My Geeky Trivia

By Geeky Gem

Now as you all known here at All Geek to Me one of favourite movies of the year was The Avengers, so I thought as a treat as we are coming to end of the year that I would bring you some Avengers trivia. I wont go on too much at this point as we have spoken about this movies loads this year, so straight to the trivia it is then.

The first Marvel film to be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.

Before Mark Ruffalo was cast as The Hulk, Joaquin Phoenix was rumored for the part.

Lou Ferrigno voices the Hulk in this film. He has played the Hulk in almost every live-action version since 1978: he played the Hulk in The Incredible Hulk and its subsequent three TV specials, and he voiced the Hulk in the big-screen The Incredible Hulk (he was seen in Hulk but it was a cameo role as a security guard, which he repeated in The Incredible Hulk ). He also has voiced the Hulk in various animated productions.

Director Joss Whedon had earlier been considered to direct X-Men in the 1990s. A big fan of the X-Men, he even wrote a script, from which only two lines made it into the film.

The Science and Entertainment Exchange provided a science consultation for the film.

The cast became good friends while filming so if all the actors happened to be filming scenes together in the same place, they would go out together after.

The film was converted to 3D during post-production for the theatrical release.

Chris Evans once sent a text message to Clark Gregg simply saying “Assemble”, which is the tagline for the movie. Gregg stated that this was his favorite text message ever sent to him.

This is the second time that Bruce Banner/Hulk and Thor have appeared together in a movie. They previously appeared together in The Incredible Hulk Returns.

Tom Hiddleston revealed in an interview with the Guardian that the code name for the film early in its production was ‘Group Hug’.

Well that’s avenging trivia over with, what will I bring you next week in my birthday special. Come back and find out.

MONDAY MUSING

By @hmsbeefnuts

It happened a few weeks ago now, and which seems like ages. Millions of words have been written and spoken about it. Bitching, cheering, fear, hope, all seems to be in the mix when discussing the biggest news to hit the Geek community for, well, maybe ever. I am of course referring to Disney’s acquisition of George Lucas’ company, Lucasarts. It was about time that someone here at All Geek To Me wrote some thoughts on this huge story, so I elected myself to write it.

I don’t have a problem with Disney, in fact, I kind of love it, I think they do a great job with the franchises they control, from ones they created themselves, to the ones they have bought, such as The Muppets and of course Marvel Comics. They seem to show a great deal of respect for all of their individual fans and one just needs to look at The Avengers to see how Disney can treat a massive franchise, beloved of fans world wide, with a hands off attitude. Disney are obviously in the business of making loads of cash, and they don’t want to fuck up huge franchises like Star Wars, and Indiana Jones, in fact, a trip around Disneyland will reassure you that Disney is the exact place for these specific franchises. Star Tours and the Indiana Jones rides are some of my favourite attractions in Disney, you can tell they care about and realise the importance of these films and characters.

I’m sure that we can look forward to a Star Wars Land, or even a whole Star Wars Theme Park in the future, and I for one can’t wait. As for the movies, I look forward to Episodes VII, VIII, IX and all the future movies have the potential to be excellent. Of course, they ould be awful, but then without the direction of Lucas, Star Wars gets a chance to breathe. I don’t happen to hate the prequels, I think that Revenge of the Sith is the best Star Wars movie, but I don’t think you can deny that Lucas can not direct actors. He is however a great ideas man. Give new Star Wars movies to the likes of Brad Bird, Del Toro, Spielberg or Peter Jackson, and I can’t wait to see the results.

All in all this is a very exciting time for fans of Star Wars, and I’m sure we can look forward to more and more epic announcements from Disney in the coming months and years, I have but one request, no fucking Jar-Jar.

WEDNESDAY WHIMSY

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello, welcome back. This week I am going to focus on books, comic books and the normal type. I don’t usually have a lot of time for reading, but recently, I have found myself reaching for a few books, and even finishing them! I know, how exciting. It is true, the majority of these books have been graphic novels, but still, they count, they definitely count. So without too much fuss, lets just get on with this blog shall we?

BATMAN THE BLACK MIRROR

This was the first time I had read a Batman story that didn’t involve Bruce Wayne, apart from the Knightfall saga. Dick Grayson is our Batman in this tale of serial murder, crime bosses, dead whales, villain auctions and sons gone bad. I would not want to spoil anything for you, it really is that good. At first I wasn’t sure if Batman would be as compelling without Bruce Wayne, but I needn’t have worried. Dick Grayson is a different kind of character, but no less compelling as the Dark Knight. His past as Robin, Nightwing and a police officer in Bludhaven all come in to play in some sublime story telling by Scott Snyder. In many ways this is the first comic since Batman: Year One that features the Gordon character in such a brilliant way. His story is just as compelling as Batman’s and sometimes even more so. This is one of the best Batman graphic novels I have ever read, and I really didn’t think I would be saying that about a Batman comic that didn’t have Bruce Wayne in it. I urge everyone with an interest in Batman to seek this out, it really is rather special.

