He is a Goodman!

So, the cat is out of the bag.  I have to come clean...I am in love with John Goodman.

I mean I have always liked him.  But my love was confirmed a few weeks ago.  I was watching a great episode of the West Wing (which will get its own blog once I have completed the entire series) and out of no where Mr. Goodman stormed on the screen.  It was only a cameo for four episodes but man, I could watch him do anything.

I don't exactly know why.  I mean its not that he is an amazing actor or anything.  I mean he's good, but he is not Brando or anything.  My guess is because in some weird way he reminds of my father or what a father is supposed to be. I watched a lot of Roseanne growing up, and there is one moment that always sticks out to me.  It was the one where Dan ended up going to jail because he punched Jackie's abusive boyfriend in the face. I am not sure if I have all the details right but you get the idea. If I had to pick a TV dad, it would most likely be Dan Connor, he always seemed like he had a good moral compass. That is of course until the final season where I think he cheats on Roseanne.  But I digress...

Obviously Dan Connor is one of the main roles he is remembered for, but there is also Walter.  Walter Sobchak from The Big Lebowski will easily be his second and in some circles might take first. Those two easily are his most famous.  There are many roles of his I could rave about besides Dan and Walter, but one of my favorites is Pops.  This is a role practically no one saw him in or at least it seemed that way because the movie tanked.  I am talking about the movie Speed Racer.  A highly under rated movie.  It is one of the best (if not the best) accurate adaptations of a cartoon to film.  John Goodman plays the character of Pops the father/mechanic who works on the car. If you didn't see the movie I think I can sell you on it by saying one thing.  John Goodman fights ninjas. Its brief, but it is funny.  He spins them over his head and everything. He also has this great piece of dialogue:

Trixie: Oh, my god was that a ninja?
Pops: More like a NON-ja.  Terrible what passes for a ninja these days.

You should see this movie...

So I could gush about him for pages and pages but instead, I will leave you with this link:

KFC loves gays

Boom! That's all folks! Until we meet again!



Whiskey on fire: A taste test

A few years back I discovered a very affordable flavored bottle of whiskey called Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey.  It was about 12.00 a bottle and I found it to be intriguing.  I was hoping it would taste like the "Atomic Fireball" candies I ate as a kid.  I was indeed satisfied, because it did taste very much like them.  This became somewhat of a drink of choice when I wanted something a little different.  It was great chilled, in shot form, or on the rocks.  I began to take it to parties and gatherings and everyone who tried it thought it was great.

Then all of a sudden one day it blew up. A bottle was no longer twelve dollars.  Local bars started to serve it and had it inside of a frozen shot machine.  It had gotten massively popular.  They created drinks and cocktails around it and people were calling it the new Jagermeister.  I obviously don't care if my drink is popular or not, but what I do care about is price.  A bottle now is around 18.00 a shot at an average bar is 6.50.  I like it and all, but not that much. This is a little to rich for my blood as a drink of choice unless I absolutely love it. 

Needless to say since it is popular other brands have tried to catch up and create their own cinnamon whisky.  I am sure there are many others but these are the ones I saw the day I decided to do this:

I tried three types, with one of course being the original Fireball.  I did a taste test.  The first was a sip of each one, eating a cracker afterward (to clean my palate). The second was a blind taste test to see if I could tell the difference and which one I preferred. Below I will walk you through of what I though of each one and then at the very bottom I will tell you what I tasted in the Blind test.  Lets get started:

Fireball:

We are starting with the original.  Fireball is produced by the Sazerac company and is the darkest in color compared to the other brands. This was of course my introduction to this type of whiskey and before starting the taste I assumed this would be my favorite.

This one strangely tasted the most syrupy and artificial, it felt very thick in texture and it coated my mouth with a sugary like film.  With that said, it did remind me exactly of the fireball candies which do the same thing.

Early Times Fire Eater:

This one is produced by the Brown-Foreman Corporation. It is much lighter in color then Fireball, however looked similar to SinFire. This is an offshoot of Early times that produces other whiskeys.  I had actually never heard of "Fire Eater" before and just randomly saw it on the shelf. I remember hearing that Early times was going to make one but had not heard anything about it. 

