Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 6: The Alchemy Exam

If you have not read my last review, you may do so here:  Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 5: The Man with the Mechanical Arm

Ed brags about being able to pass the state alchemist exam.  Colonel Mustang sends Ed and Al to stay with the sowing life alchemist, Mr. Tucker.  Mr. Tucker apparently used alchemy to create a chimera that can speak, which is supposed to be impossible.  To help Ed and Al study for his exam, Tucker shows them his library full of alchemy books.  This is an amazing sight to the boys who want to learn as much as possible.

The boys gets started in their studies right away.  One of the advantages of becoming a state alchemist is that Ed and Al will have access to many more books in the military library.  After the boys play with Tucker’s daughter we find out that it is Edward’s birthday.  Hughes throws him surprise party that ends up being more of a surprise than anyone expected!

Hughes’ wife goes into labor!  Ed uses alchemy without a circle while taking care of Hughes’ wife.  This isn’t supposed to be possible.  After some time, the Doctor finally arrives and the baby is born.  Ed and Al talk about their Mom and Al becomes sad because he isn’t human anymore.  Even though he doesn’t have a human body, Al still has human emotions.

The boys pass the written part of the exam.  Everything seems to be going well when Colonel Mustang gives the boys some bad news.  Al has to drop out of the exam so the military doesn’t find out the truth about him and his past.  Ed comforts him by saying that only one of them needs to be in the military and have access to the library.  Ed moves on without Al and takes the second part of the exam, an interview.

Ed passes the interview as well and moves on to the final test.  The final test is all of the candidates who are left using their alchemy out in the open.  Something goes wrong during this and Ed ends up saving several of the other alchemists who’s projects went haywire.  It was noticed that Ed did this without the use of a circle, which was all the military needed to see in order to pass Ed with flying colors.

Thor vs Captain Marvel

Hey guys, you can check out some of the previous battles I have broken down here:
Iron Man vs Steel
Hulk vs Doomsday
Superman vs Goku

Thor:  God of Thunder, member of The Avengers, owner of the mystical hammer Mjolnir.  Thor is far beyond most superheroes in terms of power and strength.  Thor also has a bad temper and is arrogant.  While his temper can help him in battle, it can also lead him into making some unwise decisions that can put him in over his head from time to time.  Thor has varied a bit in the comics over the years, but at one point in time his secret identity was Donald Blake.  Blake carried a cane which was able to turn him into Thor when he slammed it on the ground.

Captain Marvel:  Similar to the Donald Blake version of Thor, Captain Marvel’s secret identity is Billy Batson.  He is a regular human child, but when he says the name Shazam he is transformed into Captain Marvel.  As Captain Marvel he has multiple abilities, like the strength of Hercules, the wisdom of Solomon, etc.  Captain Marvel is so powerful that he has even taken on Superman in the past and more than held his own.

The Fight:  This should be a tough fight for both of these characters.  Expect lots of lightening, hard punches and destruction to their surroundings.  Thor’s has the advantage of his hammer and his ability to control lightening.  Both are powerful weapons in battle.  Captain Marvel isn’t defenseless though, he also has access to a magical lightening bolt when he says “Shazam!”.  He also has the speed of Mercury and several other god-like abilities.  This is Captain Marvel’s biggest advantage, having the top attributes of six different god level beings.

The Winner:  This is a tough one to call.  At distance, Thor has the advantage because of his hammer.  Up close, Captain Marvel has several more high level abilities than Thor.  Thor has the advantage in experience but Captain Marvel is faster and can take a pounding.  Because of his highly diverse skill set, I am going with Captain Marvel in an extremely tough, close fight.

Jackie Chan Joins ‘Expendables 3′

“Sly had invited me to be in [The] Expendables 2 but I was too busy filming CZ12 and couldn’t make a commitment to the film, but he did extend his invitation to the third movie, which I agreed on the condition that I will be appearing as more than just a minor role with a few scenes.”

I seem to remember reading Jackie Chan just said he was retiring from action movies last week?  I guess he changed his mind, or perhaps he won’t be doing any dangerous stunts anymore is what he meant.  Either way, interesting addition to the Expendables franchise and one I didn’t see coming.

