Looks... Del Toroesque. Lavish and baroque, but creepy and grotesque at the same time. Eerie, bbrrr. The plot thus far is not wholly clear, and for a teaser trailer like this it's more about the first impressions rather than the overall narrative. Del Toro usually makes a good first impression and he doesn't disappoint here. I got interested seeing this. Ever since the fantastic Pan's Labyrinth, Del Toro and horror feel like they belong together, especially if there's a good story involved. We've had our fair share of haunted houses in movies over the last decade, most of them pretty dismal (not to mention the horror spoofs hurting the subgenre even more), but with a good director and cast involved, another one surely will do more good than harm. Visually at least this will do the trick; as for the story, ask me again when I actually comprehend what the hell is going on. Which probably won't me until I've seen it for myself.
So they're making another one of these puzzle flicks, eh? Shouldn't bother on my account. So far both Dan Brown adaptations for film didn't win me over. I heard the books were good (though that's probably the hype talking), but I never bothered to read them. I'm not about to start now. I love a good mystery, but not if it's wasted on a Hollywood semi-spectacle. I doubt Inferno will be much different from its pair of predecessors, but at least the cast looks interesting, mostly because of its diversity. You've only got five names and you're already spanning three continents (and two of these names co-star in Jurassic World, so that piques my interest to some extent). Good names too, notwithstanding the Hollywood stardom of Hanks. That at least will count for something, if at least they are put to good use. But judging from the previous installments, they probably get lost amidst all the puzzling somewhere.
In this film's case, the plot is more likely to get lost amidst all the actors. Not that it matters much, since it sounds as formulaic a story as they come, not particularly different from that of the previous Pirates of the Caribbean flicks. You've got your basic pirate threat endangering our pirate protagonists, there's a mystical artefact that can prevent their demise so they set on a course for said object, there's a few love birds ensuring a romantic note that doesn't actually involve the pirate protagonists and there's various random jokes, gags and witty rebuttals shared between the pirate protagonists themselves. Though I'm getting kinda tired of Depp's Jack Sparrow, I'm happy to see Rush is still returning as Barbossa, who I deem to be a superior character. As for the rest of them, sure I'm happy to see a grand actor cast as the new ultimate baddie, but that doesn't mean it'll save the movie from sinking from a narrative perspective. Ian McShane made a great Blackbeard, but On Stranger Tides sure wasn't a great movie. I hope Dead Men Tell No Tales proves different, but I severely doubt it. Apparently, PotC Movies Tell the Same Tales, every time.
I really hoped a Hellboy 3 would find its way into production some day. Both the director of the first two movies (Guillermo del Toro) and its principal star (Ron Perlman) remained genuinely enthusiastic about making a third movie, which is not something you often see in Hollywood after two previous installments (when the creative novelty had decidedly worn off). But now it seems reality has caught up with them and those scores of fans who cherished the notion of giving this particular devil his further due. In hindsight it's kind of a miracle we even got a second movie (and what a great movie that was, surpassing its predecessor on every level!). The first movie didn't do so well in theaters, but made a tidy profit as a home cinema release. Didn't stop studio Sony from denying Del Toro a second go at the big red ape, at which point studio Universal took over the project which became the phenomenal Hellboy II: The Golden Army. History repeated itself as once again profits were only reaped from the DVD sales as opposed to the theatrical release. And now that the safety net of the home cinema market has disappeared as DVD/Blu-Ray sales keep deteriorating, what studio would burn its hands on a franchise that proved a box office failure twice before for two different studios? The answer is: none. And Del Toro has come to terms with that. Even though he remains a popular director in Hollywood, he's not yet one of those grand director/producer big shots who can do as whatever the hell they please, like James Cameron, Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson. In fact, the studio system is slowly but surely imploding, making it increasingly harder even for such big industry names to follow their cinematic dreams, faced with the financial realities as they ever more often are (case in point, Spielberg's Robopocalypse).
It's a damn shame a wonderful character like Hellboy has fallen prey to such depressing reality checks as well. Hellboy II: The Golden Army was a definite step up in every way from the first film, which I can only describe as 'good enough' in comparison. Plus, there was definitely an ungoing character story going on between the titular character and his highly flammable girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair) on the one side and Hellboy's undeniably dark nature on the other, that warranted a resolution. It has been hinted on several occasions throughout the movies that Hellboy, despite all his intents and purposes to do so, could not escape his diabolical destiny and was forced to become a force of evil of sorts sooner rather than later. It would have been a great operatic, though admittedly unusually dark and depressing, turn of events for this otherwise fairly light hearted and good humoured series. Which of course entirely fits into Del Toro's oeuvre, riddled as it is with such ungoing dichotomies between both sides of the human moral condition. Plus loads of awesome monsters, both latex and digital, to grace the silver screen and freak the bejeesus out of audiences. Exactly what makes Del Toro's movies such fun, that ever intriguing combination of soulful, heartfelt human drama and moody monstrous atmosphere. Too bad we won't be likely to see Hellboy serve in such capacity no more. Oh well, there's still plenty of other projects on Del Toro's slate. Pacific Rim 2 maybe? Less story, more monster action. These days, we'll have to take whatever we can get.
