Jack Bauer: Art Imitating Life or Life Imitating Art

Kiefer Sutherland (aka Jack Bauer) may be charged with third degree assault for head-butting a fashion designer, Jack McCullough, at the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute. Allegedly, the fashionista was getting a little too close for comfort with actress Brooke Shields, where Sutherland stepped in. Sutherland turned himself in to the Manhattan police shortly after. I wonder what kind of torture techniques they will use, stuffing dry rag down his throat or shooting him above the knee caps? On a serious note, this could have an impact as this violates his parole for the DUI he got not too long ago. Read the full article here.

Iron Man! Cool as Ice!

This is a panned out view of where that picture was taken. This was posted on Jon Faverau's Twitter.


I'm sure anyone would look cool, lounging in an Iron Man Mark 3 suit, but Robert Downy Jr. steps it up a notch. Here he is wearing Stark's finest sporting Oakley's? Ray Ban's perhaps? I can't wait to see more pictures of Iron Man 2 to unfold, especially shots of Scarlet Johanson!

Wade "Van Wilder" Wilson

If you haven't already seen a leaked version of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" or actually paid to see it in the theaters [like I did], it's undeniable that every comic geek was excited to see Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, played by Ryan Reynolds. I'm not a Deadpool fan, but I can see the appeal as he's ultimately a ninja with mutant powers, a formula you really can't go wrong with. Well, it sounds like the "Merc With A Mouth" may spin-off into his own movie. I'm sure Ryan Reynolds' sex appeal, much like Hugh Jackman's, helped drive this thought to fruition. If they can turn Deadpool into the next "Blade" I'm all for it (by that I mean making a relatively lesser known character awesome). If they're looking to repeat the same campy tongue-in-cheek dialogue... I'll be saving my theater money for something else. You can read the full article here.

Potential Green Lantern?

Rumor has it that Bradley Cooper is being considered for the starring role in The Green Lantern as Hal Jordan. Who is Bradley Cooper? You may've seen him on the television series "Alias" or the movie "Wedding Crashers." He's a relative no-name in the industry which I always favor. Warner Brothers is targeting a release date for The Green Lantern for December 17, 2010. They begin filming this summer. Read the full article here.

You can star in the next Batman movie!

If you peruse comic book sites, movie sites and or action figure sites that support advertising, chances are you've seen this ad:

If you're smart, you didn't click on the advertisment. If your a genius, then you didn't follow the steps that eventually asked for your personal information. There are some great online ads that actually promote value. Unfortunately, this is not one of them. The world of online advertising has its dark side, and yes, this is one ad that exploits that. What is this advertisement really saying? Let me translate.

"Hello, are you a Batman/Movie/Comic Book fan or starving actor seeking your big-break that's unemployed and would love to make money in the entertainment industry? Well, place all of your personal information here so we can sell it to a mailing list to actively send you unwanted messages."

2009 MTV Movie Awards

If the Oscars and the Golden Globes are the Olympics, consider the MTV Movie Awards the X-Games! Below were some of the categories and nominees that were announced. I highlighted the nominees I really care about. Anything that contains the words "Hannah" and "Efron" I could care less for.

BEST MOVIE (voting stays live throughout the 2009 Movie Awards ceremony)

The Dark Knight
Director: Christopher Nolan, Producers: Charles Roven and Emma Thomas (Warner Bros. Pictures)
High School Musical 3: Senior Year
Director: Kenny Ortega, Producers: Bill Borden and Barry Rosenbush (Walt Disney Pictures)
Iron Man
Director: Jon Favreau, Producers: Avi Arad and Kevin Feige (Paramount Pictures)
Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle, Producer: Christian Colson (Fox Searchlight)
Twilight
Director: Catherine Hardwicke, Producers: Wyck Godfrey, Greg Mooradian and Mark Morgan (Summit Entertainment)

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE

Angelina Jolie - Wanted (Universal Pictures)
Anne Hathaway - Bride Wars (20th Century Fox)
Kate Winslet - The Reader (The Weinstein Company)
Kristen Stewart - Twilight (Summit Entertainment)
Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount Pictures)

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE

Christian Bale - The Dark Knight (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Robert Downey Jr. - Iron Man (Paramount Pictures)
Shia LaBeouf - Eagle Eye (DreamWorks SKG/ Paramount Pictures)
Vin Diesel - Fast & Furious (Universal Pictures)
Zac Efron - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Walt Disney Pictures)

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE FEMALE

Amanda Seyfried - Mamma Mia! (Universal Pictures)
Ashley Tisdale - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Walt Disney Pictures)
Freida Pinto - Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Miley Cyrus - Hannah Montana: The Movie (Walt Disney Pictures)
Vanessa Hudgens - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Walt Disney Pictures)
Kat Dennings - Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (Columbia Pictures)

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE MALE

Robert Pattinson - Twilight (Summit Entertainment)
Taylor Lautner - Twilight (Summit Entertainment)
Ben Barnes - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Walt Disney Pictures)
Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
Bobb'e J. Thompson - Role Models (Universal Pictures)

