Tag / The Avengers

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RIP George Perez

After a battle with pancreatic cancer, legendary comic artist/writer George Perez passed away yesterday at the age of 67.  Perez was best known for his work on The New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, and Crisis on Infinite Earths for DC and The Avengers for Marvel.  He had announced his retirement from comics work in 2019 due to vision problems and was diagnosed with cancer this past November.

I did not get a whole lot of exposure to Perez’s work back during my comic collecting days.  He never worked on a Spider-Man title, which were my stock in trade, but I happened upon the stray issue or limited series here and there.  By all accounts, he was a better man than he was artist, which is saying something.  May his family find some solace in the fact that his talent has touched millions of people over the years.

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20 Years Of Slaying

20 years ago tonight, Welcome To The Hellmouth and The Harvest aired on the WB, bringing Buffy The Vampire Slayer to small screen.  Based on the original script for the 1992 film of the same name, the series, helmed by writer Joss Whedon, reached new heights for the fledgling network and became a pop culture phenomenon.

20 years later, the show’s imprint still looms over the pop culture landscape.  Whedon has become one of the most successful film directors, directing the first two Avengers movies which earned a combined $3 billion.  In their book TV (The Book), critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz ranked the show as the 26th best of all time.  The series has continued on in comic book form, and manages to convert new fans today.

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2013: The Year In Movies Part 2

112 different people starred in the movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide), and only 7 of them were in more than 1. Those seven are:

Films Per Actor Per Year

Name Films
James Franco 3
Joseph Gordon-Levitt 3
Jennifer Lawrence 3
Jennifer Aniston 2
Jessica Chastain 2
Alexandra Daddario 2
Robert Downey Jr. 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2013, following up on Friday’s post.

The Purge (2013)
An intriguing premise that kind of fell apart as the film went on.

Thor: The Dark World (2013)
A better movie than the first, and a good follow up to the Avengers.

This Is The End (2013)
Quite possibly the funniest movie of the year.

Evil Dead (2013)
The remake of the classic horror film that I also saw for the first time this year.

Skyfall (2012)
I had this disc from Netflix for over 6 months before I finally got around to watching it.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
I left my work’s holiday party early to catch this in IMAX on its last day before it was replaced by the new Hobbit movie.

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2013: The Year In Movies

2013 was again an off year in movie watching for me.  I managed to watch only 61 movies last year, one less than 2012 and my second consecutive year under 100.  Again, many things contributed to this, chiefly the insane amount of TV I’ve been watching and the awful amount of time I spend either at work or getting to and from work.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I did manage to watch last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

The Wedding Planner (2001)
A Jennifer Lopez throwback to start off the year.

Red Riding Hood (2011)
This was not a good movie.

Safe House (2012)
This also was not a good movie. I’m not getting the year started right.

Les Misérables (2012)
A work outing is the only reason I saw this film.

American Reunion (2012)
Sometimes you can go home again. And sometimes you shouldn’t.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows (2011)
Robert Downey Jr. returns as the great British detective.

Young Adult (2011)
Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt team up for this strong tale.

Compliance (2012)
I streamed this disturbing picture on the iPad.

For A Good Time, Call… (2012)
A surprisingly good comedy.

Apollo 18 (2011)
Not good at all.

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by jim

ABC Upfronts

agents_of_shield_banner

The big news from ABC was their no-brainer decision to pick up Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers spin-off that will follow the further adventures of Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson and will tie in to the uber-successful Marvel film franchise.  Beyond that, the only real change is an official scheduling change for most of their dramas, moving away from their traditional approach of having 22 or 24 episodes sprinkled out over 40 weeks and instead following the cable model of airing in 11 or 12 week blocks, with a “bridge” show or miniseries in between to avoid airing repeats.

Beyond that, nothing too exciting for the Alphabet network.  After a dicey second season, Suburgatory finds itself on the bench waiting for midseason or a new comedy to die an early death.  Outside of SHIELD, none of the new shows looks too exciting, although I reserve the right to change my mind between now and September.

