Were you feeling, perhaps, that the "Earth = Third World, Space-Station = America" border-control/immigration/class-uprising allegory in "Elysium" didn't look quite on the nose enough? Well, here are two trailers for Bong Joon-ho's (of "The Host" and "Mother") upcoming "Snowpiercer," in which an ice age has so blighted the planet that the remainders of human society now exist entirely on a gigantic train that travels constantly on a globe-circling track - the richer you are, the closer you live to the engine and get to run the show,...
Friday, 5 July 2013
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Depressingly (both in content and because I haaaaaaate "tracking numbers" bullshit being part of the film discussion, but such is life) the "story" of "Pacific Rim's" impending release has turned toward suspense because it's tracking numbers (of likely domestic boxoffice) aren't anywhere near what the people who paid $200 Million+ to make it wanted to see (it's currently projected to open behind "Grown-Ups 2.") But I'm still pulling for it and "Elysium" as the champions of original studio genre-movies this year, and this epic new (final?) trailer...
Monday, 1 July 2013
Friday, 28 June 2013
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
So, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (one of the unfortunate "will THIS get you assholes off my fucking back?" toxic-compromise maneuvers of the Clinton era) in key areas, ruling that the Federal Government is Constitutionally prohibited from denying any federal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples married in states where such marriages are legal.A big win, to be sure, and another step on the inevitable path to full equal marriage for all. But the court also stopped short of ruling one way or the other on a challenge...
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
UPDATE II: It is done. Thanks to he courageous efforts of Wendy Davis, her fellows Texas Democrats and a massive throng of supporters acting to shout-down Republicans and run out the clock, the SB5 bill that would have effectively banned abortion in Texas has been killed.There are two kinds of people in the word: Thinkers and Believers. Tonight, the Thinkers were also the Fighters - and they won. Thanks to them (for now) no woman in Texas can be forced into a life she did not choose because of someone else's beliefs she may not share or subscribe...
Monday, 24 June 2013
I've had a standing-policy about "Jurassic Park 4" for as long as "Jurassic Park 4" has been a possible thing: I will remain nominally positive about the idea of "Jurassic Park 4" up until the (inevitable) point where they decide - for the third fucking time - to waste one of the most potential-laden premises in modern scifi (an excuse for any dinosaur ever to show up anywhere in the world and cause mayhem) by just setting the whole damn thing on the island. Again.Yes, we all loved the first movie, but why they seem to assume that it...
Friday, 21 June 2013
Here's a nifty Japanese trailer for the live-action film adaptation of 70s anime staple "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman," which U.S. fans may be more familiar with under the titles of "Battle of The Planets," "G-Force," or "Eagle Riders." Pic opens in Japan in August, no word on a U.S. distributor. New uniforms certainly look nifty, though they do kind of lose the "dressed-as-a-bird" angle. Interestingly, this comes to us from the director of "Grave of The Fireflies" and "Pom-Pok...
Thursday, 20 June 2013
SGC hasn't even officially begun yet, but I've already gotten to meet lot's of great fans and colleagues. This is going to be a good one, I can feel it.Regarding my book: I can happily announce that copies of "Super Mario Bros. 3: Brick-By-Brick" (available online soon exclusively from Fangamer.net) will be available for purchase at the ScrewAttack booth in the Dealer Room starting tomorrow (note: cash only). Some fans have already purchased copies from me "in the wild," and if you see me around lugging a briefcase or boxes chances are I've got...
So here's where and when I'm scheduled to be places during SGC2013. I'm planning to always have copies of The Book on me for sale while I'm on the floor, though it also looks like it'll have some space at the ScrewAttack sales booth as well, and I'm looking to do some selling before/after my panels and during autograph sessions if at all possible; so those looking keep a look out. FRIDAY 6/21:2:00 PM Game OverThinker Autograph Session (Autograph Area Landmark B&C)9:30 PM "OverThinking It" Panel with Matthew from GameTheory and others (Main...
