The "Justice League" movie and the work that needs to be done

Okay, let's talk about the work that needs to be done.

With The Dark Knight Rises coming out next week and Man of Steel hitting theaters next year battling the going to be brilliant and exceptional Iron Man 3 after the success of The Avengers this year we need to look at the work that needs to be done for the Justice League movie. And boy is there work to be done.

According to Moviepilot.com "the Justice League movie has finally been given the green light." The article continues to talk about how Marvel used the heroes separate movies to do little hints to The Avengers so they're hoping DC will do the same and we'll see maybe a glimpse or a hint at Superman in The Dark Knight Rises. Which would be cool, but at this point I don't care because that's not the important stuff. The important stuff is the work that needs to be done for the JL movie.

First thing is first, Dark knight. They're going to have to have Christopher Nolan to help with the script. If they're going to use Bale as Batman and use the Batman from The Dark Knight Trilogy then they need to have Christopher's genius on the script. Maybe not the whole script but he needs to be there to make sure his Batman doesn't get screwed up. Or else they'd have to reboot the entire series and they so don't want to do that. Batman is a hit or miss and Christopher not only hit but he also hit it out of the park so they'd piss off a lot of fans trying to redo what he's already accomplished.

Superman, same deal—it's a hit or miss. I haven't followed the Man of Steel that much because of the fact I still believe Tom Welling would have been perfect for the movie since Smallville was ending, but nooooo! I didn't have the blog then so my voice didn't matter much I guess. But seriously, ten years as Superman is enough to prove he can do it. But it all comes down to the movie next year, if it's a success, then it will be the real start to making a JL, they will have two heroes done and accounted for, and if they already know what they want to do for the JL movie they can start putting in their hints with Man of Steel. But that's only the beginning; there is still A LOT of work to be done. Shall I continue?

As far as I know, to make a JL movie you need to have your main heroes who lead the teams; two are down with Superman and Batman. Next, in my opinion, you need Wonder Woman, GL, Green Arrow, Flash, and maybe Hawk Man and Hawk Girl; the other heroes, i.e. every other DC hero, falls into place. See here's how I see it: The Avengers, as awesome as it was, was EASY! When you compare it to JL you know I'm right. The Avengers is a small group of heroes who do intermingle with Spider-Man and the X-Men and The Fantastic Four, as far as I know—remember not a huge Avengers fan—and that's simple. The JL is the ENTIRE DC Universe of heroes coming together to defeat problems too big even for a small group. The JL were the team to stop the evil plots that would actually succeed in taking over or destroying the world. You only really need to do the movies for the main leaders of the team and the other heroes can fall into place and maybe if the fans like them they'll get their own movie. Honestly, if DC was smart they would use this to their advantage and every time they want to do a JL movie still have the main plot introduced in the movies, but do it by using new movies with heroes who had small parts in the last JL movie. That way it's new and fresh always. That's what I would do, and then DC would get a lot more of their heroes recognition instead of them being only mentioned in lame shows like Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Long explanation short, you need the main leaders to do the first movie, here's the problem with that even though Batman and Superman are done.

Green Lantern: I liked the movie but everyone else didn't. And that's because DC and Marvel need to realize that while they're are comic book fans, a majority of their fans are coming from the audience that watches the TV shows that generation. My generation grew up with a Black Green Lantern named John Stewart. That was literally the question I always heard, "I thought the Green Lantern was black?" Not everyone knows who Hal Jordan is. And in retrospect while Ryan Reynolds did good with what they gave him, whoever wrote the script and did the storyboard didn't make GL the beast his is. He has a ring that can create anything and frankly everyone's constructs were weak. Oh! And also, not everyone knows that Sinestro was a GL first before he went evil. They have to reboot GL for the JL movie, that's a given. But if they want to get more fans I’m thinking Will Smith as John Stewart, that's the start. Maybe even Denzel but he'd have to beef up for it.

