15 Days of GI Joe-Day 16!!!

Thanks to a $132 worldwide opening, Paramount is moving forward on GI Joe 3!!! How awesome is that?!?!?!? I'm hoping that director Jon M. Chu will return, because this one was so super awesome. YO JOE!!!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 15!!!

OK, so this was supposed to be posted yesterday. Sorry about that, but the day got away from me. But, better late than never, here it is, MY GI Joe Retaliation movie review:

OK, to be fair, I KNEW I was going to like this movie. But, to my surprise, I didn't really think I'd like it as much as I did. First and foremost-this is a GI JOE movie!! And I mean that in every way, shape and form.  The characters, the vehicles, the settings, even the weapon that Cobra tries to destroy the world with. And, most importantly the story. It seems screenwriters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick have borrowed from every GI Joe continuity that there was, and mixed all the best parts into one fantastic story.
-One thing that I was really happy about was the portrayal of Cobra Commander. In the first few minutes of the movie they took that mess that he was in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and changed him into the Cobra Commander that we all know and love. Sure, I would've like his voice a little closer to the cartoon, but I'm not complaining. At. All.
-Another thing that made me happy was that they managed to not overuse Snake Eyes. I have seen/read MANY episodes, movies, and comics that quickly turned into Snake Eyes and his Amazing Friends, but Retaliation managed to give the audience just enough to make him awesome and yet not get us sick of him. And the same goes for Storm Shadow.
-My big complaint? The killing of 2 of the major villain. This has ALWAYS been a pet peeve of mine. I think it started back in 1989 when Tim Burton killed The Joker at the end of Batman. WHY do this? Even if they don't show up in GI Joe 3, you can STILL use them somewhere down the road. I will never understand that aspect in storytelling. Unless this was the final GI Joe film EVER(Which I doubt), I just can't see it.
-So, yes, I loved GI Joe Retaliation. On a side note, and in my opinion, this was the best Bruce Willis has been in quite awhile. He didn't seem to be sleepwalking through this like he did the latest Die Hard movie, and you could actually see some HUMOR in him, which I haven't seen in a long, long time.
-Lastly, I want to adress something that's not getting enough attention. A couple years ago when John M. Chu was announced as director, just about every Joe fan's(mine included)heart broke a little bit, because here was the Justin Beiber movie guy directing our beloved GI Joe movie. But, I was wrong. Everyone was wrong. What John. Chu gave us was hope for a future of the GI Joe film franchise. Actually, first and foremost he gave us a damn fine entertaining movie. So, thank you John Chu!! You are welcome in our "sandbox" any time!! Also, after watching this movie, I am SO excited for what his Masters of the Universe film will be like. The countdown for THAT begins now!!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 14!!!

OMG!!!!! TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!!!! After months of waiting................and then MORE months of waiting-GI Joe: Retaliation premeirs in theaters everywhere TONIGHT!!!!! So, let's recap and take a look at what we're all so excited about!!!!













See you at the movies!!...and YO JOE!!!!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 13!!!!

She's the hottest thing to come out of Massachusetts since Jessica Fletcher!!!  Yes, we all love Alison R. Hart-Burnett, otherwise known as GI Joe's sexiest counterintelligence agent-Lady Jaye!!! In GI Joe: Retaliation, she's played by the lovely and talented Adrianne Palicki. Who is perhaps best known for playing Wonder Woman in the unsold David E Kelly NBC pilot (available on hundreds of bootleg sites). Lady Jaye was actually in the Sunbow cartoon FIRST, then introduced as an action figure and she finally made her debut in the Marvel comic series in 1985. Looking at these pictures, I wonder what the hold-up was?

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 12!!!

IT'S ALMOST HERE!!!!! I know, I can't wait either!!! Just a few short days and we'll all be watching GI Joe Retaliation!!! Today, here's a great behind the scenes look at the making of the movie.



-Excited? OK, you're not as excited as I am, but that's OK. And here's some links where you can buy tickets to the movie:

AMC Theaters

Fandango

Regal Theaters

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 11!!!

