We built this city

Goddamn, is Arkham City impressive. I'm still only 25% through it, but wow. 


If it continues to this level, it'll join Super Mario Bros 3, Goldeneye and GTA: Vice City on my list of favourite games ever.

Gaming

I'm really not a gamer. I have a DS and enjoy the odd Professor Leyton challenge, but when it comes to keeping up with the latest games, I'm really behind the times.


But I'll be damned if Batman: Arkham City isn't one of the best games ever.


Admittedly, I'm inherently biased towards Batman, but it's absolutely incredible. Great story, great game play. Just the best.

Finding a lyric

My favourite lyric used to be the Kaiser Chiefs: "Knock me down, I get straight back up again, come back stronger than a powered up Batman".


Then I found out they say "Pac-Man" not "Batman".


Fair enough, the lyric makes a bit more sense, as Pacman was a wimp until he "powered up", but still. I only really liked it because of the Batman reference.


Now I need to find a new favourite lyric.

MI4 Rises...

...in my estimation at least.

Not because it has The Cruiser in it. Not because it features Simon Pegg. Not because they’ve roped in Jeremy “Hawkeye” Renner. But because they’ve announced that they’re going to be showing a prologue for “The Dark Knight Rises” before “MI4”.
Now I’m sure I could watch it online within days of its release without having to fork out for a film that I had only a passing interest in, but that’s not the point. It’s fraking Batman. It needs to be seen on the big screen. Seeing Thor’s hammer at the end of Iron Man 2 wouldn’t have had the same impact if I saw it for the first time on my laptop.
Either way, it’s a good move by the studio to get bums on seats for a film whose success would’ve been questionable. It’s just a shame that I’m more interested in the “extra feature” at the beginning than the film itself. And let’s face it, even if MI4 is amazing, after a scene-setter for the final Nolan Bat-feature, it’s going to look pretty shoddy.
Just saying.

Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind

So prior to my attendance of Batman Live, I went to see Cowboys and Aliens (because I was determined to have the busiest day ever).

Daniel Craig wakes up in the middle of the Wild West desert with no memory and a weird device strapped to his wrist. He makes his way into town and soon crosses paths with Harrison Ford, who plays a grizzled war-veteran-turned-rancher. Just as tensions between the two of them are about to come to a violent head, mysterious lights appear in the sky and alien ships begin attacking and abducting the band of cowboys and prospectors. With no way to comprehend what the aliens are, the townsfolk’s first thought is that they’re being besieged by demons, and set off to try and rescue their kidnapped family members…

Maybe it was because I’d heard all of the negative reviews and so I went in with really low expectations, but I didn’t think it was anywhere near as bad as the critics are making out.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not anything special. There are some great supporting turns by Clancy Brown, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano, all of whom could have done with being in the film more. Olivia Wilde is fairly bland as the love interest, and Daniel Craig is charismatic enough as the action hero. Whilst I’m not a huge fan of him as Bond, when he’s not being 007 I’m reminded that he is actually a strong actor. Let’s not forget Layer Cake, which is hugely underrated.

But then there’s Harrison Ford.

Grumpy, miserable Harrison Ford.

I’m not even sure if he’s acting in the film, because in all of the promotional publicity for the film he seems just as grumpy and miserable as his character does on screen. What’s he got to be so miserable about? He was Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He’s an icon. To an entire generation he is their childhood. I mean, true Hollywood Homicide was one of the worst films of the noughties, and true, I’ve almost entirely wiped the last Indiana Jones film from my memory because it’s such a travesty, but still. He’s Harrison freaking Ford! Cheer up. It’s depressing to see someone you idolised as a kid slowly become the Victor Meldrew of Hollywood. Anyway, protestations aside, Ford’s grumpiness works for the role.

The aliens aren’t that scary and some of the action scenes could have done with being a bit more action packed. The film actually works better for the first thirty or forty minutes when they’re playing it as a straight Western, and I can’t help but feel that if they had given it a different title and kept the aliens a secret, they could have had a twist as pleasantly surprising as the one in From Dusk ‘til Dawn. But let’s face it, with a studio film like this, that was never going to happen.

