I’m touching myself tonight… Said every geek: Deadpool is here!

Ryan Reynolds is back (or not back? I dunno… He was Deadpool but then he’s not but is…?) as Marvel’s hilarious, ass kicking, fourth wall breaking super hero! 

Now, I am writing this purely subjectively; I do not know very much about the character, I have not read one of his comics. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you could say that Deadpool was introduced in X-Men Origins: Wolverine played by Ryan Reynolds. Where his portrayal was funny and probably a highlight of the movie, critics and fans alike found this on screen debut of the character, left a bad taste in the mouth; like a testicle with teeth.  

Not exactly jumping from the comic book, is he?

Anyhow, the potential for a stand alone Deadpool movie seemed unlikely after the flop in X Men Origins. Apparently, the idea was tossed around here and there, with scripting and casting trouble etc. It wasn’t until some very interesting on set photos emerged some months ago that I actually believed it was happening! And the trailer has only made my thirst for Deadpool greater! Damn, he’s just so badass… 

 I am guessing that the creation of Deadpool in the X Men Universe is counteracted by the events that took place in Days of Future Past, where the events of the five films all post 1980 were made apparently mute. Maybe this explains how we now have a new Deadpool origin story? Fingers crossed.

I saw the red band trailer in all it’s high profile goriness and this makes me happy as a fan; unaware of what to expect, I can appreciate that the Deadpool comic’s are very violent, so why shouldn’t his cinematic story be the same? It’s good to see Reynolds quick wit hasn’t left Wade and this film could almost be viewed as a comedy! Either way, from the stunts to the humour, from the costume to the actors, this film looks pretty damn good! It’ll be nice to see something a bit less Marvel Disney and a bit more Marvel mature! Thumbs up from this guy; oh yeah… I’m touching myself tonight and I’m sure that every other Marvel fan is too…

Super Heroine’s: Time for Change?

Just to inform: I am a male blogger, writing this as truthfully and unbiased as I can.

I do not know if it is a prerequisite for all stand alone female lead superhero movies to be awful… But they just are? Catwoman, Elektra, even the planned Wonder Woman TV show was cancelled before its initial release date… Why? How can strong and powerful characters like Black Widow and Silk Spectre have decent back stories developed in a male dominated environment, but not have successful independent movies? Is there not enough traction?

I believe that without female super heroes (or super heroines) the comic book world, either on page or screen, would be considerably dull; it let’s us know, as an audience, that the female presence is absolutely necessary. For men, it is something to look at and most certainly an impressive watch when those much like Mystique and Batgirl can easily best Beast and Batman. For female audiences, I guess it would have the same effect on them as watching Captain America or Superman has on men; an aspiration and mild loathing at how good looking and fit they look. Alternatively, it could be seen as an intrusion; let the men do all the fighting; let them get on with it? I do not know. All I know is, that as it stands, the solo female lead super hero movies have not been received well and I am worried for future ones, I.E Wonder Woman.

I was so excited upon hearing that Warner Bros would make a Catwoman spin-off. One of the great fictional female icons had a film! Starring Halle Berry and Sharon Stone, the film had it’s own origin for the story and was a milestone with the first black Catwoman on the big screen. But… Well, need I say it. It was a flop of epic proportions and Halle Berry supposedly only took up her role of another comic book character, Storm, in X-Men 3: The Last Stand in an attempt to rid the failure of this movie. Awkward.

Following this, a Marvel character would get her own spin-off. Elektra! Jennifer Garner would reprise her ninja character from Daredevil to take up the sai once more. Elektra is my all time favourite female comic book personality, so needless to say, the movie was hotly anticipated. Doing certainly better than Catwoman at the box office, it was still a tremendous disappointment. I still loved both these products of cinema over-enthusiasm, but as I have grown up on them; I can appreciate the more sour taste they leave come the credit roll.

