7.75 to THE WOLVERINE: A Review for Fans of the Filmdom and the Comiclands.

Let's be honest. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was pretty terrible. Yes, the interaction between Wolverine and Not-Sabertooth was really intriguing and, yes, there's probably nobody alive that can do Logan like Jackman does. The movie as a whole though? Right rubbish. How could so many liberties be taken so haphazardly with the history of one of Marvel's most iconic characters? Between the awkward performance given by Will I. Am  and sewing shut "the Merc with a Mouth's" lips (seriously, why?!), something was lost, and unforgivingly so. At the time I thought it was a real shame, as the chemistry between Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber was incredible and so much could've been done there. Also, Gambit. There was Gambit! How do you ruin that?!


But, of course, this isn't a review of X-Men Origins. This is a review of The Wolverine. I just felt it necessary to show that I, as a fan of the character and of Marvel in general, felt very strongly at the time that Origins very well could've marked the end of the Jackman Wolverine era. I'm incredibly glad to say that The Wolverine has quelled those fears.

I enjoyed The Wolverine. Quite a lot. Yes, there were some liberties taken. Yes, there were some minor plot-holes, but I didn't find myself minding that enough to really matter. The liberties taken made sense and really added to an interesting story that explores the toll immortality has taken on everyone's favorite mutton-chopped Canadian. Hugh Jackman, as most everyone probably expected, delivered. If there's one thing that's been consistently good throughout every single X-Men movie with him in it... it's him. The characters were interesting, the plot dealt with interesting considerations and issues. The movie starts with Logan witnessing the bombing of Nagasaki, and if that's not a ballsy thing to depict in a comic book movie, I don't know what is. And, you know what? I think it worked for the most part.

Honestly, this movie's biggest failing was the fact that it didn't delve in deep enough. The heart of it all was shapely but it wasn't textured as well as it could have been. Considering how riddled this franchise has been with awkwardness, this is high praise. If more time was taken to flesh out some characters which should have been more major players and reveal a little more of Logan's psychological drama in more chilling ways as he grapples with what's happening to him over the course of the film and his identity and yaddayadda... I honestly feel this could've wowed audiences just as much as the first Iron Man, or Nolan's Batman trilogy, in terms of what a comic book movie could be. Unfortunately, rushing through some of those key-but-now-minor characters and not letting the heavy material really play out as what it seems to want to be makes it more of a summer fun action movie than the monolith of comic book movie achievement it aspires towards. I don't mean to sound too down on it though, as I quite enjoyed it, and believe me when I say that there were people cheering and applauding at various points of the movie, and I found myself joining them more often than not.





All in all, I think I'll give The Wolverine 7.75 out of 10, but I feel that it has the heart of a 8.75 lurking within it that was never completely realized.




Movie lovers won't regret going to see this if they like action and mutants and all that summer movie fun stuff. Wolverine lovers, you'll be happy to see your favorite X-Man up on the screen making huge strides in the name of the X-Men franchise. Hopefully someday we can see Jackman and his X-Men integrated artfully into a new wave of these current blockbusting Marvel movies. This film, if nothing else (though I believe it to be more), is proof of that.


Until next time, Bubs and Bubettes,

Master Drey



PS Oh, and stick around for the mid-credits stinger. Gave me chillllssssss.

30ish Days of Gaming... DAY 3, sort of

DAY 3:

MY GUILTY PLEASURE GAME

This one was pretty difficult at first. And then it was pretty easy. Difficult because for the most part I'm nerdy enough that I don't really feel guilty playing any of the games I play. Videogames are already viewed in our culture as a sort of adolescent thing to do, and seeing as I'm not really phased by that particular concept it's sort of hard to feel guilty playing any in particular. I don't play many games that are looked down upon by the gaming community either, and the ones I do play I play because I love them and I don't really feel bad about that. There's a lesson in there somewhere... maybe. Do what feels right to you. Or something. I dunno. I just woke up. YOU extrapolate meaning.

Anyhow, this became pretty easy once I looked back into my past to the N64.

I used to play this game called Deadly Arts. Maybe you know it by its non-US title: G.A.S.P!! Fighters' NEXTream. Still not ringing a bell? Don't worry. I'm probably one of twenty five people that played it, and the only one out of all of them that actually enjoyed it.

Deadly Arts was a 3D fighter released by Konami back in the late 90s (and yes, it made me feel old to realize how long ago that was). The mechanics are pretty terrible. There's really very little appeal to draw anyone in. So let me break down why I liked it.

1) Edit Mode

That's right. In Deadly Arts you could design a character, train as them to gain techniques, and then fight as them in the different fighting modes of the game. I LOVE games with not just character customization but character CREATION. That's why T.H.U.G. 2 was always such a favorite of mine.

2) Goils

Yeah, yeah. Lousy man of a boy that I was I couldn't help but go a little gaga over the ladies in this game. Really, that's probably the biggest embarrassing reason that I'd list this as my guilty pleasure game. DOA came out on home consoles in '98 as well, but only to Playstation. Deadly Arts was sort of the sad, Nintendo man's answer to that lack.

Anyhow, from my searching there is pretty much NO fan art out there for this game, so I hope fellow fans (if you exist) enjoy this, because this very well may be the only fan art for Deadly Arts in existence right now.

Check back a little later, as I'll be choosing one or two additional games as sort of honorable mentions. I sort of wish I'd been doing honorable mentions from the beginning. Ah well.

EDIT: 

And here they are! Guilty Pleasure Honorable mentions! 

First up, Pokémon!

Pokémon is awesome. There's really no denying that. The part of playing it that's most embarrassing is seeing seven and eight year olds walking around playing the same thing you are. That's also sort of awesome though... defeat ageism! 

For this picture I combined my original Pokémon Red team into one monstrously awkward pokémon. I challenge you to do the same! (Please... don't leave me with this thing all alone...)

Second on today's honorable mention... it's... ANIMAL CROSSING! *confetti* 

Animal Crossing is a fantastic game. You can't beat it. There's no violence. So why is it so good? Honestly, I play some pretty "hardcore" games, but I can't help but love Animal Crossing's quaint cutery. Even my mom--who doesn't like playing video games--likes playing it.

Why is it a guilty pleasure?

In no other town do I stop by clothing stores daily to see what new fashions are in or feel so incredibly compelled to pull weeds, plant flowers, and make sure the neighborhood looks great. A far cry from Halo.

Second Day of 30(ish) Days of Gaming

FAVORITE CHARACTER

My favorite character has already been featured in the art of my first day of gaming post... THE DUCK HUNT DOG!

Just kidding.

Mario has always been my favorite videogame character by a long shot. He might not be the most complicated, or the best written, or the the best designed character... especially with the state of story telling in current gen gaming... but he's one of the most enduring, tireless, and classic characters that never refuses to do the right thing. Even if it means dressing up in silly animal outfits.

I've been playing Mario games since my first days as a gamer. Back then my cousins could hand me the second player controller and let me think I was playing when it was really them. I'm a decently intelligent fellow, so you can probably deduce for yourself that I was quite young then. Anyhow, I'm still playing Mario games, and I'm yet to grow tired of them. The Mario team is always elaborating Mario games that never makes them muddled without losing sight of what a Mario game is. After over 25 years, that's pretty darn impressive. They've also made Mario an icon of fun and welcome. The Mario franchise has established itself as a great place for old grumpy gamers and bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and easily confused newbies to meet as equals not necessarily in skill, but in the pursuit of fun.

I'm really tired and I feel like this post is less than adequate, so I'm going to stop it now--though not before adding one last thing. Mario isn't Mario without Luigi (or Bowser, or Peach, etc.). I grew up playing these games with my brother, and he clung to Luigi as religiously as I did Mario. He didn't mind having to wait his turn or the fact that he wasn't player one. He was Luigi, and my brother made wearing that green hat seem like an enviable thing.

Seeing as it's National Sibling day and Nintendo's proclaimed "Year of Luigi," I really wanted to incorporate Luigi into this picture. Before Mario had all his spin offs and whatnot, it started with the Brothers together (who are still going strong (for the first time in HD!)). Here's to remembering all those days not just of Mario, but of the SUPER MARIO BROS.

First Day of 30(ish) Days of Gaming

POST NOTE: Thanks to my laziness, I've transplanted my first 30 days of Gaming post to today! Now compleat with a drawn picture, as promised!

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Since I'm completely idealess, I thought I'd start doing one of those 30 day blog challenges that I started and failed a long time ago as a sign of my renewed investment in this blog. It was aptly a videogame challenge, and--loving videogames--I'm super down to give it another go. I'm also going to do the thing that caused me to fail in the first place: draw a drawing for each post!!!

(For those interested, the original challenge--to the best of my knowledge--was issued here about a year ago.)

DAY ONE: 

VERY FIRST VIDEO-GAME

I've been playing vidjagaems since forever, so it's sort of hard to remember, but the earliest game I can remember playing religiously is my copy of Mario Bros / Duck Hunt. Yeah, I had/have that two-in-one cartridge of awesomeness. That zapper gun, I swear. My favorite game to play with it was Gumshoe (but that's another story). Nintendo has always been on the ball with innovation. Some people seem to think that their products can be gimmicky, but I think their visionaries. They uphold their traditional values without becoming stuck in the past. They continue to revisit and reinvent simultaneously, letting fans watch their favorite characters evolve (poképun?) while somehow staying the same, a kind reminder of the best parts of growing up. Not too bad for a card-maker-gone-game-crazy company.

National Poetry Month

Hey world!

It's raining today! And... AND... I'm featured on Yvonne Brown's blog today, which is featuring a different poet everyday of this beauteous thing we call April to showcase a great diversity of poetry and poets. I recommend checking it out, not just for my own benefaction but for yours too. Yvonne has really gone beyond the call to find a great splay of artists from all corners of the craft. Heck, you should even stop reading this to check it out at here. To see the various poets featured click on the "Blog" tab in the upper right.


Well, let's see. This sort of speaks to the new life of my blog too. I wanted some sort of anchor for my artistic efforts, wherein I can share various ridiculousness of my arteestical whims with whoever has the time or the desire to encounter it.

Hit me up at undeadninjasquirrel@gmail.com to let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see here.

In this web of social networks, I am the fly.

Social networking. Bane of doing things irl. It's sort of like the Pokémans. Gotta catch 'em all.

Mein Gott!

And this week in art: Why Would You Color That?! I titled this piece "Flypoopsadness.jpg" Enjoy.

This is probably about the twenty-fifth time I've restarted this blog. It keeps drawing me back to it every couple of years. I won't pretend to understand why.

I haven't really decided what I want to utilize it for this go around. Part of me wants to use it for writerly purposes, as I tend to claim to be one, but--as so much of my time is devoted to writerly pursuits--part of me wants this to be about all the parts of my life that are unwriterly and free.

Thanks to my inability to cope with indecision, I have the feeling that I'll opt for both of these options simultaneously and render this blog into a blog about nothing and everything. 

One thing I want to make sure I do do (heh) is put up silly drawings with nearly every post. So, I'll at least start off on the right foot with that.

Sweet. I present to you "The Monkeyman Plays a Back-Alley Blues Track."

I might leave this somewhere or try to sell it for a few buckaroos. ONLY TIME WILL TELL.