Today, we'll talk about....What ? What do you mean "It's been a heck of a long time for you didn't post anything at all ?" Well, you know, I've been so busy...and stuff...and there was this time...and....OK ! Fine...I forgot a little about the blog for a while. But I'm on holiday ! So you know....
Ok, I've got no excuses.
Except that now, it's season 2 ! Yeah; The previous posts were like the first season of my blog, and now, it's the second ! And this is not something I just made up.
Ok ! So, season 2 of the blog.
And today, we'll talk about a tv show entitled The IT Crowd.
Let me tell right now, it's an awesome tv show. But you're wondering: what does it talk about ?
Well, it's about Jen, and the two men at each of her side, Moss and Roy.
Jen doesn't know a damn thing about computers. She thinks she is going to work in some building, have an office in one of the highest floor (with a nice view) and may be have some crazy time with her co-workers....It seems as it's going to be what she thinks, even her crazy ass boss states in the first episode: "That's the sort of place this is Jen....A lof of sexy people not doing much work....and having affairs !"
Except that Jen, desesperatly wanting to have a job lied a little in her resume, and said she knew about computers and stuff. She does not. And because her boss lacks IT people, she is gonna join them. 2 men. Offices in the basement. Don't ever lie about your resume. Ever.
What to say about Moss and Roy ? Well, they are geeks. Now, before you say anything, I know this term is now widely spread and that anybody who just discovered Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer tells his friend "Oh man, in fact, IE, it's so crap. You should totally use firefox.. It's like way better! I discovered it on some unknown forum where I'm not gonna go again. I'm so geek!"
But here, we have, if we could say, the first geeks. The one that were there before the fashion "geek" settled itself in our minds.
So, you can imagine that this woman, who doesn't know a gorram thing about computers, and who is going to be Head of the IT department, is going to be in a very bad position.
This TV show is one of the funniest I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of them. It's almost as good as "Friends" (I'm a big fan of Friends, so it can't be as good as, but still).
The characters are all great, all very british. Even the second characters, and those you see in 2/3 episodes in the entire serie (4 seasons, with 6 episodes each time. English format) are very well done.
Here are a few examples of the secundary characters you'll meet in the tv show:
This man is the boss of the corparation they are all working in. He is crazy. One of my favourite.
This is his son. He has a problem with women. You'll see...
My favourite. Oh Richmond...
You got the message. Each of The It Crowd's characters are very well constructed, batshit crazy (or at least, half of them), which leads to some very funny lines, and sketches.
But this show presents also a very nice humor with some reflection on society sometimes
I remember for example the episode on "piracy" and with the german cannibal. Or with the emergency number....
So, now that you've seen a few scenes of this awesome tv show, I really advise you to take the leap and see it. You can watch it with friends too, you'll have a good time.
This man came here to drink milk and have a good time. And I think he just finished his milk. What about you ?
Quick post to tell you that this blog still lives and rocks.
Right now, I have unfortunately no time left to write a complete article or a review that would blow your mind. (I have high hopes). BUT ! Leaving this blog to rot would be unfair and quite a pity (I think).
So, now, I'm only going to promote some songs.
3 songs actually.
The first one comes from the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It is a cover made by a talented new artist with the pseudonym of Malukah.
Let's be honest, she did a great job out of it. Personnly, I prefer this one considering I played on the stormcloacks side, but all her songs are very well done. Here's a link to her blog where you can listen and download for free her covers. Go make a quick stop, I think it's worth your time.
http://www.malukah.com/free/
Also, her youtube channel is this one:
http://www.youtube.com/user/malufenix
For the second one, it's a little bit funny. You see, among the songs Malukah made, she covered "The Dragonborn comes". Then, another artist (Wolfgang) decided to add his voice to her part, making in the end a nice duet. Which is the following video:
But then, I stumbled unto another song in youtube. It looked like this action went into a crescendo and again, another person (a russian girl) decided to add also her part to the previous duet!
So, the final song can be listened below;
I think that it doesn't change much in the voices. (But I'm also quite tired, so, may be I'm wrong)
What I appreciate though here, it's the piano Arysta added. With the guitar, it gives a really nice feeling!
And now, the last song, (wich is also a cover), is entitled Clint Eastwood, and is originally from Gorillaz (first video below).
But this week end, a friend of mine made me listen to this cover that two french guys, named
Naosol and Waxx, did, and it gives again a very nice result !! Quite country/folky style that quite suits the song I think.
So, I really advise you to listen, and well, enjoy the music !
First, sorry for the long absence, but I had some exams I needed to prepare so.....I put my blog to sleep the past days. But I'm back ! And this time, with a rocky movie !