Now, new images have been released from the set of DC’s latest cinematic escapade “Suicide Squad” and these prominently feature the leading lady, Margot Robbie as none other than Joker’s right hand gal: Harley Quinn. This will be her first big screen showing in a live action film. Writing this, I realise I have put “leading lady” and “right hand gal” in the same sentence; no the film is not all about her character; if the film stays true to it, she is more of a side kick. That is a shame; I hope she gets plenty of screen time, as she is certainly one of the more bulshy female antagonists to grace the comic book universe. 

At the moment, the main woman heading up for female comic book characters is undeniably Scarlett Johanson’s Black Widow and I have to hand it to Marvel; despite not having her own spin-off, she certainly is a focal point. Marvel have continued to introduce strong female leads into their films and TV shows such as Cobie Smulder’s Agent Marie Hill and Zoe Saldana’s, Gamora. But, nevertheless, they are supporting characters to the male dominated plot’s in Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy (where Gamora is the only woman.)

This is the same with Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman 1 & 2. It detracted from the “damsel in distress” and gave her great intellect in comparison to even Peter Parker, which was nice to see… but ultimately, she was a plot device for him; a love interest and her death only made that considerably more focal.

All this makes me fearful as to whether the new Wonder Woman played by Gal Gadot will be successful; to be introduced in Batman VS Superman: Dawn of Justice, this will be the a completely new generation of Wonder Woman; the pinnacle of female superheroes. There was alot of back lash about Gal Gadot being too skinny, which I felt was unjust, but her first promotional image made her look beautiful and formidable. I do no know how audiences will take it, but I just hope we’ll finally see a successful female lead super hero movie! Fingers crossed. So that is my brief summary; controversial as it may seem, this is how it seems and it’s about time we got a great lady hero movie!

Read on and Prosper!

King Under the Mountain! The Hobbit Concludes! SPOILERS

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies was released on DVD and Blu-Ray at the beginning of this week and is the long awaited conclusion of the Hobbit Trilogy. If you can get your head around it, it Is a prequel trilogy to a sequel trilogy made after the sequel trilogy… but is still set before it? Peter Jackson returned to direct it, much like he had for Lord of the Rings, which as everyone knows, is the sequel trilogy of films. Written in four books by the great fiction writer J.R.R Tolkien, the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings were a huge literary success. In 2001, the first of three films was released in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring, which began the tale of a young Hobbit, Frodo Baggins being burdened with the keeping of a dark treasure; a ring that holds the power to return the dark lord Sauron to his full power. Teaming up with Hobbit’s, Elves, Men, Wizard’s and Dwarves, the company of 9 must deliver the ring back to the volcano to which it was forged to destroy it forever. Winning 4 Oscars and international attention from audiences of all ages, it was proceeded by The Two Towers. Winning a further 2 Oscars, this was then followed by the conclusion of the trilogy, the Return of the King. This earned an additional 11 Oscars and secured Peter Jackson among the great film makers of the age.

 

When it was announced that the Hobbit would be made into films, I was overjoyed! The Lord of the Rings was such an iconic piece of cinematography, why on Middle-Earth wouldn’t we all like to see more of Hobbits, Elves, Wizards and the like? But, would it live up to the huge success of it’s predecessor? I think the majority of the die-hard fans would say that it did not live up to our first trip there and back again to Middle Earth; there seemed to be a considerable amount more CGI, the scripts were maybe not as strong and (for me) the character relationships are no where near as genuinely portrayed. BUT, having said this, the main actor performances on the whole (Ian Mckellen- Gandalf, Martin Freeman- Bilbo Baggins, Cate Blanchett- Galadriel etc.) were, as always, superb and heartfelt, as is Howard Shore’s unique talent in score and Peter Jackson’s stunning direction. It was these fundamentals that bridged the two sets of films and I reckon that one could watch all six films in order and be truly satisfied with the level of detail and care taken to preserve J.R.R Tolkien’s novel’s.

