Nerd Life Movie Review: Transformers Revenge of the Fallen

Allow me to start with the simple: This is NOT a good movie.

That being said, you should still see it.

The story is a complete mess. Way more complicated than it needed to be. As such, the middle portion of the movie drags on for waaaay too long. Then, once everything comes together, there isn't enough time to give the final battle the screentime it deserves. The whole final few scenes feel very rushed.

In the end, it doesn't really matter, we're all here to see giant robots, Megan Fox and/or BAYSPLOSIONS!

In all the chaos, unfortunately, many of the Transformers get lost. Megatron and Starscream get much more characterization in this movie, but the rest of the Decepticons are just cannon fodder. The filmmakers reused many models for different characters, and some are even characterless drones.

The Autobots fare little better. Optimus Prime returns to his 80s-era awesomeness. Bumblebee, Ratchet and Ironhide are all just... there. Arcee and ideswipe are very cool in the few scenes they're in, and Jolt is a complete ghost for almost the entire film. The only new bots in the movie that get any screentime are Skids and Mudflap, the Twins. I must admit, I didn't hate them as much as I thought I would. They are, however, still stupid and annoying. The point of having immature characters is to watch them grow over the course of the story. They're idiots at the beginning, and still idiots at the end. Also, for characters created to appeal to kids, they're language is nothing that I would want to expose my kids to. The way they talk fits the characters, sure, but be warned if you take your little ones.

Aside from Optimus' nerdgasm-inducing scenes, the only bots to stand out are Wheelie and Jetfire. Wheelie is a fun little character that I enjoyed more than I thought I would. Jetfire, an old Cybertronian hiding on Earth for ages is also a blast. His difficulty transforming and "old man" talk and thought process mirrors the audience's own confusion with the storyline.

As for the human characters... who cares? Most of the cast is acceptable. Nothing bad, nothing great. Sam's parents are funny in their scenes. John Turturro's Agent Simmons COMPLETELY steals every scene he's in. I will say that Shia LeBouf nailed his "Allspark freakout" scenes, though.

So, all this talk about story and acting. What about the ACTION?

Optimus Prime... holy crap. Every scene he's in is so mindblowingly awesome, your eyes will vomit from being overwhelmed. Bring buckets.

Lots of other great fight scenes, BAYSPLOSIONS abound. The effects are unimaginably amazing. You see every freaking gear on the Transformers. They feel real. Devastator is a marvel of modern special effects, with more moving parts than a carnival. Unfortunately, the character is very underutilized. Again, a warning for the parents: This movie is very violent. Sure, they're CGI robots, but some of the scenes can be a little intense.

So, again, is it a good movie? No
Is it a bit too long? Yes
Is it worth your time and money? Absolutely

Nerd Life Mid-Week: A True Hero

"A True Hero" or "Everthing I Know About Being a Man I Learned from Optimus Prime"

Two years ago, some kid sat in a movie theater, bouncing up and down, clapping his hands when Optimus Prime first appeared on screen.

That kid was me.

Inside every grown man beats the heart of an 8-year-old.

Transformers were not just a part of my childhood, they WERE my childhood. The series premiered on American TV during my formative years. If you do not understand just how awesome cars, trucks and planes turning in to giant robots and doing battle is, I feel very sorry for you. To a very young child in the 80s, life could not have been any better.

The first true hero I ever worshiped was the leader of the brave Autobots, Optimus Prime.



He was strong, brave, intelligent, honorable, dependable and selfless. As a young boy growing up without a father, Optimus Prime was everything I needed in my life.

At the age of 5, I was treated with a trip to see Transformers: The Movie in theaters. Early on in the film, the Autobots are on the brink of defeat. Many soldiers have fallen, and the Decepticons are about to take Autobot City and end the war.

Then, Optimus Prime enters the battle.



Stupid Hot Rod, getting in the way, allowing the Decepticons to escape. That's OK, Prime will recover and lead the counterattack!



...

I was inconsolable. I cried through the movie. I cried on the way home. My hero, my idol, had fallen. Life would never be the same.

I grew up a lot that day.

Sure, they would realize how bad they screwed up and bring Prime back, to lead all Cybertronians into the Golden Age. But things would never be the same.

Now that I'm older, I understand that the movie was nothing more than a marketing tool, used to end one version of the toy line and launch another. As such, Transformers would see many iterations over the years. Optimus Prime would see many incarnations over the following 20+ years, giving future generations of little boys a hero they could be proud of.

Nerd Life: Comics are Fun Again

Any comic fan can tell you, comics these days are growing more mature with each issue. Granted, their core audience is growing older, and the medium is growing with it.

However, what about new readers? What about bright-eyed little 8-year-old boys (or girls)? Many major comics are becoming exactly what moms everywhere feared they were years ago.

Then, Marvel made one of the most brilliant and controversial moves in their long history.

