Posts Tagged ‘ Movies-Archived ’

…at least, his first movie in a movie theater. At home or in the car – thank you, thank you, Steve Jobs and Apple for the iPad! – he’ll quite happily sit through any of the awesome Toy Story movies or Monsters, Inc and laugh away at things he finds amusing, but we’ve yet to brave an actual movie theater with him.

Parents who take their babies and toddlers with incredibly short attention spans to movies are a pet peeve of mine, especially when they ignore the child’s screams so they can watch a movie themselves. It’s annoying, it spoils the movie for everyone else and it’s just plain rude. And, unfortunately, in New York it seems to happen quite a lot.

That said, I get the impression that Jack is approaching an age where he can sit and watch something in the movies if it holds his attention. I’m not sure this will actually do that the whole time, but judging by his reaction to the trailer it stands a pretty good chance…

…plus it’s a movie that the Better Half and I actually want to see – bonus!

There are four kinds of people in the world.

There are those who have no idea what you mean when you say ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’.

There are those that think you’re referring to obscure Return of the Jedi aliens.

There are those that are glad you’ve remembered all three words.

And finally, there are those that know the real meaning of them – that they are the words you use to stop your overly protective robot sidekick from kicking the puny humans from here to eternity.

I feel it’s my duty as a parent to make sure that Jack belongs to three of the above four groups.

Wait. There’s a fifth group. The ones who saw the remake. But we don’t talk about them.

Last weekend I came across an excellent video full of good advice on Star Wars for parents (well, for dads but it applies to anyone raising a child) which I wanted to post.

The Better Half and I have discussed this at length, actually, and way before she got pregnant. Between us we have (I think) maybe four or five copies of the original trilogy and one of the new – and that’s without the brand-spanking new Star Wars blu ray set which I’m coveting but waiting until the price drops at Thanksgiving or Christmas or something.

We both agree that we’ll be showing Jack the original trilogy first, then the prequels. I’m not as big a hater of the prequels as many I know – and even once defended Jar Jar Binks by pointing out the potential that he had. I also think that the prequels play well to young kids – and that alone makes them worth showing.

What I don’t want to do, however, is deprive Jack of this moment:

Because that right there is pretty much exactly what I did about 30 years ago…

There’s plenty of things to do with little ones in Manhattan – like, I don’t know, parks, museums, boat rides, subways, etc etc etc – but I do have soft spot for the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. Not only is it a full five floors of activities that keep small minds occupied but, much more importantly, it’s very well air-conditioned.

And so it was that at the height of summer I found myself there on a hot weekend with the Better Half and Jack. As the Better Half went to check the stroller, I headed downstairs to the restroom to change Jack’s diaper. When I returned to the entrance level, Better Half was nowhere to be seen. Rather than put Jack – who was a bit put out and doing that thrashing-around-from-the-waist thing that only toddlers can really do when you’re holding them – down, I stood outside the big room on the first floor, which was full of screaming kids and harried parents, dialed her and propped the phone under my ear.

So picture this if you will: a thrashing, screaming child; a sweaty, harassed me holding said child, a fetching feminine changing bag and my wife’s handbag. And standing next to me, looking at me pityingly, was Laurence Fishburne.

There was a moment, just a moment, where I thought of saying hello. Then Better Half’s phone started ringing inside her handbag that I was holding, Jack started thrashing some more, and a big bead of sweat dribbled down the back of my neck. He looked away. The moment passed, which is probably for the best since all that was running through my mind was how badly The Matrix had aged, how much I hadn’t liked him in CSI, and how incredibly bad he’s been in Predators – although he’ll always be Furious Styles to me.

Anyway, I caught up with Better Half upstairs (at the other restrooms, where she thought I’d taken Jack) and told her about my close-ish encounter. Her first reaction? “Does that mean Gina Torres is in here somewhere?”

Once a Browncoat, always a Browncoat.

I may be busy as hell and off-line but I wasn’t not going to post this was I?

I feel a little better about the movie after seeing that, although I’m still a little irked that the movie seems to be going down a ‘no real Nazi’ route with Hydra being represented as a swastika-free arm of the Reich. At least there was no Chris Evans usual mugging in this, so that’s something – and if I’m not mistaken we got our first clear look at Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes in this trailer too.

You know, now that I realize that Sebastian Stan is the douchebag ski dude in Hot Tub Time Machine, his casting makes a lot more sense.

Also: laughing at Manchester’s northern quarter and Liverpool’s Albert Dock standing in for Brooklyn:

Nothing’ll pull me out of a movie like a familiar location as a completely different one…

I’m not really sure why the UK and the US often get different movie posters, but they do – and sometimes I prefer the UK ones over the US. Empire has run the newly released UK ones.

Quite like that tag line – ‘Courage is Immortal’ – and I think Bleeding Cool’s reference to the Nuremburg rally is a little unfair. Anyway, for comparison here are the last two US ones that were released again –

– which set do you prefer?

