Toshiaki Mishima and producer Masuya Makomu’s mishmash* project have posted their Aimee Isobe collaboration music video directed by Katabuchi Sunao’s (director on Black Lagoon and Mai Mai Miracle, assistant director on Kiki’s Delivery Service). Akiko Asaki (animator of Black Lagoon‘s opening, animation director on late episodes and OVA) was animation director and character designer with key animation from Taiki Imamura and Kanako Maru. Mappa handled the production.
The single, “How much longer will I have you with me?” will be released September 16th.
I hope he has an outfit to wear to all the awards shows he will have to attend this year.
The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines the word brilliant as very intelligent or successful. Some people will throw that word around like it has little to no meaning. I remember being at Disney World with my family and hearing another dad looking at an ice cream cone that his wife had purchased on Main Street and he calling that “brilliant.” I remember thinking to myself at that moment,“Really, you are calling the fact your wife was able to successfully navigate the purchase of an ice cream cone as an example of her intelligence?” The point is that we shouldn’t just throw certain words around all the time because it takes away from the overall meaning of the word.That is why when I write these reviews, I make it a point to carefully choose the words that I want to use when describing these movies to you. With that in mind, I’m here to tell you today that Mr. Holmes is one of the most brilliant movies I’ve seen in 2015. Let me explain further.
Mr. Holmes (Ian Mckellen) is a new take on the world’s most famous detective.In 1947, an elderly Sherlock Holmes returns from a journey to Japan, where, in search of a rare plant, he witnessed the aftermath of Hiroshima.Now, Holmes faces the end of his life tending to bees, with only the company of his housekeeper and her son.Dealing with the dwindling powers of his mind, Holmes comes to need the help of the boy as he revisits the circumstances of his final case.
The story behind this movie is the performance of Ian Mckellen. He portrays the iconic character of Sherlock Holmes with such gravitas that you aren’t able take your eyes off of him from the beginning of the film to the end.He portrays Mr. Holmes with a sense of ego mixed with a tinge of vulnerability due to his diminished mental skills.He brings such heart to the role of Mr. Holmes that it’s without question one of the best acting performances that I’ve seen this year.I think it’s a shame that Mr. Holmes came out now and didn’t come out closer to awards season.Sometimes time can be the enemy of a movie during awards season.
Sadly, Mr. Holmes won’t get the wide play that it deserves.It’s a great movie with plenty examples of masterful moments of acting.Mr. Holmes is not the best film of the year in my opinion but it’s at least in my top 5.The story that will last the rest of the year will be Ian Mckellen and his performance as Mr. Holmes. Mckellan has had a distinguished acting career and will have a great chance at winning his first Oscar for this role. Remember, brilliance is always going to be recognized.
Batman: Arkham Knight has been out for a little less than a month, and the gamer world flooded with reviews, gameplay footage, complaints about the PC version, and controversy about the over zealous batmobile.
The game’s tagline should have been, “Be the Batmobile.”
But, overall, the game was received with a lot of positivity, and with good reason. It’s a fun game to play, with unique features that sets it apart from other games on the market. Definitely a fun game that was worth the price. And now that it has been nearly a month, WB Games is starting to release DLC for the game.
Six months worth of DLC, to be exact. And if one purchased the Arkham Knight season pass then one can download all the DLC early and with no additional charges. However, DLC is tricky, because sometimes it can add some amazing new features to a game, like the awesome Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Or it can be disastrously pointless like Elder Scroll: Oblivion‘s Horse Armor.
Ah. The endless running joke.
The first DLC for Arkham Knight is an original prequel story called Batgirl: A Matter of Family. It’s an original prequel story that sees Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) and Robin fighting the Joker in an abandon amusement park. The clown prince of crime has kidnapped Commissioner Gordon on Valentine’s Day and wants Batgirl and Robin to try to save him. The Joker’s end goal is to kill the two sidekicks so Batman won’t be distracted by them anymore. Isn’t he considerate?
Showdown!
