Ultimately Off-Topic VII: The Miles Frontier

[Plawsky]

Ah, yet another well thought out, mature response. I love our little debates.

[Drz]

So i finally saw Looper. What was the point of that movie?

Marvel Now - Sales sucking as suspected? Shock & Awe, am i right guys?

[Plawsky]

So i finally saw Looper. What was the point of that movie?

Being awesome.

Marvel Now - Sales sucking as suspected? Shock & Awe, am i right guys?

Biased, speculative reporting based on a small number of retailers when only one new ongoing has been announced... does that qualify as journalism?

I'm not saying Marvel Now is going to blow things up, but this is ridiculous. And as for the extra copies of Uncanny Avengers, both shops by me had dozens of copies of JL #1 left over, too.

[Drz]

Being awesome.

Blergh. Plot holed time travel story that's moral is to give someone a happy childhood now means awesome?

Also i always like how you have to bring in DC comics when i mention Marvel sucking up in sales. How much do you think it cost DC to print extra issues of Justice League, compared to how much Marvel was spamming? ;) It's not biased, speculative report, you just wanna be hating.

[Plawsky]

Blergh. Plot holed time travel story that's moral is to give someone a happy childhood now means awesome?

Also i always like how you have to bring in DC comics when i mention Marvel sucking up in sales. How much do you think it cost DC to print extra issues of Justice League, compared to how much Marvel was spamming? ;) It's not biased, speculative report, you just wanna be hating.

I brought up DC because Marvel Now is a direct comparison to New 52, and the article compared Now as a disappointment compared to the New 52. If this report came out next month, that would be one thing. But Marvel Now hasn't even really happened yet, but this guy is reporting that it's a failure - that's bias.

[RockyBanks]

So i finally saw Looper. What was the point of that movie?

Being awesome.

Man, I was hoping to see Looper this past weekend, but it'd already left my theater. Now I have to wait until it hits the Redbox.

It seems to me that movies are leaving theaters faster these days. Dredd disappeared after only two weeks, and Looper was gone within a month. Cloud Atlas released last weekend, and is already down to just 2 showings a day at my theater.

[Samorai_black]

Man, I was hoping to see Looper this past weekend, but it'd already left my theater. Now I have to wait until it hits the Redbox.

It seems to me that movies are leaving theaters faster these days. Dredd disappeared after only two weeks, and Looper was gone within a month. Cloud Atlas released last weekend, and is already down to just 2 showings a day at my theater.

I didnt see a lot of movies in the theater this year I think 7 or 8 in total but I would have liked have seen more myself. I did see "Man with the Iron Fists" today and it was amazing I would say it is my favourite movie of 2012.

Also awesome Digital Wednesday: All request addition. I read Northlanders #1 and I will be getting the first trade and I downloaded Unwritten($.99) but I have yet to read it.

So i finally saw Looper. What was the point of that movie?

Something people go see to be entertained, but mostly to be an awesome movie as stated before.

[RockyBanks]

I didnt see a lot of movies in the theater this year I think 7 or 8 in total but I would have liked have seen more myself. I did see "Man with the Iron Fists" today and it was amazing I would say it is my favourite movie of 2012.

Man, the wife and I used to see a movie almost every weekend. Then we had kids. Now my living room is my theater.

The trailer for that movie has the guys at work buzzing. Looks like fun.

Also awesome Digital Wednesday: All request addition. I read Northlanders #1 and I will be getting the first trade and I downloaded Unwritten($.99) but I have yet to read it.

Thank you, thank you. Not sure when my next one will be, given that I barely have two pennies to rub together.

[MarvelMaster616]

Huh... I hadn't seen that yet.

Does Bendis really need TWO X-Men books? He was already head of the Avengers for 7 years, and had at least two books (sometimes three or more) since the launch of Mighty. I think it would make a lot more sense for someone else to lead a franchise. He should just write All-New and let someone else be the guiding force of the X-Men. Besides, his Avengers was a lot better before he was writing several books at a time. Especially by the time Assemble came around and he was just phoning it in.

Or, if he's going to be the franchise leader, give him some cowriters. For big stories, his ideas are a lot better than his execution. He does a lot better at smaller scale stuff.

I think it makes good sense logistically. Based on what Bendis has said about the post-AvX comics, there will be a lot of moving parts. The Jean Grey Institute will have a lot going on with the O5 coming back. The O5 themselves will be going through their share of upheavals. And Cyclops is busting out of jail with what's left of the Extinction Team. That's a lot to try and squeeze into one book. I think it makes perfect sense to have another Uncanny title for Bendis so that he can cover what goes on with the Extinction Team and what goes on in All New X-men. Even thought it makes sense, however, it may not be as awesome as it needs to be. Bendis's Avengers run was mixed for the most part. I have high hopes for All New X-men, but I'm not going to get overly excited given his history with 616.

[Plawsky]

I think it makes good sense logistically. Based on what Bendis has said about the post-AvX comics, there will be a lot of moving parts. The Jean Grey Institute will have a lot going on with the O5 coming back. The O5 themselves will be going through their share of upheavals. And Cyclops is busting out of jail with what's left of the Extinction Team. That's a lot to try and squeeze into one book. I think it makes perfect sense to have another Uncanny title for Bendis so that he can cover what goes on with the Extinction Team and what goes on in All New X-men. Even thought it makes sense, however, it may not be as awesome as it needs to be. Bendis's Avengers run was mixed for the most part. I have high hopes for All New X-men, but I'm not going to get overly excited given his history with 616.

