I Love SuperHero Movies

In case you haven’t been a follower of the blog for very long, I need to tell you something.  You have probably guessed it by the title.  I love superhero movies.

I began reading comic books before I started kindergarten.  I still have a  few of my earliest comics from 1973.

I geeked out in 1989 when Batman came out.  I loved it later when Spider-Man and X-Men finally made it to the silver screen.

So, you need to know that I am excited about 2013.  Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, The Wolverine and Thor: Dark World are all coming.

Then there is 2014.  Captain America: Winter Soldier,  Spider-Man, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Guardians of the Galaxy will all be coming to a theater near all of us.

In 2015?  Avengers 2, Justice League and Ant Man.

This doesn’t count the other movies that are in production.

In other words, I’m pretty excited about the next two and a half years.

But……

James warns us about making plans like this.

He tells us that life is but a vapor.

James says that I should say, “If the Lord wills” I will see these movies.

So yes, I love superhero movies.

I’m looking forward to seeing these movies and more.

If the Lord wills it.

Are you ever guilty of making plans without thinking about whether the Lord wills it?

The Avengers Non-Review

I have not been able to go see The Avengers yet.  My son was out-of-town last weekend and we want to see it together. However, I cannot let that hinder me from writing a non-review.  Since I have a pretty good handle on the characters from years of reading comic books and watching comic book inspired movies, I feel qualified to go ahead with a non-review.

What I aim to do is show how we all can relate to these characters as children of God and followers of Christ.  Hopefully, I will succeed in this.  If not, come back next week when I do a real review.

Let’s start with Iron Man. He is a man who is being kept alive by an external power source.  He may be the most human of all of these heroes. His own sins and weaknesses trip him up.  He is looking for some way to redeem himself and he thinks performing heroic acts will do it.

Captain America is out of step with the modern world.  He is truly a stranger in a strange land. He noble and heroic.  His remembers who he was before he took the super soldier serum and that propels him to be who he is now.

Thor is in exile.  He let his ego and ambition get the best of him.  His actions ended up bringing destruction to his home and also results in the issues the Avengers are facing.

The Hulk is angry.  The slightest thing sets him off.  Pure anger and force.  At his core, he wants to make things better, but his anger makes it all worse.  He faces persecution wherever he goes and is hounded for who he is.

The Black Widow is mysterious and an alien.  Not alien in the outer-space variety, but she’s originally from Russia.   She lives in a land that she doesn’t belong it.  She has no superpowers, but she uses her talents and abilities to aid the cause.

Hawkeye is a former criminal turned good.  He has “repented”.   As zealous as he was for bad, now he is for good.

I could say something about Nick Fury and Agent Coulson as well, but I will throw them in during the real review after I watch the movie.

Have you seen the Avengers yet?  What did you think?  Can you relate to the characters?

Random Thoughts On My 43rd Birthday

Today is my 43rd birthday.  I’m not sure how I’m really supposed to feel about that, but I do feel good.  So, here are just some random thoughts as I begin my day:

Thank you, Lord, for another day and another year.

What do You want me to do today?

I’m about halfway through my life.

I wish I had begun this blogging thing a lot earlier in life.

I wonder if I’ll get anything for my birthday?

Gifts are my love language.

I wonder where Dave is taking  me for lunch today?

I’ve got a great team at work.  Glad we will celebrate together later this morning.

I’d like to watch Captain America on my birthday.

Time to set some goals to hit by the time I’m 50.

Will I ever get to retire?

What would I do?

I have a cool idea for a novel.

How many people will wish me Happy Birthday on Facebook?

What’s the over/under on cards today.  I’ll set it at 2.5.

Why do we celebrate our physical birthdays more than our  spiritual birthdays?

Will this blog post get more hits than I got yesterday?

How should I celebrate my birthday?

How long have you known me?  What’s your favorite memory of me?

Summer Movies I’m Excited About

It’s summer movie season, so it is time for blockbuster movies.  I don’t actuall go to the theaters often, but I am looking forward to several of these movies coming to DVD later in the year.  Below I will list the movies I want to see, along with some possibly humorous comments.

1.  Thor.  I’m a comic book geek.  I don’t actually buy comic books anymore.  Have you priced them lately?  I used to have a monthly habit of around $80 worth of comic books a month.  That would probably translate to $200 today.  So, I love any comic book movie, even the bad ones.  This one is about Marvel’s Norse god of thunder.  I had to use a little g there because I am a Christian and would never give Thor, or any other mythological god, a big G.  I hear this movie is good and look forward to seeing it soon.

2.  X-Men First Class.  Another comic book movie, this one is about the X-Men.  Obviously there have been three movies about these mutants already, plus the Wolverine film.  This one is about their beginning, when Charles Xavier and Magneto were friend, and Xavier had hair.  January Jones plays Emma Frost, the White Queen, which will fulfill many adolescent boys (and a few adult boys) comic book fantasies.

3.  Super 8.  All I know about this movie is that it is directed by J.J. Abrams and there is a train wreck that let’s loose some sort of creature that wreaks havoc on a town.  I don’t know if this creature is the one from  Cloverfield (raise your hand if you watched this movie).  Maybe, somehow the Smoke Monster from Lost survived and made it to the U.S.  looking for the folks that made it off the Island.  It doesn’t matter.  Abrams makes a great movie and I’m an Abrams geek.

4.  Cowboys&Aliens.  I like Westerns.  I like aliens.  Put them together in a movie directed by Jon Favreau (director of Elf and the two Iron Man movies) and you have an anticipated movie.  It doesn’t hurt to have James Bond and Indiana Jones/Han Solo in it either.

5.  The First Avenger: Captain America. The title is a mouthful and I didn’t really need the prompt for next years The Avengers movie.  This one is about Cap’s origin in WWII.  You will have Nazis and the Red Skull.  It ought to be a lot of fun.  I wonder how it will do in Germany?

6.  Green Lantern.  Movies based on DC comics characters other than Superman and Batman simply don’t really exist (see I told you I was a comic book geek).  I hope this one gets the ball rolling.  DC has so many great characters.  With Green Lantern you have cosmic space superhero goodness.  I guess it doesn’t hurt to have 2010′s sexiest man alive in Ryan Reynolds to star in it, though I thought he was Deadpool from the Wolverine movie.