Category Archives: movies

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Iron Man Made Me A Believer

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This week Brian from Cool & Collected posed the following question:

What media announcement had you throwing fist pumps and doing roundhouse kicks in the air? Did the final result live up to your dreams?

 

I still find it hard to believe that It’s 2012 and we are on the cusp of a full fledged Avengers movie.  Five years ago during Comic Con foundation was starting to take shape when Marvel Studios rolled out a teaser trailer for Iron Man.  The attendees at Hall H lost their minds and took to the internet spouting their unrequited love for director Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark.  Up until that point, there wasn’t much buzz on the project and Iron Man walked away the fan favorite of San Diego Comic Con 2007.

Leading up to Iron Man’s release in May 2008, there were rumors of a super secret cameo that would be dropped in after the credits. As press screenings were rolling out, it was very difficult to remain spoiler free … but I prevailed.  Those who had seen it said it was absolutely mind blowing.

I took in a Friday night showing of Iron Man battling the crowds.  When the credits finished about 75% of the theater remained seated, waiting for this cameo.  And then it happened …  NICK FURY!!!  I howled with fan boy delight as my wife just looked at me sideways.  “Avengers” I exclaimed, “they’re talking about the goddamn Avengers they’re going to do this”.

It wasn’t until that point that I sat back and was floored that Marvel was committed to making a series of movies that would lead up to a movie about their flagship super team.  In the time since Iron Man was released, we’ve almost taken for granted that an Avengers movie was coming.  Five years ago, none of us had an inkling as to what Marvel was planning.

 

The Avengers Eye Bones Your Face With Awesome

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I’ve watched the latest trailer for The Avengers at least seven times.  Each viewing is met by the same goggly eyed excitement every time.  Four years after Marvel turned the comic movie genre on its ear, we are on the cusp of a superhero team-up movie.  It’s crazy right?

We are getting a live-action feature with Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury.  The 12 year old version of me would have not been able to comprehend the sheer awesomeness contained in the 2:30 seconds embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

The CGI looks very, very good.  I’m very impressed with The Hulk, it’s a very classic interpretation but still actually looks like Mark Ruffalo who is portraying his alter ego, Bruce Banner.  And this point, the bad guys have to be Skrulls right? That’s what I’m going with at this point, we will just have to wait until May 4th to find out.

The League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Where Are They Now?

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Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, I was unable to participate in the second assignment set forth for The League.  This week, Brian from Cool & Collected challenged members with the following

The 80′s and 90′s were filled with kids and teens in the movies. Which movie would you like to see a sequel made in 2012 with the original cast members, who have aged the same as you and me.

 

I think for many of my generation, the obvious choice would be The Goonies.  While I have a certain affinity for that flick, it pales in comparison to The Monster Squad.  To this day, I still think it has the best ‘modern’ interpretation of the Universal monsters.  What makes The Monster Squad so appealing is that a movie which prominently features kids cursing, bullying, smoking, talking about tits, and firing guns would never get a PG-13 rating in 2012 … let alone released. Weren’t the 1980s a beautiful thing?

I’d have to imagine that The Monster Squad 2: Monster Harder (just a working title) would show a group of late twenty somethings whose greatest accomplishment was fighting the forces of darkness before they reached high school.  Much like Olympic Gymnasts, their best years are behind them.  Horace can only get so many free meals on his epic take down of Gill Man.

Let’s be honest, just because you sent Dracula into a vortex doesn’t mean that he’s gone.  I can definitely envision a story where the kids (now adults) have to sharpen their stakes and melt down their good silverware once more to finally end the threat of the living dead claiming their world.  All I really want, is a new version of my favorite montage of any film put out during the 1980s.

