Dec 9, 2012
"Iron Man 3" Japanese trailer
"Nothing's been the same since New York." muses Tony Stark. And in this new Japanese trailer for "Iron Man 3" we get a more complete glimpse of what he means than we got in the previously released US trailers as Ben Kingsley's 'Mandarin' brings his argument right to Tony's cliffside door. That shot of the saucer section plummeting into the sea is devastating and makes me wonder if the Enterprise and her crew will... oh. Wait. Nevermind.
2012 - The year in review 1 - Prometheus
This piece contains plot spoilers. You have been warned.
Of all the disappointing movies in 2012 none were more so for me than Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" which arrived brimming with promise and stumbled across the finish line leaving me feeling like I'd just had a great dinner and then got food poisoning from the desert. Back in May I saw it several times in the theater and was of a mind that it was a very good movie that could have been a great one.
With the end of the year (and the world?) staring us in the face now seemed like a good time to begin my year end reviews by revisiting the one movie I had truly high hopes for. I'm going to expand on some of the things I mentioned in my initial review and try and touch on other things I either didn't have space to discuss originally or which only became apparent to me on repeat viewings. To aid me in my quest I watched the DVD a couple of times this past week.
Let's start at the beginning shall we? It's 2089 right? Are you telling me they don't have some sort of communication device Shaw can use to notify Holloway that she found something in the cave? Here we are 77 years behind them and I think most grammar school kids today would know to simply send him an SMS. Not these future folks though. They stand on the mountainside and scream.
Moving on we come to the matter of one Fifield. The most poorly conceived, poorly written character in major motion pictures this year. All those responsible for this character seeing the light of the big screen should get a special Oscar for "WTF of the year". Every second this nasty clown is on the screen the film is substantially diminished. Fifield is the kind of character that might work for a week or two on "Survivor" or "Lost" but has absolutely no place in a serious sci-fi motion picture. You can get away with things on TV you simply cannot get away with in the theater. If "Lost: featuring Fifield" comes on the tube a viewer can just turn the station and watch a Simpsons rerun. In the theater though that same viewer has only 2 choices: either put up with it or leave, and no one wants to walk out of a movie after just plopping down hard earned cash for their seat.
Next we come to Vickers. Right up front I should say I like Charlize Theron. She's a damn fine actor. Here however she's wasted; told to stand in the shadows and sneer or stand in the foreground and sneer. Her character has not a single redeeming quality. Even the revelation that she's Weyland's long ignored daughter (a fact which is apparently at the heart of her loathsomeness) lands flat because it comes out at the same time she's making a public pitch for the old man to die so that she can get her hands on his money. The scene made modest allusion to the confrontation in Scott's "Gladiator" where Commodus vents at his Emperor father for his years of neglect yet it carries none of that scene's power. Imagine if Commodus had said his famous "I'd slaughter the world, if you would just love me!" and then let slip "Oh, and will you hurry up and die so I can have your sandals?"
There are myriad other problems with the film and they almost all come down to writing. More specifically characterization(s). Among these problems are: trained scientists who repeatedly do the most bone-headed things imaginable. Crew members who decide on the spot to sacrifice their lives with little more than a light-hearted chuckle. Janek and Vickers who go from adversaries to lovers to adversaries without even a "how could you?" There's the engineers who, for absolutely no apparent reason are filled with naught but seething hostility for their progeny. Charlie Holloway who goes from excited kid to depressed boozer in a matter of minutes without even a quick shot of him frowning in between. And Janek, who spontaneously changes from disinterested skipper of the Minnow to an analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly.
Here's a few other things that don't add up for me:
Exactly how did the homocidal engineer know that Shaw had left his ship and gone to the lifeboat?
How is it that the xenomorph at the very end is born full-size?
How did the union of Shaw and Holloway produce a land-based carnivorous octopus? The goo by itself is not life but a kind of steroid. Holloway ingested the goo which should have changed him into something more aggressive, (like it did with the worms) then when he mated with Shaw they should have produced some kind of mean-spirited hyper offspring. But a room-sized, Octobaby-facesucker? Where did the DNA for that come from?
Let's not even talk about Shaw's winning the Olympic decathlon minutes after having her mid-section sliced open and stapled back together.
I honestly cannot think of another film where the disconnect between the pictures and the words are so pronounced. Prometheus is both a stunning visual achievement and a narrative mess. The picture people knew how to utilize every square inch of the movie screen to breathtaking advantage. The sound people (writers and composer Marc Streitenfeld) thought they were writing for TV where mistakes can be glossed over or buried in an avalanche of episodes and insipid scores are de rigueur. The score, in fact, is so cheesy, small and inappropriate that, even if the writers hadn't suffered from their extended brain cramps, Prometheus might have failed to get off the launch pad because of it.
Prometheus had no business being as confusing and inexplicable as it was but it was a modest financial success and plans for a sequel are well under way. As such it is my most heartfelt wish that Ridley Scott purge his sequel crew of anyone that had anything to do with the script for this film - as well as the composer - and start fresh. Restraining orders should be taken out on Damon Lindelof and Marc Streitenfeld ordering them to have no contact of any kind with anyone involved in the production of the sequel and all the reality show castoffs who died in Prometheus must stay dead. The last thing a sequel needs is a Vickers clone.
