F For Fake

And now they have their hooks in you. May as well just give them your wallet.

No comics for me, but picked up a bunch of movies. I had my cart ready to go at Bestbuy.com at 1am EST Thanksgiving morning, picked up a bunch of Blu Rays for $3.50-$7 each. But the winner was Dollar General, who were having a B1G1 on their $5 blu rays, which were mislabeled in the system at half price of $2.48, meaning that after B1G1, they were $1.24 a pop. Not a lot of great titles, but for a buck and a quarter each, who cares? I bought about 50 of em. (Personal highlights were such art films as Porky's, and Chuck Norris' masterworks Missing In Action and Delta Force.)

Did some shopping at the Antique Toy mall this weekend. Mostly picked up cheap G.I.Joe vehicles, but I also grabbed this Super Power Batmobile. The box has obvious issues, but the car is cherry. This one will be a keeper for me!

Congrats, that's always a great feeling...until you start chasing something else! It never ends!

The thing is, if they'd scale back the production costs on these superhero movies, instead of continuing this needless escalation, we could get ALL of those movies, and more, and probably pretty good ones to boot. There seems to be a mindset with these tentpole superhero flicks at this point, that they have to reach $1 billion in order to be a success. So, they have to spend $200+ on the production and another $200+ on marketing, which means, after theaters take their cut, they're going to need to make $500-600 or so to break even. Which is crazy, crazy money. So, Justice League makes $94 million opening weekend, which is an INSANE amount of money, but because it's not going to make a drop in the bucket compared to what they spent on it, the flick is a disappointment. I've been saying this for years: Hollywood needs to make cheaper movies, so that the stakes don't have to get impossibly high. When they don't reach those unrealistic markers, it's time to shutter the whole genre, which is unfair, because there clearly are many fans of these films. You can make more economical movies that will make a lot of profit IF you don't spend so much money on them in the first place. Not every superhero is built to be in the Billionaires club. Make the movies cheaper. Make them better. And maker fewer films, as well. Never happen, but I can keep dreaming.

I think we're complaining about the CGI because they spent something like $300m on this flick, and Steppenwolf still looks like he was made out of PlayDoh. And at the end of the day, maybe that's what burns me the most. To throw such obscene amounts of money at a project like this, and have it still turn out so mediocre-to-awful (depending on your take), from a production standpoint. Not sure if it's because DC is rushing these things through production too quickly, or if it's just the parties involved, but if you're going to spend that much money, you should be able to see it on the screen.

It was like a snowflake, uniquely beautiful and never meant to last.

Finally, a DC movie I'd be excited about! Also think that Manu's Deathstroke run was the best part of the Arrow show. The Raid is one of the all time great action flicks.

PS: This is the first time Cavill felt like Superman to me. Still hate the costume, but I liked him fine in the part this time.

Saw it with the missus yesterday. Not what I'd call a good movie, but pretty far from a disaster. Worlds better than BvS and MoS. The character moments work more often than not, there are a few genuinely exciting action beats, and overall it hangs together pretty well. Steppenwolf looks like video game cut-scene CGI animation, just terrible, and way too much of the movie is green screen and CG with no real weight. But all things considered, it was mostly fine, and definitely not the train wreck I was expecting. Can't imagine ever wanting to see it again, but at least I didn't hate myself for watching it, and it moved along pretty breezily. I'd give it a solid C.

I remember that I'd reserved 1 copy each of the bagged and regular covers at my LCS, with no real clue as to how huge a deal that this was going to be. I showed up at my LCS the day of release, and the place was PACKED. I went to the counter to get my preorders, and they had mistakenly put me down for two copies of each. They told me I didn't have to buy the extra copies, but considering the crowd around me, it might be smart to pick them up since they were held for me anyway. I took their advice.

I dunno, my wife seems to like it?

Attn: any Marvel toy collectors - TRU is having a sale through tomorrow, buy one, get one 40% off. Not too bad. They're sold out of most good stuff online, but at the stores there's still quite a bit out there. I haven't found any of the new "Vintage" Marvel Legends like some folks, but I did pick up a couple of Hydra packs, etc. Also, if you spend $25 or more on marvel stuff, you get a free Funko Marvel shirt. Not too shabby! PS: The Walmart exclusive ML Falcon and Winter Soldier figs have been showing up at Ross stores for $6.99. I picked up a Falcon last night, but haven't seen WS yet. Happy hunting!

This is where I'm at with these movies. I keep hearing the argument over and over again that I should just let myself enjoy these flicks, because they're not SUPPOSED to be "art", they're just supposed to be entertaining. And that, of course, is ridiculous. Bad movies are bad, good movies are good. Entertainment can still be art. Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Jurassic Park and many, many others were "just" popcorn flicks. But they endure because they are well made films as well as great entertainments. It's not asking too much to want our superhero movies to be well made as well as entertaining.

My non-comic passions are largely still nerd-centric: movies (watching, collecting, writing about, reading about, making) and memorabilia, toys (buying/selling), Batman in general, college basketball (Go Cards!), and music (performing, writing, listening, collecting). I would have said "sex" once upon a time, but I'm married, so that's right out.

I spy an Image newsstand, which are all the rage these days down in the modern boards. If it's in super nice shape, may be worth a buck or two (literally.)

Medicom Great Mystery Museum blind boxed figures. Seems like they sell anywhere from $35-$60 a piece. Not sure if you're not familiar with blind box figures, but correct, what you have there is a sealed case of figures, a "display box" that you'd put on the counter. Within that box is several small boxes with a randomly assorted figure inserted. The buyers don't know what they're getting, and there are usually "chase" figures, variants, etc inserted at different ratios. So it's sort like gambling, with toys. So basically you can either open them up and see which ones you've got, then sell them individually, or take a chance on auctioning the sealed box and see where it lands. I'd imagine it'd do pretty well, considering what the individual figures seem to be selling for $35-$60 a pop. I can't find any retailers selling sealed cases though.

When I see stuff like this, something in the back of my mind says "Sorcery! Demons! Begone!"

Go for it! I will live through you vicariously!

Ok, well now you've got me curious. I just figured with Smith's omnipresence on AMC (can't escape those stupid Comic Book Men promos) he'd be all over this thing as well. Good to know!

I've had that conversation many times. It seems that a lot of people have difficulty wrapping their brains around the idea of an adult collecting comic books for any reason other than $$$.

Aw man, love it! I've considered collecting Subby for a while, I love the books, but I don't need another thing to chase. So you should keep buying them for me to look at!

For sure. I remember mailing away for Hooded Cobra Commander (and Sgt. Slaughter, and the Fridge, etc.) and every time it was a "6 to 8 weeks" wait. My God. It was an eternity!

The trailer had the stench of Kevin Smith around it, so I avoided it. I was nearly drawn in by Lynda Carter, but even she can't lure me into the realm of the Jorted One.

Jeez, I don't even want to meet up with my actual friends, I can't imagine willingly going someplace to meet strangers! Oh well, back to my cave.