OLD MAN LOGAN

In the world of the future, there are no heroes anymore. Most of them have died, and the few who are left aren’t in the hero business anymore. Logan AKA Wolverine, is older, has a family, and hasn’t popped his claws since the supervillains took over. He works a farm that is under the control of The Hulks, and he owes them a lot of rent money. When Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye comes to him with a proposition, Logan takes the seemingly easy job, so he can get the Hulks off his back. Basically a futuristic western, this has The Man With No Name flavour all over it. It is a fantastic tale, which I will not spoil here, that shows us the end of the Marvel heroes as we know them, and an adventure with Logan and Hawkeye. the first of which refuses to release his anger and claws, but you just know that at some point, someone is going to push him too far, he is Wolverine after all. I loved this book, and I would recommend it to anyone. As it doesn’t take place in comic continuity, you don’t need to know loads about the Marvel Universe but a basic knowledge will serve you well.

THE INFINITY GAUNTLET

As soon as I saw The Avengers (I refuse to call it Marvel’s Avengers Assemble), I knew I had to find out who that purple dude with a massive jaw line was. Well turns out he is Thanos, the Mad God, and this was the most recognisable Thanos book out there. Basic story is, after collecting all the Infinity Gems, and placing them in the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos tries to impress his lady love Death. The gauntlet and gems give him ultimate power over everything and everyone in the universe and beyond, a power he uses to try to get the attention of the afore-mentioned Death. Of course this causes many problems for the heroes of Earth and beyond, so it’s time for a huge super hero smack down to stop Thanos before he destroys everything. This was my first proper taste of intergalactic Marvelness, and I have to say, it was pretty amazing. I love a good hero team up, and when all of Earths mightiest heroes team up with the galaxies strongest, fun is sure to be had. I will admit to not knowing a few of the characters back stories, but as I have been reading some classic Marvel recently, I knew most of the characters featured. I think that sometimes, diving in to a graphic novel fresh, can be a bit daunting, but it pays off often, and leads you on to discover more amazing adventures featuring characters you may never have thought about before. The Infinity Gauntlet is well worth checking out, particularly if you have an interest in the possible future direction of Marvel Phase Two movies.

That’s just about it for this week, I’ll see you again next week for more Whimsy of a Wednesday variety.

All Geek To Me’s Geek Olympics: Final Round

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello Geek Sport’s fans, and welcome to another, slightly delayed, post covering the greatest Geek Character’s competing in a series of events, loosely based on Olympic sports. You can read the first article here, and the second here. So without further a do, here we go…

HAMMER THROW

Thor, The Hammer Bros. Timmy Mallet, Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, M.C. Hammer.

Now this event has been seriously mis-booked by the Geek Olympics’ organisers, oh, that would be me, never mind then, on with the fun. The Hammer Throw is a simple enough event, pick up the hammer, and throw it as far as you can. Beloved 80’s TV Children’s entertainer Timmy Mallet steps up to the plate, struggles to pick up the hammer, twists around, and flings it wildly, behind him. He scores a mighty throw of -2m. Oh dear. Next up The Hammer Bros from Super Mario Bros step to the plate, pick up the hammer and proceed to throw it in a high arc, straight up, and straight down, but being turtle things, perhaps they don’t fully understand the rules. They score 4m, an improvement, but not much of one.

Next up, Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine, who despite his name, has never actually thrown a Hammer. He has put people in figure four leg locks though, and he proceeds to drag M.C. Hammer, proving that you can indeed ‘touch this’, in the middle of the stadium and tries to apply the submission move. Unfortunately for ‘The Hammer’, M.C. Hammer is too legit. Too legit to quit, and as he is wearing frankly ridiculous parachute pants, the figure four is ineffective, M.C. Hammer breaks free and runs off. Greg is shamed and arrested by Green Lantern Security. That leaves Thor. He has brought his own Hammer, which he throws, and it keep going and going and going. Unfortunately, it comes back to his hand. Thor scores 0m. Gold Medal goes to The Hammer Bros. with a mighty 4m.

RUNNING

Flash, Quicksilver, Sonic, Superman.

Everyone seems to love the 100m and stuff like that. Personally I can’t see it. 9.65 secs and it’s all over. So this race will be from the starting point in our Geek Olympic Stadium here in Cardiff, all the way around the world, and back to the stadium. The contestants line up, eagerly awaiting the starter pistol. BOOM! The shot is fired and everyone is off. 9.65 secs later Flash crosses the finish line. Oh. Gold Medal Flash.

