Black Panther is getting his own animated series. Why this surprises me I really do not know. After his marriage to Ororo (Storm of the X-men), it seems that Black Panther is crawling out of the woodwork to try and become a serious character on the Marvel roster. Do I agree with this? Not really, but I probably have not given him much in the way of real thought thanks to the way his marriage was handled. Honestly, I see this as another publicity stunt meant to rehabilitate a franchise.
Whatever my personal thoughts on the subject are, Black Panther the Animated Series begins its run on Australian television on Saturday, January 16th. The series starts with T’Challa becoming King and having to find the murderer of his Father. It’s a mini-series team up between Marvel Animations and BET Networks.
Check out more information on the series at Marvel.com. You can even see previews of the artwork.
Showing posts with label cartoons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cartoons. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Looking at G.I. Joe the Movie all over again.
After going to see G.I. Joe (2009), I had to go back and find the old G.I. Joe the Movie from the 1980’s. I remember watching this over and over again as a child. It was one of the many cartoon movies that came out during that time which had my attention, including My Little Pony and Jem and the Holograms.
I remember wanting to be member of the G.I. Joe team. This was perhaps a little odd for a girl who owned a Barbie, however, I have two brothers and we had a crate of G.I. Joes and little green army men between the three of us. I played war just as well as they did.
Going back and rewatching the movie, I look at how far things have come. Only a billion dollars to create a machine to pull energy out of the air? Biochemical warfare to turn humans into mindless beasts? The pulling energy out of the air part might not be a possibility, but the billion dollars for research and development isn’t unexpected anymore. Biochemical warfare is the next thing that we as Americans are terrified of becoming a real possibility.
Either way, so much fun to go back and watch it again, a little piece of my childhood all over again.
Just the opening for the nostalgia.
I remember wanting to be member of the G.I. Joe team. This was perhaps a little odd for a girl who owned a Barbie, however, I have two brothers and we had a crate of G.I. Joes and little green army men between the three of us. I played war just as well as they did.
Going back and rewatching the movie, I look at how far things have come. Only a billion dollars to create a machine to pull energy out of the air? Biochemical warfare to turn humans into mindless beasts? The pulling energy out of the air part might not be a possibility, but the billion dollars for research and development isn’t unexpected anymore. Biochemical warfare is the next thing that we as Americans are terrified of becoming a real possibility.
Either way, so much fun to go back and watch it again, a little piece of my childhood all over again.
Just the opening for the nostalgia.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Is G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra a touch of nostalgia
A touch of nostalgia? Not quite. Looking at the plot, characters, and action sequences, the movie does hit a lot of high notes. Unfortunately, it does not manage to hit them all. The overall plot was quite old school G.I. Joe. It is still the good guys versus the bad guys with the entire world on the line. The Joes and Cobra still have the best high tech toys, shown best through Duke and his original crew taking on the Cobra attack squad. One major high note, they managed to work in the old laser noise the show was known for. For that, high marks.
However, my single biggest problem with the movie was the character of Baroness (Sienna Miller). It was already shown in the previews she was not going to have her trademark accent. Every word coming out of her mouth does not sound like it should be followed by ‘Hiel, Hitler’. That was a bit disappointing. Not the most disappointing thing about her character though. Her real name is Ana Lewis, she used to be a blonde, and was once Duke’s fiancée (Channing Tatum plays Duke). It was enough to set off a random bout of blinking followed by a spontaneous what! Adding to that the revelation that her supposedly dead brother Rex (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)is Cobra Commander and she is being controlled by nanotechnology and I just had a hard time wrapping my head around it all.
The character of Destro (Christopher Eccleston) is given some historical context, though the why is a little iffy. As important as the character is to push the plot forward, the opening vignette showing his background seemed tacked on. The movie could have run just as well without it and no one would have missed a thing.
Cobra Commander is actually a man named Rex Lewis, Baroness’s brother, disfigured by a fire, who worked under Dr. Mindbender (Kevin J. O'Connor). Considering Rex is wearing a monocle, I thought he was Dr. Mindbender. After all, he was doing Mindbender’s job of creating new technology for Cobra.
Then there is Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), who actually seems to be less crazy now that he is no longer wearing the raccoon make-up and running with a biker gang. He manages to play a pretty pivotal role in the story despite barely being involved in anything at all directly.
Characterization seems to have been something of a problem. The Joes were well done. The Cobra operatives needed serious work. While the changes and additions might have been interesting or necessary, they were also rather distracting.
