Movies-Archived

You know, I don’t think I saw the last two Shrek movies but I do remember Antonio Banderas’ Puss in Boots stealing the show in Shrek 2 – and judging from the trailer campaign, Dreamworks know how to advertise his spin-off movie…

While I was on vacation I saw much wailing and gnashing of teeth on twitter (I wasn’t tweeting that much myself, just reading my stream occasionally) over adjustments to the upcoming Star Wars releases on Blu Ray.

There didn’t seem to be that many people complaining over the replacement of puppet Yoda in The Phantom Menace with a CGI Yoda – presumably on account of nobody liking that film anyway. I think it makes sense, actually, and at least should keep it consistent with CGI Yoda in the second two prequel movies. I’d be even happier if Yoda turned into a Muppet after being blasted by Palpatine’s Force lightning at the end of Revenge of the Sith, though.

Ah well, not to be.

Apparently there will be a bunch more changes, but one confirmed one is what people do seem to be getting in a tizz over – being the addition of Vader shouting his now unfortunately trademarked “Noooooo!” as he saves Luke by picking up the Emperor (one-handed, mind) and chucking him down a conveniently placed shaft at the end of Return of the Jedi. Well, conveniently placed if you’re Vader, less so if you’re the Emperor.

Now, I’d say I’m a pretty big fan of Star Wars. I know most of the movies backwards. I have toys that I bought as recently as earlier this year. There’s a better than average chance that I’ll buy some more before the year is out. I read the EU books. I’m one of those guys that should get upset by this.

And I don’t care.

I’ll buy the Blu Rays, and if the originals are ever released, I’ll buy them too. Star Wars has given me a lot of pleasure over the years and I can cope with changes being made here and there. Do I think they’re necessary? No. Do I understand why George Lucas keeps on making them? No. I’d assume he has better things to do, like roll around in wads of cash and light cigars with $100 bills.

But if he wants to keep making pointless changes, I’d say it’s up to him. Star Wars belongs to him, as far as I’m concerned, not us, not the fans.

I relayed all this in a conversation to my wife while we were driving between Glasgow and Manchester on vacation.

“It’s stupid,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Him making changes to them. Completely unnecessary.”

“Well, yes, but it’s up to him if he wants to. I mean, they’re his to do that to if he wants.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s like touching up the make up on the Mona Lisa.”

I had nothing to say to that.

Except that that’s why I married her.

I’ve got a post coming on the Star Wars blu ray changes later (you’re waiting with bated breath, aren’t you?) but in the meantime for your viewing pleasure…

It looks like The Dark Knight Rises‘ version of Selina Kyle isn’t averse to a little petty larceny, just like her cat-loving comics namesake – at least assuming that’s a stolen Batpod she’s riding in her first official image:

Granted, you can’t see much beyond the fact that Anne Hathaway’s in skintight leather straddling a big bike, but magazines have been founded on much flimsier ground than that. I actually quite like the image.

She’s also got some funky goggles.

They’re obviously high-techy (because they’ve got funky little blue lights and a crosshair thingy, so they must be, right?), and that’s a start but they’re not quite this funky:

Just sayin’.

Surfacing on the web, the first official image from the upcoming Man of Steel movie with Henry Cavill as Superman.

No spitcurl, and funky looking texturing on the outfit, but aside from that not a bad promo piece. It certainly shows the power of the last Kryptonian.

What do you think?

Over the course of SDCC, Marvel has been revealing pre-production art of the Avengers – and they fit together…

(Click to make a bit larger)

Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Agent Coulson all look pretty damn good here – and honestly, I’m getting a little excited by next year’s movie especially after the post-credits bit on Captain America…

Oh, and if the Skrulls are in the movie as rumored, I’d say the chances of Coulson being one are pretty damn high, no?

I mean, really boring.

I know that Avengers is still shooting, and Amazing Spider-Man will still be in post, but come on – you can do better than a boring old logo or symbol tease, right?

…web…see what I did there?