Yesterday we mentioned him, today we focus on him. That's right, the Godfather of GI Joe-Larry Hama!!! He's the one man on Earth that's spent more time on GI Joe than anybody else, and fans, we are SO lucky to have him. Back in the day, Hasbro came to Marvel Comics with the GI Joe toy line and asked them to create the back story for this new line of action figures that they were releasing. After every other writer turned it down, the job went to Larry Hama. Hama, who at the time, was working on a new comic for Marvel call Fury Force, took that pitch and used it for GI Joe, and thus, a legend was born. So first, I want to thank every writer at Marvel Comics who turned down the assignment. And it goes without saying that we ALL need to thank Larry Hama. Without him, who can even imagine what would've happened to GI Joe, but I think it's safe to say that it would've been a lot less entertaining and we'd all probably be going to see Olympus Has Fallen next weekend. Below is a video of a Q & A that Larry did at the 2010 Candian GI Joe convention.



And you can read a GREAT interview with him at Joe Battle Lines right here..

Oh yeah, did I mention that Larry was on an episode of MASH? True story!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 10!!!

THE REVIEWS ARE IN!!!.....and they're pretty good!! Reviews have started to appear all over the web for GI Joe Retaliation. No, I didn't get to see it early, my review should be coming sometime on Friday, but positive word of mouth is spreading like wildfire. Here's a few link to some reviews that you can read for yourself, but be warned, almost all of them contains BIG ASS SPOILERS!!!


The Huffington Post

Ain't It Cool

JoBlo

Latino Review

But, perhaps the most important review appeared a couple days ago:

"I liked RETALIATION a lot. Vast improvement over ROC. Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow are much more up front, and the whole thing is a lot more character-driven. Not only is there no sinking ice, but the big finale involves physical action with people rather than choreography of CGI vehicles. The Rock is perfect as Roadblock, and Bruce Willis's take on Joe Colton is brill (he has some of the best lines.) There's no sign of Scarlett, but the actress who plays Lady Jaye is quite good. Jinx is amazing. Flint is kind of meh. Overall, the direction is terrific and crisp. I can tell what is going on all the time, and everything LOOKS great. Ninja fight sequence in the mountains is amazing, in that you never lose track of what is happening, and there's a ton of fast visual input. Is there stuff I didn't like? That would be quibbling. The positive outweighs the negative here. And I walked out feeling that the characters had been treated with respect."

-That review came from The Godfather of GI Joe, Larry Hama

As if I needed another reason to be really excited for this movie.

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 9!!!!!

Today we look at one of the major players in the GI Joe universe-AND someone whos' front and center in GI Joe Retaliation-ROADBLOCK!!!

Marvin F. Hinton is the GI Joe heavy machine gunner. And, he's also a bad ass cook! Who would've thought? And yes, in the Sunbow cartoon he rhymes when he talks. A. LOT. I loved the original Roadblock figure, the others Roadblock figures were, in my opinion, not so great. Hasbro really made him wear some ridiculous outfits. Just take a look:

WOW. Those are some funky threads. This, as I mentioned earlier, is by far my favorite Roadblock figure.

Next week, when GI Joe Retaliation opens, we get to see Roadblock played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I can't wait...

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 8!!!

This is the ONLY bit of sad news that I'll post in this series of GI Joe posts. Yesterday, The Hub network(which is owned by Hasbro)held their Up Front for the 2013-2014 TV season, and, there is NO GI Joe programming listed for that season. None. At all. Anywhere. First, I have to say I'm dissapointed. Next, I'd have to say I'm also pretty surprised at this news. Yes, if there was a new GI Joe series or cartoon movie, we'd have heard about it by now. BUT, even in this day of "no secrets thanks to the internet", there are some things that do get by everyone. Like JJ Abrams directing the next Star Wars movie. That didn't leak out until about 2 hours before Lucasfilm actually confirmed it. But, back to GI Joe, Hasbro is coming off a GI Joe movie year and there's really no new GI Joe ANYTHING? That's not good. GI Joe is one of their top brands, along with Transformers and Star Wars(the latter being something that THEY don't actually own), I can't believe they couldn't get something going. Now, The Hub is still in it's infancy as a network. It shows mostly reruns of old sitcoms during the Prime Time hours and most of the original programming airs either during the afternoon on weekdays or on Saturday or Sunday morning. So, I can't complain too much, they're still getting the feel of how things should be done for them. But, that doesn't stop me(and a lot of other GI Joe fans)from being VERY let down. Now, just because there's no NEW GI Joe series, doesn't mean that it's not on at all on the network. If you want to wake up super early, they air GI Joe: A Real American Hero weekdays at 5:30 am. I think I stick to watching my DVDs and just get up later.
-In the meantime, here's a look at EVERY GI Joe cartoon opening produced by Sunbow. Enjoy!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 7!!

