The Hype Machine...Comes Through?

I've enjoyed a good deal of Mark Millar's work, but his incessant hyping of it makes me less and less likely to try his new projects. The slowness with which they eek out is a deterrent, too, but it's really his endlessly hyping up his own abilities, successes and spinning of his shortcomings as wins that push me away.

But damn if it doesn't work for him.

I don't know how it happened, but somehow I've found up on e-mail alerts from The Hollywood Reporter throughout the day about any entertainment developments. Two of them today have included news about Hollywood Mark Millar:

Universal in Negotiations to Pick Up 'War Heroes' Comic Book Project (Exclusive)

&

'X-Men' Director Matthew Vaughn Developing Mark Millar Comics 'The Secret Service,' 'Superior'

Though, it is interesting to note, that the second THR article asserts that Vaughn co-created The Secret Service property, which makes this appear more like Millar is a hired hand in the process with Vaughn than the full-fledged creative force that he more often sells himself as. The appearance of this point, coupled with the article mentioning that Vaughn wants to get back more control from start-to-finish of his projects, seems to suggest that he may have played a large role in formulating the key points that the project launches from and then handed it off to Millar to flesh it out.

Regardless, success for comic book projects in other media still brings at least a modicum of attention back to the medium that was its source...and if War Heroes is a success, I'll be thrilled for the payday it might bring to Tony F___ing Harris, stand-up guy and outspoken workers' rights fella on Twitter.

(Alleged) Rise Of The Apes Set Pic

I don't see the big deal that led the studios to contact Just Jared & BleedingCool.com to pull down the images/links, personally. I'll keep it up until I receive a cease & desist request, so save it if you want to be able to see it tomorrow.

I don't know that I'm all that excited in this prequel/reboot, but the image doesn't make me any less interested. BC.com suggests they think the attempts to pull the image are over concerns that it makes the film just look silly. I don't see how that's anymore true here than with any other behind-the-scenes pic from a movie using motion capture. Which is to say: it's nearly impossible to believe this pic is damaging, but that the studios are just trying to control the release for the sake of control, to protect an exclusive promised to some other publication or to generate a tempest in a teapot over the whole thing that leads to free publicity.

So...That's Green Lantern?

If you haven't seen the image of Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern before, there it is on the right.

I don't love it. I don't even like it, really. But I don't hate it, either.

From what can be seen in the image, it seems to be solid green (other than the symbol) with texturing that is supposed to constantly reinforce to the viewer that it is an energy construct threaded together from hard light.

One of the most basic points of honest-to-goodness iconic super-hero costume design, IMO, is keeping it to 2-3 colors. The best (read: easiest to get right) combinations are generally some balanced mixture of black, white and another color. Most of the costumes that are busier than that or select colors that aren't as natural together succeeded because they were introduced in different/simpler times and have been ingrained into pop culture.

So, this outfit that seems to be just green, aside from the white in the symbol? Not so iconic or dynamic. A bit of a dud. Here's hoping they decide to tweak it a bit, since it is all CGI anyway.

Great Scott, The Economy Is Fucked, Isn't It?

So, I'm watching cable news and the Lending Tree commercial with the Adam West voiceover comes on. The idea is that Lending Tree somehow makes the average person a financial super-hero.

So, after shaking my head, once again, at how cornball it is, I start thinking about how over-the-top this country's current love affair with comic book properties is. I mean...using it to advertise something as stiff-collared as financial products?

Then it dawned on me that the last time super-heroes and comic book properties were this popular came about during the Great Depression in the states.


More than being simply something new, they were popular because the population really needed to completely escape from the reality surrounding them. They needed to daydream of being super-human or otherworldly enough that such trivial things as room & board didn't even register on their list of things to be concerned by.

Technology has caught up to the ideas contained in super-hero fiction, so this renewed interest isn't translating into sales of comic books, just licensing of their product for other media.

In 1940, the price of a comic was 10 cents and a movie ticket 24 cents. Today, comic books cost $3-5 a pop. Movie tickets? Well, much like they did in the Great Depression, some chains are finding that they have to reduce prices on tickets to lure in customers and hope they buy items at the concession stand.

