This week on The Nerdpocalypse podcast the guys discuss Google Loon, flasks that you can take to the office, not so flying bikes, Superman/Wonder Woman comic announced today, a mac and cheese fight between brothers, Steven Spielberg on the future of the movie industry, and of course and in depth look at Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
Comic book movies have had such a successful run over the last number of years. The sub genre has become mainstream and is beginning to feel like a genre all its own. In 1978, Richard Donner’s Superman was unprecedented, but since then we have seen three direct sequels and a fourth unsuccessful pseudo followup in 2006. Superman is by far the most well known comic book character around the world. Even people who have never read a comic know his basic origin story. Being such a known character has made his onscreen adaptations difficult to tackle. Director Zack Snyder attempts such a task with this year’s Man of Steel.
After the last Man of Steel trailer was released I think most people who were on the fence have jumped officially on the S train. However, WB/DC had one more card up their sleeve for us. Check out the last and final trailer before Man of Steel hits theaters next Friday in the U.S.
Argentinean Artist Nicolas Silberfaden has taken to documenting the economic, social and cultural crisis in the US. In order to document this, he brought in celebrity impersonators that impersonate actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Marilyn Monroe, and Harrison Ford along with superheroes such as Superman, Batgirl, and Aquaman. Each of the participants photographed live and work in the city of Los Angeles. In these photos he asked the participants to conjure feelings of deep sadness. Because of the high rate of unemployment, they suited up and went to the streets to find a means of making a living. Each of the portraits is photographed against a colorful background which is quite striking with the emotional tone of the images.
As they fight with their new enemies, David Graves and the media perceptions, the Justice League is subjected to each member’s own personal failings. You get to watch as each character is confronted with images of their loved ones who have had such an influential role in shaping the heroes that we know and love today.
When it was announced that Warner Bros. was planning on rebooting the Superman series I was hesitant. After seeing the lackluster sequel, Superman Returns, I felt that there was nobody who could do Superman proper justice, just rehashes of the same Donner films. Could The Man of Steel really be relevant in this world where things aren’t so black and white? He is the ultimate boy scout, and nowadays people want to see a vulnerable hero. How do you make someone who is basically a god vulnerable?
In the modern world of cinema there are many adages that are true. One of the more prominent ones is, if the movie fails we can just reboot it! We have seen this general thought process come in many forms. Whether it is because of the lack of success in a movie, to retain ownership rights, or to just avoid coming up with new ideas Hollywood is currently crazy for movie reboots. With the newly released remake, The Amazing Spider-Man, we are once again put on the train to Rebootsville and told everything will be alright, but will it? The general consensus about big budget Hollywood reboots is, they are bad news and shouldn’t be done. However, I would like talk about why we might actually be wrong. Queue menacing music and table flipping gestures.
Here are some quick bits of information that are coming from Warner Bros. studios. First, we are apparently going to be graced with another ramp up for a potential Justice League movie. Spare me your excitement. Warner Bros is pushing to get something in the pipeline as Disney/Marvel are moon walking all over the place with that sweet Avengers money. So instead of taking their time and building proper back stories for all the needed characters WB will just slam in some piece of junk in a few years, my guess 2015.
Superman is the most recognizable character in comics history. Why shouldn’t he be, he is indestructible. He is like a superhero messiah that has defied even death. Why wouldn’t Mark Millar want to use him as a starting place for his superb adaptation of a familiar comic book trope? In Superior the reader is given a heaping helping of Superman, with a dash of Captain Marvel a.k.a. Shazam, bit of the monkey’s paw, and the movie Big for good measure. I absolutely loved this series. I read it in just over an hour and hope that another installment is on the horizon.
You’ve seen him in Chuck, Superman Returns, and maybe even Dylan Dog. Brandon Routh returns in this short film by BenDavid Grabinski. The full cast includes: Cast: Brandon Routh, Bret Harrison, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It is cheeky dialogue meets splatter. Check it out and see what you think. Geeks of Doom gives the following description of the film:
Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World) and Bret Harrison (Reaper) play (respectively) Silas and Jerry, a pair of working stiffs employed by a scientific facility that often loses control of its “experiments” and thus must be put down violently. During one crisis our heroes are dispatched on a suicide mission into the darkest and most dangerous bowels of the building, and as Silas and Jerry stare certain death in its off-camera face they discuss their futures, including a possible transfer to a facility that doesn’t have so many monster problems. - geeksofdoom.com
Full film after the jump.