 

Seriously, how can you beat that montage?  And with that, feel free to check out other members of the League and their musings on this week’s topic:

The Breakfast Club: Where Are They Now?  – [Cool & Collected]

KIDS: Where Are They Now? – [Sideshow Cinema]

The Last Starfighter – [Lair of The Dork Lord]

 

Of Big Trouble, Autobots, and Saviors of The Universe: My Ideal Saturday Matinee

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The League of Extraordinary Bloggers is a group of like-minded individuals organized by Brian from Cool & Collected.  Each member contributes a post on the weekly assignment, which is shared and cross posted across the group.  The first assignment:

What movie is, or was, your “go to” Saturday matinee — the comfort movie you always popped into the VCR on a rainy Saturday afternoon, the movie you watched over and over again, driving your parents crazy while you recited the lines along with the characters on the screen?

Most people can point to a movie as being their go to childhood flick.  You know the one I’m talking about, it’s the one that your parents would begrudgingly pop into the VCR every weekend.  Over time the sound would pop or the picture would jump because it had been rewound far too many times.

I never had just a movie.  I had three movies, which I know refer to as my Trifecta of 80′s Awesomeness: Big Trouble in Little China, Transformers: The Movie, and Flash Gordon. And you want to know why it was so awesome? They were on just one VCR tape. My dad had a knack for making *ahem* duplicates of VHS tapes through an elaborate system of VHS decks.  With love and dedication, my dad worked it out to get all three movies on to one VHS tape, guaranteeing close to 5 1/2 hours of uninterrupted TV time.

To this day I still have a deep and profound love for those movies.  Partly due to the dedication from my dad to ensure that I had uninterrupted flow of 80s cheese pipelined directly into my cerebral cortex. To this day I can listen to the score from Transformers: The Movie and articulate the scenes in which each movement occurs.  I can go line for line with Jack Burton, and the Flash Gordon soundtrack is among my most played on my iPod.  To this day, I never grow tired of any of these movies. And I may argue that these three movies could be tied for the greatest 80s movie theme songs (Footloose can suck it!)

I have a primal compulsion to watch them every time they pop up, much to the chagrin of my wife.  Of the three, I think she prefers Big Trouble in Little China … but she will never admit to that.

More From The League:

Good Ol’ Saturday Matinee Weirdness via GeekChunks

Boys, Avenge Me, AVENGE ME! via Branded in the 80s

 

The Amazing Spider-Man Trailer Is Somewhat Amazing

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I will freely admit that I’m a Spider-Man fanboy.  Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies hit right as I was getting back into comics after a long time away.  We can all agree that by the time Spider-Man 3 hit, the magic was gone from the franchise.  I will forever be haunted by the images of Emo Dancing Street Strutting Peter Parker (somehow HASBRO missed out on making an action figure of that).  A fresh take was needed on the character, and I’m glad that Sam Raimi stepped aside.

So about this trailer.  I will spare you the frame by frame analysis, I’ll leave that to the darker corners of the Interwebz.  I will however outline my hits and misses:

Hits:

  • A real person swinging around as Spider-Man, I understand that CGI needs to be used, but in-camera effects FTMFW
  • Emma Stone looks like she stepped out of the pages of a Steve Ditko issue of Amazing Spider-Man.  It’s uncanny.
  • MECHANICAL WEBSHOOTERS #$%%^&&!!
  • The Reptile is the villain, finally!

Misses:

  • I’m not really liking the look of Reptile, what happened to his snout? Why does he look like Killer Croc?
  • The suit … I’m a purist and I know  this sounds like a nitpick, but there are few costumes that you do not mess around with and Spider-Man is on that list.
  • It’s being billed as “the untold story”, I just don’t want a long drawn out origin story.  I’m pretty sure my mom and grandmom know how Peter Parker became Spider-Man.

Call me cautiously optimistic about this one, The Amazing Spider-Man hits theaters July 3rd, 2012.

 

 

 

Fact: Michael Bay Loves To Double Dip

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One of the trends that Hollywood doesn’t seem to get tired of is the DVD double dip. Transformers: Dark of The Moon was first released on Blu Ray & DVD on September 30th. It was bare bones with no special features at all. That was a very shitty move on behalf of Paramount, as they had full intentions of releasing it again a few months later chock full of special features and in 3D.

