(Note: Spoilers do not begin until the SPOILERS line in this article below the photograph.)

We’ll have an official Big Shiny Robot review of The Amazing Spiderman for you July 2nd, but in the meantime we wanted to bring you some comments trickling in from Japan about the film. Kotaku East reporter Richard Eisenbeis was on hand for the Japanese premier, and has provided some valuable context in his article about why Spiderman does so incredibly well in Japan:

“Japan loves Spider-Man. I mean they LOVE him. It’s not the same with other American superheroes—Batman, Superman, and most of the recent Marvel movies tend to do poorly in at the Japanese box office…Perhaps it’s due to his similarity to Japan’s own masked superhero—heck, he even had a live-action, power ranger style show in the late 70s. Because Spider-Man is a sure hit in Japan, his movies often get released in Japan before the rest of the world.”

He goes on to review the film, saying fairly good things about the handling of the origin story, the strength of the supporting cast, the fantastic performance that Martin Sheen has given as Uncle Ben, and some thoughts regarding directorial choices in relation to the film’s use of 3D. Though his review seems to be a bit on the first-watch-is-super-awesome side, I’d say that his review is balanced enough to suggest that the film is pretty good. To me, this is great news, because I’ve honestly been a bit nervous about this project from the start. I really did like Sam Raimi’s first two Spiderman films in the early 2000’s and was cautiously optimistic that this movie would still rock even though it hasn’t been that long since we saw Spidey swing onto the big screen.

WARNING: SPOILERS START HERE!

What’s the not-so-good from this review? Eisenbeis mentions his mixed feelings about how much disbelief we are expected to suspend given Peter’s secret identity and currently available technology (and there are choices made in the film that imply “that both the company and the police are incompetent—not the way you want your potential antagonists to be portrayed.”). He also expresses serious frustration with the fact that Spidey has his mask removed more than once, and subsequently reveals his identity to more than five people throughout the movie. On the surface, that does sound like a rather poor creative choice to me, but I’ll be watching to see how it’s handled (along with Eisenbeis’ other points) when I get to see the movie for myself next week.

What do you think? Will you be seeing The Amazing Spiderman when it hits theaters? Check out Eisenbeis’ review (WARNING = FULL OF SPOILERS) and then sound off in our comments section!

It’s Monday, you’re still recovering from your weekend in Vegas, or your weekend doing yard work, or the Sunday spent drinking alone while your dogs fight over the final piece of chicken from yesterday’s BBQ. Whatever the case may be, you’re most likely stuck in a meeting discussing something you’re not particularly interested in anyway. And here we offer your saving grace, App Monday. Whether the App shown will make your life a touch easier, help you send a MEME that only 3 people understand, or simply waste time, we’ll bring you something to make the time pass just a little better.

Today we bring you Split! By Touchy Mobile. This action/strategy game is a pretty large offering of content, and a lot of fun, for a minimal cost. Running a scant $.99 on the Apple App Store, the game is enthralling and to call it a time waster isn’t giving the strategic side justice.

You and your partner in crime have just masterminded an escape from your prison cells. The next step is to actually leave the prison, utilizing divide-and-conquer tactics, one of you must distract a guard while the other shoots him. Guards of course will begin shooting the second they see either of you, and if you’re not behind cover you’ll die. If either member of your team dies you start the level over.

For having such a seemingly basic premise the game has a good increase in difficulty as you progress. The mazes become more complex, and the cover becomes more advantageous to the guards, and harder for you to bypass. I found myself stuck in a frustrating world of thumping techno wondering if I would ever escape the prison, or if I’d simply be doomed to replay the same 4 levels til the end of my days.

Visually the game is crisp and polished, but doesn’t set any visual mile stones, the sound track as well only has 2 or 3 techno pieces, that help drive the intensity of the level, but really, with minimal story needed the soundtrack doesn’t play into the game much more than that. The controls are easier to utilize than they are to explain. You touch the character you’d like to move and then drag a path across the screen to guide him, aiming primarily for cover or anywhere that can help you avoid the enemies bullets.

Split! Is the perfect game for small doses of tactical combat and problem solvings, the meetings and the hangover will pass more easily knowing this is in your arsenal for the tough Monday afternoons.

