"Ain't No Thing Like Me Except Me!" Guardians of the Galaxy Assemble in Latest Trailer

After my wedding and all that lovey dovey stuff, the greatest moment of my life was hearing the voice of Rocket Raccoon.  I've watched this new trailer a half dozen times already.  I gotta monitor my expectations now, but I'm all verklempt over here.  Seeing Rocket strapped with some heavy artillery, totally jazzed at the firepower...seeing Rocket handcuffed, "Ain't No Thing Like Me Except Me" - gosh.  I'm not quite sure its up there with the "I'm Always Angry" moment of The Avengers, but dang it, those two tiny moments get right to the heart of the character.  And the quizzicle "I Am Groot" from Vin Diesel?  The film had me already, but now I'm ready to cross state lines and give Polygamy a try with this trailer.  The Wife seems cool with it.  Plus, we get our first look at Lee Pace's Ronan The Accuser and Glenn Close as Nova Prime.  This is happening folks.  Miracles exist.

-- Brad

Just Another Guardians of the Galaxy Poster?

There is nothing really special about this new Guardians of the Galaxy poster other than the fact that it's a GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY POSTER!!!!  Yeah, I'm still not over the excitement of seeing Rocket Raccoon on the big screen.  I'm just floored by the notion.  Last night, Matt, myself, and a bunch of other friends saw the new Godzilla film (Holy Cow! That Movie Was Good), and as we were chatting about the possibilities of the rest of the summer movies, we were debating Guardians's chances with mainstream audiences.  That seems to be the big question.  Will the muggles show up?  Personally, I think Marvel's brand is at such a point that it practically guarantees a number one on opening weekend?  But will it do Winter Soldier numbers?  Doubtful.  But it doesn't need to too.  I just don't want a flop; I want America to embrace the weirder realms of comics.  This morning I finished Jonathan Hickman's New Avengers 18 in which Black Panther addresses a pantheon of ancestral ghosts.  It's a beautiful moment, and a truly strange sequence that I am just dying to see adapted.  As I've said a dozen times before on this blog, a smashing success from Guardians of the Galaxy will equal a delightfully varied selection from future Marvel Studios films.  Please, give this one a chance on opening weekend.

--Brad

The Oscars 2014 - Predictions & Desires

Here we go again.  The 86th Academy Awards.  This is the point where I normally talk about how we all know the Oscars are a bunch of bullspit, but it's sill fun to revel in the pomp & circumstance.  But you know what?  I'm not too cool for school anymore.  I love the Oscars.  Never in a million years would I agree that these are the Best Pictures, and I can think of only one occasion in which the eventual Best Picture matched my own personal pick (1992's Unforgiven).  So what?  It doesn't matter.  I love movies.  You love movies.  Any excuse to talk movies is wonderful, and a big damn overblown award show celebrating movies is just dandy.  As much as people scoff at the film selections, the weepy acceptance speeches, the awkward comedy bits, and the never-ending musical numbers, the Oscars still manage to cause conversation amongst co-workers & friends.  "That's a terrible movie!  How come such-and-such got snubbed?  Idiots!"  Fun, I say.  No more making excuses.  Never again will I start one of this columns with "We All Know It's Bull-blah-blah-blah."  My name is Brad Gullickson and I love the Academy Awards.  Always have, always will.  And this year I've really gone out of my way to transform the Oscars into my Super Bowl.

Not much of a challenge really.  The fact that you only needed to see 11 films to have witnessed the major award nominations (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, & Supporting Actress) is a bit of a bummer.  No nods to performances that outshine their films, or the unexpected genre selection.  Variety is not your friend this year.  Of course, that meant after the nominations were announced, I only needed to check off August - Osage County.  I patted myself on the back.  What a dedicated cineaste, I am.  So I started knocking out the documentaries and the foreign films.  Not content, I went a little crazy.  So much so that I currently find myself watching the Hallmark Holocaust Adventure, The Book Thief because The Academy deemed John Williams's score worthy.  Before the show airs tonight, I will have seen every nominated film with the exception of The Missing Picture, Ernest & Celestine, Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom, and the Documentary Shorts.  This is the closest I've come to total Oscar domination.  Feels good.  And a challenge to beat next year.

