Superhero Movies: The Good, The Bad, and The Alicia Silverstone

For Christmas, I bought some superhero movies for the kids (okay, and me) to enjoy. Among them were Superman Returns, Batman & Robin, and The Justice League Unlimited: Joining Forces.

I remember being somewhat disappointed in Batman & Robin when I first saw it in theatres way back in 1997, but I don't remember it being as bad as it actually is. Holy Hell Batman! It's visually appealing, but that just leads me believe they spent more on the sets and costumes than on script writers. Even an all-star cast couldn't save this sinking Titanic of a superhero film...a great actor can't do much with a lousy script.

While the kids were enjoying B&R (they're too young to know any better), my mom and "stepdad" came over for a brief visit. Alex made the comment that Alicia Silverstone looked pretty hot. Yeah, I used to think so too, but her mouth really creeps me out. She's always doing these weird things with her lips...it detracts from her beauty.
My mom even said, "she looks better with the Batgirl mask on." Hah! How funny is that? To say that wearing a mask ON YOUR FACE only improves your looks!

I've heard some people make the comment that either Elektra or Catwoman is the worst superhero movie ever. IMO, Catwoman is 10 TIMES better than Batman & Robin!!!

Now, about the Justice League movie. This is actually a collection of 3 episodes from the JL:Unlimited cartoon series and is really fun to watch. I loved the episode
"The Greatest Story Never Told" in which we're introduced to the character of Booster Gold and his quest for fame and fortune as a superhero. In this episode, BG is stuck on crowd control duty with Elongated Man who is voiced by none other than JEREMY PIVEN!!! I've been a Piven fan ever since PCU, so I got a kick out of that.

I'd like to give a brief review of Superman Returns, but I think I'll devote an entire post to that.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

What I Really Wanted For Christmas

Well, my friends, Christmas 2006 has come and gone. We got a ton of great stuff, but I didn't get what I really wanted from Santa:



Awesome, isn't it? Scott would have a blast on that thing!!

Anyway...we're going to try for a game at Neal's house this Friday night. Bring your 10 sided dice and your character sheets because we'll try to knock out a couple more chapters of our current Marvel RPG campaign.

Did y'all get what you wanted for Christmas?

Stan Lee's Game Show Appearance

Okay, did anybody watch the new game show Identity last night?

For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, it's hosted by the magician guy Penn Jillette (you know, of Penn and Teller fame. Penn's the annoying one...oh wait, they're both annoying) and the contestants are to guess the "identity" of 12 strangers just by looking at them.

Last night, the fans of comicbookdom were given a pleasant surprise because one of the "strangers" was none other than Stan "The Man" Lee.



He was stranger #12 and his identity was "Creator of Spider-Man." It was obvious that Penn knew who he was (and I think a good portion of the audience did too the way they cheered for him), but the contestant was clueless. She guessed his identity correctly though, but only because she was smart enough to realize that Spidey's been around for several decades already and Stan was the oldest guy up on the stage.

I had to call my kids into the room so they could see Mr. Lee. I always get a kick of telling Scott that his middle name (Stanlee) was directly inspired by the living legend of the comic book world. As the co-creator of some of the biggest and best superheroes of the Marvel U (Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, The X-Men) Stan is reveared by fanboys worldwide as somewhat of a demi-god.

Oh, and by the way, today is Stan's 84th Birthday!

Get on down wit' yo' bad self Stan! You Da Man!

Supernova Map

I remember reading on the WizKids website several months ago that they would release a new map with each new Heroclix expansion set.
The first two maps released after said promise were only available on the website and had to be printed out and pasted together (for the Collateral Damage and Armor Wars sets, I believe.)
After the Supernova set was released, I wondered what the map would be, but I couldn't find it on the website (at first, anyway) and pretty much figured it was just the one that came with the Days Of Future Past boxed [starter] set. Then, last week, I was on the WizKids site yet again and read how the new map for the Supernova set was printed ON THE BACK of the set poster that comes with each case.
"Ah-hah!" I thought. Since I'd bought a case and had the poster (which I'd just tucked away on a bookshelf somewhere since I've ran out of room on my walls to hang it) I knew I was good to go. I pulled it out and opened it up...sure enough, there was the Deep Space Outdoor map. Check it out:




How friggin' cool is that? Taken straight out of the pages of the Infinity Gauntlet, we have a map with the throne Thanos constructed for himself and his lover, Death. And it looks like that's the X-Men's Blackbird jet poised up at the top of the map, waiting to ferry the triumphant heroes back to Earth.

Now our cosmic battles involving Galactus, Dark Phoenix (or the regular X-Men version of Phoenix if you prefer), and Thanos will have the perfect setting. My only complaint is that the map is a little small for a battle on such a large scale. Oh well, we'll make do, I suppose.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

Post Game Post

Last night's Heroclix games were AWESOME!!!

Matt was kind enough to lend out his parent's house as the venue (since they were out of town) and we played two great games.

The first game was Christmas themed, requiring teams to be constructed with characters with the colors Red, Green, Gold, Silver, or White to be in their names or their costumes.

My team consisted of the Kingdom Come Green Lantern, a customized Kingdom Come Red Arrow (got it on ebay), and the Veteran Green Arrow. I was getting hit pretty much on all sides by Beau's, Matt's, and Nate's forces. Well, at least Nate didn't come straight for me, he took advantage of every opportune target, lashing out with his Kingdom Come Flash. He actually won the first game and I offered up his choice of some of my extra custom figures as a prize. He took home a custom version of the KC Green Lantern.

Matt won the second game and chose my custom "running" Superman (which is a repainted Quicksilver with a Superman cape. I'm pretty proud of that custom...he has some kick ass stats, and is perfect when teamed with another, flying version of Supes who can taxi him around.

For those of you who weren't there, you missed some good games.
Hopefully we can have better attendance at next week's game.

I think we'll be playing Marvel RPG again, so stay tuned for updates!

Clixerama

"Gentlemen...start your engines!"
Oh wait, that doesn't apply to Heroclix. Let me try again.
"Huddle up!"
Nope, that doesn't work either.
"Fall in!"
Sorry...that was an army flashback.

Damn it, just get ready to play Heroclix this Friday night at Matt's house.

I would post the build totals and themes here, but Matt hasn't decided on what those are yet.

Chop chop Mattamus! I like to build my teams early in the week! I can't stand waiting until right before game time to try to piece something together.

I have some ideas for some games, if you're interested.

Theme: "Stealth" At least one member of your team must have the Stealth power or a team ability that mimics this power (i.e. Batman Allies). Then we play the movie Stealth for background noise.

Theme (or Battlefield Condition Card???): "Captain Universe" Once, at the beginning of each player's turn, each player rolls 2 dice. The player with the LOWEST roll acquires the Captain Universe Card and can IMMEDIATELY apply the card to anyone on his or her team. That character gains whatever powers and/or abilities that come with the card. (I haven't decided yet what those would be, but I imagine it would be something like increased stats...maybe a +2 and a power or two.)

Whatcha say?