It's raining news, hallelujah!

Comic-Con made sure there was plenty of news to post this last week. Here's some of my more recent contributions to MovieScene's ever growing archives:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156694/comic-con_laatste_concept_art_posters_avengers_2_

I already commented on these Avengers: Age of Ultron concept art posters before, so I'll skip that for these latest one-sheet releases, which finally complete the whole picture (see above). There's not much to say about these Hulk and Thor posters, as they add little of novelty value to the project as a whole. Save for the colour of the Hulk's pants maybe, which has finally traded in the dark blue of the previous movie for the iconic pink everybody associates with the character.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156693/comic-con_gunn_terug_voor_regie_guardians_of_the_galaxy_2

This too comes as little of a surprise considering the overwhelmingly positive feedback in prerelease and press showings for the Guardians' first adventure, set to debut worldwide in two weeks. Of course it will remain to be seen whether enough audiences will connect with this oddball intergalactic team of rogues to make Marvel the big bucks as the studio is now preparing for. However, since there's little else of consequence released in theaters this upcoming month, I think it's guaranteed this next entry in Marvel's Phase 2 will do tremendously well at the box office. Which only works in director James Gunn's favour. At this moment, Marvel will stick to directors who have proven their worth and can smoothly work with the studio without creative issues, considering the woes which have befallen Ant-Man's production of late after its director resigned, which continues to have serious ramifications for the project. Stability is now Marvel's prime concern, and when that aspect is paired with profit there's no reason why a capable director shouldn't be rehired to make the second installment turn out as good, if not better, than its predecessor. So go, Gunn!

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156718/comic-con_toekomstige_tegenstanders_godzilla_bekend

It seems Gareth Edwards also aims for stability when it comes to his blockbuster success, the rebooted Godzilla. Fans praised the first film's take on the titular character, but proved less enthusiastic when it came to his antagonists, a pair of mutated prehistoric giant bugs invented solely for this film. They did their job serving as cannon fodder for the King of Monsters though, but now it's time to raise the bar. And what better way to do so than by also rebooting his classic gallery of adversaries? General audiences won't mind whatever creature gets hammered by the Big G (or the occasional vice versa), as long as they get enough bang for their bucks. If there's one thing Edwards showed with his first Godzilla feature, it's that he too is an avid fan of the original Japanese films. So it comes as little surprise that he opts to reintroduce everybody's favorite Godzilla enemies: the mythical giant bug Mothra, the humongous Pterodactyl Rodan (both characters got their own movies too back in the days) and last but not least, Gojira's prima nemesis, the three headed armoured space dragon King Ghidorah. Hopefully Edwards won't play all his cards all at once, but distributes the dose of retro monsters a bit evenly for the already announced pair of sequels, so as to prevent Kaiju overkill in Godzilla 2. As superhero movies have showed of late, there's such a thing as too many cool characters in a single film making a mess of the story. Of course, the Godzilla movies are all about characters making a mess of things while the story is subservient to such rampage, but it can't hurt to save your strongest assets for later.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156717/comic-con_kong_wederom_king

And with the renewed interest in giant monsters comes word that Hollywood doesn't mean to keep that other royal creature dead for long. King Kong too will soon be seen again on the big screen where he belongs, but not in another remake. Which is a good thing, as the last one was produced less than a decade ago and proved to be quite a memorable rehash compared to most of them, so there wouldn't be a need to retell that classic Beauty and the Beast tale just yet. So it seems a prequel is the route the studio chooses, which is also not the most exciting notion to my mind. Do we need to know how Kong became King of Skull Island? It kinda seems a given: it's survival of the fittest and Kong fits that description best, killing every sinister subject that defies his will. There doesn't seem to be much more to it. Of course you can introduce another group of people stumbling on the island and exploring its monster infested interior, getting into conflict with the giant gorilla. Heck, you could even throw another pretty girl into the mix. The result would be predictable though, as we all know how Kong came to his eventual demise, and we never cared as much about the human characters' plight as we did about the ape's. Even though I loved the various incarnations of Skull Island (as I'm a big sucker for monster movies), this project makes me hesitant. That said, it's produced by the same studio - not Peter Jackson's - as the current Godzilla franchise is. Do I smell a potential crossover here?

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156733/comic-con_trailer_the_hobbit_the_battle_of_the_five_armies

Speaking of Peter Jackson, he too has a little franchise in the works, and it is coming to an end. A dramatic and emotionally charged end, the new trailer would seem to indicate. Not to mention epic. Needless to say this trailer got me super stoked for the final Hobbit film, which I already was to begin with (yay, Hollywood hype effectively working its magic for five more months!). Parallells with that other closing chapter of a Middle-Earth movie trilogy were bound to be drawn, and the trailer capitalizes on that sentiment by adding just another link with PJ's Lord of the Rings films in the shape of Pippin's tearjerking Home is Behind song playing over the imagery. It's a nice touch, though it hammers the point home harder than might be wise. Nevertheless, what's to dislike in this trailer? Big battles, a giant dragon (bound to be killed off in the first 20 minutes of the film due to the way the book is adapted, but still), all kinds of intriguing cultures and creatures clashing and a top cast bringing it all to life. As I'm not a Tolkien purist, I won't complain about some of the additions the writers made to the story, like that car chase over ice. Keeps some surprises to the whole if you already read the book. But what do we have to look forward to when it's all over? When Lord of the Rings ended, we had The Hobbit still to come (though that took nine effing years!). But could this truly be the end of our cinematic adventures in Middle-Earth? What do we do with ourselves then?

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/156732/comic-con_tarantino_bevestigt_tweede_poging_hateful_eight

I knew it! You don't brisquely cancel a whole movie, pre-production already in progress, just because someone leaks a script. Screenplays get leaked online all the time. When any movie hits theaters, few people lack the chance to get to look the whole story up on the Internet if they so choose. Which most folks don't, because they want to see it in theaters anyway. When Tarantino first scrapped the project, he stated he might publish it in book form. That would have been the true waste, as we already have a downloadable written version of this story online thanks to that leak. But in Tarantino's case, it's the filmed version we want. Why read that book if the alternative is another one of his expertly written motion pictures starring a great cast determined to make it work? So it was a given Tarantino would decide to make that film sooner rather than later after all. Which makes me wonder whether his whole tantrum about the affair, or even the affair itself, wasn't just some big publicity stunt to create public awareness and interest for The Hateful Eight. Maybe it was just a hateful Tarantino getting in the right mood to direct the project.

Today's Trailer and Poster: interstellar robots and raccoons galore

More recent news I posted on MovieScene this week:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155799/nieuwe_trailer_guardians_of_the_galaxy

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155819/nieuwe_poster_transformers_age_of_extinction

Little to add to these bits of news. I'm getting ever more stoked for Guardians of the Galaxy, due to its increasingly weird and wondrously colourful space opera vibe. It was about time Marvel added something different to its mix, to showcase the diversity inherent in its comics, which really are not all about superheroes (honestly!). Not that there's anything wrong with superheroes, mind you. But there's an awful lot of that going on in theaters these days. So now we get a fun space movie with talking raccoons and trees and saucy green ladies instead. Something else entirely! This sensational trailer reveals a bit more of the personas behind the galaxy's would-be protectors annex fugitive outlaws. An eclectic bunch with a wide array of opposing personalities, just the type of ensemble that characterizes Marvel, and not all that different in make-up from, say, The Avengers. I truly hope this movie will help revitalize the space opera genre, which previously failed to re-win the hearts of the audience when John Carter flopped. The Marvel brand ought to steer people in the right direction, though it may make for misguided expectations at first. If director James Gunn does the source material justice though, there should be little difficulties getting the audience to embrace these characters too. Even that darn talking raccoon.

After all, the general audience had little difficulty accepting the mindless incredulity of giant extraterrestrial robots morphing into Earth vehicles. Nor did the lack of a decent, balanced, intelligible plot, hurt the box office three times in a row. So the financial success of the fourth Transformers flick seems to be secure. Michael Bay unfortunately returns to the director's chair to terrorize our ear drums yet again with his overly loud bombastic scenes of digital action and trademark emphasis on big ass explosions. New characters notwithstanding, the plot doesn't seem to differ much from before. Big bad robots from space mean to wipe out humanity and gentle giant robots help us out. This time the latter group is also hindered by mankind itself, fed up as we are as a species with these Trannies continuing to run amok on our planet. Misunderstood heroes, not exactly a novel motif. Titanic robots from outer space morphing into prehistoric terrestrial creatures, that is a new one though. Nevermind the absence of logic. People have shown not to care too much about logic three times before, and they will undoubtedly do so again. And against better judgment, so will I. That's the price you pay for getting to go to the movies for free I suppose.

Today's Trailer: Guardians of the Galaxy unleashed at last

Posted the teaser above on MovieScene yesterday, but everybody will agree the video below is much more interesting:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153859/eerste_teaser_guardians_of_the_galaxy

This movie is looking better and better. There's a delightful 'space opera' vibe about the whole project, a seemingly highly entertaining blend between wild adventure, quirky humour and explosive action in a fabulously otherworldly Sci-Fi setting, suppported by an enthusiastic cast that seems to thoroughly enjoy their zany characters. I even look forward to seeing that talking raccoon in action now. Nevertheless, the last movie that gave me this feeling was John Carter, which I ended up loving while most others sadly did not, as it flopped mercilessly. Maybe this type of movie is just passé, over and done with, too retro for its own good? Maybe people these days are too cynical, so it's too difficult to visually entrance them as they're being transporting to extraterrestrial sights and sounds. Call it 'Star Wars prequel trilogy backlash' if you must, you wouldn't be wrong. I'm just hopeful the Marvel logo breeds certain expectations about what audiences can look forward to - i.e., superheroes - that may not fall in line with reality, as this is not really a superhero movie. In most other respects however, this movie appears to fit right in with Marvels canon of films in tone and atmosphere. However, if the Disney logo wasn't enough to draw audiences to go and see John Carter, would the Marvel logo be enough to ensure Guardians of the Galaxy fares better at the boxoffice? Especially with the knowledge (though probably not something general audiences will ever consider) that Disney and Marvel are now sleeping in the same bed. If these Guardians succeed in winning spectators over, as I sincerely hope they will, maybe space opera will be rewarded a new life as well.