Not entirely sold on this in spite of liking everyone in the cast a lot (except Sally Field; I can’t stand Sally Field). I seem to remember reading a review where the origin was showed only in flashbacks, but this looks to be incorporating it wholesale into the plot of the film. I do, however, like the inclusion of Richard and Mary Parker. Now if only Sony hadn’t made this, and we could have them going off to meet Samuel L Jackson…

And for a movie trailer, the POV stuff makes it look like a pretty good video game.

Not entirely sure if that’s a compliment or not…

A few days ago there was the poster, now the whole trailer has been released for The Thing:

It puts more emphasis on Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s character than the trailer they showed at NYCC last year, and I guess that’s unsurprising as she’s the movie’s biggest name (sorry, Mr Eko; sorry, young Uncle Owen) – and I still like the look of it.

It has the feel of the original in set design, lighting and music at least – but perhaps too much so. Do you think there might be a blood test in the movie? A confrontation between people who used to trust each other? A dog?

Regardless, I still like the look of this. Haters be damned!

Disney’s first trailer for John Carter has hit the internets –

The movie is intended to be the first of a trilogy based on the first three books in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series – I suspect another attempt to capture a little Pirates of the Caribbean magic, although that didn’t work too well for Prince of Persia – and so far it looks…well, it’s been a long time since I read any John Carter books, but I seem to remember red Martians being red and not merely tattooed, green Martians looking less like Geonosians, and there being much more nudity.

That said, I will give this a shot as I’m a big fan of Taylor Kitsch after Friday Night Lights (and yes, I liked him as Gambit), and because once I put my misgivings aside, it’s actually quite a nice trailer.

I still don’t quite understand the Disney marketing department’s decision to take the ‘of Mars’ out of the title, though. Are they worried that people will think it’s science fiction? Because there are aliens in it, you know…

I’m a massive fan of John Carpenter’s original The Thing, so much so that it was the first movie I picked up when I got a DVD player.

And, following last year’s NYCC presentation of the cast, director and writers of the upcoming prequel – also called The Thing, I found myself looking forward to it much to my surprise. It really seemed that they were going out of their way to stay true to the original and to tie it together, and the clips they showed were pretty on the money.

Then the movie vanished from schedules and underwent reshoots – but now the publicity leading up to its October release begins, with the release of the new poster and new tagline:

Echoes of the original movie’s poster there – very nice.

I’ve heard a few people complaining that the prequel’s pointless as you have a pretty good idea how it ends (spoiler: not well) but, really, it’s the journey not the destination – and hey, The Thing was a remake itself, so I have no problem with this.

Hmm…it may be time to upgrade to bluray…

Not a literal bell. I mean there’s no picture of Anne Hathaway in a tight leather costume ringing a bell…
…
…where was I?

Oh yes – The Dark Knight Rises has it’s first official poster:

I like it – and I admit it took a second or two for me to see the bat-symbol – but I almost prefer the fanmade one that cropped up a few weeks back.

In any case, it looks like the marketing machine is starting to move – but when I look at this poster and see the crumbling buildings of Gotham, I can’t help but think of this:

I’m sure I’m one of the few people who remembers the Batman mega-events of the late 90s/early 2000s fondly, but I absolutely loved the cascading events that seemed to dominate three or four years of the line; Contagion – Legacy – Cataclysm – No Man’s Land all had their strengths, and it’s crazy to me that almost all of these are out of print (although No Man’s Land is getting reissued in two volumes later this year). It seems like money left on the table.

Now, do I think that the movie will have the slightest thing to do with Cataclysm? Of course not – but a tiny part of me thinks that the poster could be a subtle nod to fans.

It looks like it’ll be a long year till this comes out…

As a Brit in America, I’m morally opposed to the 4th of July holiday, being it the commemoration of the anniversary of the day you think you won your independence.

“Think?” I hear you say. “Silly Briton, we did win our independence!”

Really? Then why do you still speak English?

Oh, I’m just kidding – and I’m fairly sure I stole that joke from Cheers.

Anyway, given the day, I feel compelled to remind you that there’s another Captain America movie which is finally coming to DVD:

Yes, the 1990 version of Captain America is coming to DVD thanks to MGM’s manufacturing on demand service. For both of you waiting for this, I’m sure it’s a dream come true. Look – press release snippet!