Locally, the stadium seating Cinemark has dropped their full price tickets to $6.50 and the outdated one has been locked in at $6 for years (with a matching drop quite possible in the future). Both Cinemark locations have $4 tickets for their matinée showings (start times before 6pm). The AMC theaters in the area (and, I believe, many non-metropolitan areas) have all of their Monday-Thursday tickets (except for Wednesday debuts and 11:59pm Thursday first showings) priced at $5, regardless of showtime.

Now, I'm not trying to renew that ages old "movies/videogames/etc offer more bang for the buck than comic books" argument. I'm just saying that other media can and do offer the same types of stories, making it possible that the public can quench their thirst for escapism without having to change their entertainment consumption habits.

But hey kids: depressions (or really drastic recessions) make the rest of the country appreciate some of the same characters you've loved for years.

Summer Movies Thus Far

Lately, I haven't been able to get to preview screenings due to my schedule being filled at night these days. That doesn't mean I have failed to see the newest movies...just that I haven't felt the urge to blog about them right away since they'd only go up after they debut now. I have some time, so I thought I'd give my opinion on what I've seen.

X-Men: Origins: Wolverine

Stepping away from it as a comic fan, it wasn't a half-bad summer-popcorn-action flick. There are several things that have been changed from comic continuity, but you have to go in expecting that these days. Not because it NEEDS to be changed, but because Hollywood ALWAYS feels compelled to make changes. The movie has moments of comic relief and quite a bit of action. I was personally happy that they included Wolverine's being nearly immortal (as in he's been stuck in his 30s since at least WWI or WWII, from the looks of it). What we saw of Deadpool towards the end of the movie was a bastardization of the existing character, but 1) it's a summer-popcorn-action flick, not the latest issue of a Marvel comic and b) there are questions as to whether that's actually Deadpool. It's by no means a perfect movie, but it isn't the steaming pile that so many myopic comic readers have accused it of being.

Star Trek

Hands down, the best summer action movie at this point in the release schedule. The characters pull you right into the story and the action keeps you from breaking your attention away. I understand that there are a number of old school Trek fans that are livid about the reboot, despite the fact that it is treated as an alternate history. If you follow science regarding the possibilities of time travel, the most dominant theory is that any change in the past creates a fork in the river of time. The two branches go forward: one being history as we knew it and the other being the left turn we forced it to take. So the new can co-exist with the old.

Yikes, for wanting to really just address the quality of the movies, I sure am dealing with fanboy complaints too much.

UP

What a beautiful movie. I don't get the people that say this succeeds where WALL-E failed, because a) I saw no failure in that flick and 2) there's no reason to tear one down to praise the other. If you watch this movie and don't feel your eyes well up a time or two, you have no heart. It's a love story and not just of the romantic kind. See the movie and you'll get what I mean.

Land of the Lost

I wasn't some great fan of the TV show. I caught a few episodes as a kid and didn't find myself moved to change the channel away from it. So I went into this flick with far fewer expectations and demands than someone who spent many Saturdays glued to the set watching it. For what it's worth, I enjoyed the flick on a purely "Will Ferrell and Danny McBride riffing" level. It worked on East Bound & Down and it entertains here. While not being worthy of box office blockbuster numbers, it isn't a waste of the price of admission, either.

The Hangover

Hilarious. Deserving of the R rating and it's very successful weekend. Bradley "That Guy From Wedding Crashers" Cooper leads the cast, but Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis (I spelled that without looking it up) match him at every step. The cringe humor involving Zach's character really helped bring the funny. A few of the bigger laughs are actually in a credit sequence that the cast frames at the end of the flick. I'm going to give some thought to catching this a second time.

Angels & Demons

I wasn't a huge fan of DaVinci Code, but decided to give this a shot anyway. Less Audrey Tautou makes a film less good. In many ways, the plot was better and you felt more tension in their race to decode all of the clues, but it wound up being predictable at the same time. Ron Howard is a much better director than Dan Brown is a writer, it would appear...because it is clear his touches are what made either of the films enjoyable.

Terminator Salvation

While I felt the flick disappointed, dragging on in parts and found lacking in the tried & true chase formula of previous installments, I didn't feel any regret for spending my money on a ticket. It was enjoyable, despite not living up to expectations. I became a little more frustrated with it when I found that Christian Bale diva'd his way into screwing up the flick, though. But still...it's a good, not great, film that continues the Terminator mythos. It succeeds when the Terminator hybrid is on screen and flounders when he is not.