The Hobbit Trilogy sees Frodo Baggins’ uncle Bilbo, assist a company of 13 Dwarves take back their mountain kingdom from a dragon which has resided there for 60 years. An Unexpected Journey, the first movie of the new Tolkien based franchise, was released in late 2012 and nominated for 4 Oscars. I was initially skeptical after seeing it originally, but I came to really enjoy this first installment. Yes, it is noticeably different than LOTR and the production value is obviously higher, but you can tell that Jackson desperately tried to keep the aesthetic the same or at least similar to that of his original vision. This is admirable and with returning characters such as Ian Holm’s Bilbo Baggins, Hugo Weaving’s Lord Elrond, Christopher Lee’s Saruman the White and of course, Ian Mckellen’s famous portrayal of Gandalf the Grey, it was a nice beginning to a three part story linking both set of inspirational movies together.

The Desolation of Smaug was released in 2013 and saw the story continue, with the return of Orlando Bloom’s Legolas from LOTR and the proper introduction of Lee Pace’s ruthless King Thranduil and Evangeline Lilly’s beautiful Tauriel. It was a stunning, sleek and well rounded piece of cinema; in my opinion, the best of the three (especially the extended edition). Nominated for 3 Oscars, the film concludes with Benedict Cumberbatch’s motion capture performance of Smaug the Dragon being vanquished from the mountain kingdom and seeking his revenge on the local villagers.

The Battle of the Five Armies (formerly named There and Back Again) was released in 2014 and was nominated for a single Oscar. As I write this I am actually watching it back for the first time since seeing it upon it’s initial release back in December of last year and I have to say, it is much better second round. I believe the main fault with it and why it was given such harsh criticism is the fact that the majority of it is fighting… Literally, it has very little plot to it, the main bulk of the plot is a fight sequence between the five armies. I love a good battle sequence as much as the next man, in fact with the Lord of the Rings films, it was practically a prerequisite! But as good as the action is.. it did seem to get a bit samey after a while. The trilogy was initially going to be a duo, so maybe the unnecessarily long fight scenes were to bulk the film out? I don’t know.

The romance sub plot between Tauriel and one of the Dwarves, Kili, was sweetly established in The Desolation of Smaug and as tragic as this film is when it comes to the continuation of that in Battle of the Five Armies, it did seem oddly irrelevant how they were hopelessly in love after two short conversations spread several days apart? I believe in love at first sight and all that but still? However the scenes between them were nicely acted and not exaggerated so I can’t really complain. Ironically, one of the most important plot points to note in the film is also the one seen briefest with the grouping of the White council (Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman and Radagast played by Doctor Who veteran Sylvester McCoy) against the spirit form of Sauron, who is banished back to Mordor. This is my favourite part of the movie as it sees truly outstanding actors do what they do best and that’s deliver a powerfully intense scene in less than 8 minutes of footage. Once all the fighting is over and the mourning began, it seems all too sudden that Bilbo goes “cool, see ya”! and is off back to the Shire, with the revelation that Gandalf knew all along that he had a ring of magic… Oh, brilliant; feel free to do something about that sir, it may be just the ONE ring that Sauron is after? No? OK fair enough, don’t examine it or anything; just let Bilbo keep it and wait 60 years for Fellowship to find out. It has quite a sharp ending to a story that lasts about 8-9 hours long (that’s all three movies.) I am hoping that upon the extended edition’s release that it will be subsequently fleshed out a bit more to add some more depth to story.

I have lavished in watching it though; an end to an era I suppose with the same poignancy as to that felt at the end of Return of the King. Regardless of the nit picks, I cannot stress my fondness and emotional attachment felt to these films; no matter how many times I watch them, it will feel like an entirely fresh experience every time.

I hope you have enjoyed reading and feel free to comment your thoughts on our last visit to Middle Earth!

Read on and Prosper!

