Category Archives: movies

‘Man of Steel’ trailer still a quandary

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man of steel poster

I want to believe a man can fly.

I want to believe in Superman.

In fact, I’m pretty sure I do.

It’s “Man of Steel” I’m not sure about.

man of steel trailer

The latest trailer for “Man of Steel,” producer Christopher Nolan and director Zack Snyder’s reboot of the Superman movies, hit the Interwebz yesterday. I’ve watched it a few times and I’m still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

Ambivalent, maybe. Here’s why:

We don’t need another origin story, even though we’re getting one. Yes, it’s been more than three decades since the last big-screen Superman origin. Yes, the lure of Krypton’s explosion and Jor-El and all that is too great to pass up. But I just feel like we don’t need another introduction to Superman the character, any more than I feel like we needed another introduction to Spider-Man last summer. Between the various and quite good animated versions and “Smallville,” I can’t imagine what another origin story will bring.

Superman is lonely but he isn’t brooding. He’s an alien, more or less the last surviving Kryptonian. Well, that’s proven false time and time again in the comics and movies. But you get the idea. So while I don’t want to see a happy, sunny Superman necessarily, I don’t feel like we need a Superman who’s just as likely to lie on his bed and eat Doritos all weekend as … well, must of his fans are.

On the other hand … Superman isn’t boring. He’s a complex, multi-faceted character, not a Boy Scout. So maybe some stark loneliness will play well.

If Pa Kent isn’t Clark’s dependable mentor and conscience and adviser, I’m not sure I want to see that movie. In the trailer, young Clark wonders if he should have let a school bus full of kids drown in a river rather than save them – especially if it means revealing his powers. Pa says, “Maybe.” No. Pa Kent would never say that. Wrong. Wrong.

We need some action. It kinda sorta looks like Brooding Boy pulls on his scaly blue tights and engages in some fisticuffs with Zod at some point. At least I hope so. “Superman Returns” was so slow.

The imagery is … problematic. The early poster (above), featuring Superman in handcuffs. Why would Warners want that image, curiosity-inspiring as it might be, to be the first image most people connect with the movie?

Did I say we don’t need another origin story? Oh yes, I guess I did.

 

 

Cool trailer for ‘Pacific Rim’

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This isn’t “Transformers.” At least, I don’t think it is.

One of the buzziest movies due out next summer is “Pacific Rim,” director Guillermo del Toro’s epic-in-scale science fiction movie about a future Earth where giant, Godzilla-like creatures have risen from the sea to destroy mankind … and they’re confronted by the giant, pilot-driven robots mankind has created to beat them back.

“Pacific Rim” has been getting some good reaction from the fans so far. The new trailer went online today and I’ve gotta say that it looks good even to someone who isn’t the biggest giant-monsters-menacing-Japan fan in the world.

Check out the trailer on iTunes here.

‘Oblivion’ looks intriguing

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Oblivion-movie-wallpaper

I’m a little leery of Tom Cruise in the same way I’m leery of Mel Gibson. Their off-screen personalities and controversies have a way of dominating their on-screen presence for me.

Nevertheless, I’ll be seeing Cruise’s new film, “Jack Reacher,” since it’s based on the fun Lee Child crime novels – although Cruise is miscast as Reacher – and I’ll check out “Oblivion” when it comes out next spring.

As you can tell from the trailer, “Oblivion” features Cruise as a soft of human Wall-E, cleaning up an abandoned Earth. But the solitary duty goes haywire when Morgan Freeman and a bunch of mysterious survivors appear.

“Oblivion” looks quite intriguing. It opens in April.

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ teaser: Five things to know

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It was another interwebs meltdown kind of day, with everybody weighing in with their opinion on the new “announcement” trailer – a short version of the teaser trailer, or an even shorter version of the nine minutes of IMAX footage coming in front of “The Hobbit” – for “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

And of course I’ve got a couple of thoughts too. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the “official” US trailer on iTunes and here’s the Japanese trailer, with the extra few seconds of footage that has everyone so crazy.

Five things:

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That voice. I love the narration, presumably by Benedict Cumberbatch as the bad guy. “I have returned … to seek my vengeance.” Yikes.