 

by jim

People Who Will Get Played Off Before Their Speech Ends

With the Academy Awards scheduled for Sunday night, here’s my predictions for the non-acting awards.  I likely have seen very few of these movies, so I will mostly be going on gut feel and word of mouth.

Best Original Screenplay

Amour, Michael Hanake

Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino

Flight, John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

I haven’t seen any of these films.  Personally, I would like to see Quentin Tarantino win, but I don’t see that as a possibility given the n-word backlash he saw after the movie came out.  Zero Dark Thirty has the upper hand, I think.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Argo, Chris Terrio

Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin,

Life of Pi, David Magee

Lincoln, Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Silver Linings Playbook and Argo are the two films here that I really want to see, with Lincoln coming in a distant third.  I’m not sure if SLP will do as well in the “big” categories as people are expecting, but I think it will pick up some hardware here.

Best Animated Feature

Brave

Frankenweenie

ParaNorman

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Wreck-It Ralph

Again, I haven’t seen any of these and I’m likely not going to.  That said, Wreck-It Ralph looks to be the most fun out of these entries.  Not to imply at all the Academy puts any consideration to fun.

Best Cinematography

Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey

Django Unchained, Robert Richardson

Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski

Skyfall, Roger Deakins

My feeling is that this comes down to either Django Unchained or Skyfall, and I think James Bond loses this battle.

Best Costume Design

Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

Les Misérables, Paco Delgado

Lincoln, Joanna Johnston

Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka

Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

I’ve actually seen 2 of these films.   My thought is that it will come down to Lincoln or Les Misérables, and who doesn’t like a musical?

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The Year In Movies – Part 1

For many reasons, 2012 was an off year in movie watching for me, which may not necessarily be a bad thing.  I managed to watch only 62 movies last year, my first year under 100 since 2005 and after having averaged just over 131 movies over the past 5 years.  Many things contributed to this, chiefly my attempts to do more exercise and read more books and the insane amount of TV I’ve been watching.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I did manage to watch last year and what recollection I have of them, if any.  The films are listed in the order I saw them.

Hatchet II (2010)
I remember thinking this was better than the first Hatchet film, but that isn’t exactly saying anything.

The Hangover Part II (2011)

Nowhere near as funny as the original, but still a worthwhile effort.

Changeling (2008)
Angelina Jolie’s search for her missing child.

Drive Angry (2011)
Nicolas Cage has some bills to pay, and schlock like this is how he plans on paying them.

Moneyball (2011)
One of the most controversial books in the world of baseball hits the silver screen, chronicling the new approach taken by the cash-strapped Oakland A’s to field a successful team.

’92 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card (2011)
A short about a screw-up who sells his brother’s Alonzo Mourning rookie card.

Tanner Hall (2009)
A pre-Dragon Tattoo Rooney Mara stars in this school girl drama.

Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
A disappointing sci-fi romp through the old west.

The Rock-afire Explosion (2008)
A documentary looking at the house band of the former Showbiz Pizza.

The Hunger Games (2012)
My first trip to the movie theater this year was for this adaptation of one of the best books I had read the year before.

In Time (2011)
Justin Timberlake continues to impress as an actor.

The Avengers (2012)
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by jim

A Disturbance In The Force

So, word came out yesterday that Disney was buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion dollars, and that a new Star Wars film would be hitting theaters in 2015, likely without the involvement of George Lucas.  After picking my jaw up off the floor, my initial thoughts were not positive.  But, after a little reflection, I think this could be a good move for the future of the Star Wars franchise.  Disney has had recent success with their acquisition of Marvel and their handling of Marvel Studios, especially this years blockbuster with The Avengers.  Last year, they successfully rebooted the Muppets franchise.  Overall, I think they will be a good landing spot for the Lucasfilm properties.