Nerf goes to Asgard!

Dis little number here was originally posted on my ComicVine.com account... HERE

I'm a nerd who likes to play bad-ass. As a nerd, however, I'm not keen on the whole "getting severely injured" thing. As such, I dig Nerf's line of "safe" combat equipment (especially those damn swords).

As such, I was positively giddy when I saw THIS.

Yep, Nerf's making a Nerf Mjolnir, alongside some pretty cool looking Asgardian swords. So, now you too can feel "wield the power of Thor" without risk to (much) bodily harm. Hell, I picture picking this thing up and just hurling it straight at my little brother's big melon.

Okay, maybe I won't be doing that, but still. Am I the only one who finds this to be uber-cool?

Top 15 Justice League Unlimited Episodes THE VIDEO (FINALE)

Wondering where the finale was? NO? Well it's right here, so nyeh...

If you managed to stick with the countdown, thanks a bunch. It was a lot of fun to do, and not too hard at all to pull off. I look forward to doing more.

Until next time...

You CAN Kill Rock and Roll: The Death of Guitar Hero

After my grilled cheese sandwich lunch and a quick washing of dishes, I (as I'm wont to do) hopped on the internet today and read the din of those commenting on some rather startling news. That news, to those perhaps supremely unawares, is the cancelling of future projects in the Guitar Hero franchise by publisher Activision.

When the first game in the series came out in 2005, I was one of many who jumped on board with this more accessible, more American take on the rhythm game genre. After all, rhythm games like Konami's Guitar Freaks had been out for some time then, but between their J-Rock centric playlists and seeming impenetrable level of difficulty, they were more than a little off-putting to a mainstream audience. With Guitar Hero, we got to play the songs that WE liked in a fun and over the top presentation.

The series continued on strong with the sequel, adding meaningful changes to multiplayer and basic gameplay mechanics as well as adding a setlist that began the prospect of the fully-licensed playable soundtrack. It seemed like the series was going to stay around for quite some time, but then it happened. Harmonix, the primary developer of the games, jumped ship to join EA and create the Rock Band franchise.

For me, that spelled the inevitable death of the franchise. Already with the next effort, Guitar Hero just felt like it had lost its soul, and Activision would continue to push out half-assed yearly installments that "fixed" elements of the series that weren't broken, and evolved only when their much more solid, much more motivated competitor, Rock Band, literally FORCED them to.

And so today, though the news is startling (especially from a standpoint that Activision would kill off such a lucrative franchise), I can't say I didn't see it coming. The series essentially sealed its own fate by releasing so many mediocre entries in such close proximity.

Hopefully, the much more promising DJ Hero franchise remains unscathed by this news, as its my understanding that Activision has cut several teams (including the long in-production True Crime reboot). Indeed, the most unfortunate thing here is the people who have lost their jobs as a result.

So, so long Guitar Hero. You've gone the way of Disco.

Top 15 Justice League Unlimited Episodes THE VIDEO (9-5)

Back with fairly better sound quality, but still poor quality overall, it's part II of my JLU countdown video project!

The finale is coming up next week, and with it... an emptiness will take hold of my heart. Overall, with how well I think these vids are coming out, it'll probably lead to more in the future.

Now just to figure out what that MORE entails.

Until next time...

Top 15 Justice League Unlimited Episodes THE VIDEO (15-10)

To all five or so frequenters of my website, you may recall my Top 15 Justice League Unlimited Episodes countdown from a few months back. Well, as I'm constantly attempting to test my "creative" abilities in new forms.

That brings me to my latest project, a video "interpretation" of my Justice League Unlimited episode countdown. Heck, I figgered a countdown is an easy enough thing for a novice like me to tackle, so I dove into head first. After a few hours of work, I came out with a lot more experience, a more realistic look at the undertaking I've set forth for myself, and a video I'm relatively happy with.

But I've built it up enough, so without further ado, here's my Top 15 Justice League Unlimited Episodes (15-10)

There are a few things I could have done better that are obvious even to me, but I won't scrutinize my own work without giving others that opportunity! I hope to continue writing text reviews until I can set aside some time to tackle the next part.

Until next time..

Project in Progress...

For the last couple of days I've been feverishly working on something.

Something BIG.

Okay, it's not really that big of a deal, but it's definitely something I'm excited about.

I'll give you a hint. It's a video project...

Aw shit, that pretty much gave it away. Oh well, just stay tuned and I'll have the first part of this bad boy up in no time.

Until then...

Questionable Review: The Green Hornet

This review was originally posted on my ComicVine.com account as well as my Screened.com account. View those HERE and HERE respectively.

