Tuesday 21 May 2013

The Wolverine full trailer: Jean Grey, Silver Samurai, Viper & more...

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This better be good, seriously, this had better be good. A class director, a brilliant source comic and a first class screen writer in Christopher McQuarrie; mean they can’t really get this one wrong can they? This is an excellent trailer, especially with the trauma of the best part of X-Men 3; Logan having to kill Jean to, literally, save the world.

Synopsis...
“Based on the celebrated comic book arc, this epic action-adventure takes Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the most iconic character of the X-Men universe, to modern day Japan. Out of his depth in an unknown world he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality, emerging more powerful than we have ever seen him before.”

The cast includes Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Rila Fukushima, Tao Okamoto, Brian Tee, Will Yun Lee, and Hal Yamanouchi.


Thursday 16 May 2013

Pacific Rim trailer 2: Seriously “we ARE CANCELLING the Apocalypse!”

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There may be a sprinkling of cheese on that line, but with Idris belting it out, that’s go to be a contender for line of the summer. So Giant Monsters, Giant robots. You absolutely cannot have been into much Japanese film & TV, or Manga and not be familiar with the concept. From Godzilla (Gojira) to the outstanding ‘Mobile Suit Gundam Wing’ (seriously find that show if you can; it is pure quality from drama to action, to idealism. One of my all time favourite TV shows.)


Synopsis...
“From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ epic sci-fi action adventure “Pacific Rim.” When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.”


Trailer 2...

Wednesday 15 May 2013

S.H.I.E.L.D extended 3 minute trailer confirms that Agent Coulson did NOT die in The Avengers...

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That Nick Fury; he’s a tricky Son of a ... Of course anyone who knows the character from either the Marvel Universe, or the Ultimate Marvel Universe, you know that he’s a man who lies 10 times before breakfast; it’s his job after all. Also, if you were paying attention in the film you’ll recall Tony Stark telling Steve Rogers that Fury’s “secrets have secrets”; not to mention Maria Hill picking upon Fury’s manipulative use of Coulson’s Captain America Trading Cards, in strategically putting blood on them to give the heroes a reason to come together. Of course the really good news is that means Clark Gregg could well be back in the films some day, oh and that Thor & stark may have some very angry words for our Nick Fury in the not too distant future. (In Ultimate Marvel, the heroes got so sick of not being able to trust Fury they abandoned him in an alternate Universe; Way harsher than just leaving him off the Christmas list!


Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D...

Monday 13 May 2013

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. has a 30 second teaser trailer...

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Agent Coulson lives! Everybody’s favourite ordinary human in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, lives on in what may become a Marvel Television Universe. Clark Gregg’s “His first name is agent” Coulson was a notable absentee in the recent, and excellent, Iron Man Three. But he has proved s popular that he was given in roll in Marvel’s Disney XD cartoon ‘Ultimate Spider-Man; AND they created a character in the current Marvel comics, who works side by side with a new Nick Fury. So getting stabbed through the chest by Loki isn't all downside these days. The show all but definitely to be bought by every country in the known world, so keep your eyes peeled, wherever you are.



What it is...
“Clark Gregg reprises his role of Agent Phil Coulson from Marvel’s feature films as he assembles a small, highly select group of Agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange, and the unknown across the globe, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary. Coulson’s team consists of Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), highly trained in combat and espionage, Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen) expert pilot and martial artist, Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker); brilliant engineer and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) genius bio-chemist. Joining them on their journey into mystery is new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet). From Executive Producers Joss Whedon (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” ”Buffy the Vampire Slayer”); Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” pilot co-writers (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”); Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”); and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville”) comes Marvel’s first TV series.  “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television.”

Teaser...

Friday 10 May 2013

Walking with Dinosaurs The 3D film, Trailer...