The game is a lot of fun, Batgirl controls great. She’s a like a smaller, faster Batman, but with more hacking abilities. For example, she can hack certain panels that can scare criminals, and then do fear take downs on them. The setting of being in an abandon amusement park is a perfect setting. The ability to “dual play” with Robin adds a fun element to the mix. And if you played Arkham Knight and hated using the Batmobile, well you’re in luck. There is no Batmobile here. In fact the game is actually very much back to basics. Stealth, combat, and puzzles are the focus; giving us some of the best versions of those game elements. And just like the Arkham Knight, the game looks gorgeous.
The Joker and Harley Quinn are brief villains, but they do a good job adding humor, and their own brand of crazy to the mix. Harley is in her original outfit, and Joker is sporting a very fun new top hat. You have to fight both of them at the end, as well as an army of their clown themed goons.
True love.
It’s definitely a lot of fun, but if there was something to complain about then it would be that the game is just too short. You can complete it in about an hour. Maybe an hour and a half if you want to explore everything. And there aren’t any Riddler trophies, so the replay factor is minimal. There is an island to explore afterwards, but there isn’t a lot to do except for find balloons and fight more bad guys. Which is a shame, because could have been more to throw in to extend it. Mini bosses, more devious puzzles, a detective element, and maybe a tad more of a challenging experience.
Perhaps the next game should be all about Batgirl… Or Robin… Or maybe a Batman game all about the sidekicks. Could be a lot of fun. Get on that WB Games!
But, back to the matter at hand, overall it’s a great purchase. If you did get the season pass then you probably already downloaded it, but if you don’t then go ahead and download it. You won’t regret it. The DLC releases for everyone, on July 21st.
Marvel announced yesterday they are releasing hip-hop variant covers this October. Each cover will pay tribute to an iconic album.
“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog,” Marvel EIC Axel Alonso said in a press release. “Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces.”
The hip-hop variants opens up a can of worms when it comes to diversity in the work place at Marvel. The comic publisher is creating a diverse line up of characters, but Marvel is lacking in hiring a diverse line up of creators.
Marvel editor Tom Brevoort was asked this question on his Tumblr page New Brevoort Formspring, and he didn’t handle it very well.
This was the first question: Can you explain why Marvel thinks that doing hip hop variants is a good idea, when absolutely no announced writers or artists on the new Marvel titles, as of now, are black? Wouldn’t correcting the latter be a much better idea than the former?
This was Brevoort’s answer: What does one have to do with the other, really?
Three hours later this question came through: How do you not see the connection between appropriating iconic Black American imagery the lack of Black American representation on Marvel’s creative teams?
Brevoort responded with a more thought out answer: Okay, fair cop, I spoke quickly and curtly and may have given the wrong impression. So I apologize for that.
I think that anybody who’s been reading this page for the past month or so should have a pretty good idea of where I stand on the issue of representation in our comics—and that goes for creators as well as characters. We can always do better, and we continue to work on it.
There are still plenty more titles to be announced as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, and as they continue to roll out, I believe that you’ll see the evidence of our commitment to creator representation among the creative teams as well as our characters.
My point, such as it was, is that this isn’t an either-or situation. Doing the Hip-Hop covers (many of which were illustrated by creators of color) has no direct bearing on the state of African-American representation among our creative teams. What it does do, hopefully, is to showcase an appreciation for this respected artform, and by extension create an environment that’s maybe a little bit more welcoming to prospective creators.
From Breevort’s responses he doesn’t seem to understand the roots of hip-hop, if he did he probably wouldn’t have answered the question so quickly. Also, the conversation of diversity in work place and in the pages of the comic book does go hand and hand.
Actor Kellan Lutz phoned in to talk with us about the season finale of FOX’s Bullseye. Lutz also talked about his upcoming project “Extraction” with Bruce Willis, his goal to be in a super hero film, and his favorite charities.
During the interview Lutz almost slips up and lets us know what super hero film he will be in, but we do find out that he’a huge X-Men fan.
The season finale of Bullseye is Wednesday, July 15th on FOX.
Bonus track: Star Wars Slave Leia controversy in Philadelphia.
