Prometheus Trailer

Well, today, we got our first official look at one of the more mysterious blockbusters coming in the summer of 2012, Prometheus.

Why is this film so mysterious?  As we all know, in this day and age, everything is preqeuls, sequels, and remakes.  So, 20th Century Fox eventually decided to make a prequel to their best-know horror/sci-fi franchise, Alien.  The general concept was to tell the story of the "space jockey," the pilot of the downed ship that our brave humans discover in Alien where they eventually unleash the Alien.

People were ready to shrug this off as just another shameless cash-in for the franchise.  But then, things got interesting.  Fox was actually able to convince Ridley Scott to come on board and direct this.  Scott, of course, director of such blockbusters as Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, the recent Robin Hood and...the original Alien way back in 1979.  This is Scott's return to the sci-fi genre even since he made the cult-classic Blade Runner way back in 1982.  The Alien fanboys have longed for Scott to return to the universe he created, and Scott's involvement brought a new excitement to the project.

So, the development stage went on.  The script was refined.  And then, Scott and the writers and producers started saying that things had taken a turn.  As they continued exploring the story and its possibilites, it evolved into something new.  Scott went on record as saying that the film had changed so much that it was no longer an Alien prequel, but that the fans would be able "to see the strands of Alien's DNA."  Adding to the confusion was that many Fox higher-ups and several of the cast members continued to refer to it as an Alien prequel.

And that's what makes this film so mysterious.  What exactly is it about?  Just how much of a connection is there to Alien?  Yeah, there's been a spoiler-filled script review circling the Internet for months now, and I could go read it, but where's the fun in that?

The first trailer went online today, and the questions continue.





Well, one thing people seem to be agreeing on...based on the visual asthetics in the trailer, it at least takes place in the same sci-fi universe as Alien. Many have pointed out that the trailer itself seems to be an homage to the original trailer for Alien.







Needless to say, I am intrigued by Prometheus.  The mystery that's been surrounding this film is starting to get to me.  What little we see in the teaser does some intriguing...it's almost like Scott finally has the budget, or the special effects technology, to really open up the universe he created, rather than the minimalist approach he had with the original film.

It's gotta a pretty star-studded cast, too.  Noomi Rapace, the original Swedish Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, is Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, an archeologist heading out to the stars to discover the origins of mankind.  Charlize Theron is along as Meridith Vickers, a corporate figurehead, and Michael Fassbender, who was the young Magneto in X-Men: First Class, is David, the Alien stock character of the cold-hearted android.


I think I'll be seeing this this summer.  It's been enough of a tease so far that I'm hooked.

How exactly does this fit in to the Alien universe?  I guess will find out on June 8. 

First Trailer for The Hobbit

So.  Let's talk about The Lord of the Rings.  Truthfully, not much of a fan.  Don't get me wrong, the movies are good, and I respect that it sparked this whole trend of "filming the unfilmable" that's getting such upcoming movies as John Carter.

But I've never really been able to get into them because of the books.  I've tried many, many times in my short life to read the books, but I find them so boring.  That's why I've avoided the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings.  From what I gather, all they really did for the extended editions was put in all the exposition and back story that brings the plot to a halt in the books.

22 years ago -- Christmas 1989 -- I got this handsome boxed set of The Lord of the Rings, and just by looking at the spines on my bookshelf, you can see all my previous attempts to read the trilogy.  The Fellowship of the Ring is well-worn, like it's been read a dozen times.  The Two Towers is in pretty good shape, like it's been read once or twice.  And The Return of the King is as pristine as the day I tore off the wrapping paper.

However, also in the boxed set is the prequel to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit.  The Hobbit is beat-up, dog-eared, slightly torn like it's been read a thousand times.  And it has.  Despite my distaste for The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit remains one of my favourite books.  It's just such an easier read...it's nowhere near as dense.  My fantasy-loving friends once told me that The Lord of the Rings is simply The Hobbit with every single footstep described in painstaking detail.  I haven't read The Hobbit in a few years...I think I'm due to read it again.

So, then, like a lot of nerds, when The Lord of the Rings started making serious coin at the box office, we knew it was just a matter of time before they made The Hobbit in order to keep the franchise going.  There was some legal stuff to sort out first...the movie rights to The Hobbit were owned by MGM, and The Lord of the Rings was owned by New Line.  Eventually, they figured out the legal stuff and resolved to work together.  Peter Jackson, director of the trilogy, was on board...as a producer.

To direct The Hobbit, Jackson selected Guillermo Del Toro, the director of the Hellboy films and fresh off the Oscar-winning fantasy epic Pan's Labrynth.  The plan at the time was to make two films:  the first one, a straight up adaptation of The Hobbit.  The second one, they were going to pour through all the various appendicies and footnotes that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote and concoct an original story to fill in the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

However, MGM was going through some financial woes, and Del Toro got fed up just standing around, waiting for the bankruptcy thing to sort itself out.  So, Del Toro quit the project.  And Jackson said, "Well, I guess it's up to me," and decided to direct The Hobbit.  Also around this time they tossed the original "bridge the gap" film idea...instead, they were just going to cut The Hobbit in two and make two movies.

Of course, we have some returning cast members from The Lord of the Rings.  Sir Ian McKellan is back as Gandalf, Andy Serkis is back as Gollum, Hugo Weaving is back as the Elf king Elrond, and they even worked in some cameos for Elijah Wood as Frodo and Orlando Bloom as Legolas.

Our hero, Bilbo Baggins, will be played by Martin Freeman.  This isn't the first time that Freeman has played a cult-classic literary character...he was also Arthur Dent in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and on the new BBC production of Sherlock Holmes (you know...the one that's supervised by Steven Moffat of Doctor Who fame), he's Dr. Watson.  He was also Tim Canturbury, the original British version of Jim Halperin, on the original British version of The Office. 

The first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, hits theaters on December 14, 2012.  The second film, The Hobbit: There and Back Again, comes out December 13, 2013.