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
By all rights, a movie based on a line of toys wherein the toys THEMSELVES not only star, but star alongside toy versions of other mass-market branded characters should be THE symbol for the final victory of creeping-corporatism in film.And yet... "The Lego Movie" looks kind of incredible.Animation buffs take note: What you're seeing is (apparently) all CGI, but animated in such a way (other than the facial-features) so as to imitate the look of stop-motion made using Lego people. I'm not 100% sure what this technique is called, but I think it's...
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Hard to believe, but in a few short months "Awards-Worthy (Studio) Movie Season" will be upon us. One of the incoming expected-biggies is Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," in which Leonardo DiCaprio continues his quest to shame his peers by winning an Oscar while he still looks about 19 years old.Pic is another "rise and fall of hard-partying late-90s capitalist douchebags" saga, this time based on the memoirs of Jordan Belfort, who got busted in '98 running athe crooked brokerage firm that also served as the inspiration for "Boiler...
Friday, 14 June 2013
The first printing has been completed on my first book, "Super Mario Bros. 3: Brick By Brick." Very exciting.The book will be available for sale online likely sometime in the coming week (exact date TBD) exclusively through Fangamer.net (there will be an e-book version as well) although I will be bringing a limited number of physical copies to SGC next weekend to be sold in person (and signed, if that be your bag) pretty-much...
Thursday, 13 June 2013
There are two Great Hopes for original Hollywood genre-movies this Summer. One is "Pacific Rim" (hey Warner Bros? Now that "Man of Steel" is out can we get a hundred trailers and constant TV-exposure for that?) and the other is Neil Blomkamp's "District 9" follow-up "Elysium;" which now has a full(er) trailer.Premise: It's the future, and class has stratified to the point that a wealthy few live lives of disease, crime and pollution free bliss on an orbital space-station called Elysium while the working-class toils on an increasingly-blighted Earth...
"300" is one of them "phenom" movies that was absolutely huge for a moment in time and now feels like kind of a weird "why exactly were we all so hot for this?" footnote, so I'm not sure what kind of audience is waiting for a sequel. But they went and made one anyway, and now it has a trailer.The actual plot of this one hasn't been widely disseminated (largely because, again, nobody really seems to care) but from what has been said and from what this trailer reveals (new additions include boats and the color blue) it's likely that they're attempting...
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
Well. So much for that, then.It's basically the "Steve Rogers: Super Soldier" outfit from the brief overlap between "Bucky is Cap now" and "Steve is alive again" from a few years ago (which was in tern an in-joke homage to Jack Kirby's Cap-parody "The Fighting American") but with a cowl and shield added. And yes - it's the lack of stripes that does it. It's not like dropping the yellow oval from the Bat-symbol; the stripes (or at the very least...
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
It is going to be so weird if Orlando Bloom and Other Orlando Bloom Luke Evans have any scenes together... Yes, there are Czech subtitles. It's the first version I found. Welcome to a global economy.Memo to all would-be humorists: "Calling" that The Barrel Scene would be turned into a big, elaborate action-sequence in this doesn't qualify as especially prescient. Dial back the snark and enjoy your big-ass drag...
Friday, 7 June 2013
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
You know I'm a big fan of the classic Killer Whale Murder Spree flick "Orca," and you ought to be as well. Now, here's a trailer for "Blackfish," a documentary about Tilikum, whom you may or may not remember as the captive Orca blamed for the killings of three Sea World employees - the most recent of which was the attack/drowning of a trainer that happened in front of spectators. The trailer is cut like a Shocking! Expose! thing about a serial-killer cover-up, and I kind of hope that sort of sleazy/sordid "True Crime Stories" energy informs the...
That "Lifetime" is allowed to still go around billing itself as "Television For Women" when it's output is almost-exclusively Hallmark treacle, reality TV flotsam and tabloid sleaze is something that someone should really organize a march against. Until then, let's all "enjoy" this trailer for their next big celebrity biopic, "The Anna Nicole Story;" with Agnes Bruckner in the title role and a torch-song version of "Fame" lilting over the soundtrack.Wow. Do you have any idea how bad a movie has to be to look like it's not going to do "justice" to...