ARCHERY

Katniss Everdean, Merida, Robin Hood, The Green Arrow, Hawkeye.

You all know the classic way archery contests are held, same deal here, everyone lines up, and its the person who hits the bullseye most wins. Simple really. Hawkeye goes first, he lines up an arrow, steadies himself and fires. The arrow hits the target, and explodes, destroying the next persons target too. The Green Arrow is pissed. He takes out his arrow, lines up and fires one straight at Hawkeye. Luckily its a boxing glove arrow, it knocks Hawkeye out cold, but with no target to hit, Arrow is shit out of luck.

Robin Hood is fully in flirting mode with both Katniss and Merida, which is frankly, well, a bit dodgy, are they even of age yet? Anyway, so entranced is he with both maidens, he fires wild and misses his target. The fact that he is a cartoon fox didn’t really help matters to be honest either. But there we are. It seems Gold is going to the fairer sex today. Katniss and Merida take turns in firing arrows, both hitting bullseye after bullseye. The deadlock is broken however, when Merida suggest they try to see who is the best an horse archery. She is. And she wins. Katniss is forced to go home empty handed, home to her weird Lady Gaga inspired Capitol City. Gold goes to Merida.

WRESTLING/BOXING/MMA/JUDO/KARATE BASICALLY FUCKING SOMEONE UP

Hulk, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Thing, Jason Statham, Bruce Lee, Rocky, Mr. T, Rowdy Roddy Pipper, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre The Giant, The Rock, Wolverine, Deadpool, Chewbacca, Hagrid, Legolas, Batman, Jon Matrix, Ivan Drago, Indiana Jones, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Wolfman, Bigfoot, Conan, Khal Drogo, A Predator, An Alien and Stone Cold Steve Austin.

This event is basically just a Royal Rumble Event to see who is the hardest Mofo in the universe. I’m not even going to attempt to try an describe the chaos that went down in this event. All super powers, all weapons are allowed, no rules apart from, when you get thrown over the ropes, your out, or if you die in the ring, your out. Simple right. All participants start in the, frankly, massive ring. This goes on for hours, and what initially seemed like a brilliant idea, has become a nightmare. Hours pass, and finally two contestants are left, Jason Statham and Batman. Clearly the two hardest people in the known universe, and the best two at beating the shit out of people.

There can only be one winner though. Both have never been beaten, but Batman is just slightly better, sorry Jason. Batman smashes his opponents face through the mat, and throws him over the ropes, simple, but effective. Gold Medal, and award for best person at fighting ever, Batman. Was there ever any doubt?

With that, our All Geek To Me’s Geek Olympics comes to an end. Thanks for reading. Catch you soon.

TOP TOYS: PART TWO

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello toy fans, and welcome back to Top Toys, part two. Last time we looked at some of my favourite childhood toys, Transformers, Turtles, Dino-Riders, WWF and Ghostbusters. A pretty great toy box worth of stuff, that I have very fond memories of. This time, we will go back in time to the first major toys craze I was part of, and forward in time to toys I was ‘too old’ to have, but wanted anyway. It is such a shame that most kids today think toys are for babies, and it’s all about video games. I know, I’ve asked some. Toys stimulate the imagination, and are great fun, lets hope that kids are still playing with Batman and Transformers a hundred years from now. So enough rambling, lets get involved with the toys!!!

HE-MAN

He-man was my first toy love. I had a load of He-man figures, and vehicles and monsters and play-sets, my favourite, was He-man on Battlecat. I loved Battlecat so much, still do. Who wouldn’t want to ride a gigantic green and yellow tiger into battle? The toys themselves all had the same body sculpts, to save money, but each had different accessories and head sculpts. The TV show was basically just an advert for the toys, which is no bad thing really. I can remember having horrendous ear ache whilst being in Cardiff with my Mum, and taking cover in Toys R Us, whilst a very loud and scary thunder storm happened all around us. To ease my pain, Mum bought me Buzz Off, a bee themed hero, awesome. I also remember for my birthday, picking up the Castle Greyskull play-set, and having to go to my Grandmothers, so excited, but could not play with it because it didn’t come with any figures, I had to wait till I got home. It was torture.

MASK

MASK, was pretty cool. A group of guys and gals, who fought the evil Venom with cars, trucks and bikes, that turned into other things like tanks, helicopters and boats, all armed to the teeth. My favourite MASK vehicle was a green motor bike that turned into a helicopter, so awesome, it is beyond my power to describe. Did I mention that MASK had their base in a hollowed out Volcano? Now you know. MASK figures were tiny, similar to the Dino-Rider humans/aliens, but that just meant they could interact with each other. Tooled up Dinos Vs. Transforming cars? Yes please.