The new Green Hornet film is quite similar to the Frankenstein monster. Apart from the green motif that both possess, the two share a similar haphazard and patch-worked design. Where the poor creature in Mary Shelley's famous novel was sewn together with the dead remnants of human corpses, The Green Hornet is similarly composed of the rudimentary tropes of several different film genres. Is it a comedy? Is it an action film? Is it an action comedy? A buddy cop movie? Unfortunately, it doesn't even seem like the movie itself knew the answer to any of these questions, as despite some moments of genuine cohesion and quality, the movie just becomes an uneven jumbled mess. However, is it an entertaining and lovable mess, or is this monster beyond redemption.

SO WHAT'S THIS MOVIE ABOUT?

The Green Hornet is the tale of the incomparable Britt Reid (Seth Rogen). Despite growing up in the lap of luxury, Britt has never felt any sort of affection or sense of worth from his father (Tom Wilkinson), so when he dies from mysterious means leaving Britt his legacy as a newspaper mogul, Britt uses his new-found independence to prove his dad wrong by helping his troubled Los Angeles. Naturally, this means he decides to become a masked vigilante, posing as an aspiring crime lord in order to strike at the heart of corruption in the city. Of course, this would be the case if Britt was any shade of competent, instead relying on his father's mechanic, an engineering whiz, martial arts master and all-around bad-ass named Kato (Jay Chou). The duo soon find themselves in over their heads and stalked by the self-conscious kingpin of L.A., Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz). With the help of Britt's secretary, Lenore Chase (Cameron Diaz), the Green Hornet and Kato have their work cut out for them as they clumsily unravel a web of secrets and lies that may lead back to Britt's father himself.

SO WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT THIS MOVIE?

When Green Hornet is going for a straight "action-comedy" vibe, it genuinely works really well. Seth Rogen does a great job bringing his trademark humor to bear, and their are quite a number of straight slap-stick gags that are really funny. In fact, the humor and action that makes up the majority of the movie's first 1/3 and final minutes would have made for a much better movie if that tone had been consistent throughout. The action itself was quite good in its own right, mostly thanks to the martial arts stylings of the Kato character. Jay Chou is inevitably going to draw similarities to Bruce Lee's portrayal of the character from the short-lived television show, but I think that'd be unfair to both performers. Chou's Kato is charming, confident, and fun, nothing more nothing less, and he's arguably the best part about this movie. Christoph Waltz also does a phenomenal job as Chudnofsky, a villain so concerned what others think about him he dons an entirely new persona during the movie's finale. Lastly, it should be mentioned that Cameron Diaz actually does do a good job with a role that there honestly wasn't much to. She's superfluous, to be sure, but she does enough to distinguish herself as an extremely likable member of the cast.

SO WHAT SUCKS ABOUT THIS MOVIE?

The fact of the matter is that its inability to come together as a cohesive experience kills Green Hornet. Too often does it meander for too long of stretches into the realms of straight action or straight comedy and everything in between. The middle of the film is paced so poorly that, by chaotic final moments, you'll be wondering what the hell took so long to get to such a simplistic climax. The movie isn't full with enough plot points or proper character development to merit a lot of its padding, and one scene in particular, an excruciatingly long fight scene between Rogen and Chou, is probably the biggest evidence that, at some point, the filmmakers just ran out of significant things to make these characters do. What's also puzzling is the often manic and surreal visuals in place during the action sequences. Sometimes they work, but they're used so inconsistently that when one does pop up, it's more jarring than doing anything to add to the flair of the film. Also, I question the direction they decided to take Britt Reid, the main character, in this movie. He's almost insufferably unlikable at points (only managing to stay tolerable because of Seth Rogen), and the tired gag of "KATO DOES EVERYTHING WHILE THE GREEN HORNET FUMBLES AROUND" quickly grows tired. Some films have story arcs. The Green Hornet's story more closely resemble stalagmites, with any sort of character revelation or quality plot development occurring in a quick and jarring shot which is just as quickly followed by a steep decline.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Green Hornet is definitely one of the comic characters I know the least about. Sure, one could argue there isn't much to the character's concept, but I'm sure there are some people out there who have strong feelings about the portrayal here.

SO WHAT'S THE FINAL VERDICT?

The Green Hornet, at the end of the day, is just too sloppy. Would it have been better if the film took a more serious thread throughout? Maybe. Instead, what we're left with is the wretched remains of what seem like several good ideas lumped into an uneven monstrosity. It certainly has the vague shape of an enjoyable movie, but there are innumerable blemishes that make it almost too ugly to witness. It isn't the worst, to be sure, but skipping it isn't a bad option either.