There were enough things afoot at the end of Prometheus to provide for a rich and satisfying sequel that could make us forget about film 1's shortcomings. For that to happen though Ridley Scott will have to leave many of his crew from Prometheus on LV-223 as he follows Shaw and David into the unknown and focus on storytelling - not just ass-kicking visuals - next time around.
Of all the disappointing movies in 2012 none were more so for me than Ridley Scott's "Prometheus" which arrived brimming with promise and stumbled across the finish line leaving me feeling like I'd just had a great dinner and then got food poisoning from the desert. Back in May I saw it several times in the theater and was of a mind that it was a very good movie that could have been a great one.
With the end of the year (and the world?) staring us in the face now seemed like a good time to begin my year end reviews by revisiting the one movie I had truly high hopes for. I'm going to expand on some of the things I mentioned in my initial review and try and touch on other things I either didn't have space to discuss originally or which only became apparent to me on repeat viewings. To aid me in my quest I watched the DVD a couple of times this past week.
Let's start at the beginning shall we? It's 2089 right? Are you telling me they don't have some sort of communication device Shaw can use to notify Holloway that she found something in the cave? Here we are 77 years behind them and I think most grammar school kids today would know to simply send him an SMS. Not these future folks though. They stand on the mountainside and scream.
Moving on we come to the matter of one Fifield. The most poorly conceived, poorly written character in major motion pictures this year. All those responsible for this character seeing the light of the big screen should get a special Oscar for "WTF of the year". Every second this nasty clown is on the screen the film is substantially diminished. Fifield is the kind of character that might work for a week or two on "Survivor" or "Lost" but has absolutely no place in a serious sci-fi motion picture. You can get away with things on TV you simply cannot get away with in the theater. If "Lost: featuring Fifield" comes on the tube a viewer can just turn the station and watch a Simpsons rerun. In the theater though that same viewer has only 2 choices: either put up with it or leave, and no one wants to walk out of a movie after just plopping down hard earned cash for their seat.
Next we come to Vickers. Right up front I should say I like Charlize Theron. She's a damn fine actor. Here however she's wasted; told to stand in the shadows and sneer or stand in the foreground and sneer. Her character has not a single redeeming quality. Even the revelation that she's Weyland's long ignored daughter (a fact which is apparently at the heart of her loathsomeness) lands flat because it comes out at the same time she's making a public pitch for the old man to die so that she can get her hands on his money. The scene made modest allusion to the confrontation in Scott's "Gladiator" where Commodus vents at his Emperor father for his years of neglect yet it carries none of that scene's power. Imagine if Commodus had said his famous "I'd slaughter the world, if you would just love me!" and then let slip "Oh, and will you hurry up and die so I can have your sandals?"
There are myriad other problems with the film and they almost all come down to writing. More specifically characterization(s). Among these problems are: trained scientists who repeatedly do the most bone-headed things imaginable. Crew members who decide on the spot to sacrifice their lives with little more than a light-hearted chuckle. Janek and Vickers who go from adversaries to lovers to adversaries without even a "how could you?" There's the engineers who, for absolutely no apparent reason are filled with naught but seething hostility for their progeny. Charlie Holloway who goes from excited kid to depressed boozer in a matter of minutes without even a quick shot of him frowning in between. And Janek, who spontaneously changes from disinterested skipper of the Minnow to an analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly.
Here's a few other things that don't add up for me:
Exactly how did the homocidal engineer know that Shaw had left his ship and gone to the lifeboat?
How is it that the xenomorph at the very end is born full-size?
How did the union of Shaw and Holloway produce a land-based carnivorous octopus? The goo by itself is not life but a kind of steroid. Holloway ingested the goo which should have changed him into something more aggressive, (like it did with the worms) then when he mated with Shaw they should have produced some kind of mean-spirited hyper offspring. But a room-sized, Octobaby-facesucker? Where did the DNA for that come from?
Let's not even talk about Shaw's winning the Olympic decathlon minutes after having her mid-section sliced open and stapled back together.
I honestly cannot think of another film where the disconnect between the pictures and the words are so pronounced. Prometheus is both a stunning visual achievement and a narrative mess. The picture people knew how to utilize every square inch of the movie screen to breathtaking advantage. The sound people (writers and composer Marc Streitenfeld) thought they were writing for TV where mistakes can be glossed over or buried in an avalanche of episodes and insipid scores are de rigueur. The score, in fact, is so cheesy, small and inappropriate that, even if the writers hadn't suffered from their extended brain cramps, Prometheus might have failed to get off the launch pad because of it.
Prometheus had no business being as confusing and inexplicable as it was but it was a modest financial success and plans for a sequel are well under way. As such it is my most heartfelt wish that Ridley Scott purge his sequel crew of anyone that had anything to do with the script for this film - as well as the composer - and start fresh. Restraining orders should be taken out on Damon Lindelof and Marc Streitenfeld ordering them to have no contact of any kind with anyone involved in the production of the sequel and all the reality show castoffs who died in Prometheus must stay dead. The last thing a sequel needs is a Vickers clone.
