Archer’s Sniping Point #3
Stan Lee and Whoever killed the Halo Movie have lost their minds..
Now my weekend is packed to the fullest of things I need to do but I did not update this week. I am happy for this becuase my recent trip to the movie theater has left me furious for two reasons. Before I go into that, congrats to Justin on NHBG moving down so far in Top Web Comic voting and a big congrats to R3v on his new comic, Divine Wrath (also some kick ass Halo 3 clan…)
Now where was I, oh yeah piece of crap things that happened at the movies. Like many of you, I was off seeing Wolverine, praying Logan’s berserker claws could slash the horrid memories of the tragic third x-men “movie”. I, unfortunately, came out of there beginning to hate Stan Lee and Marvel. For me to go forward with this, I need to go back in time. When Marvel started having its, no our precious comic book heroes and villains made into movies, they outsourced them to other studios instead of making them in house. 20th Century owns the rights to the X-Men films, Spider-Man belongs to Sony, Fantastic Four is also 20th Century Fox, and Ghost Rider belonged to Columbia (the Hulk movie with Eric Bana did not happen and is just a figment of your imagination). The majority of these sucked..big time. I enjoyed only the second Spider-Man and the X-Men were on the right track until Bryan Singer cheated with DC. The reason these were crappy was becuase the comics were mixed and matched like Puzz 3D and a Care Bear’s flat puzzle.
Marvel’s plan was to take all the money they made and put it into their own studio to make more comic movies. Three of Marvel’s heroes have gotten a treatment, or re-treatment, Iron Man, Hulk, and Wolverine. The first two, released last May and June, did very well for themselves. The Hulk is my least favorite hero and I truly enjoyed that film.
This brings me back to Weapon X. Remember how the X-Men series was done by 20th Century Fox….well so was Logan’s origin. Fox and Marvel had the right idea to restart the X-Men with Wolverine. He came to the forefront of the trilogy and has some of the deepest background with a large mixture of other mutants. The main problem is that there are a lot fo characters Wolverine is involved with and 20th Century Fox tried to fit them all in during the first film. Yes there is Stryker’s team Logan was apart of but beyond that there is only, at max, two other mutants that needed to be in the film. 20th Century was too busy setting up more origin films, the trilogy that already happened, and focusing on every other character in the film. They seemed to have forgotten something….WOLVERINE. I know his story is told by the way of everyone around him suffering but to be honest, I went to see Wolverine kick some major Sabertooth hide. I am not going to spoil anything with exact details. I guess you may enjoy the film if you are just looking for a comic book hero action orgasm. If you are a fan and have any shred of knowledge of our beloved adamantium warrior, this will disappoint you.
How does the Halo movie fit in with this you may ask and I can answer that very simply. Go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSgLOvH_MMk and watch first……….did you see it. Okay, Director Neil Blomkamp has a big picture hitting at the end of the summer blockbuster season, produced by Peter “Hobbit” Jackson. If you are not a Halo fanatic like myself, then you may need to be caught up to speed. In a nutshell: There was going to be a Halo movie with Peter Jackson and Weta workshops helming the project. Jackson wanted Blomkamp to direct it and adapt the Halo novel, “The Fall of Reach”. When they went to the studios for more money, the studios dropped it and it is currently in pre-production limbo. Jackson, Weta, and Blomkamp was approached by Bungie to blitz the gaming media and gamers with a few live action clips. If you have not caught them, google Halo live action commercials or something to that nature. They had working Warthogs, CG’ed Brutes, Banshee’s, ghosts, and a ton of . Some of the battle sequences were amazing and showed promise to what 120 minutes of Halo on the big screen could be.
Jackson and Blomkamp have done it again…they have slapped Microsoft and the Hollywood studios in the face. The two of them are standing on their hill looking up at the high corporate walls and shouting “Piss off!”, at least I think that is what they are doing. Maybe in August when I walk out of the movie District 9, so will some Microsoft and Hollywood executive thinking..”Man that was awesome, let’s get them to re-open the Halo idea and give them a shot and all the money they need…”
MY sight’s are set on a very important day in the near future…and no its not commencement on May 16th. This coming Wednesday, May 4th, I will be receiving The Real Ghostbusters Volume 1 and X-Men the animated series volume 1 on DVD. Both were very cheap on Amazon. I will be watching them all day minus the time I will be spending on campus at night.
Speaking of which, this Tuesday I get to meet a movie producer who has worked on countless aweosme mvoies, some include the Transformers series and the new Star Trek. On Wednesday, we willbe hosting an Evening with Kelsey Ford. If you have seen Adventureland, she is the girl in the beginning who dumps the main character, starting the chain reaction of the entire movie.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
….Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. I know you are someone who is not actually amazon.com so why promote them on twitter here…in a rant?
May 5th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Sorry, sometimes they get through the spam filters.
May 5th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Oh don’t worry about it. I just felt it was prudent to respond to it in the way I did…
anyone have any comments on my thought’s? The voices in my head would also appreciate some outside criticism. It’s weird..normally they argue but in the end they always end up siding together against me. I actually have a bet going..if more people agree with me than them…they won’t shut down my brain
May 5th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I saw “Wolverine” on Friday, and as blasphemous as this is going to sound, I enjoyed the movie. I don’t know if I would go so far as to call it a good movie, but the action was good, and for me the film amounted to an enjoyable time at the theater. At the very least, it was a whole lot better than the god-awful X3 movie.
