X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAzzz...
Well... it's still early yet, right?
I'm not sure what feels more low-rent/half-assed about this first DOFP trailer: Using both the "Sunshine" AND "The Thin Red Line" scores - the most overused trailer-music lifts outside of "Crimson Tide" and "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" - or having Wolverine spell out why it's stupid to send Wolverine on this mission (quantum-leaping back into his 1970s self to help the cast of "First Class" fight Tyrion Lannister's army of Transformers and presumably retcon "X3" and "Origins" further out of existence) for no other reason than "he's the popular one."
Hey - remember that part in "The Avengers" where everyone else just hung back and did nothing the whole time so the camera could focus on Iron Man because he's the money-shot? Oh, right... they didn't do that.
I'm sure it'll be just fine, but there's no shaking the sense that "First Class" was probably as good as this series was going to get while still moored to the first two Bryan Singer entries. With apologies to Singer... the guy was never cut-out to make blockbusters like this, and he probably wouldn't be doing them at all if the first "X-Men" hadn't been so surprisingly-not-shit-for-a-pre-"Spider-Man"-superhero-movie. Maybe he'll pull this one off, and better him than Ratner again, but still...
I'm not sure what feels more low-rent/half-assed about this first DOFP trailer: Using both the "Sunshine" AND "The Thin Red Line" scores - the most overused trailer-music lifts outside of "Crimson Tide" and "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" - or having Wolverine spell out why it's stupid to send Wolverine on this mission (quantum-leaping back into his 1970s self to help the cast of "First Class" fight Tyrion Lannister's army of Transformers and presumably retcon "X3" and "Origins" further out of existence) for no other reason than "he's the popular one."
Hey - remember that part in "The Avengers" where everyone else just hung back and did nothing the whole time so the camera could focus on Iron Man because he's the money-shot? Oh, right... they didn't do that.
I'm sure it'll be just fine, but there's no shaking the sense that "First Class" was probably as good as this series was going to get while still moored to the first two Bryan Singer entries. With apologies to Singer... the guy was never cut-out to make blockbusters like this, and he probably wouldn't be doing them at all if the first "X-Men" hadn't been so surprisingly-not-shit-for-a-pre-"Spider-Man"-superhero-movie. Maybe he'll pull this one off, and better him than Ratner again, but still...
Dismissed
This year's (mostly complete) Halloween costume, as I continually checking off the list of "guys I maybe kinda look like in certain clothes" ...SGT. SLAUGHTER (G.I. Joe-era uniform, for you completists):
Basically, my physique is ideal for certain pre-WWII cartoon characters, certain early arcade characters and any heavyweight pro-wrestler from before the bodybuilding/steroid era. So there's that...
Basically, my physique is ideal for certain pre-WWII cartoon characters, certain early arcade characters and any heavyweight pro-wrestler from before the bodybuilding/steroid era. So there's that...
Well, This Looks Dissapointing...
...I'd say really dissapointing, but until this moment I'd completely forgotten they were even making this. Oh, well.
Are Mr. Peabody & Sherman really a property that "exists" for the audience this seems to be aimed at? They were probably the best remembered of the Rocky & Bullwinkle supporting features, but I feel like it's been a long time since reruns of that were any level of kiddie-TV staple. Nevermind that turning them into a spectacle-driven 3D movie largely misses the appeal of the various Jay Ward cartoons; which were minimally animated and relied on sharp, radio-style verbal comedy and intentionally groan-inducing puns for their laughs - hence why they outlasted so many of their 'toon contemporaries.
On the plus side, Rob Minkoff (late of "The Lion King,") has the director's chair, so that's something.
Are Mr. Peabody & Sherman really a property that "exists" for the audience this seems to be aimed at? They were probably the best remembered of the Rocky & Bullwinkle supporting features, but I feel like it's been a long time since reruns of that were any level of kiddie-TV staple. Nevermind that turning them into a spectacle-driven 3D movie largely misses the appeal of the various Jay Ward cartoons; which were minimally animated and relied on sharp, radio-style verbal comedy and intentionally groan-inducing puns for their laughs - hence why they outlasted so many of their 'toon contemporaries.