Wonder Woman: Well they need to have a woman come on board and do the movie, no men, this is Amazonian territory. They were going to do a TV show that was cancelled before it started because they tried to make Wonder Woman something she's not, a pansy. They got this skinny little twig to play her when WW is a freaking Amazon! She's supposed to be big—muscularly, pretty as well but big…Laila Ali status! And they also messed with the costume, and it just went downhill from there. To make JL survive we need a WW movie written and directed by a woman who knows the comics, plain and simple and will stay true to the truth.

Green Arrow: The problem with him is he has a TV show coming out his fall. Doing a movie opens up a lot of what do we do? Do we use the TV show as a background? Do we use the same actors, is it completely separate? Is this going to mess with the show? What do the fans want? Can the TV actor pull it on the big screen? And etc. enough said on Green Arrow.

Flash: They need some really good graphics, because unlike Superman, Flash uses the Super Speed all the time, and they would have to get a good looking skinny guy with a funny personality. But once again they would have to have the character from TV from this generation, because I know there are like two, I believe, plus Kid Flash

Hawk Man and Hawk Girl: I take them off the list as "leaders" of the JL and add—

Black Canary: She's the on and off fling of Green Arrow and she's got the fighting skills of Batman along with the awesome power to scream at pitches that can knock someone off their feet. She's a leader in my book at least according to the JL TV show and Young Justice. Again—TV show fans are most likely more prominent than Comic fans.

As of right now, I'm pretty sure there is a lot more...J’ONN! The Martian Manhunter! He needs a movie too and I have no idea what his origin story is but it would be best for him to come after Superman because Superman opens up the possibility of Earth accepting aliens. Denzel would actually be perfect for John. Weird two major black superheroes named John…loosely, and don't trip. We both know John in the TV shows had a black man’s voice. But a lot of work needs to be done.

These movies seriously have to be on point every single one! Because the minuet one of the heroes isn't what people want to see then that's when the fans won't want them on the big screen ever again and so a reboot must happen and we can't wait forever on this movie. Now a maybe smarter route would be to have Batman's attention in The Dark Knight Rises point at Superman and he says something about looking into it, like some government agency wants him to check out SM to make sure he's legit and not dangerous and then in Man of Steel have Bale make a cameo as Bruce Wayne in Metropolis and hint at maybe a Batman/Superman movie first and use that as a setup for JL.

Like the two of them talk about recruiting heroes for the team for a bigger threat that’s mention in the SM&BM movie and the first half of the JL movie is finding the other leaders of the team and getting them ready. Once they defeat the big baddie something else threatens the world and they realize that they're not enough so that's when they start making the team bigger. No matter what they do, JL is going to be a complicated feat but I have no doubt they will pull it off and I can't wait until they do. But you see that this isn't going to be easy and I'm pretty sure you've thought of something I've already missed, especially if you're a comic book fan. But you know I go with what I know.

Anyway, until next time, According to Michael III, it's going to be sweet to see how they pull this going to be HUGE—and I can't stress that enough—movie together. It's going to be one wild ride, but we'll probably get two more Avengers during that time especially since after Man of Steel we won’t see a DC movie again until 2016…so we'll be good while we wait!

—Michael III

"Legend of Korra"--Finale to Air let me down, but something big is happening to the show!

So who has been watching the special they're running on Nickelodeon? You know the one about Korra? Don't worry if you haven't, I'm not watching it either and that's because the Avatar series finally let me down.

Don't get all upset, hear me out first. If you're a true fan then you know from the season finale of “Book one: Water,” all the way to "Sozin's Comet; Parts 1-4;" which was nominated and one a few Emmys (Wikiepedia.com), then you know that Avatar has continually shocked us with each season and how “Skeletons in the Closet” and “Endgame” didn’t really compete. Let me break it down for you by finales:

1. "Siege of the North; Parts 1&2":

· Iroh shows a good side to him.

· Aang combines with the Ocean spirit to do some serious damage.

· Katara got an upgrade and got degraded in that fight with Zuko.

· Sokka fell in love and got his heart broken.

