Never let it be said fans don’t back up their fondest movie wishes with some incredible reality.
Above is a photo of what looks like a sculpture done by an artist identified as bhsxf on the website http://www.therpf.com.
Not surprisingly, it’s a more … human vision of the android Avenger than we might expect. Not the most human we’ve ever seen him, however:
But wow, is it cool.
Someone get hold of Joss Whedon STAT!
Considering that “Iron Man 3” doesn’t come out until May, with a string of new Marvel movies to follow, you’d think the news about our favorite big-screen comic book movies would slow down just a bit.
Nope!
In recent days fans have seen a couple of developments:
Release date for “Avengers 2.” Marvel/Disney has confirmed a May 1, 2015 release date for Joss Whedon’s follow-up to this summer’s megahit. That’s on the heels of the announcement that Whedon had been signed not only to direct the sequel but develop a live-action TV series set in the big-screen “Avengers” universe and generally help the Marvel movie process move along through June 2015.
Daredevil likely back in Marvel’s hands: As we’ve noted here before, Marvel’s moviemaking division has big-screen rights to only some of the company’s characters. Others were long ago farmed out to other studios, which is why Fox is making a steady stream of X-Men-related movies and Sony/Columbia rebooted this summer with “The Amazing Spider-Man.”
Well, director Joe Carnahan had been gearing up for a gritty “Daredevil” reboot for Fox that promised to have a 1970s Hell’s Kitchen vibe. Carnahan said this week that his movie isn’t going to happen, leading some to expect that the rights to the blind superhero will revert to Marvel before Fox gets a chance to mount another effort.
Meaning that Marvel can include Daredevil in its on-screen universe now. Maybe even cast Matt Murdock in “Avengers 2” or his own movie.
As Marvel slowly requires some of its characters – apparently the Punisher is already back under the Marvel tent – the possibilities are endless.
Here’s a wish list for new members once Joss Whedon presents “Avengers 2:”
Black Panther. Gotta have the stalwart king of the African nation of Wakanda on the team.
Wasp and Ant-Man. Janet and Hank were original members of the group. An “Ant-Man” movie is in the early stages now. We need them in “Avengers 2.”
Daredevil. Why the heck not? New York is their mutual home turf.
Vision. The rumors flew, shortly after “The Avengers,” that the android Avenger would be included in upcoming installments, perhaps in some way personified by Clark Gregg of Phil Coulson fame. Make it happen, Joss!
Scarlet Witch. The references to Coulson’s cellist girlfriend in “The Avengers” got some people thinking Wanda, longtime Avenger and Vision’s wife, would make an appearance eventually. Yes, please.
“Restless” was the season finale of the fourth season of “Buffy,” airing in May 2000. The season had been an unusual one since it was the first that deviated from the high school setting of the show. Following the “Graduation Day” episodes of the previous season, Buffy and Willow went on to attend classes at U.C. Sunnydale, Giles was at loose ends before, in the following season, opening an occult shop and Xander kind of hung out, trying to find himself.
The season also featured a dramatic departure from past seasons by opening up the world of the Slayer to include “real world” supernatural elements, including what was in many ways the show’s most complex addition to its mythology, the Initiative, an underground (literally) government organization that captured and experimented on demons. It was the first absolute confirmation of Buffy’s “underground” status as the Slayer in a world in which the authorities – all the way to Washington D.C. – knew about vampires and demons.
The Initiative storyline had actually wrapped up in the previous episode, as the Scooby Gang defeated Adam, a Frankenstein-like monster created as an unauthorized offshoot of the program.
“Restless” took the form of a series of dreams sequences for Willow, Xander, Giles and Buffy in which each was stalked by the First Slayer, a savage female proto-Buffy.
The dream sequences were perfect and spot-on, teasing viewers with suggestions of events that might come in the series. Who wasn’t intrigued by Spike’s declaration that Giles was teaching him to become a Watcher?
The episode also featured some faces from the past, including Seth Green as Oz, Phina Oruche as Giles’ girlfriend Olivia, Mercedes McNab as Harmony and Armin Shimerman as Principal Snyder.