Overall a fun yet somewhat hollow watch, which would be perfect for a family viewing on a Sunday afternoon. 

Going for a song

After the awesomeness of Batman Live (see yesterday’s post), how could my Saturday night have gotten any better?

Well for starters, after the show, we headed back to the Sky bar (as mentioned previously) where I began drinking Hoegaarden’s like they were going out of fashion. Apparently singing “I’ve got Hoes, in different area codes” (of course a reference to the alcoholic beverage) is only acceptable if your wife isn’t there to hear.

After they kicked us out of the Sky bar (we were the last ones there unsurprisingly), we wandered aimless as a cloud (or more accurately several clouds) until settling on another bar where we could continue drinking. By this point I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to get to eat anything to soak up the alcohol until the end of the evening.

After several more drinks, we decided to call it a night – largely in order for the people who had to get the last tube home to be able to get the last tube home. Now at this point, those of us who were getting driven home (thanks Jake BTW), decided that the best possible course of action would be to get ourselves a midnight snack from McDonalds. My stomach did not thank me in the morning.

On the drive to the “restaurant” (and it does deserve the speech marks), I received a call from my friends Alex and Laura. After warning Alex that I was pretty hammered at that point, she decided she still wanted to talk to me. Now, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, Alex is in an all girl band called My Heroine, who incidentally are (in my humble and entirely unbiased opinion) the best unsigned band on the planet. So at this point, they play an impromptu song down the phone for the listening pleasure of myself, Jake and Paul. The song was brilliant, and had a number of references to superheroes throughout, making it the perfect way to end an evening already jam packed with comic book heroes and villains. My (admittedly somewhat skewed) recollection was that they had written that song specifically for me, and even if they hadn’t, I’m going to continue to believe they did until one of them corrects me. In fact, next time I see them I might suggest they call it “Wesley’s Song”. I’m sure that’ll go down a treat.

So, in conclusion, an absolutely amazing evening. All in all, my life is pretty damn awesome sometimes.

Incidentally, if you are interested in checking the girls out you can find them on http://www.myheroineofficial.com. They’re all absolutely lovely, down-to-earth and friendly, and personally I think it’s great to see an all girl band who: a) can actually play instruments, b) write all of their own songs, and c) are entirely unmanufactured. My personal favourite song is “Default Man”, with “Breath” and “Show and Tell” close second and third. Check them out and see for yourself. I’ve got a feeling that they’re going to be huge in 2012, so get on the bandwagon early…

The not-so-Dark Knight

I said on Tuesday I'd review the Batman stage show before the end of the week, so here goes...

So after months of waiting, I finally got to see the Batman: Live Arena tour on Saturday. I’d booked the tickets the day that they were released so I’d managed to get seats five rows from the front looking straight at the stage. The seats were great, we were really close, the only drawback being that as the Gotham City seats weren’t stadium style, it meant that you had to look over/around the people in front of you.

The whole experience was greatly enhanced by the fact that I’d booked our group tickets for the Sky VIP bar beforehand, which meant bypassing the queues and then chilling out before and after the show in the luxurious bar that (whilst crazy expensive) does have a free pool table, really nice seats, free massages (if you can be bothered to queue up), free face painting and a 3D recording studio where you can sing along to a song whilst your friends can see you on a 3D screen. There’s also a great amount of fun to be had posing in front of the paparazzi wall with your friends (pictured below).

As for the show itself, it was great fun. Moving away from the darkness of the Christopher Nolan films, the tone was much more child friendly, with a few laughs thrown in for good measure. The feel of the show was like Cirque du Soleil starring Batman characters, as the first half is primarily based around the circus where Dick Grayson’s parents are killed. The show has a bit of a panto vibe, with audiences cheering for their favourite characters when they appear for the first time. For example, I was very please to see Poison Ivy, although do have somewhat of a crush on Harley Quinn now.