· Moon spirit died and came back thanks to Princess Yue.

· And above all we get to see our first glimpse of psychotic, mommy issues, Firebending prodigy Azula.

2. "The Guru" and "Crossroads of Destiny" (I'll sum this one up in two sentences:)

· Aang tries to take control of the Avatar state which gets us to view the emotional turmoil of his character more and who doesn't love the Big AS?

· Azula KILLS Aang and Katara brings him back with the spirit oasis water (thank God she didn't use it on Zuko) but the Avatar state is now lost forever...

3. Or is it? "Sozin's Comet;" Part 1: "The Phoenix King," Part 2: "The Old Masters," Part 3: "Into the Inferno," and Part 4: "Avatar Aang" (This one will be longer folks):

· Azula becomes a whack out fire lord.

· The series takes its first step to becoming darker with the Fire Lord's plan for the arrival of Sozin's Comet.

· Aang gets to talk to two previous Avatars we've never seen before and meets a lion turtle.

· The Agni Kai—gosh that scene is so beautiful and if you have a sibling you love dearly try imagining you and them finally fighting basically to the death...I don't know about you but I couldn't imagine taking my little sister down like that, even if by that point she was completely insane.

· The fight with Ozai in which he accidently reactivated the Avatar State—and in case you didn't notice ,basically allowed us to have a Legend of Korra in the first place.
Aang tries to show mercy and still does but opens up the possibility of Energybending—again another Legend of Korra birth mother.

· Zuko is Fire Lord and Aang is a fully realized Avatar and the 100 years of peace are about to begin.

· And the kiss that will eventually lead to creating Tenzin.

All fantastic endings, but the Finale to “Air” left me wanting a lot more and not in the I can't wait for season two fashion. I can't wait, but the finale was weak in my opinion.
When it came down to it, it was obvious Korra would somehow learn to replace the bending taken away. If it can be taken away it can be given back. The fight with Amon had a lot to be desired, it was just too quick. Also it was a little cheesy with the whole oh now she can Airbend, or the "I love you's" between her and Mako. The only cool or exciting part was the fact that Aang was somehow able to give Korra her bending back even though he's dead, and that Amon was Tarrlok’s brother which totally replaces my earlier comment in a post back in the day that says that episode with Tarrlok and Yakone was pointless, until we got deeper into the storyline. Oh! And let's face it, the real exciting part of the whole finale was when Tarrlok killed him and his brother trying to rid the world of the evil their father had created. That was the only thing that had me feel like I didn't waste my hour.

Avatar has had higher standards when it came to their finales and I don't blame the people who work on the show, I blame nickelodeon. They gave them a rinky-dink time slot and not very much time to make the season all come together. I know this show is totally different from The Last Airbender, but Nick put restraints on them and so everything is rushed. Now they have two extra episodes for next season so we'll see how that goes. But it's still rushed. I'm not saying it’s not a good show, it's a great show but the finale disappointed me. Well what do you think? Let me know in the comments below. And if you can check out the specials starting at 9:00pm on Nick and see what's going on behind the scenes. Anyway until next time, According to Michael III, The Legend of Korra first season was good, but we've seen better.

—Michael III

P.S…

SEASON ONE IS NOT OVER!

That’s right folks. I was doing a little more research after I typed this up and now Legend of Korra has been expanded to two seasons of 52 episodes total. The first season is set to have the last 14 which we originally supposed to be season 2 join together with season one making season one 26 episodes long with two books (Wikipedia.com). Season two will break down the same way with two books and 26 more episodes. Trust me when I say this, a season three will be ordered, and you can bet your ass on that one. But to me it’s still too rushed. In The Last Airbender each season was one book entirely so rushing the books still seems like it’s a little hectic. But look at it this way; we will now have three more books with a FULLY REALIZED Avatar. No more training except probably in the spiritual sense for Korra, but she’s fully realized now, all elements and Avatar state and all. So we’ll actually get to see an Avatar traveling the world doing their Avatar duties so that should be cool. I wonder who the next villain will be now that Amon is dead. Let’s face it, there is no way Amon lived through that explosion and if he did that will be stretching it a little too much for Avatar. Even though he was surrounded by water he had no idea what Tarrlok was about to do, and when Zuko blew up, he was a Firebender so that made sense he was able to survive.