Ultimately, “Restless” marked something of a departure for “Buffy” and for Buffy. Especially when the Slayer declared herself different from the slayers of old, demonstrating that the First Slayer and the conventions of the Watchers Council and past Slayers didn’t mean anything to her.
Random observations:
“Restless” was written and directed by series creator Joss Whedon a dozen years before he became a Hollywood sensation with “The Avengers.” Whedon imbued the episode with his trademark mix of thrills and humor.
The First Slayer isn’t the only thing primordial about this episode: Just before they fall asleep, the gang settles in to watch a movie on VHS!
Throughout the episode, a guy shows up and says something about cheese. Of all the odd moments in the episode that fans took as clues to the future, this one we felt we could laugh off.
The episode featured references to ongoing series developments, including Willow’s coming out. During her dream, Willow’s anxiety reached its peak when former flame Oz and current flame Tara snickered and smirked at her even as she succumbed to the First Slayer.
I love all the dream sequences, but Xander’s journey into an “Apocalypse Now”-style heart of darkness is hilarious.
The episode is peppered with references to characters and episodes past and future, including Faith the vampire slayer and Dawn, Buffy’s “little sister” introduced in the next season. You could even argue that Joyce’s appearance in a wall during Buffy’s dream sequence was a reference to her eventual death.
“Restless” is one of the great episodes of a great series.
Time slips on past us and, as the visionary directors, writers, designers and illustrators of classic films grow older, fans are inevitably going to be faced with their passing.
Like “Star Wars” illustrator Ralph McQuarrie, who died in March, Carlo Rambaldi’s work is, at least, immortalized on film. Rambaldi worked with Steven Spielberg to create the title character for the 1982 classic “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.”
The Washington Post notes that Rambaldi created three E.T. robots (probably a reference to remotely controlled E.T. faces, heads and necks) two costumes worn by actors and gloves that doubled for E.T.’s hands.
Nowadays, of course, E.T. would be a computer-generated creature, as in “Avatar.”
In the Post story, by the Associated Press, Rambaldi is quoted expressing his skepticism about CGI. There’s little doubt that mechanical effects that created creatures as diverse as E.T. and the shark from “Jaws” gave actors a real, physical presence to act opposite on the set.
Rambaldi won visual effects Oscars for “E.T.,” “Alien” and the 1976 “King Kong” remake.
Well, duh.
In a perfect case of reverse-engineering, Disney and Marvel announced today that Joss Whedon, who got his start in TV and then directed “The Avengers” to good effect – and $1.5 billion in worldwide box office – will not only direct “Avengers 2” but oversee the development of the live-action TV series set in the “Avengers” movie universe.
It makes perfect sense, and some of the people reacting online tonight are sharing the same line of reasoning that had settled, like a fog, into my brain. Whedon, who made great TV series like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly,” has moved on, we told ourselves. He’s not going back to TV after having directed one of the biggest movies ever.
Well, turns out that way of thinking was wrong, wrong, wrong.
Now I doubt we’ll get Joss Whedon, showrunner, or Joss Whedon, director, or much more than Joss Whedon, occasional screenwriter, on this series.
But the man knows how to make a TV series with wit, action and service to multiple characters.
Turns out that was the strength that made him so right for “The Avengers.”
So here’s to a happy, anticipatory “Well, duh.”
Joss Whedon will be helping create the “Avengers” universe live action TV series.
Of course.
As some online sites are breaking news that Disney has announced that Joss Whedon will be back to direct “The Avengers 2” – and that’s probably not a total surprise – others are pulling back from recent reports that Marvel/Disney is agreeing to a trade with 20th Century Fox that would allow some “cosmic” characters like Galactus and Silver Surfer – currently part of Fox’s “Fantastic Four” film franchise, and thus outside Marvel’s movie sandbox – to appear in Marvel films.
First, some explanation: Before Marvel was making its own films, the company farmed out the rights to its (at the time) biggest characters to other studios. Fantastic Four and X-Men went to Fox, with very mixed results. So did Daredevil, who turned up in a movie starring Ben Affleck that wasn’t bad. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and his supporting characters went to Columbia/Sony.