**WARNING! SPOILERS FOR THE PAST YEAR OR SO OF SPIDERMAN COMICS INCOMING**

For the past 40+ years, Spiderman has been the flagship title for Marvel. Sure, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man and others may have exceeded it in sales at times. Avengers has always been the core of the Universe's story. But Spiderman has always been the company's heart and soul.

We've grown up with him.


We've seen him fall in love.


We've had our hearts broken.


We were invited to his wedding.


We were together at the worst time imaginable.

Over the years, as with many books, Spiderman's universe was growing complex. Writer J. Michael Straczynski was introducing some interesting plot developments, but between joining the Avengers and all the big Marvel events like Civil War, he was unable to really bring them together.

Like many comics before, Spiderman was due for a relaunch.

This started in Amazing Spiderman #538, when, in an attempted attack on the now-public identity of Peter Parker, his beloved Aunt May is shot. This leads to the "Back in Black" event where Peter goes after those responsible, seeking vengeance.


Amazing Spiderman #544 starts the "One more Day" storyline, where Peter does anything and everything, legal and illegal to save Aunt May. His last resort is Mephisto, a near-omnipotent demon trickster. In exchange for saving May, mephisto wants one thing in return.

Not Peter's life.

Not his soul.

His love.


Peter and Mary Jane agree and Mephisto changes all of history. Peter and Mary Jane never got married. Spiderman's true identity was never revealed. It was a "Brand New Day"

Many fans were outraged by this. They canceled the subscriptions they've had since childhood. I thought it was brilliant. If Stan Lee says it's a great idea, then who am I to judge?

At the time, there were 3 regular monthly Spider-books, Amazing Spiderman, Sensational Spiderman, and Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman. Marvel took a huge chance and CANCELED the latter two, deciding to publish Amazing Spiderman three times a month.

"Brand New Day" started in Amazing Spiderman #546, and was the beginning of the almost-weekly publishing schedule. Instead of several writers and artists working on several titles, Amazing Spiderman features a team that collaborates on the issues.

Let me say, this change has made comics fun again. Spiderman is single again, hurting for money, trying to have relationships, work, pay the rent AND fight crime. It's a long overdue return to his roots. The schedule allows them to run one-issue stories without "wasting a month," while still doing larger, 6-issue "trade-sized" stories. Additionally, they can create large, branching, drawn-out underlying stories that would take YEARS to tell in a normal format. You can tell even the staff is having fun. The lost art of "editorial balloons" has resurfaced. Used to remind readers where plot threads came from, the editors and writers now actually use them as a storytelling device. They inform and entertain, even telling jokes and poking fun at each other.

If you're someone who has loved comic books in the past, but lost interest, do yourself a favor. Go to your local bookstore, buy a big cup of coffee and sit down with the Trade Paperback edition of "Brand New Day." You'll fall back in love all over again. I know I did.

Nerd Life Buried Treasure: The Last Remnant

The Last Remnant is a Square-Enix developed RPG released for the XBox 360 last November. It was also recently released on PC.

Wait. 6 months? THAT'S a buried treasure?

Yup. Seeing as this game can currently be found in bargain bins everywhere it sure is. It will probably be hard to find in the near future. As with many non-major franchises releasing in the Fall, this game sold like crap. A coworker recommended that I try it out, so I picked up my copy for 25 bucks brand new. I expected a decent bit of fun, well worth the cost.

I was surprised. Shocked, even. This game would have been worth buying at full price.

So, why did I wait? Well, i have a limited gaming budget and that money was going to Fallout 3 and Wrath of the Lich King at the time.

Now, many other people did not purchase it for a more sinister reason. The game received widely awful reviews. Some major news sources (*cough*GameInformer*cough*) passed it off without ever giving it a chance. The battle system must suck since they never took the time to learn it.

Admittedly, the graphics were a horrible, glitchy mess. So, it deserved a mediocre score. However, saying the core of the game is not worth time because you didn't GIVE it any is a mistake. This was not isolated to any single source.

Those graphical issues have since been "solved." The PC version runs fine. With the New XBox Experience, you can install the game to your hard drive. This cuts down the loading times immensely. It also relieves most, if not all of the glitches. Now, that doesn't excuse the poor design, but it allows many of us to play a wonderful game we would have otherwise missed.

Now, allow me a minute to break down the small stuff:
The graphics are fine. Nothing mindblowing, but, much like Too Human, there's so much going on at once on screen that the overall effect is very nice.
Music is ok. Again, nothing special.
Sound effects are functional.
The voice acting is SUPERB. However, the battle speeches get repetitive after a while.
The story is serviceable. Not bad, but not Final Fantasy quality, either. It serves to flow the real meat of the game: The character and combat systems.

Your main character, Rush, is the only one you really need to take care of. He's the only one you have to equip. He's the only one you have to synthesize gear for. He's the only one whose skills you need to manage.