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

Amy Poehler - Baby Mama (Universal Pictures)
Anna Faris - The House Bunny (Columbia Pictures)
James Franco - Pineapple Express (Columbia Pictures)
Jim Carrey - Yes Man (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Steve Carell - Get Smart (Warner Bros. Pictures)

BEST VILLAIN

Derek Mears - Friday The 13th (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Dwayne Johnson - Get Smart (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Johnathon Schaech - Prom Night (Screen Gems)
Luke Goss - Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal Pictures)

BEST FIGHT

Anne Hathaway vs. Kate Hudson - Bride Wars (20th Century Fox)
Christian Bale vs. Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Ron Perlman vs. Luke Goss - Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal Pictures)
Robert Pattinson vs. Cam Gigandet - Twilight (Summit Entertainment)
Seth Rogen and James Franco vs. Danny McBride - Pineapple Express (Columbia Pictures)

BEST KISS

Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy - Wanted (Universal Pictures)
Freida Pinto and Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
James Franco and Sean Penn - Milk (Focus Features)
Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson - Twilight (Summit Entertainment)
Paul Rudd and Thomas Lennon - I Love You, Man (Paramount Pictures)
Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron - High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Walt Disney Pictures)

BEST WTF MOMENT (New Category)

Amy Poehler - Baby Mama, Peeing In the Sink (Universal Pictures)
Angelina Jolie - Wanted, Curved Bullet Kill (Universal Pictures)
Ayush Mahesh Khedekar - Slumdog Millionaire, Jumping in the Poop Shed (Fox Searchlight)
Ben Stiller - Tropic Thunder, Tasting the Decapitated Head (DreamWorks SKG/ Paramount Pictures)
Jason Segel and Kristen Bell - Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Naked Break-Up (Universal Pictures)

BEST SONG FROM A MOVIE (New Category)

"Jai Ho" - AR Raham, Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight)
"The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen, The Wrestler (Fox Searchlight)
"The Climb" - Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana: The Movie (Walt Disney Pictures)
"Decode" - Paramore, Twilight (Summit Entertainment)

Film Review: "X-Men: Origins Wolverine"

"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" faced a lot of uphill battles before it was released this weekend. The entire movie leaked a month early, swine flu and the terrible reviews (which I rarely trust). I had no expectations for this movie. In addition I did not expect to find myself paying for a full price ticket to see it.

Alas, I saw the movie... and I kind of liked it! Despite my reservations about the film that opened this weekend, I ended up watching it today. In fact, I literally just go out of the theater. When I found out that my friends had watched it before me, who generally aren't comic-movie fans, and were shocked that I didn't catch a pre-screening or midnight release, I almost felt a bit challenged to watch Wolverine for myself.

As the title suggests, this film concentrates entirely on Wolverine (aka Logan, James, Jimmy). The story focuses on WeaponX, his love life, his conflicted moral ethics and the path that leads him into Bryan Singer's X-Men universe. Don't let the title fool you, Wolverine is the star player but he's accompanied by many other familiar mutants such as Sabertooth, Deadpool, Cyclops, Gambit, Emma Frost, Blob,and a handful of other not-so familiar mutants. I couldn't help but notice how often Wolverine looked to the skies a yelled as if he were Captain Kirk yelling "Khaaaann!" Another thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was a lot of the tongue-and-cheek dialogue primarily coming from Sabertooth played by Liev Schreiber. "Look what the cat dragged in... oooh shiney..." c'mon! Really? How did those get past the editing floor? I must admit, it's still a bit hard to get over how debonair and tall Wolverine/Logan is portrayed on film. In the comics, he's a 5'2" grunt who could care less about looking good for the ladies. I'm not a Wolverine expert, but I do know he's not supposed to be a GQ model.

Overall, if you can look past some of the campy dialogue and some of the inconsistent continuity issues, Wolverine isn't half bad. Hitting an 87 million dollar weekend opening, despite the entire film being leaked... it's actually worth seeing.

Free Comic Book Day Today!

The first weekend of May is upon us and Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is here! I went to my local shop and picked up a few items. One of our local artists managed to make an appearance at my shop, Justin Greenwood, promoting his book "Resurrection." I'm new to this title and know nothing about it, but it was great seeing some local star power making it out to FCBD. In addition to the local talent, tt was great seeing more kids in the shop, as it brings a new generation of comic book fans into the arena. Here are a few items I picked up for free.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Delayed Until End of Summer

Batman: Arkham Asylum will be delayed until the end of summer. BOO!!! I've never been as excited for a game until Batman: Arkham Asylum came along. So much that I already have the game on pre-order. The deluxe collector's version to boot. I'd like to think the wait will be worth it... let's hope so!

I am Iron Man... 2

I'm as excited as the next geek about Iron Man 2, which has a release date scheduled for May 7th, 2010. The first Iron Man was a winning success from trailer-to-credits, utilizing a formula that you can't go wrong with: staying true to the source material, taking the characters seriously, and top notch casting. Oh, and seamless, eye-popping CGI and action! Will Faverau and crew deliver the second time around, now that the bar has been set so high? My guess... YES!

"I really enjoyed when we were a dark horse and no one knew much about us. ... I hope we can find that place again." -Jon Faverau

Read the full article here.