I love Star Trek Deep Space Nine, it’s currently in my top ten favorite shows of all time and I’ve watched the show all the way through 3 times already. I have yet to own all of the seasons but Netflix recently added the show onto it’s instant play so once in a while when I need my DS9 fix I’m going to watch the next episode and write my thoughts on the episode. There won’t be a single post for every episode, some posts may have 4 episodes some may only have one, just depends on how much I feel like writing. The other thing is there will be spoilers so if you haven’t watched the show you probably shouldn’t read these.

1×01 — Emissary — This is a really good opening episode, it sets up the emissary role nicely and it’s introduction of characters was interesting. I especially liked Sisko, though he’s not my favorite character throughout the run of the show, this episode had some very good motivations. It had a guest starring role from Patrick Stewart and having Sisko have incredible hatred for Picard was really interesting. No one but bad guys had shown hatred for Picard and now suddenly our hero hates our other hero. Tying it in to the Borg episode was awesome. My wife died because you. Then they finish not really with respect just with a hand shake which says, “I’ll stay but I still hate you.”

O’Brien had a moment with Picard which was basically:

Picard: I’m gonna miss having you at the teleport.

O’Brien: I’ll miss it too. (No, I won’t, the transporter sucks and I’m getting a huge raise.)

Bashir had little to him, just a bright eyed doctor excited for a new adventure. Dax was briefly done which was nice and reminded us of what Trills were from the season before on TNG. Odo was not very good which is surprising for a character they flush out really well. Quark had mannerisms which I don’t remember seeing which means they stop happening pretty quick. Kira doesn’t really become good except when she’s super bad which we’ll get into later in the show. Gul Dukat is only briefly seen, but as he’s easily one of my favorite characters in the whole show it’s so good to see him.

The prophets part does go on a bit long and I had wanted maybe more from the characters together instead of wormhole aliens but for the most part I really like this as a beginning.

Rating: B+

I’ll be honest, I was getting a little tired of watching the trailer to Brave on every other movie I saw. Sure, it looked good, it was funny (the first few times), and looked as though it would make a pretty good Pixar movie. But the repetition with which I was forced to endure it made me feel like Brave could probably be in the very narrow category of Pixar movies that elicited a shrug and a “It was okay,” instead of the love I have for the rest of their films.

After seeing Brave, I can safely say that it fits into the category of non-Cars Pixar movies.

Brave is a beautifully told tale of a Scottish princess and her desire to live her own life instead of marrying a son of one of three rival clan leaders. She’s more adept at the manly arts of combat than any of them and greatly enjoys her freedom.

Her mother is loving, but very old-fashioned and proper, and so it is her mind that needs to be changed so that her daughter can live life on her own terms.

The young princess, Merida, played by Kelly Macdonald, seeks out a way to change her mother’s mind and finds a witch that will do it with a spell. Thus the stage is set for a thrilling race to set things right, filled with action, adventure, suspense, and comedy.

It does an excellent job of exploring the different perspectives of a mother and a daughter on the same issue in a way I think will be insightful to young and old alike.

There really wasn’t anything about this movie I didn’t like. I found the script to be extremely tight, the voice acting to be top notch, the animation was stunning, and the movie was just fun. I had lots of fun watching it.

The scene-stealers, though, are easily Merida’s little brothers. Their presence brightens every scene they’re in, adding an extra element of hilarity.

I saw the film with my kids, and it’s important to note that they were howling with laughter through the entire picture, then appropriately wound up and ready to cry at the right moments as well. My son is 10 and on the edge of perhaps being too jaded to enjoy a movie like this, but he was invested the whole way through.

Comparisons could be made to other Disney films, sure, it certainly has lots of DNA from other Disney films in it, but the setting and the characters set it apart as its own.

If you’ve written it off because of the ubiquity of the trailer, you should give it a shot. I really liked it, and am certainly planning on going again.

ALSO: The opening short is very charming and well photographed, but don’t expected the breathless whimsy and comedy of some of the other shorts attached to Disney or Pixar films.

Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope

Directed by Morgan Spurlock

Starring a bunch of nerds

Comic-Con Episode IV is a survey of both nerd-culture icons and the fanatics who worship them as they both take part in this annual celebration of all things geek. But it also flirts with the deeper truth of Comic-Con’s origin and what it has now become. There would seem to be a reason most nerds avoid the spotlight of mainstream culture and Comic-Con’s rise in prominence give many of them doubts about its future.

