Today's News: spin-off, remake and sequel trailers galore

Catching up on the news of the past week(s), here's a bunch of trailers for y'all.

Teaser Bondfilm Spectre online

Lots'o tease indeed. No big action showing Bond what he does best (bedding ladies, recklessly driving vehicles and violently offing baddies), just setting the tone and atmosphere and providing hints at the bigger plot without offering explicit explanations as to the how and why. If this teaser was a summary of the final product (unlikely, but you never know), you'd definitely know Sam Mendes returned to the director's chair, after the equally introvert and slower paced (but all the same very good) Skyfall. Nevertheless, the sense of an upcoming big confrontation is felt throughout this preview. British Intelligence up against a criminal rival of equal strength and proportions led by the always infectiously nefarious Christoph Waltz, there's gotta be blood. More major characters up for the block then? I doubt that, as most of them have just been introduced in the previous installment. There's definitely a side character or two eligible for being sacrificed for some emotional conflict. Or maybe Mendes will surprise us all again and kill off Bond himself. So the studio can move on with Idris Elba in Daniel Craig's place, seeing as those perpetual rumours circling the web just won't die. After all, dead or not, James Bond always returns, in whatever guise.

Nieuwe trailer Mad Max: Fury Road

The same can be said for Max Rockatansky. Though he definitely returns less often than 007, as he's now at four films in 36 years as opposed to 24 in 52 years. But in many ways, this franchise is very similar to the James Bond movies. You've got a tenacious, lethal and handsome protagonist that doesn't necessarily have to be played by one single actor, stuck in a world full of ever ongoing violent political intrigue (just over cruder resources, like water and fuel) providing explosive action with gun fights and car chases and what have you. And he, too, occasionally gets laid (just not nearly as frequently). The new trailer again makes Fury Road appear like an epic film, though finally a bit more plot is added to the many fabulous shots of chase and fight scenes in beautiful desert vistas. That plot does bear a bit of a resemblance to The Road Warrior, it's hard to deny. But that was kinda to be expected. After all, reintroducing the character and his environment with a new main star after 25 years does lean towards the makings of a reboot. So story wise, I don't expect too many surprises on a narrative level. But hey, it beats a fullblown remake. At least enough variation is offered to make the movie feel fresh and new enough for the fans as well. I just hope the same can be said for the two sequels Mr. Hardy already signed up for. I've already seen him do the Thunderdome thing - you know the drill; two men enter, one man leaves - with Batman, after all.

Nieuwe trailer Poltergeist

This appears less fresh and new. But this of course is a total remake. Of a fairly classic genre film that has since spawned its fair share of inspirations, sequels and rip-offs. Which begs the question what this new Poltergeist movie has to often, other than its recognizable franchise name which the studio no doubt hopes will be enough to convince audiences to pay for it in theatres. Going by this trailer, I'll skip this remake. I just don't see anything worth my while that I haven't seen before. The plot of a family being haunted by ghosts up to no good has scared itself to death at this point. There have been good variations on the theme (The Conjuring springs to mind as the most recent example), but a much larger number of shitty versions plagues the horror genre. I'm surprised to see good actors like Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris jumping on board of this remake though. Were they in need of money, did they have time on their hands, or is there just more to this remake than meets the eye? I don't know, and I'm not likely to find out upon this film's release. I don't usually dabble in horror remakes, I find the whole concept just too scary.