Wait...I think my previous sentence could be misunderstood. Not a movie from the vary famous Stallone's saga, but a movie with a rock band in it. Even though it's not really the main subject.
I'm talking about Scott Pilgrim vs the world !
Now, this movie was based on the comic book "Scott Pilgrim". It tells the story of a young kid, Scott, who plays in band as a bassist and he likes to avoid problems. He is dating a girl, but suddenly, he meets THE girl. But, in order to date her, he has to defeat her 7 evil exes.
Ok, I'm aware of the fact that my previous sentence may seem a little weird. So, to describe this movie, I'm going to make an image.
Take a videogame, fighting type (Street Fighter), transform it into a movie, insert a plot, add a lot of comedy and some really good actors, all that served with a really good director, and then you'll have Scott Pilgrim.
I'm not kidding about the videogame/geeky part. Here is an exemple:
Do not worry though. Like the movie Paul, you don't need to be a geek, or a person who likes video games, to like this movie. As I said in the recipe, it's full of humour, and some really good actors that are very well in character.
In the end, it's another great comedy. Little romance in it, but it's not the purpose of the movie.
What's the purpose you say ? Well...like in any other comedy. To have a laugh and a good time. And this movie does the trick.
Today, this post will deal about the movie: Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Although this title would make you think I'm going to talk about a
horror movie (it's almost the case), this motion picture is in fact a
parody of the slasher types of movies.
It talks about two really nice guys, Tucker and Dale played by Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine (very good in their role) who bought a small vacation house in a forest.
But ! (Of course, there is a "but") But on the road, they meet some very dumb college kids that establish themselves near the house. After a little quid pro quo, the kids think Tucker and Dale are two serial killers that abducted one of their friend. And then, the massacre will begin.
Don't get me wrong there, there is some blood in the movie. Definitely. Because first, it's a parody of a genre that establish itself on the horror one. But......it's so hilarious...I mean, I'm not a terrible person, nor a potential serial-killer on the loose, but the kids are really idiots, and the accidents are so well placed, you can't but at least facepalm each time one of the kids die. Because in the end, there will be a bloody massacre.
So the question here is, what seperates this parody of the other ones ? Why am I talking about this one and not a more famous one ?
Well, because this one is recent and very well done. The change of point of view makes us aware of how one side see the other, of how the situation and the different prejudices are built, and how the two sides will destroy themselves until one of them will be left.
Secondly, the terms and lines employed in the movie just push us to laugh. I have to admit I had a really a hard time not laughing when the characters would talk using the word "hillibilly" or some lines will stay in my head. "I should have known that if a guy liked me talked to a girl like you, people would die".....In the end the script really push he different actors, and it rewards them: they are all very good in their role.
So, if you're on a friend night and you want to have a laugh and see a movie, go for this one !
If you're on your own, but still want to have a nice night, go for this one !
If you're with your girlfriend who loves Twilight and think that Edward is a true vampire, make the decent choice. Leave her, and go see that movie to find some confort.
If she is really hot, don't do what I said in the previous sentence and go see Twilight (try to stay awake though, or you'll miss all the fun. And I'm not talking about the movie). And in a few years, when she'll have grown a little, watch this movie.
If she still loves Twilight then though, leave her. Being hot has its limits.
Today, I'll talk about the movie The Avengers that I saw yesterday at the theater. (Yeah, I know, you might not care about my personnal life, but I needed a sentence to introduce this post and well....As good as any I suppose....)
Well, where to begin ? Maybe by a simple statement. This movie is very good. Joss Whedon did a great job as a director.
But let's begin with the beginning, shall we ?
When we left Thor, Loki had lost the battle, but the post-credit
scene showed that he was still looking for the Tessaract. Well, boys,
the film begins on a problem, Loki got some help, and got his hand on
the Tessaract. After that, well.....No spoiler, so I'll just say there will be a ton of action, humour, fun, and a few sad moments.
I'm really happy about that movie for several reasons. The first one being that every hero has his moment. There is not one that is denied, or a little forgotten. That was not an easy thing to do, and Mr Whedon managed that very well.
Secondly, they are not all happy to be together and all in the spirit "Hey bro ! I really like you, let's go kill some people and save the world for the theater industry and to make money. Plus that villain brought all the troubles, he is so mean"
No, the U.S goverment are criticized, the heroes don't trust each other, it's not all joyful and people will die. It brings a very different dimension than one you could have in a basic superhero movie.
But, it's not all sad. There is a lot of comic elements in the movie, very well dispersed, whether in the lines of the characters, or in the scene and the actions. Or some moment where your eyes are suddnely wide opened because one character just did something so awesome and powerful you are "ohmygadlololol what did they unleash ?" That happens especially with Hulk.