As someone who throughly enjoys the commentaries and behind the scenes stuff, I opted to wait it out. Luckily I only have a couple of weeks left until the Transformers: Dark of the Moon Ultimate Edition Blu-Ray 3D Combo Pack hits retail on January 31st.

Transformers Dark of The Moon 3D Blu-ray from Michael Bay Dot Com on Vimeo.


Credit [TFW2005]

The Brand New Captain America: The First Avenger Trailer

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I just got done watching the latest trailer for Captain America: The First Avengers for the fourth time and I am very well convinced that this will be THE super hero movie of the summer. While Thor was genuinely awesome in its own right, seeing Captain America sling his shield on the big screen is going to be something special.

All I can say is America, FUCK YEAH!

A New Red Band Trailer for Attack The Block

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I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about Attack The Block, a British science fiction film in which an inner city gang defends their neighborhood from an alien invasion. It’s produced by the Up until this point I haven’t gotten a look at the picture up until this point, but this new red band trailer is very, very encouraging.

Attack The Block is set for a limited US release on July 29th, unfortunately Philadelphia doesn’t appear to be included on that list of cities that first weekend.

Credit [First Showing]

DDOY Review: Super 8

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Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler
★★★★★★

While I don’t consider myself a J.J. Abrams fanboy, I will admit that I’m a big fan of his work. I appreciate the level of detail he brings to his projects and admire his reluctance to spoil the entire movie plot in a trailer. Leading up to its release, Super 8 was getting positive reviews from critics and a lot of people were talking about how much it felt like vintage Spielberg.

Luckily I’m far too distracted in my personal life to get caught up in the hype, so when I entered the theater this past weekend I had no preconceived notions. I just wanted to be entertained. The end result was a very enjoyable film that took me back to movies like The Goonies, Explorers, and The Monster Squad.

In Super 8 we follow a group of kids who had interests atypical of their peers, that got caught in the middle of a government conspiracy and came face to face with an alien life form. Sounds like E.T. right? It certainly does, but Super 8 has one thing over E.T. in that it’s a far more compelling and realistic approach to first contact with an alien species. I never bought E.T. the benevolent alien that loved Reese’s Pieces.

Super 8 is hard to define, at one point it’s a family drama and quickly veers into an action movie and then comes back around to a science fiction piece. Is there a heavy Spielberg influence? Absolutely. I do not think that it is a detriment to the film as a whole, but you definitely get a “yeah I’ve seen this before” feeling in the third act heading towards the film’s climax.

The production value of the film was phenomenal, Abrams went to great lengths to make you feel like you were in Ohio in the late 1970s. The group of child actors he assembled did a fine job carrying the picture, and unlike other movies with kids in them … he made sure they talked like middle school aged kids. There was a sense of gravity in their performances and it didn’t feel like some Disney Channel movie.

I won’t go into spoiler territory, but I will say that the creature is definitely reminiscent of others from projects that Abrams has done. I like the fact that there is some consistency in Super 8 with the creature designs in Star Trek and Cloverfield.

Overall, Super 8 is a worthwhile theatrical experience and a great start to the summer movie season.

Invaders From Mars (1986) Warped My Childhood

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What do you get when you give Tobe Hooper, director of Poltergeist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the go ahead to remake the 1953 science fiction classic Invaders From Mars? Well you get a teacher, who has been taken over by malevolent aliens inhaling frog like its a corn dog in the back of a classroom.

So yes it’s completely understandable that this movie drastically altered my worldview at a very young age. A young kid witnesses an alien craft land in his town, and finds himself the only one aware of the Martian invasion. Only his school nurse can help him, because well everyone else are basically aliens wearing human skin suits.

I haven’t had an opportunity to revisit Invaders From Mars in at least 10-15 years, so I can’t really say how it holds up. For those who have never known of the film’s existence, I’ve included the theatrical trailer below.