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Countdown to Avengers: Thor (2011)

Posted in comic books, movies, pop culture, reviews with tags comic books, Marvel Comics, movies, pop culture, reviews, The Avengers on March 28, 2012 by Paxton

Countdown to Avengers is a blog crossover between Nerd Lunch, To The Escape Hatch and the Cavalcade of Awesome. Together we are reviewing all of the solo Avengers movies as well as some of the comics and cartoons. It’s all leading up to the release of The Avengers on May 4 where we will all review the new movie.

So, today my assignment for the countdown is to review the movie Thor. Directed by Kenneth Brannaugh and starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Kat Dennings, Tom Hiddleston and Sir Anthony Hopkins.

(Via Die Screaming)

My Review:
For this review, this was my second viewing of the movie and the first time I’d seen it since watching it in theaters when it was released in May 2011. To back up a bit, my background with Thor is pretty close to nil. I was not ever a Thor reader. I have a few of his issues from the 80s/90s, but mostly when he had co-stars I cared about like Hulk or The Fantastic Four. I also vividly remember his terrible, terrible Incredible Hulk TV movie appearance. So, needless to say, I’m not really a fan. That being said, if they had decided to play fast and loose with Thor’s history, I really wouldn’t know any different and I would welcome it. I just wanted the movie to have an interesting and engaging story with some really nice visuals. Did it deliver?

When I saw this movie in the theater, I thought it was okay, I enjoyed it and thought the effects were awesome. I think I was more excited about the Hawkeye cameo than I was about the rest of the movie. When I watched it this second time, I focused more on Hemsworth as Thor and Portman as Jane. They were great. Hemsworth especially as the prideful Thor in the beginning is truly great. And how awesome is Anthony Hopkins as Odin? All the Asgard stuff was really good as are the machinations of Loki back in Asgard. I actually believe Hopkins as Odin is truly disappointed and mad at Thor when he casts him out of the realm to Earth. I jokingly quote some of Hopkins’ speech to my son. “..I CAST YOU OUT!!”

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Year End Book Report: The Best Books I Read in 2011

Posted in books, comic books with tags Book Report, books, comic, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Year End Books on February 7, 2012 by Paxton

Here we are, I finally begin my year end round up articles. In February. Sorry about that. I wanted to do it earlier but I wanted to give myself a little bit more time to finish off some movies and books that are eligible for this list. But, apologies aside, my lists are here.

As you know, back in 2009 I started keeping a book log with everything I read. It makes looking at this list easier. I keep it in a Google Spreadsheet so I can access it from any computer.

Here it is.

You can click the image to view it or just click here. So I perused this list and made my selections. Below are the best books I read last year (not including re-reads).

Unlike last year, I’ve split this list into books and comics/trade paperbacks. I read enough of both of them to create their own lists and it was hard to weed out stuff just because it was a comic in order to make room for a book. So, last year I only read three books that were actually released during the 2011 calendar year. Did they make the list? Read on to find out.

So without further ado, here are my favorite books I read in 2011.

Heroes of Olympus series – Rick Riordan – This is the sequel series to Riordan’s Percy Jackson series which made my inaugural best of list in 2009. It is currently up to book 2. Son of Neptune is one of the three books that was released in 2011 that I read. I loved the first book in this series, The Lost Hero and Son of Neptune is almost as good. Riordan has created a fascinating world and I long to return to it when book 3 comes out. And despite what Riodan had said earlier, Percy Jackson is all over this series. Especially Son of Neptune.

The Magicians – Lev Grossman – Wow, this book is really good. It’s billed as sort of a Harry Potter in high school, and I see the parallels, but this story is tonally a 180 from Harry Potter. From the friendships to even how magic is actually executed, it’s just completely different. And great. This book is great. I look forward to checking out the sequel, The Magician King. I’ll probably check out a few of Grossman’s other books, too.

Star Wars: Darth Bane trilogy – Drew Karpyshyn – This series was recommended to me years ago by my friend Dr Mike, but I was reluctant to read it because it was about a bunch of Star Wars characters I didn’t know in a time period I knew nothing about. Boy was I wrong. It’s amazing. This series needs to be the template for all the Star Wars books that want to focus on a specific character. Interesting origins, cool bits of Sith history. It’s just great. If you read Star Wars (or science fiction) at all, read this series.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 21: Comic Book Scenarios

Posted in comic books, podcast with tags comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts on January 25, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 21 has gone LIVE, my friends. This week we are down a man as Jeeg has flown off to Europe to find himself. In the meantime, we invited Vanessa and Erika from Girls Gone Geek to join us for a lively discussion about comic books.

Specifically we are talking about comic book scenarios. What sidekick would we like to have? What would we do if we ever got super powers? What character would we kill and make sure stays dead? These are the nerdy questions we ask ourselves and sometimes answer with very little geeky rambling. Well, some rambling.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

Avengers are assembling…

Posted in Dr Pepper, movies, soda with tags Dr Pepper, Marvel Comics, movies, pop culture, soda, sodapalooza, The Avengers on September 13, 2011 by Paxton

Behold, The Avengers in can form.

L to R: Black Widow (Diet Dr Pepper), Capt America (7up), Iron Man (Dr Pepper Cherry) and Thor (Dr Pepper).

I’m only missing Nick Fury who was found exclusively on a Dr Pepper Cherry can. But, damn, he was super hard to find. I never got him. Also there was, unfortunately, no aluminum support for Norton’s Incredible Hulk. However, there was a Mt Dew promotion featuring Ang Lee’s Hulk, but I tend to try and forget that movie ever existed. And since Hawkeye just barely showed up in Thor, then he isn’t represented yet either.

I wonder if The Avengers movie will have all new soda cans with everyone on them.

CT over at Nerd Lunch wrote a good Countdown to Avengers article with a look at the buildup throughout all the recent Marvel movies. Check it out.

As an added bonus, here’s the Red Skull can from Cherry 7up. How great looking is this can?

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7 Got Milk? ads featuring movie versions of comic book super heroes

Posted in advertising, Batman, comic books, movies, pop culture, Superman, Superman Returns with tags advertising, Batman, comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, pop culture, Superman, Superman Returns on August 25, 2011 by Paxton

I love the various advertising campaigns for milk. From as far back as the 80s, they’ve had some of the more consistently entertaining commercial and print ads ever. There’s just something about them I enjoy.

Everyone remembers Michael Bay’s “Aaron Burr”. Or the fun “Milk it Does a Body Good” commercials. Or the ubiquitous “Got Milk?” print ads. Classic advertising. I especially like the ones I’m going to show you today. They are all print ads for the “Got Milk?” or “Body by Milk” campaigns and they all feature movie versions of comic book super heroes. I love explosions of pop geeky culture like this. I found many of these while thumbing through old magazines I had in my garage.

Please to enjoy.

Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) – Two of the greatest Batman movies we probably will ever see. The Dark Knight is great, however, for re-watchability, I pick Batman Begins every time. I love the sequel, I really do, but when I want to watch a Batman movie I put on Batman Begins.

Superman Returns (2006) – I love Brandon Routh. However, this movie sucked. One giant missed opportunity. The lead was great and the effects were awesome. But everything else was wrong.

Green Lantern (2010) – This movie ended up exactly like Superman Returns. The lead was great and the effects were awesome, but everything else was a fumbled missed opportunity. Kudos for a great looking ad, though.