To be honest, this hero was the one I was very much worried about. After several adaptations, including one that was terrible, and the change of actor, I feared for our big green friend.
Well, do not. In this movie, he is awesome.
Every time the Hulk appears, it's a moment of pleasure.
I won't hide you that sometimes, but it's very rare, there are a few "wtf" moments. I think of two of them right now especially even though I will not disclause them. My article is spoil-free. There are some nice suprises too. Stan Lee making his cameo as ever, Cobie Smulders getting a little out of her role as Robin Sherbatsky and making a very good impression in Maria Hill, etc...
To put it in a nutshell, go see that movie. The 3D is quite good. And the film is great. For the first time, we have several iconic super-heroes on screen and in one movie, and it was extremely well done. That would be too bad to miss, wouldn't it ?
So, go assemble in your theater ! Oh, and by the way....Just stay 2 minutes after the credits. There is, of course a mid-credit scene where you learn the next villain, for the next avengers movie ? Let's hope !!
Today, we are going to discuss about the movie Paul.
Well, Paul, it's this guy. Well, yeah, hard to talk about a guy, but he is so close to the average human that we can refer him as a dude.
So, the story starts with those two guy just above, played by Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, who decides to make a journey through the USA and to visit the different locations related to science fiction, for exemple 'comic-con", or the Area 51. But at some point on a dark night, they gonna accidently meet Paul, who is an Alien that crashed on earth 60 years ago, and who is trying to escape the US goverment in order to go back to his home.
Of course, there will be tons of different events and a lot of action.
What's nice for one time is that this alien is just like us. He smokes, drinks, swears, laughs, etc..He is not creepy and quite funny.
What's nice also in this movie is the tons of different easter egg related to science fiction and "geek culture" the director put. For example, in a bar the characters will be, you can hear the music there is in the cantina in the 4th Star Wars movie.
Moreover, the people playing this movie are really good and it leads to some extremely funny scene, which means that, even if you are not a geek, t won't really matter if you miss the easter eggs.
So, if you want to have a laugh, or just have some fun, go see Paul. It is a very good comedy.
To day, I'll be talking about....a blog. Yeah. But this "blog" is quite peculiar.
It tells the story of a young nice man, quite shy and who wants to be evil. He needs to be evil because he thinks he can be respected/love only then...I have to warn you, it's quite a sad story in the end.
But it's well done, well sung (yeah, they sing) and with some good actors in it.
Yeah, you're starting to wonder, what the hell is he talking about ? Well, the "blog" I'm mentioning in this post is actually a webtvshow entitled "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog", starring Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day and Nathan Fillion.
This web tv show is short. 3 acts, each one during 15 minutes. It was made during the crisis with the Writers Guild of America by Joss Whedon to show the corporate people that with some small means and with internet, it was very easy to bypass the system that was done in the big studios of the different tv companies.
Here's the first act:
Here's the second one:
And here's the third one:
It's very nice to see that with some very cheap mean, Joss Whedon successfully created something that is really worth the time you spend on it. It's a tragedy in 3 acts. And you should really watch it.
Now, enough talk, let's watch the tragic story of Dr Horrible.
PS: For those who want subtitles in french, click on the button "cc" Pour ceux qui veulent des sous-titres en français, cliquez sur le bouton "cc".
Yes, after smaller feedback, I realized that the english language wasn't maybe such a bad idea, so, we're back to english, and no change anymore.
So today, this post will be dedicated to one of the best series that died a few years ago, I'm talking about Firefly.
It was an american science fiction and western tv show that aired from September 20, 2002 to December 20, 2002. Fox canceled it and never gave it a second chance. (They still made a movie, we'll come back to that later). So, then you're wondering, why am I talking about a dead tv show like that ?
Well, first of all, it's not because it's dead that you shouldn't watch it. Friends is dead, but it still my favourite tv show in comedy. And in science fiction section, this one takes first place.
The story talks about a crew (picture below) that try to survive in the world they live in. Two of them, the captain (former sergeant) and his secund in command Zoe, fought together in the war for indepedance, war that they lost. The last place they fought was the valley of Serenity, hence the name of their ship (which is technically called a firefly), a battleground they were supposed to hold, but their own army decided to stop the war and left them to die in the valley.
Anyway, during the new 6 years, the two of them (on the right) decided to buy a ship and hire a crew and they became transporter. And smuggler on the side......And....actually anything they would do to survive. And one day, they decide to take a few people in the boat, just honest transport, but what they don't know is the nature of the different people they are taking. 2 fugitives. From then on, a lot of things will happen to them.