ABOUT KELLAN LUTZ
Kellan Lutz most recently starred in the feature films “The Expendables 3,” “The of Legend of Hercules” and in the worldwide phenomenon “The Twilight Saga” franchise. He will next be seen starring opposite Bruce Willis in the action feature “Extraction.” Lutz began his acting career as a series regular on the cable series “The Comeback,” opposite Lisa Kudrow. He was also seen in the network series “90210,” “Heroes,” “Summerland” and the award-winning cable mini-series “Generation Kill.” When not acting, Lutz is an avid enthusiast of extreme sports. Born and raised in North Dakota, Lutz had a simple upbringing but learned to live every day to the fullest. From sky diving to parasailing, from motor cross to white water rafting, he has always approached life as an adventure. Lutz also gives his time to three charities: PETA, the Royal Family Kids’ Camp, and the St. Bernard Project
The next Bradley Cooper-Jennifer Lawrence-David O. Russell project is almost here. Are you excited to see it? Here’s a first look at Joy.
Joy is set to be released on Christmas Day in the US. It is inspired by the life of Joy Mangano, an American woman who created inventions such as the “Miracle Mop” and the “Huggable Hangers”, holds over a hundred of patents, is the president of Ingenious Designs, LLC – worth over $1 billion – and has sold millions of products. She’s also a mother of three children.
The movie also stars Robert De Niro (Taxi Driver, Jackie Brown) as Joy’s father, Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Isabella Rossellini (Enemy), Édgar Ramírez (The Counselor) and Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black).
Earlier today, Entertainment Weekly released several exclusive stills from the movie.
Needless to say, it will almost definitely be an Oscars contender. Can it beat its predecessors Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle in awards season? We’ll see. But for now, this is all we have.
So this week on Monster Musume we get a twofer with two monster girls debuting in that same episode. Now while fitting in two characters in the same episode did seem a little weird for me, I want to introduce these new additions and try to explain what they can add to this increasingly crazy scenario first. Then after I’ll talk about my view of the episode as a whole.
In the first half of the episode Kimihito is kidnapped by a harpy girl named Papi. Her size is small but not so small to be considered “Loli”. She instantly comes off as a troublemaker and a scatter brain at times. She even manages to mix up harpy and Papi when she introduces herself. This is attributed to her being part bird and thus having a “bird brain”. In fact even a minute after she asks Kimihito to get ice-cream with her, she turns to him and asks who he is. To imply that she already forgot. Papi is definitely a carefree spirit not really adhering to the rules and just looking for a good time. She ignorantly mistakes a water fountain as a bird bath and jumps in to get ice cream that she has suggestively spilled on herself. Natural she takes her clothes off and we get a funny joke with Kimihito asking her why her clothes are off. Papi response is a condescending, “Off course you’re suppose to take a bath naked.”
Kimihito tries to get her out to keep her modesty in check but is dragged into the fountain for some playtime. Unfortunately Miia comes to break up the fun and get her “darling” back. Immediately her and Papi get confrontational and have a little fight. It’s then that Kimihito sees that the people who were observing have turned their attention to a little girl stuck in a tree. Papi fails in her rescue attempt in a comedic fashion, so Miia decides to climb the tree and take the glory. But unfortunately she gets covered in leaves and scares the girl so bad that she losses hold and falls off the tree branch. But Papi is able to swing in catching the girl and redeeming herself. Or so she thinks until she realizes that she can’t fly at her angle. But all is well when Kimihito dives underneath her to break her fall.
After the incident it turns out that Papi is a known runaway and no one is willing to take her in as a host family. This is when we learn that Ms. Smith was already on the way to “dump” Papi off with Kimihito. And being the kind guy he is, Kimihito accepts. Miia is mostly okay with this and considered Papi to be nothing more than a childish distraction. That is until she finds out that Harpies just have petite bodies and that Papi is actually the same age as her. Then she gets little jealous, and in her attempt to stop Papi from bathing with her darling, she crashes in a door on top of him. Miia tries to explain to Papi that Kimihito is hers as he lays under the door bleeding from his head.
For the record, it’s always hard to definitively say if characters like the ones in this show are funny or not. The reason is usually they follow one type of joke and if that’s not your cup of tea, then the jokes fall flat every time. Papi is the young prankster who goes with the flow and is scatter brained. She will often have crazy ideas and then something will go wrong as par for the course. She really isn’t there to be jail bait or the token loli like some people would think, though she is mistaken for a child at first. Papi will undoubtedly bring in some good physical humor, dumb jokes, and cute moments for sure.
In the second half we get introduced to Centorea while Kimihito is out doing some morning grocery shopping. Centorea is a centaur with massive breasts and wears a sword on her belt. She speaks very eloquently with some romanticized British woven in. And when she knocks into Kimihito and sends him flying into a street sign, she believes it to be a fated encounter, like out of an Anime, and assumes that he is to be her fated master. But Kimihito dashes her dreams calling them nothing but a Manga cliché, that she misinterpreted for a Japanese spell. Just some more showing how monster girls misinterpret things in the human world. If anything most of the jokes in this show are fish out of water jokes, but that’s to be expected, because I mean they’re monster girls and they wouldn’t know.
Kimihito tries to explain that she shouldn’t use that as a factor in determining her soul mate when a purse snatcher on a scooter steals a woman purse. Centorea declares she would go after him if the interspecies law didn’t forbid violence between species. She explains that this restriction is why she’s looking for a human master to fight by her side for justice. And since all she has at this point is Kimihito she decides to drag him along in her pursuit of the criminal. Kimihito tries to get on her back to ride her but nearly has his head taken off by her back hoof. She explains that riding is sacred and since he isn’t her master he can’t ride.
Instead he has to deal with being pulled dangling over her back with his arms wrapped around her waist. They pursue the criminal with some fantastical speed, all the while Centorea is threatening Kimihito to not do anything lewd with his hands inches away from her massive breats. But Kimihito starts to slip off her right when Centorea is about to stop the criminal. Naturally he grabs onto her breasts for support. As he keeps loosing grip and having to grab again, he pulls down her shirt exposing them. This causes her to jerk out of control knocking the criminal off his cooter and dropping her sword in the process. She’s so embarrassed by this that she keeps running until she hits a storage garage. The criminal is then able to pick up the sword that she dropped and is about to cut her until Kimihito steps in between and gets hit instead.
But it turns out that it was only a fake sword she was carrying and Kimihito doesn’t receive any fatal wounds. Centorea is so moved by Kimihito’s actions that she decides that he will indeed be his master and moves in with him. In some way it is hinted that Ms. Smith was behind this encounter as well. Of course Miia objects to the idea while Papi really can’t care less at this point.
Centorea’s character is very proud and noble. She is also very timid about her feeling and can be quick to retract a statement if she feels too embarrassed about it. So I feel we can definitely get some cute scenes with her being timid about her emotions towards Kimihito. And it sure will be nice contrast to Miia’s head over heels affection. Her sense of modesty is at a much higher level than our other two, and she certainly seems like the most responsible one. But she does have some tics that can cause her to get out of hand as well. Also as the character with the biggest breasts, she is certainly locked in for all those jokes as well. And this episode for sure didn’t have any shortage of those.
All in all this episode of Monster Musume was fine from the comedy aspect. And it sure helped develop what it is like to be a monster girl in a strange place once again. But something about jamming two new characters with their own separate stories just felt rushed to me. I would have liked the whole episode to be about Papi and have Centorea (or Cerea) be premiered next episode. But I know if they did that then it would literally be half way through until they introduced all the girls. And it doesn’t bother me too much since we have all season to get to know them. Just something about the scanrios seemed rushed to me. The only thing I can think of that I sort of didn’t like in this episode was the blowjob simulation with Papi and the popsicle. But it does fit with her character to not really think anything of it since she is a bit stupid. And I did enjoy Kimihito’s and the on looking publics reaction too it, so even that can get a pass from me.
Monster Musume continues to be a fun show. And while it still widely hinges on you liking the scenario and enjoying the comedy there still seems to be something special about this one. So I guess I’ll have to keep watching and see what crazy fun and interesting stuff they can still do with this horny monster girl show.
Either MYFOX Philly is either trolling for Comic-Con traffic or parenting in Philadelphia has dropped to an all-time low. This is also the city that booed Santa Claus. MYFOX Philly put together a news package about parental outrage over a Star Wars Slave Leia action figure.