I could taste hints of cinnamon but I felt like the sugar really overpowered the cinnamon in this one.  It did not have a syrupy feel but more like a direct sugar taste like a pack of sugar was mixed in.

SinFire:

This one is produced by Hood Rivers Distillers.  The color was light and comparable to Fire Eater. I heard about this one through a friend who said he liked it better then fireball.  I doubted it of course and assumed it was short lived.  I was wrong. I started seeing SinFire parties locally at bars and started seeing advertising for it.  I have also heard Fireball did a lawsuit (Huffington post article) a while back due to the name.

The cinnamon flavor was the strongest with this one.  It had less of a sugar after bite then the other two.  This one taste the most like cinnamon bear candies,  It was smooth with a little cinnamon after bite. This was my favorite in tasting before the blind taste test.

My blind test and overall thoughts

So Blind I was able to identify which one was Sinfire and the other two were interchangeable.  SinFire had the most recognizable hints of cinnamon and texture when swallowed.  The Other two felt more syrupy. It was surprising that I did not know which was which. I liked Sinfire the most when blind before knowing what it was.

My overall outcome is that SinFire was my favorite.  I feel like they took what fireball did and perfected it.  With that said I would drink all three but would choose SinFire if given the choice.

Boom! That's all folks! Liar, Liar Whiskey on Fire!





Man of Steel Review: The Dark Super Iron Man Begins

Before beginning this review I have to straighten out a few details before you read it. This is so you know where I am coming from.

First, I am not the biggest Superman fan.  I mean he's okay, but he would not be in my top five super heroes of all time and probably would barely make it into the top ten. I understand his importance in comic book history, but he's just not the hero for me.  I dislike how perfect and saint like he is.  Also just overall I am not a big alien fan...unless your name is E.T.

Second, I dislike every movie Zach Snyder has made except Dawn of the Dead. Watchmen was boring. 300 was over rated and over acted. Sucker Punch was a good idea wasted and badly executed.

Third and probably the most important, I have no loyalty to any live action Superman property.  Meaning, none of them have ever spoke to me.  I get the Romanticism behind the Christopher Reeves movies but quite frankly they are cheesy and not that good.  I respect what they have done and did for comic book movies but overall none of them are of a high quality in my mind. It could be I was too young when they were released (I was born the year the first one was released) to really get them, but even as a kid I thought the flying backwards thing around the earth to reverse time was hokey. With that said the theme song is absolutely perfect and was missed in this new film.

Lastly I have read no other review before writing this.  I left the theater and wrote this before hearing or reading any other opinion on this movie.  These are my initial views whether popular or completely off base from others.  Like all movies I try to be true to how I feel about the movie on all levels and how it effected me.

Now that I have given you an idea of where I come from on this flick...here is my review of the film Man of Steel:

No, not this Steel but I wanted to remind you of its terrible existence.

So unless you live under a rock you know a new Superman movie is upon us.  Like the "Dark Knight" before it "Man of Steel" does not have the main hero's name in the title.

Here is the basic gist of the entire film:
It starts with an origin story of Superman (Henry Cavill).  It flashes backward and forward between his youth and adulthood. We see him adapting and orienting himself on planet earth.  This is after his birth mother (Ayelet Zurer) and Father (Russel Crowe) shoot him into Space because of the destruction of their planet Krypton. The death of their planet was caused by the evil General Zod(Michael Shannon) and the people of Krypton.  Zod is imprisoned for his actions. Kal-el (Superman's Kryptonian name)  then grows up with the burden of having powers and having to keep them a secret. Eventually he is called back to a ship that is on planet earth and has a replicated version of his birth father that explains his back story and planet. General Zod shows up to extract revenge, kill Kal-el and possibly resurrect his planet and race.

So there is the quick and dirty synopsis of what happens over the course of 2 and a half hours. There were things I loved and hated about this movies but overall I think it was a good basic stepping stone for more movies.