The other 17 (17!) active characters will all take care of themselves. When you pick up loot they can use, they'll ask for it. When they accumulate the proper items, they'll upgrade their own gear. When they level up, they'll pick which skills to learn. Your Generals will occasionally ask you how they should manage themselves, but aside from a few quick choices, it's all out of your hands. Now, I love character building as much as the next guy, but there's no way I would want to micromanage 18 frakking guys.

Combat is a blast. Instead of issuing 18 individual orders, you place your characters in up to 5 "Unions." Then, you issue command to each Union. It's all very streamlined. Tell them to attack, everyone will attack. Tell them to use magic, and those that can, will. Others will simply melee attack. Need healing? When you do, that option will come up. Fantastically brilliant. You can pick from many different formations, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

I spend a great deal of time testing out different Union combinations and formations, trying to get the most out of the system. Of course, major fights sometimes require their own unique strategies. It's all JUST difficult enough to keep you on your toes, but simple enough that you don't mind working with it. Yes, there's a learning curve, but the game builds you up slowly. You don't start with 18 people at the start, but slowly build up to an army.

My final verdict: If you enjoy RPGs heavy on strategy without becoming full STRATEGY games, you'll probably like The Last Remnant. If you can find it for a good price (and have space on your XBox hard drive) I definitely recommend picking it up. I've currently played for close to 50 hours, running around doing sidequests and building up my team, and I haven't even reached the second disk!

Nerd Life Movie Review: Star Trek

Star Trek fan? Go see it.

Casual nerd? Go see it.

Nerd who's in denial? Go see it.

Person who beats up people who watch Star Trek? Go see it.

Seriously, this movie has it all. There are enough nods to the series' legacy to please the faithful, while still being completely accessible to non-fans.

How did they do this? JJ Abrams.

The studio has said the main reason they hired Abrams was because he HATED Star Trek. So, he took this wonderfully realized universe and made it accessible to the non-geeks of the world.

Many reviewers are going on and on about how amazing the cast is. I'm not going there. They're absolutely right, but here's all you need to know:

Zachary Quinto is Leonard Nimoy's long-lost grandson.
Karl Urban is an AWESOME "Bones" McCoy.
Simon Pegg is the man no matter what he does.
No issues at all with the rest of the cast.

The main area where this film diverges from tradition is the action. In previous films and TV series, missions always start out peaceful, the occasionally require a more physical approach. In Abrams' take, the younger crew takes more of a "shoot first, as questions later" approach. Kirk comes off as more of a cowboy than ever before, and it works. More action means more profit. More profit means more films to tell awesome stories in.

The story is... interesting. I have no real complaints, it's just radically different from anything that's come from the franchise before. It's cool seeing all these characters we know come together for the first time, and everything fits. One problem:

I hate time travel.

I went in to this film expecting the time travel plot device to be nothing more than a way to shoehorn Nimoy's "Old Spock" into the story. I couldn't have been more wrong. The time travel allows Abrams to create his own universe, without 40+ years of canon to adhere to. New stories with old characters.

A great movie. Again, go watch it. Highly recommended to anyone and everyone.

Nerd Life: Wolverine Review

First off: This review MAY not be based off the finished product. If I were to somehow view this movie weeks ago, this is the hypothetical review I would write. That imaginary non-movie would have the bulk of the finished plot in place, one would guess.

See where I'm going here?



Okay, first of all let me get something off my chest.

Deadpool is one of the most unique characters in the Marvel Universe. He's a fan favorite.

He's awesome in the movie.

For about five minutes.

Then they completely blow it. Let us never again mention the teleporting, eye-laser blasting, Baraka-sword wielding Merc Without a Mouth.

Aside from the Deadpool debacle, I have to say, it's not a bad movie.

The core story is very well done. They've taken some license with Wolverine and Sabretooth's origins, but it all works. Liev Schreiber plays a great take on Sabretooth while Hugh Jackman is just as awesome as ever in the role of Wolverine. Everything involving their past, Silver Fox and the Weapon X Program is very well done.

However, there's just not enough of it. Sabretooth is presented as the film's main villain, but in reality Stryker is the one that conflicts with Wolverine the most.

The entire rest of the movie is just a blur of forced fight scenes and character cameos. They advertise the movie with a large cast, including The Blob, Emma Frost, Cyclops and Gambit. While that's all cool, they neglect to mention that the scenes they show in the trailer are the ONLY scenes they have in the movie. It's as if the writers just sat around asking "How can we write another character into this movie, just to say he's in it?" Overall, the supporting cast does nothing to enhance the movie.

The film isn't BAD, it just misses on some key marks. Casual fans of the X-Men movies will probably like this movie quite a bit. Actual comic fans who have years invested in some of these characters can enjoy it, but will be left disappointed about the movie that this could have been.