OK, due to being busy, I fell behind this week, SO you'll be getting like 3 days of GI Joe awesomeness in just one day. No, you don't have to thank me! Today, we take a look at Zartan!! One of the coolest villains of all time(OK, I say that a LOT when it comes to GI Joe, but they have SUCH awesome villains!!). Here's the commercial for the original figure from back in the 80's.


-How awesome is that? That was probably one of my top 5 favorite toys when I was a kid. And now, here's a commercial for Zartan's first appearance in the Marvel Comics:



-I could watch that all damn day. Now, when last we left Zartan in GI Joe: Risse of Cobra, Zartan was hiding in plain sight as the President of the United States!! We only have to wait a week to find out what happens!!

15 Days of GI Joe-Day 5!!!

We interrupt this blog for a special message from Cobra..................

Cancel. Christmas.

15 Days of GI Joe....Day 4!!!

The greatest Joe that almost was. It's hard for me to talk about this one, because I always start to cry.

You can read more about it here.

15 Days of GI Joe....Day 3!!

As we get closer to the release of GI Joe: Retaliation, we're taking a closer look at the WHOLE GI Joe universe. Here's one of my favorite GI Joe commercials of all time. Because Serpentor is one of the coolest characters EVER!!!



See you LATER ON TODAY with Day 4!!

15 days of GI Joe!! Day 1

In 15 short days, the greatest movie of all time comes out!!! Yes, I'm talking about GI Joe: Retaliation. For the next 2 weeks, I'll be counting down to the release of the movie by spotlighting many different aspects of the GI Joe brand. To start things off, today we take a look at possibly the 2 most bad-ass characters in the Joe universe. No, not Chuckles.I'm talking about Storm Shadow & the ORIGINAL GI Joe-Joe Colton!!







Now you know JUST how awesome these 2 guys are. And knowing is half the battle.

2012! That year that was.......

....ok-ish. First off, I HATE HATE HATE year end review shit. Seriously. Why? Because I have the patented Hayes memory. I can't remember anything. Yes, I know my wedding date. Yes, I know dates of important events in my life. I remember stuff that's important to me and a lot of stuff that isn't. But, when pressed, I always come up WAY short on lists. So, this isn't so much a list, as much as it is a "I DO remember that this happened this year" type of thing. And I'm gonna TRY and come up with 12, but, well, we'll see what happens.

Skyfall: OH MY GOD SKYFALL!!!! I am a huge Bond fan, but I never thought that a James Bond movie would be as perfect as this. Never. It's got everything. All the classic hallmarks of a Bond film cranked up to 11. What surprised me most, was that this was an ENDING to the origin of James Bond. And I didn't even know I was watching it until the very last few minutes. Easily, my favorite movie of 2012.

REVIVAL: OK, I'll admit it. I'm the guy that hates Image Comics. SUPER hates them. I hate them so much, I'm totally indifferent to them. Except for one other comic that will come up later. So, what in the hell would make me even look at this book? First, it was the creators, Mike Norton and Tim Seeley. Then, I found out that it takes place in a town about 45 minutes north from where I grew up. You know what I found out? NOT ALL IMAGE COMICS SUCK!!! I absolutely LOVE this comic!! I'm not gonna go into a long diatribe about why here, but trust me when I tell you-it's fucking AWESOME!!! If you get the chance, seriously, read it-you're going to love it. Art is great, story is great, just an all around solid, comic. THE best ongoing title released this year, hands down.

