"Superman/Batman: Public Enemies," the latest animated feature based on the DC Universe, arrives on shelves today.
Based on the first story arc from Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness "Superman/Batman" comic book series, "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies," chronicles Lex Luthor's rise to power in the White House and his scheme to put Superman and Batman on the wrong side of the law (including a $1 billion bounty on their heads that has every villain in the DCU looking for them).
The film also features a who's who of voice actors from DC's animated (and video game) history. Kevin Conroy, who has become the voice of Batman over the last decade in various animated series featuring Bruce Wayne's alter ego (as well as the "Batman: Arkham Asylum" game), reprises his role as the Dark Knight. He's joined by actor Tim Daly, who returns to voice the Man of Steel once again after doing so in both the "Superman" animated series and various animated features. Read more...
FROM MTV MOVIES: In "Surrogates," nobody goes to work anymore, or even leaves the house much. Instead, lifelike robo-mannequins are dispatched to undertake the day's business while their operators sit at home with headsets and watch. These surrogates tend toward whitebread perfection — blonder of hair, bluer of eye and hotter of bod than their owners — but they can also be purchased in any race or gender desired. Imagine the benefits.
Cops and combat soldiers no longer need risk their real lives. Communicable diseases fade away, along with various sorts of prejudice. (That hot number your surry just picked up in a club might actually be some leering lardo sprawled at home on his living-room sofa.) Life — or at least "life" — is good.
The movie makes significant alterations (mainly of gender and motivation) in the Robert Venditti comic books on which it's based; but these changes, for a change, actually enhance the story.
Continue reading Kurt Loder's review of "Surrogates" at Movies.MTV.com.
FROM MULTIPLAYER: "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" is the most polished and enjoyable game the franchise has seen so far (including the "X-Men Legends" titles), but does it do enough to elevate itself in the increasingly crowded holiday marketplace?
The Basics: Set during the Civil War storyline, "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" sees the Marvel super hero community suffer a rift. Apparently there's some disagreement over whether super heroes should be forced to register with the government. The pro-registration heroes, led by Iron Man, end up going to war with the anti-registration heroes, led by Captain America, and in the end, it's the world's population that suffers.
Continue reading Multiplayer's review of "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" at MultiplayerBlog.MTV.com.
A pair of DVDs get the spotlight this week, one giving the origin treatment to Marvel's clawed mutant and the other taking us back to the origins of Hasbro's robots in disguise.
"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (Two-Disc Special Edition): We've already told you all about the film itself, so what does the DVD offer? Along with a variety of "Making Of" and behind-the-scenes featurettes (one features Stan Lee and Len Wein reflecting on the character's history), the two-disc DVD and Blu-Ray editions both feature an assortment of deleted and alternate scenes.
However, rather than simply providing another take on existing shots, some of the extra footage offers interesting spins on the existing material. Read more...
FROM MOVIES.MTV.COM: It's probably not director Dominic Sena's fault that his new snowbound thriller, "Whiteout," suggests so many tantalizing genre directions in which the movie itself, unfortunately, doesn't go. The picture's general thrill deficit, however — well, that would seem to be Sena's purview.
Early on there's a scene in which U.S. Marshall Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) enters her quarters at the Antarctic research station where she's the lone law-enforcer and strips to her underwear, allowing the camera to ogle her behind as she bends over. Then she steps into a shower, affording us one of those shot-through-frosted-glass views of Beckinsale's (or somebody's) vaguely nude body luxuriating in the steamy spray.
Naturally, we think: Okay, this is gonna be a movie with some R-rated skin. But no. The Antarctic, being a place where temperatures can plunge to 100 degrees below zero, is the land of heavily layered clothing, of the sort in which Beckinsale spends much of the rest of the film.
Continue reading Kurt Loder's review of "Whiteout" at Movies.MTV.com.
If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that we shouldn't settle for adaptations of comic book properties in movies, video games and television series that are good relative to other comic book adaptations—they should be good relative to all the projects in their respective medium. With the critical success of "The Dark Knight" and "Iron Man" last year, comic book fans are finding a lot more to be proud of in Hollywood—and with the upcoming release of "Batman: Arkham Asylum," they have yet another project to be proud of in the gaming world, too.
Over on MTV's gaming blog, Multiplayer, editor Russ Frushtick posted a review of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" that assessed the game's high and low points, and concluded with his belief that the game ranks as one of the best of the year thus far. Keep in mind: that's not the best "comic book game," but the best game of any type whatsoever.
While Russ had high praise for "Arkham Asylum" (and I couldn't agree more with his assessment), we approached the game from very different perspectives, and with very different sets of burning questions. So, with that in mind, here's a "Batman: Arkham Asylum" review from the comics side of MTV HQ. Read more...
FROM MTV.COM: "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" leaked online on April 1 for all to watch on their computer screens. A month later, the full version has arrived on bigger screens in movie theaters across the country. So, should you plunk down your dollars on opening night to check out the story of how Hugh Jackman became the mutton-chopped mutant with razor-sharp claws? Should you see it at all?
Our own Kurt Loder has already weighed in, calling "Wolverine" a movie "powered by a succession of beautifully designed body-slam action sequences."
After taking a look at what everyone else has been saying, we present to you the good, the bad and the ugly of the "Wolverine" reviews.
Keep reading our roundup of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" reviews at Movies.MTV.com.
By Kurt Loder
FROM MTV.COM: "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" puts some of the kicks back into the comic-book film genre. The movie cost a lot of money to make, and it's packed with big — huge — CGI sequences; but it has a fresh spirit, and at less than two hours in length it's surprisingly light on its feet.
The hero — Logan, the snarly Wolverine — is of course familiar from the three "X-Men" movies; but Hugh Jackman, with his blinding smile, heroic hair and generally ripped charisma, plays him as less of a brooder this time out: He's more fun, and funnier, too. And some of the new mutants he encounters here are so vibrant, you can almost see their spin-off franchises unreeling in your mind as you watch.
The picture is built for speed. It opens in Canada in 1845, with the young Logan and his even snarlier half-brother, Victor — the soon-to-be Sabretooth — fleeing their childhood home and moving on, with ageless energy, to fight in the American Civil War, then World War I, then World War II — and this is all before the opening credits finish rolling.
Read the rest of Kurt Loder's "Wolverine" review at Movies.MTV.com.
FROM MTV.COM: So did they leave stuff out? How could they not? "Watchmen" adepts will note a significant amount of narrative surgery in the long-awaited movie version of this revered comic-book classic. The lengthy "Black Freighter" pirate segments and the "Under the Hood" back story? Gone. (Both have understandably been shooed off onto a DVD that's due out on March 24.) Likewise elided are a mysterious island, a press-clip mosaic and a rambling "Nova Express" interview. And the grumbly homicide detectives and the two Bernies at the corner newsstand are only glancingly represented.
In addition, as more fanatical fans have feared all along, the ending has been tinkered with — but only in its central, pulpy detail (which was always the weakest part of the story); its enigmatic impact remains undefiled.
For the rest of Kurt Loder's "Watchmen" review, head over to MTV.com.
FROM MULTIPLAYER BLOG: Conduct the following test, please. Name a favorite movie or book or graphic novel that has been turned into a game.
Pick “GoldenEye” or “Lord of the Rings” or “Watchmen” … or anything.
Jot down the five adjectives that first come to mind about that work of fiction, the words that best describe why it is uniquely wonderful.
Now you need to answer a question: should the video game version of that source material evoke the same adjectives? And if it doesn’t, is that a problem?
For the rest of Multiplayer's "Watchmen: End is Nigh" video game review, head over to MultiplayerBlog.MTV.com.