This tv show is a great one. Why ? Because first of all, this is not a tv show where they promote a character and they make him a beautiful hero, ready to do anything to protect, completely honest and all that. No. For example, on the picture below, the guy on the left dreams to become rich, and he'd really like to become the captain, the guy who is on his chair is a goddam pilot, but not a warrior at all, timid, quite the regular guy actually. The captain is ready to do what it takes to save his crew but he can be a thief, he is ready to have some bar brawls whenever you want, doesn't want to talk about religion, completely clumsy, and the woman on the right is quite cold blooded and is not a hero also.
So yeah, they are not heroes, they are not villains, they are jsut people, and that makes them real.
This is what I feel most about this show. All along the episodes, you have people that are very real. Fighting for a cause, making a living. Even though the tv show is set in a science fiction world, with people talking in mandarin, what it's about, it's very real. What happens to people after they went through a war, what are people ready to do to survive in a hostile world, what they would do under a scary goverment.
But it's not always sad. Sometimes, you burst into laughs, sometimes you feel a tear at the corner of one your eyes (that happened to me at the end of the episode "The Message")
I saw this tv show last summer, and when I finished it, I cursed the Fox with some mandirin insults, because, it was a gorramn tv show Joss Whedon made.....
Why did it fail ? Well, FOX didn't truely give its chances to this show. The different episodes were not aired in the proper order, (The pilot was aired as the last episode), and a lot of time, there were some big events such as the superball. So yeah, pretty much a fail. And then, the tv show was cancelled and we heard no more of it. Despite all the people trying to save it, from wikipedia, this quote:
" The original fans first organized to try to save the series from being canceled by Fox Broadcasting Network. Their efforts included raising money for an ad in Variety magazine and a postcard writing campaign to UPN.A number of fan groups and charitable organizations[8] were created by browncoats across the globe. Notable charitable groups include Austin Browncoats,[9] California Browncoats[10] and Southeastern Browncoats."
But it did not end there. Little by little, a lot of people started talking about this show, and it became, and still is, what some people would call a cult tv show. And then fans asked for another season, and they insisted so much that FOX decided to make a movie in order to end things definitely.
The movie was not better than the tv show, (still good though) but people understood that it was over.
And from then on, that serie, Firefly stayed in the mind of the 'flans', (the name they gave themselves after a slip from Nathan Fillion in an interview).
Until last december, Nathan Fillion posted this tweet:
"Hmm.
Hmmmmm.
HMMMMMM.
http://tiny.cc/wnba9"
The link he gave was this article:
http://bernardin.tumblr.com/post/14182869809/could-netflix-bring-firefly-back-from-the-dead
So, flans were teased to the extreme on the sudden question, could firefly come back ?
The question was not answered to my knowledge, but I can tell this thing though.
Nathan Fillion, the main actor, is currently in Castle, and he really likes this tv show, (as do I), and the people working there, so it would be a huge suprise to see him come back for Firefly, which would on the same time end Castle (which is a very good tv show also). So, I personnaly don't think this will happen, but hey, one never knows.
In the end, I really advise you to see Firefly, and the movie Serenity. Both are extremely good, and it won't take you a long time, unfortunately.
Aujourd'hui mon post sera dédié au film qui j'ai l'impression, est assez passé inaperçu: Numéro 9.
Numéro 9 est l'histoire d'une poupée (que vous pouvez voir sur la photo) qui se réveille un jour dans une mansarde. Un vieil homme est mort dans la pièce, et lorsqu'il ouvre la fenêtre, il s’aperçoit que le monde qu'il entoure est complétement dévasté. C'est alors qu'il va faire quelque rencontres qui vont le précipiter dans une aventure assez poétique.
Produit par Tim Burton, ce film porte bien une marque assez noire qui imprègne le film des son début. Une sorte de tristesse continue. Après tout, le film commence sur l’échec et la fin de la race humaine, et même du monde, laissant la Terre dans un champ de ruine ou aucune vie ne pousse.
L'univers du film s'établit dans les guerres mondiales, d'ailleurs, les tranchées, ainsi que les munitions aident a porter cette tristesse dont je parlais.
Le film est bien. Regardez le, car même si complètement fictif, il porte quelque part une vérité.
Car au final, ce qui caractérise les personnages, au delà de leur nature mécanique, c'est leur humanité. Chacun d'eux agissent comme nous nous agirions. Parfois guidées par la jalousie, ou par la peur, par l'envie ou encore le courage, ils sont des reproductions de nous, des symboles vivants de l'humanité qui n'est plus.
Portés chacun par des voix d'acteurs connus (9 est doublé par Elijah Wood), on apprécie d'autant plus la vo qui est de très bonne facture. La bande son aide aussi, et les animations sont très bien faites.