This will give the parents nightmares! The Park is Open…

Fourteen years after the last Dino-mayhem outing, the Jurassic Park franchise welcomes in its fourth instalment in June: Jurassic World! This hotly anticipated sequel is said to be the beginning of a possible new trilogy; starring Chris Pratt (Her, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Twilight, Spider-Man 3). I always wanted to do a blog post on Jurassic Park; GOD IT’S JUST SO AWESOME! and am a HUGE fan of the original film, so when the latest trailer was released today, I couldn’t resist. Now, the still successful sequel The Lost World, was a little blergh for me and Jurassic Park III was entertaining but strayed from what made the franchise in the first place.   

A quick bit of info for the uneducated in Michael Crichton’s novel turned film quadrilogy. A wealthy entrepreneur named John Hammond (Richard Attenborough; RIP) sets up a new tourist attraction in the shape of a theme park, housing newly developed dinosaurs, genetically modified and grown from ancient fossilised DNA. Before his park can be given the green light, he enlists the help of Palaeontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neil) and Ellie Sattler (Larua Dern) to endorse the project and ensure investor confidence. Once upon the island, an employee of the park attempts to steal the DNA to sell to a rival company, unable to figure out the science of the dinosaur’s creation. Unfortunately, the security systems shut down, all the dinosaurs are set loose, a lot of people die and it is up to all three characters above to ensure the safety of the survivors. It stormed cinema’s in 1993 and has been a global success ever since, spawning two sequels; however in these sequels, there was an ongoing theme: the island’s to which the dinosaur’s inhabit are desolate, and no human resides there, the animals having free reign and the Costa Rican Government ensuring no human goes near them (doing a bad job). Jurassic World is different. 

Nearly a decade and a half later, Jurassic Park is finally up and running successfully and has been for the past 10 years, pulling in customers and tourists all over the world, just as John Hammond had envisioned. But people are becoming less than complaisant; the T-Rex is samey, the Triceratops is boring and the Pteranadon… meh? So to spark attendance for the park, now titled “Jurassic World”, the scientists decide to genetically design and create an entirely new breed of dinosaur. Yeah… er, bad idea? The Indominus Rex is supposedly designed to best even the fan favourite: the Tyrannosaurus Rex and I am guessing that if we see a showdown between these two in the film and the I-Rex wins… people may not be too happy. Particularly after Jurassic Park III where the Spinosaurus quite easily kicked the T-Rex’s butt, much to many a cinema-goer’s dismay. So naturally, the Indominus Rex escapes with it’s superior intellect, but this time there are 20,000 tourists stranded on the island. Oh…

So! The kids are still in danger, the dinosaurs still escape and there is going to be a lot of screaming; so what is new? I am not too sure what to think about the new dynamic to which the Velociraptor’s have with Chris Pratt’s character Owen Grady, who claims not to have “tamed” them but to have built a mutual respect thing, like they have a relationship. The Velociraptor’s are by far, my favourite and they are damn terrifying, especially in the original. Here, they seem to be “good” guys? Or at least seen to help Grady track down the Indominus Rex… Hmm… These are animals right? Albeit incredibly intelligent animals, but like Grady says, “they need to eat and hunt”. Just because I need to get a football out of the tree, I don’t all of a sudden WhatsApp a squirrel to go and get it for me, you know? Awful analogy I know, but you get my point. I just hope that they kick a bit of ass in this film and bring back some of that terror.

Once again, the Pterosaurs are back; they had a decent bit of plot in Jurassic Park III and I am still on the fence as to whether I like them or not? But one thing that is definitely new, is the Mosasaur! A sea dwelling gargantuan of a creature that feeds primarily on sharks apparently. Under the sea dinosaurs have not been attempted before on screen in the movies (although alluded to, at the beginning of Jurassic Park III) and it is about time that they made an appearance, as it certainly adds a freshness to what audiences can expect with it not all being T-Rex this and Stegosaurus that.

