For me Thanksgiving has always been about Detroit Lions Football, good food, and family. Probably in that order too. But that’s not to say that there aren’t some fond memories of the occasion watching something other than Football. The following list of films are those that are, at least in part, dedicated to the 3rd Thursday of each November. Now being sandwiched in between Halloween and Christmas, the 2 days that have inspired the most movies doesn’t leave us with the widest selection, but there is no shortage of quality.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Tom Hardy to Play Sam Fisher in the Upcoming ‘Splinter Cell’ Movie
Tom Clancy games were some of the most popular shooters in the early days of this console generation, back before Call of Duty stormed in and beat everything else from the genre into non-existence. Among the Clancy-approved series were Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon and, of course, Splinter Cell. As Sam Fisher, an elite agent of the fictional Third Echelon branch of the NSA, players infiltrated terrorist cells using only stealth tactics and a small kit of advanced gadgetry. In its heyday Splinter Cell was beloved and one of the best-selling franchises out there. The games are still around, but the popularity and quality of Sam Fisher’s more recent missions have waned considerably.
But hat’s not to say that interest has completely dropped off. There’s still enough gas in the tank that Ubisoft Studios is in the process of starting up a Splinter Cell movie, and according to Geek Exchange Ubi has now successfully wrangled The Dark Knight Rises co-star Tom Hardy to play the part of Agent Fisher. This is a huge get for Ubisoft, who also recently announced that Michael Fassbender will star in their Assassin’s Creed adaptation. With both films featuring high-caliber stars they’ll likely draw an audience, but hopefully the show of talent on camera is reflective of the talent behind it; despite the fact that studios have been converting video game properties to the silver screen for over thirty years, there has yet to be one worth watching. Ubisoft’s own Prince of Persia has arguably been the best of them so far, but it wasn’t exactly a critical success either.
Tom Hardy has been one of my favorite actors to watch since I stumbled upon Bronson a year or two ago. Following his somewhat minor role as Eames in Inception his career has taken off (Rubbing shoulders with Christopher Nolan should have that effect), and the English actor has found himself among Hollywood’s elite ever since. The guy just can’t act badly, and he rarely picks a wrong movie. He also grows a fantastic beard.
I wonder about his casting in this though. The last Splinter Cell game I played was 2005’s Chaos Theory, and at least to that point, Sam Fisher was not a particularly nuanced character. He’s a rough and tumble proficient killer which fits Tom Hardy’s repertoire for sure, but Fisher is a middle-aged man with greying hair and a two-years-past-retirement attitude. It will be interesting to see how much of that is retained in the movie, as well as the rest of the series canon. I always prefer a more distant approach – retain the characters and the setting but create a brand new plot. Video games are lacking in those as a rule, and the only thing less exciting than a fetch quest in a video game is a fetch quest on a movie screen. But this is all speculation. As production nears and more details come to light we’ll stay on top of it.
Comic Rack: The Age Of Ultron, ‘Chew’ Is Half Done!, & Dexter Gets His Own Comic!
Welcome to Comic Rack! My pick of the top five comic news stories in no particular order…
Grace Randolph’s ‘Superbia’ brings capes down to Earth.
Admittedly I’m not very familiar with Grace Randolph’s work. It looks like she’s most notable for her Warcraft and Starcraft comics, and there’s probably a big chance I’m missing some vastly important, seminal work of hers and I’m going to look a fool for not knowing it. As I’ve previously said here before, you should own what you don’t know, and be willing to admit your ignorance, rather than feign knowledge. So why am I bringing up her work here today? 
Because the pitch of her new book Superbia sounds pretty interesting, if fairly derivative. On first glance it appears to be a story about superheroes putting down the capes and accepting a normal life in the suburbs, hence the name. While that’s been the focus of countless superhero stories, it’s never really been the focus of an entire book. How would you approach your ordinary, everyday life if you had superpowers? I know I’d mess with people a lot. How much only depends on what power I had. As for the book, it looks interesting, and I’m always supportive of original creator owned indie books any day of the week.