Aleksander Emelianenko Retires From MMA

Fedor’s brother, Aleksander Emelianenko, has announced his retirement from MMA:

Dear fans,
I want to thank you for your support, for having supported me in spite of all that they say about me. Unfortunately, I will not be able to perform in the ring because of health problems caused by old injuries. Of course, as an athlete it’s a hard time. I am grateful to my fans and partners for their support, for believing in me, and I am grateful to my detractors. Your attitude always made me move forward and achieve new things. I realise now I was hit by a barrage of accusations and criticisms, not directly related to my job. Unfortunately, there will always be people who want you in bad situations to score points. I don’t want to comment on anything, explain or justify. Each of us in life does good and does bad – that is our nature. I think I did a lot for the sport and I hope my example has drawn a lot of young people to the gym. Otherwise, God will judge us all, in time. Now I want to give the publicity away. I want to take care of my health, my family, which I lost, and my daughter, who I love very much. Perhaps I will see you again. Thank you! Be well and believe in God!
Your AE

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 5: The Man with the Mechanical Arm

If you have not read my last review, you may do so here: Fullmetal Alchemist E4: A Forger’s Love

Edward is nervous as he calls Colonel Mustang.  Mustang tells him to take the earlier train into the city which forces Ed and Al to have to rush to make it.  It’s merely a test from Mustang.  After a misunderstanding with a child and being introduced to a few military people, terrorists take over the train.  The terrorists want their leader freed in exchange for letting the people on the train go.

Not being ones to stand by and do nothing, Ed and Al take out a couple of the terrorists but everyone else on the train thinks they should have just cooperated with them.  Well that’s gratitude for you, huh?  Ed heads to the top of the train while Al clears through it on the inside.  Both meet up with members of the military.  Edward takes out several of the terrorists.

Ed uses his alchemy to create a pipe going through a door the terrorists are using to protect themselves.  After the terrorists refuse to give up Ed floods the cabin with water using the pipe he created.  Only their leader, the man with the mechanical arm, is left.  Ed fights the man one on one, this is when Ed finds out this man also has an automail arm.  The terrorist says he used to work for the military as well but was kicked out when he received his mechanical arm.

Ed explains that they had completely different reasons for getting their automail arms.  Ed smashes the man’s mechanical arm and Al knocked him out.  At the train station, the terrorist escapes his confinement and attacks Colonel Mustang, only to be set on fire by him.  Mutang is the fire alchemist.  He didn’t kill the man, he only burned his skin a little.  We come to find out Mustang set this whole thing up for Ed and Al so they could be heroes and be able to take the military alchemy test.

Jamie Foxx on Electro Costume

“It won’t be green and yellow. It will be a different color. They (the producers) want something for the future. They want to have it more grounded and not as comic bookie, so it won’t be green and yellow. They want to try new things, like a liquid rubber and things like that, and there are all these bolts and stuff in my arms when they are hanging me upside down and trying to figure out what happen. How did he become this way? So, it will be some new stuff.  In the script, this villain is the first time it’s be written well. Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb both commented on how great the script is, so it should be an exciting time.”

If any villain needs a costume change before heading to the big screen, it’s Electro.  His suit is cheesy even for comic books.  It will be interesting to see what they come up with, it’s hard to end up with something worse.  But more so than Electro’s costume, I am worried there are going to end up being way too many characters in this film.  Hopefully they find a way to balance them all.

Joseph Kosinski on TRON 3

Joseph Kosinski, who directed Tron: Legacy, recently spoke about the third movie which now seems to be going forward.

“We’ve got an idea for the next movie that’s really exciting to me.  I mean, obviously, the only reason to go back would be if we could do something spectacular and really push the ideas forward that we had established in ‘Legacy.’ We have an idea and an approach and a way into it that I’m really excited about, and now it’s about execution on the level of the script. So working hard on that in the background, and hopefully that’ll all come together.”
“It’s still the same plan in that ‘Tron 3′ would deliver on the promises set up at the end of ‘Legacy’ in different ways. You look at what happened in the closing scenes of ‘Legacy’; I think it sets a clear direction for what could happen in the next chapter.”