I like this sort of teaser. The kind that could easily have been an actual part of the movie proper - maybe it still will be - and expends on the story as a whole, though it can as easily be missed (in defiance of the contemporary tendency of viral marketing campaigns to divulge certain plot information that would have been better served appearing in the film itself where the addressed matter is irritatingly left open (I'm looking at you, X-Men: Days of Future Past!)). Of course it works only for those who have seen the previous two installments of the saga, as those who have not can only wonder what all this is about, nor do I think this theaser convincing enough to tempt them into seeing the first two films pronto. Like all teasers, it serves to forewarn the imminent arrival of the film in question into theaters, while this one also hints up front at the fate of poor Peeta Mellark now that the sinister President Snow has his hands on him. The video shows us what we already knew (if we indeed witnessed the previous films), that the Capitol of Panem will not take kindly to rebellion. There's been enough Games, now it's time for war, as this intimidating speech makes perfectly clear. Unless those insubordinate districts get in line before their insolence rains destruction down upon them. Fat chance.
This news has already seen an update since I posted it, in which Shane Black stated the new Predator movie would not actually be a reboot, but more of a soft sequel. In many ways, it doesn't really matter much, considering the differences between both terms are negligible. As the sequels Predator 2 and Predators, as well as the occurrences of the violent trophy collectors from outer space in the duo of Alien vs Predator spin-offs, already showed, there's only so much you can do story wise with extraterrestrials hunting humans for sport. Since it would have been unlikely this new movie would follow the events of the first movie directly, a reboot seemed the better choice, reintroducing the Predators as they go about their usual gory business, but not hunting the same people twice (though considering Arnold Schwarzenegger's interest in repeating past successes, he might very well be up for anouther round). It's pretty much a given a 'soft sequel' will manage the same type of story. In this day and age of post-postmodern hyperintertextuality, no doubt both ways would have contained their fair share of references to past installments (and probably dragged the Xenomorphs into this mess for a gag or two as well). Whatever you call it, it's the same thing. I do like the irresistable irony that the guy who, as an actor, was the first to get mauled on-screen (though not as explicitly as some of the victims that followed in his footsteps) by one of the murderous creatures in the very first movie from 1987, now is chosen as the director to breath new life into the franchise. I do hope that goes to show his heart is in it and he means to make this a kick-ass horror/action gorefest of a thrill hunt, like the franchise started out to be. So far his track record as a director isn't enough to convince me of his capabilities in that department. I for one thought Iron Man 3 was the most disappointing Marvel Studios' flick thus far. But I'm not ready to hang him high in a jungle three just for daring to tackle Predator for that. Unlike the evil alien did himself back in '87.
A rather standard trailer for what appears to be a rather commonplace WW II movie. After all the initial fuss about this movie and Brad Pitt's lead role in it, I was expecting something more than this fairly basic war drama. All the usual ingredients are there: an isolated group of men on a dangerous, seemingly hopeless mission, a battle hardened, gruff commander who cares first and foremost about the troops under his command, a rookie soldier's first time into battle and the emotional distress that comes with this initiation into manhood, tension amongst the camaraderie when faced with increasingly insurmountable odds, etc. I don't see any stand-out elements convincing me of the need to go see this movie. Brad Pitt alone doesn't cut it for me. I already saw him fighting WW II the American way in Inglourious Basterds: another thing entirely of course, which was also what made it so memorable compared to more typical movies like this one. Of course, it's only a trailer, and trailers can be deceptive to say the least (like the trailer for, again, Inglourious Basterds, which made the movie look like something it ended up not being for the better part). There's no particular appealing names in the rest of the cast, while Shia LaBeouf's presence serves more as a deterrent from watching this film for me. Fury doesn't look bad per se, it just doesn't look furiously good.
