When does comedy fit?

If any of you humans seen Guardians of the Galaxy, you all know it was a really good movie. The film had plenty of moments that made everyone laugh.....hysterically. This was a great example of a pretty balanced movie, full of solid situation humor. However, DC doesn't see it that way. DC Universe is banning their films from making any level of jokes or any attempts to be funny. Most people are blaming Green Lantern for this blunder. Now I'll be the first to defend Green Lantern, however, I'll be making a video for that. Keep a look out. However, I think DC is trying hard to not be like Marvel, and that's why they are doing it. I personally believe a level of comic relief is pretty healthy, depending on the film. There are things involved that can make being funny a bad idea.

Bad Writing:
Yes, a bad joke can and has been written. We've seen it on award shows, on monologues and in the movies. If a joke is written horribly, no actor, no matter how good they are can make it sound good. Not even Morgan Freeman, and he makes everything sound good.

Bad Timing:
Once again, it doesn't matter how good the joke is. If the delivery wasn't done correctly, it could sound pretty bad. You'll being using excuses like, "It sounded better the other day." And stuff like that. However, in a movie, it can be quite unforgiving.....even after several takes, bad timing is bad timing.

Bad Jokes:
Sometimes a bad joke is just......a bad joke. It may sound good at first to a handful of people, but to others it sounds awful. A joke hits everyone differently. Sometimes it goes well, other times it goes completely bad. It happens to the best of us, comedians will admit it, there are some duds.

Forcing It:
There are a lot of situations in a movie, or even in real life being funny just doesn't work. In those situations, if you force funny it could make matters even worse. It makes anyone look desperate and just a little sad.

Track Record:
DC has plenty of films where comedy worked. From Christopher Reeves and Gene Hackman in the Richard Donner Superman, to Michael Caine and Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight Trilogy. It doesn't haven't to be gut splitting or crying for it to be funny. Even Man of Steel had a small moment that made you chuckle. I'll tell you this, in all the DC films, if the corners of your mouth didn't rise at some point, you're lying.

Is your childhood really ruined?

I always find it intriguing when people complain about movies based off of shows they watched as kids. And if they didn't like the outcome of the film. "I can't believe they did that! They just ruined my childhood!" Did they, did they really? I understand when a movie messes with your favorite characters. However, if the show still exists and you can watch it on DVD or Netflix and you still have those fond memories of that character. Is it really ruined? And let's look back at those old shows, were they really that great? I'm going to focus on three films that had people telling me it ruined their childhood memories.

Tranformers:

I like these movies. I know a bunch of you are Michael Bay, Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox haters (a lot of hate guys, wow). But the movies shouldn't suffer for it, actually they haven't. They've made a lot of money and justifiably so. Now yes I do have my hang ups about these movies. I hated that they killed Jazz in the first film. I didn't like the twins in Revenge of the Fallen. Certain characters were definitely useless in the movies (Sam's parents, John Malchovich, Ken Jeong and so on). I couldn't stand what I've dubbed "unnecessary stupid" that Michael Bay insisted on putting in the films. Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction had less stupid, but they were there. I still love the movies though.

Now let's be real about the old cartoon series. G1 Transformers was fantastic. And the old movie was on so many levels of epic I could pass out. However, the old series was a little goofy. There were stuff happening to the Autobots and Decepticons combined that didn't make sense for alien robots to experience. At one point they were getting abducted by a human and torturing them with medieval devices. I mean humans were drop kicking Decepticons on the first episode! What is that?! To this day, I still love seeing the series though.

TMNT:

I'll be honest, I haven't seen this movie. So I don't have any opinion on the film....yet. I have faith in it though, my previous blog explains why. I do think the cyber-shredder thing is a little special but I'll give it a chance.

Now the old series was fantastic. My siblings and I were loyal to that show. We sung the theme song all the time. Loved that show!! Other than Next Evolution, the other series were great! However, let's be real. The G1 TMNT was pretty cheese ball. Now don't get me wrong, this is something we should expect from the old series. I think the newer ones got a little more serious even though they had their level of goofiness. Even the old movie was pretty accurate to the graphic novel. Granted Secret of the Ooze was terrible, but we loved them. So why wouldn't we love this one? Because of who is attached to the film? Ha! Just read my previous blog about this subject, there is a lot more on that one.

Dragonball Evolution:

I actually liked this movie. Chow Yun Fat was an awesome Roshi. James Marster was a cool Piccolo. I didn't mind Justin as Goku. He wasn't the greatest, but then again, I have no one in mind to replace him. Now I do have some issues with the movie. It did pull that Spiderman kind of storyline. Boy in high school, he meets a girl and all that jazz. I get that. There are more issues than that. I mean no Krillin was lame, the bully concept was kind of stupid. Understandable, because Goku is.....different. However, he wouldn't react to bullies, it's just not Goku's style. I still liked the movie though.

I'm a big DBZ fan. I own the entire series. I watched it over and over and over again. I had large discussions and arguments about DBZ. I also watched Dragonball and loved the show too. Goku will always be my favorite of all the characters. His naivety, his willingness to do what's right. His drive to rise to a challenge. And the fact he's a family man, just makes me like Goku all the more. Let's look at this though. All the pervy stuff, the constant exposure to naked man cheeks. The random prehistoric animals and bestials a who had jobs and talk is a little much.  I'm very glad they didn't 100% try to translate that to film. It would look really stupid. It was my first anime and still my #1 favorite. I love you Goku!!!