You can find out more here.
The Age Of Ultron Has Arrived!
It appears good ol’ Brian Michael Bendis is at it again, this time he’s writing yet another story that’s gonna be the be-all, end-all story of stories that he’s been alluding to and foreshadowing all this time all along. Ultron, our favorite evil robot that occasionally runs amok, has gained the upper hand over everyone else, and has decimated the Marvel Universe. The cover even implies that he’s killed a bunch of the fan faves in his conquest, leaving everything in his wake destroyed. Will Ultron be killing Iron Man and Captain America? Maybe. Even if he does though, it’s not like they won’t come back.
via [ComicsAlliance]
[quote]Age of Ultron, a 10-issue event series beginning next March. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco, the book begins with the villainous robot Ultron, a corrupted creation of Avenger Hank Pym aka Ant-Man, having completely taken over and seemingly killed a good deal of the Marvel Universe. Foreshadowed for years throughout numerous Bendis comics including this year’s Age of Ultron 0.1 special, Age of Ultron is said to conclude in a fashion so shocking that only six people actually know what will happen.[/quote]
Six people! They’re locking it down like nuclear launch codes, or the secret 11 herbs and spices for The Colonel’s recipe! Zounds!
America’s Favorite Serial Killer Comes To The Funny Books!
I don’t think they’ve been called “The Funny Books” since 1958, but it doesn’t change the fact that Dexter is making his way to having his own Marvel branded comic miniseries. Fun Fact: I never finished the second season of Dexter, and thusly have never caught up with it. Unfortunately I now know all the spoilers from it and will probably never catch up, but that doesn’t change how much I dug the first season. I wonder how a show with such a time sensitive premise would last beyond a season or two (how has he not been caught yet? Seriously?), but it’s not like I hate the thing.
I am a bit surprised to see it come to be a comic now, but at the same time it makes sense. I would have thought Dynamite would have optioned it first though, if anything, so the fact that Marvel is picking it up is a bit shocking. My main problem is that the guy on the cover looks NOTHING like Michael C. Hall, and I’m guessing he’s either some other character, or they’re trying to adapt what he looks like more directly from the original source material description in the novels. Either way, Dexter fans will probably dig it.
Find out more here.
‘The Unwritten’s Cover Artist Wins The Society Of Illustrators Medals.
Yuko Shimizu has done covers for The Unwritten for 46 issues as of now, and every single one is a damned masterpiece. Her style is evocative of Japanese wood-cut style paintings, but with a flowing, hauntingly beautiful style all her own. It’s enough that The Unwritten is singlehandedly one of the best written, and most innovative comics still being printed today, but that every single cover is a beautiful masterpiece. Her work being recognized not only cements her place in mainstream artistic press, but brings legitimacy to the comics medium as a whole through that recognition. Too often are comics looked down upon as lesser forms of art by other artistic organizations, and seeing this happen is pretty darned awesome.
Find out more here.
‘Chew’ is gnawing at it’s halfway point!
In some news that surprised me, apparently Chew was planned to be around 60 issues. Some may call me out on this, but what they don’t know is I’ve actually met John Layman, and asked him how long he planned for it to go. Back when Chew #2 was coming out, and Layman wasn’t the huge name he is today, there was a pretty big buzz around Chew and my LCS managed to get him to show for a signing. I showed up because I was there to game that night anyway, and bought the comic on a whim after hearing its premise. I decided I might as well meet the guy and have him sign my book, figuring it might be worth something later. Little did I know just how big he, or Chew would grow to be, because If I had known, I would have asked him some better questions. I asked him how he got the idea for such a nutty book, how long he expects it to go on for, and then we talked for a bit about The Walking Dead. He seemed like a really nice, down to earth guy, but I distinctly remember him telling me he didn’t have any idea how long Chew would last, other than he wanted it to be a monthly.
