Today's News: scary posters and explosive trailers galore

Get ready for a nerdy newsflash:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156193/eerste_poster_dracula_untold

Looks atmospheric enough, particularly the international one (see above). That doesn't guarantee quality though, as plenty of B-movies know how to convey a Gothic mood without ensuring narrative fullfillment or an awarding viewing experience. Naturally this will never be even close to Universal's original horror classics of the Thirties and Fourties, but any movie at least paying hommage to those scores points with me. There's some good actors attached, while Luke 'Bard the Bowman' Evans surely isn't the worst choice for playing the notorious Vlad the Impaler. As for the 'Untold' aspect, it's basically an overt excuse to retell this tale that has been told countless times in countless shapes before. Doesn't matter really. There's certain ever fascinating fictional characters that are so firmly embedded in the human psyche they keep reappearing throughout time in hugely divergent guises to satiate the public's continuing love for them and spawn a meaningful reinterpretation that befits the current zeitgeist. Dracula is very much among those (while the likes of Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes and Godzilla are other noteworthy examples). I doubt there's very much truly novel material Dracula Untold will add to the overall history of the most beloved bloodsucker of them all. But that doesn't stop it from delivering a thrilling rollercoaster of a period horror film per se, if executed properly. And if it isn't, there's bound to be another incarnation that is in the long run, or we can revisit the classic takes on the character instead. No need to yell bloody murder if this one fails to serve us what its title implies.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156211/eerste_trailer_the_expendables_3

Now that's more like it. The teasers were positively teasing and hardly showed any of the signature action and witty oneliners we were hoping for. This trailer certainly remedies that previous omittance. This is one hardcore romperstomper of a preview that acknowledges the fact this will be the final Expendables flick (though when lots of cash is involved, you never know) and suggests we may at last be getting that 100 million dollar explosion or excessively epic gunfight-to-end-all-gunfights the previous two installments just didn't provide. A few more expert tough guy actors have been added to make sure stuff gets blown up even bigger and more grandiose than before. The more the merrier, but it's still the duo of Stallone & Statham we love the most, as they also insert something reminiscent of a plot line and emotional attachment into the film (honestly!). And even if that element proves forgetful, there's still plenty of action heroes, throwing knifes and blazing bullets to look forward to.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156212/eerste_trailer_penguins_of_madagascar

What is it with the tendency of sidekicks to be awarded their own features? Sure, they're cute and lovable, but they were always intended as characters to play off other, major characters. Plus, they tend to be overused for often cringeworthy purposes of comic relief. Occasionally they do work better by themselves - ultimate case in point: the Smurfs - but more often than not, their spin-offs prove bland fare that never stands up to the material they derived from. Who remembers the Ewoks features compared to Return of the Jedi? Nevertheless, now that most computer animation series have run their course and people start to get bored by them, studios hope to milk these properties by exploring glorified background characters. Puss in Boots is already moving on to his sequel, while next year will witness a Minions movie. And during the winter Holiday season, we'll have the Penguins of Madagascar to look forward too. I didn't think these paramilitary penguins particularly entertaining to begin with, but I was clearly in the minority there. I'm still not convinced after seeing this trailer, sorry. Maybe it also has to do with the fact I'm just fed up with animated talking animals entirely. And I've always found penguins to be overrated. They've been featured in films over the last decade so often now, they're becoming dull. Why not do a movie about Kiwis, or Cassuaries for a change? Now those are some weird birds deserving of animated acknowledgment!

Today's News: and lots of it

Posting news here naturally took a blow due to recent tragic events that intervened in the general routine of my everyday life. So here's a fair bit of belated news updates I posted on MS: hopefully we won't be seeing this sort of delay more often.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154889/gwendoline_christie_toegevoegd_aan_hunger_games_mockingjay

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154890/judy_greer_gecast_voor_jurassic_world

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154858/nieuwe_trailer_en_posters_expendables_3

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154859/eerste_trailer_luc_bessons_lucy

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154822/toby_kebbell_als_nieuwe_dr_doom