Fred Hill a single dad from the suburbs of Jersey, must be the only person to have never seen Return of the Jedi.
“That’s pretty inappropriate,” he said, “I got 2 daughters I don’t need seeing that crap.”
Whoa! It’s okay to curse on television in front of your kids, but Slave Leia is inappropriate? Come on Mr. Hill!
“They’re like dad why does this doll have a chain around its neck. I don’t have any answers. I was just blown away looking at it,” Hill said.
What do you mean you don’t have answers, Mr. Hill? RENT YOUR KIDS RETURN OF THE JEDI!
“But that kind of crap is in the toy aisles for me to see? Nah,” Hill said.
Mr. Hill have you been to the Barbie aisle lately?
Jessie Eisenberg plays Lex Luthor in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. He apparently really hates fans or is really into his character as Luthor. In an AP interview Monday, Eisenberg expressed his distain for Comic-Con and Hall H.
“It is like being screamed at by thousands of people. I don’t know what the experience is throughout history, probably some kind of genocide. I can’t think of anything that’s equivalent,” Eisenberg said.
One of the biggest stories to come out of the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con was Warner Brothers and DC Comics announcing a new slate of movies taking place in the DC Universe. DC not only is bringing in very recognizable names (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc), but is promoting a far darker approach than Marvel has. People have been reaching out to me on social media asking me what I thought about the slate. It got me thinking, is this is the approach that the fans are wanting? Are fans are getting tired of the predictable nature of the Marvel movies and want alternatives? 7 years ago, Marvel was the fresh face in the industry. Maybe the times are a changing? I feel the D.C. is going to be the new leader in super heroes films going forward. Here are some reasons why.
Playing the Hits-
We have reached a point now where Marvel is in the Phase 3 roll out where movies like Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and Ant-Man are making it to the big screen. The highlights of Phase 3 are of course Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok , and The Avengers : Infinity War. Some of the films are targeting the biggest of comic book fans and the others are meant to be for those of us who are into what we have seen before at the box office. DC is bringing a whole new universe and that universe is extremely dark and appealing to a variety of individuals world wide. Batman, Superman, Wonder Women, and even the Justice League all have universal appeal and that will mean box-office revenue for DC. It seems we have reached a point where Marvel is just playing the classics and DC is playing the hits.
Originality –
DC seems to be pushing more original concepts towards the screen and pushing the envelope while Marvel is sticking to a safer route. DC is even pushing a movie that based primarily on the villains in the DC Universe ( Suicide Squad). In the first 24 hours since Warner Brothers has released the Suicide Squad trailer, it accumulated 12 million views on Youtube. That is a tremendous amount of interest in a very short amount of time. It’s this type of buzz that will lead to genuine interest at the box office.
Actors –
DC is bringing actors with impressive versatility into the DC Universe. Ben Affleck as Batman was at first considered to be nothing short of a monumental screw up, but if you take a second you may see that he actually was the perfect choice to follow Christian Bale. Who better to pull the suave nature of a Bruce Wayne as well the rage that builds inside as he slowly becomes Batman? Ben Affleck brings a lot to the role.
Jared Leto as the Joker in Suicide Squad brings something to the table that hasn’t been seen in a super hero movie since Heath Ledger. His all or nothing method for acting garnered him praise in Dallas Buyers Club and he won the Academy Award. Will Smith, Margot Robbie, and Viola Davis also have signed on to the DC universe. It seems as if DC is investing time in hiring the right actors and is not overly concerned with going after the “bigger names.” This dedication to casting the right actors and actresses will allow DC to produce the type of film product that not only is very true to the comic but has mass appeal as well.
In Conclusion, I am not going to tell you that somehow Marvel will no longer be making tons of money at the box-office. I think people will still check out the latest and greatest from Marvel simply based on what they have seen in the past. There is room for both companies to make films and make a mint at the box office. However, we only have room for one company to be the leader in super hero movies. Marvel is the past and DC is the future.
It’s not only the Dawn of Justice, but the dawn of a new era