Nerd Life Book Review: A Game of Thrones

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die
-Cersei Lannister

I've always known George R. R. Martin as a sci-fi author. Apparently, he's awesome at fantasy, as well.

A Game of Thrones is the first book in Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series.

It's old-school epic fantasy, weaving a tale of kings, lords, rival houses, war, treachery, love, lust, incest, murder, honor, revenge, justice and fate. The story centers around the Starks, a powerful family from the North of the realm, thrust into a world they're not accustomed to. In the North, survival is the focus, not the political intrigue of the king's court.

Over a very impressive 800(!) pages, Martin tells a gripping story. Like many large fantasy tales, it is told from many perspectives. Martin succeeds in making each character interesting and fun to read. There are no "dead" chapters in this story. Just... try not to get to attached. The body count starts early, and doesn't let up. You think you'll get used to it, but one near the end surprised me so much, I had to go back and read it again to make sure I got it right.

A Game of Thrones is the first of a planned 7 novels, 4 of which have already been published. If you're looking for a solid fantasy tale that takes itself seriously, pick it up.

Nerd Life: New Anime Spring 2009

Couple new anime to share with you guys real quick.

First: Dragon Ball Kai



What??? A new Dragon Ball?

Not quite.

Kai is the 20th anniversary edition of Dragon Ball Z. It's completely remastered, with new audio and video.

The best part: It's been re-edited. The entire series has been cut from 291 episodes down to only 100! Less annoying filler, more Super Saiyan Butt-Kicking.



Next: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood



Yeah, that opening is frakking awesome.

Brotherhood is not a sequel. It's more of a do-over. Halfway through the first series, they caught up to the manga (comic) that it was based on. Some longer series like Dragonball, Bleach or Naruto will create "filler" until the manga gets far enough ahead that they can start another story arc. Shorter series just make up their own story and carry that through to the end.

Brotherhood starts JUST before the first episode of the last series, and will follow the original manga storyline.

Funimation has realized that there is nothing they can do to prevent Americans from watching anime before it's licensed in America, so you can go to their website and watch the episodes legally for free.

As for Dragon Ball, well, I can't tell you anything about that. Maybe this site will help.

Nerd Life: Guitar Hero Metallica

Awesome.

Okay, review over.

Seriously. Best Guitar Hero ever.

Every song in this game is just FUN to play. Even the brutal tracks like War Ensemble and Dyer's Eve are entertaining. You feel like you've actually accomplished something by completing them.

They've changed the advancement system. Now you unlock new venues and songs based upon how many stars you've earned. So, if you can't get past Disposable Heroes, just move on. However, at least on Medium, my noob-preferred setting, you unlock the final set after playing less than half the game. That's a bit TOO easy.

Heck, just WATCHING the game is amazing. For the first time in GH history, the crowd is part of the performance. They sing along on songs like One, Master of Puppets and Creeping Death.

One thing that I really enjoy about this game: the difficulty curve. In previous GH games, the first few sets are just boring. GH:M throws you right in to For Whom the Bell Tolls and doesn't let up from there. Sure, the earlier songs are easier, for the most part, but not mind-numbingly so.

The track list is awesome. Here's some highlights:

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Great beginning to the game. Very fun.
Fade to Black: One of their best songs, hands-down.
Orion: I wonder what the vocalist does during an instrumental? Still, this is "Cliff's Song," and it's great that they included it.
Mercyful Fate: It takes guts to put an 11-plus minute song in a game like this. It's an endurance test. Great song, though.
Fuel: Way more fun that I would have thought.
The Thing that Should Not Be: Metallica's favorite song to play. The venue that you unlock this in is epic.

I would have LOVED to see a Cliff Burton cameo playing "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth," but I'm happy with the game, nonetheless.

Certain songs had to be left out due to licensing issues. Ride the Lightning, The Call of Ktulu and The Four Horsemen all have Dave Mustaine listed as writing credits and had to be left out. Ktulu was originally supposed to be the final song.

IF they were to release DLC, here's some songs that I would LOVE to play:

Harvester of Sorrow
The Frayed Ends of Sanity
To Live is to Die
Bleeding Me
The Outlaw Torn
Fixxxer
Astronomy

I doubt they'll do any DLC, but a guy can dream, right?

Anyway, enough rambling. There's really not much to discuss about a rhythm game, so go buy it!

Nerd Life: Persona 4 Impressions

This is not a full review, as I have yet to finish the game. However, I feel you readers would prefer to read my thoughts before the NEXT game in the series comes out. This is a very long game. However, I feel I've played enough to give it a fair judgment.



A secondary opening video can be found here. If you don't mind some small spoilers, it shows off some gameplay elements.

Persona 4 is the latest game in the Persona series, which itself is part of the larger Shin Megami Tensei family of games.