LEGO

For it’s versatility alone, Lego is probably the greatest toy ever invented. Your options are only limited by your imagination. But, if you don’t fancy building your own entertainment, the Lego sets are some of the greatest things ever made. When I was young, we didn’t have Superhero Lego, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter or the like. We had Knights and Pirates, and these were my favourite sets to collect. Pirate Lego had brilliant ships and bases to build, and Knights had Castles and Robin Hood!! The sets I saw recently looked awesome, kids are spoiled these days I guess. My favourite Lego set was the Pirate Ship. It was so cool. The fact it can all work together with other Lego universes and sets is such a stroke of genius. Lego is awesome, and I want some right now.

JURASSIC PARK

Jurassic Park blew my mind, it is one of my most fond memories of seeing a film on an opening weekend. It was chaos at the old Cardiff ODEON that Saturday night I went to see it with the family, the kind of organised chaos I have only really experienced at Disneyworld. Everyone was buzzing. The film obviously was great, so good in fact that I wanted the next day to go immediately to a toy shop to buy every Jurassic Park toy I could lay my hands on. The Dinosaurs were beautifully sculpted and they looked awesome. The T-Rex in particular. I wish I had all these toys, but I have none, all gone to the great toy box in the sky…

MARVEL

I’ve always been a fan of superheroes, but apart from a a few Batman toys, and the odd Spider-Man, I never had a large collection of Comic Heroes. However, on my recent trip to Toys R Us, I noticed a vast selection of 3.5 inch Marvel Universe figures, and I couldn’t resist buying the four main Avengers. Why not? They look good on my shelf. Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America (WWII version) and Thor, they are lovely little things, well sculpted with great articulation and accessories. I had to stop myself at the four, I could have gone on and on, but I have bills to pay. These toys however are fantastic, with all kinds of famous and obscure characters being transformed into figure form. I know if I was a kid, I’d be all over these.

Wednesday Whimsy: My Latest Obsession

By @hmsbeefnuts

 

As a child, I was never into comics. Sure I knew who all the main guys were, from Captain America to Wonder Woman, I watched all the TV shows and cartoons, played with the toys, but I never really read comic books. As I grew a little older, I was introduced to Batman and Superman comics with Knightfall and The Death and Return of Superman, which I enjoyed, but I didn’t really have the ready cash to really get into comics in a big way. It wasn’t until after university that I really began to collect graphic novels, and my tastes were, shall we say, rather limited.

As a huge Batman fan, I delved into the most renowned adventures of the Caped Crusader, Year One, The Long Halloween, The Dark Knight Returns, loving them all I began to delve deeper, and right now, I have quite a large collection of Batman adventures, with a few stragglers here and there from Marvel or other properties. However, recently, things have changed, and my tastes have become far more eclectic. It started with a random visit to a budget book shop, where I found three Marvel Pocket Books. At first I dismissed them, but on closer inspection I realised that they were small page versions of the comic books, around half size, they reprint original runs of the most famous Marvel Characters. The shop had a Spider-Man and two Fantastic Four books, and the best thing was, they cost £1.99 each, make mine Marvel.

I devoured the first two Fantastic Four books which collected comic runs. It was interesting to read them in this way, as in normal graphic novels, the story is somewhat separated, but reading an extended run of the comics is very interesting. With the FF done, I reached for the Spider-Man one, The Night Captain Stacy Died, which was quite apt with the new movie coming out and everything. Out of comics, I turned to Amazon, and umm, well, lets just say, my credit card took another hit.

Searching on Amazon is very dangerous, they had around 20 more of these Pocket Books, including Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, X-Men, Iron Man, Captain America, Avengers, I was in hog heaven. I now have a very extended run of original Amazing Spider-Man comics to delve into, and all for under £4.00 each. The paper quality is good in these books, the covers nice, and although smaller than regular comics, it isn’t a disadvantage that they are, certainly not when one considers the price. However, these things often start small, but have a way of expanding a little out of control.

£3.99 is not very much money to spend on 6 + issues of a comic series, but £3.99’s add up, and even then I wasn’t finished. I had wanted to find out who the mysterious villain at the end of The Avengers movie was, was I added The Infinity Gauntlet to my basket, then Civil War, Platinum Avengers, a Wolverine novel, and a few Batman ones, just to prove I had never forgotten my first true love. Things were getting sillier. The comic podcasts I listened to had mentioned a Wolverine G.N. (graphic novel) called Old Man Logan, everyone raved about it, it was added to my basket. By this time, and remember, this was a virtual basket, the thing could barely contain the comic awesomeness contained within, I clicked buy, and thought, I’ll worry about the consequences later.

