Guilty Pleasure #1

Miss Congeniality
I know people out there would disagree with my term of "guilty pleasure" for this movie but that's why it's mine and not theirs so suck you people who would do such things suck it well.
Anywho, for those who have lived in a cave for the last twelve years (yes, it's been that long), Miss Congeniality is about a homely FBI agent who must pose as a pageant contestant in order to find the killer who is threatening to blow it and everybody involved with it up. This one goes on the list because it's Bullock and a "chick flick" (another disagreeable term, I know). As a 28-year old male, I shouldn't like either of those descriptions but this one has just enough dirty to work. I mean, her undercover name is Gracie Lou Freebush, for Pete's sake. Not only does Bullock manage to make the humor a bit more "male" but alongside her is the great Michael Caine who plays the man responsible for turning Agent Hart into Miss Freebush. Caine is great in everything he touches, even is it's a crappy Jaws movie (look it up if you didn't already know).
This movie doesn't scream amazing at me but I find myself watching and enjoying it most times that I see it's on. One of the few "chick flicks" that moves far past the chick part.
Favorite Quote:
"Describe your perfect date."
"That's a tough one... I'd have to say April 25th because it's not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light jacket."

NB of the Week

Switching things around a bit this week on y'all (all three). I honestly thought Uncanny X-Force was the best book I read today (surprise) but I only ever give ya that rundown and you should know there is plenty of other great stuff our there. So here are the Hits of the Week:

The Mighty Thor #12 - After being replaced with Ulik the Troll and made to be forgotten by everyone, Thor kills the Demigorge (the God eater) and returns to Asgardia (yes, Asgardia now that Odin left) to reclaim his title and remind everybody of exactly why he's the Mighty Fudgin' Thor!


Daredevil #10 - DD follows the trail of bodies (literally) to the Mole Man. Turns out Mole was stealing all the coffins and bodies looking for the one lady that didn't judge him before he went all Mole Man and wanted to tell her how much he appreciated and loved her. Yeah. He was getting pretty creepy with that Corpse. Either way, Mark Waid has been telling some great stories with this new relaunch.


Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #8 If you're pissed at the movie changes right now, this book has all the right changes to make ya smile again. It's rebooting the characters with modern takes. Mysterious General Krang wants Baxter Stockman to make him the perfect soldiers and Splinter and the Turtles are proof that his chemicals work. In the background is Shredder (which we have only seen once but know he's currently working against Krang) so ya know some awesome ninja action is on it way, more so than they have given us so far.


Avengers 24.1 - Vision is back and dealing with a world that he no longer recognizes. And by that, I mean he's seeing that his wife is the crazy that's been tearing everything he did know apart. Cap is the only one who can help, telling him "There's nothing back there for you now. For people like us -- everything is that way -- forward. You need to look forward."


Spaceman #5 (of 9) - Honestly, not sure how to sell ya this one. Brian Azzarello is writing a story about a broken world where a test space-ape is the rescuer of a kidnapped girl only to be mistaken and..... something. It's a bit weird and confusing so I'm gonna hold judgement until I can read the whole thing at once.


FF #16 - Future Franklin has his own herald and it's a Galactus who just wiped the floor with Celestials from another dimension. All you can do now is clean and rebuild. Oh, and give Doctor Doom his own legion of Doombots, a new kingdom and a flippin' Infinity Gauntlet glove!?!


Aquaman #7 - Black Manta is looking for Atlantian artifacts that Aquaman and The Others have. Who are The Others? I have no idea yet but with Manta killing the first one in the first pages, they had better wake up and get to work.

Trailer Watch: God Bless America

These kinda movies are all the craze now and I'm diggin' it. This one is written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait which is awesome because I figured he died at some point in the 90's. Either way, this movie looks fun.
AND IT'S AN 'R' TRAILER SO POTTY LANGUAGE IN INVOLVED HERE.

NB of the Week

Wonder Woman #7 - il gangster dell'amore
A few more players are thrown into the God-mix as Diana tries to retrieve Zola from Hell (she was taken by Hades after Diana played he and Poseidon against Hera. Pretty bold for just barely finding out that she's one of them). After bringing Eros into their ragtag group, he shows them the way to Hephaestus who shall also help with weapons and such. Because fighting Gods is very tough to do with open had-slaps and harsh words. However, Heph serves a much larger purpose for this story: he informs Diana that all his helpers and workers are actually the male Amazons. As it goes, "thrice a century", the ladies would go out and essentially whore themselves out to boatmen and whatnot, getting all sexed up. Dreamy as it may sound, they then killed the dudes so the bliss is short lived. Nine months later, the Amazons celebrated the births of their daughters. And quickly traded Heph the sons for weapons. Instead of letting them be thrown off a cliff and killed, he put them to work, gave them a purpose and a life and raised them as his own. WW towards the end of the issue tries to free her brothers (a title she has never claimed or said before) only to find that fact for herself as they plead for the life of Heph and convince her they were actually happy. Hephaestus holds no ill-will, though, as he knows this is all new to her and she has been lied to as most are. He tells her to get some rest, "for tomorrow, you can go to hell."
I feel like a broken record with this one and X-Force. Azzarello has WW down. It's that simple. This is still one of the best books DC is doing and it deserves to be read.

Close Calls
Supercrooks #1
Mark Millar starts another "soon to be movie" comic from Marvel/Icon. A group of villains leave the over-protected America for Spain where heroes don't roam every street. Millar has some great and fun ideas with these Millarworld books and I've enjoyed them all so far. Plus he curses a lot and I tend to like that.

Justice League #7
Gene Ha steps in as filler pencils in the title & team's first, current-timed story. They have to fight the new villain called Spore before he kills his ex-wife. In a back-up, Johns and Gary Frank begin the restart of the new Shazam.

Wow. Just Wow.

I know I'm just a whitey from IF but what the crap with with all these dance movies? I just don't get the "craze". Here's the latest. I shit you not, I started laughing when I saw it was about kids.

NB of the Week

Saga #1
Brian K Vaughan returns to a monthly book since Ex Machina finished two years ago and I was far from disappointed.
Saga is the tale of Marko and Alana and their quest for a peaceful life now that they have a child. Only problem is that they are both deserters from their armies, one from each side of the war. As they run, they find that running faster than the war may be impossible to do.
Vaughan in on his game with this issue. It's pretty fast-paced for being a strait 44 pages and involving many alien races and creatures. Story still flows smoothly and I felt like you got the basics and knowings of all the "main" characters introduced even though there were quite a few of them. In soliciting it, they tried to use Star Wars as a comparison (and why not? That's a great way to get people's attention) but I actually felt like it was more Romeo and Juliet mixed into the Heavy Metal "universe" (not the crappy, second movie though). Horned man having a baby with a winged lady. Things with human bodies but tv sets as heads getting it on (may be the most memorable shot). Monkey's holding in their intestines while trying to live just a bit longer. Unicorn ladies who get caught lying by a Lying Cat (actually what it's called too). All the while, the narration is from the newborn child, Hazel (though it is from a future Hazel, not the newborn Hazel).
This first issue was mostly set-up but what set-up it turned out to be. Vaughan is amazing as usual. Fiona Staples' art is a perfect fit (never knew her stuff before but I'm definitely adding her to my radar now). This issue shows how great Vaughan can be and I doubt this series will be a disappointment.

Brain Tunes

Thousand Foot Krutch - Courtesy Call
I've been listening to the last cd from TFK and while they aren't always my favorite band, they tend to be decent through most songs. Honestly, not sure if this one applies or not. There are parts that make me cringe and parts that I really dig. I think I even like when they pronounce "everybody" all British and say "every-butt-ee".
Either way, I can't get the song outta my head. Hopefully I'm not alone. I always feel bad when I'm alone (insert joke here).

Boobs of the Day

Lynn Collins
After seeing John Carter this week (a pretty cool flick, I thought), Miss Collins was the main thing on my mind afterwards. As Silverfox in the Wolverine movie, she was pretty good on the eyes but as Dejah in Carter, she was gorgeous and badass. Tight robes and a lot of skin have me hoping that she gets her own spinoff from this one (though with it's poor showing, I doubt any more of any character will be made).
So I welcome her to the club. Even if it's not the longest stay.

NB of the Week

Thanks to work and being a little under the weather, it's a day late.
Deal with it.

Avengers: The Children's Crusade #9 (of 9)
THAR BE SPOILS AHEAD! STOP READING IF YOU PLAN ON READING THIS SERIES!
Here's the set-up to this mini: the Young Avengers go after Scarlet Witch after learning she's alive (two of the members are the twins that her and Vision had from many, many years ago, which is a long story in and of itself). After finding her, they also find out that she is "not herself" anymore and plans on marrying Doctor Doom. The Avengers and the X-Men get involved, both claiming responsibility for Witch and both being pissed at the Young Avengers for doing this after they were told to stay away. At the end of issue #8, we were left with the death of Scott Lang's daughter, Cassie (Stature).
Angry that Doom killed Cassie, Iron Lad demands they jump into the time stream and save her. They had every chance to stop this and they still could. When Vision gets involved, disagreeing that they need to leave it be and not mess with the time stream, Lad goes more ape shit and "kills" vision. With or without their help, Iron Lad is going to jump the time stream and fix everything. In case you didn't read the first YA series, Iron Lad is a young Kang the Conqueror, trying to prevent himself from being that person. It's in this moment that the YAs see him turn towards that path as he leaves them for good. The rest of the issue is pretty much just finishing loose ends. Cassie and Vision and laid to rest, the YAs disband and call it quits and Scarlet Witch vows to make right everything she has ruined. We see the YAs sitting out during the latest Marvel events (reasoning why we didn't see them during).
Months later, Ms. Marvel comes for the YAs, saying that Cap wants to see them. As they come to the mansion, they are surprised to hear Cap commend them. They found Witch when the Avengers couldn't and they put their lives on the line against Doom to save her and their friends. In his eyes, as Young Avengers or not, they've earned their title as Avengers. We are given a last page of them seeing Scott Lang in front of the mansion standing by a memorial statue of Cassie and Vision.

Not a "lot" happened in this issue but it's the perfect ending to this perfect story. This is the YA story we've been looking for every since they first came out in 2005. My only complaint was the scheduling. It was nine issue, bi-monthly. That's too long for this nerd to wait. Heinberg and Cheung should be the only ones working on these characters and I hope to see more from them at some point.

Boobs of the Day

This chick. No explanation needed.

Clif-Notes: Act of Valor

Act of Valor is the story of Navy SEALS who, after rescuing a CIA operative, find a terrorist plot to take down the U.S. Pretty simple. On paper. Reaction to it is another story all together.
Here's the good: the action in this movie is pretty phenomenal. It's top notch and you can definitely tell these are SEALS who know what they're doing as opposed to actors who have trained for the stunts. There were points where I found myself actually moving my body with the hope that the person on screen would move with me. It was a bit intense like that. It makes you want to go enlist just so that you can be that badass. The action really was that great and worth watching.
Here's the bad: everything else. With authentic SEALS, you loose all other aspects of a film, i.e. acting. All the badguys were decent and all the goodguys sucked. It was bad teleprompter reading at best. I yearned for them to go back to killing dudes just so I wouldn't have to hear their "memorized speeches" to each other. Nothing flowed naturally for any of them and it made following, or caring about, a story very hard.
Along with that, you had no back-story to the characters. All you know is that the one dude has a baby on the way and that they are all a brotherhood that dies for each other. Maybe if I was part of said brotherhood, I would get it but it came off as stale and as though I was in a high school gym, listening to the local recruiter who has note-cards telling me why I should care and join.
Act of Valor is a combination of movie making and navy recruitment but never really going one way or the other. The action alone makes it worth watching but that's only if you can try and get through the story and acting.

Sweet Cover

Skottie Young did this variant cover to the upcoming Avengers vs. X-Men run. My vote is for him to do all the interior as well.