Another trailer which doesn't look as good as it ought to be is this debut preview of Dracula Untold. A fairly good cast and a somewhat intriguing, though hardly novel, plot notwithstanding, this trailer screams 'B-movie' all over. The cheap Gothic imagery and the poorly executed effects work doesn't bode well for the Prince of Darkness' origin story as told by total newcomer Gary Shore. Coupled with the fact this movie will open, in IMAX nonetheless, in a month plagued by the absence of attractive features (IMAX or otherwise) in theaters, its themes cannot help but remind me of the dismal action adventure flick I, Frankenstein earlier this year. It's regrettable IMAX feels the need to turn to visually unimpressive substandard budget fare that is not suited to the excessively big screen experience it boasts, to ensure there's always some title available in the format, even in slow seasons. The moody posters gave me hopes for this movie, but the trailer takes some away. As said before, trailers are no fair indication of the completed movie viewing experience, especially when heavy FX work is involved. Undoubtedly some of the shots seen in this preview remain to be polished before the film's release, even though it's not produced on the most stellar of budgets. But aside from the visuals, there's still a thing or two to be said against this film based on what this trailer show us. Or is that indeed Charles Dance playing the demonic character? That would sure help pull me in a bit more!
If Guillermo del Toro says he wants to make a movie, it gets made. Even though it's a sequel to a not all that profitable predecessor. It happened on Hellboy - thankfully, as Hellboy II was a heck of a lot more awesome than the already not so bad first installment - and it seems history is repeating itself on Pacific Rim. The fact overseas box office turned out far more lucrative than the disappointing domestic sums the movie garnered sure helped the studio suits to greenlight a sequel. I don't mind, as I like Del Toro - a nerd turned director is always something that agrees with me - and I generally like his movies, some more than others obviously, but so far he hasn't made a single one that I consider to be bad. Pacific Rim sure sat well with me as the ultimate hommage to the Japanese Kaiju genre, which outdid nigh all of the entries the Japanese themselves made into that phenomenon. Monsters are my forte, giant or otherwise, so another round between titanic creatures and ditto robots sounds neat enough. Can't say it's particularly inspired, but an hommage doesn't have to be. Though I would welcome something new in a second film, but I'm sure Del Toro can come up with something before the 2017 deadline that suits my desires for giant monster/robot mash-ups.
Here's another first for me: a top-10 list. I had been tempted to do one for ages, but I never could find a (fairly) original subject. Eventually I settled on the topic of audio commentaries, which - though not unique - is not a commonly discussed subject, despite the wealth of informative anecdotes, first-hand experiences and overally funny stories they often contain. So that's what I decided to make a top-10 about, and this link will show you the result:
It really was more a case of narrowing these ten movies down, than writing stuff about them down. For every movie I picked, there's three more that didn't make the cut. And of course this remains a subjective list, since it only covers audio commentaries I am familiar with (but fortunately there's still a lot of those!). I could of course have scoured the Web for popular commentaries, but I didn't want to be influenced too much by what I found, so undoubtedly there's a few terribly fascinating or notorious commentary tracks I missed out on, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, since other seasoned movie veterans can now patch in and name some more noteworthy commentaries, while I may likewise have pointed them in the right direction to expand their own knowledge. It makes top-10 lists a rather mutual process: either you wholly agree with my picks (unlikely), you disagree and point out material better suited in your opinion (which could be a learning curve for me), or you were not familiar with the ones I mentioned and decide to check them out for yourself. Everyone's a winner.
Incidentally, I did do some online checking in hindsight when my top-10 was done, and found out that many similiar lists include the delightful Tropic Thunder track. Guess that one comes reommended by more people than just me. You might want to watch that one then. Or more precisely, listen to it.
Guillermo
Del Toro's epic hommage to the Japanese 'Kaiĵu' movies, produced on
a bigger budget than all such giant monster movies of the last fifity
years combined. Del Toro obviously has a great love and respect for
the genre, resulting in a very catchy action flick, undoubtedly the
best American counterpart to its Japanese predecessors. One might
almost say Hollywood has redeemed itself for the 1998 version of
Godzilla, but such a statement had better be held back for
another year, until the next American reboot of Godzilla hits
theatres in 2014. In the meantime, Pacific Rim works well as an appetiter to the big G's resurrection. An extra-dimensional rift opens on the bottom of the
Pacific and huge beasts come pouring out, wreaking havoc on mankind
as they lay waste to cities and obliterate our armed forces. Humanity
quickly sets aside its internal differences and joins forces in
creating big robots to fight the creatures on their own terms.