"Eat The Fucking Fish!!!"

However, the absolute niftiest aspect to this year's ceremony is that the Best Picture nominations range from pretty damn good to really damn good.  Two of my own Top Ten Films of 2013 actually found their way into the top category.  No Everything is Illuminated trauma schmaltz to scratch your head over this year.  Solid choices, all worthy of at least one watch.  Still, the races I find myself the most excited over are in the Documentary & Foreign Film categories.  The Act of Killing is easily one of the most (prepare for hyperbolic cliche labeling...3...2...1...) emotionally devastating films I have ever experienced, and the single most important film to find it's way into the awards ceremony.  There is not a stronger set of films than those found in Foreign Film.  I ranked The Great Beauty as my 8th favorite film of last year, but having now seen the others (again, except for The Missing Picture), I could easily sing them all with equal praise.  This year certainly has its oddities - Bad Grampa for makeup, Inside Llewyn Davis snubbing, the token John Williams nominee, and my usual contempt for all of the Original Song nominations.  But hey, it's alright cuz The Lone Ranger got some respect in the technical awards.  Fingers Crossed!

Moving into my actual Predictions....I got no idea.  I've read the Entertainment Weeklies.  I've studied the Vegas odds.  I've listened to all the podcasts.  It's a real crapshoot this year.  There are at least three films that have been predicted for the Best Picture since the nominations were announced over a month ago, and they have been seesawing one way or another the entire time.  Cate Blanchett & Matthew McConaughey seem like the only locks for Best Actor & Actress respectively.  However, there is always that heavy amount of pressing the Hollywood flesh, and the last 30 days of L.A. politics could win some folks a few upsets.  That always makes for a good show, and the 86th Academy Awards are gearing up to be the closest race we've had in years.

BEST PICTURE:

AMERICAN HUSTLE
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
GRAVITY
HER
NEBRASKA
PHILOMENA
12 YEARS A SLAVE
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Like I said above, I like all these films in some way or another.  Gravity is easily my least favorite.  I never bought into the narrative of scardy cat astronaut Sandra Bullock.  As a work of spectacle, the film is astounding, and it is one of the rare occasions where I thought 3D technology added to the experience of the characters.  Bravo for Alfonso Cuaron - enjoy your inevitable Best Director Oscar.  But I don't think the Academy wants to go down in history having chosen this technical achievement when there is an "important" film like 12 Years A Slave standing nearby.  This is the legacy award.  And it should be.  No other fictional film this year left me in such a puddle.  Solomon Northrup is witness to our own shameful history, and it's a perspective we rarely encounter in cinema - Roots...Beloved...Django Unchained...  It bothers me when I hear critics bemoan, "We get it already."  No you don't.  Shut up.  Watch.  I'm betting you'll be surprised by how entertained you are.  12 Years A Slave is not the film you necessarily"like" (this is America's awful mirror), but it's an unforgettable experience that you'll revisit time & again unlike those "important message movies" you've already condemned it as.

Of course, let's not forget about Shakespeare in Love.  An inordinate amount of votes for Gravity & 12 Years A Slave could pave the way for American Hustle, a movie-movie that is a whole lotta fun to watch.  Fun performances.  Fun music.  Fun costumes.  Fun crime.  But for all that Disco Inferno it's still just a Scorsese pretender.  Been there, done that.

If I had my way, I'd drop that gold statue on The Wolf of Wall Street.  Possibly the year's most divisive film, I was enthralled by its three hours of hateful excess.  I abhor these people.  I am deeply disturbed by the mocking tone, the reverence for exploitation, and the scott-free climax.  I hate my own laughter at the monstrosity on display.  At times it feels like the party version of The Social Network, and at other moments (especially after that final middle finger shot) I see it as the greatest condemnation of a lifestyle since Brian DePalma's Scarface (another film doomed to misinterpretation).  It's ugly.  And I like ugly.

Captain Phillips, Her, Nebraska, Phillomena, Dallas Buyers Club.  Decent movies.  But in ten years we will not be talking about them at all.

Prediction:  12 Years A Slave

Desire: The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST DIRECTOR:

ALFONSO CUARON (Gravity)
STEVE MCQUEEN (12 Years A Slave)
ALEXANDER PAYNE (Nebraska)
DAVID O RUSSELL (American Hustle)
MARTIN SCORSESE (The Wolf of Wall Street)

The tone of Nebraska never set well with me.  The midwest...hardy-har-har-har, what a bunch of yokels.  Alexander Payne sure knows how to set his sights on people.  Sometimes it's a blistering pinpoint assault (Election), other times it simply seems mean spirited (Nebraska).  David O Russell loves to move his camera in crazy, unexpected ways and it's obvious that he knows how to eek a performance out of an actor.  Isn't it mind boggling that no other director has helmed two films to win nominations in all five major categories two years in a row?  Steve McQueen is almost an unseen hand in 12 Years A Slave.  He's performance based, but he also concocts shots with painfully pristine precision.  I dig his art.  However, it's looking like we're going to get a repeat of last year with a fun little split.  12 Years gets Picture, and Alfonso Cuaron gets Director for the astonishing amount of filmmaking trickery on display in Gravity.  You're going to see his film early on in the show sweep the technical awards, and it will climax right here, but go no further.

Me?  Again, Wolf Of Wall Street.  It's a power chord movie.  Slamming it's theme of American Excess home with the largest nail and the largest hammer.  Scorsese is 71 years old, but he attacks his films like a young man.  Some of his greatest visual flourishes have occurred in his last three films.  I am in awe.  Is Wolf of Wall Street comedy, satire, or porno?  People will be fighting this war for some time.  As they do with nearly every one of his big pictures (no one talks After Hours or Kundun, but perhaps they should).  The man's excitement for cinema is contagious, and yes, he's as much of a fanboy director as Quentin Tarantino.  His films always demand examination, and they're a delight to pick at.  He won for The Departed, but I wish the Academy had waited for this moral quandary.  People who miss 70s cinema look no further.

Prediction:  Alfonso Cuaron

Desire:  Martin Scorsese

BEST ACTOR:

CHRISTIAN BALE (American Hustle)
BRUCE DERN (Nebraska)
LEONARDO DICAPRIO (The Wolf of Wall Street)
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR (12 Years A Slave)
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY (Dallas Buyers Club)

This is just a tough, tough category.  I'd be perfectly happy with any one of these gents taking home Oscar.  Christian Bale brings an unexpected warmth to his conman, and manages to emote past his potbelly & hairpiece.  Bruce Dern is Bruce Dern.  He's old man awesome.  It's a character he could have done in his sleep.  Matthew McConaughey is certainly the favored, but is he the lock we think him to be?  Apparently, Leo has been beating the streets of Hollywood, and if we're going to get an upset this evening it's in the Best Actor category.  I really dig McConaughey and his McConaaissance.  But this is not my favorite recent role, nor do I really like Dallas Buyers Club.  It's fine.  But if I want to revisit this American Horror Story then I'll probably rewatch How To Survive A Plague rather than this obvious soap opera.  For me, it's Chiwetel Ejofor.  It's a performance properly filled with anguish and terror, but the movie owns our heart because Ejofor is a master of silent cinema.  The small gestures that lead to great triumph.

Prediction:  Matthew McConaughey

Desire: Chiwetel Ejiofor

BEST ACTRESS:

AMY ADAMS (American Hustle):
CATE BLANCHETT (Blue Jasmine):
SANDRA BULLOCK (Gravity):
JUDI DENCH (Philomena):
MERYL STREEP (August - Osage County):

Forget Meryl Streep.  I am done with her acting-acting.  Judi Dench, like Bruce Dern, can't turn in a bad performance these days to save her life.  Sandra Bullock is just fine, but she suffers from ham-fisted scriptwriting.  I do really love Amy Adams in American Hustle.  Her bizarre-o triple performance had me rooting for her whackjob romance.  This is her fifth nomination, and she's the only one of the group who has yet to win a statue.  But that doesn't matter.  If we're talking locks, there is only one this year, and that's Cate Blanchett.  No matter where this never-ending Woody Allen controversy goes, nothing is changing the fact that she's walking home a winner tonight.  And it's totally deserved.  Blue Jasmine might not be my cup of tea, but this super hero origin of a bag lady was a masterful depiction of despair.  I may never watch it again, but I cannot deny her the gold.  And neither will The Academy.

Prediction:  Cate Blanchett

Desire:  Cate Blanchett

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

BARKHAD ABDI (Captain Phillips)
BRADLEY COOPER (American Hustle)
MICHAEL FASSBENDER (12 Years A Slave)
JONAH HILL (The Wolf of Wall Street)
JARED LETO (Dallas Buyers Club)

Possibly my least favorite category this year.  Some solid work here, but not a one of these actors would have made my shortlist (where's James Franco's shit??).  Barkhad Abdi does some good stuff with a character that could have easily been a one dimensional villain, but I think Paul Greengrass probably deserves the most for that performance.  Michael Fassbender is utterly terrifying in 12 Years A Slave.  It's a flashy, big-bad role.  Jonah Hill sneaks in with a Moneyball repeat.  He's a funny dumbass monster, sure, but...really?  Jared Leto - I'm still working him out.  He's there in Dallas Buyers Club to transform McConaughey's bigoted redneck into a drug dealing hero figure.  It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  He'll most likely take Oscar, but Fassbender may sneak it away if 12 Years sweeps the show, and wouldn't it be cool if Abdi snagged it?  Still, being a comic nerd I've got to go with Rocket Raccoon.  He just plays the scumbag tool so well, and I really enjoyed watching his villain nature ratchet to extremes in the film's final moments.

Prediction:  Jared Leto

Desire: Bradley Cooper

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

SALLY HAWKINS (Blue Jasmine)
JENNIFER LAWRENCE (American Hustle)
LUPITA NYONG'O (12 Years A Slave)
JULIA ROBERTS (August - Osage County)
JUNE SQUIBB (Nebraska)

Julia Roberts looses because she tried to make Steep - "EAT THE FUCKING FISH!"  People who refer to June Squibb as "adorable" creep me out.  Sally Hawkins is perfectly fine in Blue Jasmine, but she looses shine next to Cate Blanchett.  This race comes down to Jennifer Lawrence's Science-Oven enthusiast & Lupita Nyong'o's systematic victim.  Tough call.  Both do great work.  Lawrence is a brilliant shrew, but Nyong'o wins because she's the perfect piece in a powerhouse story.  She has the shortest amount of screen time (18 minutes) of the nominees, but she makes everyone of them count.  From the flashy tearjerker confession, the Fassbender brutalization, and Alfrie Woodard's story hour.

Prediction:  Lupita Nyong'o

Desire: Lupita Nyong'o

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:

THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN (Belgium)
THE GREAT BEAUTY (Italy)
THE HUNT (Denmark)
THE MISSING PICTURE (Cambodia)
OMAR (Palestine)

Jeez, I don't know here.  I haven't seen The Missing Picture, but I loved all of the other nominees.  Omar is a gripping crime tragedy set against the West Bank.  The Broken Circle Breakdown is a wallop of melodrama that really puts similar miserable concepts like August - Osage County to shame.  The Hunt contains my second favorite lead performance of last year (the 2nd being the equally snubbed Oscar Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis), as Mads Mikkelsen battles his town after a wrongful accusation of pedophilia.  The favorite looks to be Italy's Great Beauty, a Fellini obsessed tour through the wreckage of one-time novelist Toni Servillo.  The Great Beauty is a gorgeously somber film for the lost souls in all of us.  Criterion snagged the blu ray rights.  That's good enough for the snob in me, and I'm sure The Academy agrees.

Prediction:  The Great Beauty

Desire:  The Great Beauty


ANIMATED FEATURE:

THE CROODS
DESPICABLE ME 2
ERNEST & CELESTINE
FROZEN
THE WIND RISES

I spent most of this past week scarfing down these nominees, but was unable to locate Ernest & Celestine.  None of them particularly grabbed me on their initial theatrical run, and I don't think most of them will stick with me much longer.  The Croods was shockingly fun.  The nonsensical animal design won me over in the same vein as Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.  I love the Despicable Me minions, but I could not care less about the Gru storyline.  I appreciate Disney's attempt to play in the Princess genre, but was left cold by much of Frozen.  I'm going to sound a little bit like an ignoramus here, but I've never really enjoyed anime or the films of Miyazaki.  Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away were fun enough, but meh.  That being said, I was really taken by The Wind Rises.  The story of Jiro Horikoshi's cursed dream to build the ultimate flying machine is a complicated narrative for an American to engage, but Miyazaki excels in tackling the juxtaposition between art & war.  At the very least, The Wind Rises carries with it some of the most beautiful apocalyptic imagery I've encountered in an animated film, and it's rather bothersome to me that American Animation still finds itself caught in childhood.  Pixar has come close to telling adult stories, but I'm still waiting for the USA to mature.

Prediction:  Frozen

Desire:  The Wind Rises

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

20 FEET TO STARDOM
THE ACT OF KILLING
CUTIE AND THE BOXER
DIRTY WARS
THE SQUARE

20 Feet To Stardom is a solid episode of VH1's Behind The Music.  Cutie and the Boxer is a sad little look into failure.  Dirty Wars puts American foreign policy on trial, but fails to back up its claims with hard evidence.  The Square is a fascinating look into Egypt's ongoing political strife, and it's possibly the only film here that could stir serious global change if experienced by the right people.  But The Act of Killing?  God damn.  I've never seen anything like it.  And if we're going to talk about "important" films like 12 Years A Slave then we have to discuss Joshua Oppenheimer's weird-ass expose into the crimes of Anwar Congo.  Responsible for thousands of executions during Indonesia's Communist Revolt in 1965, Oppenheimer records Congo's reenactment of his proud duties as he plops them into cinematic genres like the musical and the film noir.  What is man capable of?  What are you capable of?  Dark questions and darker answers await us in The Act of Killing.  I'll be ok if The Square wins.  But if any of the other nominations set foot on stage, I'll be pretty peeved at The Academy's ability to shove their head in the sand.

Prediction:  The Act of Killing

Desire: The Act of Killing

CINEMATOGRAPHY:

ROGER DEAKINS (Prisoners)
BRUNO DELBONNEL (Inside Llewyn Davis)
PHILIPPE LE SOURD (The Grandmaster)
EMMANUEL LUBEZKI (Gravity)
PHEDON PAPAMICHAEL (Nebraska)

Will someone just give Roger Deakins an Oscar already!?!?!  Well, unfortunately, he didn't partner with The Coen Brothers this year and instead brought great beauty to an obviously mediocre tale of Law & Order.  Prisoners is junk.  Bruno Delbonnel blanketed Inside Llewyn Davis in snowy gloom, and it would be nice to see this film take some sort of gold home tonight.  Phedon Papamichael matched the starkness of the land with the starkness of the relationships in Nebraska.   Who doesn't love black & white photography?  Emmanuel Lubezki will probably take it during Gravity's early show dominance.  But I want Phillipe Le Sourd to go home happy due to his sumptuous and varied display of Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster.  Not a chance in hell, but...

Prediction:  Emmanuel Lubezki

Desire:  Philippe Le Sourd

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:

AMERICAN HUSTLE (Eric Warren Singer & David O Russell)
BLUE JASMINE (Woody Allen)
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack)
HER (Spike Jonze)
NEBRASKA (Bob Nelson)

This is the only chance to award Spike Jonze as writer & director of Her.  Personally, I found the conclusion rather unsatisfying, but it's a clever deconstruction of our modern idea of human interaction. Dallas Buyers Club is...obvious.  You saw the trailer, and you immediately knew not only how the movie was going to end, but what the ride would be like as well.  It's an actor's film.  That's it.  Nebraska is sorta similar, but like I said above, I never felt a love for the characters from the filmmakers involved.  American Hustle, "BASED ON TRUE EVENTS", is a plot you've seen over and over again.  Fun characters, sure.  I'm going with Woody Allen.  Yep.  I'm as surprised as you are.  I've never been much of a fan, but ever since Midnight in Paris, I've been warming up to the creep.  I really enjoy the story's mindless jabber framing device. I like the flashbacking information dumps.  I like the odd revelations of the minor characters.  I may never watch it again, but I surly respect its script.

Prediction:  Her

Desire:  Blue Jasmine

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:

12 YEARS A SLAVE (John Ridley)
BEFORE MIDNIGHT (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, & Ethan Hawke)
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS (Billy Ray)
PHILOMENA (Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope)
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (Terence Winter)

Prediction:  12 Years A Slave

Desire:  The Wolf of Wall Street

I loved 12 Years A Slave.  But there are a couple problems that I had with the script.  Brad Pitt's white savior being the biggest one.  Before Midnight is a fascinating watch, but I'm still bitter about where the writers took these characters after Before Sunrise.  Captain Phillips falls apart once the Navy shows up. Philomena is perfectly fine.  The Wolf of Wall Street takes a despicably proud biography and turns it against its creator.  F - U Jordan Belfort.  For that alone, Terrence Winter gets my vote.



--Brad

Rocket Raccoon & Groot Steal The Galaxy (and the Internet)! Marvel Goes Prose Again

Marvel is making a big push to force the world (ie the internet) into full blown Guardians of the Galaxy mania.  I sure hope it works.  We've proven the worth of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor to the public, but it's going to be a little tricky convincing them that Rocket is one badass genetic experiment and not just a cute little furball.  Not to mention the walking trees, the reality bending gauntlets, and various other cosmic oddities.  Last week the trailer hit, and the fanboys out there seemed properly teased.



Ooga Chakka Ooga Ooga Ooga Chakka!  Ice Pirates is alive and well and living in director James Gunn's heart.  Sure, that's pretty much 90% of what we saw at Comic Con last year with a few extra glimpses of Benicio Del Toro's Collector & Kieron Gillen's Nebula.  Still no Lee Pace Ronan, Rocket Raccoon Cooper voice, Vin Diesel Grooting, or real any real sense of the plot.  Just enough to get giddy.  And I am giddy.  Looks like I'm not alone.  Went to the comic shop two days after the trailer blasted the net, and they were all out of Guardians comics (with the exception of the recent Brian Michael Bendis trades, but let's be honest - they are lame).  What I'm really interested in are the two Annihilation maxi-series that Dan Abnett concocted a few years ago.  Cosmic Marvel never really interested me much as a kid, but thanks to Jonathan Hickman's recent work on Infinity, I'm quickly turning into a Thanos junkie.

Well you might have to shell out a Ben Franklin or two for the Annihilation Hardbacks (for now), but in July you'll get a chance to read that author's brand new Guardians of the Galaxy prose novel, Rocket Raccoon & Groot Steal The Galaxy.  In an interview with Newsarama, Abnett describes the book as "John Woo's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."  I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I think he's attempting a tone of kickassery plus goofy space adventure - you know, Rocket Raccoon folks, big guns to match those big doe eyes.  I'm down.  Marvel has been cranking out the Mega Event novel adaptations like Civil War and Breakout for a while, but it's nice to see them attempting something original with their licenses.  And hopefully this Guardians of the Galaxy media onslaught will result in a hit film.  I want the movie to be good, but I want even more for it to be successful.  If Guardians makes a buck we won't have to settle for Thor 3, Cap 4, Iron Man 5, Avengers 14, over and over and over again.  Let's see some of our favorite Wannabes - bring on Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Silver Surfer, Namor, The Peanut Butter Barbarian.  Let's get weird.  Let's show the world that Geek truly is the new Jock.  Let's vote for Rocket Raccoon in 2014.  If Marvel doesn't expand beyond spandex then the bubble will surly burst, and this golden age will crumble back into a sea of sports talk.  No one wants that, right?

