Finally...

...as stated earlier, not only was it a big movie weekend, but Saturday was also FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!!!

I discovered that I have a great little hole-in-the-(strip)mall just five short minutes from my house called Beyond Tomorrow Comics & Cards. I grabbed not only my stack of free loot, but bought the above X-men lithograph and one of 3000 exclusive 2007 Comicon Dalek action figures.

I could have gone even crazier, but I decided to hold back until next time...and there will indeed be a next time in the not-to-distant future.

'Iron Man? That's kinda catchy.'

So, after all the trailer hype, opening weekend for John Favreau's 'Iron Man' finally arrived. I saw it yesterday and can say, resoundingly, that it was most definitely worth the wait. Arguably, this may be the best superhero/comic book flick i've seen so far...or at least the most consistent.

While offering a more modern (and pretty entertaining) take on the comic, it doesn't stray too far from the original. The film features some stunning FX, but I never felt overwhelmed by them or that the movie was trying to coast by on CGI alone. The entire cast plays their roles perfectly, nobody really seemed out of place and/or just there for marquee value.

Most importantly, Robert Downey Jr.'s take on Tony Stark (the man inside the suit) is fantastic. Unlike Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne, you really feel like this guy is every bit the genius multimillionaire playboy he's supposed to be. Plus, he straddles being funnier than hell and an emotional wreck impeccably...his performance almost overshadowed the FX I enjoyed it so much.

There is also a nice set-up to put things in motion for the Marvel announcement today that they will look to release an Avengers film in 2011. I'll just implore that you stick around until the credits are over or you'll miss it.

A great way to kick-off the Summer movie season, worth going even if you aren't a comic book nut. Speaking of which, there were trailers for just about each and every one of the other heavy-hitters before this one...really looks like this and the aforementioned 'Dark Knight' flicks are the ones to beat. See you at the movies to find out!

Holy Bat Bonus Party Cut!

Even the posters are freaking awesome!

Working for the Weekend

Hey gang! Outside of the ear infection my cold developed into this morning, a lot of cool poop over the weekend and i'll have a full recap tomorrow. Until then, here's the new 'Dark Knight' trailer they ran before 'Iron Man' (which i'll be reviewing tomorrow)...

Hooboy. Looking better and better w/ each trailer. Damn.

Toys 'R' Me

Ugh (or should I say ugg). Yeah, I know...I have an unhealthy obsession w/ this stuff, but I can't help it. Luckily, while i've posted up about a bunch of it, i've stopped short of actually buying a lot of it. That said, after seeing some of these up close, I think I may be sold on nabbing some of these Mighty Muggs from Hasbro...

Wolverine, Spiderman, Iron Man

Hulk, Captain America, The Thing

Cairo Swordsman, Indiana Jones, Mola Ram

CP30, Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca

Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper

I had already seen some of the Star Wars set floating around, but it was the Marvel bunch that tipped the scales. I've omitted a few from both, there is a Venom and several figures from the newer Star Wars flicks I have no desire to own.

However, there is going to be an excellent Dr. Doom and Lando Calrissian coming soon i'll be keeping my eye out for. I probably wouldn't be so keyed up about forthcoming the Indiana Jones set, if it wasn't for the awesome Mola Ram (complete w/ burning heart!).

As their vinyl as well, they look to me a little more durable than the bobbleheads and definitely more arty than your standard action figures. You can order them directly and get the release dates from Hasbro HERE. I've also seen these show up everywhere from Urban Outfitters to Wal-mart to Toys 'R' Us. Perfect use of that tax rebate, eh?

FRESH NEW KICKS (TOO)!

Voyage to the Bottom of the AWESOME!

I was home sick yesterday and took advantage of some in-between-nap couch time to put another classic sci-fi notch in my belt w/ a viewing of 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'. Co-written, produced and directed by Irwin Allen (master of 'disaster' genre w/ films like 'Earthquake' and 'The Towering Inferno' AND the the man behind some of the coolest TV ever in 'Lost in Space', 'The Time Tunnel' and 'Land of the Giants'), this flick had a little bit of everything.

When I say everything, I mean it has meteors, sabotage, a minefield, a hostile submarine, a young/nubile Barbara Eden shimmying in the mess hall, a giant squid, a giant octopus, a near-mutiny, an atomic missile, a religious fanatic, a shark attack and even a chain smoking Peter Lorre! Throw in a theme song sung by Frankie Avalon, who also appears in the film and...whew, that's an action-packed hour and forty-six minutes.