The separation of characters has been frustrating in small ways. The reporter character in the “Daredevil” movie worked – in the comics at least – for The Daily Bugle, Peter Parker’s employer. But they didn’t use that paper’s name in the movie because all that Spidey stuff was elsewhere.
There’s been some speculation that the movie rights to some of these characters would eventually revert to Marvel and we might see – as was rumored months ago – Spider-Man in an “Avengers” movie. But that’ll happen only if the competing studios stop making new films.
So Fox has ordered up a new “Fantastic Four” movie and hired “Chronicle” director Josh Trank to make it. Similarly, Sony/Columbia rebooted “The Amazing Spider-Man” this summer in part to keep that character from reverting to Marvel’s control.
But when Thanos, Marvel’s death-loving cosmic villain, showed up at the end of “The Avengers” this summer, it was obvious that Marvel had some cosmic-sized plans for its movies. The announcement that Marvel will make a “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie – whose characters are prime foes for Thanos – for 2014 only confirms the space-bound plans for Marvel’s movies.
While I doubt that more than a handful of people know the real truth, reports are now circulating that although Fox might have wanted more time to get its “Daredevil” reboot going, that doesn’t mean that Galactus, the Silver Surfer or other characters overseen by Fox will show up in a future “Avengers” or “Guardians” movie.
Much as we might hope that’s the case.
If anybody knows who’s coming over to whose playhouse, it’s likely to be Joss Whedon. After “The Avengers” made $1.5 billion worldwide, I’m guessing Marvel offered Whedon whatever he wanted for the sequel. And while there’s no doubt a big paycheck in the deal, Whedon – a lifelong geek who has written X-Men comics – would no doubt like to have some of those cosmic characters to play with.
Maybe he’s even expecting it. He ended “The Avengers” with one of those star-spanning baddies, after all.
There’s been a long history between my hometown, Muncie, Indiana, and Hollywood.
Sometime I’ll do a fairly comprehensive look at the many mentions of Muncie in movies and TV shows ranging from the 1960s “Tom Slick” cartoons to “The X Files” and “Angel.”
In the meantime, though, I wanted to note the special relationship between Muncie and Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the 1977 UFO thriller. The movie was airing on SyFy this afternoon and I got sucked into watching some of it.
The movie wasn’t filmed here in Muncie, although there was discussion of that happening. Local officials and Columbia Pictures apparently negotiated for a while and rumors swept through town that the city bought new police cars specifically to seal the deal. It didn’t happen, although the city got some publicity from having the first half of the move set locally.
If you haven’t seen it, Spielberg’s movie is about the the first meaningful contact between humans and aliens. The movie opens with a team of scientists, led by Lacombe (Francois Truffaut), discovering mint-condition World War II-era fighter planes in the Mexican desert.
The scene moves to Indiana as we see air traffic controllers in Indianapolis communicating with the pilots of two airliners that have near-misses with some unexplained object. Then we’re in Muncie – the on-screen title still gets me a little goose-bumpy – at a rural farmhouse where single mom Jillian runs into the woods to find her toddler son, Barry, who has happily followed something out of their house and into the dark.
In the suburban Muncie home of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), a power company lineman, Neary is trying to persuade his kids to go to see “Pinocchio,” the re-issue of the Disney classic. They’re more interested in playing miniature golf, however.
Before long, Neary is sent to investigate the cause of a power outage and his truck is buzzed by low-flying UFOs. He gives chase along with half the Muncie police department. Thus begins his obsession. It is one he shares with dozens, maybe hundreds of others.
Some random thoughts, from a Muncie-centric perspective:
The Neary house, while looking like a shambles, has some authentic touches, including some Ball State University merchandise.
At one point, radio scanner traffic says Harper Valley. There’s no Harper Valley around Muncie. But if there was, they would have a dandy PTA, I bet.
There is a Cornbread Road – where Neary is sent to work on a power outage – and you can bet it was chosen for inclusion in the movie because of its quaint name.
The McDonald’s and Shell station look just right for the period.
