Mark Hamill retiring his voice as the Joker

In an interview with Mark Hamill and IGN, Mark Hamill discusses his retirement from voicing our favorite clown prince of crime, the Joker. It's safe to say that Batman: The Animated Series spawned a definitive generation of Batman, towing fans of all kind to praise the breakthrough performance Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and Andrea Romano crafted, including the fantastic voice talent of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill. It's not uncommon to hear Batman fans using BTAS as the standard to all other visions of Batman. It's sad to hear Hamill will be retiring his Joker voice, but it's exciting to know he'll be going out with a bang for the second video game installment of Batman: Arkham Asylum. The storyline was compelling enough to keep Hamill onboard, considering he wanted to retire the Joker with the first game.

"Mark Hamill, known as both Luke Skywalker and one of the most revered voices of the Joker, says he'll be hanging up his acid-squirting flower after completing Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. In an IGN interview, the veteran actor says he was reluctant to return to the role for the original Arkham, and even more so for its sequel. "This will be my last, there's no question about that," he said. "But it's the last hurrah."

Read the full article here.

James McAvoy to be cast as Charles Xavier in X-Men film reboot

The X-Men reboot, X-Men: First Class (to be directed by Matthew Vaughn), has cast James McAvoy to play a young Charles Xavier. McAvoy's film credentials include Wanted, The Last King of Scotland and The Chronicles or Narnia. If you can imagine Patrick Stewart as a young man, it's not hard to picture James McAvoy. McAvoy is a solid actor, and I think this is setting the stage well for the X-Men reboot. Combine that with the semi-faithful adaptation of Matthew Vaugn's Kick-Ass, I think X-Men fans won't be disappointed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Wolverine won't be in this film and that Cyclops will actually have a pair of balls!

Movie Review: Prince of Persia - The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had potential to be Disney’s next Pirates of the Carribean with Bruckheimer on board. Unfortunately, it fell slightly short and was no more or no less than what I expected this movie to be. What you get in the trailers is what you get in this film.

Jake Gyllanhall did an outstanding job convincing me he was the Prince of Persia and Gemma Arterton was as fun to watch as she was smoldering hot, but there was something lacking in the film that made it un-memorable. It may have to do with the time travel aspect being the focal point of the story. The problem I have with movies that deal with time travel is that everything can be fixed and the conflict that made the movie interesting can be isolated and corrected too easily. There was also a level of repeativeness that made the ending all too predictable. Everyone in Daston’s (Gyllanhall’s character) inner circle that uncovered the truth beyond the deception was quickly killed off.

I’ve never played any of the Prince of Persia video games, but I’m familiar with some of the game play. The parkour that was prominantely displayed in every chase and escape scene was a nice touch, bringing the game to life, but I was honestly hoping for more of it.

Overall, it’s a fun movie a decent amount of action. There’s action, humor and tragedy but the movie needed more of a plot device than a time traveling dagger quick fix.

Batpod anyone?

A real working replica in fact! Looks like you can be a proud owner of your own, fully functional replica Batpod! "Fully functional" meaning you can drive this thing to work "fully functional," minus the explosives and wall-rotational-doohicky-thing-a-ma-jig. The eBay auction was originally set with a reserve price for $30,000 with no takers, so they knocked the price down to a humbling $5,000 or best offer.

The Return of Bruce Wayne: Action Figures!

The moment I saw the varied cover sketches of "The Return of Bruce Wayne" I thought it would be make for a great action figure line-up! Sure enough, DC Direct already has series one in motion! I can't wait to buy these figures! Thanks to Toynewsi.com for the pics:

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: Under the Red Hood will be hitting stores on July 27th! Warner Brothers Entertainment also has a site dedicated to this animated film which you can find here.

UD Replicas - Iron Man Mark V (Suitcase Armor)

The team that brought you The Dark Knight's armor in motorcycle fashion is possibly taking on a new license with Marvel Studio's! They will be recreating Tony Stark's Mark V (aka Suitcase Armor). I wonder if the chest (pseudo Arc Reactor) will light up?



