Man of Steel Trailers #1 and #2!

Two teaser trailers for Man of Steel have been released, one narrated by Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent and the other narrated by Russell Crowe as Jor-El. Originally thought to be released this holiday season, it looks like the release date has been pushed back to next summer. Take as much time as you need working on this movie, because it won't really be that hard to make up for the below-average mess of Superman Returns.

Rise.

This review needs no introduction. The final film of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight trilogy has finally come. Incorporating elements from The Dark Knight Returns, Knightfall, and No Man's Land, The Dark Knight Rises tells the tale of Bruce Wayne donning the Batman costume once again after having been retired for 8 years following the death of Harvey Dent. In the years following Dent's death, he has become a martyr and started the catalyst for a new law that led to the Gotham City Police Department gaining new power that led to the complete dissolution of gangs and the mafia in Gotham. John Blake even jokes to Gordon that soon enough, they'll be busting people for petty crimes.


In the 8 years since he retired as Batman, Bruce Wayne has become a Howard Hughes-like recluse. After a series of events involving Bane plotting to destroy the city with a nuclear bomb, Wayne makes the decision to become Batman once again, to Alfred's objection.


What follows is a film with some flaws, but a persistent theme of rising. Though the movie starts slowly, the stakes, action, drama, etc. all pick up until the final battle between Batman and Bane happens. Generally, I reserve saying the phrase "the best part was when it ended" for movies I hated. In the case of The Dark Knight Rises, the best part really is when it ends. The final 20 minutes are monumental and grandiose, right up to the final second when the title of the movie appears to signal the end, including quite possibly the worst kept secret in Hollywood proving to be true (no, not that one, the other one).


Final Score: 5 Leaps of Faith out of 5


So how do you follow that?


Inevitably, more Batman movies will be made because they're good money and there will come a time when a new generation of kids will have only seen the Dark Knight trilogy on TV or on video. No more Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, or Gary Oldman. Really, how does a new crew possibly follow the previous 3 movies? There has been suggestion that due to the success of the Marvel movies, it is possible to make a Batman movie that more closely follows the comics, including supernatural villains and sidekicks without making it campy. I say it's possible, but the best decision wold be to simply allow the Batman film franchise to stay on ice for a few years and not attempt what Sony did with Spider-Man.

According to Kotaku, Final Fantasy Versus XIII has Been Cancelled (Take That With a Grain of Salt...)

According to Kotaku, Square Enix has made the decision to simply cease production of Final Fantasy Versus XIII, similar to how Konami originally treated Metal Gear Solid: Rising before that project was resurrected by Platinum. I would take this news with a grain of salt, though. Kotaku's credibility took a major hit some weeks ago when they falsely reported that a Halo 2 HD remake was in the works, only to have Microsoft and 343 immediately confirm that story to be false.


Final Fantasy Versus XIII was originally conceived as one of the 3 games that would make up the Fabula Nova Crystallis, alongside Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Agito XIII. XIII would be for the PS3 and Xbox 360, Versus would be PS3 exclusive, and Agito would be a mobile phone game. As time passed, Agito was converted to a PSP game and gained the new title of Final Fantasy Type-0, losing the XIII moniker, although still part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis. Type-0 has yet to see a release outside of Japan since last year, although Square Enix claims it is working on translating the game, despite the PSP being mostly dead. 


Quite some time ago, gameplay footage of Versus was finally displayed, showcasing a combat system similar to the Kingdom Hearts series, just as director Tetsuya Nomura had promised. In reality, this was actually pre-rendered footage made to look like gameplay footage since the game had to change engines due to Crystal Tools being such a high performance engine.


If this news is true, it's great news for Final Fantasy and fans of it in general. This game was to be Tetsuya Nomura's ideal Final Fantasy game without the restraints of Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yasumi Matsuno, or Motomu Toriyama. Nomura wished to create a "fantasy based on reality," essentially a Final Fantasy game that takes place in the real world, similar to the original concept of Final Fantasy VII that was scrapped.


Additionally, should this news be true, it means that Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV, and a remake of Final Fantasy VII have just been pushed up in SE's line of priorities.


Then again, this is Kotaku that is reporting this.


Update: Disregard that, Kotaku lied AGAIN. Square Enix is reporting that the game is not cancelled and very much still in development.

Batman: Earth One

Just in time for the big release of The Dark Knight Rises, Batman: Earth One has finally been released. Originally conceived as a re-telling of Batman's origin for a 21st century audience, and the first such attempt at a new origin story for Batman since 1986's Batman: Year One, the story was then tweaked to become the canon origin story for the Batman of Earth-1 (The mainstream DC characters are from Earth-0). While J. Michael Stracynzki wrote Superman: Earth One while writing Superman, Geoff Johns has never written for Batman before outside of crossover events. I'm going to just list the major changes in the story then analyze how well each change fits the new origin, for better or worse.

