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| 072908 ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ Comic Con teaser trailer. |
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. . . . . .Someone posted a recording of the Comic Con trailer for ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. I must say this thing looks pretty darn cool. Gavin Hood is directing this film and I have been meaning to check out his film ‘Tsotsi’ forever now. ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ has actor Hugh Jackman reprising his role as the titled Wolverine and he is joined by Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Dominic Monaghan and Ryan Reynolds. All of those guys seem like they would be perfect for the comic book inspired spin off. I especially like Schreiber and am looking forward to this film as well as the World War II drama ‘Defiance’ (which I wrote about back in February HERE.) For the time being I have posted the ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ |
| trailer as there aren’t many links available. I have no idea who posted this but thanks to whoever did. The quality is not the best but it is still well worth checking out. When a high quality copy gets released I will link to that but for the time being check out the trailer above. -Nate |
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| 072808 Start your week with a ‘Taken’ trailer. |
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. . . . . .Here’s a movie that seems to have some of the makings for a cool action/ suspense film. For one, the plot looks like it could be a great set up and for another the lead actor is none other than Liam Neeson. Neeson plays Bryan, a retired spy whose daughter is kidnapped. Bryan takes matters into his owns hands to get his daughter back and strike out at those who took her. To me, this seems like it could be a winner. Actually, either that or it will just look like a knock off of the ‘Bourne’ films. Neeson is an underused actor that seems perfect to play an aging spy with a dark |
| past. ‘Taken' is written by filmmaker Luc Besson, his writing partner Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. Morel’s background shows many credits as a cinematographer and one as a director on: ‘District B13’. ‘District B13’ looked like an over the top action film (also written by Besson) but I still haven’t gotten around to watching it. The first warning sign about ‘Taken’ is that it will be rated PG-13 and once again the material looks like it should be rated R. Then again the ‘Bourne’ movies generally work quite well and they are rated PG-13 so maybe ‘Taken’ will kick butt. I certainly hope so. The film will be released on September 18th. The official site for ‘Taken’ can be seen HERE. The trailer for ‘Taken’ can be seen at the official site or via IGN HERE. -Nate |
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| 072508 New ‘Punisher: War Zone’ R-Rated trailer. |
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. . . . . .Here’s the thing: I liked a lot of the actors from the last ‘Punisher’ film and some of the parts of the movie but I was sort of disappointed with the film on the whole. Then I read about a new ‘Punisher’ film and lead actor Thomas Jane is not reprising the role. Well, what the hell. So, a teaser trailer is released and honestly my first reaction was: “wow, that guy has a big nose.” Stupid, I know but that is what I thought. Sure, there were a couple of cool moments in the teaser but overall I wasn’t impressed. Since then, I’ve read more about the sequel and I’ve been thinking that maybe this one will be worth seeing. I'm not |
| familiar with actor Ray Stevenson but damn if he doesn’t look like the Punisher. Then, there is the villain: Jigsaw. He seems like a great villain for a Punisher film and not only that but he is played by Dominic West! (I loved him in ‘The Wire’.) Suddenly ‘Punisher: War Zone’ is seeming a whole lot cooler! Also of note is this seemingly male dominated action film has a female director: Lexi Alexander. There are not enough ladies making action films. I think I am going to have to break down and watch ‘Green Street Hooligans’ after all. Anyway, ‘Punisher: War Zone’ was looking better and better to me and then an R-Rated trailer gets shown at Comic Con and thanks to ING.com it is online. This one looks like it may kick some serious ass after all. The trailer looks great (despite having an annoying metal song blaring over the carnage.) and sure as shit makes Stevenson look like a bad ass Frank Castle. I must say, I almost hate to admit it, I am looking forward to this one now. See the official website for ‘Punisher: War Zone’ HERE. See the R-Rated trailer for ‘Punisher: War Zone’ HERE. -Nate |