Night at the Museum II

I felt this suffered from being more of the same we encountered in the first flick. Whereas the original had the benefit of being a fresh idea, this one didn't really seem to get past being a retread. There's only so many big man jokes Owen Wilson can make about Ben Stiller before you hope he dies gasping for air under a mountain of sand. This is where it clearly embraces being a family film: kids can watch the same schtick over and over and over without necessarily getting bored.

Still hoping to get out to see Drag Me To Hell soon. I'll probably see the latest Potter, but there's nothing left this summer that I can really say I'm looking forward to.

How about you?

Terminator Salvation: Pretty Pedestrian

I had high hopes for this latest Terminator flick, due to the involvement of Christian Bale. He's normally a fairly good indicator of a quality film, my experience. But I guess he doesn't quite bat 1.000.

This film had such potential, but squandered it. While the effects are great, the script (or what of it saw the screen) was found lacking.

Bale wasn't given an opportunity to really act. Comparing this to the Batman movies, under Nolan he performs as an actor, but under McG he's simply a movie star. I'm sure he gave it his all, as he tries to lose himself in the character to the point of possibly being a personal mental health concern. It seems as though the script basically gave him scenes to yell in and then scenes to tell the audience what they should have been showing them.

Helena Bonham Carter and Bryce Dallas Howard are completely wasted in this movie. Carter is only in one scene that actually requires any acting, where she acquits herself nicely. Howard is just left to be pregnant and concerned. There's really nothing noteworthy about her character in the movie.

Sam Worthington (Marcus Wright) and Moon Bloodgood (Blair Williams) are probably given the most to work with (which still isn't a lot). While their dialogue and scenes are no better written than any others, they are afforded a better opportunity to demonstrate a wider range of emotions. Anton Yelchin does a really good job of evoking Michael Biehn's version of Kyle Reese, helping you believe that this is the man that grows up to save Sarah Connor.

What the movie lacks is the chase element seen in the first three movies. Instead of a Terminator stalking our protagonists. Instead, we get one protagonist plodding across the first half of the movie to get to the other. While some of the Skynet machines do briefly chase from time to time, there isn't one consistent character stalking anyone. Due to this, it felt like the movie lacked any real tension through most of the two hours. You didn't have a sense that a terminator or other Skynet machine could pop up to attack the protagonists at any given moment, despite their being scenes of just that happening.

Maybe appropriately, the movie felt mechanical. It was just a collection of standard parts put together. Nothing too special about the parts or how well they were connected. In fact, some of the parts seemed worse than the standard. Take note, for instance, how obvious they try to make things about Marcus Wright by how he is posed for his execution. I half expected Keenan Ivory Wayans to pop on screen and shout, "MESSAGE!"

Despite all of the negatives I can rattle off about it, I didn't feel regret for having spent my $6 on a ticket. It was entertaining enough that I didn't want my money and my time back at the end of it...but JUST enough. The T-800 used towards the end probably put it over the top.

I wouldn't suggest running out to see this urgently, but I, also, wouldn't try to dissuade anyone who had planned to see it from taking the trip to the theater. If you're interested in the Terminator franchise, you're going to want to see this film. Just temper your expectations.

Woo Hoo!!!! Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law! This is probably the first time I'll be jonesing for a December movie during the summer.

SCHWAPP!!!@TheMovies: WALL-E

Just saw that Amazon has a great deal going on the Blu Ray version of the movie ($14.99 vs. $24.99 everywhere else) and thought I'd pass it along.

Update: Ugh...don't bother playing the review video above at the moment; just found out I have to clear a dispute over the audio track. Will update when resolved.

Update 2: Audio track restored!

BEST. MOVIE. TIE-IN. EVER.

Courtesy of Topless Robot

Well, Now The Mainstream Moviegoer Has Spoken

There's been much complaining about The Spirit since the first images and trailers started coming out. But it had come largely from the comic book community and revolved around how much it seemed to become THE SIN CITY SPIRIT, rather than resembling anything Will Eisner ever did.