Titel tweede Walking Dead serie onthuld

Eerste teaser Fear the Walking Dead

Here's another scary thing, a second Walking Dead series. First and foremost, it must be said that I love the currently running show. It's utterly compelling television exploring the human condition under the toughest of circumstances, rife with all manner of grizzly ghouls out for human flesh and exciting action scenes to match. But what is the need for a second show? I can only imagine it offering more of the same concept. The only thing that makes it stand out against the original show is the time frame, which explores the infection from the get-go. And I'm not sure whether I'm too keen on the revelation of that mystery, as it proved simply irrelevant in the current series. We really don't need to know why the world has gone to hell, as The Walking Dead is all about showing how people react to that fact of life (or better, death). As far as I'm concerned, the cause of the infection can remain a mystery indefinitely, we're simply not encouraged to want to know, plus its revelation wouldn't add to the story, more likely just take away from it. Fans can come up with all manner of funky theories as to the how and why of the situation, but when it has aired on theories, that's that over with. Other than that, Fear the Walking Dead (I do kinda like that title) is likely to follow an all too similar scenario of plot lines as its concurrent show features. Which means it will be fun and thrilling to watch at best, just not nearly as inspired or innovative. But maybe I'm just entirely wrong and the show proves as catchy and exciting as its predecessor. After all, AMC pulled the same stunt with Breaking Bad, and I hear Better Call Saul turned out to withstand most initial skepticism. Here's to hoping...

Today's News: lots of little news items

Plenty of news this week, but nothing really major. The usual atmosphere in January.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158650/trailer_penny_dreadful_seizoen_2

Bring it on! If Season 2 is anywhere near as creepy and offbeat as Season 1, I'm game. The trailer sure indicates the eerie, Gothic mood of the show remains unchanged. It's just the characters that get mixed up in new plot twists which causes the major change in pace. From the looks of it, Eva Green's Vanessa Ives takes centrestage again. I don't mind, as Green is a very appreciable actress, though I do think a little more attention to some of the other characters would have been and remains most welcome. It would have made the revelation about Josh Hartnett's character a little easier to digest, since it now came mostly out of the blue, though I reckon Season 2 will definitely address matters more on that front. But hey, anything involving supernatural characters in Victorian London very much piques my interest. If the second season proves half as intriguing as the first, I won't complain.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158651/tom_hardy_verlaat_suicide_squad

I predicted this was gonna happen in my previous discussions of casting for this DC movie (look them up via the tags below, if you disbelieve me). Suicide Squad is an ensemble movie filled with colourful characters, and its ranks have been filled with some big A-list actors to portray them. Of course, egos were bound to come into conflict with one another over how much screentime their character featured and what the exact nature of their supervillain of choice ought to be sooner rather than later. And so Hardy is the first one out, as new sources (not mentioned in my article) claim was the result just because of creative differences over his character. I expected it to be Will Smith, so that at least is a little surprising to me. I would also have liked to see Hardy stay on board more than I would Smith, as I consider him to be the more interesting actor (since he's not yet a superstar, unlike Smith). However, I wouldn't be surprised to see more of the cast follow Hardy's example soon. I hope they won't, since the majority consists of solid actors who might do very well with the subject matter. But it's hard to deny director David Ayer might have bit off more than he could chew with a cast as loaded with impressive names as this one.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158664/eerste_foto_cast_now_you_see_me_2

The big trick this first movie, about a bunch of rebellious illusionistsbreaking into banks, pulled out of its hat was introducing its franchise ambitions. Its ending sure revealed there was much more going on behind the scenes than at first believed. It proved quite an incredulous close which strongly required wanting to be fooled to accept it. Many audiences didn't, and therefore condemned the film's finale as a ridiculous and illogical cop-out. But the movie performed well enough in a summer of weak blockbusters, which makes the studio hopeful this franchise will spawn a few blockbuster installments of its own. At least they got a decent cast to make it happen. Most of the veterans from the first move are back for more magic shenanigans, while this first cast photo shows Daniel Radcliffe and Lizzy Caplan have been added to the cast. Decent additions for sure and at least one of them knows his way around the world of wand waving magic tricks. Otherwise, I remain skeptical about this project. It seems it's gonna go down the road of Ocean's Eleven, except with illusionists robbing banks rather than with gentlemen con artists pulling off casino heists. Which is fine for many audiences, but not my cup of tea.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158666/fox_wil_meer_x-files_