The hillbillies – softly whistling “She’ll be coming around the mountain when she comes” as they wait for the UFOs to appear – are a nice touch but one that caused a lot of consternation at the time among local people who didn’t want to be represented onscreen by hill folk. Especially when one of them, played by character actor Roberts Blossom, says, “I saw Bigfoot once.”
There’s no toll road right outside Muncie, and certainly no nearby toll gate that divides Indiana and Ohio.
The movie got the police emblems on the patrol cars right, though.
There’s not much in the way of hillsides around Muncie, and certainly no mountainous overlook that cops and Neary could watch from, first as the UFOs fly over and then as lights come back on below.
The look of The Muncie Star wasn’t quite right, although its gargantuan size was. Holy crap, newspapers were big back then.
Neary’s “Ball U” T-shirt was a nice touch. I had one right about that time. They were a slightly naughty hit.
On the second night, when a newly fired Neary and a crowd of Muncie residents go back to the hill to wait for the alien ships to reappear, the collective mental seed that compels them to seek out the UFOs is destined to take them out of Muncie.
By the time Neary becomes obsessive about his encounter and begins building replicas of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming – scene of the ultimate Close Encounter – in his mashed potatoes and in a huge mound of dirt in his family room, his family bails on him and so, frankly, did I.
“Close Encounters” is a terrific movie that builds to a touching climax. I can’t help but be more interested, however, in the early scenes and what they indicate about my town.
News rolled out this weekend that Marvel and parent company Disney are exploring the possibility of a TV series set in the Marvel movie universe that “The Avengers,” “Iron Man” and all the rest live in.
This is something of a change considering that Disney and Marvel have mulled a couple of TV series since their big-screen ventures began in 2008.
Apparently a “Hulk” series is still being developed, but it seems like maybe the people in charge aren’t quite sure of what to do with it. They’ve said it would not take place in the Marvel movie universe, thus eliminating the possibility of a Tony Stark cameo.
Marvel was considering a series featuring second-tier heroes like Jessica Jones and Luke Cage (Hero for Hire, Power Man, of course). But they back-burnered it, maybe so they could concentrate on this series.
So where should Marvel go on the TV screen?
Consider an animated series. Seriously. Everybody wants to see live-action, of course, and there’s already an “Avengers” animated series being developed for Disney XD. But you know what? “Jonny Quest” was a primetime series. Who wouldn’t watch a weekly primetime version of “The Incredibles?” If you decide to do the ultimate (no pun intended) “Avengers” TV series and it just happens to be animated, emulate “Justice League Unlimited” and the fans will watch.
Forget the stars. Really. Fans won’t tune in every week hoping to seem Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. They’ll turn in to see concepts from their favorite comics explored on the small screen. Don’t worry about getting Jackson or Chris Evans or Mark Ruffalo. Work around the established characters or even re-cast them. Think about it: In the past 50 years, a lot of different artists have drawn Spider-Man, Captain America and the rest. They’ve looked pretty familiar but not exactly the same. Fans can accept variations.
Figure out how to budget it. The average episode of a TV series costs a couple million bucks. That’s about a tenth of what a big-screen movie can cost. If the producers try to be realistic in how they budget and make the show, fans will understand. Doing a cheap version that feels like a cheap version won’t satisfy anybody.
Some possible series:
“SHIELD” is a natural. It’s a spy organization. TV can do spies. Feature the Maria Hill character with a couple of cameos from Sam Jackson. Maybe Iron Man would fly over in the season finale.
“Damage Control” is little known among the public at large but often suggested by fans. Created in 1989, the Damage Control comic is about a New York-based company that comes in in the aftermath of a knock-down-drag-out between the Fantastic Four and Dr. Doom, for example. Damage Control would clean up the mess, stabilize buildings and deal with any otherworldly toxic waste. The show would be a natural to have heroes show up occasionally, make a mess and leave. Humor would be an important element here.
With its DVD short films featuring SHIELD agents and the upcoming “Item 47” – a 12-minute movie on the Avengers DVDs this September featuring a story about two grifters, including Lizzy Caplan, who find one of the Chitauri blasters and decide to put it to bad use – Marvel is showing an inclination to try comic book stories on a smaller scale. It’s no surprise they would eventually focus that effort on a TV series.