The clock keeps ticking down to the release of "Man of Steel." I'm not slated to see it until the week it comes out (at least so far,) but it's been shown to the NY/LA junket press and there are supposedly sneaks happening around starting this week. So far, nobody I know or trust has given me a solid reaction one way or another, so... the waiting game continues.While we wait, Warners has released this 13 minute "making of" piece to the web. Nothing in the way of new footage or plot details, but always interesting all the same. It doesn't do much...
Saturday, 1 June 2013
When the Wall Street Journal - one of America's worst non-mimeographed and/or locally Church-published newspapers - isn't running obnoxious, stiflingly-ignorant clickbait pieces "taking down" film criticism (oh, I'll get to that one, be patient;) it's apparently giving platforms to the shambling, somehow still-animated Old Money ghouls of New York Past. Because someone has to.One of these frightening yet pathetic creatures, Dorothy Rabinowitz, has taken some time from what one must assume is a strict regimen of draining life-sustaining essence...
Snapped and tweeted by LaMovieBuff at a convention in Puerto Rico is a photo that, if I were the head of marketing for Warner Bros, would be purchased and readied to be slapped on every "Man of Steel" puff-piece set to hit Time-Warner's various magazine and news outlets over the next two weeks.This. This image right here. This is the real, pure, true, good thing underneath all the obscene corporate/commercial bloat surrounding a movie like...
Friday, 31 May 2013
Thursday, 30 May 2013
The key to the original "Machete" - for me, at least - was that it was the first instance in a long while of a Robert Rodriguez movie actually being about something beyond the surface-level faux-grindhouse jokefest. I have no idea what Rodriguez politics are and thus no idea how strongly he "really" feels about the U.S. immigration debate; but whether authentic or just part of the winking 70s-exploitation pastiche it was the ferocity with which "Machete" engaged the subject that made it stand out: The wildly-applauding, predominantly Latino...
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Here's all you need to know about Disney's "Cars" spinoff, "Planes." Pixar - which had no problem signing it's name to both of the wholly-disposable "Cars" movies, is letting Disney take sole credit for this one.Dane Cook stars as a cropduster who dreams of competing in an airplane race against an elite gathering of broad ethnic stereotyp...
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Huh. Well, this will be interesting.The Hub, which is still looking for an original kids' series that people will watch other than "Friendship is Magic," thinks it's found a winner in an Australian animated series called "Shezow." I hadn't heard of it until the (week old) trailer for it's U.S. premier started making the rounds, but the premise is interesting: The (magical) mantle of a female superhero with decidedly female-gendered accoutremants (sparkly miniskirted costume, Barbie-esque pink car, etc) is accidentally passed to a teenaged...
Sunday, 26 May 2013
And we now have our customary first big Awards Season Frontrunner (for awhile anyway) as the voting concludes at the Cannes Film Festival. The jury - this year headed by none other than Steven Spielberg - awarded the Palm d'Or (top prize) to "Blue Is The Warmest Color" (aka "La vie de Adele Parts 1 &2"); a French romantic drama that was already one of the most buzzed-about and controversial entries in this year's festival.Based on a French graphic novel (apparently unavailable in the U.S.), the story follows a young woman's (Adele Exarchopoulos)...
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Below, the trailer for this year's movie the "endurance cinephile" in your life (the guy who prides himself on having "made it through" notoriously heavy/violent/controversial works) will be going on about this year: "The Act of Killing." The good news? It indeed looks/sounds kind of amazing.The premise? In Indonesia, the government that operated the country's notorious Death Squad killings of communists and suspected communists that are said to have numbered at least 1,000,000 is still effectively running the show, and while the vestiges...
Pop Quiz, hotshot.You've got a horror movie to sell. It's a remake of one of the genre's modern-day classics, a film that damn near everyone has either seen or at least is familiar with the plot and iconic moments thereof. One of the small handful of genuine horror (as opposed to "suspense" or "thriller") entries alongside "Exorcist" and "Rosemary's Baby" to be recognized as great, important films even outside their often-disregarded genre. Based on a book by easily the most famous living author of horror or anything else on the planet.What's...
