Afro Samurai + Live Action Movie = Yet Another Terrible Decision…

Amongst my endless volumes of anime, I would definitely say that Afro Samurai is one of the best series I’ve had the pleasure of viewing. It is an incredibly deep story, accompanied by one of the best soundtracks in anime history.  So it was only natural that my heart broke when I heard that Samuel L. Jackson had teamed up with Gonzo Studios to create a live action film.

 Spoilers Ahead…

Afro Samurai revolves around a young samurai (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) who seeks revenge for death of his father, murdered by a lone gunman in the conquest for his father’s number one headband. Throughout his wanders in a futuristic feudal Japan, he is accompanied by an imaginary loud mouth Afro Ninja, and fights countless swordsmen/androids. Afro kills all who stand in his way until he achieves his ultimate goal of revenge.

But lets consider something, the original series consisted of five episodes, filled with constant character development, so its obvious that key plot elements will be axed during the writing process, leaving us with a potential Dragonball: Evolution. And when you aim a movie towards die hard fanboys, those are the type of things you can’t miss. Afro Samurai is perfect the way it is, a live action film will only drag the series down. The only redeeming quality is a potential RZA (original Wu-Tang Clan member) soundtrack.

Afro Samurai is now looking for a writer and cast to attach to this production, and it is due to start filming in 2012.

ESPN: The Movie

The ESPN tell-all book Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN has had the movie rights picked up by 21st Century Fox according to The Hollywood Reporter. Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick, whom I loved while they were on SportsCenter – but can’t stand since, took some time to discuss the possibility of the movie on Olbermann’s show. They also then go on to discuss who should play some of their former ESPN colleagues. Olbermann and Patrick also cast themselves.  Patrick gives himself Jason Bateman or Ryan Reynolds, and Olbermann throws up a picture of Josh Charles from Sports Night for himself, while Patrick says it should be Ben Affleck.

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Cinemax’s Femme Fatales: 112 – Visions Pt. 1

Meet Foster Prentiss, the Amazing Mysterium, an eyeliner wearing scum bag in the city of Cuesta Verde who spends his nights duping the shit out of audiences with his smoking hot assistant. See, Mister Prentiss simply pickpockets the person and reads their license out loud, joking around after the person in the audience wouldn’t tell him his name. Through a two-way radio, Foster’s assistant has already looked up all of the audience member’s information from the license information and assists Prentiss in duping the viewers attending the show. What a douche!

Continue reading Cinemax’s Femme Fatales: 112 – Visions Pt. 1

DC Comics Review: Green Lantern – Emerald Warriors #12

Things have been kind of hit and miss in the Green Lantern world of comics since the end of the War of The Green Lanterns, but Emerald Warriors #12 was a definite hit for me. Not the most ground breaking of issues, but a nice stand alone to help get us through to the 52 number 1’s in September. I’ve basically come to the conclusion that not much happening in DC is really that relevant because of the so called “reboot” that is coming up, but that doesn’t mean us readers can’t still have fun before everything changes.

This is a Guy Gardner centric issue, so if you don’t like Mr. Bowl-cut then take a hike. I actually really like Gardner even after hating his smug face for so many years. He’s an asshole, but a good intentioned asshole. Simple story, which many times is good: Guy gets summoned by the guardians to deal with a problem: something is destroying Green Lantern Precinct Houses throughout the galaxy and it seems to be due to Mogo being killed during the GL War. (Nice going Stewart.)

Epic failure Stewart….

Continue reading DC Comics Review: Green Lantern – Emerald Warriors #12

Marvel Comics Review: Daredevil #1

It would seem that Marvel is jumping on the whole new number 1’s band wagon, because Daredevil is back at #1 again, as is The Hulk and Uncanny X-men later this fall. If any character needed a fresh new start at number one, it was Matt Murdock. He and his alter ego have gone through a shitload over the years. The deaths of two girlfriends, insanity, nervous breakdowns, divorce, his secret identity being compromised, prison and being possessed by a demon. That’s more than a lot of our other heroes go through.

Even though he needed a fresh start, there was no need to cop out and restart continuity from a certain point. (Spidey!) But it’s definitely a breath of fresh air for us the reader to see Matt Murdock back in Hell’s Kitchen with a more carefree attitude. He actually looks to be having a little fun being back, saving the daughter of a mob boss at the boss’s wedding and kissing the bride in the middle of a fight. That was a classic moment! The villain he fights in that scene was just as Daredevil described him – “Dumb name. Disturbing power.” Yes the Spot is an extremely dumb villain name, but his power to open holes in space at will is something you don’t take lightly. Especially after you see his hands come out of nowhere to snap a mob guy’s neck.

A picture of the Spot from the Spiderman Animated Series

Everyone in New York from Matt’s morning coffee guy to the new assistant D.A. still believe that Matt is Daredevil, so the fallout from the Bendis-Maleev run is still there. But all Matt can do at this point is deny it and play dumb… er blind. I wonder if things will ever get back to normal for him. Him and Foggy can’t even hold onto clients because the opposing attorneys do nothing but bring the fact that Murdock is or was Daredevil. It is good to see the Matt and Foggy duo back. Those two just wouldn’t be the same without one another. It’s a true bromance all the way even though they are polar opposites in almost every way.

The art of Paolo Rivera

The ending was a bit of a shocker if his attacker is who I think it is but we’ll have to wait until the next issue to find out. I give the issue a 4.5 out of 5 bears.

Mark Waid is a fantastic writer and is able to catch the essence of Matt Murdock, Daredevil and Foggy Nelson just as good as Bendis or Brubaker ever could. The art by Paolo Rivera will take some getting used to, but overall I enjoyed it. The cover price of $3.99 was definitely worth it because there was a little bonus story in the back that was pretty enjoyable. Hopefully Daredevil is back on the right track with Mark Waid pulling the trigger because I just sort of lost interest when Andy Diggle took over. Not to say Diggle is a bad writer, I just don’t think he is suited for the character of Daredevil. I’ll definitely be picking up issue 2!