Persona 4 places you in the role of a nameless protagonist (a common element in the series). You arrive in a small town just as dead bodies start showing up. You and your friends decide investigate the murders, and a wonderful mystery plot plays out.

The characters are all very well developed, with dark, hidden sides to their personalities that they must confront and accept, their Personas. Personas are powerful spirits that will assist you in battle. They enable you to cast spells and use powerful attacks.

Battle plays out in a standard JRPG, sort-of-turn-based format. Persona 4 is the first game in the series to give you the option to issue commands to your party, which makes the gameplay much more strategic. Many enemies have weaknesses, and when these weaknesses are exploited, they will be knocked to the ground for a short period of time. Knocked down enemies take extra damage, and can become "dizzy" and lose a turn. Be careful, though! Your characters have weaknesses, too.

The thing that I enjoy most about this game, though, is that battle and dungeon crawling is only a small portion of the actual game. Believe it or not, the bulk of the game puts you in the shoes of an average Japanese high school student, living out his life. You can learn things in school, read books, participate in school activities and any number of other things to raise your personal stats. These stats will, in turn, open up Social Links. With Social Links, you grow closer to your friends and unlock more power in yourself, making your Personas more powerful.

How many other games present you with the decision of whether to kill monsters or go to Drama Club practice? And how many other games exist where you would actually choose the latter? As long as you rescue the current victim before the killer strikes, you're free to spend your time as you wish.

Visuals and audio are top-notch. The anime style comes off very well, even on the dated PS2 hardware. The music is amazing, with each dungeon or character having their own unique theme. The battle music does get a bit repetitive after a while, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. If you're not moving even a little bit during that opening video, there's something wrong with you. Voice acting is great, and they manage to fit a great deal of it on a single PS2 game disc. Each character comes off as full of life when combined with the outstanding writing.

Persona 4 is highly recommended to any RPG fan who can still FIND their PS2. This could very well be the best RPG I play this year.

I can sum up this game in one word: style. They even have their own Ipod commercial!

Nerd Life Book Review: World War Z

I'll make this short and sweet. World War Z by Max Brooks is awesome. Brooks tells the "true" story of our war against the zombies.

Hey! Zombies are serious business.

The premise of the book is that it's written from the point of view of a UN investigator. The story is told through a series of interviews with survivors detailing the events leading up to, during and after the war.

The book is eerily plausible. It's told in such a serious way that I would not be surprised if Earth were overrun by the walking dead TOMORROW. It ties in nicely to today's global issues without ever directly mentioning them. They're there, they happened, but in the wake of the greatest catastrophe in human history, they just don't matter.

All in all, a VERY interesting read. It's quite a bit different from any other piece of fiction I've read before, but I could not put it down. Highly recommended.

Dissenting Opinion

Ok, I know there's been a lot of Watchmen posts lately, but this should be the last one.

MOVIE AND COMIC SPOILERS ABOUND HERE

Last week, I posted my review of Watchmen.

Big Bear Butt, one of my favorite bloggers, put up his review of Watchmen the other day. Well, he didn't enjoy it as much as I did. BBB is a bit more of a fan of the graphic novel than I am, and felt a little more strongly about some of the changes than I did.

Instead of jacking up his comment area, I decided to share my thoughts here.

Allow me to preface this discussion by saying that I have nothing but respect for the big guy. His opinions are totally valid and I am in no way saying he is incorrect. His thoughts are just as allowable as mine or any others. I am merely offering another opinion for those that have not seen the film to formulate their own.

BBB:
The action scenes are very well done, but short. There are more of them in the movie than in the comic, but the amount of dialogue in the movie is brutal. They did a good job of trying to be faithful to the dialogue of the source material… but it is just is too long, and too dry. What worked on the written page doesn’t work here.

I'll agree here. I feel those extra action sequences actually help the movie, by breaking up the plot segments. It's a lot of story to take in if you're not familiar with the source material.

BBB:
... they really screwed the viewers by leaving in some scenes of graphic, nasty violence... those scenes were the epitomy of gratuitous violence, because they added nothing to the story but gore and violence.

I'll slightly disagree here. Yes, those scenes are much more graphic in the movie than the comic. I'll also concede that the "elbow breaking" was completely unnecessary. However, I feel it was necessary for the fighting to be more violent than what we perceive as "normal." Our heroes, for the most part, don't have powers. Outside of Dr. Manhattan, they can't stop bullets or see the future. When outnumbered and outgunned, our heroes must be sure to disable an enemy. When Batman punches a foe, he goes down unconscious, but that's not how things work in the real world. For a movie that tries to portray "super" heroes as real-life characters, making the action sequences believable helps.