Friday, 24 May 2013
We cannot stop Robin Williams, we can only contain Robin Williams.Below, the extended trailer for CBS's fall sitcom offering "The Crazy Ones," which appears to compress the entirety of it's pilot episode into five minutes. The premise? Somebody though "Y'know, people seem to love 'Mad Men,' but maybe they'd love it more as a wacky-father/serious-daughter workplace comedy with Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gella...
Thursday, 23 May 2013
So. A week after Joss Whedon surprisingly confirms that X-Men/Avengers shared-custody kids Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are being planned for "Avengers 2," apparently enabled by a contract loophole that lets them use these specific characters from the X-Men family (the movie rights to which are owned by Fox) so long as nobody says the words "Mutant" or "Magneto" (he's their dad); Fox and director Bryan Singer have now out-of-nowhere revealed that Evan Peters will be playing Quicksilver in the currently-shooting "X-Men: Days of Future Past."This...
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Below, the trailer for Joseph Gordon Levitt's self-written/directed "Don Jon;" which casts him as a pornography addict who falls for Scarlett Johansson as a woman similarly-addicted... to shitty romantic comedies. Because Mars & Venus and reasons.In all seriousness, though, it looks REALLY good - I am so psyched for the idea of Tony Danza entering an "aging sought-after character actor" career-phase you have NO idea. I'm just going to assume that casting of two of the best looking people in Hollywood as having "addictions" more generally associated...
I finally know what date I'll be seeing "Man of Steel," which is a relief because the anticipation on this one has been killing me: Every new thing seen/heard from it has been alternately thrilling/terrifying: So much that looks like they "got it," so much that sounds like they might not have and nothing to change my concerns that while Zack Snyder is the perfect person to direct a Superman movie... the Nolan Bros. don't belong anywhere near the character.That sense continues with the new trailer, which is more-or-less the "introducing...
Monday, 20 May 2013
Saturday, 18 May 2013
The second half of my "Star Trek Into Darkness" review got into spoiler-territory in order to address what I see as some pretty serious flaws, but there's one in particular that I didn't fully discuss - partially because it would've taken too much time and the show ran long as it was, but mainly because I'm not 100% sure that I didn't "miss" some bit of dialogue that would've made this not the ginormous, baffling plot hole that it seems to be.Obviously, EVERYTHING after the jump is spoiler-territory, including the comments. So read/click through...
Friday, 17 May 2013
Long rumored but now seemingly confirmed by Joss Whedon to IGN, joining the team (or at least in the film to some capacity) will be Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, better known as The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. He's basically The Flash if he was a Eurotrashy douchebag, she can manipulate probability - i.e. she can make pretty-much anything happen through "magic" handwaved with psuedo-science. They're fraternal twins, originally villains who reformed and joined The Avengers alongside fellow ex-baddie Hawkeye during the team's first major...
Thursday, 16 May 2013
I really, really hope that this marks the start of a much bigger push for this movie. Fairly or not, I feel like so much is riding on "Pacific Rim." An original (read: not a sequel, remake, reboot, adaptation, etc) big-budget genre movie? Guillermo Del Toro finally on the cusp of the blockbuster clout he should've had a decade ago? Giant monsters and robots up onscreen with no "apology" for their own existence or attempt to make them palatable to audiences that might turn their noses up otherwise?If something like this doesn't "succeed,"...
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Monday, 13 May 2013
I'm an on-record eye-roller when it comes to the Orci/Kurtzman team, not because they so often make bad movies and TV shows but because the bad stuff they make is often so close to being awesome. So much of their output plays like a "sanitized" version of someone else's batshit-nuts brilliant idea; and as I continue to say: A crazy, unwieldy, unworkably ridiculous idea unleashed full-force - even and often especially if the result is spectacularly embarassing - is preferable to competently-executed mediocrity: Please me, horrify me, just don't...
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