And the first trailer just went online.





I do get a little goosebumpy watching this. It's truly nice to see a return to this cinematic world. And as I've always enjoyed The Hobbit, I'm more familiar with it.

I think it's time to re-read The Hobbit to get ready for this film.  And who knows?  It might even give me enough of a running start to finally tackle The Lord of the Rings.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

So, if you went to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows over the weekend, you probably saw the latest trailer for the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.










The third and final in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy hits theatres Summer 2012, and I like what I'm seeing so far.  Part of me is really, really glad that they're ending this with a third film.  Having grown up with Star Wars and Back to the Future, one thing I learned is that it's best to end a film franchise as a trilogy.  Besides, last time a Batman film went to a fourth, we got & Robin, a name that still sends shudders down the spines of Batman geeks.

But what really gets me is how they're really playing up that this the last one in this particular tale of Batman.  Shouldn't be too surprised, though.  As they pointed out in a recent Cracked.com article, there really is only one reason why you'd want to use Bane in a Batman movie.

I think I blogged before that before that Bane was on my shortlist of villains I really wanted to see in this next Batman film.  Bane fits in with Christopher Nolan's realistic take on Batman quite nicely, especially if they go with the animated series interpretation:  a superstrong South American hitman brought in by the mob to settle the Batman problem once and for all.

And besides, Bane really needs to be done justice.  One thing folks forget is that Bane is super-smart.  In his first appearance, the legendary Knighfall storyline, he successfully determined Batman's true identity and set about to thoroughly destroy Batman.  And it really looks like that's what we're going with in this film.

Still scratching my head trying to figure out how Catwoman figures into all this.  But what Selina Kyle whispers into Bruce Wayne's ear has me intrigued.  And with the references to Commissioner Gordon being a "war hero, but we're not at war," is really starting to make think that Gotham City has been lulled into a false sense of security.  One thing that's already been confirmed is that this takes place 8 years after The Dark Knight.  Who knows how kind the past 8 years have been to Batman?

I'm going to throw in the latest poster now, just so I have a kick-ass thumbnail when I post this to all the social networking sites I'll be plugging this blog entry on.

All in all, with all the references to this being "The final adventure" and "The legend ends," I'm starting to think that this might be the closest we'll get to a cinematic rendition of The Dark Knight Returns...Batman's final adventure before he retires, dies in action, and/or takes his war on crime to the next level.

How will things end for the Dark Knight?  We'll find out on July 20.

Here Come the Sequels!

It's that time of year.  The trailers for the big blockbusters of next summer are starting to roll out, and as we all know, sequels are still the name of the game.  So let's take a look at a couple of the sequels coming out this summer.  Let's start with the one I'm not so excited about.

Men in Black.  Loved the first movie.  I felt the second one was a tired retread.  It's been 15 years since the first film (holy moly, has it been that long?) and 10 years since the second.  Is it too late for a third?  Well, we'll find out when Men in Black III hits theatres this May.

Men in Black III is known in Hollywood circles right now for being a very troubled production.  They had to shut down production for a few months to work out some kinks in the script.  Executive producer Steven Spielberg even brought in his Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull script doctors Jeff Nathanson and David Koepp to iron things out.  So it's going to be interesting to see what kind of film comes out of this.

I already talked about executive producer Steven Spielberg coming back...also back as director is Barry Sonnenfeld.  I've mentioned before that Sonnenfeld is a director due for a comeback.  In the 1990s, he proved he could do blockbusters with Men in Black and The Addams Family films.  He proved he could do character-based comedy with Get Shorty.  But, he did make Wild Wild West, which kind of killed his big screen career.  He's been biding his time with some "brilliant-but-cancelled" television, being responsible for some of my favourite short-lived TV shows, mainly the live-action version of The Tick and Pushing Daisies.  So I'm kind of hoping that Men in Black III re-energizes his big screen career.

Not much is known yet about the plot...just that we find Agent J time traveling back to the 1960s to help out a young Agent K.  Will Smith is back as Agent J, Tommy Lee Jones returns as Agent K, Josh Brolin plays the young Agent K, Emma Thompson plays the new MiB commander, Agent O, with Alice Eve playing the young Agent O.

Men in Black III hits theatres this May.









And now, let's get on to the sequel I am excited about...the second G.I. Joe film, G.I. Joe: Retaliation.  I've blogged before that I enjoyed the first live-action G.I. Joe film.  While it offered nothing new in the way of action films and there some glaring plot holes, my childhood nostalgia for the property blinded me to the flaws.  And given the cliffhanger that the film ended on, I knew a sequel could be good.



I've already blogged about the new cast members and who's working behind the scenes, so I'll just provide a link rather than re-hash myself.  (That would be this link right here.  Clicky click!)  All I can say is...wow.  I love this trailer.  Once again, my childhood nostalgia for the property is making me giggle.  Unlike the Transformers film, I'm getting the feeling that they're trying to advance the story.  I can hardly wait for this one.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits theatres on June 29.

Comin' At You in 3D!!

So, with Hollywood trying to tell us that 3D is all the rage, and with remakes also being popular, it was just a matter of time before Hollywood went, "Hey!  Rather than re-make these old films, let's just convert them to 3D and stick them back in theatres!"  So, 2012 is going to kick off with a bunch of 3D re-releases of recent classics.  I just wanted to take a moment to run through some of the trailers.

First up, Disney is giving us Beauty and the Beast:  3D.  Following the success of Disney's 3D re-release of The Lion King, Disney announced that they're going to be converting and re-releasing four of their recent classic animated films.  Well...2 Disney films and 2 Pixar films.  The first one out of the gate is Beauty and the Beast.  (The others are Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and The Little Mermaid).

Weird thing about Beauty and the Beast is that this was supposed to be Disney's first 3D conversion.  It was supposed to come out 2 years ago...way back in the spring of 2010.  But for reasons never disclosed, it was postponed.  Couldn't have been because of technical limitations...it's already played overseas!  So Disney's been sitting on this for a while for some reason.

Anyway, Lion King 3D convinced them that they can pull this off, so they're finally releasing Beauty and the Beast 3D.  It hits theatres on January 13.









I love the movies of James Cameron.  Here's a guy that's dedicated to pushing the limits of filmmaking technology to realize his vision.  In fact, we can thank him for 3D films for being all the rage, thanks to his last film, Avatar.  When it became the #1 movie of all time, naturally folks would start thinking that 3D is here to stay.

Well, let's not forget, before Avatar became the #1 film of all time, the record was held by Titanic, also by James Cameron.  I love the story of how Titanic came to be.  Shipwrecks is Cameron's thing.  He loves diving to them.  And he always wanted to see the wreck of the Titanic.  So one day he said, "Hey.  I should make a movie about the Titanic.  I can convince a movie studio that I need to film the wreck for the film, and get them to foot the bill."  So, he walked into a Hollywood producer's office and said, "How's this?  Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic."  He came out with a blank cheque and the rest is history.

Not gonna lie...I like Titanic.  I think it was the first film that used all of modern special effects to recreate a historical period.  Like most of Cameron's films, I respect it for its technical achievments.  I've blogged before that my completely arbirtary made-up tradition is I watch it every New Year's Day.  Because hey, why not?  That being said, though, a 3D conversion is not enough for me to go back to theatres to watch it.

Titanic 3D hits theatres on April 6, 2012, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the sinking.










And lastly, we come to one of the most beloved film franchises of all...but we're starting with its most reviled film.  When 3D starting becoming big, of course George Lucas said, "Hey!  I think I know what I'm going to do for the next special edition changes to the Star Wars films!"  And he announced he'd be converting all 6 Star Wars films to 3D.  He'd release one a year, starting in 2012.  And he'd be starting with the first one in numerical order which means...we're starting with The Phantom Menace.

Look, I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I seem to have become completely burnt out on Star Wars.  10, nay, 5 years ago, a trailer like this would have given me goosebumps.  But now...nothing.  I feel nothing towards this.

Star Wars Episode I:  The Phantom Menace 3D hits theatres on February 12.






Now, that being said, I would kind of like to see this trailer in 3D.  Not the whole film...just this trailer.  Mainly because it evokes memories of the trailer for the Special Editions from back in 1997.






Wouldn't that trailer be fantastic to see in 3D? With the images in the TV in the middle of the screen being in 2D, and then the X-Wing flies out in 3D? Yeah...that would be awesome.

So I'd like to see the trailer in 3D...but not the movie.  

2 Snow Whites and 14 Dwarfs

As we all know, Hollywood seems to have run out of ideas.  And this become blatantly obvious every couple of years when two movies of shockingly similar theme come out very close to each other.  The popular examples are still 1997, when we got two volcano movies (Volcano and Dante's Peak) and 1998, when we got two asteroid movies (Deep Impact and Armageddon).  Well, those times have come again, because in 2012, we're getting two gritty reboots of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. 

The first one to get a trailer is Snow White and the Huntsman.  I will admit, I kind of find the premise of this one intriguing.  As we all know, in the original tale, the Evil Queen orders the Royal Huntsman to take Snow White deep into the woods and kill her.  But, the Huntsman is a good guy, and cannot kill in cold blood, so he tells Snow White to just run and hide in the woods.  But, in Snow White and the Huntsman, the Huntsman takes Snow White into the woods and says, "Look, the Queen has obviously gone insane, so here's what we're going to do.  I'm going to hide you in the woods and train you to be a badass warrior woman, so one day you can take your vengeance and rightfully claim your throne."  And much fantasy film action ensues.

Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame is Snow White, Charlize Theron is Ravena the Evil Queen, Thor himself Chris Hemsworth is the Eric the Huntsman, British actor Sam Clafin is Prince William (nee Charming), and the Seven Dwarfs consist of such esteemed British character actors as Bob Hoskins, Ian McShane, Ray Winstone, and Nick Frost.  Behind the camera is rookie director Rupert Sanders. 

This definitely looks like the darker of the two...the electronic score in the trailer has people likening it to the gritty fantasy films of the 1980s.  And don't worry, it doesn't get too gritty...the filmmakers assure us that Snow White still ends up with Prince Charming, and Snow White and the Huntsman's relationship is strictly teacher/mentor.

Snow White and the Huntsman hits theatres on June 1.










The second Snow White reboot we're getting is Mirror Mirror.  This one is definitely more comical and I'm really getting a Princess Bride vibe from this trailer.

Julia Roberts plays Clementia the Evil Queen, Lily Collins, star of the new 90210, is Snow White, Armie Hammer, the Winkelvos Twins in The Social Network, is Prince Andrew Alcott (nee Charming), and Nathan Lane is Brighton, the Queen's aide.  The talent behind the camera is Tarsem, directed of Jennifer Lopez classic The Cell and the recent blockbuster Immortals.  Given that, I was expecting this to be grim and gritty, too, but this trailer is decidedly campy.





Mirror Mirror hits theatres on March 16.  

I like that the one thing these re-tellings seem to have in common is Snow White picking up a sword and claiming vengeance herself, rather than, you know, just laying comatose waiting for Prince Charming to come along and fix things. 

For historical completeness, I feel as though I need to remind you we were originally going to get a third Snow White reboot next year, and damn it, it's the one I was most looking forward to.  It was to be done in the style of a classic kung fu movie.  The action was to be moved to 19th century Hong Kong, with Snow White re-imagined as a British aristocrat and the Seven Dwarfs transformed into seven Shaolin warrior monks.  Natalie Portman was all signed on to play Snow White in that one, but she left the project and the whole shelved when she got pregnant. 

Monday Night Cartoons

Well, you know me, I love my cartoons, and a couple of trailers for new animated films just came my way that I need to pass along.