I'm perfectly fine with there being an Uncanny book. I just don't see why someone else can't be writing it. Now, he not only has the main X-Men book with All-New, he's got both of the top 2 books with Uncanny. It's his Avengers run all over again; give someone else the chance to run a franchise.

[Robbie_Jee]

So i finally saw Looper. What was the point of that movie?

Robbie Jee's Spoiler-Free Review of Looper.

What was the point? I'm sure there's no need to go into the business side of film making, yet again. So I'll just say this. It's a story about time-traveling assassins starring Bruce Willis. 'That's some totally awesome shit, dude!' What else is needed to justify films like these? A big budget? So in goes a few nicely directed camera angles, a big budget and a dumb script with really, really annoying dialogue and the usual cheesy one-liners and there you have it; another half-thought story made to continually hype up the American film industry and their awesome production teams. I blame advertising. It should be obvious to most that this was just going to be another spectacle. People don't generally go to see films like that for the story, ya' know? It's about beautiful classical music being played over an explosion, or cocky one-liners used to kickstart action sequences. As long as the American producers continue with these 'tricks of the trade', audiences will continue to be engrossed, regardless of the script or any lack of what I would consider important plot details.

Surprisingly, the actors did a pretty decent job with the scripts they were reading from, which I'm sure was no easy task. Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to be an extremely promising actor. Ever since I watched 500 Days of Summer (one of America's BEST films that was criminally under-hyped and under-praised) I knew Levitt was going to go on to be sensational. He does well to portray a younger version of Willis' character, but when the two actors are in scene together, any similarities fall flat on their face, seemingly thanks to a lack of effort from Willis. He just doesn't seem to care about the roles he plays anymore, and is nowadays a very unimaginative actor who fails to add diverse acting portrayals to his recent characters. However, this doesn't seem to be entirely his fault. If Willis and Levitt were given a better script, they'd have probably done a lot better in their character interactions. The second half of the film did contain some nice character development, it's just a shame there wasn't more of it. The second half of the film develops well at first with it's character portrayals but then starts to feel like it's trying to cram the rest in, making some of the scenes feel rather disjointed. What I hate most of all, is this purposeful distortion, seemingly made to make the film somewhat confusing, and therefore more seemingly complex, despite the rushed nature of it. It's like a new modern technique of American film making; Lack of details creating a sense of complexity. God, I hate that. Remember, just because an idea is complex, doesn't make it clever. Just look at Inception as an example of this.. that was a really awful film..

Last but not least, it's defining flaw: It's so blatantly obvious that it really baffles me how no one has mentioned this yet. Looper tries to convince it's audience of originality, WHILST it descends into cleche. Suddenly, a whole host of annoying Hollywood plot details, flourish the book in an attempt to make the film more excitable. And it's attempts are so cleche, it was enough to make me go bright red in embarrassment. They were everywhere, ruining each scene one after the other. The hero wincing as the heroine dresses his wounds, a car engine that won't start at the crucial moment, and the supposedly expert assassin with perfect aim, suddenly missing every shot. I'm sorry but that's what's known as really, really bad film making. And they show up as bright as the sun! The film is mostly just an adrenaline-fuelled chase sequence of cat and mouse. That may be enough for a some audiences, but it simply ain't enough for me. Unfortunately, despite all it's efforts to be original, Looper is just another dumb film from the US. Over-hyped action-packed nonsense, primarily made for American audiences.

[wyokid]

I'm perfectly fine with there being an Uncanny book. I just don't see why someone else can't be writing it. Now, he not only has the main X-Men book with All-New, he's got both of the top 2 books with Uncanny. It's his Avengers run all over again; give someone else the chance to run a franchise.

They have, for fifty years. Now it's time for Bendis to take over.

[Plawsky]

They have, for fifty years. Now it's time for Bendis to take over.

Right, because Bendis hasn't gotten to lead a major franchise before.

And really, no one since Claremont has really been the major driver of the X-Books. There's no need to have Bendis on two major X-Books.

[wyokid]

Right, because Bendis hasn't gotten to lead a major franchise before.

Only The Avengers wasn't a major franchise when Bendis came on. He brought it into that spotlight. Now Marvel is giving him a franchise that is already big, one that he earned from his work on The Avengers.

[Robbie_Jee]

They have, for fifty years. Now it's time for Bendis to take over.

I agree. Other than UXM, I've never known Bendis to write an X-book. But I might be wrong about that because I don't really follow 616.

X-Men and Avengers, to me at least, are two very different franchises, and considering Bendis' style of writing and dialogue, I imagine he could be a much better fit for writing an X-Men cast, than he was for the Avengers. In fact, this seems to the type of book that Bendis may be able to truly flourish in.

As for why Marvel put him on X-Men: His long run on Avengers has always sold really well. And there's every reason to suggest he'll continue to do well with the X-Men. Marvel is a business, first and foremost. If a book sells a decent number of copies, Marvel are happy. If the fans don't like the book, it will drop in sales and Marvel will have to find an alternative. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Bendis sold a good amount of copies during his run on Avengers and considering his style of writing, there's a good chance he may be able to succeed beyond that success with the X-Men. I think it's pretty obvious why Bendis got the X-Men franchise. And it's not like he'll be writing all of it. Other writers will be writing other X-books within 616 too.