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The Cumberbatch! One of my favorite Brit actors because of the “Sherlock” series, Cumberbatch looks damn cool here. Is he playing Khan? Is he playing Gary Mitchell? Somebody else entirely? Whatever!

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The water. I’m still trying to figure out why the Enterprise is in the ocean. The shot of the ship plowing into the water is startling and looks like they’ve decided to wreck the Enterprise again. But the one of the ship rising out of the water? Reminds me of the nebula cloud “submarine” games in “Star Trek II.”

The city mayhem. The shots of people staring up at something horrible happening in a big city – London? San Francisco? – bugged me. Call it a long-lasting 9-11 effect.

The hands. This is the part that’s making everyone crazy. Two hands, separated by glass. One is unmistakably in a Starfleet science uniform and is making the familiar Vulcan gesture that usually accompanies “Live long and prosper.” The similarities to the finale of “Star Trek II” are obvious. But surely they’re not going in that direction again? This is, after all, a rebooted universe. Anything can happen.

We’ll know in May.

 

‘Skyfall” best Bond in years

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In seeing the new James Bond adventure, “Skyfall,” today, I was struck by the thought that I don’t believe I’ve seen a movie that seemed so much like the first film in a series and so much like the last film in a series simultaneously.

I’ll tread lightly in the spoiler department here, have no fear, but let’s just say that director Sam Mendes debut in the Bond series – and Daniel Craig’s third outing as the durable British spy, marking his 50th year in movies – wraps up and reinvigorates the character at the same time.

The recent “Star Trek” remake left me with much of the same feeling. Although it featured a mostly new cast, the presence of so many familiar “Trek” elements – not to mention the presence of Leonard Nimoy as classic Spock – made the movie feel like a new beginning and a summation.

Much the same can be said of “Skyfall,” which opens with Bond and fellow agent Eve (her full name is withheld for obvious reasons by the end of the movie) in pursuit of an agent with the names of MI6 operatives working undercover in terrorist organizations.

After a chase through very familiar-to-moviegoers street markets, over rooftops and on top of  a moving train, Bond is lost and presumed dead.

M (Judi Dench) mourns but has other matters to think about. There’s not only the list of agents’ names but someone seems to be targeting her for death.

It is an attempt on M’s life that brings Bond back from an island hideaway. M sends him back to work, but not before he meets British intelligence official Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) and the new quartermaster, Q (Ben Whishaw), an impossibly young tech expert.

Before long, Bond finds that M’s tormentor is Silva (Javier Bardem), a former MI6 spy who feels he was abandoned in the field by M.

That’s one of the elements of “Skyfall” that seems most interesting. While Silva has some destructive plans and a bizarre lair on an abandoned city/island, he’s no Dr. Evil-style global extortionist. This is personal between Silva and M and it quickly becomes personal for Bond too.

As much of a feel as we get for M and her life and personality in “Skyfall,” we get the most personal look at Bond we’ve had since he fell in love and married in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

We learn the circumstances that propelled Bond into the spy game. We see his childhood home. And we see a transformation in Bond during the course of the movie.

I’m not sure if Craig is continuing in the role. It would be a shame if he and Mendes don’t come back for another entry. By the end of this movie, everything is in place for a truly stirring Bond follow-up.

Some random observations:

Rumors circulated that Mendes briefly considered asking Sean Connery to take a small but pivotal supporting role in the movie. He didn’t, and wisely so, thinking it would be too distracting to have a former Bond on hand. Albert Finney does a nice job with the part.

I really enjoyed the origin of the name Skyfall.

I don’t think I’ve seen a komodo dragon menace someone so effectively since “Jonny Quest.”

The movie’s action takes place in a couple of far-flung locales, as usual, but the best scenes are in steel-gray Britain and Scotland.

Classic horror movies: ‘Chamber of Horrors’

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I first became acquainted with “Chamber of Horrors” sometime in the 1970s when it aired on TV. Which was ironic since the movie was made for TV in 1966 – it was even a pilot for a series, as the final “what adventure will we get into next time” scenes makes obvious – but was considered too gruesome for broadcast.

