Movie Talk - The Rocky Franchise

A bearded Stallone is always epic!

I think it’s time to “take you back” and look at a strangely still running franchise: The Rocky franchise. Yes, it’s technically still going since we’ll be getting a spinoff called Creed in November. It looks like it could be good and I’ll probably check it out. My memories with the series goes back to about either Fourth or Fifth Grade. Someone rented Rocky III from somewhere and after I saw that, I got to see the fourth and fifth movies. I saw the second movie next.

 I actually saw the first movie when I was in high school on Turner Classic Movies. I don’t know how that worked out like that. I didn’t watch the sixth movie (Rocky Balboa) until about a few months ago. I just never got around to seeing it till then. Over the week, I went and watched the first five movies on Netflix. I’d re-watch the sixth movie, but the DVD got misplaced somehow. So, sit back ‘cause I’m going the distance… I’ll stop the with the quotes now

"It's a Video Game!" - Dragon Age II

So, Dragon Age 2… what to say, what to say. Well, I guess I can start out with the basics. Dragon Age 2 was released in early 2011 by Bioware. Electronic Arts (EA) was surprised by the success of the first game, so they got Bioware to churn one out. I heard a lot about this game years ago and it wasn’t exactly good praise. After I finished off DAO, I looked for DA2. I have to admit that I was a little timid with how this game would be. Were most people right about how lackluster the game was? I’ll let you know below.

DA2 takes place over the span of a decade. You play as Hawke (in my case, Leonardo Hawke), a human who flees with his family to Kirkwall during the Blight in DAO.  In Kirkwall, Hawke makes friends and enemies while trying to make it in the big city. When Hawke makes it big, he’s labelled as the Champion of Kirkwall. He/She also has to deal with the growing tensions between the Mages and Templars as well as other tensions between other races.

"It's a Video Game!" - Dragon Age: Origins

Well, this was a long time coming. A few months back, I told ya’ll I got a bit preoccupied with a series called Dragon Age. It took a while but I was able to more or less finish the series as it is now. I’m not big on fantasy games like these which is probably why I didn’t play the first game when I got it. I’ve played Oblivion and Skyrim but that’s about it. I bought Dragon Age: Origins on a whim a couple of years ago but I didn’t start to play it heavily until June. I guess something finally clicked or I was pretty bored. I had so much fun with it I decided to check out the rest of the games in the series.

For those who don’t know, the Dragon Age series was developed by Bioware. I looked at their other successful RPG series, Mass Effect, back in May. I guess the best way to describe Dragon Age would to say it’s like Lord of the Rings but much darker. You have humans, elves, and dwarves, but there are also more heavy issues in the game like slavery, racism, and bigotry. It takes place in the fictional land of Thedas. The plan is to basically talk about the three DA games that are out there. Instead of doing in one post, I’m splitting this up since I have a lot of stuff to say. Today, I’m starting with Dragon Age: Origins (DAO).

TV Talk - Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Overview

Well, I’m back with my ultimate say on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Basically, all I’m talking about today is what I liked, what I disliked, what I wished they did, and my favorite episodes of the show. Now, did I think this was a good show? Yes, I think it was even when it got pretty bad in the later seasons. I’ll get to why below.

PROS

I liked the overall concept of the show where it focused on life at the Daily Planet instead of Superman’s never-ending battle against evil. I thought the main cast was solid for the most part. Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher were a good Clark and Lois. While they might not be the best live-action versions ever, they were still pretty good. Lane Smith was a good Perry White while K Callen and Eddie Jones were good as the Kents. While Justin Whalin was okay as Jimmy, Michael Landis was a better one. Then, there was John Shea who played an awesome Lex Luthor.

You had some good villains in there even though a lot of them were subpar. There was Lex, Tempus, a son of Lex Luthor, and a few others. The first season was probably its best season since it had a mix of everything. The second season was about on par with the first season. While the latter two seasons have their issues, there were some good episodes in there. I always liked the theme song. While it’s not the movie theme or even the theme from Superman: The Animated Series, it’s good. It was also fun to see what guest star would show up on here. The show even had some good continuity in the four seasons.

Trade Tales! - The Return of Superman

So, I’ve have looked at lot of homages to Superman this month. My next four (yes, four) aren’t homages as much as they are replacements. That’s right, I’ve finally gotten to this part of the Death/Return of Superman story arc from the 90’s. The Return of Superman pretty much contains all of “Reign of the Supermen,” the arc that had four heroes posing as Superman. I’ve already looked at the Death and the Funeral and enjoyed them both. Today, I’ll be seeing how well this stacks up with the rest of the story line.

The trade more or less has every issue from “Reign of the Supermen.” We have Superman: The Man of Steel #22-26, Superman #78-82, The Adventures of Superman #500-505, Action Comics #687-691, and Green Lantern #46. Pretty much everyone from the previous arcs are here on the book. The biggest change is that Karl Kesel replaced Jerry Ordway as writer of The Adventures of Superman. We also have Gerard Jones, M.D. Bright, and Romeo Tangal for the Green Lantern tie-in. So, sit back because this may be a long one.

The Return of Superman

Writers: Dan Jurgens, Louise Simonsen, Roger Stern, Karl Kesel, and Gerard Jones

Pencils: Dan Jurgens, John Bogdanove, Jackson Guice, Tom Grummett, and M.D. Bright

Inks: Brett Breeding, Dennis Janke, Denis Rodier, Doug Hazelewood, and Romeo Tangal

Colors: Glen Whitmore and Anthony Tomlin

Letters:  John Costanza, Albert DeGuzman, and Bill Oakley