What do you say about a film which includes a “dagger of time” and magic sand which powers its time traveling capabilities? Yeah…magic sand!? Let’s get this out of the way right from the start - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is ridiculous. Yes, utterly and completely ridiculous. It is however, at times, also fun.
Trying to find a good movie adapted from a video game is akin to finding a boy band who has aged well over the years. It just doesn’t happen all that often. Director Mike Newell and screenwirters Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard attempt to adapt the video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner for the big screen. How successful they are is debatable.
The story centers around Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), a street uchin who as a child was adopted into the family of King Sharaman (Ronald Pickup) and now is one of three princes of the Persian Empire. Although miscast (he’s neither an action star nor Persian) Gyllenhall relies on his charm to provide the kind of scruffy likable hero the film needs to build it’s silly premises around.
I love this comic. Other than one complaint (which I’ll get to in a second) I’m totally on board for Keith Giffen’s tale.
Maxwell Lord has made the world forget his existence. Not only that, he’s disgraced the few heroes who remember him in the eyes of the rest of the DCU. Ice is seen as unstable, Fire was let go from Checkmate, Captain Atom is now a renegade, and Booster Gold…well, he’s still Booster Gold. Booster’s reputation was so tarnished Max didn’t even need to worry about him. Though the change Max makes to Ted Kord‘s death is perhaps the deepest cut of all.
Max Lord is free to start anew and the only ones who might stand in his way are seen as lunatics at best and unstable loose canons at worse. This has all the makings of a comic I will gladly pick up every two weeks!
Now for my one complaint – Guy Gardner. I had assumed that Guy would be introduced sometime during the series, as he is here, but that he would be part of the original team who would remember Max. Sadly that’s not the case.
The post-Norman Osborne Avengers relaunches continue with Steve Rogers‘ own black ops team of Secret Avengers. The first issue does a good job of giving you a feel for each member (Black Widow and Valkyrie, War Machine, Moon Knight and Ant-Man, Sharon Carter, and Beast) while providing flashbacks on how Rogers convinced the more reluctant members to join the team. As first issues go its solid. Not great, but solid (though the final panel did made me wince). Worth a look.
I thought I taw a puddy tat. I did! I did tee a puddy tat! There’s a new Red Lantern in town and he’s a cat. Okay, that’s kinda cool. I think I’ll name him Fluffy. Yeah, Fluffy the Red Lantern. Bask in the awesomeness of Fluffy the Red Lantern! Sadly we also need to discuss the story… The mystery of the white lantern deepens as we are shown images of other entities like Parallax and Ion. Great, there are more of them? I think I feel a migraine coming on. So to recap: Red Lantern Fluffy – awesome, more multi-colored space symbiotes – not so much. Hit-and-Miss.
On an episode of Glee featuring more than its share of big numbers the two that didn’t fall into the trappings of theatricality were by far the most memorable. For our pal Eric, who’s as big a KISS fan as you’ll find, and because I simply can’t bring myself to post yet another version of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face,” here’s Puck, Finn, and the rest of the guys with “Beth.”
I’ll be honest, I’ve never been Wolverine‘s biggest fan. Although I like Logan well-enough I still consider him the most overrated character in the entire Marvel Universe, and perhaps all of comics. I certainly wouldn’t rank him in the same list with Spidey, Cap, or Shellhead. I’ve been less than glued to his war with Romulus, and although I liked the character of Daken as part of the Dark Avengers on his own he’s far less charming.
All that said, this issue does deliver its fair share of action, Logan faced with making a hard forced admission, and Daken proving once again the kind of sociopath that fears and respects no one. And then you have the unsatisfying conclusion. Sigh.
I understand the appeal of a character who can do anything at the drop of a hat, but it seems a bit odd to me that of all the characters from Dark Reign it’s Daken who is getting to keep his own book. It would be as if DC gave the Joker his own comic (wait, they did that). Hit-and-Miss.
The second season finale provides another slightly off-beat mystery of the week while toying with us over the possibility of Beckett (Stana Katic) and Castle’s (Nathan Fillion) relationship moving to another level. I’m slightly disappointed, though not surprised, in the episode’s epilogue, but it does give you that shot in the gut to bring back viewers for another year.
In fact, the second issue of Volume 4 was so bad I almost didn’t bother to even pick this one up. And, oh my, am I glad I did! Issue #3 picks up the pieces and gives us another humorous and energetic tale of the hatred between Atomic Robo and Dr. Dinosaur (the conclusion to the Free Comic Book tale some might remember from 2009).
The villain’s plan (involving crystals, Robo’s head in a box, and Betamax) is revealed along with how Doctor Dinosaur got his name. Insanely funny, this one’s definitely worth a look.
Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe come together once again to create a a film about one man’s bloody journey to martyrdom. Sound familiar? Fans of Gladiator should like the look of this film, and fans of Braveheart should like the story (at one point Mel Gibson Crowe rouses a reluctant army by talking of liberty and freedom). Fans of the character, however, might have some issues with this new take on Robin Hood.
I’ll give Scott credit for trying to do a different type of Robin Hood film. Rather than focus on Robin and the outlaws of Sherwood Forest, the script by Brian Helgeland focuses entirely on the journey of a young archer from the Crusades to enemy of the crown. The entirety of the film (140 minutes) is dedicated to showing how Robin Hood came into being. Of course that means that the film entitled Robin Hood is missing one important ingredient – Robin Hood himself.
Six months after revealing himself as Iron Man, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has become a national hero. Not everything is all sunny in the life of the world’s newest hero, however. As Iron Man 2 opens Stark is facing multiple problems including health issues tied to his use of the arc reactor, a push by the U.S. Senate to get their hands on the Iron Man technology for military use, a competitor (Sam Rockwell) wanting to steal limelight for himself, and the son (Mickey Rourke) of Howard Stark’s business partner out for revenge.
That’s a lot of plot to squeeze into two-hours, and I haven’t even mentioned Pepper Potts’ (Gwyneth Paltrow) new role as CEO of Stark Industries, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and S.H.I.E.L.D., James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and the creation of War Machine, or Stark’s new assistant (Scarlett Johansson) who has a few skills not listed on her resume.
What do you say about a film which includes a “dagger of time” and magic sand which powers its time traveling capabilities? Yeah…magic sand!? Let’s get this out of the way right from the start - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is ridiculous. Yes, utterly and completely ridiculous. It is however, at times, also fun.
I love this comic. Other than one complaint (which I’ll get to in a second) I’m totally on board for Keith Giffen’s tale. 
I’ll be honest, I’ve never been 
Volume 4 of Atomic Robo has been less than consistent so far. Issue #1 gave us a 
Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe come together once again to create a a film about one man’s bloody journey to martyrdom. Sound familiar? Fans of Gladiator should like the look of this film, and fans of Braveheart should like the story (at one point 
Six months after revealing himself as Iron Man, Tony Stark (
