Big Picture: "THE DEVIL YOU KNOW - PART II"

The Escapist : The Big Picture : The Devil You Know - Part II

"AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2" Reveals The New Electro

Well, good to see some things don't change. Unfortunately, one of those things is that "AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2" looks awful. Enthusiastically awful, yes, but awful all the same. This new "sizzle reel" trailer basically gives us Electro in a nutshell: He's Jim Carrey's Riddler from "BATMAN FOREVER," (overlooked science dweeb with a stalker-crush on the hero) and he gets his powers from being bitten by radioactive electric eels.

Poor Emma Stone is stuck right in the middle of this mess, putting on a brave face while she waits for a chance to head back to her trailer and shove more pins into that voodoo doll of Jennifer Lawrence.

Second Trailer For "CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER"

It occurs to me that "CAPTAIN AMERICA," as his own franchise and as part of "THE AVENGERS," is pretty-much the central 21st century presence of American pride/patriotism on the world stage. I'm pretty okay with that:



Apparently Marvel/Disney are pretty okay with that, too: The post-production buzz on this one has been off-the-charts positive, particularly considering the early head-scratching over the decision to hire Anthony and Joe Russo - a brother team mainly known for directing TV sitcoms and "YOU, ME & DUPREE." But the Marvel people are so impressed with their work here that they've already signed them for Part 3, scheduled to hit sometime after "AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON."

"TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION" Super Bowl Spot

Aaaaand the expectations come back down to Earth.

For awhile the buzz on "AGE OF EXTINCTION" was that it was going to be some kind of serious departure from the previous installments: Not just a whole new cast (only Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are returning) but a different tone and storyline that may or may not involve time-travel and The Dinobots. But eventually, it became a little clearer that the motif here is less "fresh start" and more "we should do one of these, but partially set in China because for whatever reason China looooooooooves the TRANSFORMERS movies:"



Still, those do seem to be Dinobots, albeit blown up to Godzilla scale and monster-ized (I thought the two-headed guy with the wings might be one of the Terrorcons, but it's Swoop); which is a very Michael Bay-sounding approach: "Can we make the T-Rex BIGGER? Also scarier?" It'll take more than the lack of LaBeouf to really sell me on this, but Optimus Prime riding a robot dinosaur is a hell of a start. Also: The big ship thing at the very beginning and the unnamed robot turning into a turret-canon = Unicron and Galvatron?

No Case Too Small

I've observed before that the Disney Company, despite being founded by (and named for!) the guy who practically invented comodifying nostalgia, has been slow to the party in trading on the nostalgia-market for it's own properties. But they're making up for lost time now, with a specific focus on icons especially prized by now-grown Gen-X/Y fans (see: live-action "Sleeping Beauty" focused on fan-fave baddie Maleficent). Now, they've innevitably cast their gaze on the other cash-cow of their legendary 90s Renaissance: "The Disney Afternoon."

90s kids? You're getting a live-action "RESCUE RANGERS" movie.


For those born post-90s, Disney's big weekday/after-school TV "thing" in that era was reworking old characters into then-modern genre frameworks a'la "DUCKTALES." "RANGERS" (which started out as a "RESCUERS" update) was a mystery/action/cop riff built around a team of rodent crimefighters led by the chipmunk duo who'd originated as B-listers in the original Mickey etc. shorts. The new project is an origin story (the series had a feature-length multi-episode pilot) based on a pitch from director Robert Rugan, a commercial director most famous for a Durex Condoms viral ad.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go find out which god I have to please and how to get a "DARKWING DUCK" movie out of this...