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| 072308 Following in a loose theme of ‘The Dark Knight’: the trailer for ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. |
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. . . . . .I mentioned a few days ago that the most impressive looking trailer showing before ‘The Dark Knight’ was the one for ‘Watchmen’. If I were to select what was the most underwhelming trailer it would have easily been the one for the remake of ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. Here’s the thing: this could be the greatest movie ever made but you would never know it watching the trailer. I saw ‘The Dark Knight’ in a packed, sold out, theater where a few fans had gone so far as to dress up as The Joker. When the trailer for ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ played, everyone in the audience was silent up until a shot of Keanu Reeves in an interrogation room (pictured left,) at which point many in the theater |
| broke out in laughter and guffaws. Writer David Scarpa’s only previous credit is ‘The Last Castle’. Director Scott Derrickson’s previous credits include ‘Hellraiser: Inferno’ and ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’. Reeves is joined by Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese, and Kathy Bates amongst others. Considering the trailer is under two minutes and already pretty slow, it doesn’t bode well for the full length film. Still, what’s in a trailer? Maybe this one will be great, it opens December 12. See the official site HERE and the trailer in small HERE, medium HERE and large HERE. -Nate |
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| 072208 A review of 'The Dark Knight' and some superhero babble. |
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. . . . . .In writing my review of ‘The Dark Knight’ I ended up going off on a diatribe about superhero films in general. The path of the superhero movie changed dramatically with the improvement in computer generated imagery (CGI.) The 1978 film ‘Superman’ meshed the world of comics with the sensibilities of a dramatic film and proved that a successful superhero film could be dramatic and serious onscreen. Tim Burton revised Batman and crossed him with Burton’s dark, art student sensibilities to make the successful but very Burton’esque ‘Batman’ in 1989. ‘Batman’ had a serious edge that offered a different tone for super hero features. It would not be until a bevy of films in the late 90’s that the CGI would come into play. ‘Blade’, ‘Dark City’ and ‘The Matrix’ were all superhero films to varying degrees and all had a stylish sensibility that blended CGI with physical effects to give an unprecedented freedom to the characters onscreen. Now characters could appear to do almost anything onscreen and the technology made it look easy. ‘Spider Man’, ‘X-Men’, ‘Superman’, ‘The Fantastic Four’, ‘Daredevil’, ‘Blade’, ‘The Hulk’, ‘Ghost Rider’, ‘Iron Man’ and more would all make big screen returns thanks to renewed interest and improved CGI. That is not to imply that the films would have worked without the talent behind the creations but simply that the CGI gave them newfound onscreen freedom. Batman too would return in the successful ‘Batman Begins’. I go on the indulgent diatribe because, ‘Batman Begins’ is somewhat noteworthy in that it would seem to buck the CGI trend. While ‘Batman Begins’ may have CGI used endlessly throughout, you wouldn’t know it while watching. Everything looked physical and heavy and as if it was built in real life, not generated on a computer. (Like I said, it could have been but it didn’t look |
| it.) Director Christopher Nolan brought the same style to the sequel: ‘The Dark Knight’. This time CGI is no doubt used throughout but much of the film looks like physical effects (even though some of the moments must have been aided with CGI.) Anyway, I am not sure what the significance of all this is but feel free to tell me to shut up and go to the review of ‘The Dark Knight’ HERE. -Nate |
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| 072108 Funny little Steven Spielberg reference in the new ‘Watchmen’ trailer! |
| . . . . . .Full credit where credit is due: I was perusing ‘Watchmen’ related material online and came across this great post at the site ‘Cinematical’. Apparently, you can show guns in general trailers but showing them pointed at the audience is a no-no with the M.P.A.A. (I really wonder what purpose that serves.) Anyway, ‘Cinematical’ points out that the creators of the ‘Watchmen’ film digitally replaced a henchman’s gun with walkie-talkie just like Steven Spielberg did when he went back and messed with his film ‘E.T.’! Too funny. See the post, complete with photos of the “Easter Egg” HERE. If you have not yet checked out the impressive ‘Watchmen’ trailer scroll down to the previous post and click a link to check it out! -Nate |