What I hated:
Let's start at the very beginning. I hated Krypton. It looked like a Star Wars like city,with Dragons. Like someone just mashed together their favorite movies when designing it. I find it hard to believe with technology like that people are riding dragons. That is like us today riding horses around the city for consistent transportation to travel to places instead of using cars. Massively absurd.

Then you have General Zod. I thought his character and presence was weak. I don't know if it was the actor or the script but I just thought it was mediocre. In a time where we have superhero villains like the Joker (Dark Knight) Loki (Thor and the Avengers) and Bane (The Dark Knight Rises) you can't just show up. You have to bring your evil A-game and Zod was forgettable.

Something that annoyed me the most is something that was subtle. One thing about Superman is how often he has been referenced in literature as being saint like.  He has been compared to Jesus on numerous occasions and unfortunately I felt like this movie embraced that and mixed in subtle hints of it throughout the film.  I disliked this mainly because that is why I don't love this character.  I want flaws and normal problems. I got three references to Jesus through out the movie and this is coming from a non-religious guy. Keep in mind I have seen this movie once:

1) Superman is the First on Kypton to be conceived "Naturally" the exact opposite of an immaculate conception. I don't recall this in any other Superman movie but I could be wrong.

2) Zod references that it took him 33 years from when Superman was born for him to locate him on earth.  That means at the exact same age Jesus is believed to have died and came back from the dead is also the same age Clark becomes Superman and starts helping people.

3) We find out that the codex (the one thing that can bring back Krypton back and it contains millions of lives) is embedded in Superman's DNA. So basically millions of people will not be born because Superman has to live and because of the sins of Kryptons race previously.  So instead of dying for our sins like Jesus he is living because of the sins of Kryptonians.

I think we will hear about this again and someone will articulate it better then me at some point. If I caught this in only seeing the movie once someone much smarter then me with more of a religious background will catch it too.

So a couple more nit picky things:  I didn't like Lois's hair.  I know it's petty but she has black hair.  I don't care what race actors are if they play certain characters. I think you have to cast the best actor not race, but I do care when it is something you can physically change, like hair. There were also no references to Justice League whatsoever.  That makes me sad.  There was also no PS (or as they call it now, a zinger) at the end of the film after the credits. Also disappointing.

This picture depicts the battle of Heat Ray Vision VS The Power of Fish

What I liked:
Chris Keller, Toby Ziegler and Lieutenant Gata all in one shot on film. Though none of you will probably get all three references (Look them up) it was overwhelmingly cool to see all three of these actors on film together.  All of them who played characters in Television shows I liked.  I noticed peppered throughout this movie there were random shots of actors I recognized from TV. I thought this was cool.

Henry Cavill was perfectly cast.  I didn't see it until I saw the movie but this guy embodies what Superman physically looks like.  I thought he had an essence of all actors who played Superman before him but yet still had an original flare about him. Plus the ladies love this guy.  Anything that gets ladies in the seats to watch comic book movies is alright with me.  Even if it is gratuitous ab shots.

I also thought it was a great way to tell an origin story.  I liked them flashing back and forth.  It moved the action forward but also gave us the point of reference of his beginnings. This helped the movie flow different then similar movies.

Massive Spoiler here stop reading if you care:

Superman kills Zod.  Look, as I already mentioned I don't know Superman all that well, but I love that he killed Zod.  Why do I feel that way? Because guess who that will piss of in the future?  You guessed it, Batman.  That is his only rule and Superman broke it.  I think this could foreshadow a great division and struggle in their partnership and I am excited for the future.

There was an oil tanker that said Lex corp.  I need me some Lex Luthor and that tanker means he definitely exists. I am glad he wasn't in this movie but I hope he is in the next. He is as important to this franchise as the Joker is to Batman.

Overall:

I think the movie did what it needed to and we will see this as the start of something bigger. You can clearly see influences from other superhero movies.  Obviously the overall tone is like Batman Begins and I feel like there is a Little bit of Iron Man thrown in there.  Namely with Lois knowing his identity so early on in the progression of his story.  I mean Clark Kent wasn't even really in the movie all that much. This movie will divide the fan base because I think this is one of the harder characters to portray as we saw with the failed Superman Returns.  But I think this movie did the best with what they could in this superhero film hungry time. I am just hoping and waiting for the day a Justice League movie and DC cinematic universe exists like the Marvel Cinematic universe.