I only know Kebbell from his more comedic roles (which weren't particularly funny), so based on that I'd say he's not the right choice for an iconic villain like Dr. Doom. However, judging from his resumé he has played emotionally different types of characters too. For one thing, he will play the abused and scarred chimp Koba in the upcoming Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and I'm sure there will be no laughs in that capacity. An actor with a versatile background is a good thing, as there's more to Doom than just plain villainy for villainy's sake. I might say Kebbell is too young for the part, but so are the four leads picked to play the FF if you look at it that way. And since it's said this reboot will be based more off the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics - which among other things featured a Johnny Storm who was still in high school - a younger cast is a given, whether we like it or not. I will remain neutral in the usual fan bickering about whether or not Kebbell is the right choice or not. It's not like the previous incarnation of Doom in the 2005 and 2007 FF films was any good. Doom is simply a tough character to do justice, and a definitive take on this masked nemesis has still to be pulled off on the big screen. Kebbell's performance at least can't be much worse than what was seen before.

For those who know their movies, one single word should spring to mind after watching the trailer for Lucy: Limitless. The movie appears based around the same premise of drug induced mind expansion as that particular thriller flick, except this time it afflicts a woman's mind. The scale of expansion that follows suggests female minds are far more complex than males'. I didn't see Bradley Cooper stopping time or physically changing hair styles at will, let alone boggling Morgan Freeman's mind (but then, he wasn't in Limitless). With Luc Besson at the helm, fancier things could be expected where the brain's dormant power is concerned. Not to mention a great deal of explosive action, as is his forte. People who can't get enough of seeing Scar-Jo kicking mens' butts after The Avengers and Cap 2 are sure to get more of such girl power endeavours out of this revenge thriller posing as a Sci-Fi spectacle. Luckily for the bad guys in this film, Scarlett doesn't eat them, though they might lament the fact she might have had sex with them first, as is the case in her other upcoming science fiction thriller, Under the Skin. Better enjoy it while you can; considering her current pregnancy it'll be a while before we see her engage in such shenanigans again.

Folks we will see getting violently physical again soon (predictable segue if ever I wrote one down, I realize that) include Stallone and his crew of aging machos in their third Expandables outing. Bruce Willis has been traded in for quite a number of other (mostly overly muscled) actors, among them the likes of such noted veterans like Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas and Mel Gibson. The female presence in this film appears minimal, with only one woman pictured among these sixteen (!) character posters. The trailer attached to this bit of news - an element I didn't include in my original post because it hadn't been released just yet when these posters hit the web - shows little of the story other than summing up the names on the posters some more, plus a fair amount of gun fights and explosions to get our anticipations geared up. After two of these films, it's getting as old as these movie stars themselves, but the plot synopsis sounds pretty intriguing for a change, apparently paving the way for a younger generation of Expendables that might carry on fighting the brutal fight in more sequels. Too bad those upstarts aren't nearly as iconic as super stars like Schwarzenegger or Stallone, or even Statham. You think names like Kellan Lutz or Victor Ortiz are gonna leave enough impression next to such screen legends to warrant a sequel of their own without them? Not gonna happen.

Judy Greer is off to Jurassic World, eh? The dinosaurs will have a laugh then. Greer is mostly known for her funny roles, and even in more serious ventures like The Village there was a certain comedic touch to her presence. It's interesting she's only now getting more noticed in Hollywood, despite having built up quite a lengthy resumé in the last fifteen years. Apparently she's on a Sci-Fi roll, not to mention a prehistory roll, doing two dinosaur movies in 2015. Word on what character she'll play is nonexistent as of yet. I do hope Trevorrow can see past her expertise as a comedian and recognize her other qualities as well, though I don't think he's the type of director/screen writer to apply base comic relief characters to his scenarios, if his debut, Safety Not Guaranteed, which carried quite a comedic overtone as well but was equally apt at its more dramatic moments, was any indication. The diversity in Jurassic World's cast remains growing, as Greer could be called a female counterpart to JW star Chris Pratt, with a similar background in comedy under her belt, but also doing the occasional less-funny-more-serious thing. Whether any other relations to Pratt in the case from her character's part will be present time will tell. And for those who don't like Greer (if any), who knows, maybe JW will finally break the unwritten but never broken rule that women can't get killed by dinosaurs.

