Yes, there are now ads on both of these blogs. I’m trying it out, seeing how it goes, etc; hoping it won’t be some kind of “issue.”

http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.5.swf

They’ve also seen fit to counteract all those less-than-impressive set photos of the new costume by giving us the first “official” look at the thing with the mask on, in an action-pose, properly lit and color-corrected. That’s it on the right. I stand by my initial impressions up to this point: It’s overdesigned, the blue fingers make it look like he’s wearing ugly finger-gloves over his uniform, and as much as I like mechanical-webshooters I’m not fond of them being big silver buttons on the outside of fabric. BUT, he looks more like Spider-Man than TDK’s Batman looks like Batman, so it’s not terribly unpleasant.

Hey, wait a sec… where are his feet?

Look close: The shadowing has been staged in such a way as to completely obscure both of his feet below the calf. Aside from lending the image a somewhat-ironic Leifeldian quality, it denies sharp-eyed fans an answer to the biggest costume-question to come out of all those unplanned candids: Are those metal toe-shoes he seems to be wearing over his boots part of the onscreen costume or just a stunt/safety thing for certain shots? And if they ARE part of the actual outfit, why exactly does Spider-Man need to armor his toes?

I dropped it into photoshop, blew up the bottom portion and cranked the brightness/contrast to try and bring up the detail and make them out. There basically ISN’T any detail to raise on the feet, as though it’s been darkened even beyond the shadows from the photography, but I got a small hint of what looks like the shiny non–red “tip” of a boot, which leads me to believe that he WAS wearing them in this shot and that they ARE part of the costume-proper. Take a look:

So, if the new Spider-Man has metal feet… what are they? Is the wall-crawling a mechanical-aparatus now as well? Does he have shooters on his FEET, too?

hat-tip to Jeff Wells

Andy Rooney reviews“The King’s Speech,” in a manner that’s both sincerely endearing and also, unintentionally, explains how and why this particular film became an awards season juggernaut:

http://cnettv.cnet.com/av/video/cbsnews/atlantis2/cbsnews_player_embed.swf

“I like movies that remind me of something I know about,” indeed.

Easy to roll your eyes at, granted – though I’d caution folks my age and persuasion to keep in mind that this is basically the “sweet old man talking about actual history” version of how WE sound when explaining why Star Wars references still “work” (back when they still did, anyway…)

I maintain a certain fascination with – if not necessarily adherence to, by any means – Ayn Rand. Yes, yes, I know… an antisocial nerd with a soft-spot for Objectivism? Shocker.

Look, I’m no Objectivist, but I’d be lying if I said that the broad sweep of it – particularly the whole “live for yourself,” “to hell with the Greater Good,” “traditonal-morality and social-stability are secondary to the freedom of visionaries to realize their potential” aspects – didn’t appeal tremendously to what I recognize to be both the best and worst aspects of my personality. Yes, I recognize that the “philosophy” is a lot more about the author’s own pathology and self-justification… but on the other hand “The Fountainhead” IS probably still the most absurdly-potent “Artist Versus The World” story ever, and more-indirectly, “Trees” is a really good song.

Basically, I appreciate it just enough that seeing Objectivist lingo and imagery being whipped out by the Tea Party as of recent is like a stabbing pain in the gut for me – it’s akin to watching a caveman using an M-16 as a club. “Atlas Shrugged” as the banner of barely-literate “family values” yahoos for whom “elitist” is a curse-word? Have these people no concept of irony whatsoever? Sarah Palin is Dagny Taggart like I’m Erroll Flynn. Egh. Anyway…

I’ve always maintained that there’s a good movie somewhere inside “Atlas Shrugged,” but that to find it would require a top-down reworking, merciless trimming and oversight by filmmakers who could “respect” the story without needing to worship the philosophy (such as it is.) For the longest time, Angelia Jolie was trying to get it off the ground, but apparently that’s been stalled. Instead, an indie outfit decided to put a version together as a “keep the rights” move, and they’ve now released a trailer…

…which looks like a Syfy/Asylum level production. Love the ominous “Part 1”, too, indicating that they’re keeping the interminable, meandering length of the thing. This could be the “Battlfield Earth” of political movies.

Incidentally, want a sobering glimpse of just how much political thought in the U.S. has degraded over the last few decades? Google “Ayn Rand” and “abortion,” and marvel at what “conservative” USED to mean in this country.

On the off chance that people haven’t checked it out yet, here’s that “New Yorker” profile of Paul Haggis that’s ultimately the biggest-yet expose on the Church of Scientology. It’s LONG, but seriously worth reading through even if you do it in pieces – just fascinating, chilling, damning stuff.

What really makes it worthwhile is that it’s not at all just another “ha ha alien ghosts!” dressing-down, by now we all know about Xenu and Thetans and all the nutty business of the actual dogma – this is the REAL down n’ dirty stuff: Serial abuse, slave-labor, people vanishing, brainwashing, etc; and Haggis specifically comes off as a genuinely tragic figure in it.

Give it a read.

http://cdn2.themis-media.com/media/global/movies/player/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.5.swf

Intermission: “When In Rome.”

Here’s what’s going on over at the other blog:

http://v.giantrealm.com/saf/272828ab50091da6eb1ae85133def12ae9a44eb4

I think this might be my favorite “OverThinker” episode ever, honestly. Had a ball making this, and it came out really good as far as I’m concerned.

Can Matthew Vaughn restore what Brett Ratner destroyed?

Looks like it, yeah 😉 Cast looks good, action looks big… Cuban Missile Crisis? Nifty!

And yes, you saw that right: The new “girl Angel” is, essentially, a human-sized Faerie. Kickass. Also: No, that’s probably not Nightcrawler – but they probably want you to think so.

I love how “bright” this all is – not just in the “hooray for yellow spandex!” sense but how much of it seems to be set in the daytime and in tropical environments – about as clean a break as you can get from the urban/winter-forest locations of the first two movies (and that one that didn’t happen.)

Yes indeed. Let me add my voice to everyone else out there in agreeing that – if Marvel Films and Robert Downey Jr. really ARE seriously considering Shane Black, writer of some of your favorite tough-guy movies of the last few decades and writer/director of the AWESOME RDJ mini-comeback“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” as a candidate to replace John Favreau as writer/director of “Iron Man 3 – then HELL YES that should happen!

Normally I’d be given to dismiss the web-wide geekgasm over this sort of thing – sure, great idea, but no use getting worked up since our enthusiasm or worry can’t really effect a hiring decision. But for better or worse, Marvel Films does things differently than other studios – not only would hiring an out-of-left-field “huh?” choice be in keeping with their practices up to this point, but don’t forget that Marvel is widely believed to have picked Chris Evans for Captain America after “floating” his name made the geek-o-sphere go wild. So yeah, might as well get loud and try to get this awesomeness happening.