Tag Archives: Marvel

The Avengers (2012) trailer

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There hasn’t been a movie so massive in anticipation and scale since The Dark Knight back in 2008. Now Marvel has completed on introducing our main characters; Captain America, Iron Man and Thor, it’s time for the inevitable team-up that has been teasing us with each end-credits scene. On October 11th, we finally get an official teaser trailer of The Avengers.

The trailer shows us that Tom Hiddleston’s Loki will be the film’s main antagonist, but his motives are unclear (world domination or simply causing chaos?). We also get a glimpse of Captain America’s and Thor’s new costume change (not to mention Thor’s hair extension). Each giving witty comebacks, such as Steve Rogers saying;

Steve Rogers: Big man in a suit of armour. Take that away, what are you?
Tony Stark: Er a genius, billionaire playboy and philanthropist.

This is all to be expected from writer/director Joss Whedon, whose previous works are Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly (we’ll just ignore he wrote Alien Resurrection).

From the look of this teaser, it really does show Loki to be more an intimidating villain than he was in Thor. Then we also get to see Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye in action and can’t not have shots of Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow doing what she knows best. Although we see both Captain America and Thor battling it out in a forest?

It gives a sigh of relief that Joss Whedon does know what he’s doing and does seem to deliver the spectacle but also great characterisation. Though he’s got some strong competition against Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros./DC Comics with The Dark Knight Rises. All will be revealed when the film is released on 4th May, 2012.

Official website; http://marvel.com/movies/movie/152/marvels_the_avengers?fullscreen=1

The Avengers teaser trailer on Apple iTunes; http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/marvel/avengers/

Captain America – The First Avenger – Movie Review

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With every single month over the summer bringing with it a new superhero movie, none could argue that despite the good, the bad and the downright ugly; this year has almost been a vintage as far as comic book heroes are concerned. Only 2012 with its sequels and reboots could possibly offer more.

This month’s new release brings none other than the incredible Captain America to the big screen and this latest offering whilst perhaps not as well-known as that as Spiderman, Iron Man or even Thor is still well-loved and has its fans. I think that few, if any, would admit to seeing the trailers for this and failed to be excited. After all, Captain America is still the all American hero and with a line up featuring none other than Chris Evans (Fantastic 4, The Losers), Tommy Lee Jones (Men In Black, Fugitive) and Hugo Weaving (V for Vendetta, The Matrix) on paper at least Captain America has all the foundations in place for a huge blockbuster and a hero reinvented.

For those not up to date with the comic book material Captain America is really Steve Rogers and, much like Spiderman his is a story about true heroism, true bravery and the whole underdog overcoming insurmountable odds to emerge victorious.

After a short beginning set in present day where a crashed vehicle is discovered in the arctic a flashback reveals our protagonist as one hell of a skinny man, a diminutive asthmatic who has lost both his parents in the war and who dreams of enlisting in the Army and serving his country in World War II, but his physical ailments and pocket-sized frame keep him from being accepted. He is repeatedly beaten up for standing up for himself. His best friend Bucky Barnes (played excellently by Sebastian Stan) is all he has left, but Bucky has landed his place in the army and through their comradery you can tell he sees himself as Roger’s big brother.

A chance meeting leads Steve to meet Dr. Erskine (Stanley Tucci); a scientist who has developed an incredible serum that physically enhances the subject and what’s more believes that the best solider is one with the humblest heart and determined mind. He is captivated by Roger’s dogged, raw persistence to join the army and he gives him a chance.

Colonel Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones) is the only obstacle standing in his way as he is in charge of the Doctor’s secret government programme their aim is to manufacture super-soldiers for the war, and he thinks Rogers does not have what it takes. However Steve shows his worth and in no time at all he is bulked-up, super-powerful and not to mention one hell of a buff prototype. I mean that in a man-to-man way of course, and may it go on record that I am not in any way jealous.

Of course, now he is no longer invisible to women and every hero needs a love interest. Here we have the surprisingly tough let lingering military agent Peggy Carter (played really nicely by Hayley Atwell) at his side to help him believe in himself. Of course to every hero there are villains, and here we have a secret faction of the Nazi’s called HYDRA led by the tyrannical Johann Schmidt (Hugo Weaving putting his seriously evil Mr Anderson looks to the test as Red Skull).

Schmidt has located an energy source powerful enough to change the war and the world, and his plans are a whole lot worse than whatever Hitler had in mind. Of course, Captain America is the only one who has the strength and heart to take him on and so the story begins.

Captain America is one of those films which stand out as being excellent yet deep down you just know they could have done so much more with it. I think of Iron man 2, I think of Green Lantern, I think of Spiderman 3, I think of great opportunities; little glimmers in movie history where if the directors and screenplay writers were honest with themselves would say “Damn, if only we had done this better.” This is not to say this movie is bad; far from it. In my opinion Captain America stands as probably the second best film this summer – right next to X-Men – First Class, it’s just you get the feeling that they rushed it. Maybe they were trying to get it out before the Avengers, maybe they were just looking for a way to tie it all up, maybe they were just so caught up in it all that they didn’t give it as much heart as they could have done.

There are many excellent touches. Staged in the 40’s era there are resounding set pieces; the gorgeous black and white, yet in colour approach. The fact that lessons were learnt from Green Lantern in the way that CGI has improved so much that unlike Hal Jordan Chris Evans head is attached firmly this time to his skinny ‘body double’ frame and it looks good, so much so that it is almost a shock when he bulks up. Talking of which, Chris Evans should be applauded as he does carry the role well and his acting quickly dismissed any doubts in my mind along with any memories of the Green Lantern. There are some huge explosions and incredible sequences to make you go wow. I loved the sequence on the train and there is another fantastic one where he is on a motorbike. There are even some sad moments too and look out for Tony Starks dad making an appearance, all I can say is ‘like father like son’. There is no denying that the Marvel mythology all ties together.