First up, we have The Lorax.  Based on the classic Dr. Seuss book of the same name, this tells the tale of an industrialist who comes to a magical land to start logging and making stuff, but the Lorax appears to speak for the trees and try to save the environment.

I like the criticisms of this trailer that have branded it "hippie environmentalist bullplop," to which I have to say, "Umm, have you not read the Dr. Seuss original?"

This was produced for the big screen by relatively new animation studio Illumination Entertainment, which exploded onto the scene a couple years ago with the critically beloved blockbuster Despicable Me.  Chris Renaud, the director of Despicable Me, is also directing this one.

For voices, we have Danny DeVito as the Lorax, Ed Helms (Andy on The Office) as the Once-ler, the industrialist who starts logging, and Zac Efron as the boy the Once-ler tells the legend of the Lorax too.  Taylor Swift and Betty White also pop up.

I've got to say, the track record for Dr. Seuss adaptations has been spotty at best, but at the very least, this trailer looks like candy-coated goodness.  The Lorax hits theatres on March 2.





And now, we head across the Pacific to the legendary Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli.  Their latest animated blockbuster has finally been dubbed and is getting a major North American release.  The original Japanese title...The Borrower Arrietty.  The English name...The Secret World of Arrietty.

Inspired by the world-famous series of British children's novels The Borrowers, the film tells the tale of Arrietty, a young Borrower who develops a friendship with a human named Sho.  Sho's grandmother, however, glimpsed a Borrower in her youth, and suspects something's up with Sho, and soon goes on a mission to find the Borrower's living in her house.  Can Sho save his new friend from his ruthless Grandmother?

Arrietty hit theatres in Japan in the summer of 2010, and as is the Studio Ghibli way, it kicked ass at the box office and cleaned up at all the major awards.  It was directed by veteran Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who made his directorial debut with this.  And Studio Ghibli's resident living legend, Hayao Miyazaki, wrote the screenplay. 

The North American distribution is being handled by Disney, and like the past decade's worth of Ghibli films, the dub is being supervised by Pixar folks, because being a Ghibli otaku is pretty much a prerequisite to work at Pixar.  The English-language dub was directed by veteran Pixar sound designer Gary Rydstrom, who also directed the Pixar short Lifted.  The English dub voice cast includes Disney kids Bridget Mendler and David Henrie as Arrietty and Sho, Carol Burnett as Sho's grandmother, and Will Arnet and and Amy Poehler as Arrietty's parents. 

I watched this trailer and it gave me goosebumps.  I love Studio Ghibli, particularily the films of Miyazaki.  I'll definitely be going to check this out because of his involvement.

The Secret World of Arrietty hits theatres in North America on February 17.

2 Famous Sleuths

Hey, look, we have a new trailer for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows! 





Actually, I'm just posting this because it gives me an excuse to blog about some movie news I've been wanting to blog about but have been putting off.

News broke a couple of weeks ago that, for his next franchise, Robert Downey Jr is looking to resurrect another famous sleuth for the big screen...none other than the legendary crusading defense attorney, Perry Mason.

Perry Mason, created by Earle Stanley Gardner in a series of mystery novels back in the 1930s and 40s, and elevated to mythic status thanks to the legendary TV series starring Raymond Burr.

For the new spin, they're going to go all the way back to the beginning, and set the film in the 1930s...where the character first made his appearance and the time in which the first stories are set.

There's absolutely no word on when or if this'll ever hit theatres.  All I know it is it could be pretty neat.  I have a minor fascination with Perry Mason, ever since I read a newspaper article in my teen years chronicling how the character has developed a Trekkie-like following.

All I know is, if the movie ever comes to be, they've got to remember to work Park Avenue Beat into the soundtrack.

The Latest from the Master

We are very blessed this holiday season.  We are not getting one, but two new movies from the guy who is generally considered to be the greatest living director today, Steven Spielberg!

First up, the one that's been bigger on my radar, The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn.  As the legend goes, Spielberg became a fan of the legendary comic strip back in 1981, when a European film critic called Raiders of the Lost Ark "the greatest Tintin movie ever made."  Spielberg sought out the comic, instantly became a fan, contacted Herge, and acquired the movies rights.  Spielberg has then been trying for the past 30 years to try to get a Tintin movie off the ground.

A few years back, Spielberg took a "now or never" approach to it.  He contacted Weta Digital about doing a CGI Snowy (Tintin's faithful dog and sidekick).  Peter Jackson, who brought us The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the owner of Weta, and a huge Tintin fan himself, immediately called Spielberg and convinced him to do the whole film with performance capture.  Because, you know, a few years ago, before Mars Needs Moms tanked at the box office, we were all told that performance capture was going to be the future of filmmaking.

So, Spielberg and Jackson joined forces to finally bring Tintin to the big screen.  Spielberg is directing and Jackson is producing.  They will switch roles should this be successful enough for a sequel.  For the script, they drafted a trio of phenomenal Brits:  Steven Moffat, the current showrunner on Doctor Who, Edgar Wright, director of the much-beloved (be geeks) Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Joe Cornish, director of the critically acclaimed Attack the Block.  The story is an amalgam of three classic Tintin storylines:  The Secret of the Unicorn, the Crab With the Golden Claws, and Red Rackham's Treasure.

For our cast, Jamie Bell, still best remembered as Billy Elliot, is Tintin, Andy Serkis, best remembered as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is Tintin's longtime friend and sidekick, the salty sea Captain Haddock, Edgar Wright film regulars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are the identical detectives Thomson and Thompson, and James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, is the villainous pirate Red Rackham. 

It had its first press screening in Tintin's homeland of Belgium a couple of weeks ago and has been getting really good reviews.  It comes out in the UK at the end of the month, and it hits North American theatres on December 21.









But wait!  There's more!  Turns out Spielberg had another movie on the go that was under my radar.  While waiting for the animation to be finished on Tintin, Spielberg went and made another movie, War Horse.  