Morgan Spurlock follows seven different people with vastly different motivations as they prepare for Comic-con. There are illustrators looking for work, a couple looking to further their relationship, a collector looking for his next limited-edition toy, a cosplayer looking to have fun, and the last is the owner of one of the largest comic book stores in the United States. All these stories are intercut with interviews with Kevin Smith, Joss Whedon, Paul Dini, Matt Fraction, Seth Rogan, Eli Roth, and dozens more. Oddly, Spurlock himself is the only one absent from the film in either appearance or narration.

If you have been to Comic-Con recently or even several times, the information presented in this movie will be nothing new. They take a necessary spin around the convention center to showcase this near-unbelievable collection of authors, artists, merchandise, and cosplayers. If you have never been to Comic-Con, then this is an intriguing window onto a lifestyle you may only be peripherally aware of.

If I had to sum this film up in one adjective it would be ‘honest’. If you are expecting Spurlock’s typical exposé-style film making then you might be disappointed. This movie plays more like a tribute to the event from the perspective of the industry moguls who grew up as the same sweaty, mouth-breathing fanboys that now plague them.

This week’s Friday ‘Flix Pick was submitted by Nick Burke. Be sure to check him out over at Paper Wasp!

Futurama hits the airwaves again tonight with two all new episodes that I couldn’t be happier with. This has consistently been the funniest show on the air since it started and now that we’re getting into Season 7, though it’s taken us much longer to get here than it should have, the writers have completely hit their stride and every episode delivers the sort of belly laughs I used to expect out of The Simpsons. But this show has always been much smarter and edgier than The Simpsons and the season 7 premiere bears that out.

The first episode of the premiere, The Bots and the Bees, sees Bender knocking up a Beverage Dispenser named Bev (played to hilarious perfection by Wanda Sykes). She bears the child and disappears, leaving Bender to raise the small bot on his own. The episode touches on problems with the lack of sex-ed in schools, custody disputes, deadbeat parents, and is packed front to back with laughs. Episodes starring Bender are usually my favorite and this one certainly didn’t suck.

It also includes a brilliant retelling of the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer story.

The second episode, A Farewell to Arms, is a play on the Mayan calendar fiasco, and the Earth is scheduled for destruction in the year 3012. They’re working to evacuate Earth on an ancient Martian spaceship (never mind the fact that everyone has their own ships and could leave at their leisure anyway). Insert Zapp Brannigan into the equation and you’ve got the makings for an episode that had me holding my sides from laughing too much.

The moral of the story here? If you love Futurama, these episodes aren’t going to disappoint you in any way. If the episodes remain this consistently good and they cancel this show again, I might need to do something horribly inappropriate in a blustering, Zapp Brannigan sort of way…

Both episodes air on Comedy Central tonight at 10pm. (Though I’d check your local listings for actual times…In Utah, 10pm everywhere else means midnight for us.)

If you need to catch up on Futurama, the first 6 seasons are on Netflix Instant, or you can snag them all on Amazon.

I don’t need to tell you how good the picture quality is, or how great the sound design is, this is a Disney film on Blu-ray. You know all that. It’s a given going in.

What you need to know is that you were a fool if you missed John Carter on the big screen and this release proves it. Revisiting the film at home proves what I’ve been saying all along, it was a victim of a massive marketing failure, since there was no single element of the film that was lacking. It had an engaging story, incredible visuals, excellent directing, and beautiful storytelling.

Blu-ray is where, I think, this movie is going to truly flourish in fandom and in the minds of a generation who are going to turn it into a cult hit, much the same way The Princess Bride found its audience long after its failure at the box office.

John Carter is a rousing adventure that doesn’t fail to capture the spirit of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books.

I can’t oversell how fun a movie this is, and I can’t oversell how disappointed I am that they didn’t even make toys. I wanted a plush Woola and a Tars Tarkas action figure.

Rewatching the film, everything gels even better. From Brian Cranston and Willem Dafoe’s performances to the stunning animation of the denizens of Barsoom and Woola, this movie is simply stunning. The story reaches greater depths and gave me the chills more often than not. There’s that moment when John Carter realizes he’s on Mars and I was almost brought to tears with how good it was.

It was pitch perfect emotionally, visually, and in the storytelling.

The entire movie is like that.

