Mr March

Brilliant! I love this movie already! It's such a lame b-flick, but that's exactly why it's gonna be great

That match was quite a long, drawn out affair. Portugal looked good, but the defense by France was really solid especially in the second half. The Portugese had so much possession in the latter half of the game but just couldn't create enough strong chances or place the ball for an opportunity forward with any certainty. I'd like to say that Portugal was outplaying France, but defensively the French were on top. This sure has been a weird outcome and really a game of stamina.

Almost time for the last of the semi's, France vs. Portugal! Can't wait!

Superman Returns (2006) Genre: Live Action Film – Action Adventure To say that one should approach Superman Returns with trepidation is an understatement, but a healthy dose of caution never hurt anyone. Director Bryan Singer, having left the X-Men film franchise, has been expected to create a great film post-Donner era that would re-invent the Superman mythos for a new generation. With aplomb he largely succeeds with Returns, but the film can’t quite achieve the success of the other recently resurrected superhero seen in Batman Begins from director Christopher Nolan. Perhaps the subject matter is to blame or the simple fact that Superman has never been as compelling for dramatic storytelling as the Dark Knight. Created to take place roughly after Superman II (1980), we find Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman (Brandon Routh) has left Earth, gone to peruse the remains of his doomed homeworld after astronomers located the remains in space. Upon his return five years later, Superman discovers the world has got along without him, including Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) now a mother and author of a Pulitzer winning article debasing the man of steel. Before Superman’s return, arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has secured a fortune via dearly departed wealthy widow. Stealing advanced alien technology from Superman’s own Fortress of Solitude in the Antarctic, Lex Luthor plans to create a new continent at the expense of existing North America. True to a genuine character driven story, Superman Returns invents a very dramatic story by focusing on Superman as a person rather than the spectacle of his nature as a near-indestructable superhero. This is not to say the Returns is deficient in grandiose special effects sequences; the opening 30 minutes showcases an edge-of-your-seat passenger plane crash that will make older film audiences praise the advancement in special effects over the years. However, it is fresh-faced Brandon Routh in his strong performance as Superman and a carefully written script by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris that delivers a new man of steel to audiences that is uniquely human in spite of his nature as super being. Routh’s Superman struggles with the heart and it is this focus on the personal dilemma’s of the character that makes the film succeed in re-defining this classic superhero. To strengthen the picture even further, Superman Returns features a fully realized world filled with modern-meets-retro set designs and a strong supporting cast with Frank Langella as dogged Perry White, Kate Bosworth as modern Lois Lane, and Kevin Spacey’s deliciously ruthless and grounded Lex Luthor. This new Superman movie also features a refreshingly restrained use of special effects. Singer clearly put in the effort to craft his new film in such a way as to avoid the pitfalls of effects-laden big budget blockbusters and keep a sharp eye on the core of his drama-driven main character. When Superman is given lease to let loose, the result is polished, spectacular effects that keep the audience cheering for more. In between these character stories and crowd-pleasing effects, the film pays homage to previous Superman movies with a digitally created cameo of late Marlon Brando as Jor-El, Superman’s Father. A well-deserved dose of humor is also to be found, particularly thanks to excellent scene-stealing lines delivered from Parker Posey playing Luthor’s side-kick Kitty Kowalski. With everything going for it, one would think Superman Returns was a perfect superhero film that serves everything an audience could want. Alas this new Superman may be super, but like his flawed character in the new movie he can’t do everything. Perhaps Superman is just a difficult character to write given his awesome might or the fact that the man of steel embodies classic comic book super heroes that may not be in current fashion. Singer has created a different Superman film that takes an introspective look at the character's human side, but the adventure scenes and eventual showdown with Luthor hardly come across as fresh or reinvented. There is a sense that, while somewhat intentional, we have seen much of this before in other movies. It may be that audiences have been spoiled by more socially-relevant heroes or that the savior-like aura projected by Superman doesn’t relate to a spiritually-broader modern society. In truth, the film is about a new as one could make such an old hero and while that’s all we can expect, one does leave the theatre expecting something more; especially from such a super character. Rating: 3.5 out of 5. Superman is reborn in a modern film with a more human story that will please younger fans and maintains a strong respect for the older Donner film.

