Today's News: trailers for everybody!

Been a busy week, here's some trailers that kept me posting:

Nieuwe trailer Minions

Everybody seems to really love the Minions. Even though they don't have much material going for them just yet. I guess the chief ingredients for success are all present in these little servants of evil: they're small, they're numerous (but just diverse enough to set them apart), they're colour coded in a simple fashion, and they're excessively cute. It worked for the Smurfs, eh? But unlike the Smurfs, they're supposedly evil, and I have yet to see any hard evidence of that. Of course, you can't sell evil to kids. So whatever villainous scheme they're involved in usually ends in failure, at least in Gru's case. It's obvious the evilness is just a pretense to get some silly story going, often interspersed with random gags (e.g. the teddy bear for example), while the main goal is to sell the Minions' cuteness to the audience so people will want to buy Minion dolls and stuff. I doubt things are gonna be any different in this semi-origin story. There's just a new baddie, who'll soon find hiring the Minions was a bad idea (that's what explains the badness of the Minions I suppose). No matter to us, as long as the Minions trollop around the screen looking utterly cute in all their zany, goofy shenanigans

Teaser Magic Mike XXL

Female audiences are gonna end up pretty satisfied in the erotic department this year. At this moment, everybody is moaning and groaning (either out of sheer lust or sheer loathing) over Fifty Shades of Grey, and in the not too distant future, that scenario will repeat itself with this second Magic Mike movie. I will not deny looking at the sweaty, undressed male torsos produces a sense of sexually insecurity for me, and I know that goes for most male audiences. The majority of those are of course dragged to theatres by the various women in their lifes (except for the homosexual portion of the populace, no doubt). Being a single man, I cannot help but wonder what tension Magic Mike hath wrought in the bedroom after a visit to the cinema. Do women press their men into trying to physically appear more like him, or do they accept that such an impressive bodily look is the exception rather than the rule? If we ignore the story line in effect for the film (which is not hard to do, since it's so overtly basic), what's left is largely nude men doing sexy dances to arouse women, which is basically softcore porn. I'm not judging, just stating the obvious. I hope the target audience realises full well that that's just all it is. But then, do men watching regular porn take the time to consider it's all just fantasies, too? Movies like Magic Mike XXL do a good job of reminding us just how small the difference between men and women actually is.

Eerste trailer Marvels Daredevil

This is more my cup of tea. Sure, there's a few good looking men (and women) in this production, too, but there's a lot more story to it. I enjoy ogling the well trained bodies of the opposite sex as much as anyone, but I prefer a good story. Too bad it's not a new story for the most part, but the previous audiovisual incarnation of Daredevil left plenty of room for improvement. It seems this new Netflix series delivers just that. This teaser also makes no mistake this is definitely going to be Marvel Studios' darkest production so far, and thus a certain amount of blood and violence is not spared. Good thing too, if they want to set the upcoming Defenders miniseries apart from the merrier, more colourful Avengers counterpart on the big screen. Sure, the following series are likely to be a bit lighter in tone, but since they all deal with fighting street crime and mob practices in New York's less pleasant neighbourhoods, some level of violence feels mandatory. Far be it from Netflix to shy away from that. For those who don't enjoy such grim superheroes, rest assured things will only brighten up after this. And if it's still not what they're hoping for, they'll always have the actually cinematic part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No sinister sex crimes and gruesome drug wars there, only evil robots hellbent on annihilating humanity or intergalactic bad guys threatening the existence of the universe.

Nieuwe trailer Furious 7

And if you like action but not superheroes, you might consider checking this out. The typical 'get-rich-or-die-tryin'' atmosphere of fast cars and hot people (male and female) engaged in gunfights and general fisticuffs. A successful formula, so much so we've reached the whopping seventh entry in the F&F franchise. The actual death of a major player couldn't stop this production, yet there's a sense of finality to this trailer. All of Toretto's racing rivals have been added to his inner circle, his family. And now their bond will be put to the final test when the bad guy threatens to kill that family. Of course, it will prove a stupid idea and the villain will no doubt soon discover his folly. Since the merry gang of highway brigands is already rich since the fifth film, it's not about racing for money anymore, but racing for the ties that bind. And fondly remembering those ties in case of the fallen actor. For the studio however, money definitely still is the objective. So it's not inconceivable we'll be seeing more of this family in the future after all, even though it feels we're hitting an emotional climax here.