I really can’t find a flaw in this film other than the abysmal marketing and promotion campaign.

Andrew Stanton did an amazing job with this film and the only way you can help us get a sequel to this movie is to buy it on Blu-ray. He shouldn’t be disappointed at all in the movie he turned in. He should be very, very proud of it. One day, everyone will come around to it, just like they did with The Princess Bride.

Please join me in spreading the gospel of John Carter to make it so.

You can start by getting it on Amazon now.

Each Friday we will be bringing you weekend-viewing movie picks available for streaming on Netflix! From the popular to the obscure, we will browse Netflix’s Streaming library so you don’t have to, and bring you what we consider to be “Must Watch” selections!

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame (English Subtitles)

Directed by Tsui Hark

Starring Andy Lau, Li Bingbing, and Tony Leung Ka Fai

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is a virtual who’s-who of the Wuxia, or “wire-fu”, world. Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China series) directs Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers), Li Bingbing (The Forbidden Kingdom), and Tony Leung Ka Fai (Dragon Inn) in fight scenes choreographed by Sammo Hung (one of the Seven Little Fortunes). This is about the highest pedigree a Wuxia movie can have. For those not familiar with the various martial film genres, Wuxia is almost always a period piece with a heavy focus on special effects.

Detective Dee is a highly fantastical interpretation of Chinese folk hero Di Renjie, a famously wise imperial chancellor in the 7th century Tang dynasty. In The Mystery of the Phantom Flame, magistrates around the imperial palace are spontaneously combusting just before the coronation of Empress Dowager Wu, China’s only female emperor. Detective Dee is sprung from prison and charged with unraveling the mystery.

If you’re looking for strictly realistic martial arts action, then get off your high horse or look somewhere else. This movie is filled with flying fight scenes, magic, and occasional slapstick. Andy Lau plays a Chinese Sherlock Holmes; inhumanly observant and socially unaware. The CGI is not cutting edge, but I never felt that it detracted from the movie. What this movie lacks in the CGI department, it makes up for in creativity. This movie has amazing costume designs, a Buddha to rival the Colossus of Rhodes, and even talking deer!

Have you ever wanted to see a man fight a herd of deer without being overly serious? Then watch Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame.

This week’s Friday ‘Flix Pick was submitted by Nick Burke. Be sure to check him out over at Paper Wasp!

Saga manages to be genuinely moving while at the same time not taking itself too seriously. Both the emotional depth and the air of levity feel entirely organic to the narrative. The excellent combination of charming and affecting is uniquely Vaughan, and he makes it look effortless—as all the best writers do.

This is a series that you can expect to be surprised by without ever losing your sense of grounding in the story. Vaughan takes old tropes and twists them into something barely recognizable, but anchors the reader through that latent familiarity. Then, after hooking you in, he surprises you in every issue by bringing bizarre and completely new things to the stage. More and more with each installment, we learn that the universe of Saga is one where anything can happen.

There’s less action in Saga #3 than the two previous installments, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s full of character, witty banter, and big reveals. There’s some not-so-subtle commentary on war and indigenous people, but it doesn’t feel like you’re being struck over the head with it.

As usual, Staples’ art continues to impress. There’s a particular scene in Saga #3 where the two freelancers, The Stalk and The Will, are on the phone together. In this scene, while somehow wrenching instantly recognizable expressions out of the six-eyed face of The Stalk, Staples’ art tells a continuous story in the background that the actual words don’t even mention. Her careful manipulation of expression, excellent understanding of body language, and the unmistakable humanity of her art works in such harmony with the humanity of Vaughan’s writing. At this point it’s hard to imagine Saga without Staples behind the panels.

A word of caution: think twice about reading your shiny new copy of Saga #4 in public. As if the topless spider-monster The Stalk left any doubt about Vaughan’s self-professed R-rating, in Saga #4 you’ve got a few pages of gratuitous sexual imagery when The Will visits a pleasure cruiser called “Sextillion.” It turns out to be even dirtier than it sounds, and stranger than you thought you’d ever see on a comic page. But then, in the midst of all this dehumanizing strangeness, there’s a moment that makes your heart sink. You feel sick as the depravity of the real world is served up in the guise of a comic panel. In this way, Saga is performing at the highest capacity of genre fiction: revealing the real through the fictive.