Well time has passed, and it certainly seems like we’re bound to see the beginning of the end for the book, as the book is wrapping up story lines to prepare for its second half. Considering the humorous ingenuity of the book, I predict the ending will pleasantly mirror the beginning. A theme of repetition has been pretty prevalent in the book, as well as it’s delightfully non-linear approach to storytelling. Frankly, I look forward to meeting John Layman again some time in the future, and asking him then if he remembers my LCS, and meeting me. Until then, I’ll keep enjoying Chew, and so should you.
Find out more here.
That’s it for this week’s edition of Comic Rack!
VHS Vault: 9 Great Examples of Terrible Pets
It seems that in the medium of film, animals really do not like us. In reality most animals like us or tolerate us at best. But in the movies they really have a grudge against us. Any part of the animal kingdom can become a killer. The more famous ones you may be aware of are birds (The Birds), pigs (Razorback), spiders (Arachnophobia), sharks (Jaws, Shark Attack 3) and dogs (Cujo). But there is a whole heap of animals out there waiting to kill us.
Continue reading VHS Vault: 9 Great Examples of Terrible Pets
Animated ‘Axe Cop’ Looks Fantastic
Ethan Nicolle and his brother Malachai Nicolle are the creators of one of the most insanely entertaining comic books in the last few years. For the uneducated here is a very brief recap. Axe Cop is a cop who has an axe. He fights crime with a surreal group of crime fighters.
Boardwalk Empire: 3.10 – “A Man, A Plan…”
Last week had Nucky trying to rally the other bootleg bosses to his cause, but they all said thanks but no thanks and this week we get to see the beginning of the fallout from that. Thankfully there was no Gillian involved in this one.
I just don’t know where to begin. This was such a roller coaster of an episode that it’s difficult to even find the words to put together in a coherent fashion. Well, I’m one of the “pick the good news first” type of gals so let’s start with Richard Harrow. Oh, Richard, you’ve found yourself a girl and things just couldn’t be peachier!
Seriously this was just about the sweetest thing ever. When he was standing there looking at them playing in the sand my heart melted just a little bit. Yeah, he’s a killer, but killers deserve happiness too right? At least on TV, they do. I am so glad that Julia decided to side with Richard as opposed to staying with her dad. The man is an ass. He’s got some depression issues and still mourning his son, but that doesn’t give him carte blanche to treat his daughter like shit. Kudos to Richard for standing up to him. You can only imagine how many times he’s been called a freak that he just let roll off his back, but Daddy was the last straw and I can’t really blame him.
Julia baring her soul with a story that might seem like no big deal to tell in today’s world but was probably quite scandalous back then. I think her telling Richard that she for sure was choosing him in her life. It comes as no surprise that his response is “I wish I could kiss you.” Oh Richard, you always know the right thing to say to a gal.
I am curious as to what the King Neptune thing was they were doing when the whiskey started rolling in. Was it the same festival that The Commodore first saw Gillian? Inquiring minds want to know.
I also want to know if Eli knew Nelson Van Alden at all. Can you imagine the look on his face when he shows up in Chicago (I have a feeling that Nucky had a sixth sense that shit was going to get bad with Masseria which is why he sent Eli to Chicago) and finds Nelson there helping Capone? When they first had Van Alden move to Chicago I will admit that I could not think of a reason as to why on Earth they would do that. Now, of course, it’s obvious, he is (hopefully) going to be quite a player in the O’Bannion and 
Capone/Torrio war that is going to be coming to a head here soon.
I can not believe that the restaurant guy reported Van Alden to Capone. After he brought him lefse even. How rude. When they first came in I totally thought he’d called the prohie’s in. I’m sure that Van Alden would maybe prefer the prohie’s after it’s all said and done. I probably shouldn’t have, but I laughed when he started talking about Job. That is such a Van Alden move. Of course, I also laughed at the above picture because his face looks exactly like Mr. Demartino from Daria. A quick perusal of the internet shows me that I’m not the only one. I love the internet.
I’m sort of surprised that Nucky didn’t take Chalky up on his offer for the new club. I mean, I’m not, because that doesn’t seem like something Nucky would get in on and I don’t think he’s ready to have that site be rebuilt, but I thought if he was going to accept anyone’s idea for Babbette’s, it would be Chalky’s. We’ll have to see.
