Saturday 21 July 2012

Man of Steel trailer(s): Er...a bit crap really...

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I was as disappointed in this trailer as I was excited by The Dark Knight Rises on Friday morning. It’s the type of trailer I hate; if you’re completely into the thing being advertised, it has some Ooh-Aah moments and tells you a film of our favourite thing is on the way. If you’re not a fan it has nothing for you at all. Well except for a kina cool sonic boom thingy, hat was kinda cooler, when Iron Man’s trailer did the Halo version back in 2008. WB need to remember (as if Superman Returns didn’t) that Superman being one of the most recognisable characters in the world has not for decades equated to him being amongst the most popular. I still hope that the combo of Producer Chris Nolan (director of Inception & The Dark Knight trilogy) and director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Dawn of The Dead), alongside the excellent Henry Cavill, will make for a great film, but this trailer was woefully underwhelming. Oh there are 2 mildly different versions.

See for yourselves biological father...




Adopted father...

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Captain America: The Winter Soldier...The Falcon could be flying to the rescue, but are Marvel’s black (& female) characters just side-kicks now?

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Ultimate Falcon
Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Real Steel) is apparently in talks to join the cast of the next Captain America film (recently given the full title Captain America: The Winter Soldier). (More on the lack of LEAD female / non-white heroes further down AND in my SyFy Channel website blog by clicking this link... 


Is It Because I'm (Insert Colour!) )



The Hollywood Reporter are convinced that the role he is up for is that of Sam Wilson, A.K.A ‘The Falcon’. You’ll hear a lot about the character being able to talk to birds, but I highly doubt that will come into play at all. The MCU films have all be an amalgamation of the ‘Classic Marvel comics (or 616) and the Ultimate Marvel Comics. That’s why Nick Fury is a black guy who looks just like Samuel L Jackson (Ultimate Marvel) and not a white ‘Napoleon Solo’ type (616). Captain America’s costume from WWII is mostly Ultimate Marvel, as are Hawkeye & Widow coming from S.H.I.E.L.D, Hawkeye’s costume, the Chitauri and numerous other elements. So rather than a street tough made good, I expect to see the scientist turned field agent who joins Widow & Hawkeye as extra special agent, thanks to his techno-wings.
Anthony Mackie

Winter Soldier

As the official synopsis for Captain America 2 states that the Captain has to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D IT SEEMS LIKELY THAT Nick Fury throws them together, as a way f keeping an eye on Cap, whilst they all try to do with the unnerving return of a friend from WWII, now under the control of dark forces. Unless of course the title “The Winter Soldier” is one of the biggest red herring s in movie history and this film has nothing to do with the outstanding run of Captain America comics where ***** returns from the dead! (If you want to knew who ***** is then scroll to the end of this. If not, see you in April 2014...it’s a good one!

Side-Kicks, best friends & lovers...

One last note: Marvel was ever the more progressive of the big 2 (Marvel & DC). They had the first black, mainstream, super hero with The Black Panther (Falcon is apparently the first AMERICAN black super hero) their characters were always more diverse and natural, it is probably one of the reasons I always preferred their comics to those of DC, where Batman was about the only character I could stand to read. But the movies, as full of life and non-white people and women as they are, remain decidedly white male led. There are plenty of strong female and black characters there, but they are all, even Nick Fury, support. Thor has Heimdall, Siff & Jane Foster, but it is still THOR. Iron Man has War Machine/ Rhodey & Pepper, but it still Stark’s show. Captain America had Peggy Carter and now Falcon, and The Avengers had Black Widow, Maria Hill and Nick Fury, but was Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Bruce Banner / Hulk led. Now for phase 2 we have Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Guardians of The Galaxy and, most likely, Ant-Man. What happened to The Black Panther film, it has been written, so why isn’t it ready, surely we don’t have to wait for an intro in The Avengers 2? What about Captain Marvel (The one who used t be Ms. Marvel, not the alien man, or the black, female, version)? Surely the women and non-whites aren’t going to be restricted to just side-kicks and love interests? 

However great those character are, and they have all been well written nd well portrayed, Marvel are better than that. Let’s not forget that the film that got Marvel characters started as decent big screen characters, that got the 2nd wave of super heroes cinema rolling; the film that paved the way for Marvel to be able to make their own movies, was Blade. 14 years later and Marvel still have no plans for their own film starring a non white male lead. Sure, don’t do one just for the sake of it, that’s even worse than not doing one. But it is starting to become “a thing”, and it doesn’t need to. 




War Machine; bigger, badderer, background...
The Winter Soldier...

Well, you sat patiently through my equality tirade and a ton of pics, so if you can’t wait for the film in April 2014, or to read the comics (graphic novel), or to watch a few episode of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes cartoon, then The Winter Soldier is BUCKY BARNES! Yep, you though poor old Sebastian Stan was done for when he fell off that train in Captain America: The First Avenger. But n. A hideous fate awaited him at the hands of well, we don’t know who, maybe Red Skull, but some evil Nazi / Hydra / Soviet miscreant, rebuilds him 6 million dollar man style, puts him on ice and thaws him out every few years when they need some especially nasty piece of killing or espionage to be done. Buckyyyyyyy!!!!!!



Friday 13 July 2012

Oz the Great and Powerful: First trailer for the latest film adapted from the classic Wizard of Oz books...

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James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams & Zach Braff star in Disney’s big budget return to the land of Oz. Directed by Sam Raimi (The Spider-Man & Evil Dead trilogies) the film tells of the Wizards arrival in Oz via hot air balloon and exactly what happens to him, long before he encounters Dorothy.



