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Justice League Villain Announced?

With some heavy news flying around about the Justice League Movie – rumor has it that the Villan has been announced.

According to Latino Review – the evil force which Superman, Batman, the Green Lantern and Wonder Woman will do battle with is none-other-than Darkseid.

Created by Jack Kirby in 1970, Darkseid is a dastardly god from the war planet Apokolips, and ranked at number six in our list of the Greatest Comic Book Villains, where we described him thusly:

“Darkseid’s motivations are rather simple – conquer and control all life by unlocking and solving the Anti-Life equation.

“Perhaps the most appealing trait of Darkseid is his lack of interest in direct physical confrontation… he has immense strength, endurance and eye beams that can disintegrate, teleport or torture opponents, yet he chooses to manipulate events from the shadows, allowing his minions to act on his behalf.”

So if Warner Bros. retain this behaviour, expect Darkseid to the first of several villains to be announced for the Justice League movie.

Excited? You bet! Sets a perfect base! An Darkseid can be a mean mofo!

The Dark Knight Rises: Biggest 2D Movie Opening Ever

As expected, The Dark Knight Rises debuted as the No. 1 film in North America this weekend. (The studios refrained from reporting official weekend box office figures until Monday due to the Aurora theater shooting.)

According to Exhibitor Relations, the final film in director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy grossed $160.9 million for the weekend, more than The Dark Knight’s $158.4 million debut in 2008 and makes TDKR the largest ever 2D opening of all time. With $88 million made overseas, the film’s worldwide total is currently $248.9 million. IMAX announced that the film made $23.8 million from 396 IMAX locations worldwide.

Here are the rest of the weekend box office figures via Box Office Mojo:

1. The Dark Knight Rises $160.9 million

2. Ice Age: Continental Drift $20.4 million

3. The Amazing Spider-Man $10.9 million

4. Ted $10 million

5. Brave $6 million

6. Magic Mike $4.3 million

7. Savages $3.4 million

8. Madea’s Witness Protection $2.3 million

9. Moonrise Kingdom $1.8 million

10. To Rome with Love $1.4 million

The Avengers Movie Review

Before the movie began I was pretty sure I’d have a nerdgasm given all the super hero mayhem that would be going on..and I did. I watched the movie twice just to be sure I was giving it a fair shake and I realized that while The Avengers, may be Earth’s Mightiest Hero’s – the movie probably just fell short of a perfect 10.

This big-budget blockbuster lives up to all the hype and sets the bar high for all future sci-fi fantasy action adventures. Much of the credit for the “Superhero Team-Up of a Lifetime” goes to director and co-writer Joss Whedon. Whedon, a comic book fan, adds energy, enthusiasm and style to a familiar blueprint dating back to the classic screen Westerns. The enlisted All-Star heroic champions are the costumed good guys sans the customary white hats. The boo-hiss villain clothed in black garments poses the threat to peace and tranquility.

The story picks up in a blurred timeline post ‘Thor’ the movie and ‘Captain America’s’ resurrection – either way, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Thor’s younger adopted brother, craves power and vengeance and plans to use the magical cube called the called the ‘Tessaract’ and harness it’s energy to open a portal in space from which an invading alien army can descend upon our planet.

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), mostly seen thus far in the post credit scenes, who is the director of the international peacekeeping agency S.H.I. E. L.D., recruits a group of superheroes dubbed the Avengers-comprised of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), the Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)-to retrieve the Tesseract. Their ultimate mission is to battle Loki and a mysterious extraterrestrial force.

While the plot was clean and got me hooked, my only quip was the predictability and lack of surprises and twists – but hey! I’m not complaining. It truly was a comic book fans’ dream come true! Overall, I would think the movie is very well done, great cast, great-ish story line, eye candy visuals and Scarlet Johanson. For the most part of it, it looked like a Hulk and Iron Man team up. Probably, hero’s like Thor, Captain America and Hawkeye didn’t get as much screen time as I would have liked; but who knows how that would turn out. The only real complaint I had, was the long ride before jaws drop and the eyeball caressing spectacle of The Avengers clicks into high gear, but when it does the sight is something to behold, and more so in 3D.

