In brightess day, in blackest night..no comic book fan shall be disappointed with GREEN LANTERN

Contrary to all the bad reviews, Green Lantern is a very enjoyable movie. I was expecting something along the lines of Batman and Robin or Catwoman. Something just god awful. But this is a pretty good movie. I don't know what movie critics saw, but I saw an entertaining one. Yes, it had some faults but it was no train wreck as we were led to believe.

Ace test pilot Hal Jordan (played by the always reliable Ryan Reynolds) works for his on-again,off-again girlfriend Carol Ferris (a surprisingly effective Blake Lively) at her dad's company. Well his reckless stunt at the film's opening gets him into trouble and shows his relentless desire to push himself ever since his dad died in a aircraft failure years ago. Cut to outer space where a Green Lantern named Abin Sur comes under threat by the returning evil of Parallax, a force that feeds on fear. Badly wounded in battle Sur manages to make it to Earth and calls upon Jordan to take his ring and become a Green Lantern too.

And we're off and running. After Sur dies and the government confiscates his body and his ship,led by Amanda Waller (played by Angela Bassett), they call in scientist Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard) to examine the body. Hammond gets infected by Parallax's residue and gains vast mental powers. He also becomes very unhinged.

In the meantime, Hal is whisked away to Oa, homeworld of The Green Lantern Corps where he gets a crash course in lantern training. To focus his mind and to be able to create constructs from nothing but his will. He meets resistance from Sinestro (superbly played by Mark Strong) who takes offense that the corps have accepted a human into their ranks.

After a bout of some soul searching, Hal returns home in full Green Lantern gear, looking very spiffy I might add and has to save the day at a celebration for Ferris Air. He gets to show off his new power and is very impressive.

Of course Hector sees him and immediately doesn't like it. Especially since both men are in love in Carol. And Parallax is headed for Earth to kill Jordan, who now has the ring of the one Lantern who imprisoned it long ago.

Things come to ahead with a cool battle between Hal and Parallax that starts on Earth and ends up near the sun.

I liked this movie. The special effects were amazing. And the cast was mostly effective with Strong and Lively being the best. Like I said earlier Lively is very convincing as the headstrong and very beautiful Carol and she deserves a lot of credit. Strong's performance of Sinestro evokes memories of Ian McKellan as Magneto from the X-Men films. Look for Sinestro to be front and center for the sequel. Reynolds was good too but he really didn't get to flex his muscle until the very end. But I'm sure he will be that much better by the time the sequel comes. The few things I didn't like was the weak film score, and the shortness of the film. It could have easily done with about a half hour more. Hal's training on Oa went by way too fast. So those are some minor things that can be fixed for the almost guaranteed sequel, which has a doozy of a setup at this film's ending.

So all in all, Green Lantern was very enjoyable. I still liked Thor and X-Men: First Class more but at least DC now has another hero in their movie stable other than Batman and Superman. Here's looking ahead to what should be a superior sequel ala X2.
B-

SUPERMAN/BATMAN:APOCALYPSE (2010) rocks with a little help from WONDER WOMAN

Kara and Kal-El talking about their recent fight

While rival company Marvel has been churning out live-action movies of their biggest guns, DC has been getting by on only Batman and Superman. Until this year, when Green Lantern hits the screen this summer. But on the animation front, DC dominates like no other. Going back to the TV series of Batman, Superman, and the wildly popular Justice League, DC can do no wrong. Recently they have begun adapting the comic book series Superman/Batman for animated full length movies. The first was Public Enemies, which had our heroes hunted down by villains and other heroes at the order of President Lex Luthor. That was a very good start to this series, and Apocalypse continues that winning way, even surpassing Public Enemies.

Omigosh..I definitely took a wrong turn

The story has Kara, Superman's cousin arriving on Earth. Her initial encounter is with Batman, because the ship she crashes in is loaded with fragments of kryponite, so Supes has to stay in the background while Bats does his thing. Being an alien, Kara doesn't speak any English, so she mistakes Batman as a bad guy and flees. While she is frightened, her powers kicks in and wreaks havoc on the city by mistake. Supes finally shows and speaks Krypton and tells her they're cousins. A brief history lesson later and things calm down. But Batman doesn't trust Kara fully and that's where the tension comes in.

I'd appreciate it you boys quit checking me out..I'm married

Later on while out in the city of Metropolis, Clark (Superman's alter ego) and Kara are ambushed by Amazons led by Wonder Woman,who says Kara needs to be trained in the Amazonian way. Superman disagrees, Batman does not. The scene shifts to Paradise Island and Kara's training is going great until baddie Darkseid sends his Doomsday troops to take Kara back to Apokolis to be his queen. They succeed in taking Kara away only after Superman gets to cut loose and wipe out the Doomsday troops.

Yessir..I'm the Big Bad

So to get to Apokolis, our three heroes need help and that comes in the form of Big Barda, who used to be one of Darksied's fiercest warriors. She has a device that will transport our heroes to Apokolis to engage in a rescue mission. Once there, it's on. Superman goes head to head with Darkseid then has to fight a possessed Kara. Batman, a little out of his league has to deal with giant hell hounds. And Wonder Woman and Barda team up to take on Barda's former cronies...The Furies. Their battle is actually my favorite scene in this entire film as you get see Wonder Woman kick some major ass.

This is how we do it on Paradise Island

Superman eventually convinces Kara that she is being controlled and she breaks free while Batman scares Darkseid with a ruse that he will blow up half the planet if he doesn't release his hold on Kara. Our heroes go home and when things are peaceful in Smallville, Darkseid returns to take out some revenge on Superman. Actually it's Kara who steps in and battles Darkseid pretty good. And Supes comes in to finish him off.

Apocalypse is a terrific movie, loaded with epic battles and a great storyline. All the characters are presented in all their comic book glory and you feel for them as much as you would human characters in a flesh and blood movie. Like I said Wonder Woman stands out in this one, as she shows why she is the best super-heroine ever. Talking back to Superman, taking on the Furies, and running things on Paradise Island, she is awesome.
B+

HARLEY QUINN is April's Comic Book Character of the month

To kick off April Fools Day is Harley Quinn, DC's resident girl jester. She will be my comic book character of the month and I will post pics, reviews, etc of this awesomely great character that can leave you in stitches or in a body bag. Your choice. The sometime paramour of The Joker, Harley is a wonderful addition to the DCU, first appearing on the Batman animated TV series. Maybe I can get my new friend Harley Cyn to stop by and talk a little bit about this terrific character. Anyway, do come by this month as Hero Worship will be all fun and games.

Old school heroics in DC's new World Finest

The Toyman has crafted the ultimate killing machine to protect himself from the Kryptonian menace, and Oracle has sent Supergirl and Batgirl to stop it. But when Supergirl faces off against the Kryptonite Man while the new Batgirl takes on Catwoman, they both find themselves in over their heads.Written by Sterling Gates and art by Phil Noto, this looks to be like a throwback to the yesteryear of comics. Issue #3 in a 4 issue series hit stores yesterday. I'm on my way to pick up a copy because this sounds like a fun comic to read. Plus you get to enjoy the glorious artwork of Phil Noto.