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s promotional push for Paul is in swing and as part of it they’ve put out a little video of them re-enacting Star Wars on College Humor. Well, kind of…

I read the script for Paul a while ago and loved it, although it did seem full of in-jokes to the extent that it may be impenetrable to non-geeks. Luckily, I don’t fall into that category, and as I love Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz (and the last of those is probably the best of these, the most approachable and the most underrated) I’m going to try to go and see this at some point.

As it happens I’m also reading Pegg’s autobiography, Nerd Do Well that the better half bought for me in the UK at Christmas (it’s not out here till the summer, apparently).

It’s lightweight but entertaining – although if I’m perfectly honest, part of me could have probably done without the tale of how 14 year old Pegg got his first gobble.

Hee. ‘Gobble’.

The Chris Nolan-led, Zack Snyder-directed Superman movie reboot has landed it’s Jonathan and Martha Kent – Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

Kevin Costner I understand in a Field of Dreams, down-home, kind of way (and it’s not like he’s doing much else these days aside from trying to save the world) -but Diane Lane?

Not the Ma Kent from the period I first remember reading (I probably read some pre-Crisis stuff too, but Ma was largely absent)…

..or even the current version of her and Pa.

No, this is a Martha and Jonathan Kent who are a bit younger. A bit less homely. A bit sexier.

Just like the Superman: Birthright Kents – which is apparently one of the sources for the movie…

Interesting casting.

It’s official – the rebooted Spider-Man movie franchise is kicking off with the aptly-titled The Amazing Spider-Man; the official site is live with the first official picture of the new Spider-Man costume in action:

A couple of quick thoughts – first off, it seems like this costume bears more than a bit of resemblance to the one that Ben Reilly ran around in back when he was Spider-Man and Peter was a clone (don’t know what I’m talking about? There’s a whole bunch of trades that can fill you in!):

The second thought is that the film’s title opens up a whole host of possibilities for sequel titles: Spectacular Spider-Man, Sensational Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man…time to start registering some domains!

After what felt like a long wait on the movie’s facebook page, with plenty of people joining up just to point out they thought the movie would be crap, the first trailer for this year’s X-Men: First Class is now live…

I think it looks promising enough, but there’s not really a lot of substance to the trailer. Nice to weave in a few shots from the first movies though. Call me cautiously optimistic for now.

Marvel has released the official Captain America movie poster – and I’m not really sure what to make of it.

First thing’s first, I still like the uniform, and I can understand the reasoning behind keeping Chris Evan’s face exposed instead of putting it under the helmet-come-mask.

What I’m not so sure about is the pose, the ash, and the word ‘Avenge’ when all three of them are taken together. I’m sure you know why – but it does make me feel slightly uncomfortable somehow. It’s probably just me.

Still looking forward to the movie – and my main concern is about the depiction of World War II. All the location shots I’ve seen show Hydra soldiers, not Nazis, and I can’t help but wonder if the flick is aiming for a slightly sanitized version of WWII (someone pointed out to me that action figures with swastikas are a tough sell). I hope not – but at this point I guess it’s a wait and see.

Wow, X-Men First Class is really ramping up the publicity isn’t it, between the cast picture, the released images and now the teaser poster from AICN:

Again, I like it. A little more of a classic design than the other X-Men movies, but still somehow works.

More X-Men: First Class pics have shown up over at the LA Times along with an interesting article including a great quote from director Matthew Vaughn:

“With ‘Green Lantern,’ I don’t know about that one, I couldn’t get my head around the trailer, to be honest … look, I will say the following: X-Men as a brand is bigger than Captain America, Thor and the Green Lantern, all put together.”

I think he may be right, actually, as far as the general public is concerned but it remains to be seen if the

Anyway, pictures!

Swingin’ Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and Emma Frost (January Jones) get cosy somewhere which may just be the Hellfire Club:

Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensher (Michael Fassbender) start a chess game that may just last through until they’re old men:

And, finally, Xavier, Lensher and company (including Banshee over on the left and a pre-furry Beast at the back in the form of About A Boy‘s Nicholas Hoult) look all pensive, maybe like they’re eyeing up some property for the location of a future school or something:

In spite of doubts about this I have to admit I’m starting to look forward to it.

Warner Bros has announced that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle (interestingly, the name ‘Catwoman’ doesn’t appear in the release) in the upcoming third (and apparently final) Christopher Nolan Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.

Additionally, they have stated that the much-rumored Tom Hardy will be playing Bane in the movie, and not Hugo Strange as was rumored. Hardy starred in Nolan’s Inception earlier this year (and he absolutely ruled in it, too).

They do say a ‘new interpretation’ of Bane – so it seems he won’t simply be the muscle in this. Then again, even if he is, I’d say Tom Hardy can show that he’s willing to bulk up impressively for a role…

The press release in full:

Warner Bros. Pictures Announces Anne Hathaway for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises”

BURBANK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” She will be starring alongside Christian Bale, who returns in the title role of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Christopher Nolan stated, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.”

In addition, Tom Hardy has been set to play Bane. “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”

Christopher Nolan stated, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.”