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Walking With Dinosaurs in 3D, at the Ciinema; ‘Nuff said right?
Synopsis...
“"Walking With Dinosaurs" (3D) is a CGI action adventure set in real epic environments that breathes to life the most glorious and realistic of the dinosaur era never before seen on the silverscreen. Set 70 million years ago, "Walking With Dinosaurs" (3D) sees the birth of a baby triceratops, the smallest of its herd brought forth into a wild, unpredictable world filled with the most ferocious of predators. In this world, the young dinosaur learns to discover his innner courage as he butts head with all other dinos and predators alike. Along with his friends and family, his adventures are filled with humor and often face hair-raising challenges that each of them must face to prove their worth within the herd.”


OK so being used to the BBC Walking With Dinosaurs, and Kenneth Branagh’s mellow tones, the voiceover in this trailer is both saccharine and cloying: but it looks spectacular and hopefully will be a worthy addition to the genuinely groundbreaking  Walking With Dinosaurs stable, in the vein of ‘The Ballad of Big Al.”.



Walking With Dinosaurs Intl Trailer...

Tuesday 7 May 2013

Ender’s Game: - At last a trailer for the film millions have been waiting half their lives for...

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If you have ever actually met me, the chances are I sent some time trying to convince you to read this book. I’ve lost count of how many times I have read it and it actually gets better ever time. This film is an adaptation of both Ender’s Game, and the parallel tale Ender’s Shadow.

The good news is that the cast for this film, in which mankind is searching all its children to find a military genius in time to meet a returning alien invasion fleet, one that we have no hope of defeating without a 1 in a billion genius.
Cast:- Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.


Trailer...

R.I.P Ray Harryhausen; a genuine master of the film world...

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There’s nothing that my unworthy mind can type here that will eve begin to pay suitable respects the genuine giant of Special effects cinema. So good was he at the Stop motion effects that cinema relied upon before the digital age. So important was he that many of the films that he worked on are remembered as Harryhausen films! Imagine that, not the directors, the actors or the writers! The guy in charge of the special effects was the selling point, and what the films are mostly remembered for. That's a huge achievement and can't be overstated.
"You mean there's someone on this island looking for a fight?"

One of cinema's most iconic images
Somehow scarier than the 2010 version

The only other thing I can do is to urge to watch some of the films he worked on. Jason & The Argonauts may well be the best example, even with 1 or 2 dodgy performances; the original Clash of The Titans for Medusa and Pegasus. My sister and I were massive fans of The Valley of The Gwangi and three Sinbad films are all worth looking at for marvellous creativity. I still say that his Talos in Jason & The Argonauts is masterful and to this very day holds up as fantastic special effect. R.I.P Mr. Harryhausen, you gave me, and millions of others, untold hours of joy, and a little fear. You will continue to do so for decades (maybe centuries;like the mythological characters he so wonderfully helped to bring to life.) to come. (below there are some clips & trailers) 
The Master
29th June 1920 – 7th May 2013


Jason & The Argonauts: -Talos
Jason & The Argonauts trailer...
Valley of The Gwangi...

Clash of The Titans: Medusa...

Star Trek Into Kre-O, very Lego like Stop motion clip from Hasbro & a bunch of TV spots...

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For many Star Trek Into Darkness will be taking their minds off Iron Man Three sometime this week; but if those of you in North America are finding the 17th of May s too far away, even with Tony Stark to keep you busy, how about this. OK it may not be as good a some of the Lego videos we see associated with Indiana Jones, Star Wars and so on, but it is pretty good, even down to the lens flares!

Lights, Camera, Lens Flare...

Back to the real thing then...

Synopsis...
In Summer 2013, pioneering director J.J. Abrams will deliver an explosive action thriller that takes Star Trek Into Darkness. When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

Star Trek Into Darkness character profiles...

Captain Kirk...

Scotty...

Uhura...

Sulu...



Sunday 5 May 2013

Missed Free Comic Book Day? You can still get Free digital comics Including the SteamPunk Wizard of Oz that thousands missed yesterday...

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Free Comic Book Day went pretty well in my neck of the woods, Lots of kids, lots of nerds, pretty women wearing skin tight clothes (I can’t pretend that wasn't a good thing.) One thing I noticed was a lot of people missing out on the special free issue of The Steam Engines of OZ. There were so few of them to go around here, that even if you were in the queue as the shops opened, chances were they had gone before you got in. But you can still get Oz as well as 13 other comics from FCBD 2013 (not to mention other free comics; which I just mentioned, so why say “not to mention”?) by scanning the QR code below with a Smartphone or tablet (Android / iOS / Kindle Fire / Windows 8) to get the comic on your device; or clicking on the code pic to get the comic on your computer / Laptop / magic mirror.