A female character that is not likely to get either eaten by prehistoric critters or to receive time off to get witty and snappy for laughs, is Commander Lyme, the District 13 leader who leads the uprising against the vicious Capitol in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (Parts 1 and 2). Lily Rabe, whose body of work I'm totally unfamiliar with but who looks like she can portray a tough cookie is now set to be replaced for the second and final installment in this tetralogy of movies by someone I know full well to be able to play such a butch woman: Gwendoline Christie. Katniss sure will find it immensely helpful to have Brienne of Tarth at her side fighting tyranny. There's a lot of strong women opposing the male dominated Capitol it seems. Julianne Moore had previously been cast as the president of the rebels accordingly. But Moore is more the political, manipulative sort who uses the mind to fight oppression, while Christie has demonstrated her physical prowess to basically beat the shit out of people she doesn't like, thus making a nice addition to this rebellion as a sort of older Katniss. Sucks for Rabe she won't be able to continue playing the role, but scheduling conflicts are an often heard tragedy in the business. Rabe's loss is Christie's gain, as her career, which was rather a short list of projects to her name thus far, will get another boost playing in a major franchise, but this time on the big screen. I guess TV was just too small a medium to fully appreciate or hold Brienne.

Today's Double News: to tease or not to tease

Trailer season continues, as indicated by these two news flashes I posted on MS the other day:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152599/nieuwe_trailer_how_to_train_your_dragon_2

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152562/eerste_teaser_expendables_3

These two short previews differ enormously in their approach to entice their respective audiences, as illustrated by what they show, or rather, don't show. The vid for The Expendables 3 is as clearly a teaser if ever I saw one, making no use of actual material of the movie proper and telling us nothing about the film's plot. It's sole purpose is to reveal to the public that the movie for which it teases is currently underway, for those who were not aware from online or magazine sources. By now the 'Expendables' brand is itself a perfect indicator for what's in store and the main question on everyone's mind - at least, everyone that is interested in this project - is not so much what to expect but more so who to expect. The teaser acts on this anticipation by bombarding the spectator with names (last names only, since otherwise it would get a little too cramped on the screen): this information will have to suffice for now. In fact, the names are of greater importance than the men visually assembled for our entertainment, since even on the big screen it's hard to recognize them all in a window of only a few seconds. Personally I think the teaser would have benefited from the first names too, to avoid confusion as to which actor will participate in cases where that could be in doubt. For instance, the 'Gibson' here is Mel, not Tyrese. Of course Mel is more wellknown anyway, but Tyrese too has compiled a big enough resumé in action movies over recent years to warrant a place in a movie of this type (maybe for a third sequel then). Rest assured: 'Powell' is not Colin, it's Glen (whom I have never heard of before). Overall, an effective teaser with a cast of names to match. I'm looking forward to the appearance of Ford and Grammer too.

Now, How to Train Your Dragon 2 is another animal entirely. In fact, I daresay it shows too much, instead of the opposite like The Expendables 3 does. Not surprising we get to see more of the story and characters in this preview, considering this film has already passed the teaser stage (and tease it did) and the current Holiday season is perfect for getting people enthusiastic about family films due for release in the next six months. But after seeing this trailer I get the feeling there's little more to the story that what is presented here. I for one would have saved the identity of the mysterious female dragon rider, as well as half of the grandiose dragon shots, for the movie itself rather than taking away such surprises. But then, I haven't even seen the first HtTYD, so what the heck do I know... That said, this preview will certainly succeed adequately in piqueing the target audience's interests, especially since in this franchise's case too popularity has already been established. I hear the first film was quite good, even though the trailers failed to excite me. Maybe the same thing will happen here, since I'm not convinced yet, despite getting the feeling I already know what the movie is about. When a trailer gives you that feeling, you know it hasn't done its job properly, but since this film is geared mostly towards kids, that's not a total loss.

Today's News: Schwarzenegger will be back... again. And again.

I had this to report on Schwarzenegger's busy upcoming schedule on MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147930/schwarzenegger_terug_voor_expendables_3_en_terminator_5