Someday...

Boom! That's all folks! Be Super...man!

Sports Weekend: Why sports are important, even if you hate them

The NBA Finals Are upon us! It is the end of seasons for sports I actually care about until September 5th. So, I decided to write about sports, my relationship with them and why they are important even if you hate them:

As a kid and throughout middle school I idolized Michael Jordan and loved the game of basketball.  Down to the point where for two years I would only wear shorts.  I know a lot of boys from my generation were like this.  He was like watching a god play basketball.  His body did things that it physically should not have let him do.  If you have ever heard the song Wings by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis it beautifully sums up how most of us felt about Jordan. I however was terrible at the game of basketball.  No matter how long or hard I practiced, I was bad.  I am not athletically gifted and I usually have to work twice as hard as most just to be mediocre. To this day I think basketball is probably the thing I practiced and worked on the most in my life. I wanted to be a basketball player more then any other profession from age 6-17.  This taught me a valuable lesson that people often don't talk about.  Sometimes you can't be anything you want to be.  Sometimes you are just not meant to do something you love.  You might just not be built for it, and that's okay you just have to find out what you are meant to do.

Football was the only other sport I ever liked.  Not nearly as much as basketball but it was always on in my house.  My mother was an avid football fan and got my father and younger brothers deep into it.  I wasn't real loyal to any team at first and then picked the Raiders because I loved L.A. (my love for Disneyland) and the mascot was a pirate.  I never really had a strong loyalty but it was nice to have another team then my mother, who was a die hard Cowboys fan.

My love for sports began to fade in high school and were completely gone by college. I discovered this amazing new discovery called "Women". Music, theatre, movies and other entertainment mediums took over the rest of my interests. This started around 1994.

I would not really take a real interest again until about twelve years later.  This took so long because I started to resent sports in many ways.  I was a theatre kid and it was the only thing I felt somewhat natural at.  On stage, there are no direct statistics when you are a kid. Nobody wins or loses.  You memorize your lines and have fun.  As you get older it gets more complicated but there is no direct winner and loser like in sports, it is all based on an opinion someone has of you and your abilities. As a young adult I also started to notice and read about arts programs being consistently cut and sports programs being more important to most school districts. This seemed wrong to me. They both are valuable in different ways, and both are vital for child development. I just heard a co-worker say something i thought was brilliant.  She requires her son to do an equal amount of something artistic as he does athletic.  So basically he wants be in basketball, fine but you also have to be in the band.  You want to try out for a soccer team, okay audition for the next play. I think this is brilliant. I would also do it the other way. I think too often the arts and sports are pitted against each other and shouldn't be that way. I still think arts programs are too weak in the schools and not enough focus is given, but that is another topic altogether.

  
So my path back to sports was kind of an accident.  I worked in an office where everyone talked about sports non-stop.  At first I made fun of it, but after a while it just stopped being funny to me.  I started getting bored with the state of music and there were only so many movies I could watch before I needed something else to mix it up. About this time I began dating my wife who had a huge interest in sports specifically the two I liked growing up (basketball and football) so I joined some fantasy teams, picked some teams that I would root for and bam! I was back in the scene.  A few years later I work in a different office, which has ESPN on all day long.  So now I am flooded with information about sports. I am thankful I already had some enthusiasm about them again or I would have gone insane.

Now reflecting back and actually being the guy who made fun of sports, I feel like they are more important then people realize.  I mean important in a different way then you're probably thinking.  Not in the "team building, moral fiber, teamwork" kind of way.  More like in a "spectator, guy cheering, current events" kind of way. So I give you three reasons why sports are important to the non-player and non-enthusiast:

1) In most cases, sports are black and white.
I can argue all night long about why "The Dark Knight" is far superior to any other super hero movie.  You might change your mind, you might not.  It is all based off of your opinion and my opinion, nothing else.  Sporting events are definitive. The Ravens won the Superbowl.  That is that.  We can break stuff down but there is no opinion that can change what happened, they will always be known as the Superbowl champions for 2012-2013.  This gives a person a form of accomplishment when there team or city wins. It is nice to have statistical proof showing you are right and that your team for one moment was superior.