Not overly fond of this notion. The X-Files was a good show, but its curse was it overstayed its welcome, continuing for two more season than felt obliged. Similarly, one movie was warranted at the peak of its popularity, but the second one was an exercise in redundancy, which barely even felt like connecting to the series proper. Why bother digging up such fossils? Well, money, obviously. As noted, the show was a smash success back in its days. There's still plenty of fans who crave their weekly dose of extraterrestrial and supernatural mystery. However, I think the majority would agree that this is basically just blatantly repeating past glory. Though I'm usually not high on reboots, I think it would be the wiser way to go in this franchise's case. Duchovny and Anderson have moved on, and I doubt they would feel much for anything other than a limited series, as Duchovny already suspected to be the case. Why not have a new duo of talented actors take over for them? If the new take on the show is indeed a limited series, that would be a great opportunity to have the torch be passed from the old cast to the next generation, while also testing the waters and see whether The X-Files premise still connect to modern day audiences who are more used to an ungoing narrative rather than old fashioned episodic storytelling. However, a limited series can't address the mythology of the original show much, since that was basically concluded, nor does it have much opportunity to introduce a mythology of its own if there's only gonna be a handful of episodes. I bet we'll see a miniseries at first, which tells a rounded story but keeps options open for a follow-up regular running series which stars main characters other than Mulder and Scully. No mystery that's probably the safest way to go, and I want to believe Fox feels the same.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158696/nieuwe_promo_the_walking_dead_seizoen_52

I won't discuss this particular preview much here, simply because I can't. I have yet to catch up with The Walking Dead Season 4 and the first half of Season 5. So I have no idea what tragic events preceded this trailer. It's the downside of living in the Golden Age of Television: there's too much good series to go round and not enough time to watch them all. I'm not following TWD as closely and obsessively as some other shows, though I hope to return to the zombie apocalypse soon. But until that time, I try to stay away from any information regarding the show, so as to avoid potential spoilers. Fortunately this 30-second teaser didn't show too much, and what it did reveal, I missed to such an extent that I don't feel spoilered. Thankfully, since this is often an unfortunate side effect of the job of posting news about movies and TV.

Today's Film: Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Dawn of the Dead

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Few remakes ever surpass their predecessors, but this one gets remarkably close, if it's not a definite improvement over the already great original George A. Romero zombie classic from 1978. Zack Snyder, who would go on to direct 300, Watchmen and unfortunately Sucker Punch, first proved his talent for adapting – in this case re-adapting – other people's work with this gripping, gory and hugely entertaining horror flick. A zombie plague engulfs America after which a band of survivors barricades itself in a shopping mall for safety. Tensions run high in the group as its members continue to find themselves attacked by the living dead and eventually a choice must be made: do these people decide to stay in their safe haven where they got everything they need except their freedom, or do they take their chances storming out in an attempt to find out whether there's other people still alive out there in some remote and secure location, with the hopes of joining them. 

The story remains largely the same (except for the absence of a violent, marauding biker gang invading the mall), but the hungry undead are more lethal than ever, this time also adding speed to help satiate their lust for devouring human flesh, making them much easier to take seriously than Romero's slow, lumbering walking dead, thus only enhancing the suspense (and the body count). Fantastic make-up efects galore in this picture, providing a wide array of eerie zombies and disturbing scenes of dismemberment and bloodshed. Still, Snyder doesn't let the gore rule the film, but prefers to locate the horror in the story itself. Of particularly great shock effect is the film's fabulous opening, which starts off very restrained and seemingly normal with a nurse just going home after a hard day's work, going to bed at night and waking up the next morning finding her neighbourhood burning in utter chaos and despair as it has suddenly fallen prey to a zombie apocalypse. Though the movie treats us to many a memorable moment of naked, merciless terror later on, this gruesome opening stands out as its most horrifying scene. The TV show The Walking Dead – though itself based on a graphic novel – would later feature a very similar world of undead post-apocalyptics, clearly inspired by this remake and building on its premise of a ragtag group of survivors trapped in a hellish world ruled by hungry corpses.

Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber

Directed by Zack Snyder

USA: Strike Entertainment, 2004