While I still feel like they’re rushing the show, hopefully now given more episodes, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko will be able to focus on getting the story across and won’t feel so rushed. Also another question; for those of you that remembered last time when I asked what would the last book be called, well think about it now. With three extra books on our way and “Air” has been used, what will the last three books be called? Start debating with other fans and get ready for a long wait. They just finished writing the last 14 in June and are storyboarding and getting the animation rolling; Book 2 is set to air next year…I know, really long time to keep watching the same twelve episodes over and over again. But we’ll see. I feel that this show is really about to start rolling thanks to Nick making a somewhat smarter call. And as long as they keep making money they will probably order a season 3, so keep spreading the word. GAH! I’m all excited now! Anyway, until next time, According to Michael III, research is aweeeesooooooommme!

—Michael III

Hope

Hope.

Whether you believe I'm right or wrong, with my beliefs, life is meaningless without hope. And even if we don't all believe in the same thing going through life believing this is all there is, is a sense of hopelessness. We all have different faiths and beliefs but without some sense of Hope life is empty.

The bible says, "Tomorrow is not promised..." but we are given something else to hope for even if it's not a tomorrow.

So my question to you is what's hope for you? What keeps you going each day when the alarm or the sun wakes you for another day?

For me, it's knowing God loves me so much he couldn't spend eternity without me so He sent His son to pay the price for me. My hope is that this isn't the end and after all of this is something greater; something so magnificent that trying to wrap my head around it all is impossible, but I will understand it one day. Life shouldn't be empty. And no matter what I believe or what you believe too many times we try to fill it with stuff that won't fill that hole: drugs, sex, TV, cars, girl/boyfriends, game consoles, sports, etc. So what really makes you want to live your life so that way when you look back you can say that you lived a damn good life?

I can't tell you what to do, we all figure out our own ways to cope with what we call the world, but a sense of hope for something is powerful and life is a gift. As cheesy as that sounds it is and we shouldn't waste it. Do me a favor, don't be like Brian. Don't have a backup plan that involves taking yourself out of this world; I've seen the devastation of suicide, there is always someone even if you don't think so. Forget a backup, a friend of mine once said, "Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem." That’s right and it’s not right that it is.

I don’t know, Family Guy when I was watching it with my sister on Adult Swim the other night, got all deep on me and for me I believe Brian felt hopeless because he doesn't have the faith I do—for anyone who watches the show they know Brian is an atheist. But even those who don't believe in what I do have some pretty damn good source of hope. Look, what I'm trying to say is for those that are reading I'm hoping you love your life and are living it. Whether I know you or not I hate to think one of you has a safety deposit box with a gun and some wine just waiting to end it all when it becomes too much. Find something and my inbox if you want to know what I have to say about Christ it is always open if you want to talk.

Sorry for the change in pace, but what is the media if it doesn't drop some serious knowledge on you every now and then like its intention was in the first place. Writing was to teach and I'm teaching you something that we should all know about but don't. We need something that anchors us when this world becomes too much. What are you holding onto? That's all I want to know. Until next time, According to Michael III, thank you Family Guy for being serious for once. It gave me a chance to write this.

—Michael III

"John Carter" is fantastic! But the reviews and critics killed it!

I honestly have never been able to stand Critics, they are seriously annoying.
So this past week, my wife and I were sitting with one of my millions of sisters in law trying to figure out what to watch. I obviously wanted to watch a movie, mainly The Two Towers because my parents were out of town and when I told them we were watching it when my wife was living with her dad still while we were just engaged we decided to make our kid...so I’m trying to watch that with her when they're not home so they don't ask any questions. And because of The Hobbit this winter. Anyway, long, probably too much information, explanation aside; I got up to go grab it when I saw the unopened recently bought family copy of Disney's John Carter. My reaction was instantly, "Ooooh! Cool!" so I grabbed it and opened it and popped it into the Blue Ray.