2) It brings people together. 
People cheer for the city they are from or a team they bonded with.  In some case it's their race or ethnicity. For whatever reason, you bond with a team and it becomes a part of you. It's exciting and it brings people together.  One of the most emotional things I ever saw was the first national anthem sang at a Boston sporting event after the Boston Marathon bombing.  People were there to celebrate their city and the sporting event was the conduit to get them there.  This happens more then we realize and not just because of tragic events.

Who can forget Whitney's National Anthem?

3) It can move you, if you let it.
You don't have to watch sports or know about them.  But they are there and one day somebody, somewhere is going to ask you about them.  You can do the snooty hipster thing I did for many years and say "I don't watch sports" or you could just try it out.  Watch something, show an interest. It doesn't have to be a mainstream sport it can be roller derby, just make it something that fascinates you for some reason. The point is when you get moved by a sporting event it is a weird feeling.  It's not like a play or a movie.  Theatrical pieces are designed to effect you emotionally in one way or another.  Sports are just designed to be played and watched.  You create the narrative, you create the emotional thing that happens to you. It's weird, its powerful and it is even more powerful in large groups. The Ravens became my team about four years ago. Portland has no football team and so I chose a middle of the road team with potential. I had no idea they were going to win last year.  For many reasons they shouldn't of. But they did and it was beautiful, stressful and fun.  I will be even more excited if my city can win a championship.  I am talking of course of the Portland Trail Blazers. I doubt I will see it in my lifetime if teams like the Miami Heat still exist, but on that day I will most likely weep like a baby.


I recommend not letting it move you this much...

Boom! That's all folks! Be like Mike!

Development Arrested: My thoughts on season four

I am back! I know it's been a while, a long while.  I promise to do better and attempt to be more active in my blogs.  There have been a lot of things to discuss I have just been incredibly lazy. 

But lets get right to it.

Like most people on May 26th I tore through the newest season of Arrested development.  I thought it might be a mistake to watch it so fast, but looking back I am glad I chose to watch it that way.  Mostly, because the season was more complex and multi layered then the previous seasons. After watching it, I knew I needed to watch it again just to catch all the inside jokes that were there.  I didn't want to do a huge review for my first outing, but I do want to let you know how I felt about the new season on a general level.

My Thoughts:
Overall, I had a good time and I thought it lived up to the hype. I have heard a lot of negative reviews as well as positive, but i feel like most of the negative reviews are from people who were not going to be satisfied with anything they got.  The show became so popular among an underground audience that it created a certain fan base that thinks they are smart because they discovered some canceled funny show.  I call them "Hipsters" most people call them pretentious. Those people in my opinion are the downfall of entertainment. I watch an obscene amount of TV and movies, who cares if something is mainstream or popular?  If it is funny I will watch it. If it is entertaining I will watch it.  I don't care if it is the talk of the town or not. But enough about my hatred of hipsters...Arrested Development much like Family Guy before it, became much more popular off the air. There was a hungry fan base for more and the "real" fans I think will be pleased with the finished product presented here.

Spoiler Section:
In all honesty the first episode was tough for me.  The format was weird and foreign to me and took a little getting used to.  For those that have not watched the new season, each episode now focuses on an individual character. It shows the series of events that occurs after the finale of season three, up to present day.  Since each show does this from each characters perspective there is overlapping of details, plot points and jokes. It was like a giant tapestry of jokes finely woven together.

Funny Tapestry

I liked the idea of the show being slightly different, but with the same characters.  I also enjoyed the evolution (or de-evolution) of the character of Michael.  You begin to see him as a Bluth and how he is just as messed up as the rest of them, just in a different way.  I am excited to re-watch it and find new nuances leading up to Cinco De Quatro, which seemed to have a lot of overlapping for each character. I hope the rumors are true and there will be a movie or at least another season.  Now that they have more of an open door at the end of this season, I need more answers. I really want to see how the relationship with Rebel turns out between Michael and George Michael. Mostly though I just want to see more of Buster's amazingly huge hand!