--Brad

A Fistful of Metal! (Brad's Picks)

Zack Snyder's Man of Steel has hit, and hopefully, it will leave a massive crater in my lackluster enthusiasm for Superman.  Oh sure, I enjoyed the Donner movies as a kid, and Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely's All-Star Superman has to be one of the greatest comic book series ever printed in four colors, but Big Blue has never been a character that's spoken to my fanboy heart.  It's either The Beatles or The Stones, you're either a Supes fan or a Batman guy.  I've always been the later.

However, that's not what this list is about.  Look to my Week in Dork for all things Not-A-Bird-Not-A-Plane.  This Fistful Friday centers around my favorite encounters with cinematic Heavy Metal.  Maybe not the greatest movies on the planet, but you can certainly bang your head to this list.  Rock on.

5.  Doc Savage - Man of Bronze:  This movie is shit.  No bones about it.  However, the pulp fiction source material birthed from the bored mind of Lester Dent is a treasure trove of Indiana Jones-like adventure.  The Man of Bronze and his team of scientists travel the globe battling evil Russian scientists and ravenous headhunter tribes.  He seems pretty much forgotten these days, but his tales of pseudo-science & flat-out mysticism rival the very best of The Shadow or The Phantom.  Too bad Ron Ely's Man of Bronze can't muster enough energy to break you out of a snooze.  Still, look at that poster, pretty badass huh?

4.  The Nickel Ride:  This is a gem of 70s crime cinema.  Jason Miller is Cooper, a low level kingpin who manages a string of warehouses in Los Angeles.  But then the mob looses interest in their investment and cowboy goon Bo Hopkins shows up on his doorstep.  Not really triumphed these days, The Nickel Ride is a cold, mean, anti-climactic, and eventually heartless film.  Not the type of flick to go down in history, but it's worth your time just to see everyone's favorite Exorcist go up against no one's favorite Bufurd Pusser.

3.  Silver Linings Playbook:  I haven't seen this since the movie theater, but I've been craving a rewatch lately.  Haters love to harp on its completely fantastical interpretation of mental illness and it's Gambling Wins The Day climax, but I say pull that stick outta your ass and enjoy the oddball romance skipping a beat at the center of the film.  Bradley Cooper & Jennifer Lawrence are utterly engaging.  They have no business being together and in a real world situation would probably end their relationship in bloodshed, but this is Hollywood, and in Hollywood the guy gets the girl even when he is batshit crazy with rage.  It's cute.

2.  Cross of Iron:  The man who brought us the moral ambiguity of The Wild Bunch and Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid turns his attention towards The Good War, and the result is a haunting insight into how the other half lives.  James Coburn is Steiner, a German corporal who refuses to execute a captive child which in turn brings down the wrath of his commanding officer Maximilian Schell.  There have been many films that have reveled in the "War Is Hell" pathos, but Cross of Iron is one of the most theatrical and as such it reaches deep into Greek tragedy.  This ain't Spielberg, it's Peckinpah.  'nuff said.

1.  Goldfinger:  Could there be any other choice for the top spot?  Certainly not the best James Bond film (uh, that's From Russia With Love), still Goldfinger has the most iconic moment from the franchise.  Shirley Eaton, having foolishly fallen for Sean Connery's smile, is transformed into the ultimate Bond Girl victim when the diabolical Auric Goldfinger gives her a glittery spray-on tan.  A million fanboys were birthed in that moment.

The Real Man of Steel?

--Brad