So “Chamber of Horrors” was released to theaters and with that release came the opportunity for a great gimmick.

Cesare Danova and Wilfred Hyde-White are the owners of a wax museum in Baltimore in the late 1800s. They are also amateur detectives, investigating killers who might be good displays for their gruesome House of Wax.

The run across a serial killer, Jason Cravatte (Patrick O’Neal, suave in a cast of suave actors), who would make a likely addition to their chamber of horrors.

If he doesn’t kill them first.

Cravatte is a fun Big Bad because of his gimmick. He’s missing a hand, so – like the villain from “Enter the Dragon,” only years before – he replaces the missing appendage with various murderous sharp objects.

To flesh – no pun intended – out the running time of the movie for theatrical release and amp up the gimmickry, the producers inserted the “Fear Flasher” and “Horror Horn,” visual and audio clues to tell audience members when they should close their eyes or turn away.

When Cravatte was about to chop off a body part, the screen would flash red and ungodly noises would begin blasting at the audience.

If we didn’t understand, narrator Wiliam Conrad explained things to us:

“Ladies and Gentlemen … The motion picture you are about to see contains scenes so terrifying, the public must be given grave warning. Therefore the management has instituted visual and audible warnings at the beginning of each of the FOUR SUPREME FRIGHT POINTS … the HORROR HORN and the FEAR FLASHER. The Fear Flasher is the visual warning. The Horror Horn is the audible warning. Turn away when you see the Fear Flasher. Close your eyes when you hear the Horror Horn.”

Of course, if you dared continue watching, you didn’t really see any gore. Not like the decapitations and amputations on your average episode of “The Walking Dead” today.

But it was a great gimmick.

Personally, I wish “Chamber of Horrors” had led to a TV series. It would have preceded “The Night Stalker” as an episodic horror series by several years and would have been a favorite of all us bloodthirsty movie and TV geeks from back in the day.

‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ trailer fascinates

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I’ve watched the trailer for “Oz the Great and Powerful” a few times now and I’ll probably watch it again tonight. The preview for Sam Raimi’s return to Oz – with the backstory of the Wizard from Kansas and those sisters who become witches – is loaded with beautiful shots and glimpses of the movie.

Part of what’s fascinating is how the trailer for the film, starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams, exploits the visual iconography of the “Wizard of Oz” story.

Want proof? Check this out:

What about that image doesn’t remind you of Margaret Hamilton’s appearance as the Wicked Witch of the West?

Author L. Frank Baum’s “Oz” stories were all over the place not only in terms of the geography of Oz but also the stories and characters.

But the trailer, at least, sticks mostly to territory familiar to lovers of the 1939 Judy Garland movie as well as “Wicked,” the book and play that explores the lives of the witches before they were witches.

Random thoughts about the trailer:

I like the switch from small, black-and-white screen to widescreen, CGI-filled color. I’m guessing the movie follows the format of the 1939 film in that respect, but if not, at least the trailer creates a connection to the classic film by doing so.

The movie looks to be exploring the iconography of the books. The fragile little doll in the movie appears to be a resident of The Dainty China Country, from the first book.

There’s also plenty of familiar characters and imagery, including a healthy dose of Munchkins.

Is the flying monkey who accompanies the wizard comic relief? If so, that will contradict the nightmares of a few generations of little kids.

Who’s the wicked witch? I guess we’re to assume it’s one or both of the dark-haired sisters played by Kunis and Weisz. Or is it a character we don’t see until her appearance in that swirling red cloud?

We’ll know the answers to all our questions in March.

 

What we want to see in new ‘Star Wars’ movies – and what we don’t

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The announcement that George Lucas had sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion – and that Disney intended to release new “Star Wars” movies, beginning in 2015 – was just the beginning.

Then came news that “Toy Story 3” writer and Oscar-winner Michael Arndt was writing the first movie and, in fact, had written a lengthy treatment for all three movies.

All of a sudden the possibility of new “Star Wars” movies was real. And then word came out that Harrison Ford wasn’t actively opposed to making an appearance in a new movie, presumably as an aging Han Solo, and that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were enthusiastic about reappearing as Luke and Leia.

So since this is really happening, what do we want to see in new movies?