Now, the cleaver scene wasn't even in the comic. In the comic, Rorschach notches his first kill by chaining the childkiller to a furnace and burning the place down, leaving him with the option of cutting his leg off. One big problem: that same scenario was in Saw. While viewers who read the comic will know which came first, most moviegoers will not. So, they changed it. Zack Snyder didn't just add the head-chopping for the sake of violence. Here's Dave Gibbons' take on the scene, from an interview he did with Snyder on Comic Book Resources:

Gibbons:
It made me wince. I think that was about as violent as it gets, and interestingly enough, it kind of fits with the symmetry thing. You know, chopping somebody down the middle of the head, I can see it had a resonance like that. And I think it had to be something that had a real kick to it, because it is what turns Kovacs into Rorschach. So it’s got to have a huge charge, and it has.

Of course, BBB's biggest issue is the changed ending. Here's the thing, if you didn't pay attention to all the little details in the comic, the original ending didn't make a whole lot of sense. After leaving the theater my girlfriend asked me about the original ending.
"Ozymandias teleports a giant squid that he created using the cloned brain of a psychic to Times Square, killing it and causing a psychic backlash that murders millions in order to make the world believe aliens are invading."
"............. What?"
At the end of the day, the movie has to make its viewers satisfied. Keep in mind that the majority of viewers have never read the graphic novel. Throwing a giant squid at them MIGHT have been a bit too much. The new ending, while less logical to BBB and other hardcore fans, is just more acceptable to a mass audience.

Honestly, I would have preferred if the movie had never been made at all. However, after 20 years of trying, it was going to get done sooner or later. I'm just happy they got a good director, willing to stand his ground and make the best movie possible. It may not be perfect, but it could have been much, MUCH worse.

Once again, everyone is welcome to their opinions. Don't listen to me. Don't listen to Big Bear Butt. Get out there, read the comic, watch the movie and make your own.

I apologize for the rambling, but the only thing worse than a geek is a geek with an audience.

Nerd Loot: Marvel Transformers

I know the quality stinks, these pictures were taken with my phone.

Avengers Assemble!



For a closer look, here are our heroes:








Iron Man








Thor








Captain America







I saw these figures last year. While I thought they were cool, I never really considered picking them up. Wave 1 consisted of Iron Man, Hulk, Spiderman and Venom. Wave 2 was Human Torch, Wolverine, Grey Hulk (Repaint) and Black Spiderman (repaint). Then Wave 3 dropped a few weeks ago and I was in. Thor, Captain America, Carnage (repaint) and War Machine (repaint, but still called iron Man for some reason). Thor is one of my favorite heroes and how can you NOT have Cap? Then of course, I had to complete the Big Three with Iron Man from Wave 1.

Iron Man



A great vehicle mode. If someone handed this to me and not told me it was a Transformer, I might not have guessed. A bit of a backpack on the robot mode with the wings, but not very noticeable. I would have liked a way to hide the cockpit, however. Aside from that, a very accurate representation.

Thor



So much to say about this figure. The vehicle DESIGN is nice. The A-10 "Thunderbolt" was a great choice. Of course, the gattling gun mounted under the nose is nicknamed "The Avenger." The way the legs and knees form the jets and rear stabilizers is well executed. However, the coloring is horrendous. In robot mode, the knee pads are a bit awkward. And the cape... yikes. It doesn't join together and instead creates "wings." The cape hangs over the shoulders and, while accurate to the character, make the arm movement very restrictive. Additionally, there is wonderful detail in the molding that is completely lost due to the poor paint job. Very disappointing, but he's my favorite character and I HAVE to have him with the other two.

Captain America



This guy is just a thousand kinds of awesome. The only complaint I have is the arms can be a bit difficult. Left forward, they just dangle, but pushed back and "locked" the shoulders hit the wheels, severely limiting mobility. Aside from that, simply amazing.

I'm definitely looking forward to future releases from this line. It's vastly superior to the Star Wars crossover. All the figures are solid with excellent posability. Some, like Venom are a bit awkward, but Hulk is a great figure that I may pick up if I decide to expand. I would love to see a Doctor Doom or some other X-Men in future Waves.

Nerd Life Evening Edition: Watching the Watchmen

I wanted to get this review up Saturday night, but was unable.

So, some quick thoughts on the Watchmen movie.

First of all, I was absolutely SHOCKED to see so many kids in the audience. Not only the expected "drop me off at the theater" kids, but small children, not over the age of EIGHT at the theater with their parents. To watch an R-rated movie. A VERY R-rated movie.

The film itself was amazing. The special effects really brought the drawings to life and music were brilliant. Many of the songs featured were actually quoted in the comics. The choreography, holy CRAP, the choreography in the fight scenes was amazing. In the comic, I never thought of Nite Owl as much of a fighter, but the movie made me believe.