Now obviously, I haven’t even looked at some of the things Mr. Amazon sent me, but I am working my way through them. Currently I’m reading Captain America, and really loving it. It seems an odd time for someone to get heavily into comics, at the age of 31, but it feels right. The atmosphere is crackling with comic energy, the film world is obsessed, and to be honest, so am I. Recent Comic Con news hasn’t helped matters, it has just added petrol to a fire that was already burning way out of control.

But I think sometimes it does one good to indulge in a new obsession. It feels good, and doesn’t feel like I have wasted money, at least not yet. We can all geek out about stuff from time to time, at least I hope you can, you are reading this on a website called All Geek To Me. At the moment, I’m into all things comic book, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

As I type this, we are 3 days away from The Dark Knight Rises, and I am very excited to see how Chris Nolan has rounded off his trilogy. I’m sure it will be great, but until I finally get to see it Friday morning, I shall have to sate my desires by plunging into more and more comics. These things won’t read themselves you know. Till next Wednesday, so long folks.

THE TOTALLY AVERAGE SPIDER-MAN: WEDNESDAY WHIMSY

By @hmsbeefnuts

SPOILERS! SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!!

On Sunday afternoon, I saw The Amazing Spider-Man, in IMAX 3D. If you haven’t seen it yet, perhaps you should avoid this blog until you have, for I have much to say on the subject, and much of it will be spoiler filled.

First of all, let me say that there are two great Spider-Man movies, made by Sam Raimi, and it is impossible to talk about The Amazing Spider-Man without referencing these two great films. I loved Raimi’s take on the web slinger and I’m saddened to say, Tim Webb’s attempt doesn’t live up to the first two films, and is more in line with the poor third instalment of the Original Trilogy.

I will admit that I didn’t go into the film with an overly positive attitude, however, in recent weeks I had changed my mind about the look of the film, the action sequences looked awesome, even though the overall tone of the trailers seemed a bit dark and dismal. Well, the trailers perfectly captured the mood of the film, it was dark and dismal, but before we get into that, lets talk about some of the good things about the film.

Every time Spider-Man was on screen, in his full suit, the film becomes a joy to watch. The fight scenes with the Lizard are inventive, action packed and a match for anything a super human fight scene has yet given us, up there with the likes of Spider-Man 2, X-Men 2, and not too far from The Avengers. Equally, when Spider-Man is swinging through New York, the effect is breath taking, especially in IMAX 3D. Gwen Stacy is adorable, Spider-Man quips and flips his way through the film in a very enjoyable way, and that’s really where my praise of the film ends. Because true believers, I found The Amazing Spider-Man to be very average, and even unnecessary.

First things first, the tone of the film is very dull and dower. So much so that I get the impression that Sony wanted to buy into the dark and brooding success of The Dark Knight. Well, what works for Batman, does not work for the Wall Crawler. Spider-man has had his tragedies, but he always maintains an upbeat attitude, one which Raimi captured to a T. TASM is dark and depressing at times, from the colour palette to the tone of the film, it needs cheering up.

I disliked the costume. It is no where near as good as Toby Maguire’s. I hated Aunt May. Sally Fields is a good actress, but she isn’t Aunt May, she just isn’t. Martin Sheen is good as Uncle Ben, but not as good as the previous incarnation. I feel really bad for the original trilogy’s Dr Curt Connors, Dylan Baker, who is a better pick than Rhys Ifans as the Lizard. Ifans had a really dodgy accent at times, going really Welshy for a few words, something that made me laugh, it’s OK though, I’m Welsh. The look of the Lizard himself was great, until we get to his head. His head looks like a Goomba from the Super Mario Movie. Not good.

The plot is hackneyed beyond belief. OK so the Stan Lee Spider-Man isn’t exactly the best written story ever, but that was the 60’s, times were different, and to be honest, I’ve been reading a fair few classic comics, including Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four, from the 1960’s and yes they are of their time, but there is a magnificent charm about them, a charm that hasn’t translated to this film. Spider-Man seems to be without some of his powers. His Spider-sense in particular seems to go in and out. Also at the end, his wall sticking ability seems not to be working. Mechanical web shooters are closer to the comics, but I always preferred organic ones anyway, so that’s more of a personal choice.  At one point Spider-Man sets a camera trap for the Lizard, and the Lizard looks at the camera, where Peter Parker has handily stuck ‘Property of Peter Parker’ on to it. Thus the Lizard knows who Spider-Man is. Erghh.

 

Uncle Ben’s death is also no where near as impactful as in the first movie. Peter Parker decides that he will hunt down the criminal who killed Ben, but this becomes a crusade against one man, and it then becomes accidental that Spider-Man stops crime at all. It takes a meeting with Captain Stacy to make Peter realise that Spider-Man can help people. It makes Pete come across as selfish, not what Spider-Man is all about really.