By the trailer alone, it appears that a lot of innocent people are going to be in danger in comparison to where it has been just a handful; that prospect is truly terrifying, after all they are on an island? This gives the grander scale of threat much more prominence than felt before and I think this will make the film considerably more entertaining to watch.

Oh! So it seems that Dr Henry Wu is back (B.D Wong) and one quick comment: “Man, you were there in Jurassic Park and that screwed up? Why the hell are you back for more”? Enough said.

Filmed on location in Hawaii, just like Park, this film is definitely set to be awesome and the visuals are much larger, scarier and more impressive than we’ve ever seen before. Despite my nit-picks, I am so excited to see this film and I have faith that it won’t be a flop… Hopefully! After all; life finds a way.

Read on and Prosper!

The Force is Strong with this One! The Force Awakens!

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has recently seen the release of it’s second trailer and it seemed the internet exploded like the proverbial Death Star! It appeared not just geeks and nerds (like myself) were in a state of Chewbecca induced frenzy, but people of all ages were talking about Star Wars in schools and offices once again!

A life long Star Wars fan, upon the announcement of a new Star Wars film, I thought that maybe this old cow had been sufficiently milked enough. I was satisfied with the franchises ethos as it was and weren’t sure as to whether I could welcome in a new chapter upon the emotional closure of Episode III. And then J.J Abrams signed on and George Lucas signed out. I loved J.J Abrams take on Star Trek, making the campy 60’s show look grittier, violent and more mature. Would he bring this kind of attitude to Star Wars? I hope so! With CGI down to a minimum and practical effects promised to be an all time high for the new trilogy, it is reported that the vision for the new series is to make it more comparable to Episodes IV, V, VI. Good! The sleekness and shininess of the over computer generated Episodes I, II, III sometimes made it feel like it truly was in a galaxy far, far away!

Like the initial trailer released back in December of 2014, the opening shot is of the dessert. Not exactly enticing and a bit samey… and then as my eyes adjusted to the tiny screen of my mate’s phone in his car (he’d pulled over just to watch it), I realised what eclipsed the skyline:  a gargantuan Star Destroyer, crashed and abandoned, protruding from the sand dunes. I literally said “oh wow”. I know a few clever IT savvy people had Photoshopped their own art and I remember seeing something similar to this a few months ago, but what a sight! A truly impressive and humbling set of visuals; plus it makes me feel old upon the realisation that Star Wars Episode VI was a long time ago… not in a galaxy far far away.

Along with the melted remnants of Lord Vader’s helmet, the passing of Luke Skywalker’s (formerly Anakin Skywalker’s) lightsaber, seen in the original and prequel trilogies and R2D2 glistening against the flames of an unknown burning object, the reality of this iconic world of Jedi and far away planets began to sink in. It’s back! Subtle design changes to the villainous Storm Troopers, Tie Fighters, X-Wings and original actor’s costumes are a nice little treat and it’s comforting to hope that the producers of this film know what they are doing and are not to overhaul the whole thing to make something entirely new. There has to be that link or it wouldn’t feel like Star Wars at all.

Kylo Ren, the new Sith Lord on the scene, seems to lead the newly reformed Empire on a chaotic and vengeful vendetta against the rest of the galaxy. The new galactic soldiers seem to look considerably more menacing that ever before and maybe they’ll actually hit something with their guns this time instead of being the worst shots in the scifi universe. This whole trailer pays a respectful homage to the original trilogy and that only makes the anticipation for it’s December release all the more intense!

With new droids in the form of the adorable and impressively designed BB-8, new triple bladed lightsabers and chrome troopers, this vague but beautifully edited trailer makes Star Wars seem more prominent than ever! I am so excited and I hope you guys are too! And as the screen fades from black to Han Solo and Chewbecca on the Millennium Falcon… Well that did it. Star Wars has made, once again, an impact on international culture and it’s not even out yet! I can already see t-shirts proudly printed “Chewie… We’re home”! So go and watch the trailer and don’t forget to read on and prosper!