 

There are so many more things about the show I could discuss, but for now I just want to keep it simple.  People worked long and hard to get this entire cast back together, that alone should be commended.  I hope this show is remembered, watched and is just as cherished as it was before. I really want people to watch it and  make up thier own minds before trusting what they read about it. Because we all deserve anustart.

Boom! That's all folks! See you soon!

Spider-man: Your friendly neighborhood Tom

Hello true believers!

I have an obsession with Spider-man.  It's bad and it gets worse every year. There have only been a few things in my life that I have always been a fan of for as long as I can remember.  Disneyland (and Disney movies) and the Joker would be the only other two. You could probably squeeze the movie Back to the Future movie in there somewhere but that was more like late elementary school when that started. There have been other things but they usually fade out or my interest goes back and fourth. Not with these. I realized when evaluating my history with Spider-man that every year of my life I have become more and more interested in everything that involves him. This year seems like I have definitely reached a high point (or low point depending on your point of view). For example: On a recent weekend I went to a toy fair where I purchased four items of Spider-man memorabilia, went to the comic shop where at least four of the seven I purchased had Spider-man in them, all while wearing a Spider-man T-shirt (which was not planned). To top it off I watched two episodes of one of his many cartoon shows. This is a somewhat normal weekend for me. My wife says I have a man crush on Spider-man. At first I laughed it off and told her she was silly. Now I have suddenly realized she is right, it's not just me being nerdy I actually want to hang out with him, and I always have.

As a kid who doesn't have a superhero they like? He was my choice for whatever reason and it stuck. I probably watched his cartoon and thought he was cool. Once I was in high school I started watching the animated series produced in the 90's. This is where I started to really relate to him. A young guy dealing with strange changes in his life all while juggling relationships with people and girls. The character always wanted to do the right thing even though sometimes he ended up making bad choices.  As I get older more and more I believe subconsciously I miss that feeling, so that is why I am drawn to Spider-man in my adult life.  I am no longer a younger guy struggling with relationships and my physical body.  I am now focused on my career and my family. So he allows me to still have that innocence and that idea of self discovery.

One thing I want to make very clear is the movie Spider-man is not my Spider-man. The movie version is much different then the character I have grown to love.  Below I am going to explain the difference and try to also articulate my inherit love affair in all the different ways he is represented.

So I broke it down into different parts.

Part 1: let's start where it all began...the comics
To be very honest this is one of my weaker areas of Spider knowledge.  I would say I know more then the average fan but I don't know more then the average comic book junkie.  I like comics but in my life I have a very roller coaster relationship with them.  I will buy for a couple years and stop, then start again.  In comics a lot can happen in a few years.  For example right now in the comics Spider-man is a member of the Avengers, The Future Foundation (they are kind of like the Fantastic Four) and he know longer is married to Mary Jane and has a girlfriend named Carly. Well he did until a recent issue where she figured out he was Spider-man and broke it off for feeling like she was lied to since he never told her. Oh yeah and J. Jonah Jameson is the Mayor of New York City. Even for someone who knows nothing about Spider-man or just has seen the movies knows that sounds crazy.  Don't get me wrong I like it, its just different from when I left off many years ago.  There are also (I believe) six different comic titles that have Spider-man in them so it can be tough to keep up with him.

Also marvel has an alternate universe called the "Ultimate Universe" where the characters are very similar to the originals just more updated with newer references and haircuts.  Ultimate Spider-man was in the news recently because Peter Parker was killed and a new person took over the mantle.  His name is Miles Morales.  He is a younger boy, with a new costume and he also happens to be half Black and half Hispanic. Some people were out raged that they killed Peter and that it was someone of a different race. I my mind it was people that really don't understand the Ultimate universe.  Why have a universe so similar if you can't mess with characters? This allows them to re-invent the character while sill having him exist in the normal Marvel universe.  I thought it was brilliant.  The comic is good too, it adds a whole new dimension to the character and he has slightly different powers then his original counterpart.