The acting was, for the most part, spot on. Jackie Earle Haley anmd Billy Crudup have been widely, and correctly, lauded for their performances as Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan. However, I feel the best performance was given by Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the role of The Comedian. He brought one of the most interesting characters of the books to life in a way I never could have imagined. His performance gave the character new depth. Matthew Goode has been called by many the "weakest" member of the cast as Ozymandias. However, he was given the job of playing one of the most important characters with the LEAST amount of screen time.

Story-wise, Zack Snyder has done it again. After recreating 300 nearly frame-for-frame, he once again lives up to the source material here. Every major scene (and many more minor ones than I would have anticipated) has been brilliantly visualized. There is one notable exception, one of my favorite scenes from the comic that was left out. Zack Snyder himself was upset he had to cut it from the theatrical release for time, and has guaranteed that it's in the Director's Cut. Honestly, it makes sense for that scene to be removed, because there is literally NOWHERE else to cut time. After the initial introductions, the movie moves at a break-neck pace.

Now, the ending. Snyder came out and said he changed it. Fanboys everywhere held their breath with fear. Now, that I've seen it, I have to say, I think I like this one BETTER. It makes more sense, especially to average 2009 movie-goers. All the emotional points are intact. Everything still HAPPENS, just in a slightly different way.

Final verdict: Fans will have ALREADY seen it. If you have a casual interest, you definitely must check it out, and I would suggest reading the graphic novel afterward. Average Joes and Janes may not enjoy it as much as they did 300. The movie has the audacity to assume its audience is not full of morons. However, for a fun, thought-provoking movie, Watchmen is an excellent view.

Nerd Life Special: Who Watches the Watchmen?

Tomorrow (techinically later tonight) marks an important date in Nerd History. Watchmen, the most hallowed comic book of all time, becomes a film.

Cancel that. Watchmen is one of the few comics actually worthy of the title "graphic novel." That's a term usually thrown about by people "too old" to be reading "comic books."

So, what's the big deal about Watchmen, you ask? What makes it so special?

Creative Team

You hear the name Alan Moore a lot. Very few appreciate what he's done. Not only did he write Watchmen, he also wrote:

V for Vendetta: A decent movie, but failed to capture the feel of the comic.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: As terrible as the movie was, you must admit the concept behind it is brilliant. The comics use the concept perfectly.
From Hell: Again, much better in comic form.
Batman: The Killing Joke: My favorite Batman story, and the primary inspiration behind The Dark Knight and even Tim Burton's first Batman Film.
Heck, the guy even made SWAMP THING cool.

Dave Gibbons provided the art. Gibbons has worked on just about any title you can name, alongside writers such as Stan Lee, Frank Miller and Kurt Busiek.

Watchmen won just about every award a comic book can. The Hugo Awards, known for excellence in science fiction and fantasy, even created a special category JUST so they could give Watchmen an award.

Time Magazine even named it one of the top 100 novels of the 20th Century.

Story

I'm a little sad. Many viewers at the movies this weekend will watch the movie and go, "They just ripped off a bunch of other movies!"

Sorry, Johnny Filmgoer, everybody else ripped off Watchmen over the past 20+ years.

The story takes place in the mid-1980s. The US is critically close to total war with the Soviet Union. Richard Nixon is STILL President, after amending the Constitution. The US's striking victory in Vietnam, thanks to the mobilization of costumed heroes, gave Nixon unheralded popularity.

Costumed heroes were a popular fad dating back to Superman's first appearance in comics. The costumed vigilantes rose and fell to obscurity. A law was passed re-outlawing vigilantism, leaving government-sanctioned masked men as the only legally operating heroes.

The story starts with the murder of one of those sanctioned heroes. A gripping mystery unfolds, leading to stunning revelations and serious moral choices.

Please note my use of "costumed heroes." Of all the characters in the story, only one of them actually has superpowers.

Characters

What makes a hero?

Is it powers? Because the only character to actually have any is probably the LEAST heroic. As his power grows, so does his detachment from everything that ever made him human.

Is it intelligence? The World's Smartest Man may be TOO smart for Earth's own good.

Is it passion? The character most motivated to become a hero was also the first to hang up his cape. What if he had OTHER reasons for putting on a mask?

Is it legacy? The character with a heroic bloodline is the one that LEAST wants to be a hero.

Is it ideals? The outlaw vigilante that refuses to be told what to do is shunned by society, even though he is only trying to do good.

This is what makes Watchmen so engaging. These "perfect" examples of humanity are all deeply flawed on the inside. Every person who picks up the book can relate to one of the heroes.

Intangibles

There are so many things that the comic did that the movie never could. The "comic-within-a-comic" that beautifully mirrors the themes of the actual story. The issue that is drawn and written to be completely SYMMETRICAL. The foreshadowing and hints that are either impossible to do or lose all meaning in a 2 1/2 hour+ movie. Watchmen is like Fight Club or The Sixth Sense. The first time, it's a fun ride. The second, third or tenth time, it has whole new meanings. You find something new every time.