Now what to say about the action sequences, they were beautiful, well-done, and gripping. My favorite, oddly enough, is Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) versus Snake Eyes (Ray Park) as children. While not as CGI dependent as some of the other scenes, I still find it the most entertaining because Snake Eyes spits food in Storm Shadow’s face. Not exactly an expected tactic, but amusing just the same. The longest sequence is Duke and Ripcord running through Paris with the accelerator suits. This sequence has some amazing acrobatics in it. My favorite is the landing from going over and through the train. Both Duke and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) end up flattened on top of a car and have a short discussion about the suit and its manual. A bit of levity to pull back from the tenseness of the situation.
Overall, I would not recommend seeing G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra for the similarity to the old cartoon show. I would recommend it as a decent action movie.
Follow up from HERE
However, my single biggest problem with the movie was the character of Baroness (Sienna Miller). It was already shown in the previews she was not going to have her trademark accent. Every word coming out of her mouth does not sound like it should be followed by ‘Hiel, Hitler’. That was a bit disappointing. Not the most disappointing thing about her character though. Her real name is Ana Lewis, she used to be a blonde, and was once Duke’s fiancée (Channing Tatum plays Duke). It was enough to set off a random bout of blinking followed by a spontaneous what! Adding to that the revelation that her supposedly dead brother Rex (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)is Cobra Commander and she is being controlled by nanotechnology and I just had a hard time wrapping my head around it all.
The character of Destro (Christopher Eccleston) is given some historical context, though the why is a little iffy. As important as the character is to push the plot forward, the opening vignette showing his background seemed tacked on. The movie could have run just as well without it and no one would have missed a thing.
Cobra Commander is actually a man named Rex Lewis, Baroness’s brother, disfigured by a fire, who worked under Dr. Mindbender (Kevin J. O'Connor). Considering Rex is wearing a monocle, I thought he was Dr. Mindbender. After all, he was doing Mindbender’s job of creating new technology for Cobra.
Then there is Zartan (Arnold Vosloo), who actually seems to be less crazy now that he is no longer wearing the raccoon make-up and running with a biker gang. He manages to play a pretty pivotal role in the story despite barely being involved in anything at all directly.
Characterization seems to have been something of a problem. The Joes were well done. The Cobra operatives needed serious work. While the changes and additions might have been interesting or necessary, they were also rather distracting.
Now what to say about the action sequences, they were beautiful, well-done, and gripping. My favorite, oddly enough, is Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) versus Snake Eyes (Ray Park) as children. While not as CGI dependent as some of the other scenes, I still find it the most entertaining because Snake Eyes spits food in Storm Shadow’s face. Not exactly an expected tactic, but amusing just the same. The longest sequence is Duke and Ripcord running through Paris with the accelerator suits. This sequence has some amazing acrobatics in it. My favorite is the landing from going over and through the train. Both Duke and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) end up flattened on top of a car and have a short discussion about the suit and its manual. A bit of levity to pull back from the tenseness of the situation.
Overall, I would not recommend seeing G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra for the similarity to the old cartoon show. I would recommend it as a decent action movie.
Follow up from HERE
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Coming of G.I. Joe
So G.I. Joe joins the ranks of cartoons turned into feature films. I know I am of the generation that grew up with Snake Eyes, Duke, Scarlet, and all the other characters of the G.I. Joe: Real American Hero 80’s cartoon show. I was actually in Europe as a child in the 80’s and 90’s so I remember my grandmother having to tape the show on Saturday morning and then mail them to us in Germany on VHS. (Yes, VHS, remember those bulky things?) So despite the distance, I still got a chance to watch all the great missions the G.I. Joes went on. (I learned the word Patagonia and used it every chance I got for a week. It was great.)
However, just like with Transformers (which now have two movies) I am slightly apprehensive about this cartoon being brought to the big screen. There are so many possible chances for things to be done absolutely wrong. The overall plot should have been easy enough to pick out in our current era of militarism and black ops movies, but the characterization is what made the show for the children. We all had someone we wanted to be. Rather it was getting to be General Hawk, the man in charge, or Snake Eyes, the silent ninja, those characters were what made the show. There is a great chance for this to be done well or this could be the next biggest travesty besides adding neon to Batman.
It comes out on Friday(8/7) expect an after-action report. Check for times HERE.
However, just like with Transformers (which now have two movies) I am slightly apprehensive about this cartoon being brought to the big screen. There are so many possible chances for things to be done absolutely wrong. The overall plot should have been easy enough to pick out in our current era of militarism and black ops movies, but the characterization is what made the show for the children. We all had someone we wanted to be. Rather it was getting to be General Hawk, the man in charge, or Snake Eyes, the silent ninja, those characters were what made the show. There is a great chance for this to be done well or this could be the next biggest travesty besides adding neon to Batman.
It comes out on Friday(8/7) expect an after-action report. Check for times HERE.
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