The primary characters of the show are Batman, Robin, Joker, Harley and Catwoman, with support from Two Face, The Riddler, The Penguin, The Scarecrow, Ivy, Alfred and Commissioner Gordon. Personally I would have liked to have seen more of Two Face, but the context of show didn’t really allow for that. The guy playing The Joker is outstanding, making him like the character from the comics rather than trying to emulate Heath Ledger. As mentioned above, the woman playing Harley was the other stand out performance, she had lifted the voice directly from Batman: The Animated Series, however this was by no means a bad thing.

The really fantastic parts of the show were the set pieces, the bulk of which were in act two. I will warn that the below contains spoilers, so if you don’t want any turn away now.

First of all, the Joker’s first appearance inside a Jack-in-the-box looked amazing. All of the joker scenes upped the anti from there, with the Joker’s face looking brilliant and finally the Joker balloon (which is subsequently engulfed in flames) being the show stealer. I thought that the brief appearance of the scarecrow was also really well done - it was just a guy on stilts, but as Batman had been subjected to the Scarecrow gas, it worked. And then there was the Batmobile. Everyone cheered for the Batmobile. It’s not in it much, but by God, they’ve included the Batmobile in the show.

All in all, it’s a really great night. They’ve gone for a comic book / cartoony vibe and it really works. If you’re a massive Batman geek like me, then it’s an incredible experience, but even if you’ve only got a passing interest in the Caped Crusader, I still think you’d get a lot out of it.

The real Batman doesn’t pose. He just smirks and looks nonplussed whilst wondering why he’s surrounded by geeky idiots.

Too much to catch up on...

There's absolutely loads to catch up on this week, not least of which has been my awesome day Saturday, when I saw Batman: the Live Arena Tour.


The whole day was great and included a song from my favourite band, but more on that later.


I've also seen "Cowboys and Aliens" and "Winter's Bone" (finally), so I'll reviews them this week as well.


This week (thus far) has been pretty busy, and am now off doing things for the rest of the day, so the first of the posts will be tomorrow...maybe I'll leave you on tenterhooks about Batman. In the meantime, here's a little taster from the night...

One of these men is the world's greatest hero, an international playboy, the world's greatest detective, a genius level intellect and one of the most skilled fighters in the world. The other is Batman.

Like a little school boy

I’m off to the o2 tonight to watch Batman: Live, and am super excited. It’s been pretty much all I can think about over the last few days, and I’m currently deciding whether to wear my Batman T-Shirt, my Joker T-Shirt or my Two Face T-shirt.

Maybe I’ll go with my Batman print shirt (below).

I’m a loser but at least I’m comfortable with that.

My Batman print shirt that everyone finds awesome unless they’re not me.
Laura’s look in the background will attest to this. 

Trailer blazing

So Monday saw the release of the new teaser trailer for “The Dark Knight Rises” followed by excitement at the few frames that show Tom Hardy as Bane. It’s not a bad trailer, but personally I would have rather seen a bit more from the new film and less clips from the previous two. That said the line “every journey has an end” did get me more than a little excited in anticipation of the conclusion to the Caped Crusader’s story.

Speaking of trailers, in order to combat the “rise” of Batman teasers (boom boom), Marvel have released the first full trailer for The Amazing Spiderman. I wasn't really a fan of rebooting the franchise so quickly after Spiderman 3 (which admittedly, wasn't any good), but as trailers go, it's actually pretty spectacular. Speaking of Marvel, I'm also guessing that they'll start teasing The Avengers pretty much as soon as Captain America’s cinema tenure begins to close. More than likely it’ll all tie in to the post credit sting of Cap… not long to wait now. I’m still predicting Stark or Fury thawing him out.  

And whilst all the talk this week seems to be revolving around the final instalment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman opus, another trailer has begun to do the rounds. Looking to replace a huge studio budget with originality, the mysterious MH trailer seems suggest something that might shake up the superhero landscape in a way that hasn’t been seen since Kick Ass. I’ll be watching eagerly for more on this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W10Td90t-Y8&hd=1

Sometimes just a little can whet the appetite for more…

Earth’s Mightiest Cartoon

I mentioned yesterday that I had been finishing up the first series of “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”. And what a season finale it was. After “X-men Evolution”, the rebooted “Spiderman” cartoon and the “Fantastic Four” I had all but given up on the animated Marvel stuff…none of it was reaching the glory days of the nineties when we had the excellent “X-Men” and the spectacular “Spiderman” running at the same time. See, alliteration can be our friend.