The major problem I had with the film however is that every 20 mins, Peter is taking his mask off, or telling someone he is Spider-Man. I couldn’t believe he told Gwen. What is the point of wearing a mask to protect your identity, if you don’t wear it. Stupid. Also there is no ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ speech. How did that happen? Oh and the after credits scene is stupid too. I presume it’s Norman Osborne who is talking to Curt Connors, but how did he get into a max security prison cell, and how did he get out? Is he magic? Also, Spider-Man gets bitten by a genetically modified spider, that comes from a room full of genetically modified spiders, meaning there are thousands of chances for more spider men to be made. Also, why change police officers into Lizards, when nothing happens with it? The more I write about this film, the more I realise I really didn’t like it.

However, my favourite bit, and it was rather great, was the Stan Lee cameo. Perhaps the best one yet. No spoilers, I almost cheered when I saw it. I didn’t like The Amazing Spider-Man, but everyone I went with did enjoy it. Maybe you will like it too, it just didn’t work for me. By now everyone should know how Spider-Man came to be. We didn’t need another origin story, I would have much preferred a Spider-Man 4, than a new take on the franchise. Such a shame.

MY BIGGEST CINEMATIC DISAPOINTMENTS

BY @hmsbeefnuts

I don’t know about you, but I can usually find something to like in most things. I can forgive little things here and there in films, justifying that, maybe I wouldn’t have done it that way, but as a whole, the film was watch-able. There are not many films that I walk away from filled with hatred and disgust. There are a few though. As I go to the cinema weekly, I get to see a lot of films, but these next films, well, they are the worst (or best) examples of disappointments that I have experienced in a theatre. Most of these are for personal reasons, but all left me gutted as I walked out of the screen, hatred and disgust, seeping out of every pore. Sounds pathetic? Well, it’s only because I care so much, that I allow myself to become so disappointed, and I’m sure we have all felt the same kind of thing at some point. So read on to find out what films I wanted to walk out of, what films I could barely keep from loudly booing. Let the hate commence.

ALEXANDER

Alexander the Great is my favourite bloke in all of history. I studied him at university, he is a personal hero of mine, he was the greatest general to have ever lived, never lost a battle, was a legendary hero in a very real world. To say I was looking forward to this is an understatement the size of the Macedonian Empire. I sat there waiting to be wowed by the tails of my favourite ancient hero, and within twenty minutes, I wanted to run away and hide. I just hated it, I don’t know whether it was the editing, the rushed nature of the battle scenes, the Irish accents that the Macedonians had, or all of the above and more. I just knew that I was watching a film about this great man, and it was sullying his good name, at least in my eyes. I walked out of the film in a stinking mood, perhaps I was too close to the subject matter, that I had a vision in my head of an Alexander the Great Film, and this was certainly not it. I have subsequently watched the Directors Cut, and it is much better, but it can’t quite wash the sour taste out of my mouth of the film I saw at the cinema. There is a great Alexander film to be made, and one day I will see it, hopefully.

SPIDER-MAN 3

The amount I was looking forward to a third Spider-Man film was incalculable by mere words. I had loved Spider-Man 1 & 2, they were awesome films, bringing the seemingly impossible to the screen. My brother, a huge Spidey fan, my best friend and I went to the first showing, buzzing with excitement, and very much looking forward to seeing Venom on screen. Things were OK for about an hour, and then, well, it all fell apart in front of our eyes. Topher Grace was never going to be a good Eddie Brock, or a good anything, in anything, but I didn’t hate him at first, that was to change quickly. Venom was botched, Sandman was ret-conned to be the man who killed Uncle Ben, Peter Parker had become a walking, dancing ‘dig on this’ emo nightmare. The film was rushed, too crowded and just not up to the high standards of the first two. All three of us walked out of the cinema with a heavy heart, it had destroyed us to hate a Spider-Man film. That wasn’t supposed to happen, we were supposed to be elated, talking about our favourite parts, reliving the good bits. Instead we made our way solemnly to the car and went home. I don’t think we even said more than ten words to each other.

CLASH OF THE TITANS

Harryhausen was my bread and butter growing up. I had watched the original Clash of the Titans so much when I was young, the tape broke. I don’t tend to think that remakes are necessarily a bad thing, and so when a new Clash was announced, my excitement level was high. What would modern day Harryhausens be able to conjure up on a computer and put on a cinema screen? 3D was a big factor, but I heard it wasn’t too good in the film, and so, opening weekend, I sat in a normal 2D screening, ready to be blown away…. Two films on, I’m still waiting. Clash was abhorrent. Sam ‘G’day mate’ Worthington, is not meant to play ancient heroes. The story was a pale comparison to the original, and the monsters were not half as exciting, or magical. I wanted to punch the person in front of me, just to release some hatred, but instead, it slowly built over two hours until it was at a fever pitch. I left as soon as the credits rolled, I had to be out of there, I couldn’t stand it any more. Having not seen it since, I can’t really remember what I hated so much about it now, and believe me, I don’t fancy re watching it in order to remind myself. I just know I hated almost every second of it, and hated the preceding second twice as much as the previous. I still went to watch Wrath of the Titans, and I was slightly less disappointed by the sequel, but only by an amount that could be measured by a super powerful calculator.

