June
17
May
28
Little cuties of Marvel and DC
LolleBijoux is an artist who makes ADORABLE key-chain figures. I’d like to bring to your attention these little- girl versions of some of the women of DC and Marvel. Too cute! Way to put a fun spin on how we see these characters. I’m pretty smitten with Harley Quinn myself. The sassy pose and the partially open smile?
This is why we squee, people. This is why we squee.
May
6
Movie Review: Marvel’s The Avengers
Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
Director: Joss “The Man” Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, and Samuel L. Jackson
142 minutes
Rated PG-13
Last week Kansas City was one of the select cities to host The Ultimate Marvel Marathon in AMC theaters. We took a “family day” to enjoy and revel in the geekiness. It was advertised as “one epic day” – it did not disappoint.
February
25
Subtle, Geek Style
Let’s face it. As much as we don’t care to admit it, there are times in our lives in which we just can’t let our Geek Flag fly without some sort of repercussions. Sometimes, we have to tone it down just a notch or two. This leaves the question of “How can we geek up our wardrobe without being totally obvious?”
This purse by StellarCheri is the perfect example!
I would feel more like Real Self if I could carry this bag with me to those many meetings at the school board that I attend. It’s stylish, not over the top, cool and classy all rolled up into one purse! Check out StellarCheri‘s other wonderful creations!
June
20
Movie Review: X-Men: First Class
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, and January Jones
132 minutes
rated PG-13
Marvel again brings us the latest adventure in the battle between good and evil with the recent release of X-Men: First Class, which takes place before the previous movies in the X-Men series. This flick chronicles the relationship between young Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, and how they both come to terms with being mutants. Long before they became Professor X and Magneto, respectively, Charles and Erik were friends, meeting in their 20s when they worked together with CIA agent Moira McTaggart.
Because explaining the basic storyline in words doesn’t work as well as viewing it, I will direct you to the IMDB synopsis of the storyline, should you care to read it. Beware of spoilers, though!
I enjoyed the background this movie lent to the X-Men movie series. As a prequel, I thought it worked well. It was interesting seeing the younger, less seasoned versions of the characters, who were still working through the challenges of living as mutants in a “normal” world. The movie did a good job of depicting each character’s unique perspective of what it means to be a mutant, and whether that’s a positive or negative thing. The actors who played Charles, Erik, and Raven/Mystique each seemed to have a good handle on their character’s motivation and perspective, which made it interesting. January Jones, however, didn’t lend much to her portrayal of Emma Frost. She was almost a non-character in the storyline. She mostly just stood there, trying to look brooding and evil.
The special effects were great, of course, though not quite as visually stunning as the scenes in Asgard in Thor. Mystique’s morphing into different personnas was flawless, and I liked the way her scales flicked on and off her skin as she shifted. (I read another review, however, that likened her scales to “blue bathtub anti-skid stickers“, so your verdict may vary.)
My only disappointment was relatively minor, and not any real issue – my whole family agreed that the way they depicted Beast was just off. When Hank McCoy finally mutated into the blue hairy Beast, he was almost more of a blue werewolf version of a 98-pound weakling, rather than this huge hulking…well, Beast. He needed to be taller and broader, which could have been easily achieved. We couldn’t figure out why they decided to go with a leaner Beast. But, eh, no real biggie. Not a major distraction from the overall entertainment. The cameo by Hugh Jackman with a fabulous Wolverine moment more than made up for it.
And you? If you’ve been to see X-Men: First Class, feel free to chime in with your comments below.
Links of Interest:
May
15
Movie Review: Thor
Thor (2011)
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Natalie Portman, and Tom Hiddleston
115 minutes
rated PG-13
I’ll go ahead and admit at the outset here that I’ve never read a Thor comic book, or even a full comic book of any hero variety. A blasphemy of sorts, perhaps, but I’m ok with that. But I still appreciate a good comic book hero movie, and the latest installment in the Marvel movie franchise did not disappoint.
The movie Thor features a godly character of Viking descent – based on a mixture of Norse mythology and Marvel comic book lore. In the movie, the Mighty Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, is the son of the “all-father” Odin, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, and older brother to Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston. Just as Thor is about to be crowned King of the mythical realm of Asgard, the Frost Giants break in to Asgard and attempt to steal a powerful relic. Ever the warrior, Thor counsels his father to make swift and violent retribution against the Frost Giants, which would no doubt lead to all-out war. Recognizing his son’s arrogance and pride, Odin calls him a “vain, greedy, cruel boy”, and banishes Thor to Earth without his god-like powers, most significantly without the ability to wield his iconic war hammer Mjollnir. Once on Earth, Thor must learn the humility and wisdom required to be a great ruler, in order to earn back his godly powers and access to Asgard. Along the way he apparently also “learns” the ability to fall in love – with astro-scientist Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman.
This movie was complete eye-candy – I almost wished the Asgard scenes had run in slo-mo so I could take in all the details. The special effects were flawless – from the epic battle scenes in Jötunheim (the frost giant world), to traveling via the Bifrost Bridge portal, to Loki’s cloning powers, to the Earthly battle scene with the Destroyer – all just awesome. This is a film that is definitely worth seeing in the theater to get the full effect of the big screen – even worth splurging the extra few bucks to see it in IMAX 3D (which we did – Happy Mother’s Day to me!)