There were enough things afoot at the end of Prometheus to provide for a rich and satisfying sequel that could make us forget about film 1's shortcomings. For that to happen though Ridley Scott will have to leave many of his crew from Prometheus on LV-223 as he follows Shaw and David into the unknown and focus on storytelling - not just ass-kicking visuals - next time around.
Dec 8, 2012
Post-apocalyptic Sunday
With the end of the world looming on December 21st we thought this would be a good time to serve up some visions of what the coming post apocalypse will look like. Of course all of the works below are predicated on the notion that something survives the apocalypse because, well, if the earth is simply smashed into a quadrillion little pieces and everyone's scarred carcases are scattered throughout the void what's the fun in that? So here's hoping somebody survives and here's our first glimpse of what the world of 2013 might look like.
First up is "Epoch", an independent work from director Anthony Scott Burns.
Next up is "Oblivion" starring Tom Cruise and directed by "Tron: Legacy" director Joseph Kosinski.
Next we have "Total Recall" with Colin Ferrell, one of my favorite sci-fi films of this last year of life as we know it.
And finally (for this week) we have "Rosa" an animated short from Jesus Orellana.
So there you have it. 4 future visions an enterprising survivor might use as a guide for navigating the coming wasteland. Enjoy and don't forget to stock up on Spam before its too late.
First up is "Epoch", an independent work from director Anthony Scott Burns.
Next up is "Oblivion" starring Tom Cruise and directed by "Tron: Legacy" director Joseph Kosinski.
Next we have "Total Recall" with Colin Ferrell, one of my favorite sci-fi films of this last year of life as we know it.
And finally (for this week) we have "Rosa" an animated short from Jesus Orellana.
So there you have it. 4 future visions an enterprising survivor might use as a guide for navigating the coming wasteland. Enjoy and don't forget to stock up on Spam before its too late.
Dec 7, 2012
13 minute preview of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
With 2 weeks to go until the film opens anticipation is peaking. To give true fanatics that little push over the edge into complete hysteria Peter Jackson and Co have released this 13 minute preview. There is a LOT of footage in here that never made it into any of the trailers or already released TV clips and that alone makes this something worth watching. Not only that but Christopher Lee makes his first appearance during this go 'round in Middle Earth. While he's certainly showing his age physically it's great to see that he retains his unbridled enthusiasm for the material.
Dec 6, 2012
"Star Trek Into Darkness" trailer is here and it's not messing around
Wow!
Can you say "Wrath of Khan"?
UPDATE: The Japanese version can be found over at apple trailers and contains a very direct allusion to the aforementioned WoK that is missing in the American version. Check it out here.
Can you say "Wrath of Khan"?
UPDATE: The Japanese version can be found over at apple trailers and contains a very direct allusion to the aforementioned WoK that is missing in the American version. Check it out here.
Dec 4, 2012
Off the beaten track trailer of the day - "Kin Dza Dza"
An odd couple mess with an alien transportation device and get teleported to another planet. This is an animated remake of a 1986 Soviet-era sci-fi flick. Though the lack of subtitles makes it near impossible (for me anyway) to decipher what I'm told are subtle sociological critiques I have to say I'm loving the animation.
The top 10 movies for the weekend of November 30 - December 2, 2012
| 1) Twilight: Breaking Dawn 2 | $17.4 Million |
| 2) Skyfall | $16.5 Million |
| 3) Rise of the Guardians | $13.38 Million |
| 4) Lincoln | $13.37 Million |
| 5) Life of Pi | $12.1 Million |
| 6) Wreck-It Ralph | $6.9 Million |
| 7) Killing Them Softly | $6.8 Million |
| 8) Red Dawn | $6.5 Million |
| 9) Flight | $4.4 Million |
| 10) The Collection | $3.1 Million |
The number one movie a year ago this week was Summit's "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1" which held on to the top spot for a sthird week with $16.5 million.
(Green indicates new release)
Dec 3, 2012
"Star Trek Into Darkness" poster
Paramount has released the first poster for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek sequel (below) and it paints a pretty grim picture. In keeping with the recently released synopsis it appears that earth has come out on the losing end of a knock-down-drag-out and Kirk (if that is Kirk in the poster) has decided to channel Neo as part of his revenge scenario. Sounds good to me. As long as it's the Neo from the original Matrix.
Look for "Star Trek Into Darkness" in theaters May 13, 2013.
Look for "Star Trek Into Darkness" in theaters May 13, 2013.
Dec 2, 2012
Smaug crashes the party in "Hobbit" TV spot 10
The marketing department is working overtime in the buildup to the December 14th release of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey". This newest TV spot boasts a cameo by the big baddie of the trilogy himself, Smaug. Don't blink or you'll miss it.
Dec 1, 2012
TV spot #9 for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"
12 days to go until we find out if Peter Jackson's return to Middle Earth was worth the wait or if it'll drown in dwarf-clowns and disappear into 48 fps hyperspace. Fingers officially crossed.
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