Just to be clear, I know the 2 codes go to Comixology, but there may well be other digital places to get these from; they are just who I happen to know & trust.

As well as the fun of watching my kids and our niece (hi Robyn) taking in the diversity of comics that are out there, as well s the density in ages, and the proof than most female super hero costumes will just make you look like a street walker when worn in real life (Forbidden Planet Manchester I am not referring to your two lovely, and very helpful, members of staff; AKA Black Widow & Zatana), I also got to meet a really nice guy, and his beautiful 21/2 year old daughter, whist we were waiting in line at our second comic book shop. Those of you picturing me and this guy, forcing our kids to camp out overnight, outside comic book shops needn't worry. It was two nights. OK seriously, the first shop “travelling Man” opens 1 hour earlier than forbidden Planet. (I must say that the staff at Travelling Man were awesome, really polite, really helpful and they even had a tray of sweets and doughnuts; I know, that’s so ‘Comic Book Guy’ right?) So what you had was lots of people with bags full of free comics, heading off to their second shop to try and get their hands on whichever titles they had missed out on at the first. So it came to pass that the five of us, ended up in front of this guy for the second time that morning. 

We all had fun talking about various things and then he gave me the addy for a comic he thought we might like, as it had similarities to both Adventure Time and Regular Show; both of which our kids enjoy both as cartoons and as comic books. With us suitably impressed, he revealed that it is in fact a comic that he himself created and continues to work on.  I have to say that Marc Jackson does resemble his lead character! So you never know what will happen when you step out of your door, and you should really mark the first Saturday in May 2014 down as Free Comic Book Day. In the meantime here’s a QR code (or click it) for Man From Space, check it out, it may just be your kind of crazy!
With Iron Man 3 having just ridiculously become Marvel Studios 2nd highest Grossing film (after The Avengers) in just 12 rolling days, it seemed fitting to mention it here. $680m breaks down as $504.8m International and an estimated $175.2 m in North America. Remember the film only came out in there this weekend, with its $175.3 the second highest grossing weekend of all time, behind only The Avengers, still impossible seeming, $207m. Well done Marvel Studios!

Iron Man Three – Mansion attack...


Saturday 4 May 2013

The Wolverine, ok Hugh Jackman, wants you to go to FREE COMIC BOOK DAY! in this video, and here’s why...

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You probably know about Ben & Jerry’s Free Cone day right? Well Free Comic Book Day is the same thing, but way, way better. It takes place all over the world, and there are dozens of comics to choose from and they are genuinely for everybody. Boys & girls, men and women; From The Smurfs, Regular Show and Spongebob, to The Walking Dead, Judge Dredd, 2000 AD and Grimm. Of course there are also serious contributions from the big boys – Marvel & DC, as well as major Indies like and Image.

FREE COMICS, BECAUSE IT IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

What is Free Comic Book Day?
The comics are specially produced for Free Comic Book Day and serve as a brilliant way to either get people back into comics, or draw them from the first time. Between the Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warner Brothers attempts to get the most out of their ownership of DC and the likes of Arrow & The Walking Dead taking over television, the mainstream public are aware of more comic book characters now than ever before. No longer is it just Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man & The Hulk, who the average person in the street can recognise.



Around 16 years ago Marvel man Avi Arad finally convinced one of the studios that were sitting on film rights to Marvel characters to actually make a film with them. Studios  were too afraid to make the films they had the rights to after Batman & Robin capped a string of box office disappointments, that Hollywood saw as a sign that people were done with Super hero films. They weren't  they were just done with bad, awful, repetitive Super Hero films. Between the awful, but financially successful Batman Forever in 1995 and WB mega disaster film ‘Steel’ in 1997, Cinemagoers were ‘treated’ to 7, American, Comic book adaptations. All, except for Men In Black, were critical and/or financial horror shows. Judge Dredd, Barb Wire, The Phantom and The Crow: City of Angels, all convinced the suits that Comic book films, not just super hero films, were perhaps just too risky. WB thought about how to resurrect Batman (That was still 8 years away) and spent tens of millions of dollars failing to get a Superman film off the ground. (Most notably with Tim Burton & Nicolas Cage.)