Before I tell you my reaction let me just say this: It's very rare when a movie that is based off the book doesn't follow the book and still is a good movie. My mother is a very avid reader and wanting to see the movie she went and bought the first three books of the eleven book three decades long series. She always loves comparing books to the movie and sadly, as well all know, the movie can let us down. It's very rare when a movie follows the book to the T and only changes maybe one thing but still is an enjoyable experience. Honestly, it baffles me that us avid readers still hope the movie will be good, I don't know why, we really should give up that notion and just be surprised if it’s right.

Anyway, my mother had already told me the movie didn't really follow the book but it was still fantastic. My father went to go see it with her and loved it too. I was surprised my mom had said what she said. Even rarer is the fact when we like the movie because it was all on its own. But I had heard the mix reviews from critics and it didn't do well in the box office, but I loved it.

The movie constantly had me wondering what's going to happen next from the minuet Daryl Sarbara began to read—to the trippy and happy ending that had me waiting for more. Seeing the novel that apparently birth sci-fi on the big screen, meaning my flat screen, was awesome. The fact that Edgar Rice Burroughs thought of this fantastic world away from our world back in the early 1990's is amazing. Just in my short 20 years technology has advanced from tapes to MP3's and he was imagining stuff in the early part of the 1900's that's still thousands possibly millions of years out of our reach. The movie was eye candy with the graphics; it had a great classic super hero rising to the cause storyline with not only Carter but with his nephew who plays Edgar. In case you don't know the series is written by Edgar Rice Burroughs who is “the nephew of Carter”...trippy right? It had the tragic romance with a happy ending—as Disney does, and it had the action and comedy. But not only that, it blended it all well together and like I said it keeps you on the edge of your seat. So why did it do so bad?

Probably bad advertising. Everybody kept talking about how people should go see it because it's what birth their favorite Sci-Fi’s like Star Wars, Avatar, Star Gate SG1, Atlantis, and Universe, Battlestar Galactica, Aliens, and etc. And in my opinion, stating how old the story was really doesn't make people want to go see it. America does not care about history, we act like we do, but we don't. So because of that people were put off from a movie that is based off the original, but was a new as the little girl I had a month ago! So what the heck!?

I'm going to leave with this, if you haven't seen John Carter you need to see it! It was awesome and they do want to do the sequel but because of the fact they only made 32,788,100 more than they spent, which was 250 mil, they have put the untitled sequel based off of John Carter: The Gods of Mars on hold. Which, by the title, if you’ve seen the movie, will help us figure out why the Therns were evil when they were supposed to be servants of the goddess. And I don't have time to read it right now, I'm reading Ted Dekker's The Circle series so that's almost 1000 and a half pages I'm already starting. So spread the word about me and Carter! Anyway, until next time, According to Michael III, John Carter was legit...I think I'm going to watch it again!

—Michael III

3 Movie Reviews! Just some movies I watched with my family and here is my quick recaps on them!

Alright guys, I’m back! Starting a new job today that will allow me to focus more on my writing career because it’s in a book store. I have some sweet hours which will not be all hectic like my last job so expect me to be posting every morning except maybe Saturday morning because I’ll be at work by 10. But Saturday evenings you will still get a post. And you guys already know that I don’t normally post on Sunday. But who knows, every now and then I’ll surprise you. But I’m back, and this is all about to get the month of May status if you know what I mean! So keep spreading the word! And I have some big news that I will be debuting later this week so stay tuned for that as well! Anyway, let’s get to this!