The cracks in Alana and Marko’s relationship begin to reveal themselves, and we get a glimpse of how fragile this thing really is. Somehow that fragility makes us want it all the more, we love to root against the odds and Vaughan knows it. Marko and Alana have already sacrificed everything for their baby and for each other, but in every issue they are forced to sacrifice still more. Their survival teeters on a knife edge, the dogs of war are constantly at their heels. The tension is almost too much to bear, but it carries us forward, urges us onto that next page.

Looking over the whole of Saga so far shows Vaughan’s impressive control of narrative momentum. He slows down after a boiling point long enough to show you the characters, to remind you why you love them, why you care about their success and why you’re rooting for them. And just when you get comfortable at the new pace, something dramatic explodes onto the scene and you’re hurled back into the action.

If you haven’t started reading Saga yet, I really don’t know what you’re waiting for. This is shaping up to be one of the best new titles of the year; Vaughan and Staples are a dream team.

[Have you picked up Saga? What are your thoughts so far? If you haven’t picked it up, what’s up with that? Let us know below.]

We are greatly honored to have Michael Stackpole, author of the X-Wing series, I, Jedi, a slew of Battletech novels, the recent Conan movie novelization, and an upcoming Warcraft novel. He’s a dedicated author who has taught me much in my quest to be a legitimate author and I’ve had the great fortune to consider him a mentor and a friend.

The opportunity to try this was complicated by my geography, but Mike was kind enough to offer a review.

You really need to visit Mike’s website and buy his books. In particular, check out In Hero Years… I’m Dead. It’s the book you’d get if Dashiell Hammett wrote Watchmen.

But without further ado, here’s Mike:

I’m a writer, so it probably comes as a surprise to very few that I a) drink and b) enjoy whisky. Over the last decade, in the name of research for books, I’ve set out to sample a variety of whiskies and to develop my sense of them. Malcolm Gladwell talks about “slicing” in his book Blink. It’s basically learning enough about a subject that you can detect differences where others just don’t have the catalog of experience to judge things that finely. Whisky, and especially Scotch Whisky, is something I have happily learned as much as I can about.

At Origins, Bryan Young was lamenting the fact that Highland Park had offered to send him a bottle of their limited release whisky, Thor, for review, but that because he resides in Utah, they weren’t allow to ship it to him. Perhaps one of the tinier benefits to living in the wild west of Arizona is that state law allows folks to ship me almost anything. I mentioned I’d be happy to accept the shipment for him, and said I could get it to him at a future convention. Bryan, gentleman and scholar that he is, sent my address to Highland Park, and Thor arrived this morning.

Before I get to the actual whisky, I have to say that the packaging blew me away. It arrives in a great looking box, but the bottle carrier inside steals the show. It’s a wooden enclosure, styled after Viking Longboat designs. It’s hinged in the back and makes for a stunning presentation. The packaging alone makes it look like something that should be stored on an altar, used only at a god’s behest.

To begin with, Thor is a beautiful amber gold, rich and warm. The whisky has some weight to it, too, not swirling around the glass like water. When you do swirl it, legs form nicely and flow slowly down. There is no mistaking this for a hotel mini-bar whisky from a tiny bottle. This is serious stuff.

For me, the nose is really important. Thor has it in spades. It’s a full aroma that fills the nose without making your eyes water. There’s smoke there, but not at the expense of other scents. Definitely not overpoweringly peaty. There’s lighter and cleaner scents beneath that, quite fresh. I tend to judge these things by the kind of day/evening the scent suggests I’d best enjoy drinking the whisky. This is definitely a spring/fall evening whisky, not too hot or cold.

The taste. Best thing about Thor is that the flavor is complex, and comes at you in swirls. Flavors flit over the tongue like ghosts. The second you taste some vanilla, it’s gone and berries slip in to replace it. There’s a great balance of spices and fruits, but with the smoke uniting them all. And, as befits the viscosity, the flavors linger. This Scotch is a joy to savor, able to surprise and delight even halfway through the glass.

The finish is all that the nose and taste demand. Soft, playful and sweet for the flavors. And at 16 years of age, Thor is incredibly smooth. That’s very important as far as I’m concerned because I don’t want to feel the whisky burning all the way down my throat. This doesn’t. It just glows on the tongue and throat—the equal in this department of other whiskies 2-4 years older than it is.