Amazing Spider-Man #659 features Spidey, FF in Caribbean adventure
Amazing Spider-Man #659 comic book review
The Amazing Spider-Man and his teammates in the Future Foundation take a trip to the Caribbean in “Amazing Spider-Man” #659, in which the team attempts to find out what’s been causing dimensional breaches.
Natalie Portman helps to keep “Thor” grounded
For the big-budget Marvel Studios adaptation of “Thor,” the filmmakers made some changes to the character of Jane Foster, introduced way back in 1962′s “Journey Into Mystery” No. 84 as a nurse.
Natalie Portman, an Academy Award winner for “Black Swan,” plays the character in the upcoming “Thor” movie and says the character takes into account the way women’s roles have changed since the 1960s.
“Jane in the comic books is a nurse, and now she’s an astrophysics doctoral candidate,” Portman said. “Things have been updated. Women can be scientists in different ways now.”
“Thor” stars Chris Hemsworth as the titular character, the thunder god of myth who has been exiled to Earth by his father, Odin. On Earth, he meets up with Foster.
“She has some family things that echo Thor’s familial situation, so that there’s that sort of a bond between them,” Portman said. “Obviously, they have a common quest because he’s trying to get back home, and her whole interest of study is these connections between dimensions.”
Portman and director Kenneth Branagh wanted to make the character of Foster believable as a scientist.
“Ken and I talked a lot before we started about how to make Jane like a realistic scientist on screen, not just make her someone like the Denise Richards in Bond with the glasses and so she’s a scientist,” she said. “But we talked about how real scientists are kind of like artists. They’re able to imagine things that aren’t there.”
Foster has been portrayed with various looks and motivations throughout the comic book character’s near-50-year run. Portman said the “Thor” film had to distill all of the characters and storylines down to fit into a 2:10 running time.
“The challenge, more for the writers than for us even, but for the writers and for Ken as the director, is finding one tone, choosing which of the stories to tell, because obviously all of these are sagas that have gone on for decades,” she said.
Though many things have changed from the comic-book series, Portman said one element that remained was Jane Foster as a grounding force for Thor.
“I think definitely that is part of her role in the movie,” she said. “It sort of grounds him. He’s exiled to Earth to learn humility. I think her earthiness is part of, hopefully, what transforms him. There are definitely changes in the character from the comic books, but that is certainly one of the things that has stayed.”
- By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Click past the cut for more photos
Steve Blum voices the “megalomanical” robot Starscream in “Transformers Prime”
A scene from "Transformers Prime."
Voice actor Steve Blum has voiced villains from Captain Cold to Fin Fang Foom, but he’s really gotten a chance to dig into his dark side for his current role as the scheming robot Starscream in “Transformers Prime.”
“It was really fun to make him darker,” Blum said in a recent phone interview. “He still has that megalomaniacal delusional thing about
Steve Blum
him, but he seems equally capable of causing a lot of havoc. So it was fun to dig a little bit deeper into that, into the emotional side of his psyche, too.”
Starscream is one of the Decepticons, a cadre of sentient, evil alien robots who can transform into forms resembling earth vehicles. They’re opposed by the Autobots, robots from the same planet who want to protect earth’s inhabitants. Based on the toy line from Hasbro, the Transformers first appeared on television in a 1980s animated series, and have since appeared in multiple animated incarnations and two live-action feature films, with a third set for this summer.
Blum got his start as a voice-actor doing English dubs of anime programs, and is perhaps best-known for voicing the Marvel Comics hero Wolverine in multiple animated incarnations. He said when working on a vocal performance, he goes first with instinct.
“I always go with the gut first, and then I let the directors and producers dial me in to what their vision of it is,” he said.
In the case of Starscream, his instinct was to take the deadly Decepticon to some dark places.
“And as he’s developing throughout the season, we get to go a little bit farther and farther with him each time,” Blum said. “They’re very open to suggestions, and they’re very open to what I’ve been thinking about him, but they also have a very clear idea of where the arc is going to be going, and how they want him to develop. It’s definitely a team effort.”
The new “Transformers Prime” series, which airs on the Hub network, features two voices well-known for their association with the characters. Frank Welker, who voices Decepticon leader Megatron, and Peter Cullen, who voices the heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime, reprise their roles in this series. They first voiced the characters in the 1980s cartoon series, and Cullen also worked on the Michael Bay films as the voice of Optimus Prime.
The vocal performances of “Transformers Prime” are done in a “cast record,” so that Blum and the other voice actors are recording together at the same time.
“That is probably the greatest joy of the whole project for me, is seeing Frank and Peter working together,” Blum said. “Even just being a fly on the wall in that room is like a fanboy’s dream come true. These guys are so incredibly talented, and they have such a rich history together. … And when the two of them get together, they’re like little kids, or Abbott and Costello, depending on their mood.”
Blum said at times the pair can “take over the room and fill it up with greatness,” which impresses him and the rest of the cast.
“I think we’re all fans of the Transformers franchise, so for all of us it’s a great thrill just to be there, just to be a part of it,” he said.
- By Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
“Truly outrageous” Jem and the Holograms to return to TV on the Hub; Conan the Adventurer also in lineup
The Hub Television network, which airs a variety of retro animation, has added two new programs to the lineup.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II trailer
The trailer for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II” has been released. The final film in the Harry Potter saga, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, will be released July 15.
What are your plans for the final Potter film? And what do you think of the trailer?
- Matt Price
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Do you want Arnold Schwarzenegger back in Terminator 5?
Arnold Schwarzenegger (AP)
Arnold Schwarzenegger is out of politics and heading back to movies. The Hollywood Reporter indicates Schwarzenegger wants to return to perhaps his most-successful franchise, the “Terminator” movies. Are you excited about a possible Arnold return in “Terminator 5″?
Action Comics #900 features shocking change of status quo for Superman
Comics Alliance reports that Superman makes what appears to be a very surprising decision in the David Goyer-written back up story in “Action Comics” #900. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Antje Traue signs on as Superman villainess, reports say
Antje Traue in "Pandorum."
According to a report from Variety, Antje Traue, best-known for her role in 2009′s “Pandorum, has joined the cast of Zack Snyder’s Superman movie reboot.
X-Men First Class trailer features mutants, missile crisis
A full trailer for X-Men First Class was just released, showing a more in-depth take on the film. What do you think? Does this trailer make you more excited for the X-Men movie? X-Men First Class stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, January Jones and others. The film releases June 3.
- Matt Price
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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: 1969 set for July release
Chris Staros of Top Shelf announced via e-mail that Alan Moore’s “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol. 3: Century #2 (of 3): 1969 is set for a July release. The 80-page full-color graphic novel has a suggested retail price of $9.95 in the U.S.
Here’s how the book is described:
The League is back! Our merry metafictional marauders continue their bestselling adventures through the 20th century. In this volume, the League must battle dark cultists amid the sit-ins, sitars, and psychedelics of 1960s swinging London.
Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill are the creative team for “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” which features fictional characters from other books brought together as a superteam of sorts.
- Matt Price