That said, I am not in any way, shape, or form a Wolverine (the character, that is) fan or even a comic book fan in general. I’ve never read or followed comics in any form, unless you count Calvin and Hobbes. I have, however, enjoyed various Saturday morning cartoons and the like detailing the exploits of various Batmen, Spidermen, X-Men, and other Super-type men and/or women. So while I like superhero media, I am not an expert on or even familiar with any of their back-stories. I would imagine that I’m the audience that the makers of the “Wolverine” movie were targeting. If that is the case, and if others like me also enjoyed the film, then I would have to say that the filmmakers did their job well.
On the other hand, I can easily understand a comic fan’s disappointment with the movie. It likely resembles the ire and frustration I will be feeling when I go see “Star Trek” in a couple of weeks. It surely resembles the abject hatred I have for the loathsome “Prince Caspian” movie. It boils down to this: if the original source material was good enough to gain the subject enough of a following to justify making it into a *summer* movie, why do you need to change it? Prince Caspian is a classic book! Who do you think you are Mr. Writer/Director/Producer, that you feel you can improve upon what is widely considered a *masterpiece*! And you know what? Those changes you made *aren’t* an improvement. Just because most people won’t know the difference doesn’t give you the right to make changes for whatever unknown reason you felt you had to do so.
So, what do I think about the Wolverine movie? I still enjoyed it. Would I have enjoyed it more had it been kept true to the source material? Almost certainly. Would I have enjoyed it less had they done so? No way.
There you have it. I don’t know if this will help you win the bet with those voices, Arch, but at least you have your outside criticism. Oh, and I do agree with your thoughts on the Halo movie. District 9 looks awesome.
May 5th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Thanks for the input Fry. I am in the same boat with Star Trek as you were with Wolverine. I am a huge fan of Sci Fi but I have not watched one complete episode of Star trek from any of the series. The action and cast of characters (the actors mainly) is what is drawing me to the theater on Friday…besides it t being a summer Blockbuster becuase I go see them no matter what.
The overall feel of the Wolverine movie was good. They definitely hit some key points in the movie and I can understandably where Fox and Marvel came form by trying to hit on key points for 30 billion characters. It equals more movies which means more money for them. I just wish they weren’t greedy bastards and they would hit on the source material and do it justice.
May 6th, 2009 at 7:20 am
I just saw XMen Origins as well, and for what it was, I liked it. Despite the fact that it was an origins movie that was centered around Wolverine, they did show alot of back stories to many other Marvel characters, such as my personal favorite, Gambit. (I liked what they did with him in the movie.) Anyhow, as I said, for what it was, it was good.
They definitely put in many characters that didnt really have much to do with the Wolverine Origins comic series, but they compressed it as much as possible while still trying to stay true to the source material.
I kind of wish they touched upon Wolverine’s time spent in Japan after his wife’s death where he learned about Bushido, and actually mastered another blade other then his naturally endowed ones. But, we cant have it all I guess.
Anyhow, the only real problem I had was with the Wade Wilson character played by Ryan Reynolds. Initially he was very true to how Deadpool should have been portrayed, however in the end, he was so far left of who Deadpool truly was, well, it was kind of sad.
Although they stayed close to the original idea of what happened (yes, Deadpool was part of the Weapon X program, yes, Deadpool had Wolverine’s DNA grafted to his own, and yes, he gained regenerative powers, surpassing even those of Wolverine’s and Sabertooth’s.) But everything else, I wont mention any more because I dont want to give too much away for people who hadnt seen it.
Anyhow, again, for the third time, I say, I liked it for what it was.
As for Halo, there will be a movie. Gamers demand it. Its retarded not to do one.
And as for the District 9 movie, Im excited.
May 6th, 2009 at 7:22 am
Oh yea, one more thing about Deadpool, stay for the end of the credits, maybe theyll do another movie with him. (What happens at the end is possible. He was able to do it in the comics as well.)
May 6th, 2009 at 9:42 am
@r3v3rend: In fact, they are http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118003226.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2563
May 6th, 2009 at 10:42 am
R3v, you do know there were 2 different after the credit scenes? The one I saw was Wolverine in Japan drinking Saki
May 6th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Oh and the main reason I was displeased with Wolverine…is becuase he was barely in it They were too busy setting up every other characters film franchise. This movie should have been called X-Men Origins: Weapon x or something…
May 6th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
wow didnt see that ending, were there two? fsck…
May 9th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Yep 2 endings. Deadpool’s hand/head and Wolverine in a kimono.
May 15th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Extra stuff after the credits!? Man, the one time I don’t stick around, and look what it gets me. *grumbles* I hate it how everyone tries to run out as soon as the credits roll, like they can’t get out fast enough. I usually stay, but there were so many people at Wolverine, and I was on the aisle, so I felt kinda rude staying while fifty people were trying to get around me. Next time I’m sitting next to Mike and the robots.