Are the New Orleans Saints Cheap, or is Drew Brees Greedy?

It has been reported today by multiple sources that Drew Brees has rejected a contract offered by the Saints that pay him on average $19.25 million per year. Brees and his agent(s) want $20.5 million per year. The $19.25m would make Brees the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, being just slightly above Peyton Manning. Despite that, Brees wants that extra $1.25m per year. Brees claims that he is committed to staying with the Saints, but only if they give him a long-term contract worth at least $20.5m, refusing to sign the franchise tender. If Brees does not sign the franchise tag or receives the long term contract he wants, he will become a free agent on Monday.


So is Brees greedy, or are the Saints cheap?


It's really a little of both. Brees definitely deserves to be the highest paid QB in the NFL, but his team has been defeated by an NFC West team the last 2 years in the playoffs, thanks to Marshawn Lynch's miraculous beast mode TD run and Alex Smith playing at a Montana/Young level. He did set the single-season passing yard record last year, although many detractors point out that Brees is statistically 1000x better when he plays indoors.


Like any business, the New Orleans Saints want to get the most bang out of their buck, paying players as little as possible unless extenuating circumstances cause crucial players to refuse to play unless they get paid. Drew Brees is one of those. He is basically saying that he is willing to sit out the entire 2012 season if the Saints will not pay him. In a year when they are already being severely penalized for the bounty scandal, the last thing they need is for Drew Brees to turn into a jerk and sit out playing for a year over something as trifle as 5 million dollars, chump change for someone like him.


My verdict is that the Saints really have no idea what the fuck they're doing anymore and Brees isn't happy with it, basically just putting on a show to make the Saints seem like the bad guys. "I really want to play, but they won't let me!" Never mind the fact that they franchise tagged him, so he can't pursue free agency even if he wanted.


Update: They met halfway at $20 million per year. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

Team USA Basketball Roster Finally Finalized

Guards

• Kobe Bryant, Lakers
• James Harden, Thunder
• Chris Paul, Clippers
• Russell Westbrook, Thunder
• Deron Williams, Nets

Forwards

• Carmelo Anthony, Knicks
• Kevin Durant, Thunder
• Blake Griffin, Clippers
• Andre Iguodala, 76ers
• LeBron James, Heat
• Kevin Love, Timberwolves

Center

• Tyson Chandler, Knicks

Due to the incredibly wacktacular number of injuries suffered during the 2012 NBA Playoffs, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, among many others, were not in consideration for the final roster. Despite that, this is an overall roster that is among the best in the world, although Spain is going to try again to get a gold medal. In all likelihood, the starting 5 for Team USA will be the following:

• PG Chris Paul
• SG Kobe Bryant
• SF LeBron James
• PF Kevin Love
• C Tyson Chandler

The Amazing Spider-Man

Before I get into my review, I first have to talk about  the development hell this movie went through. Most people know by now that the original Spider-Man had quite the development hell, going through numerous studios, directors, writers, and actors, before 25 years passed and Columbia Pictures acquired the rights to Spider-Man, then hired Sam Raimi of The Evil Dead fame to direct, David Koepp to write the screenplay based on James Cameron's screenplay, and the infamous casting choice of Tobey Maguire. The movie was a success, leading to 2 more sequels.


Although Spider-Man 3 was a financial success, critically it was met with very mixed reviews from the choice to not bring back Alvin Sargent to write the screenplay, Danny Elfman's refusal to work with Sam Raimi, and the controversial decision to feature 3 villains, 2 of which are barely featured and the "main" villain was radically changed to become a sympathetic figure.


Originally, Spider-Man 4 was planned to simply continue the story, but it was not clear if Tobey Maguire or Sam Raimi would return for a 4th film. Maguire was noticeably aging and could no longer portray a man in his early-to-mid 20s as well as suffering from more back pain as time went by. Raimi notoriously had conflicts with the studio and Marvel Comics, who both wanted the main villain to be the Lizard, Dr. Curt Conners, a character who had been featured in the previous 2 movies. Raimi, on the other hand, wanted to have the Vulture as the lead antagonist. Suffice to say, most fans were immediately disgusted to hear that after ruining Sandman and Venom in a single movie, they were not pleased to hear Sam Raimi wanted to use quite possibly the worst Spider-Man villain and wanted to cast John Malkovich, an actor known for being a little too over-the-top as the villain.


Columbia wanted to go along with their plan anyway, choosing to recast Spider-Man as their original 2nd choice, Jake Gyllenhaal, and pretending that Peter Parker always looked that way. Unfortunately for them, actors started dropping like flies because they all had loyalty to Maguire, Raimi, or both. It was then decided to cancel Spider-Man 4 and just reboot the whole franchise from scratch with a new director, but the same production team, giving more leeway to Marvel, who had proven that they could make faithful-to-comics movie adaptations after the successes of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America.


The review, after the break.