J'étais déjà assez curieux et optimiste vis a vis de ce film avant même de l’avoir vu, je suis convaincu maintenant qu'on peut le qualifier de bon, voir très bon film.
Il est sorti en 2009, et je n'en ai entendu que peu parler. C'est dommage. Des films comme ça, j'aimerais bien en voir plus au cinéma.
Well today, we gonna do a massive change first. Indeed, after talking to a friend of mine, I realized I might have made a bad choice with the language of my post. So, I'm gonna switch now to my native language which is french. IF you are not french and you really think I'm doing a mistake here, please, let me know. Put a commentary, send me a private message. I just want this to work the best way possible.So thanks again. And now, let's turn on to patriotism.
Bonjour, ce post ci va être consacré a un film que j'ai bien aimé, qui est: Thor.
Alors on va être très clair, très rapidement. Ce film a pas mal de défauts. Mais il a pas mal de qualités non plus, et on va parler de tout ça en suivant.
D'abord, les décors. Constat franc, ça a de la gueule. J'ai particulièrement aimé la partie Asgaard dans les étoiles, il y a un certain coté poétique qui s'en dégage, tant mieux. Le Bifrost aussi est plutôt classe même si on perd la par contre une certaine poésie en faveur d'un coté un peu stargate. Mais bon, le gardien Heimdall (Tout a droite sur le bandeau au dessus) a la classe, donc on pardonne vite.
Les passages d'ailleurs dans le pont exploitait plutôt bien la 3D et était très sympa, donc, la , encore un plus.
En fait, tout le film repose sur ce probleme, a long terme, a part l'agent Coulson (ci- contre), on a un peu l'impression que tous les humains ne servent a rien...Nathalie Portman fait juste de la figuration, et joue le rôle d'une scientifique qui découvre sa libido face a un dieu nordique, sa copine est juste la, parce que bon, faut pas déconner, les scientifiques, ils ont des copains.. Et le prof...Non bon, le prof est quand même un peu utile. Il est quand même le plus sensé, puisque c'est le seul qui osera dire a Portman:
"Non mais dis donc ma belle, tu viens de rencontrer un illuminé qui se prend pour le dieu de la foudre et tu veux l'emmener toute seule dans un désert d’Amérique du sud vers un endroit ou il y a un campement militaire ultra-secret ? Ouais ? Comment ça c'est pas parce qu'il a des plaques de chocolat a la place du ventre et qu'il est blond aux yeux bleus? Ah..."
Bref....Donc ouais, les humains, ils servent a rien. Du coté des dieux par contre, c'est autre chose!
D'abord on a un très bon Odin, joué par Sir Anthony Hopkins, toujours excellent dans son rôle. J'ai particulièrement aimé la scène ou il bannit Thor. Je n'ai pas lu le comic, mais je pense qu'il a su trouver un bon milieu entre Odin du comic et celui de la mythologie. Il est aimant, il est meurtri, il aime la paix et la vie. Bref, un bon Odin.
Le fils imbu. La, il me semble que Chris Hemworth a bien touché le personnage du comic. Thor est imbu de lui même au début, et va rapidement (j'y reviendrais) trouver l'humilité dont il avait besoin pour revenir a Asgaard péter la gueule des méchants avec son marteau. Le décalage entre le personnage et son bannissement dans les premières scènes sur la terre font franchement rire (gros plus pour la scène de l’hôpital)
Il a la classe quand même, et on est impressionné lors de la bagarre sous la pluie (moment très bourrin). C'est quand même le dieu viking de la foudre et du tonnerre, et je pense Mr Hemsworth a été a la hauteur du rôle.
Sans discuter, Tom Hiddleston délivre ici une très bonne performance. Loki est définitivement mon personnage préféré dans ce film. Il est comme le Loki de la mythologie, ni bon, ni vraiment mauvais..Tour a tour, il va trahir, aider, re-trahir, etc...
Un big up pour ce rôle la franchement, qui me donne envie de revoir la derniere grosse discussion entre Thor et Loki dans le Bifrost.
Chapeau Mr Hiddleston.
Bon, je ne vais pas tous les faire non plus hein, juste noter deux choses:
Lui, il nous livre un bon Heimdall. L'acteur dégage une certaine prestance. Même si il n'est qu'un rôle secondaire dans le film, il nous montre quand même qu'il n'incarne pas n'importe qui et c'est tant mieux.
Bonjour madame, dans le film, vous ne servez pas a grand chose, et vous n'avez pas une jolie coiffure, mais bon, après avoir vu ce poster.....vous voulez m'épouser ?