Favorite Robin William Movies

Just found out on Twitter about Robin Williams. It made me really sad. He did a lot of movies. I've seen a number of them, he was a busy man. He was a good actor and comedian. I know he will be missed by all. In remembrance, here are some of the movies I personally liked with him in it.

Good Morning Vietnam:

This was my first exposure to Robin as a kid. I liked the fact he was able to make all those crazy sounds and voices. Definitely, made me like improv and comedians because of him. Probably one of the reasons I liked to act on stage and perform.

Dead Poet Society:

I remember watching this in school. Definitely encouraged the writing part of my brain. To be expressive with the words I wrote or typed. I liked this movie.

Aladdin:

You can't talk about Williams without bringing up Genie. I mean let's be real, Genie made those movies. His replacement in Return of Jafar paled in comparison to Robin's performance. That's why I loved his return in King of Thieves.

Hook:

I remember watching this movie constantly. My siblings and I watched it so much that we had the sword fights between Hook and Pan down. Definitely one of my family's favorites.

Bicentennial Man:

I was very hesitant about this movie. I don't know why, I just wasn't keen on seeing this film at first. Then I saw it with a friend of mine and was completely blown away by it. I'm glad I saw this movie, would have been a huge mistake if I missed out on his picture perfect performance.

Mrs. Doubtfire:

If you're a legitimate Williams fan you have to have seen Mrs. Doubtfire. This is literally a requirement in life. If you have not seen this film, you're in for a world of hurt. This is going on the list as a Robin Williams classic. I read somewhere that a sequel was in the works. Man, that would have been a great movie. Looks like we'll never know. Nevertheless, you must see this movie if you haven't.

Where are all of my Robin Williams fans? I know your list will differ from mine. So give it to me humans. Give me you favorite films of Robin Williams career.

My Neighbors of Choice

I have had a few neighbors in my life that were alright. Except the creepy stargazer guy, he was different. However, I just thought of who would be great neighbors for me .

Captain America:

Let's look at this for a moment. He would be an awesome neighbor. He would help me lift weights. He would take care of my mail and my place when I was on vacation. He would most likely have a beer with me. Only one though, it is Cap.

Spider-Man:

He would be my local tech support. When he was available, I mean he is Spider-Man. He could hang out. Play some WoW, or some tabletop, he probably be good at Munchkin. And have nerdy arguments about other Marvel characters he would know but couldn't tell me. That would be cool.

Iron Man:

Let's be real. He would have the greatest of parties. The thing is, his security wouldn't be that tight. He is all about attention. Which mean we could get in and jam out with Stark. You would do it!!!

Wolverine:

I'll be realistic about this. Logan or James, depends how you ( or he) feel about which name, wouldn't ordinarily hang with me. However, if I had some good beer, he would come around. Even if we didn't talk. Just hung out in the driveway to have some cold ones, I'll be alright with that.

The Falcon:

He'd be just as cool as Cap, if not cooler. I mean us Wilsons have to stick together (except for Slade and Wade). I'm sure he would tell me some cool Cap stories, along with his own. He would also be another good weight-lifting partner.

Big Barda:

I'm just a fan of Barda. Besides, she could help me rip trees out of the ground or something. At least that would be the excuse I would use to get her to come over. Don't judge me! It's Big Barda!! She could teach me how to use a sword or something! Don't tell my wife!

Fine, what neighbors would you have then?!

Please Marvel, Take My Money!!!!

Just watched Guardians of the Galaxy tonight and loved it. Marvel never ceases to provide us with great films. At this point and time, I no longer doubt their decisions with their cinematic universe. And I will continue to give them my money as love as they give me what I'm looking for. Here are some movies that have given me plenty of reason to never doubt Marvel ever again and to just mail them my wallet.

X-Men:

Now I know this isn't part of the Marvel Studio's universe. But we have to pay respect to this film. If it wasn't for the success of this one, we probably wouldn't have a Phase One, Two or anything at all. Thank you X-Men for getting it going.

Iron Man:

This movie was great, went and saw it in theater several times. It got Phase One moving forward. RDJ is flawless as Tony Stark. Even if he quit today, he'll always be the Invincible Iron Man.

Iron Man 2:

Now I know some folks had issues with this movie. But I personally loved it. It gave us more S.H.I.E.L.D. It touched on the Avengers Initiative, Black Widow. More RDJ, which we all love. And the debut of War Machine and Don Cheadle who I personally think was a better Rhodey. 

The Incredible Hulk:

Is by far the best Hulk movie out there (sorry Ang Lee). Edward Norton was fantastic. I love the nod to the Return of the Monster graphic novel in this movie. I was bummed he didn't return for Avengers. Mark is an excellent replacement, he gives us some Bill Bixby in his performance. Norton will be missed though.

The Avengers:

Do I really need to say why? This movie is the greatest. The return and combination of the greatest characters and actors out there. And then turn around to make a great film, led by the even greater Joss Whedon. I was freaking out, the girls who were taking ecstasy at the theater were freaking. My wife fell asleep, but later she was freaking out. A great movie and an awesome end to Phase One.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier:

This is by far my favorite movie of 2014. I know there were a lot of movies this year that were pretty awesome. However, I still have to give it to this one. I mean it gave you everything. Cap, the fall of SHIELD, Bucky's return. The debut of my boy Sam Wilson, the Falcon. This movie was flawless in it's delivery.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.:

I was worried for this show, only for a short moment. I never lost faith in Whedon. He's never failed me. I love this show. Not only does it work, but it is directly connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I mean, who does that? Can we say continuity?