I don’t know why I continue to be surprised by Gyp and his gross overreactions. The moment Franco opened his mouth about the rogue waves, his time was limited. Sinbad (this Sinbad, not this Sinbad) was new so he didn’t know any better about keeping your trap shut. However, even he couldn’t have seen how his life would end. It was bad enough that Gyp buried him in the sand, intending for him to drown in the incoming tide, but to then go ahead and bash his head in with a shovel as a “favor” to Tonino? Seriously, why am I surprised by this? It seems like Gyp is in a one-upping contest with himself. This will not end well for anyone involved.
Such is the nature of hysterics. -Gaston Means
In case you were wondering, Jess Smith of history also killed himself. Granted it probably wasn’t due to Gaston Means standing in his room ready to kill him, but it is widely believed that he committed suicide because he couldn’t deal with all he knew about Daughtery’s dirty dealings. Forget all that because I need to just marvel at Gaston Means. He’s never killed a man himself but he believes that he can do it so strongly that he gets Daugherty and Nucky to each pay him $40K to kill Jess. That’s a lot of money for one person. That Means is a shrewd businessman.
While Means is a good businessman, Rothstein is the best. Even though Lucky thinks Rothstein won’t get into the heroin business because he’s bored, I think it’s because he knows that he is in a good place right now and that perhaps with all the unrest between New Jersey and Tabor Heights, maybe he should lay low? He even tells them, in metaphor form, that he needs to play the situation in a way to put his enemies in a place they can’t escape. So, of course, that means that Lucky and Meyer head over to the South Village to partner up with Masseria. Seriously, guys, this is michegas, not anything Rothstein was planning on not doing.
So with all that out of the way, Owen.
My mom always has said that if the phone rings after 10 pm, it is bad news. I think we can all now agree if something is delivered at 4 am, it would be better to just go ahead and refuse delivery.
Even though I knew Owen’s days were numbered, I was 100% positive it was going to be at Nucky’s hand. Surely he knew what was going on between Owen and Margaret right? RIGHT? Given his reaction to Margaret’s reaction, I’m not so sure he did. Speaking of Margaret, this was so not her episode. Her vagina class is canceled (although she had to feel some sort of victory when the nun agreed that the class was helpful), she’s going to St. Louis but Owen isn’t following until at least a month if not six weeks, then Owen is dead, and she’s pregnant with his baby. I have this strange feeling that Margaret is going to be spending a lot of time in dark rooms for the rest of the season. I think the internet would like the darkroom as well because you would not believe the number of people rocking in the corner thanks to this episode. Who am I kidding? If you are a person seeking out and reading Boardwalk Empire reviews/recaps then you probably are in the corner as well.
I don’t watch previews because I like to be surprised (especially with shows like this one) but I almost want to seek out next week’s preview because I want to know the fall out of Owen’s death. Is Margaret going to tell Nucky she’s pregnant? How can she though because surely he will know right away whose baby it is, but I think he’s always wanted to have another child so maybe he’ll just forgive and forget and raise the baby as is own. We’ll just have to see. Only two more episodes left this year!
This episode had it all; Chalky, Nucky not moping around with a floosie, the New York crowd, Capone, Van Alden (who would have thought he’d become a favorite?), and most importantly, no Gillian. It was a wonderfully written episode that drew you in and unlike other episodes that have felt disjointed when so many groups are involved, it flowed quite well. As awful as Owen being dead is, it was perfectly done and as much as I loved the Easter dinner episode, this one was even better. I might have to step out on the limb and give it a five out of five.
It takes a lot to make an episode where a major character dies a favorite, but I think this one did just that. Now if Mickey had been the one who died instead, this episode would be a 17 out of 5. How is he still alive?!?!?!
Until next time Boardwalk fans, here’s some Kleenex to dry your tears and get some Gatorade to replenish your lost fluids. We will get through this together.
Image: HBO
Grizzly Bomb 