On the plus side, Rob Minkoff (late of "The Lion King,") has the director's chair, so that's something.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Trailer
So it's Captain America versus Halliburton, basically. I can deal:
Wow, that looks really good - Captain America as a Marvel/American James Bond, or maybe a "Bourne" movie without its head up its ass. Just wish I could enjoy the Hellicarrier crashing over D.C. without having traumatic flashbacks to "Into Darkness."
It's odd that there isn't more dialogue laying out who and what is supposed to be going on (how many people are going to "get" that The Winter Soldier refers to the guy with the robot-arm?) but it looks like borrowing the broad strokes of Ed Brubaker's pre-"Civil War" books is a good solution to making the man-out-of-time angle work: Cap essentially fighting against post-9/11 paranoid/corrupt militarism is a nice way of stripping out the more discordant stuff ("um, Steve... didn't they still have Whites Only bathrooms in your day?") from the "WWII-era Good America returns to teach Modern America a lesson" angle that's built into the character.
I'm still not a fan of the drab new outfit, though, but compared to how cool the rest of this looks that's small potatoes - Batman has had a shitty costume in every single one of his eight theatrical movies and those average-out pretty decently (really, only Schumacher's second and Nolan's third are outright BAD films). Plus, I'm getting the sense it's a thematic thing along with the bigger plot. Post-"Avengers" S.H.I.E.L.D morphing into something evil (I want Robert Redford's obviously evil government/business guy to pull of his rubber "human" face to reveal The Red Skull, Baron Zemo or Arnim Zola in the worst way... but hat might read as kind of a mean joke from Redford's perspective - and yes, I know he's probably just Lukin from Brubaker's run) seems to be a big element of this, and Cap ditching "their" version of his uniform would be an easy symbolic moment for Act 3.
Plus, it looks very much like the guys we see him fighting in a version of the classic costume are wearing modern-day tactical gear - y'know what'd be great? If, since they're in D.C., he broke into the Smithsonian to steal the original or a replica thereof (leaving behind a very polite "sorry" note and some cash to cover the cost of the glass, of course.)
Wow, that looks really good - Captain America as a Marvel/American James Bond, or maybe a "Bourne" movie without its head up its ass. Just wish I could enjoy the Hellicarrier crashing over D.C. without having traumatic flashbacks to "Into Darkness."
It's odd that there isn't more dialogue laying out who and what is supposed to be going on (how many people are going to "get" that The Winter Soldier refers to the guy with the robot-arm?) but it looks like borrowing the broad strokes of Ed Brubaker's pre-"Civil War" books is a good solution to making the man-out-of-time angle work: Cap essentially fighting against post-9/11 paranoid/corrupt militarism is a nice way of stripping out the more discordant stuff ("um, Steve... didn't they still have Whites Only bathrooms in your day?") from the "WWII-era Good America returns to teach Modern America a lesson" angle that's built into the character.
I'm still not a fan of the drab new outfit, though, but compared to how cool the rest of this looks that's small potatoes - Batman has had a shitty costume in every single one of his eight theatrical movies and those average-out pretty decently (really, only Schumacher's second and Nolan's third are outright BAD films). Plus, I'm getting the sense it's a thematic thing along with the bigger plot. Post-"Avengers" S.H.I.E.L.D morphing into something evil (I want Robert Redford's obviously evil government/business guy to pull of his rubber "human" face to reveal The Red Skull, Baron Zemo or Arnim Zola in the worst way... but hat might read as kind of a mean joke from Redford's perspective - and yes, I know he's probably just Lukin from Brubaker's run) seems to be a big element of this, and Cap ditching "their" version of his uniform would be an easy symbolic moment for Act 3.
Plus, it looks very much like the guys we see him fighting in a version of the classic costume are wearing modern-day tactical gear - y'know what'd be great? If, since they're in D.C., he broke into the Smithsonian to steal the original or a replica thereof (leaving behind a very polite "sorry" note and some cash to cover the cost of the glass, of course.)