During World War II, a brave American soldier (Salinger) volunteers to undergo experiments to become a new super-soldier, codenamed “Captain America.” Infiltrating Germany to sabotage Nazi rockets pointed at the U.S., Captain America faces off with Nazi superhuman warrior Red Skull (Scott Paulin, The Right Stuff) who defeats the hero, throwing him into suspended animation. Frozen for 50 years, Captain America is found and revived only to find that Red Skull has changed identities and has targeted the President of the United States (Ronny Cox, RoboCop) for assassination. With America on the verge of utter chaos, it is up to one man to save the day!

I’ve seen bits of this movie (and if you hunt on youtube the whole thing is on there) and, well…let’s just say it won’t be taking pride of place next to my copy of Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD. (And I know the header on the front page is from the 1979 movie, but it’s just funny).

And that’s your lot for today. On the bright side I managed to get through a 4th of July post without mentioning the Force of July.

Dammit.

I’ve pretty much enjoyed – then immediately forgotten about – all the Mission Impossible movies, but it’s never been a franchise that I’ve wanted to see revisited, really.

That said, Brad ‘The Incredibles‘ Bird’s live-action debut MI: Ghost Protocol looks like it might be something to look forward to. Back for the same again are Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg, joined this time round by Hawkeye-to-be Jeremy Renner, Sawyer-that-was Josh Holloway, and hot-as-ever Paula Patton.

Oh, and the magnificent Tom Wilkinson, who I’m fairly sure should be in every movie to add a touch of class.

(If you have problems with your flash player there’s a youtube version here)

Wonder if Ving Rhames and Michelle Monaghan were asked back?

Brave, the next film from Pixar, has had its first teaser released.

I’m a big fan of Pixar – and I just rewatched the first two Toy Story movies this weekend – and this looks to be continuing their policy of putting out movies I want to watch. Except the Cars movies. I couldn’t care less about them.

The latest (and, I think, last) Captain America: The First Avenger trailer has been released. I don’t know about you, but I’m buying Chris Evans as Steve Rogers more the more that I see.

That said, they’d be wise to drop the ‘heroes are made in America’ bit for the overseas audiences. A little self-aggrandizing, there.

I love Jason Statham – in a pure, manly man way.

I can’t think of another actor currently working that I enjoy as much in dumb action movies. Maybe Statham’s often-partner, Jet Li, but he seems to have stepped back a little. As a result, I’m looking forward to this, although I doubt I’ll end up watching it in the cinema. Robert DeNiro and Clive Owen co-star, but this looks to be Statham’s show.

I’m not a fan of Clive Owen, actually, but I can put up with him here for two reasons: (1) dodgy ‘tache, and (2) he gets punched in the nuts. Good times.

Pros:
Statham
Rock You Like A Hurricane
DeNiro not appearing to be mugging for the camera too much
Clive Owen gets punched in nuts
Clive Owen’s dodgy ‘tache

Cons:
Clive Owen

Pros outweigh cons!

EW has the first official images of Martin Freeman (of the excellent Sherlock and the original best Office) and Sir Ian McKellan (of virtually everything) as Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, respectively. Oh, and there’s a bunch of dwarves too:

Not bad, eh? I’m looking forward to this an enormous amount, and it makes me want to pick up the Lord of the Rings Blu Rays – but not till they’ve dropped in price a bit.

Anyway, EW has an additional picture of director Peter Jackson and Freeman over at their site.

What EW doesn’t have is this:

Oh yes.

Via AICN (and the British trashy tabloid the Sun), comes a UK version of the Rise of the Planet of the Apes trailer. Be warned that it virtually lays out the plot of the entire movie – but it’s still pretty good.

I still may not be able to but James Franco as a scientist, but aside from that I’m pretty much sold. Just watching the trailer I can feel myself feeling sorry for Caesar (I’m a terrible softy when it comes to animals), and I think that he may be a leap forward in fully-realized CG characters interacting with humans.

Oh, and Draco Malfoy is apparently a dick in any world…

Ape shall not kill ape next month!