Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens Trailer 2

Who didn’t see the new Star Wars trailer for Episode VII – The Force Awakens?  If you didn’t you must be living under a rock.   This was the second trailer to be released in regards to the movie and it was released of course at Star Wars Celebration.  Ask anyone who has seen the trailer watch how their eyes light up when they tell you about it.  I even scared and surprised my friends when they saw that I was excited beyond belief.  There is just something about the trailer that once it starts you can’t help but crack a smile as you hear the legendary haunting music that John Williams made famous.  And then you see the ruined hulks of an X-wing starfighter and a Star Destroyer in the background as Luke’s voice begins to talk about the Force and how his family is connected to it and a lightsaber is passed like a baton.  After that something in your chest beings to pound as you watch explosions going off left and right.  X-wings take off into the air as TIE fighters strafe a hanger.  The characters Finn and Rey (John Boyega & Daisy Ridley) are running for their lives.  A Sith Lord with his lightsaber grasping outwards with the Force, a phalanx of Stormtroopers and a chrome armored trooper before you reach the finale with Han Solo and Chewbacca claiming that their home. 

There is an electric current that hits you as the music picks up and all you can do is watch and pray that by the time it comes out you’ll have experienced something so profound that it borders on a near religious experience.  Or maybe that’s just me because I get chills up my spine every time I watch it and believe me I’ve seen it multiple times.  What makes this so exciting?  Is it the return of the original characters:  Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO & R2-D2?  Is it the fact that we finally get to see a universe that is completely new to all and has yet to be revealed?  Is it the artistic vision that only J.J. Abrams can bring to it that returns us to on site locations shooting and sparingly used CGI effects where appropriate?  For me it’s all of these things.  To discover the identity of the Sith and what happened to the Empire.  To watch a new battle of the updated X-wings and TIE fighters.  To see a new Jedi emerge on his journey and to take up the mantle that Luke held alone against the Empire from the end of Episode IV – A New Hope to Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.  Damn, my Nerd flag is flying high and will stay there for the next 242 days until the release of Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens.  

Deconstruction of Originality! Iceman from our childhood is officially no more!

Thank you Brian Michael Bendis for ruining my childhood!  A few hours ago Brian Michael Bendis gave an interview to Good Morning America and basically dashed any hopes of me picking up another Marvel X-Men comic book ever again.  He is the writer on the current “All-New X-Men” and has a few years ago he shook up the mutant world and its fans by having the original five students, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Angel, Beast, & Iceman time-jump from their past as teenagers to the current time where they are adults.  Following conflicting truths and battles in which they find out that none of them with the exception of Iceman are the same person in the future.  Cyclops has tried to take over the world and declared war against the humans.  Jean Grey is dead.  Angel is now the Archangel.  Beast is covered in blue fur and of all things looks like a cat???  Anyways in an attempt to try to change things the young X-Men decided to stay in our time. 

Well, today Brian Michael Bendis dropped a bomb on us by outing young Bobby Drake aka Iceman and says that he is gay.  I’m sorry I just don’t buy that.  Is this just an attempt to draw in some homosexual fans to the X-Men?  If so you already have Northstar a mutant from the team of Alpha Force.  It’s long been known that he was gay and that he was not ashamed about it.  No one made a big deal about it then and many of the X-Men fans accepted him for who he is.  So, why try to re-write history of a fan favorite character who is already established with a rich history?  Oh because you brought them from the past into the future and now you think you can write whatever you want?  I’m sorry, if you wanted to try to bring more gay fans to the X-Men why not create a new X-Man who pushes the boundaries?  Oh they already did that with Wolverine’s wayward son who is apparently bi-sexual.  So why ruin everyone’s favorite ice-wielding mutant?  Oh because he’s time-displaced you can do whatever you want?  Thank you Marvel for proving that you have officially run out of original ideas.  

American the Bold has Fallen

Can nobody take a joke these days?  I mean this whole new generation is so damn weak and overly sensitive that you can't crack a simple joke at anyone these days.  Case in point:  North Korea.  Seth Rogen and James Franco are the stars in Sony Pictures new movie titled The Interview.  Its about the a news reporter and his producer who have gotten the chance to interview North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.  The CIA finds out and asks them to assassinate the figurehead of the communist nation.  If you've seen the trailers then you like me were not that impressed with what you saw.  It's another film by the funny-less Seth Rogen and the uber-cool James Franco that tries to be funny but unless you're stoned or high it falls seriously short.  Now I'm never looking for a grandiose movie from either one of them but I want something that is enjoyable.  Now I was never intending on seeing The Interview but because North Korea got wind of the movie and decided to elicit terrorist threats against viewings of the movie Hollywood film executives have decided to err on the side of caution and not show the movie on Christmas its original release date.  Does that mean they'll ever release the film for viewing?  Probably straight to DVD.

Beside the point I thought we were fucking AMERICA!!  We're not supposed to terrorists and their demands!  We're supposed to spit in their eye tell them to bring it!!  This is America where we have the freedom of speech and creativity.  I may not have watched the movie but I can tell you right now I consider it my American duty to go find a copy of The Interview and watch it.  Storm the theatres and demand that they show it.  If we start bowing to terrorists now we'll keep bowing to every demand they make.  SO what if they hacked a few emails and released a lot of "secret movie details" that Sony was keeping under wraps.  Hey, Kim Jock Strap!!  Remember a movie called Team America:  World Police Force!?  Greatest puppet movie ever made that included yo daddy Kim Jong Il singing "Im so Lonely!"  It was classic and so damn funny sung in the stereotypical Asian voice.  Did your father watch the movie? Did he ever find out that he was made into a puppet??  I can tell you right now I betcha he laughed his ass off if he did.  And if he didn't he said Fuck It.  "I'm Kim Jong Il and I've got other things to worry about like running my country."  So, Jock Strap, buddy.  Why don't you grow a fucking pair and man the hell up and run your country.  Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks about you or how you're protrayed in a movie.  No one was going to see this movie until you starting bitchin'!!  Now  all of America is going to watch this movie.  And if the American military force ever swings across the 38th parallel you can bet that EVERY American soldier will have a copy of that movie on hand just to ensure you have a good viewing party before we place two shots into the back of your dome!  So America we also need to Nut Up!  If a terrorist makes demands of us we reach down grab our nuts and give them the bird!  That's who we are!  That's who we've always been!  So let me go out with a quote from Samuel Jackson, "God Bless us because we're Mother Fuckin' America!" 

Ok so that's not a quote from the great Sam Jackson but that's something he would totally say if he were reading my blog.

Be sure to catch me and the rest of The Direct Edition on the DickNJanenetwork.com every Friday from 6pm-8pm.

Spider-man no more

So the word on the grapevine is that Marvel and Sony are in discussion about returning Spider-man and all character properties to Marvel Studios.  This would mean that the best Spider-Man actor would have to relinqish his reins and the role will be re-cast with someone new.  I personally don't like the fact that they are going to do that but it's the way the ge is played.  George Lucas turned over the Star Wars franchise to Disney and we have lost all of the Expanded Universe stories an books to the dreaded non-canon nebula.  This is where Tobey Macguire's Spider-man an Garfield's Spider-man will go to live on in our memories.  This is going to be hard for me cuz I really enjoy Garfields portrayal of Peter Parker and his alter-ego.  I mean we just saw him lose Geen Stacy and almost walk away from web-swinging can we get a final chapter to close up the story of the best Spider-man to date.