Return To Smallville Season 1 Episode 3 (Hothead)

Go watch episode 3 of season 1 Smallville then listen to B go over his thoughts and talk about it. Hothead is about a crazy coach who gets the power to control fire and will burn anyone who threatens his chances of winning his 200th game.

Return To Smallville Episode 1

Recorded the first Return to Smallville episode where I will be re-watching one of my favorite shows of the last decade and talking about each episode on a weekly basis. This first episode I actually cover the first two episodes. The pilot which sets things up nicely, and then the second episode that features bug boy as he joins the list of creepy guys stalking Lana.

Man of Steel

Hey all, after waiting what seemed like forever for me, the much anticipated Man of Steel finally came out this past Friday. Now my mind had already been made up long ago that no matter what I would go see this film, but I couldn't help but go to the Rotten Tomatoes website and see what the reviews were. I was shocked to see it was only at a 56% rating and the critics didn't seem to care for it. I'm thinking okay whatever, I mean it is a super hero film, and up until only recently critics seem to usually take a giant crap on the genre anyway so take it with a grain of salt. What really pisses me off is some of the comments these so called "critics" make, particularly that this Superman movie is too different from past versions. There is just no pleasing you f'n people is there? I mean Bryan Singer's Superman Returns comes out six years ago decides to go the route of paying tribute to Richard Donner films and every one's bitching and moaning that it's a clone of the Christopher Reeve films, so now we get a completely new vision from Snyder, Goyer, and Nolan, and one of the chief complaints is it's too different. I get the feeling that most of these reviewers have been doing this since the '78 Superman came out and they retire at the end of the day to their nursing homes to go watch some Charlie Chaplin or something, good for them, but they need to adapt to the times, and I personally think that's what has happened with Superman in this latest outing Man of Steel.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, lets move on. I was going to wait a week or so to go see this as to avoid the crowds and what not of first weekend releases, but the kid inside of me couldn't wait any longer than Sunday morning, so I decided to go to a matinee showing. A pleasant surprise is that the matinee price was only $7 so even if the movie didn't live up to my expectations that have been building over the past year $7 was a price I could live with. I was shocked to find that at 11 O'clock AM on a Sunday morning the theater would be so crowded but it was, and I was lucky to get a seat in a decent spot by getting there fifteen minutes early. If the Sunday morning crowd is any indication I can easily guess who will win this weekend box office. So after an eternity of trailers the movie finally begins, and there is no down time, things take off immediately.

Visually the movie is great, and we see this right from the start as we are treated to a glimpse into the world of Krypton. The planet looks like Pandora from Avatar, but with high tech skyscrapers and ships filling the skies. The soundtrack wasn't bad but not really memorable like the original films we've all come to love over the years. We get to see Jor El (Russell Crowe) as much more than just a scientist as he does his fair share of butt whooping and stunt work while trying to save the newly born Kal El from a dying planet and an insurrection from general Zod. After the Krypton sequence and escape of baby Kal El the movie fast forwards thirty years later to a grown Clark traveling the world under alias as to keep his powers secret. All the origin Smallville stuff plays out in flashback sequences similar to the way Nolan's Batman films were done. I like this approach and there were some real tender moments between young Clark and ma and pa Kent as Clark went through some growing pains.

The big theme of the movie is how the world would handle the presence of a being from another world with great powers and I like this theme as it seems like a very real issue to deal with should someone like a Superman actually arrive. Lets face it most of us wouldn't take it to well, it is human nature to think we are the superior beings and at the top of the food chain, not to mention those with high religious beliefs. The movie also brings Supes into a more modern era with an uneasy military and lots of destruction from intergalactic terrorists courtesy of General Zod. Once Zod arrives on Earth the rest of the movie is pretty much non stop action and although it can be a bit much on the senses at times, I still loved every moment of it.

So I guess you can tell I pretty much loved it, the real question is did it live up to the hype? For me that's an easy yes. I mean just think about this one question for starters, how can you make a man in tights who flies around feel bad ass? Henry Cavill pulls it off big time. At the same time I do kind of miss the bumbling Clark Kent moments at the Daily Planet, but the way this movie ends it looks like we may get those come a sequel if made(crosses fingers it happens). Something else that brings this movie up a notch is no Lex Luthor, yes he is one of Superman's greatest villains, but it has been done to death on tv and film and I for one was glad to see a threat that could actually hurt the man of steel without using glowing green rocks. I'm not trying to take anything away from prior Superman films, although I have been quite vocal in the past that I don't think the original one was that great, I mean we didn't even see Superman for the first hour or so in that movie and by that time I wanted to just go to sleep. However it was good for it's time, but now we are in a new era of super hero movies and I think Man of Steel is a welcomed addition in this new era. DC hasn't done as well as Marvel with it's comic book movies aside from Batman, but I hope all that will change now that we got what I consider a great Superman movie.

Agent Coulson Rezzurection, Cheapens Things?

Hey Wanna "B's" we've all heard by now that Clark Gregg would be reprising his role as Agent Coulson on the new show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Earlier I read on Nerdapproved.com a theory of how he would be back. Now when I originally heard he was coming back I wondered how could he be back? I mean he was killed in the Avengers movie last year, wasn't he? Well B people might say "these movies are based on comic books, so don't think about it too much, just enjoy it". Yes you are right to feel that way, and I understand that, but I still need answers, and while I do enjoy the comic book movies, I've done very little reading of actual comics in my lifetime. So I did what anybody these days would do when they want answers, I did a search on google.

I did get some theories, one of which is based on LMD's which stands for Life Model Decoy's, basically these are android bodies that act as body doubles for their real life counter parts, in the film The Avengers Tony Stark even answers a phone call from agent Coulson with a joke line saying that the caller has reached his LMD. The other theory is from the above mentioned website and says that agent Coulson held his breath and this was part of an elaborate plan with Nick Fury to motivate the Avengers into working together. Between the two theories I like the Life Model Decoy one allot better. Of course in world of comics there are always other ways of bringing back the recently departed. He could always be an alternate version from and alternate Earth, or even a clone.

Okay so now that we have theories out of the way, the question is do you think he should be resurrected? Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed his character as much as the next guy in all of the recent films, he and Nick Fury are actually the link that binds all these movies together up until The Avengers movie. While Avengers was action packed, and funny at times, one of the most important scenes that had a real emotional impact on me was the death of agent Coulson. This was the part of the movie when all ego's had to be put aside and it was time to gather for a common goal, to save the world, and to avenge the guy with no super powers but the heart of a real hero. Now we are being told this was part of a plan, and I can tell you the next time I watch The Avengers I'm going to have a totally different view on how this scene plays out, and in a way it feels cheapened to me.

Such is the way of life and death when dealing with the comic book world I guess, and no matter what happens I am on board to watch whatever is put out, and I am sure I will enjoy the heck out of it either way. I just wanted to give a little back story, and explain how I felt about the whole thing, and if anyone out there wants to throw their thoughts into the mix, feel free in the comments section.

You can check out Clark Gregg talking about his death and more in the clip below: