If they make a fourth without Downey, I hope they don't reboot it. Just continue on with the new lead a la James Bond. I'm getting tired of seeing origin stories over and over and over again due to new lead actors stepping into a role.
I just hope they put in some kind of security feature that immediately shuts down the Kinect camera if it detects that the guy initiating the video chat is a middle aged guy in his boxers. Cause let's face it, I'm getting de-friended left and right nowadays for it.
On the other hand, an argument can be made that a lot of that perceived rebellion and iconoclasm can be directly attributed less to artistic integrity and more towards just a disdain for everyone's opinion but his own. I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship with his work.
Doctor Strange? Hell yeah! But as I've said before, you gotta keep the cape!
Black Panther? Another hell yeah...as long as they keep him the king of Wakanda and don't pander to the youth market by "urbanizing" him like Hollywood seems to like to do with African American heroes. T'Challa needs to be a role model for kids, so he has to be Superman like in his sense of morality and justice. Plus, he's one giant bad ass.
Inhumans? A giant hell yeah. Give me a big screen Triton!
Ghost Rider? I'm not sure the damage done to the character by Nicholas Cage can be undone, unfortunately. One of my favorite comic characters growing up was Ghost Rider so this is even more disappointing.
The only reason I was really surprised is because they went out of their way to all but deny it was Khan in so many interviews and articles that I believed them. That folks moved onto other theories (my favorite being that it was Gary Mitchell, although I was intrigued by the theory that it might be Gary Seven) only served to reinforce my belief that it wasn't Khan. By not revealing his identity until later in the film like they did, they pulled it off very well, imho.
And to the joke about the engine room looking like a brewery. I had the same thought, although I thought it looked more like a dairy factory.
Saw it yesterday and loved it. I dug all the little shout outs to the original series.
Thoughts:
Spoiler for Hiden:
The first half was a bit slow, but once the "reveal" happened, the movie was just non-stop action for the rest of its run. The woman sitting next to me had her mouth covered for the last hour of the film I think.
I liked the tribbles, the call back to Harry Mudd, the reverse Wrath of Kahn ending, and the amount of time they gave Scotty and Chekov.
I'm not fond of the trans-warp deus ex machina device. It needs to go away in future films. I also really wish they'd stuck with the Klingon design from the movies and next gen. The design they use now makes them look too much like a Ferenghi in a fetish dungeon in my opinion.
Also, personal aside, but Spock was enraged during that final fight with Kahn. I know he's half human, but Vulcans are notoriously strong and I would've liked to see him put up more of a fight for the first two thirds of that fistfight. They've alluded to the fact that Vulcans pre-Surak would've made Kahn look like a Teletubby. But that's entirely me being a giant nerd.
So, two thumbs way up. A hell of a fun matinee ride.
I think the Necromangers are actually pretty cool. It was just the addition to Riddick's history I disagreed with (as I mentioned before). I'm perfectly fine with the inclusion of that group in the film as long as they make Riddick a believable but human(like) badass again.
I have my main on a different shard, but they said that they're going to a one shard architecture soon so that's why they're not offering transfers. I'll probably keep plugging away with my rogue until that day.
It's also become a fantastic source of boardgame ports. With the recent release of Eclipse, the iPad even has an amazingly good Master of Orion type game. Are there games like those you say? Of course. All mobile games will have that. It's just the state of the world. But DLC is a fact of life on consoles AND PC so you should just say ALL platforms have this problem.
Twilight Struggle has been almost consistently in the top 10 board games on boardgamegeek.com since its release, so you can NEVER go wrong with that one.
Here's what I own from GMT and can endorse (bear in mind that I'm a nut for card driven games):
Twilight Struggle - Classic. A must own. Covers the cold war.
1989 - The sequel to Twilight Struggle covering the late 80's when the wall came down in Berlin. Essentially the same game mechanic as TS but with some neat twists.
Labyrinth - Also includes solo play. Slightly complex analysis of the war on terror.
Successors - Haven't had a chance to play, but looks great. Alexander the great, that is. multiplayer card driven game based on the state of things immediately after his death.
Dominant Species the Card Game - I played the board game it's based on, but even though I liked it a lot I couldn't see myself buying it due to the rather long game time (although I shouldn't complain too much considering how long some games of 1989 take). This really isn't like the board game though, but still keeps the theme and the feel. It's a bit of a trick taking game, which I normally don't enjoy. But for some reason it works for me. Two thumbs up.
Washington's War - Based on We the People which is the grandaddy of the Card Driven board game genre. You HAVE to play the Americans as guerrillas or you lose. This is frustrating the first time you play, but then you realize that's exactly the way it happened during the American Revolution. Great, great game.
What I'm looking at:
Andean Abyss - Kind of a sequel to Labyrinth. VERY complex from what I've read. It's actually being used in classrooms in some European and South American schools as a teach aid for courses on counterinsurgency.
Urban Sprawl - I've heard good things about it, but haven't had a chance to even look it over.
When I voted for Obama, I wasn't expecting someone I could agree with 100 percent of the time on 100 percent of issues. I voted for a man I thought would address more of the issues with our country that I had than his opponent(s). And Obama has done just that. From trying to reform what is essentially a broken health care system, to equal rights for everyone in the case of gay marriages, Obama has either come through or is working towards a goal.
Has he disappointed me? Of course he has. Like I said, I voted for a man, not a saint (which separates me from people who believe their leaders when they tell them they get their decisions from god). Approving increased drone strike measures I vehemently disagree with, for example.
But the current situation? That's just politics like usual in Washington.
The IRS? There's been zero proof that the WH directed the IRS to target conservative groups. Zero.
Benghazi? As revealed yesterday with the release of 100 pages of emails from the WH before, during and after Benghazi, the GOP attack dogs have even gone so far as to lie to news agencies in order to make it look like something nefarious was going on...which it isn't.
As for the DOJ scandal, nothing illegal has been done. However, I do think they need a slap on the wrist to remind them of what they should and shouldn't do when it comes to the first amendment. But since the house demanded the investigation into the sources behind the leak that started the DOJ investigation in the first place, I don't think this can be fairly called a WH scandal solely.
Am I happy with Obama? Not all the time. But I'm satisfied. And that's fine with me. Considering the alternative from the last election, I still firmly believe I made the right choice.
That final shot was fantastic. Can't wait for next season.
I have to say that Metatron was a fantastic "villain" in the sense that he's not really one. If you think about what he's doing, he's doing it for humanity first...revenge second (at least in my opinion). Can't wait to see how it resolves though.
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to the joke about the engine room looking like a brewery. I had the same thought, although I thought it looked more like a dairy factory.