Based on the classic children's novel of the same name, War Horse follows the adventures of Joey, a horse who is sold to the army and made to serve in the cavalry during World War I.  Albert Narracot, Joey's young owner, can't bear to be separated from his beloved horse, so he lies about his age, joins the army, and the two are soon on a quest to be reunited with each other in the trenches of World War I.

The book was turned into a critically acclaimed play a couple of years ago.  Spielberg saw the play, instantly fell in love with the story, and set out to bring the tale to the big screen.

As I said, this one was below my radar, but when I saw the trailer, I knew it was classic Spielberg, from the lavishly filmed sunsets to the John Williams score.  War Horse hits theatres on Christmas Day. 

Marvel's The Avengers Trailer

Holy moly.  When all the superhero adaptations, this is one folks thought they'd never see.

It was always a bit of a pipe dream about five years ago when Marvel announced that they were forming Marvel Studios with the intent of producing their own films based on their own properties.  Cuz hey, they owned all the rights to the characters, so why not?

But still, no one was expecting that fateful day in 2008, when Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk both became big hits at the box office, and Marvel made the announcement that they were building towards this.  The plan:  Iron Man 2 and Thor in 2010, and Captain America and The Avengers in 2011.

Well, various production delays caused the schedule to be juggled around, and it soon changed to Iron Man 2 in 2010, Thor and Captain America in 2011, and The Avengers in 2012.

For those who've never followed the comics, The Avengers is Marvel's supergroup, of which Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk are all members.  And the fact that they got all the same actors from all the previous films to come back...well, it's stunning, really.

So, once again, we get to see:

• Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Scarlett Johannson as the Black Widow
• Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye
• and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and he finally gets to do more than wave after the end credits.

Marvel and Edward Norton had a bit of a falling out, so Mark Ruffalo takes over as Bruce Banner/the Hulk.  Following the original comic book origins of the team, these heroes first come together to battle Thor's brother Loki, who's launching an all-out assault on Earth.  (Tom Hiddleston is back as Loki.)  Some rumors even say that Loki has assembled an army of those perpetual Earth invaders, the Skrulls.

The man who Marvel tapped to bring all these characters together is fan favourite Joss Whedon, creator of such cult classic TV series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly.  In fact, the only other big screen directorial credit Whedon has under his belt of the movie version of Firefly, Serenity.  But most have faith in the Whedon.

The first trailer came out today, and I have to admit, it looks pretty damn sweet.

Marvel's The Avengers (we have to call it that to avoid confusion with the classic TV series of the same name) hits theatres May 4, 2012.

The Next Next Generation

Yesterday marked the official 24th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and to commemerate, Paramount made a big announcement.

TNG is coming to Blu-Ray!





Actually, reading about the show coming to Blu-Ray, I'm learning quite a few things about the show.  Apparently, re-mastering TNG into high-definition has turned out to be quite a time-consuming process, because TNG was filmed in a very unique way, and highly experimental for its time.

TNG was shot on film, and then all the footage was transferred to videotape.  And then, all of the editing and adding in of special effects and pretty much all the post-production work was done on video.  So all of the old masters for all the TNG episodes are on videotape.

The problem with that is videotape doesn't transfer to high-definition very well.  However, Paramount still has all of the original footage on film kicking around in their archives.  And film transfers to hi-def very well. 

So, to get TNG in high-definition, what Paramount is doing is transferring all of the original film footage to high-definition, and then re-editing each and every episode to match as closely with the original episodes as possible.  They're even "re-compositing" the special effects where they need to.  And the whole process is being supervised by Michael and Denise Okuda who, after penning The Star Trek Encyclopedia all those years ago, have kind of become the official Star Trek archivists.

Our first sampling of Star Trek: The Next Generation in high-definition is a special compilation Blu-Ray called The Next Level: A Taste of TNG in High Definition.  This compilation will include the classic episodes Encounter at Farpoint, Sins of the Father, and The Inner Light.  Fanboys are already complaining about these selections.  (Me, personally?  I would have dumped Farpoint and put on Best of Both Worlds.) It drops on January 31, 2012.

And then, they're going to start rolling out complete season sets in September 2012, just in time for TNG's 25th anniversary.

Holy moly, TNG is almost 25.  When did I get so old? 

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance trailer

With the main focus being on The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man as the big superhero films for 2012, there's one that's been in production for a while now that's been sneaking in under the radar.

And that's Ghost Rider 2, which is going by the name Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.






Nicholas Cage is back as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider.  Interesting fact this time out:  this time around, Cage himself is playing Ghost Rider.  In the first film, all of the Ghost Rider performance capture was done by a stuntman.  But for the second one, Cage did it himself.


The plot, this time around, has Johnny Blaze heading to Europe to stop the birth of the anti-Christ.  To stop the Ghost Rider, the Devil sends that Ghost Rider enemy known as Blackout to defeat Ghost Rider.


In addition to the returning Nicholas Cage, Johnny Whitworth is Blackout, Idris Elba is Moreau, a warrior monk who seeks out Ghost Rider to help stop this anti-Christ plot, and the Highlander himself, Christopher Lambert, also shows up as the leader of the warrior monks. 

The directors of Spirit of Vengeance are Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, collectively known as Neveldine/Taylor.  They are the two who gave us the Crank franchise, and according to reports of footage shown at ComiCon a month or so ago, Spirit of Vengeance promises to be full of the same ridiculous, over-the-top action sequences that the Crank films are famous for. 

As for my thoughts on this trailer...meh.  I liked parts of the first film, but to me, the first film was the first indication that the "superhero movie formula" was starting to get set in stone.  It was the first superhero film I saw that I felt comfortable calling "formulaic."  So, really, then, I guess there's no where to go but up.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance hits theatres this February. 

Some of That High Class British Porn: Hysteria Trailer

Normally, I just slap something like this straight up on my Facebook page, but since I'm Facebook friends with some of my nieces and nephews, I figure this may not be for their tender eyes.

So, last fall, there was some giggling and nervous twittering when it was announced that Maggie Gyllenhaal had signed on to to do a historical romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator.

Well, guess what?  We have a trailer!

Ladies and gentlemen, Hysteria.






I just noticed this is posted at the YouTube channel for the Toronto International Film Festival.  That's where The King's Speech had its world premiere last year.

I predict this will be seen by a lot of upper-middle-aged people, wandering in to the theatre expecting to see the next King's Speech.

Keep an eye on your neighborhood art house for when it comes to your town.

Red Tails Trailer

So, this has been online for a few days now, and I've been wanting to blog about it.  It's the first trailer for Red Tails.






I got kind of excited in those weeks before the release of Revenge of the Sith when I caught an interview with George Lucas in which he confided that part the reason why did the prequels was because he knew they would make a ton of money, and thus ensure his financial security to give him the freedom to make the kind of moody, experimental films that he really wanted to make.  Ooo...I wonder what Lucas was going to make after the prequels.  What did he mean by "moody and experimental?"

Apparently, he meant Indiana Jones fighting aliens, because that's what he made next.

But after that, he assured us that he was finally turning his attention to Red Tails.  Red Tails is a movie that Lucas has been developing since the late-1980s.  Some originally thought it was a code name for Episode I, as Return of the Jedi had the similar-sounding code name "Blue Harvest."  Lucas, however, assured the fans that Red Tails had nothing to do with Star Wars...that it was, in fact, a World War II epic about the legendary Tuskegee Airman -- an all-African-American fighter pilot squadron. 

While Lucas himself wrote the original story, he handed screenwriting duties over to John Ridley.  For the director, Lucas chose Anthony Hemingway, a veteran television director making his feature film directorial debut.  The film boasts an all-star cast, with Terrance Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Method Man, Ne-Yo, and Bryan Cranston. 

This is Lucas's first non-franchise film (i.e. not Star Wars or Indy) since 1994's Radioland Murders, and that's a bit of a detriment for me.  Without the nostalgia factor of lightsabers in the trailer, it's tough to get excited about this film.  I need to know more right now...more about the plot, more about the characters...just more.

However, since it is Lucas, the special effects are looking amazing.  It looks like he's taking what he learned from the spectacular space battle scene at the opening of Revenge of the Sith and applying it to World War II dogfights.  That's kind of a neat full-circle thing....  As has been widely reported, Lucas showed the special effects artists on the very first Star Wars dogfights from World War II films to convey what he wanted to achieve in the space battles. 

Red Tails hits theatres this January, and I look forward to finding out more.

In the Navy: Battleship Trailer

So, about a year or two ago, Hasbro was riding high on the success of their live-action Transformers and G.I. Joe films, so they started looking around at what other things they owned that could be turned into blockbuster movies.  In a move that had a lot of people scratching their heads, Hasbro entered into a development deal with Universal to develop several dozen Hasbro board games into movies.

A few announcements were quickly made to go along with this deal.  Michael Bay (the Transformers trilogy) showed an interest in making a horror/thriller about the Ouija Board.  Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, the most recent Robin Hood) was announced to develop Monopoly into a film.  Scripts based on Candy Land and Clue are also in the midst of development.

The first one out of the gate is coming in Summer of 2012:  Battleship.  At first glance, people were thinking, "Well, OK, Battleship could form the basis for a rather run-of-the-mill Naval thriller...like a good old fashioned submarine movie or something like that."  But then, Hasbro went, "Wait a minute.  Our biggest hit was Transformers.  Let's throw some aliens in there!"

So now it's about a Naval fleet fighting aliens in the Pacific.

Taylor Kitsch, Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, plays our hero, a reckless young Naval officer with the a thing for the Captain's daughter.  Liam Neeson plays the captain, and supermodel Brooklyn Decker is the Captain's daughter.  True Blood star Alexander Skarsgard plays Kitsch's brother, and pop star Rihanna makes her acting debut. 

The director is Peter Berg, who brought us the Dwayne Johnson action film The Rundown, the critically acclaimed football drama Friday Night Lights (both the original movie and the pilot for the TV show) and the Will Smith superhero flick Hancock.  (Oh, and for the the sports fans, he also did the 30 for 30 documentary Kings Ransom, which was about the Gretzky trade.)

Battleship hits theatres on May 18, 2012. 

The Amazing Spider-Man Teaser

The year was 2007.  Despite mixed reviews, Spider-Man 3 still made a ton of cash at the box office.  Director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire were quickly signed on to star in Spider-Man 4 and development began.

But, problems arose.  It's what the experts call "creative differences," as the studio heads and Raimi and Maguire couldn't agree on a direction for the fourth film.  Eventually, Raimi was let go.  So, what was going to happen next?

There was a running joke in Twisted ToyFare Theatre back in the day...whenever they reached a milestone issue, a "sleazy comics executive" would magically appear and urge that it was time to relaunch the comic.  Well, as Sony was debating what to do for a new Spider-Man film, that TTT "sleazy comics executive" magically appeared in the offices and said, "It's time for a relaunch!"  And Sony said, "Yes!" 

So the decision was made to reboot the Spider-Man franchise.  For a new director, Sony hired Marc Webb, director of the critically acclaimed indie romance film (500) Days of Summer.  The decision was made to base the film more on the Ultimate Spider-Man continuity.  A new cast was soon assembled.

Andrew Garfield, currently best known as Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network, signed on to be the new Peter Parker/Spider-Man.  Emma Stone is to be Gwen Stacey, Peter's first love.  Legendary stand-up comic and star of Rescue Me Denis Leary is Captain George Stacey, Gwen's father and a pro-Spidey police officer.  Martin Sheen and Sally Field came on board as Uncle Ben and Aunt May.  And for a villain, Rhys Ifans is set to play Curt Connors, aka the Lizard.