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE

I was initially sceptical about the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. I didn’t want to watch a ‘baby’ film, and Lord Of The Rings was so much better. I soon changed my mind when a girl dragged me to see the first Harry Potter. Although LOTR was superior, I loved Harry Potter, and was at all the opening day screenings of all the films from then on, and of course, devoured the books. It was all going so swimmingly, until Half Blood Prince. I was so bored during this film, I fell asleep, twice. I don’t understand what went wrong. The scene that was most important to the story was botched beyond all recognition (clue: it involved the death of a beloved character), and the film was quite simply, depressing. Thins didn’t get much better in the next film either, but kicked it up about 20 gears for the final film. Admittedly, the book is a bit of a chore too, but I just didn’t connect with this film. Walking out of it, I was majorly disappointed, to a degree I never expected from the Harry Potter franchise. I guess it’s not the worst film ever made, but high expectations can lead to crushing failures. I expected too much perhaps, and was served something less than spectacular. I didn’t enjoy this film at all, and I so wanted to, so very much.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

Raiders of the Lost Ark is in my top 2 favourite movies. I love Temple of Doom, and Last Crusade is really good. When Crystal Skull was announced, I’ll admit, I was excited, I felt no apprehension at all, perhaps foolishly, but I trusted Spielberg and Ford, not so much Lucas, to keep up to the series high standards. I also like Shia Lebeuf, and the return of Marion sounded like a good send off to the series. WOW. Was I wrong. As I sat there with a group of friends, at a midnight screening, all my joy and hope seemed to be draining out of me. Ford looked old, the plot was shit, Shia Lebeuf doing a King of the Monkeys impression. The fridge getting nuked, the god-damn gophers, and stupid fucking Aliens. I tried to put a brave face on it. It wasn’t that bad was it? Was it? Yes, it was terrible, awful, a disgrace. Luckily, there are three awesome Indy films, and the fourth never needs to be watched or talked about in polite conversation. Usually I’d be all for a new Indy adventure, but maybe they need to leave him alone, Indy doesn’t need to be dug up again, he belongs in a museum, with the other works of art. I was slightly depressed for a few days after watching Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I’m over it now of course, but I don”t wish to repeat that experience again.

Wednesday Whimsy

By @hmsbeefnuts

Hello everybody, welcome to Wednesday Whimsy with me, Hmsbeefnuts. Time once more for me to collect some random thoughts, news stories and other things of note that have been happening around All Geek To Me, and the Geek world as a whole.

Firstly, on Thursday night, 24^th May, All Geek To Me hit a bit of a milestone. We had our 10,000^th view. Geeky Gem and I are very proud and excited at this seemingly unbelievable number. When we started, we didn’t know if anyone but us would read our blog, so we are very grateful indeed for everyone who has ever stopped by and especially if you came back.

 

Lets start with some big news in the Geek World that has occurred in the last week. Firstly, in the realm of Video games, there is exciting news for travellers in the realm of Skyrim. Bethesda is soon to launch a new patch that fixes a few problems with the game, but most importantly adds mounted combat!! I for one am very excited by this news. Mounted Combat will not only make riding a horse worthwhile, it will also full fill a personal dream of mine that I have had for more than a few years, to ride into a valley, straight into battle. I thought it would be in a Zelda game, but Skyrim will more than make up for it. This is big exciting news for me.

 

Secondly, big news in the comics world. Marvel Comics will publish a story soon that features the Marvel Universes 1^st Gay Marriage. Well done Marvel for supporting this important issue. I couldn’t say that the character who is getting married is a major one, but that hardly matters. Northstar is the character in question, a character who has been ‘out’ for a while, but has decided to make an honest man of his boyfriend and tie the knot. Once again this is good news for superhero comics, as they are finally catching up with things indie comics have been doing for a long time. Also, top marks for it being two gay male characters and not the usual hot lesbian couple.

 

That is not the only gay comic news this month. It has been revealed that a major DC character will also be revealed to be gay. The character has been described as male, and iconic, and there has been much talk over who it could be. My vote would go to recent Justice League member Cyborg, although I have heard whispers about one of the Flash character’s also. In any case, this is also good news for comic books embracing modern times, well done DC.