That sort of thing doesn't bother the mainstream moviegoer, though. So, what did they think of the film? Box Office Mojo has how they expressed their opinion with their dollars:

Also opening, The Spirit drew a piddling estimated $6.5 million over the weekend on around 2,600 screens at 2,509 theaters for $10.4 million in four days. Brandishing the style of Sin City and 300 in its ads and little else, the comic book movie was less-attended than The Shadow and The Phantom.

Damn shame, Frank. You done fucked up real good when you do worse than The Shadow and The Phantom.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I had the privilege of seeing an advanced screening of the new Brad Pitt/David Fincher movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

This is probably the first movie since Amelie or Big Fish that I would simply call beautiful. It tells a strange, inspirational love story. Much like Amelie, love story means more than romance. Similar to Big Fish, the path is paved with bits of fairy tale. This film, at its heart, is about the love of life. And really, isn't that what many of the best movies convey to the audience?

I spent time during the movie wondering what the greater purpose this movie was supposed to serve. What was its message? But then it hit me that it had been subtly showing the audience, rather than beating us over the head with it.

Through the fantastic, Fincher and Pitt show us that life can be a rich, rewarding and, yes, beautiful experience, despite or because of our struggles to live it. The world is seen through such innocent eyes, even when it is at its most cruel. Benjamin seems to be a character that chooses to find the good in even a bad situation.

His sense of wonder infects the viewer and leaves you thinking about how you view the world after you've left the theater. And really, isn't that what many of the best movies do?

Who Clusterfucks The Watchmen?

Judge Gary Feess, that's who.

After saying that the issues surrounding rights to a Watchmen movie between 20th Century Fox & Warner Bros could only be resolved by trial, the judge changes his mind and delivers a decision on Christmas Eve of all times. The judge decided that Fox definitely has a copyright interest in the film.

While both sides were encouraged to begin negotiations to resolve this, it is still possible that Warner Bros will seek an appeal.

Here comes all the fanboy outrage, again, directed at 20th Century Fox for no particularly good reason. ;)

Thundercats Movie?

(ok, not really...but it's worth watching this fake trailer)

UPDATE: Beyonce As Wonder Woman?

Apparently, Beyonce told the Los Angeles Times that she wants to be Wonder Woman and has already met with DC Comics & Wonder Woman to express that interest directly.

"I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better than Wonder Woman? And it would be a very bold choice. A black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It's time for that, right?"(shown here wrangling alligators)

I dunno. I've only seen her in Austin Powers, so I guess I haven't seen her when she's really trying to act. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Batman franchise in wanting a very talented actress for the role.

On the other hand, she's probably as good or better of a pick as any of the previous actresses rumored for the role. I'd be hard pressed to pick a leading lady that could look the part and have Academy Award talent.


Anyone else have thoughts?

UPDATE: Valerie D'Orazio discusses this topic with much more depth. I happen to agree that Gina Torres could be a great Wonder Woman, though the window of opportunity is getting smaller for her as we speak. By the time a Wonder Woman movie starts shooting, she'd probably be the perfect Hippolyta, regardless of the ethnicity of whoever they cast as Diana.

New Watchmen Character Posters Online

The Internet Movie Posters Awards site has them all up.

(hat tip to Kevin Melrose)

Oscar Worthy Comic Book Movie Performances?

I think I originally saw this over on Heidi MacDonald's THE BEAT. One tiny little point of the Variety article stuck out like a sore thumb:

Oscar's biases are nothing new. Unfortunately, they're increasingly out of step with the reality that some of the finest acting in American movies -- and, for that matter, some of the most artful filmmaking -- can be found in the realms of what might be uncharitably described as "fanboy cinema." In a year that saw a surfeit of memorable performances in superhero pictures -- Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman in "The Dark Knight," Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow in "Iron Man," Charlize Theron in "Hancock" -- it may be time for the Academy to start taking this work as seriously as the actors and filmmakers have.

Do they have a drug testing policy over at Variety? Because someone has to be on really heavy narcotics to have thought ANY performance in HANCOCK was Oscar worthy...

New WATCHMEN Trailer (In HD)

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

SCHWAPP!!!@TheMovies: MAX PAYNE

A really short review of the film.

SCHWAPP!!!@TheMovies: INCREDIBLE HULK (Theatrical Release)

DragonBall Z Trailer Reactions Pt. 5

As it pertains to vlogging, this guy needs a thesaurus.