Monday movie quote challenge #157
“I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
Roy Thomas reflects on “Conan”
"Conan the Barbarian" No. 1, written by Roy Thomas, from Marvel Comics
Missouri-born comic book writer and editor Roy Thomas broke into comics in the mid-1960s, and went on to write some of the comic industry’s best-known characters, from the Avengers to the X-Men to Batman. But among his best-loved works are his comic-book adaptations of the Robert E. Howard pulp tales of Conan the Barbarian. The success of the Marvel Comics Conan led to the Arnold Schwarzenegger films of the 1980s, which had some involvement from Thomas.
“Conan” remains a popular property — the latest film, “Conan the Barbarian,” starring Jason Momoa, was released on DVD this week, and the Thomas-written 12-issue series “Conan: Road of Kings” is currently being released by Dark Horse Comics.
Kindle Fire demo; Avengers poster; Conan giveaway and Roy Thomas interview
Matt and Kyle take a look at the Kindle Fire’s options for comics; the Avengers release new posters; and Roy Thomas talks about Conan the Barbarian in this week’s comics podcast.
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Monday movie quote challenge #156
“Funny enough, I was just talking to my friend about that. Our speedometer has melted and as a result it’s very hard to see with any degree of accuracy exactly how fast we were going.”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
New Avengers banners feature Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson and others
Yahoo Movies debuted a banner featuring Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man and Chris Hemsworth as Thor, for the upcoming film “The Avengers,” set for a May 4, 2012 release. The film is directed by Joss Whedon.
The Avengers who haven’t had their own solo movies as yet, plus one villain, are found on a second banner via Moviefone. Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury,Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow round out the second banner, which can be seen at Moviefone or by clicking past the cut.
- Matt Price
DVD review: Captain America/Captain America II: Death Too Soon
Long-suffering “Captain America” fans finally got an A-list, top-notch film version of their favorite character when “Captain America: The First Avenger” came out earlier this year. But some disappointed Redbox patrons may instead find they’ve rented the TV movies “Captain America” and “Captain America II: Death Too Soon,” both originally shown on TV in 1979, and now out on DVD.
The movie takes a ton of liberties from the comics story. Reb Brown stars in both TV films as Steve Rogers. Dr. Simon Mills (Len Birman) wants Steve to take the FLAG formula, a sort of “super-steroid” that was developed by Rogers’ late father. Because his father experimented using his own DNA, the formula is only likely to work on someone in his family. Rogers refuses, but when he’s nearly killed investigating the death of a friend, Mills decides to use the FLAG formula on him without his permission, giving him peak human strength and other abilities. Unfortunately, all this origin means it’s over an hour into the film before Steve gets into Captain America gear, and when he does, he looks more like Evel Knievel than Captain America. His motorcycle, judging by the screen time it gets, is also a very important part of the film.
The first film must have been successful enough, despite making not too much sense, as most of the cast returned later that year for “Death Too Soon.” Connie Selleca (“The Greatest American Hero”) replaced Heather Menzies (“Piranha”) as Dr. Wendy Day.
The terrorist Miguel (Christopher Lee, slumming it) has stolen a rapid aging formula that he will use on a major American city if his demands are not met. (Thus causing — “Death Too Soon.”)
Steve tracks Miguel down to a small town, where he falls in love with a local woman, tussles with local roughnecks, and eventually tracks down the bad guys. Compared to the first film, this one’s semi-watchable, and Lee chews up the scenery with vigor. Hungarian-born Heidi Fleiss ex-boyfriend Ivan Nagy directs, and Captain America’s costume is closer to something that looks like the comics’ Captain America. It’s still pretty much a mess, but, prior to this year, “Death too Soon” was arguably the live-action Captain America to watch.
The Shout Factory Double Feature of “Captain America” and “Captain America II” has no special features to speak of, unfortunately. I’d love to have heard commentary from the directors or star about how these films were made.
— Matthew Price
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Monday movie quote challenge #155
“That’s right, fool! Now I’m a flying talking donkey! You might have seen a housefly, maybe even a superfly, but I bet you ain’t never seen a donkeyfly! Ha, ha!”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
See Marv Wolfman at Wizard World’s Austin Comic Con
“Teen Titans” and “Tomb of Dracula” writer Marv Wolfman will appear at noon today in Room B of the Austin Comic Con, Austin Convention Center, 500 E Cesar Chavez.
Wolfman will discuss characters he’s created that have been adapted into TV shows, movies and animated series, including “Teen Titans” and “Smallville.”
Wolfman created the character Blade in “Tomb of Dracula,” which has been adapted into three movies starring Wesley Snipes, and a television series.
Also, Wolfman and artist John Romita Sr. created the “Daredevil” villain Bullseye.
- Matt Price
Charisma Carpenter, Hayden Panettiere among Austin Comic Con guests
Charisma Carpenter (AP)
If you’re heading to Texas this weekend, the largest show in the region happens this weekend in Austin, Texas.
The Wizard World Austin Comic Con features stars Hayden Panettiere, Adam Baldwin, James Marsters, Juliet Landau and Charisma Carpenter among dozens of celebrities and industry professionals celebrating movies, graphic novels, comics, toys, television and more. The show will be held at the Austin Convention Center, 500 East Cesar Chavez Street, in Austin, TX.
The show hours are 4 to 7 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. For more information, go to www.wizardworldcomiccon.com/austin.html.
Click past the cut for more images of the stars.
- Matt Price
James Bond film Skyfall begins filming; Batman trailer could be on the way; Lord of the Rings follows a War in the North
James Bond news, Dark Knight Rises preview coming, and Lord of the Rings gets a new videogame in this week’s Planet 46 Comics Podcast
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