Superman + Batman movie announced!

One piece of news from SDCC was DC’s announcement of the Man of Steel sequel basically being World’s Finest, the Batman Superman team up comic. Personally I wasn’t a super huge fan of Man of Steel. It felt a little awkward, unnecessarily dower, and stiff. That said, there was just a lot of nerd rage involved with it. Second viewing, it seemed more fun that initially. Maybe Marvel has ruined me, or just my preconceptions of Superman, but I wanted something more to aspire to. The Dark Knight trilogy, at least the first two, made me look up to Batman, want to aspire to be him, but leaving the theater, Man of Steel didn’t have me jumping to be one of the characters. For a movie about a superhero, that seems like a serious misstep. 
Going into the cross over movie, I’m apprehensive. The announcement didn’t hit me with delight. It honestly reads as a cash-in to me and trying to capture the lingering success of the Dark Knight trilogy to bring up Man of Steel. It also strikes me as a better stand alone adventure rather than a sequel for a single movie. While Avengers was a pay off for watching half a dozen other movies, it still functioned as a stand alone and hopefully S+B will be able to do the same. 
For speculation, I’d honestly like Lex Luthor but without the Joker, and having it work almost as a back door pilot idea for Batman to be introduced but by himself and not with a rogue. I assume that’s the idea at least. Lex offers a different villain that  Superman can’t just bunch through a building a beat, and Wayne offers the ability to challenge Luthor. 
It does offer some interesting possibilities. If Man of Steel had stuck with me more, I think it would have come across better, but the memory of the Dark Knight being so fresh doesn’t help things either.

New Godzilla details!

New Godzilla details!

Personally I never watched the original Toho Godzilla films, and I’ve only seen bits of the ’98 Hollywood attempt. My affection for the big guy comes from the Saturday morning cartoons he was in (Yeah, Hanna-Barbera and the animated 98 spin-off). That being said, I’m loving the design work Legendary and Warner Brothers are putting in. With the bust especially, the head and jaw shape and having the nostrils higher back near the eyes makes a lot of sense for me and looks cool and unique. Think about it, he’s a water beast right? So it lets him come up for air kind of like a whale but get a quick peak of his surroundings. Goujira is a combination of whale and gorilla in Japanese, so whether or not that’s an intentional nod or just an appropriate biological inspiration, I really like it. Also really like the size of him, not just vertical, but how bulky the miniature is – hopefully that will be a toy you can buy! Though it makes him look a little cuddly in my eyes, it does create a powerful silhouette and solid form. At 30+ stories tall, he’ll just look like a giant monolith of destruction. Haven’t seen Pacific Rim yet, but I hope WB and Legendary do a better job exposing and marketing this to the masses, though they can probably stick with advertising massive destruction, and it work well for this flick.