Today's News: Guardians assemble!

Another Marvel goodie I posted on MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/152772/eerste_foto_guardians_of_the_galaxy

The more I hear about this project, the more I like it. And this is the first actual shot from Guardians of the Galaxy I've seen now, as opposed to merely drooling over concept art so far (heck, I hardly even know these characters from the comics!). Looks like an eclectic, diverse band of people/vegetables/animals, guaranteed to provide for intriguing interspecies interactions and snappy interstellar repartee. Granted, there is a talking raccoon in there - already the most controversial character of the bunch - but stranger things have happened in the Marvel Universe to good results. I fully trust director James Gunn, known for his outrageous humour and subversive tone (e.g. Slither and Super, if you can stand high levels of gore and trippy shenanigans), with this fascinating property, definitely the true oddball of the cinematic Marvel movies so far. It ought to be, as it explores a whole new part of the Marvelverse hardly touched upon up until now in the movies: the Cosmic corner. Considering all the wild intergalactic ploys, mind-expanding abstract entities and super-supervillains with unimaginably diabolical schemes and egos to match, it's a tough act to do justice. But at least the first picture looks right, as did the teaser scene at the close of Thor: The Dark World. I guess the thing most on Marvelites' minds right now is not whether Gunn will succeed in making this a neat-o space opera, but why he decided to give Drax the Destroyer (second character from the right) a red tan instead of a green one. Maybe the producers figured two green-skinned aliens in the same team would confuse the poor audience's little brains. After all, one of them is a slender, sexy woman and the other a broad-shouldered, overly muscular tall guy, so they look very much alike, both being humanoids and such. We won't have such difficulties identifying that darn raccoon. Or the tree fella, who can only say his name.

Today's News: Del Toro becomes a Guardian of the Galaxy

A little bit of news I posted two days ago on MS found its way onto this blog of mine somewhat later than it should have:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/147636/benicio_del_toro_gecast_in_guardians_of_the_galaxy

Is this good news? Of course, to my mind Del Toro is never bad news at least. However, I much confess that, though I pride myself as a bit of a comic book nerd, I know next to nothing about these Guardians of the Galaxy... I'm sticking to the comics released in the Netherlands since they're both easier (and thus cheaper) to find, and there's much less of them due to the way they were published  - collecting various issues in one big package, with a minimum of pages wasted on advertising; unlike the American releases which are drenched in the latter - and the fact the company that released Marvel comics in Holland until only a few years ago, good ol' Juniorpress, didn't publish all American series, but only the good ones. GotG wasn't among those, so I have to make due with the few guest appearences of some of these Guardians in other Marvel series. And I was never really blown away by any of those (though I liked Gamora, but she's a babe in skimpy garments so what's not to like for a nerd like me?). For me, GotG is definitely the odd-one-out in Marvel's Phase 2. Marvel seems to acknowledge the fact this line of thinking applies to most people by making this movie much more of a stand-alone release, with only a few tie-ins to other Phase 2 films. Don't expect these Guardians to appear in The Avengers 2 in a few years. This is a wise decision, considering the Guardians of the Galaxy now have to prove themselves without relying on the strength of their more Earthly (or Asgardian) counterparts. Plus, it doesn't make the ever expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe too vast and muddled by all of a sudden throwing in a lot more characters from a lot more corners of the Galaxy that aren't so relevant for the rest of Phase 2 anyway.

If GotG turns out a dud, it will hardly affect the Marvel movies to follow (unlike Iron Man 3, which did indeed not boast well for what's yet to come). And it very much has the potential to end up an oddball film, considering director James Gunn seems to specialize in weirdness and gore as he illustrated with the likes of Slither and Super. Plus, there's a talking raccoon involved here. Maybe Del Toro will play him, since it has not yet been revealed what his role in all of this will be. I'm guessing he'll play a more regal, heavier character instead, as befits his stature as a solid actor. Unless he feels like doing something totally different from anything he's ever done before. You know how actors are sometimes.

I'm keeping an open mind until we get a trailer or something (or until I happen upon some GotG comics, which isn't likely around here), but for now I remain skeptical about this film - despite the involvement of a few good actors - and will focus my enthusiasm on other Phase 2 projects, specifically Thor: The Dark World and Ant-Man. I know what to expect from them, since Juniorpress gave me the opportunity to get to know and appreciate them in the Eighties and Nineties, albeit only in their capacity as Avengers instead of on their own. But that proved enough for me. Hopefully Gunn and Del Toro will prove these Guardians of the Galaxy are also worth our while as the more interplanetary version of the Avengers they appear to be. Just as long as they downplay the talking raccoon for their own good. We've had enough annoying digital characters already over the last decades.