THE AVENGERS: What can I say about this movie? Everyone, includiing me, LOVED IT! And, with good reason. I'm not a Joss Whedon fan, but this was GREAT!! Perfect amount of action, dead-on, true to the character dialogue, what more could you ask for? Nick Fury was a LITTLE too much of an asshole for my taste, but that was really the only complain that I had. And, it's a VERY minor one. Best summer movie, by far!

FRIENDS: In 2012 I found out who my TRUE friends were....and it was a giant kick in the ass. People that I THOUGHT were my friends, turned out not to be. Sad, but true. And, they made me appreciate my REAL friends even more. And for that, I am very grateful and blessed.

ERNIE CHAN: Sadly, we lost Ernie Chan this year. From Batman to Conan to Captain Carrot, he was one of my favorites. Both him and his work will be missed.

SCARLET SPIDER: Chris Yost and that A-Hole Ryan Stegman brought an all new Scarlet Spider to life!! And he's AWESOME!!!! The book is still going strong, but sadly, with out artist Stegman who has moved on to a great gig on the upcoming Superior Spider-Man!

GI JOE RETALIATION: Earlier this year, I and other GI Joe fans had the rug pulled out from under us when Paramount and Hasbro announced just WEEKS before it's release date that GI Joe: Retaliation was being pulled for 3-D conversion and that we'd have to wait almost an entire YEAR to see it. Well, that year is about 90 days from being up and I'm still excited about seeing it, but that was the day that all of us GI Joe fans collectively flipped out shit for 1 day.

CALL ME MAYBE: No comment.

DISNEY BUYS LUCASFILM: In what came as a HUGE shock to most people, The Walt Disney Company aquired Lucasfilm AND announced that Star Wars: Episode 7 would be out in theaters in less than 3 years. A great day for all Star Wars fans, true. With Disney owning Marvel, Lucasfilm as well as it's OWN treasure trove of characters, this is the year that Disney pretty much took over as the top studio in Hollywood.

MACGYVER: THE COMIC BOOK: In October, Image Comics released MacGyver: The Fugitive Gauntlet #1. Written by series creator Lee David Zlotoff & Tony Lee and illustrated by Will Sliney, this book is AWESOME!!!!

SIX MILLION DOLLAR EVERYTHING!!!!: This year, Entertainment Earth released a TON of Six Million Dollar Man merchandise!!! Figures, coffee mugs, t-shirts, all this and more on the way. That, combined with Dynamite Entertainment's excellent comic book series made this year pretty damn Bionic!!! Still, part of me wishes for a 3&3/4 inch scale set of action figures. But, I'm not complaining. :)

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!! This year on March 2nd, after 2 long years spent on the Legally Prohibited from Selling Comics in a Store Tour, I was honored to join the team at Challengers Comics + Conversation in Chicago, IL. Run by two long time friends, it has been nothing but a pleasure spending the past 9 months as a Challenger. Thanks to them for the opportunity.

Bonus: I can't believe I came up with 12, let alone a 13th, item. Wow. I guess my memory isn't nearly as bad as I thought! Also, huge thanks to google. This one may be the most important one. This was the year, that I decided to go back to school to get a degree in Personal Fitness Training. It's something that I've been passionate about for awhile, and I decided that this was something that I could do to HELP people become better. As of today, it's not looking good for me to make the January classes for a number of reasons, but here's hoping I will. If not, then I will FINALLY start school in April. Here's hoping!!!

And being hot is half the battle....

Not that Rachel Nichols and Sienna Miller weren't enough in the first GI Joe movie, but it looks like director Jon M. Chu is turning up the heat for GI Joe:Retaliation in a totally different way. One, that I for one, am totally fine with. In addition to adding REAL star power(Bruce Willis, The Rock, Ray Stevenson,)he's decided to throw in some WICKED hot girls. Like........

Melinda Sullivan

Kendra Andrews:

And singer Nikki Leonti:

No guesses on just WHAT she'll be singing, but I pray to God it's this: