ALSO: "Rush"
Jumat, 27 September 2013
Kamis, 26 September 2013
NEED FOR SPEED Trailer
Whenever I think about the state of video-game movies, I have to keep reminding myself that Spawn, Steel, Barb Wire and Howard the Duck all got big feature-film adaptations before Spider-Man did. With that in mind, here's the first trailer for the next very, very important gaming franchise to rate it's own movie, "Need For Speed;" which appears to feature Aaron Paul as the less interesting version of the guy from "Drive."
Y'ever see "student films" made by bro's who switched to Film Studies their sophmore year because their buddy showed them "Boondock Saints" and they thought they'd found their creative calling?
Well, I have - and they all have this same basic music and narration. So I understand if no one else finds this trailer gut-bustingly hilarious; but this looks like the first great comedy of 2014 to me. Can. Not. Wait.
Y'ever see "student films" made by bro's who switched to Film Studies their sophmore year because their buddy showed them "Boondock Saints" and they thought they'd found their creative calling?
Well, I have - and they all have this same basic music and narration. So I understand if no one else finds this trailer gut-bustingly hilarious; but this looks like the first great comedy of 2014 to me. Can. Not. Wait.
Selasa, 24 September 2013
DC's Agents of G.O.T.H.A.M.
Wow, that didn't even take a day.
Effectively right after "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." had its premiere, Deadline landed the "exclusive" news that Warner Bros. is developing a comic-movie spin-off series of their own from "Mentalist" creator Bruno Heller. Surprising absolutely ZERO living humans, the DC franchise being spun-off... is Batman.
The title: GOTHAM. The pitch: The exploits of Commissioner Gordon in pre-Batman Gotham City... so, "Law & Order"/Criminal Minds"/"CSI"/etc but (presumably) with Batman villains.
Y'know what? That's actually a really good idea - and you can tell that Warners thinks so as well by the network in question: This is going to Fox instead of traditional DC-series home The CW, which indicates that Warners is confident that people might actually want to watch this show. Fans and pros alike have been talking about bringing Batman back to live-action television for awhile* (real talk: Between the Adam West show, "The Animated Series," both "Justice League" runs and "The Brave and The Bold;" episodic television seems to be where this character works best); and this is a great way of doing that without "lowering" their now Affleck-fronted cinematic cash cow to TV.
The big question, one imagines, is whether or not this will attempt to establish some kind of connection with the still-murky history of the new version of Batman set to debut in "Superman vs. Batman" - where they're already talking up the idea that he'll be a kind of grizzled "veteran" superhero in contrast to Superman's relative-newbie status. Not long ago that would've been an easy "no, Warner Bros. doesn't care about that;" but it's sounding more and more like the new Flash who'll be showing up on "Arrow" next season is meant to be part of the eventual "Justice League" feature, so who knows?
Continuity aside, one has to wonder what the setting for this is going to look like: James Gordon traditionally meets Batman either in middle-age or as an otherwise older man (he's a Commissioner, after all); so "before Batman" is a pretty long stretch of time. Will they go younger, with Sexy Fresh-Out-Of-The-Academy College-Age Officer Gordon learning the ropes? Middle-aged Detective Gordon? Older Gordon who'll meet Batman "any day now?" Maybe it's telling that Deadline's story only specifies that Batman won't appear - does that mean Bruce Wayne could? If so, it wouldn't be beyond the realm of logistical possibility to get Ben Affleck to throw on a three-piece suit and pull a sweeps-week cameo as "carefree playboy Bruce Wayne," hanging out on the periphery of this or that investigation while series regulars make unintentionally-ironic comments about his physicality, sleeping-habits, etc.
We'll see. Incidentally, "S.H.I.E.L.D." was good. Solid, good cast, sharp writing that only occasionally feels a little too Whedon for it's own good. Feels like almost every important character had two separate introductions - one for "this is X!" and one for "is it true about X's ominously-alluded-to mysterious backstory?," which would feel like too much ambition anywhere else but makes sense here. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow, so stay tuned.
*Young Bruce Wayne was supposed to become a part of "Smallville" at one point, but the character and storyline were rewritten into Oliver Queen instead once the run-up to "Batman Begins" got under way.
Effectively right after "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." had its premiere, Deadline landed the "exclusive" news that Warner Bros. is developing a comic-movie spin-off series of their own from "Mentalist" creator Bruno Heller. Surprising absolutely ZERO living humans, the DC franchise being spun-off... is Batman.
The title: GOTHAM. The pitch: The exploits of Commissioner Gordon in pre-Batman Gotham City... so, "Law & Order"/Criminal Minds"/"CSI"/etc but (presumably) with Batman villains.
Y'know what? That's actually a really good idea - and you can tell that Warners thinks so as well by the network in question: This is going to Fox instead of traditional DC-series home The CW, which indicates that Warners is confident that people might actually want to watch this show. Fans and pros alike have been talking about bringing Batman back to live-action television for awhile* (real talk: Between the Adam West show, "The Animated Series," both "Justice League" runs and "The Brave and The Bold;" episodic television seems to be where this character works best); and this is a great way of doing that without "lowering" their now Affleck-fronted cinematic cash cow to TV.
The big question, one imagines, is whether or not this will attempt to establish some kind of connection with the still-murky history of the new version of Batman set to debut in "Superman vs. Batman" - where they're already talking up the idea that he'll be a kind of grizzled "veteran" superhero in contrast to Superman's relative-newbie status. Not long ago that would've been an easy "no, Warner Bros. doesn't care about that;" but it's sounding more and more like the new Flash who'll be showing up on "Arrow" next season is meant to be part of the eventual "Justice League" feature, so who knows?
Continuity aside, one has to wonder what the setting for this is going to look like: James Gordon traditionally meets Batman either in middle-age or as an otherwise older man (he's a Commissioner, after all); so "before Batman" is a pretty long stretch of time. Will they go younger, with Sexy Fresh-Out-Of-The-Academy College-Age Officer Gordon learning the ropes? Middle-aged Detective Gordon? Older Gordon who'll meet Batman "any day now?" Maybe it's telling that Deadline's story only specifies that Batman won't appear - does that mean Bruce Wayne could? If so, it wouldn't be beyond the realm of logistical possibility to get Ben Affleck to throw on a three-piece suit and pull a sweeps-week cameo as "carefree playboy Bruce Wayne," hanging out on the periphery of this or that investigation while series regulars make unintentionally-ironic comments about his physicality, sleeping-habits, etc.
We'll see. Incidentally, "S.H.I.E.L.D." was good. Solid, good cast, sharp writing that only occasionally feels a little too Whedon for it's own good. Feels like almost every important character had two separate introductions - one for "this is X!" and one for "is it true about X's ominously-alluded-to mysterious backstory?," which would feel like too much ambition anywhere else but makes sense here. I'll have more to say about that tomorrow, so stay tuned.
*Young Bruce Wayne was supposed to become a part of "Smallville" at one point, but the character and storyline were rewritten into Oliver Queen instead once the run-up to "Batman Begins" got under way.
"AGE OF ULTRON" SDCC Teaser Leaks
You'll find out what I thought of "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." tomorrow. Until then, here's a REALLY fortuitous "leak" that hit YouTube right around the same time the series was hitting TV. It offers more-or-less the first look at Ultron (SPOILER: He looks like Ultron.)
Jumat, 20 September 2013
"Blue Is The Warmest Color" Trailer
Here's the first U.S. trailer for "Blue Is The Warmest Color," the lesbian romance from France that was this year's big winner at Cannes - a move that was seen as reflective of the film's high acclaim but also possibly a statement of support for the country's then-recent legalization of gay marriage.
Even still, there was some controversy: Not so much over the subject matter or the content (the sex scenes between the two women are apparently so NC-17 explicit that the filmmakers and actresses have been fielding "did they or didn't they" questions since the premier) but over the reception; with some chiding (straight) male critics and voters for allegedly overpraising the film because it aroused them. Meanwhile, the author of the graphic novel it's based on has expressed disagreement with the adaptation, claiming that it presents too much of stylized, male-fantasy version of a female/female relationship. Either way, it's being touted as a Best Picture contender even though a technicality makes it ineligible to compete for Best Foriegn Language Oscar.
We'll see when it comes out. I think it'd actually be amusing to have a new-millenium version of the once-common phenomenon of highbrow European dramas pulling big bank in the U.S. on the basis of explicit sexuality.
Even still, there was some controversy: Not so much over the subject matter or the content (the sex scenes between the two women are apparently so NC-17 explicit that the filmmakers and actresses have been fielding "did they or didn't they" questions since the premier) but over the reception; with some chiding (straight) male critics and voters for allegedly overpraising the film because it aroused them. Meanwhile, the author of the graphic novel it's based on has expressed disagreement with the adaptation, claiming that it presents too much of stylized, male-fantasy version of a female/female relationship. Either way, it's being touted as a Best Picture contender even though a technicality makes it ineligible to compete for Best Foriegn Language Oscar.
We'll see when it comes out. I think it'd actually be amusing to have a new-millenium version of the once-common phenomenon of highbrow European dramas pulling big bank in the U.S. on the basis of explicit sexuality.
Escape to The Movies: PRISONERS
Surprise! The trailers aren't giving the whole movie away, after all!
"Intermission" talks critics and GTA V.
"Intermission" talks critics and GTA V.
Kamis, 19 September 2013
End of An Epoch
Hiroshi Yamauchi, the former president of Nintendo, has passed away at the age of 85. Video-Games have lost their Walt Disney.The importance of this man to the gaming industry cannot be overstated. He was the one who decided to change his family company's direction away from traditional toys and playing cards toward electronics and ultimately video games. He made the decision to branch out into American and European markets. This was the man who tapped then-unknown Shigeru Miyamoto to create what would become Donkey Kong.
This was the man who willed home video gaming back into existence as a viable worldwide business when it was all but dead. It's neither exaggeration nor hyperbole to suggest that the entirety of modern video-gaming - everything from the first Game & Watch titles and every single thing that came after - was built on the foundation he laid. More incredible still, he remained in charge of the company all the way into 2002 and had an active role in all major company decisions well into the GameCube era. It's impossible to imagine what this industry would've looked like without him... or if it would even have existed at all.
Gomeifuku wo inorimasu, Yamauchi-sama.
Selasa, 17 September 2013
Senin, 16 September 2013
ZERO CHARISMA Trailer
ZERO CHARISMA came out of SXSW with a lot of hype behind it, and the new trailer reminds us why: This looks really, really good. Film is dark comedy about a guy who starts to go unhinged when his sole sense of power and accomplishment in life - unquestioned supremacy within his local tabletop RPG game - is threatened by the arrival of a more forwardly-mobile, sociable "hipster" nerd player who his pals are maybe starting to like better than him:
Jumat, 13 September 2013
Is Justin Bieber Playing Robin???
This comes from Justin Bieber's official Instagram feed, tweeted along with the hashtag #robin??It is almost-certainly bullshit (the prevailing theory is he's promoting a Funny Or Die sketch), and the giveaway is the script itself: At this stage there very likely isn't a full script, if there was it wouldn't be out in the wild with a full-detail cover page using the actual title, the logos both look "off," etc.
That said... I wouldn't be at all upset about this. I'm too old to like (or even understand the appeal of, truth be told) the kid's music... but I also too old to be personally affronted by it or by his existence. Yes guys; nonthreatening, vaugely-effeminate boys who can sing are popular with teenage girls. That's not a new thing. Get over it.
To be honest, I would be "for" this strictly on the sole and sufficient basis that it would indicate a massive tonal and target-demo shift away from both "Man of Steel" and "Dark Knight," and also because it would make horrible, horrible Batfans' heads explode, and that's a great service indeed. I love me some Batman, folks, but at some point his fandom morphed into probably the most vile and awful of geek subcultures (and I'm NOT the only guy who noticed this) and at this point I'm inclined to support anything they'd hate on general principle. Remember, these are people who are petitioning the White House to prevent Batman from being played by an actor who is guilty of having been photographed smiling and appearing in comedies.
But, whatever. It is VERY unlikely to be real. What IS likely (plausible, at least) is that it's a brilliantly coordinated stunt. There's a vocal contingent of Batfandom that hates Robin on principle (they're the same guys raging about Ben Affleck, mostly), and this little bit of Bieber self-promotion could serve as way of inoculating them: The genius of Justin Bieber's career is that he embodies the sliver of overlap between "irrational-cannot-shut-up-about-it-LOVE" and "irrational-cannot-shut-up-about-it-HATE" in teenybopper pop-music, and if Warner Bros. was to announce a Robin in the near future whoever it was would no longer be the worst possible choice. Everybody wins.
Honestly? Since it's become pretty clear that WB isn't looking at their shared-universe DC movies to be source-material mash-notes a'la Marvel's crop up to this point, it might be a more interesting idea to let supporting-players like Robin be opportunities to experiment with unconventional casting, a'la "Man of Steel's" Jenny Olsen (who probably would've been more controversial if that film had given two shits about anybody in Metropolis.) A female Robin (Carrie Kelly, Stephanie Brown, somebody new, etc) would be quite the attention getter, especially since non comic-reading people likely have no idea that there have been female Robins. Plus, it would remind embittered manchildren of the "The Dark Knight Returns" - the Living Gospel of the Grim n' Gritty era, so there's also that.
The Scarecrow
A "Viral Sensation" of Fiona Apple crooning an ironic-sad cover of a "Willy Wonka" song over maudlin "Captain Planet"-level wordless moralizing about "natural" food that's actually a longform advertisment for an iPhone game that is itself actually an advertisement for Hipster Taco Bell?
Yeah. I'm gonna go have some Qdoba...
Yeah. I'm gonna go have some Qdoba...
Kamis, 12 September 2013
"HOMEFRONT" - Statham vs. Franco
Below, the trailer for the previously unheard-of "HOMEFRONT," which features Jason Statham as a rural blue-collar All American dad (who I'm going to assume speaks with a heavy British accent as just one more level of daring people to mess with him) whose daughter gets into a scuffle at school and - having apparently inherited kung-fu genetically - earns her family the ire of the white-trashy family whose bully son she throttled. Standard stuff? Okay, maybe... except Bad Guy Dad happens to be Evil Redneck Meth Kingpin James Franco!
Oh, and also: Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone. So... yeah.
Oh, and also: Screenplay by Sylvester Stallone. So... yeah.
Rabu, 11 September 2013
Escape From Tomorrow
You might remember hearing about "Escape From Tomorrow" during Sundance, usually in the context of the idea that no one outside Sundance was ever going to get to see it. It's a surrealistic indie/underground psychological horror movie ("David Lynch doing 'The Shining'" is a description I've heard) about a middle-aged guy during the last day of his family vacation at a huge theme park. Having received a phone call from his boss that his job will not be waiting for him when he returns home, he tries to hold things together (and keep the news from his family) while taking his daughter to the rides and attractions... where he begins to have nightmarish visions (or are they) of dark, sinister and even supernatural "things" happening in the park. So... corporatism, evil-under-surface-of-family-values, mass-market entertainment as opiate, you get the idea.
The hook? The theme park in question is Disney World, and much of the film was actually shot there. Covertly. Guerilla-style. Without any permission or consent from Disney. Using consumer-grade cameras, phones and actors blending into the "regular" crowds. Because of this, everyone figured this would become a permanent underground fixture and nothing more, since surely Disney would sue over unlicensed use of their... everything, pretty-much. But, as it turns out, the Mouse House has opted to go "hands-off" on this one (so far) and now "Escape From Tomorrow" is hitting theaters and VOD on 10/11. Below, the first official trailer:
I'm actually not especially surprised that Disney hasn't gone hardline on this one. As a company, they have a quixotic policy when it comes to their copyrights - you can find oceans of clearly-infringing fan videos, mash-ups, etc. on YouTube, but they seldom get pulled down. Their view seems to be that the pennies hypothetically saved on wrangling such material are worth foregoing in the longer-term goal of keeping fans onboard the highly-lucrative brand love-train.
I haven't seen the film itself yet, but I want to and I'm curious to see what the reaction will be. Most of the Sundance reviews seemed to ultimately concede that the actual film isn't precisely a masterpiece (guerilla-shoots like this rarely are) in terms of it's storyline, pacing etc; and from descriptions a lot of the "family-theme-park-as-den-of-evil" shtick sounds a bit warmed-over. So it'll be interesting to see how it's received by audiences outside the industry/press festival circuit who aren't likely to be as immediately appreciative of the logistics and audacity behind a shoot like this.
The hook? The theme park in question is Disney World, and much of the film was actually shot there. Covertly. Guerilla-style. Without any permission or consent from Disney. Using consumer-grade cameras, phones and actors blending into the "regular" crowds. Because of this, everyone figured this would become a permanent underground fixture and nothing more, since surely Disney would sue over unlicensed use of their... everything, pretty-much. But, as it turns out, the Mouse House has opted to go "hands-off" on this one (so far) and now "Escape From Tomorrow" is hitting theaters and VOD on 10/11. Below, the first official trailer:
I'm actually not especially surprised that Disney hasn't gone hardline on this one. As a company, they have a quixotic policy when it comes to their copyrights - you can find oceans of clearly-infringing fan videos, mash-ups, etc. on YouTube, but they seldom get pulled down. Their view seems to be that the pennies hypothetically saved on wrangling such material are worth foregoing in the longer-term goal of keeping fans onboard the highly-lucrative brand love-train.
I haven't seen the film itself yet, but I want to and I'm curious to see what the reaction will be. Most of the Sundance reviews seemed to ultimately concede that the actual film isn't precisely a masterpiece (guerilla-shoots like this rarely are) in terms of it's storyline, pacing etc; and from descriptions a lot of the "family-theme-park-as-den-of-evil" shtick sounds a bit warmed-over. So it'll be interesting to see how it's received by audiences outside the industry/press festival circuit who aren't likely to be as immediately appreciative of the logistics and audacity behind a shoot like this.
Selasa, 10 September 2013
Senin, 09 September 2013
Stop DISNEY From Ruining Movie Theaters
I'm not a fan of how watered-down and toothless the internet has rendered the "mobilizing" consumer outrage via letter-writing, petitions, boycotts, etc - it's so damn easy to now legitimate greivances now fight for attention with (and get afforded the same weight as, i.e. NONE) asinine fan petitions to change the casting of Batman. That having been said, when a corporation makes an ASININE decision that promotes something truly stupid... yeah, I've got ZERO problem saying they should get inundated with angry letters, phonecalls, etc.
With that in mind, lets ALL bug the ever-living HELL out of Walt Disney Inc. for THIS abomination: They want to start encouraging people to bring their iPads to movie theaters to play games along with the film.
Before everyone jumps down my throat: Yes, I can tell that (by all appearances) this is for a special-engagement thing where doing this is the "point" of the screening (a re-release of Little Mermaid, in this case.) But the precedent is just all-around bad news. "iPad/Phone-enhanced" screenings is one stop away from "iPad/Phone-ALLOWED" screenings, which is another step towards kissing the idea of asking the mongrel hordes of Joe & Jane Sixpack and their 2.5 rugrats to behave like civilized human beings in movie theaters goodbye.
Hell, time was bringing kids to a movie theater was a good way to teach them how not to be assholes in public: "Sit down, behave yourself and shut the fuck up because there's a movie up there for you to watch" was good training for "sit down, behave yourself and shut the fuck up because we're in court/church/a-nice-restaurant." Now, "family moviegoing" seems more an more like a way for exhausted parents to inflict their brood on everyone else for a few hours ("No, fuck YOU everyone else whose different life choices I desperately envy right about now!")
This should get nipped in the bud. "People who value a good theater experience are attacking Disney in waves!" should be a story on Deadline/Variety/etc tomorrow. At the very least, they should be shamed into having to issue an apologetic/clarifying "this is only for specific showings" press-release - at BEST, they should have to do a "face-saving" move of putting a message about how you SHOULDN'T bring you're goddamn iPad into a "normal" theater before the screenings.
Appropriately, it's not easy to find where to send a complaint to the Disney Corporation. For now, here's their guest services page. If I find whatever email/number it is people use to lob complaints at this particular monolith, I'll post it then.
With that in mind, lets ALL bug the ever-living HELL out of Walt Disney Inc. for THIS abomination: They want to start encouraging people to bring their iPads to movie theaters to play games along with the film.
Before everyone jumps down my throat: Yes, I can tell that (by all appearances) this is for a special-engagement thing where doing this is the "point" of the screening (a re-release of Little Mermaid, in this case.) But the precedent is just all-around bad news. "iPad/Phone-enhanced" screenings is one stop away from "iPad/Phone-ALLOWED" screenings, which is another step towards kissing the idea of asking the mongrel hordes of Joe & Jane Sixpack and their 2.5 rugrats to behave like civilized human beings in movie theaters goodbye.
Hell, time was bringing kids to a movie theater was a good way to teach them how not to be assholes in public: "Sit down, behave yourself and shut the fuck up because there's a movie up there for you to watch" was good training for "sit down, behave yourself and shut the fuck up because we're in court/church/a-nice-restaurant." Now, "family moviegoing" seems more an more like a way for exhausted parents to inflict their brood on everyone else for a few hours ("No, fuck YOU everyone else whose different life choices I desperately envy right about now!")
This should get nipped in the bud. "People who value a good theater experience are attacking Disney in waves!" should be a story on Deadline/Variety/etc tomorrow. At the very least, they should be shamed into having to issue an apologetic/clarifying "this is only for specific showings" press-release - at BEST, they should have to do a "face-saving" move of putting a message about how you SHOULDN'T bring you're goddamn iPad into a "normal" theater before the screenings.
Appropriately, it's not easy to find where to send a complaint to the Disney Corporation. For now, here's their guest services page. If I find whatever email/number it is people use to lob complaints at this particular monolith, I'll post it then.
Jumat, 06 September 2013
Kamis, 05 September 2013
ROBOCOP Remake Trailer
Fuck. Every. Single. Solitary. Thing. About. This.
Seriously. There's not one thing in this that doesn't look terrible or at best painfully plain and generic. I hate everything I'm seeing here, with the possible exception of Michael Keaton - him I just feel kind of bad for.
Seriously. There's not one thing in this that doesn't look terrible or at best painfully plain and generic. I hate everything I'm seeing here, with the possible exception of Michael Keaton - him I just feel kind of bad for.
Other Blog
Busy week, I'm having one. Here's some stuff about The Ongoing Penny Arcade Thing from the other blog.
Selasa, 03 September 2013
Big Picture: "Summer's End"
It's a Top-Ten list. No, I don't feel particularly worried about having drafted it before tonight's screening of
"Riddick."
"Riddick."
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)