Rewind back a bit, I actually own The Dark Knight suit that I purchased from UDreplicas.com. Nothing comes closer to wearable art while being fully functional for motorcycle wear than The Dark Knight suit. I'll review it soon with some detailed pics.

I'd also like to say kudos to David Pea and his team at Universal Designs for a great customer experience, in addition to producing great high quality gear! David Pea was kind enough to personally answer all of my questions before making my purchase. As soon as the Batman Begins suit and Utility Belt is available, I plan to be first in line to buy!

Season 9 Finale of Smallville: Salvation

Smallville's season nine finale brought fans slightly closer to seeing Superman in full garb, but not quite. Simply, a mirrored glimpse of things to come, as Clark's famous red and blue suit is literally made available to him at his fingertips. The show's ending was bitter sweet, leaving a heavy-handed cliff hanger with obvious things to come for the next season, which may sadly be it's last. In "Salvation," they managed to wrap the season up well in a neat little package, as the Kandorians are wisked away to their new planet thanks to the "Book of Rao," Zod included. Leaving us with Clark, falling off a building in a crucified pose, with a sharp chunk of blue kryptonite lodged in his stomach. The things I liked most about this finale was the glimpse of the future, the hard goodbye between Lois and Clark, and the final fight scene between Clark and Zod. I'm really hoping they carry this steam well into the next season, holding nothing back! If it is their last season... might as well end it with a bang!

The Cape

I've known nothing about this show other than it's obvious nod to superheroes. I have to admit, it doesn't look half bad. It's got some Batman, some Punisher, some Batman, with a whole lotta the Spirit.

More on Batman Arkham Asylum figures

C'mon guys... it's not rocket science! Please leave Batman's cape black or very dark blue. One color would be fine, not this two-tone nonsense! Is it really that hard to stick to one color? Otherwise, the sculpt looks great. I like the protective clam-shell packaging, and the card artwork looks suitable. I'm hoping we get another series with a scalable Croc or Bane!

Arkham Asylum Figures... IN COLOR!

The "Batman: Arkham Asylum Series 1 Action Figures" have officially been announced in DC Comics' full August 2010 publication. Included is this full color photo of the series. They look even better than they did in black and white except... for one thing. Why the hell is Batman's cape blue and black? His cape is clearly black in the game. DC Direct, please let this be an error and release Batman, the main character of the game, in his original color scheme. The game didn't take any shortcuts, why would you short change his action figure! Otherwise, all the figures look fantastic. I really like the word "series" titled in this line... it implies... more figures!

You can find the official announcement here.

Arkham Asylum Action Figures! Finally!

Not exactly sure where this picture originated from, but it looks like the critically acclaimed video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, is finally getting a line of action figures. The character designs of the game is just as high quality as the game itself, I hope they maintain that same level on this figure release. So far, I'm impressed!

The Return of Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne's been dead (sort of) since Final Crisis, and has managed to stay out of current continuity for a little over a year. Gotham has changed since then: Dick is Batman, Damian is Robin, Tim is Red Robin, Stephanie Brown is Batgirl and Oracle's still in a wheelchair.

Yesterday, Bruce Waynes' whereabouts have been revealed with the first issue of "The Return of Bruce Wayne." He's in the stone age without any recollection of who he is. Imagine the old show "Quantum Leap" with a DC Universe twist. He's still Bruce Wayne from each leap, he's just unaware of who he is. (Did I just date myself with that QL reference?)

In this story, Bruce is unaware of who he is, with only fragments of subconscious memories of who he is was. His only material possessions are his utility belt, Superman's cape and his pants. I'm a little unsure how his material possessions were able to remain with him during time travel, but I won't hurt my brain attempting to think about it. I'm still not sure why he has Superman's cape. Bruce quickly finds himself in the middle of a territorial war among feuding tribes in the stone age. Like riding a bike, Bruce Wayne dives directly into the hero role helping those in need. In this case, the weaker tribe. In the process, Bruce manages to pick up a pseudo Robin along the way, who was coincidentally on his own journey of "becoming a man."

There were plenty of overbearing Bat references in this book, from the cave Bruce emerged from to the over-sized Bat hyde he found and later wore as a makeshift cape and cowl. The costume looked great, as if Batman and Conan had a collision course. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the dialogue. It was an amalgamation of caveman talk meets modern english. I understand that we as readers have to understand what's going on, but it would've been cool to see the dialogue much more primal with simple words. It would've forced them to be more creative with their artwork (not that it wasn't).

Overall, it's a good quick read. It gives you a very clear idea of where they are headed with this storyline. If you're a fan of Elseworlds books, this will definitely be up your alley.

Green Lantern: Hector Hammond

Here are some early pictures of Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond in the highly anticipated Green Lantern film:



If Hector Hammond doesn't seem to ring a bell, he's one of Green Lanterns' enemies with genius level intellect, including telepathic powers and telekinetic abilities.



Pretty good ressembelence if you ask me. So far, things are looking good for our protector of Sector 2814!

Wondering what cell phone the JLA doesn't use?

A little iPhone humor...



Bazinga!

Remember those dancers at the "Stark Expo?"

They've got a name... the Ironette Dancers! You can find the full set of photos here. Enjoy!

Iron Man 2 didn't break any box office records... so what?

I'll admit, I was secretly afraid that Iron Man 2 was potentially able to beat out The Dark Knight for highest grossing opening weekend. Not only because I'm a huge bat-geek, but because the first Iron Man film was a solid hit! Unfortunately, Iron Man 2 didn't come close to smashing any box office records... surprisingly!

Despite Iron Man 2 opening in 4,380 North American theaters over the weekend, the total weekend brought in $57.2 million domestically, which is not bad by any means. Worldwide, Iron Man 2 has earned $327.6 million since it began its international release on April 28th 2010. Again, a number that is not shameful by any means.

Seeing all these articles about Iron Man 2 not being a "record holder" in a box office monetary category almost gives the impression that the film was not good! Quite the contrary! Iron Man 2 was a fantastic film! Just because a movie doesn't stand next to the dollar signs Avatar achieved, it doesn't mean it's not a great film.

It would be great to see more articles on the quality of a film, rather than it's profitability. Although profitability is a measure for executives to make future sequels, these movies are being made for us, fans of film who want good quality movies!

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 has finally arrived! With the success of the first film, my expectations for the sequel were very high. I'm happy to say my expectations were met! Unfortunately, there was very little for surprise, storywise, considering most of the film was revealed in its trailers. This movie has already been showing internationally for a week.

The action sequences were definitely exceeded my expectations, literally placing you in the drivers seat of Iron Man's suit. There was noticeably more casual/non-action screen time with Tony Stark wearing the physical suit (non CGI). Kudos to the costume designers and builders. The build detail was absolutely stunning. The level of flexibility and mobility made the Iron Man armor really come to life on screen. In addition, the screen time transition between the CGI suit and the "real suit" was extraordinarily seamless adding more layers of great eye candy.

The campy one-liners was much more present in this film than the last, but they didn't go overboard. Nick Fury's "I got my eye on you" line made me roll my eyes a bit, but it was hardly something to shake a stick at. The one thing I could've done without was Favereau's fight scene. It seemed a bit out of place.

Micky Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Don Cheadle and Scarlett Johansson were fantastic additions to this sequel! Rourke and Rockwell in particular made a great villainous duo. If you didn't already know, Rourke time spent in a real Russian prison (for research purposes), and it absolutely paid off! Don Cheadle delivered as usual, making me wonder why he wasn't chosen in the first place to play Rhodey. [strike]Too bad, so sad Terrence Howard[/strike] Scarlet Johansson as black widow was a little misplaced if you ask me. Beyond being Iron Man 2's newest hottie, she didn't really play a significant role other than showing showing off her kick ass moves.

Overall, this is a great movie that carries the same excitement as the first. Explosive action, great dynamic cast and plethora of comic hints and nods! Two thumbs-up from this reviewer!