Summer time at the movies

  Hello! I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer, or what ever season you might be in this time of year in your area. I hope you had a chance to see my last post, I know I said I would post more, but I recently moved to working over night full-time, it is a heck of a time adjusting.

  My Wife and I have recently decided to cut ties with the TV portion of our cable, now we just have internet and use Netflix and Crunchyroll. If you love anime you should have Chrunchyroll, it is amazing. It supports the anime industry and in turn the industry supports it. I am talking current episodes that have aired the day before in Japan, along with many, many other great shows. I have just started watching Toriko, it is a great mix of DBZ like action, in a world based entirely on food, these people love to eat as much as I do.
 
  I was able to see most of the movies on my list from my previous post, I will keep each of these brief.

  Amazing Spider-Man 2, I was very pleased with how they handled this movie, some people said it had too many villains, I disagree. Spider-Man is always fighting multiple villains at a time; it was not like he was fighting them all at the same time, each villain had their spotlight. I enjoyed every minute of it.

  Godzilla was also a fantastic homage to the old movies, it had its rough moments, a bit slow at times, but it got us to what was important. A monster show down that exceeded my expectations. For a while through the movie I was worried that they were not going to use his atomic breath, then the moment came and it was beautiful.

  X-Men: Days of Futures Past, I cannot express how disappointed I was in this movie, it had so much potential. They could have exploited so many avenues with new mutants, or ones that they have introduced in the past. It ended up being another Wolverine movie, do not get me wrong I love the character, but they needed to go another route with this. They sent him back to a point where he did not have his adamantium skeleton, making him useless against the sentinels. His part was minimal at best, they should have stuck to the comic story more. Further more they horribly weakened the powers of the mutants in the future.

  Guardians of the Galaxy was amazing, a perfect addition to the Marvel connected universe. Full of action to keep you on the edge of your seat, along with several "Wow!" moments to satisfy. There was so much witty banter between the characters I found myself laughing too hard, but I was not the only one. The chemistry between the actors was perfect, there were times where I felt as though they were playing off of each other and there was no script, and is was great. There were a lot of little extras in there as well, so keep your eyes peeled.

  Next to come out is the TMNT reboot movie, I am excited to see how they handled this.
Until next time.

Life, movies, and more

Hello everyone!! Sorry I have been away for so long. I have been busy with work, I got married finally, playing the new Pokemon and building an awesome team. Oh for Valentine's day I gave my Wife the new game Bravely Default, I got myself a copy too. I'll make a separate post about the game later.

This year is looking to be a huge year for movies. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is out now, I was very happy with it. They put in so many easter eggs, and if you have been watching "Agents of SHIELD" there were some rewards for you there too. One in particular, was a name drop during a scene with Agent Sitwell. I geeked out about that for awhile.

Several other movies I am excited about for the months of
May:
Amazing Spider-Man 2 
Godzilla 
X-Men: Days of Future Past.
June:
How to Train your Dragon 2
Transformers: Age of Extinction. 
August:
Guardians of the Galaxy
Expendables 3
and even the reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks good, now that Michael Bay saved it from that horrible monstrosity it was going to be.

That is pretty much my list thus far, I will update it as more get announced.
You might have noticed I skipped July, not much in there really, unless you are excited for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

Geek-tastic months

Oh boy my head is still spinning from all that has been going on. I have been busy folks, I do apologize for my hiatus. I was going to post about the Xbox one, but decided to wait for E3 to pass. Then I got distracted by awesome movies coming out, and I am finally once again employed which has taken a bit of my time.

First off my opinions of the Xbox One. I was impressed by its specs, less so by the functions they displayed initially. Then they tried to impose DRM and a mandatory online check-in every twenty-four hours. Since E3 they have taken those features away, not before trying to defend it though and practically calling the consumer stupid. First impressions are important in sales, they obviously forgot that.
 
Sony made some great announcements on how their system will be able to play used PS4 games, and that you will not need an internet connection or check in everyday. They also threw out some awesome games, and now I am even more excited. Destiny, Beyond, Transistor, so many I can hardly stand the wait, I want this system now.
 
Nintendo, though Wii U sales are not as high as they would like, is not out of the race. They have some great looking games coming, Super Smash Bros. I am excited to play as Mega Man. A game from the creators of Xenoblade, simply called "X" for now. I really need to get a 3DS too, I am most excited for the new Pokemon X and Y. I have played every single Pokemon game since the beginning, and I have loved all of them. I can not wait for the new generation to come, neither can my fiancee, we have been keeping up with all of the news.

And now movies, Pacific Rim is out and I think it is a lot of fun. Giant monsters and robot battles, how could I say no? I enjoyed the music, the action scenes were great, though the acting was sub-par that was not what I went to watch it for. I went for giant monsters fighting giant robots, and it delivered.

I also went to see Man of Steel. It was a good movie, though it had some inconsistencies and changes to story. One thing bothered me most though. When taken aboard the Kryptonian ship, he began having trouble breathing, and his powers went away. They said it was because the ships atmosphere. NO. Superman gets his powers from the rays of the yellow sun, not from the atmosphere he is in. He does not even have to breathe, which they even show in the movie a few times. Once while he was underwater for an undetermined amount of time, and he even went into the vacuum of space, twice. Things like that really stick with me, and make the experience less enjoyable.