The title was revealed to be The Amazing Spider-Man, which the geeks can tell you is the true, full name of the original Spider-Man comic.  Fun trivia fact:  The Amazing Spider-Man is what Sam Raimi and Spider-Man II co-writer Michael Chabon originally wanted to title Spider-Man II.

The first teaser went online just the other day, and will be in theatres this Friday in front of Captain America.







So what do I think of this trailer?  Some say that 5 years is too soon for a reboot.  Well, for the longest time, I've been saying I can get on board with a reboot this soon as long as they don't make us sit through the origin story again.  And look at that!  It's the origin story again. 

And man o man, is it just me, or are they really, really, really trying hard to make it look like Twilight?  The music, how Peter Parker looks, the lighting, the shots...they're really trying to sell this to the tween girls as "Twilight with superheroes instead of vampires." 

I was impressed with that final scene of Spider-Man webswinging, and how it's all done from Spidey's POV.  The movie was filmed in 3D, and when that trailer is shown in 3D, I'm pretty sure that was designed to be the money shot. 

Well, I'm rolling my eyes at how "Twilight-y" it is, but I am rather intrigued.  I'll wait for more trailers before passing judgement. 

The Amazing Spider-Man hits theatres July 2012. 

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

Well, I've been putting this off for a few days.  Time to blog my thoughts on the trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.






Christopher Nolan, he who brought us Memento, The Prestige, and most recently, Inception, is back for one last Batman film.  Nolan has said in a few interviews that The Dark Knight Rises is a very definitive end for the trilogy he began with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and I for one think that's a good idea.  If there's one thing I've learned from being raised on Star Wars and Back to the Future, when it comes to a film franchise, 3 is a good number to end with. 

I'm also glad that they chose Bane to be the villain.  Bane was high on my wish list of villains for a Batman film, as he royally got screwed in Batman and Robin.  And besides, in the gritty, realistic take that Nolan has taken for his trilogy, Bane is a good fit....  Much like his introduction in Batman: The Animated Series, I can see Nolan re-imagining Bane as a freakishly strong hitman that the mob has brought in to end the threat of the Batman once and for all. 

But Bane is not the only villain.  It was also announced the Selina Kyle is in the film.  Seline Kyle...but not her official alter-ego, Catwoman.  That really has me intrigued.  Will there just be subtle hints at Kyle's destiny throughout the film, with her donning the trademark cat suit at the end?  Will she be a full-on Catwoman when the film begins?  I really don't know. 

One thing I have liked about the Nolan Batman films is he has successfully juggled the multiple villain conundrum.  It's long been said that multiple villains make for a bad superhero film.  But, you know, in Batman Begins, both Ras-al-Guhl and the Scarecrow got their due.  In The Dark Knight, everyone raved about the Joker, but I was also amazed at how Two-Face was successfully adapted for the big screen.  So it'll be neat to see how they juggle Bane and (maybe) Catwoman. 

So, our cast.  Christian Bale is back as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Michael Caine is back as Alfred, Gary Oldman returns as Commissioner Gordon, and Morgan Freeman is also back as Lucius Fox.  The new additions include Tom Hardy as Bane.  You probably remember him as the bald guy in Leo's gang in Inception.  Anne Hathaway is Selina Kyle.  And a couple more of Nolan's Inception stars show up:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is John Blake, a Gotham City beat cop, and Marion Cotillard is Miranda Tate, a Wayne Enterprises board member. 

Christopher Nolan is directing again.  Nolan once again co-wrote with his brother Johnathon and David S. Goyer.

The Dark Knight Rises on July 20, 2012. 

Pirates and Martians

From the title of this entry, you might be thinking that I've got some idea for a Cowboys and Aliens knock-off, but no, I don't.  There's just two new movie trailers out that I want to talk about.

First up, The Pirates! Band of Misfits.  Finally!  It was about time that Aardman gave us another stop-motion animated epic!

Our story thus far:  Aardman Animation.  Legendary British animation studio.  They began gaining worldwide attention in the 1990s thanks to their superstar animator Nick Park and his creations Wallace and Gromit.  Apparently, back when Jeffery Katzenburg was still at Disney, he wanted Disney to enter into a distribution deal with Aardman, much like the original deal Disney had with Pixar.  Michael Eisner apparently didn't like that idea, though, so when Katzenburg left to become one of the founders of Dreamworks, entering into a deal with Aardman was one of his first goals.

The Dreamworks/Aardman deal produced 2000's Chicken Run (which I still think is one of the funniest animated films ever made), 2005's Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and 2006's Flushed Away, which was Aardman's first foray into computer animation.  After Flushed Away, Dreamworks decided to end their partnership with Aardman.  Aardman quickly found a new partner with Sony Studios, and they've been hard at work ever since.

The first film in the Aardman/Sony deal is the computer-animated Christmas film Arthur Christmas, coming out this December.  But the second one is the one I'm excited about, as it's Aardman's return to the stop-motion animation that made them famous, The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Based on the Pirates! series of books by Gideon Dafoe, The Pirates! Band of Misfits is about a band of pirates voyaging across the seas to reach the Pirate of the Year competition.  Along the way, they do battle with fellow pirates, evade the forces of Queen Victoria, and even a young scientist by the name of Charles Darwin gets involved with their crew.

For the celebrity voice cast, Hugh Grant, in his first voice artist role, voices our hero, known only as the Pirate Captain.  Jeremy Piven and Selma Hayek voice two rival pirates, Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz, and the 10th Doctor himself, David Tennant, voices Darwin.

It's co-directed by Peter Lord (co-director of Chicken Run and director of countless Aardman shorts) and Jeff Newitt, a veteran Aardman animator.  It hits theatres March 30, 2012.

---

Now, the next trailer that's caught my eye, John Carter.  This is one that they've been trying to bring to theatres for a long, long time.