Piloted by a pair of human Avatars, these so-called 'Jaëgers'
effectively combat the beasts, but the life of a Jaëger pilot as Del
Toro reveals is filled with personal loss. When the monsters emerge
ever more rapidly from the Breach, as it is named, Jaëger command
develops an intricate and dangerous plan to halt the Kaiĵu threat
once and for all. Del Toro briefly explores the history of the first
Kaiĵu assaults and the development of their robotic antagonists and
afterwards spends more time getting us invested in the human
characters than is usual for this type of film. It does make the
movie feel like its dragging its feet for a while, until he unleashes
the action the audience craves with a vengeance, resulting in over an
hour of nigh endless monster bashing. Unfortunately he cannot help
but inserting a few characters that are supposed to deliver some much
needed comic relief to make sure we don't take it all too seriously,
but sadly these characters – stereotypical geeky scientists as ever
we've seen them – are so mind-boggingly annoying (Charlie Day
particularly) they make you wish for a Kaiĵu to step on them to end
their endless whining. Del Toro's talents are beter suited in delving
deeper into a world where Kaiĵus are not only a threat to world
peace but also big business: toy companies produce action figures of
them, creepy cults worship them and in Hong Kong, a 'Bone Town' is
established, a black market for Kaiĵu products for shady purposes, similar to the
disgusting existing South-East Asian trade in animal parts. Run by Ron Perlman (always a joy when paired with Del Toro),
some of the funniest, wittiest and anatomically most unsettling
scenes take place here. Though the dealings and the history of the
Jaëgers are fleshed out to the fullest, their enormous alien adversaries,
ever the most important ingredient in a Kaiĵu film, do remain
somewhat underexposed by comparison. Unfortunately their motivations
– they're really foot soldiers out to cause as much damage to
mankind as possible, in order to pave the way for an invasion from
their (smaller) intelligent overlords – remind us of the recent
Shyamalan flop After Earth, a movie we'd rather forget
entirely. Usually, Kaiĵu are more antiheroes than full-out villains,
but Del Toro opts to keep them a simple threat to be wiped out
instead of embuing them with a more sympathetic character like their
forebears Gojira, Gorgo and Rodan, who were
always the victim of human (nuclear) folly, transforming them into
avenging gods to remind us of our place in the world. The movie is
dedicated to Ray Harryhausen and Ishiro Honda, two people who only
too well understood the need to layer their creatures and make them
charm you so you feel more for them, but in this instance, Del Toro
decided not to go with such wisdom. As a result, Pacific Rim
at best is a highly likeable action flick, but not necessarily an apt
lesson for western audiences into the true nature of the Kaiĵu
genre. Then again, there's only so much you can do with the notion of
giant robots bashing giant monsters. Let's say Guillermo gets as much
out of that premise as we could hope for.
Despicable
Me 2: ****/*****, or 7/10
Simply
fun sequel to the animated surprise hit of 2010. Gru and his legions
of minions are back, but no longer driven by the need to exact evil
schemes on an unsuspecting world, as Gru (still voiced with a outrageously hilarious accent by Steve Carell) has taken to his role as a father
figure for his three orphan girls Edith, Agnes and Margo quite
seriously. The big question on the girls' minds of course is – much
to Gru's chagrin – 'when will there be a surrogate mother too'?
Apparently several thousand minions are not enough to fill that
particular role, so Gru has to endure countless matchmaking on their
part. Fortunately for him, he quickly finds himself abducted by agent
Lucy (Kristen Wiig returning for the sequel, but voicing another
character) of the AVL, the American Vampire League Anti Villain
League, who means to recruit him to smoke out a threat to world peace
apparently hiding in a shopping mall, potentially posing as one of
many goofy shop owners. Gru hesitantly accepts the job, if only to
escape his girls' endless romantic pestering. Needless to say, Lucy
and Gru soon get romantically entangled while attempting to stop the
outrageously stereotypically Mexican baddie El Macho (Benjamin Bratt)
from completing his vile scheme to unleash thousands of vicious
purple monsters (most of them harvested from Gru's own minions) on
mankind. Though the plot leaves little room for narrative surprises,
the infectious charm of the characters and a plethora of witty jokes
for young and old make for a thoroughly enjoyable animated flick. As
before, it's the endearing minions that steal the show – a fact
that has already been confirmed to deliver them their own movie next
year, which may not be such a good idea – but thanks to the
effective emphasis on Gru's own plot line, including a flashback to
his youth which is both sad and superbly funny, it also becomes ever
more evident just what a droll character he is himself, considering
he spends most of his time without his minions and vice versa, while
the movie doesn't end up either boring or less hilarious whenever
either party takes center stage (also thanks to Wiig's obvious enthusiasm). Though more attention on an original
plot would be welcome for the unavoidable next installment, I can
unabashedly say I'm looking forward to a Despicable Me 3 regardless. Preferably with both Gru and
minions together once more instead of one or the other.