Once again I apologize for not posting in a while, I will do my best to continue to geek out with you. Until next time folks.

Iron Man 3

Warning this post may contain a few spoilers, just so you know.

I was able to make it to opening night of Iron Man 3, and I had a great time. Iron Man is not really my favorite of superheroes, but I have a passion for any heroes or heroins. The first Iron Man did an excellent job of introducing the characters and establishing their backgrounds. The second had a lot going on, and seemed too cramped. What with Tony being taken to court for his armor, Tony slowly dying from his battery poisoning his blood, and mixing in some S.H.I.E.L.D activity to make way for the Avengers. It was just a lot of different stories going on for one movie.

Three takes place after the events in The Avengers, and Tony is apparently having anxiety attacks when ever someone talks to him about what happened in the portal. Then in comes The Mandarin seeming to antagonize Tony, not directly, with attacks across America. Tony then threatens him, telling him he is dead and goes as far as to mock him by giving him his address. This is followed by Tony's mansion being blown up and he goes on the run.

I found the movie to be entertaining, Robert Downey Jr. continues to play the snarky Tony Stark perfectly. There are scenes where he is interacting with a young boy, and the dialog is priceless. I do not want to ruin that for anyone, you have to see it for yourself. There is not much with the film I was not happy with, it had action, plot twists, and a lot more comedy than the other films. Some people might have a problem with that, but if I am laughing, even through an action film, I am enjoying myself. I say the movie was great, go see the beginning of Marvel's phase two of superhero films. And remember to stay for the end of the credits, I know they are long, but you will be happy.

Gatchaman goes Live!!

For those who do not know Gatchaman is a Japanese anime from 1972, inspired by the rise of popularity in henshin (transformation) series' like Kamen Rider. Gatchaman features five young heroes trained in the art of the science ninja technique. They fight for the conservation of nature, environmentalism, and responsible use of technology for progress and advancement. The main antagonist is a group of global terrorist known as Galactor, who use giant mechanoids to try and take control of Earth's natural resources. As you could guess, I am a huge fan of this series. I can remember getting up at four or five in the morning to catch the block of anime shows the local channels had running at the time. There were several, Ronin Warriors, Voltron, to name a few and of course Gatchaman. Though that is not what it was called when it came on TV here in America. It came over to America in several forms, from Battle of the Planets, to Eagle Riders. It was heavily cut for the violence, and they added sequences that were clearly of different quality. By doing so it was made even more into a kid show, cause we all know adults do not watch cartoons right? But I was young then and I did not know what I know now.

What drew me in the most about Gatchaman is that it was different from most superhero, action packed adventures that were out there. It had an on going theme and message, use technology wisely and protect nature. The plot was also continuous and consistent, something that is rare for a kid show and cartoons even today. They always used caution when using their bigger weapons, such as the bird missiles and the powerful phoenix attack. I really liked that they did not just go firing away, they thought about the consequences and any damage it might cause. I had never seen that before in anything, and I think it really taught a valuable lesson of think before you act. 

Back in 2005 ADV films released several DVD volumes with all of the episodes uncut for the first time ever in America. Both in their original subtitled version, and a new dubbed version. I was so excited that this happened, I was finally able to see Gatchaman as it was meant to be seen. And now the even greater news, Gatchaman is getting its own live action adaptation! When I heard about this I nearly jumped around for joy, okay I did a little. The movie is slated for a Japan release on August 24th of this year. They now have a teaser trailer on the official site, as well as some images.

Ken "The Eagle" Washio

TMNT

I was watching my usual cartoons recently and saw an ad for the new LEGO Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets based off of the new Nickelodeon series. As I am a huge fan of TMNT and Legos you could imagine my extreme excitement that the two have finally come together. Here is some great behind the scenes videos of the making of the new toys. I have also been watching the new series on Nickelodeon and I am very happy with it, there are some changes to the story but only to modernize it and make it relevant for today.

I am really happy how the turtles are once again making a come back. It was not long ago that they had another series that aired on 4kids TV, but it did not grab the interest they had hoped, though it did air for six years. It even had a season, or two, where the turtles were thrust into the future, but that did not go so well and I was not a fan of that much change to the story. The new series though reboots our turtles to when they are younger, fighting the Shredder and his Foot clan, and aliens called Kraang from a different dimension. We find out the Kraang are working on an invasion, and that the ooz that caused the turtles to mutate and also change Master Splinter from a human to a giant rat is from the Kraang dimension. I like the small changes to the story and characters, as it really doesn't change who and what they are. Mind you though these cartoons are for kids and are only spin offs of the comics, which are darker and bloodier.

As happy as I am about the turtles coming back, I can't help but worry about the impending movie slated for June 2014. It is going to be live action and is to have a mix of puppetry and CGI, as well it will be based more closely to the comics. That is cool, but as with other things from my childhood that he has tainted, Michael Bay is a producer with this project. I have also heard despairing news that the turtles will be aliens themselves. That is not the turtles I grew up with, they are mutants, four baby turtles that came in contact with a strange substance that they call the ooz. Raised by Master Splinter, who was also mutated, and trained in the art of Ninjutsu. That is what I grew up with, that is what I want, stop messing with our childhood Michael Bay!! I thank God he is not directing it too.