While there may not be enough time to read the graphic novel in its entirety before watching the movie, I do hope that the movie inspires viewers to go pick up what i consider to be truly one of the greatest pieces of artwork to grace pop culture in many, many years.






WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?

Nerd Life: Sam's Top 10 Anime, Part 2 (5-1)

Part 1 can be found here.

5: Cowboy Bebop



The show that MADE Adult Swim. It's such a hit, they're still airing the bloody thing 8 years later. It's also probably the only show that I PREFER in English. The series has a very Western style, and the English voice acting lends to that. The cast was brilliant, as well. Bebop also has some of the most consistently amazing music in the history of anime. This is a show with slick action, genius comedy and brief moments of absolutely striking drama. A great "starter" anime to get your girlfriend (or boyfriend) to start watching.

4: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann



Faithful readers are well aware of my nerd crush on this show. To quote myself:

"Great comedy, good story, insane action, heartbreaking drama, there is nothing this show does not have. I dare any anime fan to watch this show and come away disappointed."



gar, adj: A term used towards male characters and individuals who are so overwhelmingly manly that your own masculinity is absolutely *buried*, leaving you naught but a whimpering, swooning girl-child before them.

And this is only my love for number FOUR.

3: Fullmetal Alchemist



I honestly started watching this show by accident. I remembered reading about the video game and passed it off as an effort to cash in on a game series' success. Well, I tuned in a few minutes early for the premiere of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex on Adult Swim, and was treated to the last few minutes of FMA. In that one scene, I was hooked. Two episodes later, the addiction became hopeless. A truly fantastic series in every way imaginable. Art, animation, characters, voice acting, music, story, drama, humor. Name it.

2: Rurouni Kenshin



The story of a man who has spilled so much blood, he has sworn never to take another life again. Kenshin Himura, Battosai the Manslayer is the greatest warrior in all of anime. Kind of a long series, but there is a sharp decline after the second season. Samurai, ninjas, warrior-monks and assorted other badassery abound in this show. If you only watched it on Toonami... watch it again.

And..............

1: Samurai 7



This is an amazing remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic epic, The Seven Samurai. The original told the story of 7 brave samurai defending a helpless villaige from an army of bandits. The anime has the same story, but much more in depth, with a full 26 episodes to tell it in. Also, the samurai are awesome anime characters and the bandits are giant robots....

I won't give too much detail. The fact that it's #1 on my list should be enough of an endorsement!

So, what are some of YOUR favorites?

Nerd Life: Sam's Top 10 Anime, Part 1 (10-6)

Welcome to Nerd Life! This is a new weekly post where I can explore all of my off-topic tendencies, and keep the weekday posts WoW-related.

I'm constantly being asked for anime recommendations. Of the many areas of geekdom where I've invested skill points, anime is one of the highest.

So, let's kick off Nerd Life with a countdown of some of my favorite series. Here's numbers 10 through 6.

10: Gundam Wing/00



This is more nostalgia than anything. After a few years of not watching anything Japanese, an amazing thing happened. My cable provider finally got Cartoon Network, and I could watch Toonami again for the first time since Voltron was part of the lineup. While there were plenty of awesome shows on at the time, Gundam Wing was the one that reminded me of just how awesome anime was.



I'm including 00 in here because it's considered my many, including myself, to be the spiritual successor to Wing. It ALSO happens to be the best Gundam series since the original.

9: Vision of Escaflowne



I'm not using the opening theme for a very important reason. At first glance, this series seems very... girly. The first episode is all about Hitomi trying to get her first kiss. It gets better. Trust me, this video shows just how awesome it can be.

FOX Kids tried to adapt this for American boys, and butchered it in the process. It got canceled after about 5 episodes, covering the first 9 or so actual anime episodes. They completely removed the first episode, leaving many viewers confused right off the bat.

8: Trigun



This anime helped make Adult Swim a hit. One of the few smart moves they made. Vash the Stampede is one of the greatest hero characters ever.

7: Martian Successor Nadesico



"You Get to Burning" has got to be the catchiest opening song of any anime. It also shows how many Japanese THINK they have a good understanding of English: "Go being your days grow up!" Anyway, Nadesico is best viewed by those with anime experience, as it is a satire more than anything else. However, amidst the humor, there's good drama and great action. All the characters are brilliant, from the hyperactive captain to the reluctant pilot to the greatest hero, Gai Daigoji.

Gekiganger owns.

6: Neon Genesis Evangelion



One of the most famous series ever created. Any modern anime fan has to watch this. It's awesome for about 22 episodes. After that, you can pinpoint the EXACT moment Gainax ran out of money in the budget. There are 2 movies, but after some awesome action sequences, they do nothing more than make the plot even more incomprehensible. Even still, it's required viewing.

Check in next week for the top 5.