Keep in mind that I’ve only read one “Star Wars” original novel, “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye,” that came out while the original trilogy was still being made. I know only a little about what happened in the later books that took the form of sequels and prequels and killed poor old Chewbacca.

In other words, I don’t know if these ideas have already been out there. I just know that they intrigue me.

Consider mixing things up in time. While the stories will likely take place after the original trilogy, it’s not a given that they take place 40 years later. Maybe recast the main characters for action that takes place right after the timespan of the original movies but have some scenes featuring the original actors playing older versions of their characters. It worked to have Ford play an older Han Solo in Lucas’s “Young Indiana Jones” TV series.

Let us have more Luke and Leia and maybe more Han Solo, even if they’re in cameos. But make it dignified and make it make sense.

Don’t bring back Darth Vader. I know it would be tempting to resurrect the former Anakin Skywalker. But the first two trilogies were all about his fall and redemption. It would cheapen everything to bring him back.

Bring back, or at least make reference to, the occasional supporting character. Lando, Chewie and others would be a nice presence.

Make the scope of the movies range from the personal to the epic. It would be great to see intimate drama and suspenseful stories about characters in the huge “Star Wars” universe, even characters we don’t know yet. Take a cue from the “Clone Wars” series here. But also consider the type of galaxy-spanning action the earlier movies specialized in as an essential element.

Maybe take a pass on the droids. We can have some robots, for sure. But I don’t know that I ever need to see C3PO and R2D2 again.

While you’re at it, lose all the cute characters. No Ewoks. No Gungans. And yes, I realize that might feel like the path to alienating the younger kids who will be the primary audience for the ongoing movies. But, again, take a cue from the “Clone Wars” animated series. They’re fun and action-filled and respect their audience.

Jedis would be good.

Lots of the Force. And not Midi-Chlorians.

Yoda. I wouldn’t mind seeing Yoda again. And yes, I know he’s a glowy Jedi ghost now. But a smart guy like Arndt can find a way to make it work.

 

The Essential Geek Library: ‘A Pictorial History of Horror Movies’

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As a young science fiction and horror movie fan, I watched every movie I could see, a challenge sometimes in those pre-home video days. So I spent endless hours checking out books about the genre. I’m noting a few of them here in this recurring space.

If Famous Monsters of Filmland was my favorite magazine, Denis Gifford’s “A Pictorial History of Horror Movies” was my standard reference, my bible.

Gifford’s book, published in 1973, was a scholarly but loving look at several decades of horror movies.

Gifford, a British writer of comic books and books about pop culture, apparently amassed what was considered one of the biggest collections of British comic books in existence.

But it’s his love for and knowledge of horror movies that endears him to me.

His book truly lived up to its name. “Pictorial History” is loaded with vintage photos from horror films from the 1920s to the 1970s. Even before I saw some movies, Gifford’s look at them gave me a good visual frame of reference. Some movies, like the silent version of “Frankenstein,” are completely represented in my mind by the pictures included in Gifford’s book.

As a young man who loved to draw, I would study those stills and try my hand at reproducing them with pencil and paper.

And Gifford’s book didn’t discriminate. He included movies from the Universal classics to low-budget movies made here and abroad.

Gifford passed in 2000. I’m hoping he knows what a milestone he left for all of us fans. I’m guessing he knew.

As a side note, by the way, the hardcover cost only a few dollars in 1973. In doing research for this, I found it for sale online as high as $199. I showed that to my son, who said, “You should sell it!” Never.

‘World War Z’ trailer: Not the story I know

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I’m on the record with my concern about the big-screen movie version of Max Brooks’ “World War Z,” one of my favorite end-of-the-world novels of recent years.

So seing the trailer for the movie starring Brad Pitt, which opens next summer, filled me with even more dread.

The trailer, with Pitt as some sort of … zombie expert? … with his family in New York when the zombie apocalypse begins plays more like the flashback scenes in Will Smith’s “I Am Legend” than anything in Brooks’ ingenious novel, which tells, in episodic scenes that rarely return to the same characters twice, the tale of the fall and rise of civilization.

I’m not sure I can bring myself to see this.