Blame it on George Lucas.
In 1983, Hollywood and the moviegoing public came to accept the trilogy – a set of three movies – as the standard, the perfect number of movies in a series.
It was the year of “Return of the Jedi,” not a bad movie in its own right and an appropriate finale to the original films. Of course, it pales in comparison to “The Empire Strikes Back.”
And yes, some movie series (notably “Star Trek”) continued past their third entry.
But thanks to Lucas’ original trilogy and prequel trilogy (sigh), three movies became the norm.
Which meant we’ve seem a lot of good third films (“Return of the King,” “Toy Story 3”) and a lot of bad third films.
Now rumors are sweeping the Internet that director Peter Jackson is considering – perhaps being encouraged – to turn his adaptation of “The Hobbit” from two movies to three movies.
Tolkien’s story is one dear to generations of readers and serves as a great introduction to “The Lord of the Rings.” But it’s hard to imagine how the rather simple story could sustain three movies.
So hear’s hoping Jackson resists the temptation.
But just in case, let’s recall some really awful third movies:
“Superman III,” in which Richard Pryor becomes the Man of Steel’s archnemesis. Interesting how much Christopher Reeve’s costume in that movie foreshadows the muted blue and red colors used in “Superman Returns” and next year’s “Man of Steel.” “Superman III” was topped in its badness only by “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.”
“Spider-Man 3,” the reason why Sam Raimi is no longer making “Spider-Man” movies starring Tobey McGuire. Does anyone ever want to see Peter Parker dance again?
“X-Men: The Last Stand.” Here’s a great example of how to kill a series. You’d think Sam Raimi and Tobey McGuire were special guests on the set.
“Terminator III.” After the highpoint of “Terminator 2,” a letdown of epic proportions.
And possibly least, “Alien 3.” James Cameron made “Aliens” a thrilling bug hunt. “Alien 3” made us wish Sigourney Weaver had just said no.
My first reaction when I saw this weekend’s “Man of Steel” trailer for Zack Snyder’s revisiting of the Superman franchise was that it didn’t look like a trailer for a “Superman” film.
What is this, Zack Snyder and Chris Nolan’s big-screen version of “The Deadliest Catch?”
If you haven’t seen the trailer, the preview is filled with shots of foggy landscapes, a kid running around in the yard outside his house and a bearded guy hitchhiking and working on a fishing boat. (The bearded guy, of course, is Henry Cavill, the star.)
Only at the end, after the “Man of Steel” title, do we get a “Chronicle”-like glimpse of Superman streaking through the sky, breaking the sound barrier.
The trailer raises a lot of questions, most of them about the choices Warner Bros., Nolan and Snyder have made about the movie and how they’re going to market it.
Why, why, why another retelling of the story from the beginning? Are filmmakers unable to resist the mythology of the death of Krypton and Clark’s Smallville years? Haven’t we seen this already, more than enough times?
Are they playing the “Amazing Spider-Man” game? The makers of that recent movie tried hard to convince us there was an untold story to Peter Parker’s parents and his origin. There really wasn’t one. Is the point of this movie (and trailer) to create the impression that the few early scenes in which Clark struggles with the decision about what to do with his powers are as important as what he does later? Isn’t that a dangerous game considering we all KNOW what he does later? Wouldn’t that be like devoting half of a movie to Sherlock Holmes’ dithering about whether to become a detective or a blacksmith?
Who is Clark imitating? When Clark is running around his yard using a red towel for a cape, who is he imitating? Really? In Nolan’s one-superhero world, why would young Clark possibly be wearing a cape before he becomes Superman? And are we supposed to believe that the down-home Kansas Kents would have red bath towels?
Wait, Superman can fly? Really, the build-up in the trailer is to a shot of Superman flying? Is that considered the most impact-full image of Superman they can present? Or a feeble attempt to reassure us that, yes, all that pretty but meandering footage we’ve already shown you is from a Superman movie.
I’ll go see this next May, despite this seriously bungled early marketing attempt and my misgivings, previously noted, about the “edgy” tack they’re apparently taking.
But so far I don’t have a good feeling about “Man of Steel.”
keithroysdon 