Le problème principal de ce film en fait, c'est que malgré une certaine originalité dans le scénario de base (le protagoniste commence méga fort, et est un dieu de base, au contraire de tous les super héros qui reçoivent leur pouvoir au début du film), le film va beaucoup trop vite. Il me semble qu’après re-visionnage,, le film dure 3 jours. Il a donc fallu 3 jours a un dieu pour comprendre le sens de la vie et l'humilité....Ah ouais....Bon faut dire qu'il a pris cher en 3 jours, mais quand même...Et juste 3 heures pour que Portman tombe amoureuse de lui....-_-.......C'est un peu gros quoi..Et c'est dommage ! Parce qu'a part ça, le film aurait pu vraiment nous convaincre. Les personnages, pour la plupart, ont de la gueule, le coté mythologie nordique est bien fait, (et je suis un bon fan de ça aussi), etc...Mais ca va juste trop vite...C'est dommage. Mr Branagh aura presque réussi a nous livrer ici un film d'une qualité supérieure face a la moyenne du genre. Bon, on tombe pas quand même dans des profondeurs semblables au film de Green Lantern, mais quand même..
Mais ce n'est pas entièrement fini. En effet, puisque ce film s'inscrit dans la continuité du projet Avengers, nous avons la très heureuse chance de voir Thor revenir a l'écran le 25 avril au cours du film dédié a cette valeureuse troupe de super-gentils composés de Géant Vert, d'un soldat sous amphét servant de drapeau américain portable, d'une armure volante et de notre valeureux blondinet et de son marteau favori.
Allez, pour finir, voici la bande annonce du film. Rendez vous le 25 avril pour voir si il est bien!
Today, this post will be dedicated to this man there, I named Batman.
(Also known as the Caped crusader, the dark knight, the goddamn Batman, black'n'leather dude, etc etc..)
I've been enjoying a lot of Batman's adventures through my childhood and I think he deserved that I did a post about him. Furthermore, I just finished following a course about comics, so I thought I could do something here.
So, Batman...Well, this character was created by Bob Kane, who was a compulsory liar, so it's quite difficult to know if he plagiarized/stole the work of somebody. He claimed he didn't, we'll believe him for that.
This character, like most of the superheroes, finds its/his sources in the detective genre (Batman is also known to be the best detective, and we can say that the hardboiled detective genre is also a part of the character) that D.C exploited to become what is known now. The main source of inspiration might be the character of Zorro that first appeared in 1919.
At the start, he was a much more darker character than Superman (created also by D.C who appeared the year before in the first Action Comics. You can notice that Superman appears in ACTION comics, while Batman is in Detective Comics.). The character, in his appearance really looked like a Bat (as you can see on the picture below) and didn't mind killing a few people to get the job done.
Later though, D.C decided to smoothe Batman a little, and for that, they included "Robin the Boy Wonder" in Detective Comics 38 (1940). It was also a way to attract young readers (Batman being much more for young adults at the time).....Well, at the time, sticking a 9 year old kid with a man living as a bachelor, it wasn't weird....Not sure it would be done now..
But what about the character ? Well, it's the classic figure of the super hero, and it's why it worked.
The character of the superhero is liked because it embodies power, and protection, but not authority in the institutional sense of the word. The police and the similar kind of authority had been always sticked to this sense of repression, and most of the time, on the people. Here, you had the character of a wealthy man, belonging to the upper-class, but, who cares for the lower classes and fought against the bad guys, on the side of the state, so on his own. So the sense of justice was there, without the sense of repression on the good people. A model that was used for the character of the private dectective and passed on to the superheroes.
Plus, you had a tragical dimension. Indeed, the character of Batman, his creation came because of a tragic incident, the boy lost his parents because of some thug named Joe Chill......
So we can say *puts on sunglasses* that..they got chilled. ("YYYYEEAAAAAHHH"......No ? Damned...Nevermind then)
Anyway, like a lot of superheroes, and a lot of villains, Bruce Wayne (the face behind Batman, even though we can safely say that Batman can have his own face) had his "bad day", and he chose to go the good path and fight evil.
The success of the character mgiht also come from his villains. Any good hero needs the proper villain and Batman was well served. From the Joker, his nemesis, constantly trying to prove him how crazy Batman is, to very dangerous and strong one like Bane or Killer Croc, our black'n'leather dude is constantly fighting impressive ennemies.
In any case, the comic has always been a success, and because of that/thanks to that, it resisted when, after WW2, most of the superheroes were dropped. Indeed, the war being a great fuel for any patriotic feeling (the first page of Captain America was the character hitting Hitler), when the cold war came, most of the heroe didn't follow...But Superman and Batman, and a few others resisted and kept on living.