It's based on the epic series of books John Carter of Mars, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  You probably recognize him as the creator of Tarzan.  It's a series of science fiction novels that Burroughs wrote between the 1910s and the 1940s, and it's considered one of the most influential science fiction series of all time.  Hollywood's been trying to adapt it for years, but the sheer number of fantastic locations and alien life forms have long rendered the series unfilmable.  But, in this post-Star Wars prequel/Lord of the Rings/Avatar world, the unfilmable is quickly becoming filmable. 

The adventure series follows the adventures of John Carter, a soldier in the American Civil War who passes out in a cave one day, and wakes up magically transported to the planet Mars...or Barsoom, as the natives call it.  He finds a world at war, consisting of Red Martians, Green Martians, and the Tharks, which are 14 feet tall, have tusks and four arms. He also finds that, thanks to Barsoom's lighter gravity, he is granted super strength and the ability to leap long distances.

As I said, over the past 10 years, a lot of the unfilmable has become filmable, and the John Carter property has been passed around Hollywood quite a bit over the past decade.  In one unusual circumstance, Robert Rodriguiz was set to direct, with Internet movie news mogul Harry Knowles to produce. 

But the property finally made its way to Disney, and Disney decided to tackle it with gusto.  And again, I am very curious about this film because of who Disney chose to direct:  Andrew Stanton, the veteran Pixar animator who directed A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E.  This will be Stanton's live-action directorial debut.  Indeed, because of Stanton's involvement, there was a rumor going around that John Carter would be the first live-action film to carry the Pixar label. 

The movie John Carter is largely based on the first novel in the series, entitled A Princess of Mars.  Taylor Kitsch, whom you may remember as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is playing John Carter.  Lynn Collins plays Dejah Thoris, a Red Martian and the princess of Mars in the title.  And Willem Dafoe plays Tars Tarkas, a Thark warrior who will be brought to life using the same performance capture technology that brought the Na'vi to life in Avatar.

John Carter hits theatres on March 9, 2012. 

Batman: Year One DVD Details

As I've blogged before, I'm enjoying the DC Comics/Warner Brothers direct-to-DVD animated films, but I'm starting to grow frustrated with them.  Apparently, Warner Brothers has decreed that they will only make movies about Batman and Superman, as those are the two characters whose DVDs have sold the most.  That sucks, because this would be a fantastic showcase for some of the better-known B-list, bordering on A-list heroes, like The Flash and Captain Marvel.  But no, we just keep getting more and more Batman and Superman.

Hence their next one, Batman: Year One, coming out on October 18.  It's based on Frank Miller's legendary re-telling of Batman's origin.  Again, this choice deeply frustrates me, mainly because a lot of the good elements of Batman: Year One wound up in Batman Begins, so the whole thing is going to be deja vu all over again.









For the celebrity voices, former star of The O.C. Ben McKenzie does the voice of young Batman/Bruce Wayne; Bryan Cranston, who played the witless dad on Malcolm in the Middle and is currently winning awards for his portrayal of a desperate high school chem teacher/meth manufacturer in Breaking Bad, does the voice of young Commisoner Gordon; Eliza Dushku, still best remembered as Faith on Buffy, will be voicing young Catwoman; Katee Sackhoff of Battlestar: Galactica voices Det. Sarah Essen; and veteran character actor Alex Rocco voices crime lord Carmine "The Roman" Falcone.

They announced the bonus features for this one, and as they always do, it's loaded to bear.  On the DVD, you'll find the bonus features:

• The featurette Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots, which analyzes the original comic mini-series and Frank Miller's take on Batman.
• The featurette Conversations with DC Comics, in which many of the current writers and artists on the Batman comics talk about Year One and Frank Miller's influence. 
• Running commentary with producer Alan Burnett, co-director Sam Liu, voice director Andrea Romano, and Mike Carlin, whose role on the crew I'm not sure of.  
• Batman: Year One; Issue 1 in digital comic form
• A preview of the next direct-to-video animated film, Justice League:  Doom, which is apparently based on the Tower of Babel storyline.  
• Two bonus episodes of Batman: The Animated Series

However, the crown jewel of bonus features is that they've decided to resurrect their DC Showcase series of animated short films, in which a well-known DC Comics B-list hero gets their own solo short film.  The DC Showcase film on this one?  Catwoman.  Eliza Dushku will be voicing Catwoman in this short as well, and it was written by legendary Batman: The Animated Series writer Paul Dini.

So, yeah.  Like a sucker, I'll buy this.  For Catwoman.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Trailer

When Sherlock Holmes first came out in 2009, I was somewhat surprised to learn that a lot of my friends were Holmes geeks.  I started feeling out of the loop as I could get involved with the debates as to whether it was faithful to the source material or not.  For all practical purposes, it was my first exposure to the Holmes universe, and I liked what I saw.  I felt the movie to be good, but not great.  The one thing that really blew me away about the film was Hans Zimer's Oscar-nominated score.






I walked into the theatre respecting the film's pedigree.  I mean, Guy Ritchie, director of Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels was directing, and I liked those films.  Robert Downey Jr is riding new waves of awesome, and Jude Law was pretty good, too.  But still, the film as a whole just never really knocked my socks off.

But still, it made a whole bunch of money, so that means the filmmakers get to try to blow me away again with a sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, hitting theatres this December.

Guy Ritchie is back as director, as are Downey and Law as Holmes and Watson.  Rachael McAdams is also back as Irene Adler, although McAdams has said that her role is very small this time out.


Joining them in this sequel are Noomi Rapace, star of the original Swedish The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, as Sim, a gypsy fortune teller who gets caught up in the evil plot.  Legendary British comedian and actor Stephen Fry is also on board as Sherlock's smarter brother Mycroft.  And rounding out the cast is Jared Harris, one of the stars of Mad Men, as Holmes's arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty. 

The plot has Holmes enlisted to solve the murder of the Crown Prince of Austria, and this turns out to be nothing but a small part in the latest evil plot devised by Moriarty.  Holmes and Watson are soon having all kinds of adventures across Europe as they seek out to apprehend Moriarty. 

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows hits theatres on December 16.