Especially as DC then took the ball and ran with it, bringing out (arguable) one of the best animated series ever in “Batman”, followed up by “Justice League”/“Justice League Unlimited”, which until they ceased production I used to hold up as an example to anyone who said they weren’t making decent cartoons anymore. Then DC split into two different avenues of cartoon production. On one hand they were making the extremely child friendly “Batman: Brave and the Bold” and on the other they were created feature length animated movies that were entirely aimed at the adult market. Most of which are brilliant, especially “Batman: Under the Red Hood” and the two Superman/Batman movies.

So Marvel was left to try and fill the gap in the market for an ongoing cartoon series that wasn’t aimed squarely at five-year-olds. In my opinion the first real foray into this was the wholly underrated “Wolverine and the X-men”, which was cancelled after one series (disappointingly, it was just when they’d gotten to the Age of Apocalypse).

So I was somewhat apprehensive about “Avengers; Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”, partly because I was always more of a fan of the X-men than the Avengers, and also because it seemed like it was just another merchandising opportunity for Marvel to cash in on the wave of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America fever that they were hoping would sweep the globe. So colour me pleasantly surprised when I found out what a hidden gem this series was.

Firstly, it takes it’s time. This is a much overlooked and undervalued concept in television, especially cartoons. It really felt like the whole series had been plotted before they starting making it, and was all the better for it. The first five episodes (re)introduce the acquainted and unacquainted viewers to characters which they may or may not be aware of (bearing in mind that at the time of first transmission neither the Thor or Cap movies had hit cinemas). Characters like Ant Man, Wasp, Hawkeye and Black Panther were all given at least half an episode to establish them as heroes individually, before Thor, Ant Man, Wasp, Iron Man and Hulk formed the first iteration of the team in episode 6/7. Hulk leaves in episode 8, Cap gets thawed out in 9 and it’s not until the end of episode 13 that we first see the full team together, and that’s halfway through the series. And it’s not just the heroes. They set Loki up in episode 2 and throughout the series progress his machinations before he ends up being the big bad at the end of the season. Most members of “The Masters of Evil” get a whole origin episode, and Kang the Conqueror’s vendetta with Cap is set up from the very beginning. You really feel if shows like “The Event” and “Flashforward” had been plotted this tightly, they wouldn’t have been cancelled.

Secondly, the character development is great – a lot better than you’d expect from a superhero cartoon. Hulk can’t function as part of the team as he thinks they don’t trust him, Ant Man is a pacifist who doesn’t want to solve problems with violence, Hawkeye is in love with Black Widow and conflicted about her betrayal and Iron Man is trying his best to lead the team despite it being obvious to everyone (especially himself) that Captain America would be a better leader. The villains are well drawn too (some of them anyway). Wonder is conflicted by the fact he has to do evil in order to stay alive, and Ultron’s character evolves until he is in full-on, destroy the planet mode.

Finally, it’s just a bit more mature. Characters get killed (more often than not it’s off screen, but it does happen); with Black Panther’s father a prime example. The stories are action packed enough for children to enjoy on a superficial “look at Hulk smash” level, with enough ongoing story arcs and set ups for future episodes to keep more grown up viewers entertained. They’ve already set up stories for season two, which I really hope they make. Look forward to a Skrull invasion and finding out what happened to Bucky...

All in all, a great series that has really redeemed Marvel in the animated stakes. I can’t recommend it enough - it’s a really strong series.

But then, Hulk is strongest there is...

The next big thing?

Yesterday I was saying that DC would use Green Lantern as the watermark for green-lighting The Flash and/or Wonder Woman. But wouldn’t Green Arrow be the next logical superhero to get the big screen treatment?