Pickles? Fah! You ain't seen nothing yet http://www.hopeisemo.com/ Bwahahahahahahaaaa!

Granted they aren't in championship form, which no doubt all of Britain demands. Still, they are definitely one of the better teams in my admittedly limited experience. They get far more shots on goal than most of the teams they play and they have had some of the best goals of the dozen or so games I've seen. I see potential, but they have to tighten their game if they're going to be serious contenders.

Very amusing

*sigh*, to go from Ghandi and Schindler's List into the jaws of Uwe Boll. Kingsley what are you thinking? Then again, Ben was in "Species"

Oh yes, I have been schooled by my two friends in that regard. I suppose it also helps that the entrie world calls it football except the North America. Being Canadian, I did call it soccer just to differentiate from American Football. But I'm feeling much better now

It's hard to pick a team. Since Canada never makes it to the world cup, I'm unsure who to cheer for. You just gave me some food for thought, since I am partly Ukranian myself (though I'm the product of an adopted parent, so half my lineage is unknown). So far, Croatia, Germany, and Portugal have really impressed me and naturally the World-Class teams like France, Brazil, England, et all play very well. I gotta say I'm kinda looking forward to more Germany games. I like their style of play. My two friends are cheering for England (he's from Manchester) and Brazil (although he's not from Brazil, he's Salvadorian)

Hey! Not a bad idea. Most of the best artists have some kind of physical/mental impairment or some kind of substance abuse problem. This could be a step up for Mr. Boll

That's him. He's also doing Dungeon Seige and Far Cry. He's a one man army, systematically destroying every video game franchise imaginable. We fans also suffer the nice little ancillary benefit of his abhorrent reputation. I mean, imagine being a filmmaker post-Boll trying to get a video game franchise made into a motion picture. First thing the big studios will do is point to "All those bad video game movies that tanked at the box office in the late 90's and early new millenium." Quite the legacy

I've been following as much of the World Cup as possible, in between packing furniture and other duties prior to my move. I'm loving it so far. I've caught roughly a dozen full games so far and it's been amazing. Truly a great sport. As for criticism of soccer, I find it very watchable compared to most sports. Granted, I'm not much of a sports fan either, aside from Hockey and now Soccer. But Football (Soccer) is all play for the most part and I love that. Makes the game entertaining and watchable because there is always something happening. I just find all the low-play sports bother me, like Baseball, American Football, Golf, et cetera. So much of the game is down time, shuffling players around and preparing setups for very brief amounts of play. It's very hard for me to feel the kinetic rush of the sport when so little is happening most of the time. Ironically, I enjoy watching low-scoring sports because those sports consist mostly of play, like Football (Soccer) and Hockey. When a goal is made, it's an exciting event and because most of the game is play, your eye is always engaged on the ebe and flow of the match. I also like kinetic games with hard fought points, like Tennis. In some of the best matches, you're on the edge of your seat for an entire rally. Contrastly, Basketball's over-scoring just bothers me. The games are fast and fluid to watch, but scoring baskets is so commonplace that each individual point fails to excite. We know another basket is going to occur in just a few seconds. I often become bored with Basketball, more interested in the final score than anything else; as opposed to say a furious match of Hockey or Soccer where the players are rushing and fighting so hard all game, even if only a single goal is scored all match.

Thanks for the information Graham. I always wondered where that picture came from. I agree the proportions are somewhat askew, but it does help give a rough idea how it would compare. The Kawamori lineart is also a little "magic-filled" itself, but obviously more accurate. Regardless, this new YF-19 by Yamato looks fantastic. It may lack the accuracy of a custom built model, but like the VF-1 and VF-0 1/48 and 1/60, it's a fine product that I'll be happy to own.

LOL! I figured you fellas would get a big laugh outta this idiot. The guy might as well call it quits. I mean, if this isn't raising a white flag I don't know what is. He's simply admitting that the critics have got to him. No point in continuing if he lacks a thick skin.