Irwin also proves to be a bit of a cinematic Nostradamus, as the major plot line is centered around Meteors piercing the Van Allen radiation belt, causing it to catch fire and make the world's temperature rise alarmingly each day. Sounds familiar, except for the meteors and radiation belt. Granted, the vision of 'global warming' to the extent the sky actually catches fire and the proposed solution of blasting it away from the Earth w/ a missile presented in the film, is just a bit off mark.

Regardless, it was a really fun flick. While not as loopy as the previously reviewed 'Latitude Zero', it's still worth throwing it in your Netflix que for when there are no new releases ticking your fancy. Take a look for yourself ('YOU ARE THERE!')...

SLOAN

'Parallel Play'

Wow. I mean, really...WOW. The Canadian torchbearers of the lost art of guitar/power-pop come from out of nowhere to knock my freaking tube socks off. I've been dabbling in the collected works of Sloan for years now, never quite the rabid fan that some of my most-trusted musical compadres are. After (finally) catching them live last Summer in a great show, I think I finally reached a point of teetering at the brink of true fandom.

Well, it looks as if their impending June release, 'Parallel Play', may just have pushed me over the edge. The previous album, 'Never Hear the End of It', had some decent tunes, but it's ambitious 30-song track listing proved to have just too much filler for me to be able to really get into. This release, however, is a laser-focused thirteen tracks full of both beauteous Beatles-esque balladry and flat-out arena-friendly rock. As they'd say on the classic rock station this album would not at all sound out of place on: 'all killer, no filler'.

Funny thing is, as much as Sloan's sound pulls from the past, it also sounds contemporary enough to find a place on any decent college station as well. The sheer strut of the jumpoff track, 'Believe In Me', is sheer pop rock goodness peppered w/ those vintage AM-Radio harmonies the band does so well. 'Cheap Champagne' wouldn't sound of place of on a Supertramp album, but somehow manages to still retain it's cool-ness. 'Emergency 911' is kind of an unnecessary punk rock pit stop, but gets back on track w/ the badass groove of 'Burn For It' and 'Witch's Wand' does a fantastic job in releasing the ELO fan buried deep inside of me.

For the four tracks thereafter, they channel the Beatles in a tour de force of lush, vintage sounding pop only to pick up the pace again in a barrage of hand claps and more sweet, sweet harmonies that would make Jeff Lynne blush on 'If I Could Change Your Mind'. Then, the track that absolutely sold me on how great this band can be and perhaps the greatest rock ode to the drag of adulthood since TPOH's 'I'm An Adult Now'...'I'm Not a Kid Any More'. I mean, c'mon...

'Once upon a time I was on the scene, an attitude and a jacket of jean.

These days i'm up to my ass in routine, another day another dollar.'

Awesome. Even more awesome, is that even though the album isn't officially released until June...you can check it out LEGALLY and guilt-free in it's entirety at the Yep-Roc records website HERE. Don't know for how long, so get your ass over there and rock the fuck out!

Too lazy, bitches?! You can taste the awesomeness in the sample area if you need further incentive. I'll be shocked if this doesn't reappear on the year-end favorites list...both mine AND yours.

Worth Remembering

Grandma and Grandpa paid us a visit this weekend, so we were able to catch a flick on Saturday night while they held down the fort. This time, the stars aligned and there was actually something we BOTH wanted to see...even better, it ended up being a great choice.

'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' was a romantic comedy that had something for both me and the Mrs. The film was infused w/ the appropriate amount of immature gross-out stuff usually found in any project w/ Judd Apatow's name attached to it, but had a nice little love story written by and starring Jason Segel in the main role.

Segel is great as the jilted boyfriend and the supporting cast does an awesome job in bringing the funny as well. Especially fantastic is Russell Brand, as the new guy in the former girlfriend's life...brilliantly laid-back, oblivious and daft done up in a British accent. Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis are equally as great (and incredibly hot) in their roles as the former vs. future love interests the movie revolves around. Rounded out w/ some Apatow stalwarts in Paul Rudd, Bill Hader and Jonah Hill, it's got both the cast and script to make it the total package.

Speaking of packages, the, errr, lengths that Segel goes to in this flick for a laugh deserves some applause...you'll understand what i'm talking about 10 - 15 minutes into the flick. A great comedic precursor to the upcoming bombardment of Summer blockbuster FX pics i've been geeking out over for the past few months. Definitely recommend checking it out.

Check Your (Bobble)Head!

I totally missed this back in December, but FUNKO announced their plans to bring its retro style to everybody's favorite MARVEL super-heroes and villians in bobblehead form! Since then, the initial launch of said MARVEL Wacky Wobblers started with...

...the Spiderman Series featuring Spidey, Green Goblin and The Lizard (not pictured), followed closely by...

...the Avengers Series featuring Captain America, Thor and Vision. So all Avengers are accounted for...