Synopsis
“Disney's fantastical adventure "Oz The Great and Powerful," directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum's beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he's hit the jackpot--fame and fortune are his for the taking--that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity--and even a bit of wizardry--Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.”

Trailer...

Thursday 12 July 2012

Rise of The Guardians trailer in 3D: See the latest trailer in 3D. (You’ll need a 3D TV / monitor or hideous multi-coloured glasses)...

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I'm already on the record about how much I’m looking forward to Dreamworks Animation’s adaptation of Emmy winner William Joyce’s ‘The Guardians of Childhood’ books. Synopsis...


“RISE OF THE GUARDIANS is an epic and magical adventure that tells the story of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost - legendary characters with previously unknown extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere.”


I do like this trailer in 3D, but I think they could do with making a 3D specific trailer though; with some longer cuts allowing you to really take in the animation and depth on display. Just a you get a gorgeous visual, or see Santa’s sleigh flying into action – BAM – another edit as we cut to another scene. That’s fine for the standard trailer, but not so hot in 3D. Still worth a look though.

Rise Of The Guardians 3D trailer...

Release Dates...

North America

United States
21/11/2012
Canada - English
21-Nov-12
Canada - French
21-Nov-12
Latin America

Argentina
06-Dec-12
Brazil
07-Dec-12
Chile
06-Dec-12
Colombia
07-Dec-12
Mexico
07-Dec-12
Panama
07-Dec-12
Peru
06-Dec-12
Venezuela
07-Dec-12
Middle East / Africa

Egypt
05-Dec-12
Israel
06-Dec-12
Lebanon
06-Dec-12
South Africa
07-Dec-12
United Arab Emirates
06-Dec-12
Asia Pacific

Australia
26-Dec-12
Hong Kong
20-Dec-12
India
30-Nov-12
Indonesia
28-Nov-12
Japan
16-Mar-13
Korea
13-Dec-12
Singapore
22-Nov-12
Malaysia
22-Nov-12
New Zealand
26-Dec-12
Philippines
28-Nov-12
Taiwan
08-Feb-13
Thailand
05-Dec-12
Europe

Austria
21-Dec-12
Belgium
19-Dec-12
Croatia
27-Dec-12
Cyprus
21-Dec-12
Czech Republic / Slovakia
20-Dec-12
Denmark
20-Dec-12
Finland
25-Dec-12
France
19-Dec-12
Germany
20-Dec-12
Greece
20-Dec-12
Hungary
20-Dec-12
Iceland
07-Dec-12
Ireland
07-Dec-12
Italy
21-Dec-12
Netherlands
20-Dec-12
Norway
25-Dec-12
Poland
04-Jan-13
Portugal
06-Dec-12
Romania
11-Jan-13
Russia
20-Nov-12
Serbia & Montenegro
17-Jan-13
Slovenia
31-Jan-13
Spain
05-Dec-12
Sweden
25-Dec-12
Switzerland-French
19-Dec-12
Switzerland-German
20-Dec-12
Switzerland-Italian
21-Dec-12
Turkey
18-Jan-13
Ukraine
20-Nov-12
United Kingdom
07-Dec-12

Q Who? James Bond gets his Q back, first pic...

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It’s strange o think that there’s a whole generation of people who will be looking forward to the return of Daniel Craig a James Bond this winter, who will have no idea who, or what, a Q is. The iconic, and oft copied, lampooned and paid ‘homage’, Q makes his first appearance in the “Bond Begins” series of films, in Skyfall. Here is our first look at the character as played by Ben Whishaw (Layer Cake).

Bond...
“SKYFALL, from Albert R Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, is directed by Academy Award® winner Sam Mendes and stars Daniel Craig, who returns for his third film as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007.

Joining Daniel Craig the cast includes Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Bérénice Marlohe, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw with Albert Finney and Judi Dench as M. The screenplay is written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan. SKYFALL will begin its worldwide roll-out later this year in the UK and Ireland on October 26th and in North America on November 9th.”

Skyfall trailer...

Fantastic 4 (finally) confirms Josh ‘Chronicle’ Trank to direct, whilst Daredevil is running out of time before Marvel get the movie rights back...

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Way back when, just before Chronicle was released, director Josh Trank was thought to be the number one choice to direct Fox’s restart of the Fantastic 4 film series. 



New Fantastic Four film’s director is all but confirmed.




Well it seems that he is finally able to put that one down as a definite. Deadline is reporting that Trank is definitely the man to bring the first family of super heroes back to the big screen. As much money as Fox made from the first two films, they were neither as successful as they should have been, nor particularly liked by fans (or the wider audience). The confirmation of Trank will give some cheer to Marvel fans, who will hope that if the characters are not to return to Marvel (whose successful run  at making their own movies resulted in the 3rd highest grossing film of all time, ‘The Avengers’) then at least this film may be given a proper treatment and skew close to X-Men: First Class, than Ghost Rider, in the “We need to rush out a new film before we lose the rights to Marvel” stakes.

Speaking of losing the rights; according to Deadline Fox are in a bit of trouble after their planned restart of Daredevil lost its director, David Slade, to TV show ‘Hannibal’. It seems that the film has to be in production by autumn or the movie rights could go back to Marvel; pacing the way for a much better adaptation by Marvel studios and either a Daredevil who is part of the MCU, and hence who could work with any of The Avengers. Perhaps more interestingly there could be an offshoot ‘MKCU’ (Marvel Knights Cinematic Universe); A place where some of Marvel’s, darker, even super natural, heroes could exist. A 'lower budget' series of films, in the Blade / Hellboy range, that could see the grittier and / or super natural side of Marvel, without having to conform to the PG-13 rules of the MCU. With The Punisher and Blade already back at Marvel, that’s an exciting prospect indeed.