Is there no low to which this man can sink? From the IMDB http://www.imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-06-23/ Filmmaker Challenges Critics to All-Out Brawl German horror director Uwe Boll is so fed up with receiving bad reviews from movie critics he is challenging his detractors to a filmed fight. Boll, whose movies Alone In The Dark and House Of The Dead are based on video games, says he will fly his critics to meet him and will then fight them in a boxing ring. The filmmaker is incensed by an online petition which has 13,327 signatures of people asking him to stop making movies. Boll, who has also invited Roger Avary and Quentin Tarantino to join his fight, plans to air the fights on the internet. He the plans to edit clips into his latest film Postal. Boll says, "I'm fed up with people slamming my films without seeing them. Many journalists make value judgments on my films based on the opinions of one or two thousand internet voices. Half of those opinions come from people who've never watched my films. If critics want to bring Uwe Boll down, here is their chance to physically bring him down and have the entire world watch them do it." Come on! What is this guy, 12 years old? Even if some critic did agree to physically fight Uwe Boll, would that change the box office failure of his poor films or the critic's universal hatred for his movies? This has got to be some kind of publicity campaign. Bad press is good press I'm guessing?

A comparison of YF-19 lineart with the YF-19 CAD drawing. YF-19 Lineart YF-19 CAD Drawing

Utterly fantastic! I can already tell just from the CAD drawing that this sculpt looks way better than the 1/72. I look forward to many posts of fanboy drooling in the near future

MINOR SPOILER! Very nice. It'll be great to see Brando on the big screen again.

Hehehe, well you can rest assured that despite the rampant fanboy fervour and the brooding over trivial details from the trailers, the majority of fandom will all go see the film anyway

Serenity I just couldn't get into. I felt like I was missing information; I didn't care for the characters one bit yet the movie looked like it was expecting me to cry or root whenever something happened to them (must be that you need the TV series to appreciate it). It dose feel like a big budged TV movie. The 40 minutes that I saw could have easily taken place in a D&D fantasy setting full of magic instead of technology and far of kingdoms instead of planets and colonies. But a lot of people here like the movie so there must be something good there or at least in Firefly. How many episodes does the series have? Guess I like my sci-fi to really drink from the reality it takes place on. 409585[/snapback] 15 episodes is all that Firefly could manage before cancellation. The series is fun, but is definitely the adventure drama story that makes up the atmosphere of the film. It's great for what it is, easily one of the best shows of it's type. Like I said, keep an eye on The Fountain, it looks like serious sci-fi cinema.

I wouldn't put too much faith in the outcome of the Ender's Game film. Yes the novel is a great story, but Wolfgang Petersen is directing. You'll know Petersen as the fella responsible for that trash heap called Troy. Serenity is good science fiction film, but it was more of a continuation/retelling of Firefly. Sure you don't need to know the series to enjoy it, but the film is much more like a big-budget two-hour special than a stand-alone film. Still, beggers can't be choosers If you're a fan of films like Stanley Kubrick's brilliant 2001: A Space Odessey, keep your sci-fi starved eyes locked onto The Fountain, set for release this year. The pre-release indicates it may be the first science fiction film to take the genre seriously since Blade Runner and director Darren Aronofsky is known for his unconventional filmmaking. It's as good a possibility for something truly new as we're likely to see this year.

Pretty much more of the same as far as reviews. I avoided the spoiler filled two (I like to remain in the dark until curtain time), but it sounds pretty much like I expected, with one or two reviews trying to pass the film off as the be-all-end-all of film

Interesting. The placement definitely must be corrected, as its obscured by forum buttons and overlapping graphic borders.

I've read all the reviews provided in the link. Superman Returns sounds exactly as I thought: a good film that I'll enjoy, but something noticably short of great. I'm eager to see it for myself, but I'm going in with "X-Men 3 expectations" on this one. If I'm hoping it will be Spider-Man, X-Men 1-2, or Batman Begins, I might be too disappointed to be objective