Jovovich speelt hoofdrol in Martins In the Lost Lands

And then there was this bit of non-trailer news. Of course, anything that has George R.R. Martins signature on it would be considered gold by studios hoping to cash in on the success of Game of Thrones. Doesn't mean everything Martin ever wrote is nearly as good as his most successful work. You wouldn't think the same genius was behind the majority of episodes of the second season of the Eighties' Twilight Zone show, considering their poor quality. At least In the Lost Lands is likely to appeal to the same (vast) fanbase since it's written in the same genre of epic fantasy. I had never heard of these stories before, but reading the synopsis doesn't convince me yet on whether adapting them to the big screen is a good idea. I may be entirely wrong, as I'm not familiar with the outcome, but the stories seem to lack coherency, while their protagonists seem to be subject to random elements, especially in the case of the story with the witch and the spacecraft (or maybe combining such seemingly incombinable elements is just proof of narrative brilliance beyond my comprehension). I probably should either read those stories or shout up about the topic and have faith in Martin. That said, I cannot help but wonder whether it would not be more prudent to adapt these shorts for television rather than the big screen. If they are indeed separate stories of an episodic nature, television seems suited for them. Anthology story telling isn't something you often encounter in theaters, maybe for a reason. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time Martin broke with conventions. Since GoT proved he excels at that, maybe I should simply reserve final judgment until In the Lost Lands hits cinemas.

Today's News: movies, chappies and junkies

There's been some neat news these past few days, and I got a chance to post my fair share:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157896/nieuwe_trailer_voor_the_hobbit_the_battle_of_the_five_armies

A rather decent little trailer, says I. Seems Middle-Earth will go out with an appopriate bang, as did The Hobbit book to a lesser extent. Moderation surely isn't Peter Jackson's style, particularly if he knows he's not likely to show off like this again. Might as well go all-out one last time. Tolkien purists surely gave up on him right after An Unexpected Journey anyway. This precious trailer looks breathtaking and makes me water my mouth accordingly. However, I'm not the one who needs to be convinced to go see this movie, as I've been planning to do so for a few years now. I guess this trailer doesn't really need to be enticing anyway, as people who want to see the movie will see it anyway and people who don't, won't be pulled in any more by this preview, even if it does look awesome. This trailer definitely is for the fans, who live in the greatest of anticipation for one more month before the cinematic age of Middle-Earth comes crashing down. Unless they do find a way to decently adapt The Silmarillion for the big screen after all.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157867/eerste_trailer_minions

Then there's this trailer. There's a multitude of evil minions in Tolkien's stories, but none are as cute as these. You don't see Orcs getting a movie of their own. (Well, you do, but that's not what I mean.) But it's clear people enjoyed the shenanigans of Gru's little aides more than they did Gru's own sinister schemes, so a spin-off was required by the laws of Hollywood. It's still unclear whether Steve Carell's Gru is in the movie, as some sites claim he is while others deny as much. I think it likely this will serve as an origin story, showing how Gru and the Minions hooked up. Do we need to know that? Not really. I guess people just really like the Minions so much they want to see more of them than their creators originally intended. They're kinda like the Smurfs in that regard: they're small and there's many of them with various personalities, they have their own language, they're monochromatic, etc. If they're indeed a runaway success, will that mean we'll forget about Gru the same way the majority of the Smurfs reader are not aware of Johan and Pirrewiet? That would be a shame, as I think the Minions work best playing off Gru, who himself is an equally delightful character (the voice and nose alone crack me up). It's up to this Minions movie to determine whether the Minions have a staying power of their on, or whether we prefer Gru to be present as well.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157866/junkie_xl_werkt_mee_aan_soundtrack_batman_v_superman