In closing – Best super hero movie so far? – It’s right up there amongst the best. No doubt about it. I’d watch it a 100 times more just for the visual treat in the last 10 minutes…and also the fun one-liners but really, just go watch it already if you haven’t! and if you have..comment away!

Overall, we at The Game Druid give the movie: 9/10

Movie Releases this week – Jan 20th 2012

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Haywire, Red Tails, Underworld: Awakening open in wide release this weekend. The previous three Underworld movies have all opened with at least $20 million, including the 2009 Rise of the Lycans, which did not star Kate Beckingsale. If the fourth movie continues that trend, Underworld: Awakening will top the box office charts. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close opened in six theaters on Christmas Day and has grossed under $700,000 so far. It will expand to over 2,500 theaters this weekend. Haywire and Red Tails will attempt to crack double digit box office returns. Both movies released the extended clips in an attempt to boost awareness.

Last weekend, Contraband topped the long-weekend with nearly $29 million. In second place, Beauty and the Beast 3D re-release added $23.5 million to its total and will likely pass the $200 million mark this week. In fourth place, Joyful Noise took in close to $14 million.

http://www.movieinsider.com/movies/january/2012/20/

Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

A single act of both compassion and arrogance leads to a war unlike any other — and to the Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The Oscar-winning visual effects team that brought to life the worlds of Avatar and Lord of the Rings is breaking new ground, creating a CGI ape that delivers a dramatic performance of unprecedented emotion and intelligence, and epic battles on which rest the upended destinies of man and primate. — (C) Official Site

PG-13, 2 hr.

Drama, Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Rupert Wyatt

Written By: Pierre Boulle, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver

In Theaters: Aug 5, 2011 Wide

On DVD: Dec 13, 2011

US Box Office:$176.7M

20th Century Fox

The Review

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” Rupert Wyatt’s socially aware, achingly humane update of the venerable Fox franchise, is a supreme reminder never to assume. I mean, who thought that this seemingly well-worn series could be rehabilitated in such a clever, sophisticated way?

Wyatt and his scenarists Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver surmounted this challenge by honoring the soul of Pierre Boulle’s original French novel, “La planète des singes,” while bringing a timeless modernity to the piece.

The Biritsh filmmaker has also contrasted the free-wheeling ’60s of the original film with the unfortunate conformist mentality that pervades the so-called New Millenium, giving this update a ’50s aftertaste.

James Franco is utterly convincing as a San Francisco scientist/idealist, with both a mission and an agenda, who is experimenting on chimps to find a cure for the Alzheimer’s disease that afflicts his father (John Lithgow). And Wyatt brings a certain element to his film, one essential to all films, that has fallen in disrepair in recent years – namely, exposition.

He takes his time creating the timeline that will take baby Caesar, a chimp from Franco’s high-tech pharmaceutical headquarters (named Gen-Sys), to his home where Caesar bonds with his father, to the animal refuge which is anything but. Here, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” becomes a shrewd take on the prison-film genre, and the innocent, loving Caesar (brilliantly played by a digitally costumed Andy Serkis) becomes a hardened inmate. Think Eastwood in Don Siegel’s “Escape from Alcatraz.”

All of this plays as a commantary/allegory on the fate of all captive animals, including those who we think are comfortably domesticated.

The film’s big setpiece is a standoff between Caesar and his fellow escapees and gun-toting authorities on the expansive Golden Gate Bridge (there’s never any question which species is the superior one) – a huge action scene amidst a film that’s largely spoken. The dialogue penned by Jaffa and Silver is often quick, alert and literate, but there’s one word here, a mere monosylable, that speaks volumes. Memorably.