...FUNKO will also produce official bobble-heads for the eagerly anticipated Iron Man (in both Mach I and Mach II armour!) and Incredible Hulk movies!

The X-Men will also appear later in the fall for FUNKO w/ bobbleheads for Cyclops, Storm, Colossus and Wolverine. My hope is that a set for the Fantastic Four and a Doctor Doom won't be too far behind. Whatever the case, this is sooo best of both worlds for me. Bobbleheads AND superheroes...same league as peanut butter and jelly from where i'm standing!

M83

'Saturdays = Youth'

Again, meant to be a little more proactive w/ a review for this one, but better late than never. I remember when the Postal Service album, 'Give Up', first came out and in my recommendation provided to anybody who would listen...i'd always describe it as 'the soundtrack to the best John Hughes movie never made'. Looks like I was wrong...happily wrong.

I've always been a big M83 fan, ever since being drawn in by the album cover to listen to 'Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts' at a listening station in the now defunct Tower Records. I was blown away by how Mark Gonzalez could meld simple synths and drum machines into such an orchestral, expansive body of work...still am, actually.

On the ambitious follow-up, 'Before the Dawn Heals Us', less blip/glitch, more rhythmic structure and the addition of vocals showed a leaning towards a glossier (albeit occasionally spooky) synth-pop over it's more ambient predecessor. The results were equally as cool and hinted at things to come.

'Saturdays = Youth' somehow manages to be a throwback album of sorts, while retaining a freshness about it that removes any possible cliche in it's sound. The cinematic approach to sound rife on the previous album continues here, but more 'Sixteen Candles' than Michael Mann's 'Manhunter' this go around. While the almost pristine 80's aesthetic is there on both, M83 travels a more uncertain, optimistic road more akin to the latter.

Even down to the 'Breakfast Club'-esque album cover, this disc bleeds the stylized Hollywood conceptualization of life as a teenager. I don't know who 'Kim & Jessie' are, but 'they are crazy about romance and illusion'. As corny as that looks on paper, it makes for a great song and, really, even in real life...what teenager isn't? That cute goth girl from 5th period English gets a sweeping, uptempo shout-out on the awesome 'Graveyard Girl'. I just wonder if she was invited along for the musical last road trip of the Summer on 'Highway of Endless Dreams'? Perhaps, she was too busy sitting on a coffee table w/ the school jock and a birthday cake while 'Too Late' plays in the distance?

I totally understand how that all sounds exceedingly schmaltzy and not at all like 'real' life. Thing is, while trapped inside a hard shell of sarcasm and cynicism to protect yourself from the uncertainty of High School...didn't we all long for an escape from that reality? Escaping to a place where the geek really does get to make out w/ the head cheerleader and the football captain is best pals w/ the metalhead that skips art class to smoke cigarettes? Maybe that's just how I remember it.

Anyhow, it's a great trip and the whole 'straight out of a movie' vibe resonates clear down to the 11-minute final track that serves as the perfect 'closing credits'. It dropped last Tuesday and is available on iTunes or wherever you usually grab your music from. If you're still stuck in class, check out a sample until the bell rings in the orange box to the right.

Creepy Masks = Fun?

So, I remember seeing the original trailer for this on DVD some time ago and it piquing my curiosity back then. 'The Strangers' hits theatres on 20-May and, quite frankly, looks genuinely scary/disturbing in an 'original-John Carpenter's Halloween meets Wes Craven's Last House on the Left' sort-of-way.

I guess the just of it is, Liv Tyler and the 'WereVampire Dude' from the Underworld flicks are staying in an isolated vacation home and are terrorized by three unknown (and creepily masked) assailants. Nothing too original in theory, but the way it's filmed seems to indicate an above-average job in making it look spookier than hell.

I won't give it too much bearing, but the comment posted on imdb from someone who supposedly attended the premiere said it was a bang-up job in the scare department. You can see what you think by checking out both trailers via YouTube above.

Looks like a good time to me...granted, i'll be viewing it in a crowded theatre versus an isolated vacation home being terrorized by three unknown (and creepily masked) assailants. Shonuff.

This Looks Interesting...

Trailer for the Frank Miller ('Sin City, '300') helmed film version of Will Eisner's classic comic, 'The Spirit' is on the web...I think it was previewed at the NY Comicon over the weekend. One thing is for certain, based on Miller's work on the other two films I mentioned, it'll certainly be fun to watch visually...he does have a way of keeping the comic book aesthetic intact in his films.

On the 'Spirit' tip, I keep meaning to check out the 'Batman/The Spirit' crossover from a while back...the art was done by Darwyn Cooke, who i've become sporadically obsessed w/ after seeing his work on 'The New Frontier' from DC...

Cool Stuff. Hopefully, the flick is just as good looking...guess we'll have to wait until 2009 to find out!

Plus Old School Bonus Party Cut

To be clear, however...those Iron Man cups pale in comparison to the series 7-Eleven did back in 1975! I mean, they had a freaking checklist for the 60 different cups bearing the likeness of some of the Marvel Universe's favorite characters of the time...

Thank Heaven indeed! While you folks wrap your head around that, i'm signing off until Monday...heading down to EIU this weekend to hang out w/ fellow alumni from my fraternity. That's right, this self-professed geek is a card-carrying frat guy as well. Onion...layers...whatever. Peace out, true believers...KEEP OUT OF THE DISHWASHER!

P.S. Speaking of 'True Believers'...just for fun and to try and bring some music back into the mix, enjoy the most excellent tune of the same name from Bouncing Souls in the sample area.

Speaking of Comic Books...

There are several different things I enjoy about Summer and two of them are big budget Summer blockbuster movies and Slurpees. Even better, is when those two things combine in a joint venture of awesomeness. Well, 7-Eleven is promoting 'Iron Man' in their first major marketing effort of the year with a new Slurpee flavor, a frozen version of Pepsi's AMP Energy drink and some boss things to drink them with/out of.

Four multi-image, 3-D cups utilize actual film shots of both Iron Man, as well as his nemesis, Iron Monger. Rather than the usual single-image morphing into another single image, these cups feature multiple frames from the movie to enhance the action effect. In fact, the Iron Monger cup includes 24 actual frames from the flick to create some stellar looking graphics - something never done before. I know it sounds crazy to get so jaked about cups, but you do need to see these things...they look fantastic!

They are also offering a collectible, refillable mug featuring the red and gold helmet of the Mark III suit of armor and three different Slurpee spoon-straws with detachable Iron Man/Monger figurines that are pretty fun as well. Fun stuff. Oh yeah, the actual AMP Slurpee ain't too bad either.

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

It's obvious that i'm just now really getting back into comics, as I had NEVER even knew it existed until receiving a heads-up just today from my man, Tully. Luckily, it's set to go down on 3-May (3 Saturdays from today)...so you and I have time to prepare.

An annual event, 7 years in existence, Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book specialty shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores. (Unfortunately) that doesn't mean you can just raid the shelves, but rather publishers apply to provide certain promotional comic books and other swag made special for the event at cost to retailers, who in turn give them away for free.

You can see which stores in your area are participating and get the lowdown on some of the comics being given away at the Free Comic Book Day website. This is a really cool concept to provide a warm-fuzzy to hardcore fanboys and introduce newbies to the experience alike...a novel concept in business nowadays.

I'm looking forward to seeing if I can nab the Simpsons book (above) if only for the cover. Doh!

Muxtape, FOOL!

'Soundtrack to Daleks Hovering Over Your House (An AMBFAD Muxtape)'
(Click the link above and just click on the song to play)

Man Or Astro-Man - Polaris
The Art Attacks - I Am A Dalek
Ice Cube - Wicked
The Hollywood Persuaders - Drums A-Go-Go
Pixies - I've Been Waiting For You
TheThree O‘Clock - Jet Fighter
Tom Glazer & Dottie Evans - Thumbnail Sketch Of Atomic Energy
Elvis Costello - (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding
The B-52's - Debbie
Esquivel - The 3rd Man Theme
Frida - I Know There's Something Going On
Sushirobo - Last Call

Plus Summer Blockbuster Bonus Party Cut

New 'Incredible Hulk' poster. Saw a pretty funny online fanboy version that had 'I Am Bruce's Seething Rage...' added in across the top. Ha!

On a side note, every time I see Liv Tyler's name attached to this flick, I think to myself how I can't believe they brought her back again as Betty Ross. Who would of thought that she and Jennifer Connelly could be so interchangeable in my mind? I mean, if you've seen seen J.C. in 'The Hot Spot'...you know just how different the two of them are. Doh!

Speaking of Speed Racer...

I know, I know...like I really need more toys. Eh, couldn't resist...it's the Mach FREAKING 5, for chrisakes! $15 at KB Toys and worth every penny. Still trying to decide if I need the Shooting Star as well...

Look, Matthew Fox may look like a goof in the flick, but even he can't tarnish the cool of Racer X...at least I hope not.

Here He Comes...

...here comes 'Speed Racer'. It's probably nostalgia getting the best of me, but the new-ish trailer is really peaking my interest. A few moments look exceedingly corny, but it's based off of a freaking cartoon. Hell, it actually straddles the line between looking like a cartoon and live-action.

We'll have to wait and see, but looks like a fun ride from this big kid's perspective. GO!