As a fellow Dutchman it's of course expected of me to feel a sense of pride at Junkie XL's accomplishments. Well sure: good job, Mr. XL! Other than that this news doesn't evoke much emotional feelings in me other than gladness we'll be getting a good score for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (now if only we also got a good title...). Hans Zimmer's status as one of the world's leading movie soundtrack composers has long since been established. His tunes can be heard during my workouts on many an occasion (Gladiator is a particular favourite of mine). Junkie XL is just a bonus. His track record of Hollywood scores is still on the short side, but so far he has done well. I liked his score for 300: Rise of an Empire more than the one from its predecessor. Divergent's soundtrack is not nearly as memorable - can't remember a single accord of it for the life of me, to be honest - but at least it didn't leave as sour a taste as the rest of that film did. I like the notion of two composers sharing duties between superheroes' separate scores. It makes sense someone else trackles Batman for this film, as Zimmer already scored that character for the entire Dark Knight trilogy. Since this is a different Batman, a different theme is in order and so a different composer is a logical conclusion. Since we are talking about the same Superman as the one from Man of Steel however, it's only apt that Zimmer keeps scoring him. Big question now is: who's gonna score the inevitable combined superhero/Justice League theme? Zimmer, XL or somebody else entirely?

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157879/eerste_trailer_chappie

Neill Blomkamp continues to dabble in socially pertinent science fiction flicks. It worked out great in District 9, a little less so with Elysium, but there's still more contemporary injustice to be commented upon. From the looks of the trailer, Chappie seems to deal with a 'nature versus nurture' debate: does an artificial intelligence become a criminal because he was "raised" in such an environment, or were there signs of bad behaviour in his personality from the get-go? Does he acknowledge good from evil to begin with, or are such notions beyond his understanding because of the limits in his programming? Is a life of crime considered a logical and reasonable existence under the situations according to the codes written within him? It'll be interesting to see what Blomkamp has to say on the matter, since things are never so black and white in his work. The gritty, down-to-earth look of his Sci-Fi remains catchy, especially in a story closer to home than one dealing with space stations and exoskeletons. This film definitely is worth keeping an eye on. It'll be fascinating to see a robot attempting a robbery for financial gain, rather than a bunch of them trying to take over the world for a change.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157895/titel_star_wars_episode_vii_onthuld

Meh... Damn silly title. I can understand it's not an Episode proper, considering the new studio, the new director and the new direction the franchise takes (but despite the very old cast members returning). But I still find Star Wars Episode VII to be a catchier title than Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The latter kinda sounds like a video game, a bastard child of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed or something. And is this title suggesting the actual Force was asleep during all the previous movies? Yeah, right! I guess J.J. Abrams is the 'Force' in question and he has awoken to make something new and exciting of the franchise (or so he thinks), rather than the dull generic crap he pushed on us with his dreadful Star Trek reboots, during which he was obviously too much asleep to give a crap. And please tell me that isn't the official logo for the movie. It looks like a cheap fan creation. Not that there aren't any fans who could have come up with better titles, of course. How about Star Wars Episode VII: The Empire Takes Over the Franchise?

Today's many little bits of News

Here's a few scoops I posted on MS in recent days. They just keep piling up, don't they?:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155773/eerste_teaserposter_minions

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155772/nieuwe_poster_guardians_of_the_galaxy

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155749/trailer_monsters_dark_continent_online

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/155708/channing_tatum_wordt_x-man_gambit

Channing Tatum as Gambit? I vehemently object to this, though I get the reasons why he might be considered suitable for the role. Gambit is girlbait, he's a rogue (get the pun there?), he's charming and sultry, and these are all qualities the female part of humanity generally agrees Tatum possesses. The argument Tatum 'understands Gambit because they're both from the American South' is baloney: there's a vast difference between Gambit's home state of Louisiana and Tatum's native Alabama, even though they lie next to each other. My major issue with Tatum's casting is they didn't ask my opinion beforehand.

No, that's not it.

