him out to some kind of “chosen one” or something.

On the other hand it looks like they are bringing back the mechanical web shooters, which I like.  That whole shooting webs out of your arm sounded lazy to me.  Also, technically if he could organically shoot webs out of his body shouldn’t the web spinners have been coming out of his butt?

The Spider Man image comes from Dave’s Marvel comic t shirt collection, by the way.

Jason

Just got back last night from Big Wow in San Jose and I have to say it was a blast.  I thought I would do a post show report for any of you considering coming out next year.

First off, it was super crowded and busy, with a lot of cool guests and speakers.  This might be due to the fact that Wonder Con moved to Anaheim this year (they are supposed to be back next year) or it could just be a great show that is growing on it’s own strength, but it was super crowded.  Not Wonder or Comic Con style, but certainly busier than the Anaheim show.

The attendees: generally very cool.  Sunday was dominated by families, with a ton of strollers and little super heroes.  Saturday saw lots of teenage to young adults.  One nice thing about the mid to smaller shows is I get more of a chance to talk to fans and find out what they are into (generally comic books).

What’s Hot: anything Avengers.  I pretty much sold out of my Marvel Comic T Shirts.  Batman was really big too, with the new movie coming out.  I sold a surprisingly large amount of Flash shirts, but I think that has more to do with the Big Bang Theory than actual fans of the comic (Big Bang shirts did very well too).

What’s Not: zombie stuff seems to be dropping off.  Still sells, but I think the saturation point has been reached.  Same with Angry Birds shirts.  Video games in general seem to have dropped off, although I did do well with Umbrella shirts from Resident Evil.

The Venue: San Jose Convention Center is no worse or better than any other decent hall.  I will say the lack of carpet made for a lot of sore feet by the end of the day.  Don’t we all love standing around on polished concrete all day?

Parking: excellent.  Easy to get to and relatively cheap.

The Costumes: honestly I didn’t see a lot that really impressed me.  The 501st was there looking sharp as usual, but nothing new that blew my socks off.  Lots of goths.

The Girls: pretty impressive.  Lots of cute girls, and the ratio seemed well weighted towards the distaff (in other words, 4 guys to every girl instead of the usual 7 to 1).

Show low point: finding out that the snack bar right outside the entrance didn’t open up until the exact moment the show started and I would have to be in my booth.  I was forced to run down to the hotel coffee bar.  I also found out that San Jose now forces everyone to charge $.10 for bags.  As a friend of the environment I applaud that.  As a consumer in a hurry I find it a little annoying.

Show high point: While walking in to the venue after jogging to the hotel coffee bar I heard someone in line say “Oh, NerdKungFu is here.”  They must have recognized me, which makes me feel all happy inside.

This show also had me fall in love (or at least a very strong crush) with another movie star.  The star in question is the lovely Maxine Wasa, who came by my booth on Saturday, berated me for not having her size in a shirt, and then came back the next day and bought two of them.  I reciprocated by buying a very hot picture of her from her booth which she autographed for me.  I really don’t do that sort of thing, but she had a spark that entranced me.  She will be at Comic Con and I will go by her booth again.  She’s had a couple cool roles and is something of a name in the horror scene.  She just had a movie come out called No Strings 2.  I will track it down and review it, even though it looks like it features a demonic puppet clown.  A more freaky combination I can’t imagine.

One more cool thing that happened was a lady bought this Spider Man t shirt from me and then got a bunch of the artists at the show to sketch all over it.  Very cool, and I think it looks sharp.  I might have to start stocking more white t shirts for shows.

Anyway, I will see Battleship matinee today and if it as bad as it looks excrete my opinion all over it later tonight.  Thanks for reading.  Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu or email questions or suggestions to david@nerdkungfu.com.  Sorry for nothing over the weekend, but we were super busy.  Talk to you soon.  I have to go find a frame for a certain picture, if you know what I mean.

Dave

I was slammed all day getting ready for the Big Wow Comic Fest in San Jose.  If you are coming be sure to stop by my booth and say hi.  I will try to see Battleship tomorrow night but I don’t know.

I did have a weird moment today while unpacking this Thor shirt from the Marvel Comic t shirts.  I suddenly realized I wanted to see the Avengers a second time.  This is something I haven’t done since I started doing the movie reviews.  I just want to see the Hulk again.  I don’t have the time.

So look for a review tomorrow night, but I might not get it done.  Thanks for your patience.  Have a great night.

Dave

I was looking at some posters for the upcoming Spider Man movie and I realized the kid they got to play Peter Parker, Andrew Garfield, has big bushy eyebrows.  This would not really be worth mentioning were it not for the fact that this guy seems to just be the latest in a long run of young actors considered hot who come from the caterpillar school of eyebrow growth.  The obvious one is Robert Pattinson, the Lord God of Eyebrows, but the list includes Chase Crawford, Josh Hartnet, Joe Jonas, Daniel Radcliffe, the Jonas Bros, Charlie Simpson, Pete Wentz, and Jesse McCartney who all seem to have been grown in a tube in the same laboratory by a mad scientist who’s goal is to make eyebrows insanely popular as some kind of plot to conquer the world.

I don’t think it’s a big deal, although I tend to find them distracting.  The funny part will come when they develop cosmetic eyebrow hair plugs so guys who are less well endowed in the brow department can feel good about themselves.  Eventually all hot guys are going to look like the Lorax.  I am sure women will enjoy laughing at that.

This Spider Man image is from Dave’s Marvel Comic T Shirts.  I do like Silver Age style art.

Jason