Fan Film Friday bonus bonus: White Luke Cage

From uploader patrickhwillems comes the white washing of the greatest black superhero ever in the Marvel Universe.  This is just damn funny.  Well acted, well shot and damn, damn funny.

Cosplay Wednesday

  This week we look at the patriotic world of Captain America.  First up is a really good Red Skull followed by the American Dream or a distaff Captain America.  The true Red Skull was Johann Schmidt (who employed American industrialist [of course he is] George Maxon to act as Red Skull on his behalf).  The history of Johann Schmidt is detailed wonderfully in the fantastic mini series Red Skull: Incarnate but as Red Skull he with the Nazi party and was Hitler's right hand man as well as a constant thorn in the side of Captain America.  The American Dream is Shannon Carter and part of the side continuity MC2 which had the good (Spider-Girl) and the terrible (the grunge, flanneled son of the Juggernaut).  Growing up idolizing Captain America she picked up an indestructible shield of her own and became the American Dream and a member of A-Next.

  The Red Skull has a ton of detail including a Cosmic Cube, a full German uniform and a very well made mask.  Plus it looks like he's wearing a Nazi armband, which takes a bit of balls.  Granted it's in character but you never know who will be offended and to what degree.  The second I don't know if it truly is the American Dream or not.  She lacks a mask and carries a triangular shield which is Cap's old style shield.  So it doesn't add up in that sense but the costume is well made (looks to be a combination of spandex and leather) and the player showed up in shape so props to that.

Blade II (2002) DVD (Target multi pack)

Is that a hill?  You know I won't ice skate up it.

Rating: 3 out of 5 Members of a Kick Ass Vampire Death Squad

Plot Synopsis:  So there’s Blade, there’s a new kind of vampire killing vampires and there’s Ron Perlman.  Then shit get’s real.

Fan Film Friday: The Flash:The Brave and The Bold

  This week was a bit harder to find stuff.  Last week I found Powers on page one of You Tube, this week I had to go allllll the way to page five which is where I found this little gem.  I found a few things before it that were bad beyond review but when I came across this I was pretty happy.

  Flash comes to us from uploader InfluenceFilms, directed and starring Jason Damian as Wally West.  I'm going to be honest, it's a bit of a mixed bag but it's an entertaining mixed bag dammit.

  The plot is nigh incoherent.  Someone died, let's see if I can properly explain it.  The person that died was a friend of Wally's uncle.  The person that calls Wally is the son of the friend of Wally's uncle so Wally Flash's it up to help out the son of a friend of his uncle.  He runs around a bit, he meets with the Justice League (a scene introduced by the completely out of place but funny "Meanwhile at the Hall of Justice" from the Super Friends cartoon), there's some talk about how super powers don't elevate you above normal man, Wally doubts himself, he goes to Barry's grave and seeing thugs about to kill the son of his uncles friend.  The plot is pretty paper thin and I don't think it holds up any scrutiny or analysis.  There's also a cameo by Lex Luthor but it doesn't amount to much.

  Okay, so the plot is barely there, but the acting is actually pretty... hit or miss as well.  Wally is played pretty well by Jason Damian, I don't know if this was shot sequentially or what but he goes from a little stiff in the opening scene to actually pretty good by the end of the 5 minutes of the film and his voice over is pretty competently done as well.  There a brief cameo by John Stewart Green Lantern played by John A Clark and he is by far the best actor in the group.  He looks good in the costume and delivers his lines really well.  He's in it for MAYBE 8 seconds but he's a highlight.  The other highlight are the 2 thugs who provide some comic relief.  I think one of them was told to act like he was in a 1920's gangster movie or possibly like Joe Pesci, either way it's hilarious.

  I had fun with this.  It's not going to win best independent film or anything but it's a fun 6 minutes with a gag reel tacked on to the end of it which I found pretty funny.  They portray super speed the best possible way they can considering the, what I assume is a, shoe string budget.  The Flash costume looks a little weird but the other costumes are pretty good, also considering the zero budget.  It's shot in an entirely non distracting or detracting way, that's pretty much the highest praise I can give it.  The camera is there, it's pointed at things, those things are in focus and in the frame and you know what, I'll take that.  The acting is what you'd expect from a pool of either amateur actors or friends of the director.  I'd say it's worth a look as there's certainly worse.  A lot worse. Like next weeks entry, which I also found on page 5.

Cosplay Wednesdays

This week we have a Stephanie Brown Robin and an Iron Fist.  Stephanie Brown was the daughter of the Cluemaster and started out as The Spoiler but later came under the wing of the Batman who trained to become the 4th Robin after Tim Drake.  Iron Fist is millionaire industrialist (of course he is) Danny Rand who was made the Immortal Weapon Iron Fist when he fought and killed the dragon Shou-Lao the Undying the guardian of the mystical city of K'un-L'un.  After plunging his fists into the dragons molten heart he was given fists of iron and the ability to channel his chi into his fists with devastating results.