It's what Tatum brings to the franchise in terms of starpower that vexes me. Tatum by now is a firmly established hot moviestar that mostly appeals to the female demographic (not X-Men's main audience for sure), more so for his looks than for his ability to act. X-Men by now is a firmly established hot movie franchise that mostly appeals to the male demographic (age 12-35 or thereabouts). Obviously adding Tatum to the mix is a tactic by the studio to attract new audiences, and given Tatum's status he's very likely gonna play a major role (he'll no doubt take a major salary too). So far, the franchise hasn't resorted to casting big Hollywood stars. Sure, Hugh Jackman is one now, but he wasn't when he first started playing Wolverine. Plus, Jackman cares about his character, which is why he keeps coming back to play him even though he has no contractual obligations or acting challenges in store for him to do so. That's character loyalty. Tatum has gone on record stating he's not all that much into X-Men, though he claims to like Gambit. Duh, otherwise he wouldn't have accepted the part. But this is likely just promotional bull. I doubt he read the comics or watched the cartoons just because Gambit occasionally appeared in it. I fear Tatum is gonna detract audience attention away from what really matters about X-Men. In Gambit's solofilm this is not that big an issue (though Wolverine's solofilms left a lot to be desired compared to the proper X-movies). But in X-Men: Apocalypse, you need a strong ensemble of characters performed by team players who don't mind taking a backseat if the plot demands it (Anna Paquin's Rogue being scrapped from Days of Future Past without the actress complaining because it's for the greater good is a good example of taking one for the team). That's not something I think Tatum easily accepts. Also, the movie is likely to be built around Tatum (and Jackman too, still) to accomodate his star status. Certainly for X-Men: Apocalypse, that doesn't bode well, as this story deals with a team of mutants more than ever instead of it centering around a single character (apart from Apocalypse himself in a way). It seems a wrong time to start calling special attention to one character, especially one that was seen before but played by another actor (Taylor Kitsch). I would much prefer it if Gambit was re-introduced in his own film first, then appeared in a group effort later. Kinda like The Avengers, from which every studio owning Marvel property takes a page these days. In this case, the wrong page I'd say.

Monsters was a small film shot on a low budget in a guerilla style of filmmaking. It seems the sequel Dark Continent takes a different route. I didn't even think this unusual creature feature got enough audience attention to warrant a successor, but on that small a budget, profit isn't hard to accomplish and so a sequel is a given by the rigid laws of Hollywood. Obviously on a bigger budget, considering the visual effects (and this is still only the trailer too). It seems that's where most of the money went, since the plot feels fairly generic and there's no big names attached (playing a bit part in Game of Thrones gets you noticed but doesn't make you an instant star, Joe Dempsie). I don't think a second film was needed or desired by those who saw the first film, and it seems the original director Gareth Edwards agreed with me, as he's hardly involved with the production of Part 2 at all. He's listed as 'executive producer', but that's saying nothing. Stan Lee is listed under the same credit for virtually every Marvel movie, only for coming up with the characters back in the days, but otherwise doesn't do a thing, other than appearing in his cameos for fun. Edwards of course traded a shot at directing the sequel to his baby in for doing the remake of Godzilla. Good thing too, since you'd need a monster enthusiast to get the King of Monsters right, which I hear he has done. It seems there was little more to add to Monsters though, and so far the trailer for Monsters: Dark Continent proves just that.

Now that's what I call a bitchin' poster! Okay, so it's in many ways identical to the previous posters for Marvel Studios' movies, save for the different setting and characters of course. For now, I like to think of that as studio consistency, which is something Marvel excels in as it's continuously expanding its Cinematic Universe. And it works on this poster better than ever. There's also more than a little resemblance to the way Star Wars posters were composed (especially the classics by Drew Struzan), and that's also not a bad thing to say about promotional material for an ambitious space opera like this. This poster is colourful, appealing and otherwise just plain badass. I hope the movie delivers on the goods promised here.

The first poster for Minions, that's a different thing entirely. All it shows are a few characters, a title and a date set against a plain white background, but nothing else is needed for a teaser poster. At the sight of the minions, kids will know enough. And their parents who will pay for seeing the film in theaters too, poor things. But is a film about the minions themselves a good thing? Don't they work better as supporting characters? I see a kind of Smurf motive here. Other than the fact these little creatures already feel similar to the Smurfs by their simple but easily recognizable colour coding and their own invented language, the Smurfs first appeared in a comic album in which they were not the main characters, but they soon came into their own and few people remember the names of the characters in whose story they co-starred (naturally, I do). Since then, they have taken popular culture by storm worldwide. I doubt the minions will witness a similar fate, but it's hard to deny they steal the show in these Despicable movies. It's up to the first Minions film to prove they can do without their evil master in the future. And if they fail, we still have the Smurfs.

Today's Mini-Reviews: giant robots, Kaijus and super-villains

Pacific Rim: ****/*****, or 7/10

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.