 

Finally, the big movie news this week was the delaying of one of the big summer movie releases, GI Joe: Retaliation. The studio has officially delayed the blockbuster in order to add 3D. Well I wish they wouldn’t. However, speculation on numerous websites states that there were other reasons for the delay. A very busy summer schedule has to be the main reason, as well as the fact that GI Joe was coming out between some huge superhero franchises. The Avengers has managed to remain top of the box office for three weeks, defeating the American release of Battleship, another Hasbro property. Spider-man and The Dark Knight Rises are out very soon, and there was surely fear that GI Joe would be lost in the superhero slug fest. I am very disappointed by this delay, as I was looking forward to seeing Joe quite a bit, despite an awful first movie. The added Rock and Bruce Willis factor made this an opening weekend watch for me. Well I guess I have to wait till March now, oh well.

One last thing, how cool are these? I want them badly.

Until next time, this hmsbeefnuts signing off.

Avenging April: What All The Fuss Was About: Avengers Assessments

By @hmsbeefnuts

Thursday afternoon, April 26^th , I watched The Avengers, it was around 3 hours ago now that the film finished, and I’m still buzzing from the spectacle. Rest assured that The Avengers is very very good indeed. Everything that the previous 5 Marvel films promised, has been fulfilled by what is quite simply one of the most spectacular films that I have ever seen. Now I know I’m still buzzing from the film, a lot of what I type may be new film glaze, but I don’t think so. I will be seeing the film again on Saturday, this time in IMAX 3D, and I can’t wait, but we shall see if the aura of the Avengers will diminish the second time. I seriously doubt it.

I will not spoil plot points or secrets with you here, I think it’s only fair if you experience it all yourself, and there are plenty of reviews to read around the web anyway full of spoilers. Also, I’m not the kind of fan boy who wants to declare a winner of the summer, I’m not going to decry Amazing Spider-man, or The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers may be the most spectacular film this summer, especially for comic fans, but I’m sure The Dark Knight is going to be equally as great, and Amazing Spider-man, well, here’s hoping. What I will say is, if you have ever enjoyed a Marvel film, then go and see this on the big screen, it needs to be seen big, and loud, do not wait for Blu-ray, DVD, or TV.

 

As my oldest mate and I sat in the cinema before hand, I was slightly apprehensive. Could this film live up to my incredibly high expectations? I needn’t have worried, Avengers delivered, and delivered big. If I can interject here with a point. This is the kind of film that is best enjoyed with your friends, or loved ones. Go see it in a big group, go see it with your childhood friend, go see it with your kids or little brother and sister. There are few things I enjoy more than seeing a brilliant film with a mate, a girlfriend, my Mum, or Dad, Avengers is that kind of film. It is a visual expression of childhood glee, it is every game you played in the playground, arguing over who would be Thor, or The Hulk. I can’t believe that Marvel and Joss Whedon pulled it off, something that should have been very hard, almost impossible.

All the heroes get their moment to shine, even those with out powers. Whedon pulls off the group dynamic perfectly. These heroes aren’t friends, they argue, they fight, but when it comes to the crunch, they pull together and kick some major bad guy ass. I don’t know what my favourite bit was, there were so many. Hulk and Thor, Hulk and Loki, Cap and Agent Coulson, any time Tony Stark is on screen. It would have been easy to turn this into Ironman 3, or the Tony Stark show, but it is not that at all.

The Hulk could be the star, certainly, I felt that he had many of the greatest moments. The BEST Hulk in anything ever, there simply has to be a Hulk sequel with this Hulk, he was awesome. The CGI was incredible, and suitably epic. I’m finding it very hard to talk about things without spoiling stuff, so I will try to not go on for too long. I can’t wait to see where the Marvel films go next, now that The Avengers are established, I can’t wait to see an Ironman 3, Thor 2, Cap 2 and Hulk 2 (3?), and a sequel to The Avengers. Marvel have done something incredible with these films, a fan boys wet dream. Right now I would say that this is my favourite Marvel film, overtaking Captain America, but a second, third and fourth viewing will confirm this. As for now, all I can say is that The Avengers is worth your money, worth your time and worth your attention. DC should be taking notes from Marvel. I want to see a Justice League movie that is this good. I want to see Batman, Green Lantern and Superman working together as well as Ironman, Cap and Hulk. With Nolan’s take on Batman coming to an end, and a reboot for the Bat franchise probably in the works, now is the time to lay the foundations of a Justice League team up movie. I liked Green Lantern, I have high hopes for Man of Steel, lets hope DC can do as good a job as Marvel, even though they seemingly have a harder task, with DC heroes being slightly harder to translate.

Writing this has made me want to go and see it again. I can’t wait until Saturday. The Summer is shaping up to be epic. The Avengers is a hard act to follow, but I can’t wait to see what Marvel has in store.