Part 2: The movies where Toby Maguire is Spider-man.
Here we go, I could talk about this all day. First I want to say, the movies are good movies.  They are entertaining and for the most part filmed well. With that said my biggest complaints are the casting and the characterization of Peter Parker/Spider-man and Mary Jane. lets start with the web head himself, Spider-man is a funny guy, he plays tricks on people, he constantly makes pop culture references and barely ever says anything serious to a villain.  Where was that in the movie? Peter Parker is even worse he is portrayed as a sleepy quiet nerd, even after he gets Spider powers. There is an emotional Battle that he is dealing with but he expresses it differently the what was shown.  Peter Parker to me is very similar to Marty McFly in the Back to the Future Movies or Shia LaBeouf's character in the Transformer movies.  There is a dorkiness there but also a confident, underplayed arrogance he possesses. He is Spider-man after all!

This is where I probably offend the ladies and I will apologize ahead of time...but Mary Jane Watson is a knock out, Kirsten Dunst is not.  If you go to Wikipedia or any site that talks about comic characters three things will always be written to describe her.  She has red hair, green eyes and is extremely beautiful. I am not saying Kirsten Dunst is not attractive.  But I would wager that if you were to poll 20 different men I would guarantee you at least 19 of them would not describe her as extremely beautiful. Cute, pretty maybe even beautiful but the word extremely would not be there. She is pretty in a girl next door kind of way but not in a stop traffic kind of way.  In the comic I just read for example there is a panel where she is dancing and literally every male character is looking at her and every female that is in the room is telling their significant others to stop staring. If Dunst walked into a room and she was not a celebrity she might get noticed by a few but would not bring the room to a halt.  Think Barbie, think Jessica rabbit. Remember this is a comic character created for 13 year olds! If I had to cast her now I would cast an unknown model, or maybe Bryce Dallas Howard (who strangely played Peters other love interest Gwen Stacey in the third film).  I even think Emma Stone could have pulled it off (who is set to play Stacey as well in the re-boot). Bottom line Mary Jane is not a cutesy girl next door, she is a strong minded woman who should look like a stereotypical model or at least have some attribute about her that makes everyone male want to be around her and want to impress her. I can't entirely blame her, the script and director could have played that up more however they probably knew it would not be believable.

There are other obvious things I could complain about but I understand cinematic license and trying new things to be entertaining, I just don't think you should sacrifice the main characters in order to do so.

Part 3: The re-booted movie
Unless you have been living under a rock or do not care about movies at all you are most likely aware that they are coming out with a brand new Spider-man movie this summer.  For some they are outraged that they are rebooting it so close to the originals release. But if you are me, you are excited! I was ready for something new and I am interested to see how Andrew Garfield is going to pull of the character. I also like that they are going with early Spider-man and that they are using Gwen Stacey instead of Mary Jane. Gwen is Peter's first love, we all know there will be sequels and there is plenty of time for Mary Jane, but let Gwen and Peter have their moment first.  It does sound like they are going a more "Ultimate Universe" route but we will see. Most people lately have been complaining about the costume.  I have no problem with it.  As long as it is Blue and Red I am happy. I just want the characters to represent the original characters. The only thing I will complain about is I am hoping it is not an Origin story.  When there were talks of this movie being made I loosely remember producers telling the press that they were not going to tell Peter's original transformation story again because people are already familiar with it.  But the preview sure makes it seem like that is the direction they are going. But we will see...