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| 071908 ‘Watchmen’ trailer online. |
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. . . . . .Easily the most impressive of the many trailers showing with ‘The Dark Knight’ was the one for the ‘Watchman’. The film is directed by Zach Snyder (who did the film ‘300’, reviewed HERE) and is based on the graphic novel of the same name written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. I am embarrassed to admit I still have not actually read |
| ‘Watchman’ despite being lent a copy for some time now (thanks Matt.) The trailer is wicked looking and I really have no excuse for having not read the comic yet. See the trailer small HERE, medium HERE, Large HERE, in HD sizes HERE, and for an IPOD HERE. The official site can be found HERE. -Nate |
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| 071908 reviews of 'Juno' and 'Lars and the Real Girl'. |
| . . . . . .Just added reviews of ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ as well as ‘Juno’. I am working on a review of ‘The Dark Knight’. See the ‘Juno’ review HERE and ‘Lars and the Real Girl’ HERE. -Nate |
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| 071808 ‘The Spirit’ full length trailer online. |
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. . . . . .So, a short teaser trailer for ‘The Spirit’ has been online for awhile now. That teaser made use of Ennio Morricone’s great theme from ‘The Untouchables’ movie. Now the Frank Miller directed ‘The Spirit’ is back with a newer, longer, trailer. I’m not sure what to make of this one. Miller is a talented artist and there have been two successful adaptations of his work: ‘Sin City’ (reviewed HERE) and ‘300’ (reviewed HERE.) Miller was present in varying degrees on both films but ‘The Spirit’ is the first time |
| he has a directing credit all to himself. This new teaser looks trippy and at the same time quite reminiscent of Miller’s work (and the movies based on his work.) ‘The Spirit’ was a comic by Will Eisner and it looks like the creation suits Miller’s style. I just don’t know what to make of the film. I really don’t recall ever reading ‘The Spirit’ comics so I don’t have that to fall back on. I will say this: the film looks interesting. Did I mention the trailer is trippy? See the new trailer HERE. -Nate |
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| 071708 ‘Terminator Salvation’ teaser trailer online. |
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. . . . . .The fourth ‘Terminator’ film is on the way, this time helmed by director McG. Yes, that’s right, a MacDonald’s side dish has directed the latest 'Terminator film'. Actually, who am I to give the guy a hard time? He directed the uber’ successful ‘Charlie’s Angels’ movies. (I have yet to make it through either of those films.) Christian Bale stars in the new ‘Terminator’ film and I’m hoping director McG pulls out all the stops and makes a kick ass action film around Bale. Maybe he can make me feel like a yutz’ for making a joke about his name by |
| creating a great Sci-Fi flic’. For myself, I loved the first two films but wasn’t so big on the third one (and have yet to see the series for that matter.) Actually, when I was a lot younger, I seem to remember also liking a bunch of ‘Terminator’ comics and much later some PC first-person-shooter video games. Anyway, scope the 60 second ‘Terminator Salvation’ teaser at Yahoo Movies HERE. -Nate |
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| 071608 'JibJab' releases 'Time for some campaignin'. |
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. . . . . .'JibJab’s' latest release actually premiered last night on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’. (Play it to the left.) The music video is in the same vein as many of 'JibJab’s' other shorts but the quality of the visual elements has been noticeably bumped up. Titled ‘Time for some Campaignin’, the very funny bit of animation boasts some impressive 3-D’ish effects, stylish color, and dynamic lighting throughout. I’m really jealous of these guys skills. Sure, the video is the same goofy “cut out” style associated with ‘JibJab’ and ‘South Park’ but it is quite a bit more detailed looking than some of ‘JibJab’s’ past videos. ‘Time for some Campaignin’ just came out and I am already starting to itch for the next ‘JibJab’ fix. There is a production blog that I haven't finished perusing yet but so far is very interesting. See it HERE. Of cousre, you can always just go to JibJab.com and explore. -Nate |
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