In addition, Tom Hardy has been set to play Bane. Nolan said, “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”

Nolan will direct the film from a screenplay he wrote with Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Nolan will also produce the film with his longtime producing partner, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven.

“The Dark Knight Rises” is slated for release on July 20, 2012. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

A class pic of X-Men: First Class has surfaced in low res on the internet:

(EDITED: Now in Higher res – click on the picture below or here to embiggen it)

I make that as (L-R) Michael Fassbender as Magneto, Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggart, January Jones as Emma Frost, Jason Flemyng as Azazel, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Lucas Till as Havok, Zoe Kravitz as Angel, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, and James McAvoy as Professor Xavier.

What can we take away from this?

First, Beast is blue and angry; Jason Flemyng is red and looks a little bit like the devil (dear lord, please not the ‘actual’ devil like in The Draco); the X-Men used to wear black and yellow just like the original comics X-Men (only the outfits look a little more like the redesigned New X-Men gear); Magneto and Mystique were on the team; Lucas Till’s Havok looks like a douchebag; Michael Fassbender looks like Don Draper; and, oh, yes, January Jones is not an unattractive woman.

I’m sure there’s more to come…

Via

NOW UPDATED WITH THE OFFICIAL PIC

It’s a day for it.

Here’s a grainy look at Chris Evans and his padded crotch as Captain America from the upcoming movie…

The outfit looks pretty good – and usable – and I can’t help notice his crotchholster, meaning that it seems Cap will be armed. I also like the flying helmet-type thing under the Cap helmet (wings and all!).

Those suits at the back look terrible though. More Hydra soldiers, I expect. Will this version of World War II have Nazis at all?

Via

Presented without comment…

…except that Spidey’s looking lanky these days.

Oh, and is he wearing something around his wrists under the costume?

Yes he is! Mechanical web-shooters are back.

Not that that makes me geekily excited or anything…

Via

Vulture is reporting that Jon Favreau will not be directing Iron Man 3:

It’s unclear whether the impasse was financial or creative or both. One informed source hears that he was frustrated with Marvel’s urge to stuff more of their in-house heroes into the next film in the wake of The Avengers. In a recent interview with MTV News, Favreau explained that based on his conversations with Marvel Studios executives, he had no clarity as to what a third Iron Man film would even be about. “In theory, Iron Man 3 is going to be a sequel or continuation of Thor, Hulk, Captain America and Avengers,” said Favreau at the time, “This whole world … I have no idea what it is. I don’t think they do either, from conversations I’ve had with those guys.”

Favreau was widely credited with making the first Iron Man the success it was and lobbying hard for Robert Downey Jr as the lead. It was rumored that he wouldn’t return for Iron Man 2 – which suffered somewhat from trying to set up the rest of the Marvel U Movies – but eventually he reached an agreement with the studio.

Given Favreau’s comments last week and Marvel Studios’ tendency to be on the conservative side, cash-wise, I can’t say this is too much of a surprise – but I do think it’s a big loss for the franchise. We’ll have to wait and see if his replacement can fill his shoes. What does concern me slightly is this snippet from the article:

In fact, one Hollywood player familiar with Marvel’s playbook theorizes that the company had been pushing a confusing and packed vision of the third film as a tactic to provoke Favreau into leaving the project.

‘Confusing and packed’? Because it was such a good idea to foist Venom on Sam Raimi for Spider-Man 3?

But, er, Favreau will be back as Happy Hogan, right?

Because who else will carry Tony’s armor around?

No sooner do I post something about how worried I am about Jack laughing at the Yogi Bear trailer than this excellent ‘alternate ending’ surfaces..

I have no idea if this was done by the animation crew for the movie as a joke or someone else, but it’s very well done. And in spite of the abomination that is this movie, I would watch the hell out of it if it actually ended like this.

EDIT: Apparently it was done by the movie’s animation team. I can’t blame them; if I’d been working on the movie I probably would have done the same.

Yesterday while the better half was out I was playing with son Jack, now a year old, and the television was on in the background with the volume on low.

We were playing with blocks and some Little People (the Fisher Price toys, not actual little people which would be a bit strange) when he got distracted by something. I looked up and saw that the football show that was on – not that I’m in any way into sport, but I figure that shouldn’t stop me trying to imprint an interest on Jack – was being sponsored by the upcoming Yogi Bear movie, and Jack had been distracted by a trailer.

He was smiling at it. Worse, he was laughing at it.

In case you haven’t seen anything of it yourself, allow me to present a trailer for you so you understand where I’m coming from here:

This is what Jack was laughing at.

It hit me then that there are horrors of being a parent that I hadn’t even considered: I will, in the not-so-distant future, be forced to watch things like this aberration with my son. There’s no way out of it. I had anticipated things like Despicable Me and Megamind – things I may watch myself – but this?

Good lord.

My wife assured me when I told her about it that it’s because he doesn’t know better yet.

I pray that’s true. I pray that I can educate him as to what’s right and what’s wrong before it’s too late and I’m forced to watch this kind of thing – no, this kind of abomination.