  Both costumes are well done with Robins having more elements to it, it's well made and comic accurate.  The Iron Fist costume is well made but the key in a costume like that is that you show up in shape and this guy did with a pretty impressive mask.

Blade (1998) DVD (Target multi pack)

This motherfucker never tries to skate uphill.

Rating:  3 out of 5 People Slaughtered in a Vampire Rave

Plot Synopsis:  Blade, the half vampire, hunts full vampires, but not werewolves, that would just be ridiculous.  At some point he has to stop Deacon Frost from unleashing the Vampocalypse.

Bonus: Blinky Deadpool webseries

  So this is the first episode of the Blinky Deadpool webseries. I've got to say it's pretty dang good.  Mandy Evans returns as Typhoid Mary.  She plays it well and holy crap can she dance.  We already kind of knew that but she puts her talent on display during her introduction in Wade's "Pool-o-Vision".  Deadpool is played in costume by Damian Vargas with voice by Chris .R. Notarile.  It's good, there's a fight scene between Mary and Pool and it's well done.  There's a cameo from Elektra and Domino that promises to turn into something more.  It's all done very well, the usual Chris strengths are on display here, yadda yadda yadda.  If you don't know the kind of quality and awesomeness you can expect from Chris .R. Notarile then I suggest you read any one of my other reviews of his stuff.

  Mostly what I want to get down to is the portrayal of Deapool himself.  They nailed it.  Most people try to make Deadpool TOO random.  They think random is funny or that random is what embodies Deadpool.  Deadpool is not random, Deadpool is fucking crazy.  There's a huge difference, it's not about saying weird shit just to say weird shit, it's about having totally different perspective on reality and acting as if everyone else lives in the same reality or at the very least not caring that you're the only person in that reality.  This does not translate to "random".  It translates to snarky, sarcastic, self deprecating and socially awkward.  He has a talent for doing things he thinks are cool and saying the exact wrong or unexpected thing.  Just to quickly wrap this up because I just want you all to watch it, it's a good 10 minutes spent, they really got the source material and it'll be interesting to see where it goes from here.

Fan Film Friday: Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl fan film

  As will be common for this feature I typed in "superhero fan film" into You Tube and picked the first one that interested me.  This week it's Powers.  Uploaded by user brianbedell and directed by Michelle Massey, it stars Brian Bedell as Christian Walker and Madeline Blue as Deena Pilgrim.

  I picked this because I know nothing about the comic book Powers other than 1) it exists and B) it's pretty good.  But I haven't gotten around to actually reading it.  I am familiar enough with the premise behind the book to not get lost so I thought I'd give this a go as something different.

  I'm glad I did because I really liked it.  It's shot well, there's good framing, the cuts don't get in the way, things are balanced in the frame.  The camera work isn't obvious, I didn't notice the camera work at all, cinematography can be thankless in that respect because unless you're using your frame to say something that isn't being said by the characters or the setting the best you can hope for is unnoticeable.  I mean unnoticeable in a good way, with unnoticeable you aren't actively detracting from the scene and are enhancing the scene subtly.   So I give props to cinematographer Adam Goral.

  The acting is actually really good, Brian Bedell manages to put some emotion in his performance, you can empathize with the character and it never feels wooden or hokey.  Madeline Blue does very good as well, her characters personality works as a good foil for Christian Walker's displayed personality.  In this scene she plays the role of a plot device, something to induce exposition so the role she's supposed to play isn't dynamic.  That being said her line delivery is good, she has good body language and get's across what she needs to get across in the time she has to do it with what she has to work with.  Having not read the book I can't say if the portrayals are accurate to the written characters however.  I found the roles to be well played and believable.

  I was impressed with this choice and it's a good way to kick off Fan Film Friday with a bang.  It made me really want to read the book so I can see if the page translates to what I saw here and, really, isn't that the goal of a fan film?  A well made fan film will encourage others to become fans and a poorly done fan film will turn potential fans away.  This is a well made fan film.

Cosplay Wednesdays

 This week we delve into the dark side of the wizard Shazam.  Before there was Captain Marvel there was Black Adam who possessed the Stamina of Shu, the Swiftness of Heru, the Strength of Amon, the Wisdom of Zehuti, the Power of Aton and the Courage of Mehen.  Mary Marvel was given a portion of Shazam's power by Captain Marvel, when she lost her powers during Countdown due to the death of Shazam she was given power the power of Black Adam turning her into a darker version of her white clad self.

  Both costumes are well done, both people went to the trouble to of trying to look like who they're cosplaying.  Black Adam looks sufficiently intimidating while Mary Marvel has an intense expression while maintaining an innocent vibe.

That's a good point. Also why reverse villains don't always work.

link

Memebase has been really good lately so there's more highlights than usual.