So between the 21^st and the 22^nd of June I watched three movies I hadn't seen yet: Easy A, Coraline, and Puss in Boots. Here's my assessment on all three:

Easy A: wasn't as great as everyone made it out to be. I laughed out loud maybe five times that whole movie. Emma Stone’s character Olive brought all of that crap on herself by just, for one example, having a stupid friend and then liking the attention. Alyson Michalka has had better acting parts, and Amanda Bynes has too, but I'm glad everyone said she did a good job so she came out of retirement and now can hopefully do some real acting again. The movie was campy with a bad message and good message at the same time, rumors suck and so does high school and trying to do everything to "blend in" generally ends up in disaster. Plus, as a Christian it upset me to see that group of so called "Christians" in that movie; they might have as well just called those completely ignorant and wrong losers the Westboro Baptist Church because all of them were idiots just like them. Not like it matters what grade I give this movie but it gets a C-. Good but not as good as everyone made it out to be; much like Rise of the Fallen.

Coraline: I can go into a lot of detail about this movie but before that I'll sum it up into one sentence and you can continue to read or move on to what I think about Puss. Coraline: It was like Eragon; the book was a thousand times better and the movie was a complete let down! Now while it was in Tim Burton's hands and the cinematography gave me the chills more than the book itself did—seriously Burton, what's wrong with you—it didn't really follow the book. Her parents were made out a lot worse than they were, I can't even remember if the boy was a part of the novel but he seemed pointless until the Other version risked his life for her. And yeah, I waited three years to see this movie and it was a letdown. I need to go read the book again to get the bad taste out of my imagination. But luckily, like I said Burton gave me the chills so that bumps this grade from a D- to a D+. Maybe next time Tim, haven’t seen Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter yet but everyone else isn’t like that movie either; i.e., my procrastination.

Puss In Boots: Dreamworks is the new Disney, but with a lot more adult humor. So far in their animation department they have spat out soon to be classic after classic except for, from what I've heard, Shrek the Third. But Puss in Boots put Dreamworks on the map for me once again and I loved it! Antonio Banderas just has a sexy voice period and combine that with the cat who has a Zorro like personality it's great. But the storyline as always with the Shrek line of movies was unexpected. They twisted classical fairy tales everyone knows about and either adores, hates, or has no opinion of them, and made the silly characters we heard in nursery rhymes or the stories during that time they called story time but the dumb kids in the back fell asleep on, and made them humorous, darker, manipulative and more heroic than before. I don't want to give it away because you could be like I was and still haven't seen the movie—I still haven't seen Shrek the 3rd or the fourth one and my sister is lacking on How to Train Your Dragon—but let’s say the story line kept me on my feet. Plus, unlike Easy A I laughed a hellavua lot more and I literally watched the movies back to back starting with Easy A first and continuing down the order my short reviews have come in. It’s a fantastic family movie...for people with ten year old kids. Seriously, the movie starts off with Puss leaving a one night stand and he talks constantly about how great a lover of women he is. Not for the kiddies, hint why it's PG, and honestly I don't know how Easy A got at PG-13, it probably should have leaned on an R given all the language and the storyline. But Puss gets two thumbs up, an approving nod, and an A+. Come on Dreamworks bring on Rise of the Guardians—which I'll be reading so don't screw them up!—and Captain Underpants—which I'll be re-reading! So don't screw up my childhood!

But even with all that bashing on Easy A, I will say I love Emma Stone. She is becoming an actress who can fit any role and still stay her! Didn’t like the movie, but her acting was on point; and kudos for being an awesome Gwen Stacy as well. I’ve loved Stacey since I found out she existed, and Emma just made me love her even more. And contrary to your popular belief, I knew about Stacy at least a couple of years before they did the reboot thanks to the TV show The Spectacular Spider-Man. After I was like, “Who is she?” Wikipedia filled in the blanks. Yea Wikipedia! But now you know what I’ve watched recently, and give it a while, I’m letting AMS get some time before I review it because of the fact I haven’t seen it in 3D yet…yeah, I know, you’ll hear more about that later. Anyways, until next time, According to Michael III, don’t just believe what people say, including me; go see stuff for yourself and make your own opinion.

—Michael III