And then, after a long time, where the character was exploited on a more optimistic way, darkness came again. Batman was hit several times and severely. In his comics, Frank Miller used a darker tone, Batman also lost one of his Robin, and started to be reckless, etc...
And one day, that book appeared.
That book is very important because along with Watchmen, these two were the first best selling graphic novels ever.
(Not the first graphic novels, but the one who sold the much)
The theme of dystopia is used and it's quite dark. It was a major success.
(The last movie of Nolan will be also based on this novel and on several others)
That novel though doesn't belong to the mainstream comic vein but to the current of alternative comics, which is a brand of american comic that incorporated stories that couldn't be published as mainstream stuff because of the violence/sex/blood/other terrible stuff it contained.
I think it definitely suited the dark knight.
But comics were not the only thing that popularized that character of course.
The animated serie helped touch the kids.
(All my childhood....In the schoolyard, I used to get on the highest ground with my black/red (colours didn't perfectly match sadly) coat and pretend I was like him...Damn...Such a long time ago...)
The movies helped a lot too. Even though they are not my favourite, Tim Burton created a very good setting in Batman, and Batman Returns.
We had a little rought period with Joel Schumacher, and we entered the 2000 period.
The years 2000 until now have been very successful and rich for our beloved Dark Knight. Whether it is the movies made by Nolan, and the music that accompanied them (Thanks Hans Zimmer), the black'n'leather hero found itself with extremely successful movies.Not only it was a good superhero movie, but a good action and plot movie as well, which is not that common among the genre...
A serious bump appeared with the second especially
The very good prestation of the late Heath Ledger helped the movie to get the affection it deserved.
But the cinema weren't the only media that helped regained the colours (per say) of the hero. The videogames industry also participated in this effort.
Batman Arkham Asylum was a great success with his dark atmosphere and the gameplay used.
His following game, Arkham City added a bigger map and some delightful characters, for exemple Catwoman, the "femme fatale" of the roman noir. (Even though Poison Ivy can claim that prize too)
In any case, his success these last years was complete. The boost these productions set up was quite enormous, and provoked the people into getting their hands on some of the comics D.C had published. (The Killing Joke, for example)
And it is not done yet. Indeed, the last episode of Nolan's trilogy will come out in July 20, 2012. I don't know how it will be, but I'm sure a lot of people (including me) will go check it out. I sincerely hope the conclusion is as good as the previous movie was.
In conclusion, I think the goddamn Batman has some good days ahead of him. I'm happy for him, he is definitely one of my favourite, very provably, my favorite super hero.
Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna jump from roof to roof with a nail gun and a mask on my head. Don't worry, I won't forget to put on my big black coat, it's raining after all, and the colours on the coat finally match. Yey !
Even though I tought I would dedicate this post to another band, something unexpected happened last night. I went with some friends to the cinema and saw Wrath of the Titans.
(I felt it, and it was funny.)
And actually, we had some fun! Not because the movie is great, he is actually not very good.....But he can be sometimes very funny.
A few summary first: Perseus, after having defeated the Kraken, decided that he prefered to be a fisherman, than to rule with the gods (Not sure a lot of human would miss that opportunity, but well..). But, you see, the gods have made a few mistakes and are getting weaker, and well, for some reason, the Tartarus need to be rebuilt. Ok, it's not that great but well, it could be worse.
Despite all the actions there is , sometimes, even when it's not really needed, the movie carries a lot of problems.
I'll start with the characters. Well, after seeing the entire film, I can assure you that all the secundary characters are not needed.
(This photo is quite relevant, because it depicts the entire movie. Perseus in front, the others behind just looking.)
You see, Andromeda is useless, her guards too (even worse than useless as you might see), I think she is just here because the director thought that he needed a pretty blond girl...and that would be it.
Even the son of poseidon is almost useless. I say almost because at the beginnning, he'll be of some help, but that will be it....I mean, come on ! The guy is the son of poseidon ! Couldn't he command waters and ocean to rise ? No ? No. No big powers, nothing....The last true action that you will see him perform is to jump, slow motion style, on a demon (that is already empaled on a wooden spear) in order to finish him with a knife....The demon is not even relevant, he is basically a soldier...So yeah....That is pretty much sad...
I won't even talk about the fact that a little army of normal soldiers prepared themselves to slow down a titan.....Yeah....A few hundreds man with some spears and shields in order to prevent the course of a titan, who is the father of the gods. So when they established their little plans, we had some laughs with my friends.
Now, about the gods, well....
The problem with them, which is also the problem with the movie, is that they are very....catholic types of gods. Forgiving, loving their sons, etc etc....
I'm sorry, but in the mythology, if you screw with Zeus, he is not gonna be like "oh, man, it's ok, I forgive you" No. He is gonna take the nearest thunderbolt, and smack it unto your face.