FREE COMICS, BECAUSE IT IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

Creators of Ben 10...

FREE COMICS, BECAUSE IT IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!


Against this backdrop of negativity, Avi Arad was somehow able to convince New Line decided to take a chance on a little known super hero, Blade. Created in the 1970s Blade was not only a pretty grim horror film but a kick ass one to boot. The success of Blade helped tip Fox over the edge about bringing the X-Men (by far the most popular comic book character of the 1980s & 1990s) into production; and with a ‘real’ director at that; Bryan Singer from The Usual Suspects. All of this made other studios get up off their collective arses and take films that had been in development hell for years, or decades, into Production. Spider-Man definitely sealed the deal and the world hasn’t looked back since.

(Quote from The New York Time in June 2004, regarding Blade and X-Men:-
“Together, the movies proved that even comic book characters unknown to the general public could become the basis for blockbusters.”)

FREE COMICS, BECAUSE IT IS FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

Hugh Jackman...

The two biggest success stores have undoubtedly been Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy, which we should never forget started with a film that lost money at the box office. Sometimes quality, and good DVD / TV sales, is more important than money. Despite ‘only’ making $374min cinemas, the film was very well received, which led to the next two films making just over $2b combined. The other is, of course, the amazing rise of Marvel Studios and their daring, unprecedented, building of a shared Universe on the big screen. If you pickup some Marvel comics tomorrow, free or otherwise, you will likely to see characters popping up in other character’s books. It is something that happens more in Marvel comics than others, and translating that to the film business is truly remarkable. Imagine James Bond trying to escape some bad guys and getting a little help from Jason Bourne along the way, before teaming up with some Impossible Missions people to save the day. Taking the trouble to build up a brand with Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk and Captain America, has paid huge dividends. Not only did the sum of those parts, with a little help from Nick Fury, end up becoming the third highest grossing film of all time (The Avengers - $1.51b); but Iron Man Three has, in a 9 day rolling release, already grossed $345m outside of North America! To put that into some kind of perspective, the top two International grosses for the Solo Avengers films were, $311m for Iron Man 2, and $268m for Thor. (Very decent amounts indeed) So in nine rolling days, Iron Man Three has already passed them both. Of course getting to the $888m The Avengers made is still a very tall order; but it is more proof that Super heroes and comic book adaptations in general, are about as popular as they have ever been.
Click the banner to go to the Free Comic Book Day website
So comic books are having a massive effect on pop culture, even as print media is in decline. So why not take advantage of the far reaching comic book genre and get people to actually read the stories that inspired these films and TV shows? And when you get there, you’ll discover that there are far more comics, covering far more subjects and topics, aimed at a much wider age range, than you probably thought before. So check out where your nearest FREE COMIC BOOK DAY store is and give the call. But if you take that last Walking Dead comic I will have to hurt you!

Wednesday 1 May 2013

The Wolverine: Teaser clip that was shown at Wondercon, is wonderful...

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Yeah I said it. We’re all allowed bad joke every now then. This is a once dramatic build up, with the “The...” repeat. There’s a real sense of what Logan is up against here and that he’ll have to get back to his feral, stabbing, slashing, screaming best to survive until the end ff this film; which is set sometime far ahead of the X-Men films, so he could die, but still be in other films. (Like Han Lue in the Fast & Furious films, which all seem to be set before ‘Tokyo Drift’, in which Han died.)


Synopsis...
“Based on the celebrated comic book arc, this epic action-adventure takes Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the most iconic character of the X-Men universe, to modern-day Japan. Out of his depth in an unknown world, he will face a host of unexpected and deadly opponents in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality.”


Cinemacon footage...

Don't forget Free Comic Book Day!