Let’s look at it objectively. First of all, Christopher Nolan’s Batman series has been stupidly popular, receiving high box office figures and critical acclaim. Part of that success is down to the realism he gives all of the characters - there’s no "super" anywhere to be seen. Green Arrow could go down the gritty route, except that Green Arrow could make eighties-style wisecracks throughout. He could be a bit like Bond (before Daniel Craig made him all serious) and could go a long way toward bridging the gap between the Batman series and standard superhero fare.

Secondly, he does already have some more mainstream recognition. Anyone who has stuck with Smallville for ten seasons will know that Oliver Queen is a big part of the show (from about season 5/6 onwards anyway). Now admittedly the Smallville audience isn’t huge, but surely he’s got more of a mainstream audience than Green Lantern did? Throw in a Green Arrow related episode of The Big Bang Theory and you’re golden (or emerald).

Once you’ve factored in all of the above, cast someone like Jensen Ackles from Supernatural to play the Emerald Archer and you’ve automatically got ladies in the auditorium (as Jane reliably informs me that Ackles is "dreamy"). And to give Ackles his due, anyone who has watched Supernatural knows that he can do head-cracking and wise-cracking at the same time.

Plus, after Christian Bale said he won’t ever go near a Justice League movie, DC might want to go down the route of casting lesser-known stars that they could hold more power over (much like Marvel has started doing).

So anyway, just a thought. It’s not like I’m DC’s core audience or anything.

Green with mediocrity

So I finally saw "Green Lantern" the other night. Where to begin?

Let me start by saying that I didn't hate it - I think some of the reviews it's been getting have been overly harsh. That said, it is thoroughly predictable and doesn't offer anything new or exciting.

My main problem with it(as I knew it would be) is the over-the-top CGI. It got to the point when watching him breathe was really annoying. And when you're getting annoyed at the sight of a CGI character's unrealistic breathing, then there's something wrong with the film.

And what's wrong with the film is that it's actually quite boring. Beyond the predictable story-arc of the main character, there's the manner in which he kills the final boss, which is so telegraphed I actually groaned when he did it. Plus the mid-credits "sting" happened EXACTLY how I had just told my friend it would. Now obviously, making a by-the-numbers superhero movie is inherently going to be predictable, but after we've reached the genre-defining heights of Iron Man and The Dark Knight I've just come to expect some originality in these films.

Ryan Reynolds makes for strong lead as the Emerald Avenger, but I do think that part of his star power is also part of his problem - I always feel like I'm watching Ryan Reynolds and never the character he's playing. Blake Lively does her best to flesh out an extraordinarily one-dimensional character, and at least manages to give Carol Ferris a little of the feistiness that Lively displayed in The Town. Her and Reynolds have absolutely no chemistry though, which I'm reliably informed (by Joey from Friends) mean that they're "doing it" in real life.

Peter Sarsgaard is great as Hector Hammond, although he portrays his downfall so well that you're feeling sorry for him by the time he's in full-on villain mode. Mark Strong gives a -ahem- strong performance as Sinestro, making him just arrogant enough that if we do get to GL2 we'll believe his descent into villainy. Angela Bassett turning up as Amanda Waller suggests that if they do end up making some more of these "second tier" DC hero movies, then they may be a bigger over-arching universe. Let's face it, DC really need to catch up with Marvel in that respect.

There were some high points to the film. The first training battle between Kilowog/Jordan/Sinestro is entertaining and the only time where they fully realise the potential of what the power rings can do. Also (and this may be a British thing) but the guy who play's Jordan's best mate looks just like Moss from the IT Crowd (not Richard Ayoade, but the character Moss), which meant that whenever he was on screen I kept expecting him to say "I came here to drink milk and kick ass. And I've just finished my milk." Alas, that doesn't happen.

So overall, it's not really that good. I hope it does well though, as I think DC are using this as the watermark for bringing other characters like The Flash or Wonder Woman to the big screen. Which I really hope they do. There's only so many times that you can reboot Batman and Superman before I'll stop watching.

Ah, who am I kidding?

In Blackest Day...wait...

After a conversation in the pub last week I've been racking my brains to remember the Green Lantern's motto. Now, for a comic book geek this should be easy right? Except I've never been a particular fan of The Green Lantern. When it comes to DC, I'm all about Batman. I love the Green Arrow, can handle some Superman, quite like the Flash and can even dig Wonder Woman. But Green Lantern always left me a little cold.

Maybe it's having the ring that you can use to manifest anything you can imagine and not using it for personal gain (I always said I'd be a better villain than hero), or maybe it's the characters. Hal Jordan always just seemed annoying, John Stewart is as bland as beige paint on a Tuesday, Kyle Rayner is just a whiny bitch and Kilowog sounds like an STD. And Guy Gardner is possibly the character I like least in comics. So until "Blackest Night" (which was pretty cool) I'd never paid them that much attention.

But of course I'll go and see the film (just to know) and will need to know the motto if only to impress (read: bore), whomever I drag out with me. So here goes:

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night, No Evil Shall Escape My Sight.
Let All Who Worship Evil's Might. Beware My Power, Green Lantern's Light.

Got it. And it's only taken me about five days.

And yes all words do need to be capitalised, because it's a motto (that's how it works right? Don't ask me, it's not as if I'm a writer...)

Anyway now I feel smug and superior and even more of a loser than I normally do. Sometimes achievement really is a double edged sword...which is also something that Hal Jordan never had the imagination to use on Sinestro.

Stupid Power Ring.

Getting ready for Thor's Day

I’ve been thinking about this summer’s big comic book movies, and Thor is far and away the one I’m looking forward to the most.

Be it the predicted tease introduction of Hawkeye, Anthony Hopkins thesping it up as Odin or the needlessly controversial appearance of Idris Elba (its 2011, surely we’ve moved beyond caring about the colour of a character’s skin?), there’s lots to look forward to. Speaking of Idris Elba, I can’t defend him enough. He was the biggest revelation in the wholly amazing “The Wire” and has recently been excellent flexing his deadpan chops in The US Office.

So for me, bring on next week.

I’ll happily watch the other three, with Captain America being the neat companion film to Thor to set up Joss Whedon’s 2012 “Avengers” movie, which I could not possibly be more excited about. Especially now it’s got How I met Your Mother’s Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill – really glad to see they’re bringing in another strong female character. Plus I do wonder if Alyson Hannigan introduced her and Joss, as she seems to be the missing link in their six-degrees of Kevin Bacon game.

Captain America’s also got some excellent looking CGI (skinny Chris Evans looks great on the trailer) and Hugo Weaving is always a top choice for a bad guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the film ends with Captain America saving the day but in the process falling to his “death” in the frozen artic, only for the post credit sequence to be Samuel L Jackson / Robert Downey thawing him out in the present day.

X-Men: First Class is a bit of a weird one for me, as I love the X-men comics, but have yet to see a film that has properly reached it’s full potential. It’s either too much about Wolverine, or there’s too many needless characters running around (and not enough Gambit). I’m not convinced about James McAvoy as Xavier either, but am happy to be proven wrong. Michael Fassbender should be a good Magneto, and January Jones is inspired casting as Emma Frost. If any actress screamed “cold beauty” it’s her. And it’s always nice to see Kevin Bacon again.

Finally we’ve got Green Lantern, which I’m most dubious about. Partly because of the ropey trailer and partly because of the needless “complete CGI” effect when Ryan Reynolds becomes Green Lantern. I get that they want him to appear fantastical, but surely he could just have a costume! I just think it seems a bit pointless, which is exasperating as the character / Green Lantern corps have great potential for future films, and I think DC will probably red light / green light Wonder Woman and The Flash based on it’s success. And that’s a shame, as DC have got some great heroes that are worthy of their own franchises, and they need to start doing something other than Batman and Superman reboots if they’re going to keep up with Marvel, who are steaming ahead with three blockbuster films a year at the moment.

But that’s all speculation at the moment. We’ll see what Thor is like and go from there. And there’s less than a week to go until that.

Ultimately I wonder if I’ve been over-thinking all this? I say thee nay...