Now I'm not afraid to say I like Schwarzenegger and his action movies. Some of them I consider to be among the finest action flicks in existence (first and foremost Terminator 2: Judgment Day). And judging from his performance in the recent Expendables 2 and The Last Stand, he can still pull off solid action scenes without making you stop and think 'this guy is too old to be doing this'. In fact, you don't have to think about it, since his scripts are doing that for you in many a moment of good-humoured, tongue-in-cheek hilarity. However, nobody can continue doing this forever without the risk of losing credibility. Especially a guy who was once one of the top-grossing action stars who now seems to do little else than recycle past glories. Schwarzenegger appears to be going that way, considering all the sequels he has in store for us. The Expendables 3 I'm least worried about, since that franchise is basically built around action movie veterans getting together to blow shit up in acknowledgment of a long career of doing just that, so Schwarzenegger fits in perfectly with the rest of them. He did it to great comedic effect in the second Expendables movie, after teasing us with a glorified cameo appearance in its predecessor. The Expendables 3 can merrily have him continue down that path of rampant death and destruction with the other warmongering musclemen that have done the same for many many years. After all, why bother spending old age sitting at home playing Scrabble when you can go out and engage in massive shootouts, maiming people and blowing up tanks and helicopters?

Terminator 5 is a more delicate matter in my mind. After all, the various powers-that-be (or in most cases, have been, considering the rights to the franchise have passed through many production companies' clutches up till this point) have carefully and increasingly moved away from Schwarzenegger's involvement in this cyborg-infested universe. Terminator Salvation briefly included a cameo of the Austrian Oak's digitalized head - the Governator himself only had to give his permission for the use of his facial features, instead of actually doing any physical stuff  - but none of the other Terminators in that film had much to do with Schwarzenegger. Furthermore, the TV-series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ignored Schwarzenegger entirely, and revealed that in the story of this world, anyone's face and body can be applied over a metal endoskeleton for Skynet's nefarious genocidal purposes. Sure, there were quite a few muscular dudes straight out of the gym who could be viewed as obvious stand-ins for that iconic but inaffordable (and unavailable) ultimate Terminator, but there were also quite a number of people who played similar cyborgs, and one of them - Summer Glau, naturally! - pulled off a totally un-Schwarzeneggerish killing machine with more complexity and emotional subtlety than we ever witnessed in any of the actual films, without losing anything when taking up arms and brutally shooting people up. Something Glau managed to do compellingly for 31 episodes (that show should have run longer, especially considering the major cliffhanger that now ends the show and leaves us in the dark). Plus, she looked better in her undies than Schwarzenegger did in his bare butt.

So basically, we started getting used to the idea of a Schwarzenegger-less Terminator universe, a world where Ahnuld is not actually needed to make for interesting 'man vs. machine' drama and visually appealing future battles. The Terminator franchise has proven to do just fine on its own without repeatedly reintroducing the daddy of all Terminators, and thus having the original Terminator return might hurt that notion. I for one have little interest in seeing more of Arnold in T5, since T3 already felt like an uninspired rehash of T2, were it not for its surprisingly dark ending. If Terminator 5 follows Terminator Salvation, which seems likely - though we should never take this for granted, considering the constant messing with the timeline that, for one thing, allowed TSCC to follow T2 while retconning T3 and TS completely - it would be the first time we saw Schwarzenegger's T-800 in a future setting (not counting the T2 3D theme park ride). What to do with that notion? Either he's a real Skynet controlled Terminator and he's out to kill people (like in T1), or he's a reprogrammed Terminator and fights for the human resistance, as was the case in T2 and T3. He might be a bit of a 'grey zone' killing machine, like Marcus (Sam Worthington) in TS, a cyborg whose loyalty is undecided, but that too has already been done in both TS and TSCC. Plot wise I can't think of much scenarios that would help reinvigorate the franchise with Schwarzenegger's presence, but then I'm no producer or screen writer, so what do I know?

And then of course Schwarzie is slated to do the very late sequel to Twins (1988!), called Triplets: a project I'm sure few people really are actively interested in watching after having to wait no less than twenty-six years for it! And to top it all off, he's scheduled to do another Conan the Barbarian flick (which should have been done in the Eighties as was promised, but sadly that proposed third installment called Conan the Conqueror got scrapped and we got that shitty Red Sonja movie instead). This despite that fact Conan has already been rebooted only a few years ago, starring Khal Drogo Jason Momoa, but that film flopped somethin' fierce, so it comes as no surprise that the studio would be eager to make us forget all about it. Fortunately there's still a few original projects in Arnold's pipeline, but for the most part he seems adamant to return to past success. And if he continues to go the tongue-in-cheek way for all of those projects, like he has done so far, his old age could soon prove very repetitive for his audience. Like a granddaddy with memory problems who continues to tell his grandchildren the same jokes over and over again. That would be a sad final phase of Schwarzenegger's otherwise illustrious career...