Part 4: The Cartoons
The cartoons are my genesis. This is where it all started for me.  I have seen almost every cartoon series that has been made (I have not seen the one produced for MTV a few years back but it is in my Netflix Disc queue) The one I watched as a kid was the one produced in the 80's.  Its not terrible, its fun and focuses on almost a new villain each time; but there is no real through line from episode to episode.  The 90's cartoon however is what swept me off of my feet.  I have officially watched that complete series more then any other Television show. My current count is at six times.  It currently is unavailable on DVD but it is streamable on Netflix. it is the best incarnation of the character that I have seen. This show is where I really came into relating to Peter Parker and his personal drama as well as his quest to be a hero.  The Spectacular Spider-man is the last one that was produced and it is probably my second favorite.  Peter is a high school kid and it focuses more on the ultimate universe Spider-man.  It was canceled for some reason, I believe it has to do with the movie that is being prepared to be released. They are also right now in the works of producing another series that is set to air sometime next year to coincide with the release of the new movie.

Part 5: The Toys
This is probably where you think I am going to tell you I have mountains of Spider-man toys.  I don't really.  My collection is growing but I would say I probably have less then the average fan.  Maybe ten items...not a whole lot.  I would like more but I have a hard time spending a lot of money on one type of toy, I like to have a variety of different kinds.

In Summary, I like Spider-man...and I doubt you read this whole page.

Tomoccupy Nicholas Cage movies!

So obviously lately people have been occupying wall Street and various cities because they disagree with corporate greed. This got me thinking...could I occupy a movie theater because a movie sucked? Or if I paid too much for it? Most likely I would be thrown out...but I could protest outside right? That's within my legal rights! Apparently protesting by not going to his movies is not working...

I really hate Nicholas Cage and I would love to occupy any location for a long time if it got someone to stop casting him. In fact I would do just about anything to never have to see his ugly, weird looking face on a new movie poster. I don't know what is wrong with the directors or casting agents but they keep casting him in these terrible action movies. I am not quite sure why either, they don't seem to do well financially. That is of course as long as they do not have the word National or Treasure in the title.

I can't remember ever liking him and for a long time I couldn't figure out when my distaste started. Then recently I saw the movie Peggy sue got Married and it all mades sense. As a kid I remember watching it and being excited to see it because I was a huge Back to the future fan and it seemed to have similar time travel elements like going to the 1950's. In my juvinile mind it was almost a like female version of my beloved movie. However, in retrospect that was altogether ruined by Cage. He does this bizarre voice and almost makes the whole movie seem like a big joke. He can't be taken seriously, and every other character can. This has to be where it all began. I must have subconsciously started to understand that a movie has to be cohesive with the story, the actors and the audience. As a kid though  I just remember thinking it was okay but not great. Now as an adult watching that movie, I just saw an actor trying too hard with a part that didn't need any weird, special voice characterization that he was trying to give it.

Now granted he has a few movies that are decent, but not because he is in them. They all have solid scripts and/or directors or even co-stars. Look at Con Air for example; his accent and acting is horrendous. My definition would be like a criminal, hippie, Forrest Gump. But because he is surrounded by talented actors the movie is a half way decent action flick.

There are also a lot of critics who think he is underrated, they think he should be held up with the greats of acting because of all the risks he takes.  Risk taking does not make you a good actor.  Risks are just that...risks.  They either work or they don't.  Most of the time for him the risks he takes just don't work. Silly voices and weird facial ticks does not a character make.  Something else has to be there, a component of realism and heart.  Not just playing dress up Mr. Cage. 

Johnny Depp is a great example of an actor who also takes risks, but there is more complexity in his risks. Look at captain Jack Sparrow. That character made the million dollar career he has today.  The studio didn't want him to do it they thought it was too risky the way he was playing it and kept trying pull him back, but eventually the director and the studio conceded and let him do his thing.  Now everyone lets him do his thing and he is a golden meal ticket. Today that character has become iconic and carried that franchise.  Those movies would be nothing without him.
My plea to you, is to stop seeing Nicholas Cage movies...please.  I don't care if he is the leading character in your favorite comic book adaptation, please don't go.  I won't be there!  I am officially done.  If we all join together we can stop this evil and disrespect to the film going audience.

Do we really need another bad Ghost Rider movie that he is the star of?

For the record I am only talking about movies going forward.  You can still watch your favorite copy of Raising Arizona or Adaptation. But from this point on, no more watching new movies that he is in!

Join the Rage down with Cage!