And what's more troubling is Ares. He is the god of war, and he is like "Zeus, father, which one of us do you prefer ? Perseus, or me ?"
Well, let me put it simply. Ares, in the mythology, doesn't care about the other sons of Zeus ? Do you know why ? Well, first, because he is the frikkin god of war. So, a mortal, even being demigod, is nothing compared to him. And when you see Ares talking to Perseus and calling him "Brother", that is just ludicrous. Secondly, they are talking about Perseus like he is the only chance of the gods because he is the only son of Zeus....Another problem here....You see, in greece, Zeus had actually fudge so many women that his sons and daughters would probably be able to form a small town at the time....So yeah...
I'll give a small mention/award to Bill Nighy who played his character very well, though he is also quite useless in his last scene, that's unfortunate...Poor Bill...
They are just so many moments in the movie where, because of the actors lines, or what they do, you just burst into laugh (you'd better laugh at it if you don't want to feel as if you had wasted your money). Whether it is Perseus' son, looking at the battlefield that is totally burning and saying "That'd be nice if we could go home" (You don't say...) or Perseus himself that after just went through 4 columns of a temple without one single broken skull, or broken bones...I mean, I understand he is the son of zeus, but still ! He is also half human....And I'm not even going to comment on the moment where Zeus and Hades start to kick asses jedi style as if they were in full shape....Why didn't you do that at the beginning of the movie !..Frikkin jedis...
To illustrate and finish my review, I would like to comment on one decision that was taken during the movie by Perseus, in order to show you what mind you must have if you go see that movie.
At some point, Perseus decides to fight in duel with Ares to decide which one of us is the best.
So, let me sum up this. A demigod, who has been a fisherman almost all his life, decides to launch a duel against the god of war. So meaning, that the guy, when he slaps you, it's cosmic. He probably knows all the different martial art and ways to fight there must be in this world, he can fly (yes, he can), he has massacred thousands of people during all the year when soldiers prayed for him and he didn't give a rat's ass, he has a hammer forged by a god, and he is pissed off. Sure Perseus, go for it.....*facepalm*
So this was Wrath of the Titans, a action-packed movie quite funny despite the fact it's not meant to be...I think...If you are still willing to go and check it out, I suggest you do so, but with the decision to have a laugh and to forget the greek mythology..
Thank you again for your presence on my modest blog. Today, I'll do a small review of a band I really appreciate. I know. I said last time it would be about a videogame or a tv show, but hey, I'm quite changeable. But this band is not just a mere band. Nope, this one is one of the last rock'n'roll band of the world.
Yeah, I'm talking about the Black Rebel Motorcycle Band.
That band originated from America (San Francisco to be precise) and is currently composed of 3 members: Peter Hayes, Robert Levon Been, and Leah Shapiro. Their sound is good. And very diverse.
Indeed, since it was created, the Band produced 6 different albums and when you listen to them, you can just be amazed by the different types of sound that can be found in them.
From simple rock'n'roll to psychedelic sound, the band deals with a lot of different influences. Among them can be found such bands like Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Verve, and so on and so forth.
And you know what ? It's refreshing. Listening to "Whatever Happened To My Rock 'n Roll?", "Shuffle your feet", or even "Berlin", just to name a few, can remind us of what some good old rock band are capable of producing, even if they aren't as noticed as some cra.....other band/singer like Justin Bieber. (After verification, he can be called a singer. That's unfortunate.)
On a more serious note, after listening things like Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, or The Hoosiers, a band like B.R.M.C is more then welcomed. (Not saying that the above bands are crap, I personnly really like them, but it's just that at some point, a person like me may just want to listen to something different, and at the same time, staying in the circle of rock.)
In the end, I really advise you to listen to them, they are really good, not that much well-known, but deserve to be so.
To illustrate my little review, here are 3 songs from 3 different album (The first, the third and the fourth), so that you can judge by yourself.
Ok, today, (sorry for yesterday's non appearance), I'm going to mention this movie:
Harry Brown.
Despite his appearances as crime/thriller, quite right wing movie, it bears a truth, and a nonpleasant as you can guess from the trailer.
But a truth nontheless, as proved the riot that occured last summer (2011).
Yes, despite all these appearances, it is a very social movie, and it asks for a change, even though it would be great if it were in the law, and not the way Mr Brown does it in the movie.
I really advise you to watch this movie, it'll make you think.
Now, I'm going to let you for tonight. If anyone saw this movie because of this post, or not because of this post, feel free to comment, I'd be very happy to talk about it.
Tomorrow, video games, or a tv show.....Suprise suprise!