However, in contrast the film is heavily sanitised, and along with it any real ‘bad boy’ moments. Hugo Weaving struggles with a lack of material or direction to work with and it shows; I don’t think towards the end even the Red Skull knows what he is doing. There is a lot of time just after the mid-way point which is just stretched out and feels like padding. Finally, whilst the movie is a marvel of CGI and action the 3D effects are disappointing I could only count around ten 3D effects used in the entire two and a half hour film. So the question is what was the point? You might as well see it in 2D and save yourself some money for more popcorn – at 2.5 hours you will need it.

 

My Verdict:

Taken all of the good and bad into account Captain America is still a fantastic movie to go and see. It might not go down in history as the best superhero movie ever, and stand as no more than a prequel to The Avengers but it is still worth watching and is still a great treat for kids and grown up kids alike.

8 / 10

A word to the wise – stay till the end of the credits – you won’t regret it!

The Amazing Spider-Man teaser trailer hits the Web*

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As the teaser trailer for the hotly anticipated, The Dark Knight Rises, was shown before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Friday (then released online on Monday this week), Marvel has finally shown us a trailer their upcoming reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man (2 minutes and 30 seconds of it, if I may add).

It doesn’t reveal too much but you can really tell the difference in tone between Sam Raimi’s and Marc Webb’s superhero debut. What it does show is its ensemble cast, featuring Andrew Garfield (The Social Network), Emma Stone (Easy A), Rhys Ifans (Enduring Love), Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now) and Sally Field (Forest Gump). This features the basic origin story, but Garfield’s Peter Parker falls for Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy (previously played by Bryce Dallas Howard in Spider-Man 3) rather than for Mary Jane Watson.

The standout scene from the trailer is the first-person view of Spider-Man leaping and free-running on top of buildings. Although, as many pointed out, it does look a bit like the video game, Mirror’s Edge. It still, however, gives us an idea what sort of direction we’re going to be given nonetheless.

So what are your thoughts on this particular reboot? Yay or nay?

Link to the trailer; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKGZtp–0R4

* I know I’m not the first to come up with that title but I couldn’t resist to be part of it!

Six Things You Didn’t Know About Green Lantern

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1) There have been six Green Lanterns in total.

Although most people have come to know the Green Lantern as being Hal Jordan, there were five others. In the Cartoon Network’s Justice League cartoons, he is John Stewart – an African-American man. But the very first Green Lantern was the World War II-era superhero, Alan Scott, an army engineer who found a magic green lantern and made a ring that allowed him to tap its powers.

The other Lanterns are all members of the Green Lantern Corps. Obviously. you have Hal Jordan who received his from Abin Sur, who was hurt and later died from injuries when his spaceship crashed. Guy Gardner was second as a backup should anything ‘happen’ to Hal, until Stewart replaced Gardner on the sub’s bench. Kyle Rayner became the ‘last’ Green Lantern when Jordan became infected with the Parallax and went on a murderous rampage. And the last member of the Corps who became a Green Lantern for Earth is Jade, the daughter of Alan Scott, who was given one of the spare Power Rings.

2) Superman was going to be in the film at one point making a cameo appearance.

Following on from Marvel’s success at having cameos in movies, DC and the director were intent at having Clark Kent/Superman in the script. Originally, he had a cameo as one of the candidates considered to receive a power ring, but was cut out because the filmmakers didn’t want to depend on another superhero for a success. So much for The Man of Steel’s invulnerability.

3) There is a hidden scene at the end of the credits. Sorry, but I just wouldn’t be a man if I told you what happens.

4) Quentin Tarantino was considered to direct the film.

This is absolutely true and was scheduled as his big comeback film. Question is, could you imagine a Green Lantern film directed by him? A cross between guns, green lights, John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson and let’s not forget blood, exploding heads etc. Hmm. Can Green Lantern dance?

5) There are different-coloured Lanterns.

The Green Lantern’s background has been greatly expanded in recent years, to the point that there are now seven different Lantern Corps. Each is driven by a particular emotion — the Green Lanterns are powered by willpower, the Blue Lanterns is hope, the Red Lanterns represent rage, and so on. Sinestro, a character in the movie and comic books, inherits a yellow ring – driven by fear. Incredibly, in the comics, Blake Lively’s character, Carol Ferris, goes on to inherit a violet ring, powered by love, and later becomes Star Sapphire.

6) The movie could have been completely different.

There are loads of different scripts that they came up with for Green Lantern.. Out of all those, perhaps the one most interesting is the one which contained a cameo by Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern in history (whose powers were magical rather than cosmic). Scott was going to be the United States President, and near the end would reveal his own past as a Green Lantern to Jordan, and give him his blessing. He was later revised to become an agent of the Checkmate agency (the Checkmate membership stayed true to the comics), who would approach and offer Jordan membership. Later drafts finally wrote him out of the film, and replaced him with Amanda Waller. Shame? Yeah that’s what I said…

Fanboy letters. To Zack Snyder

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Dear Zack

I cannot express in words how much you mean to me. I am a comic book fan (geek) and forever will be. My love for them almost outweighs my love for Films. But when the two come together to make sweet, tender, passionate love then my experience is so joyful that I cannot contain my adoration for those who create the genius and sheer poetry of such masterpieces.  As I sit here listening to the dulcet tones of Van Morrison telling me how fantabulous the night is all I can think of is how I wish I can watch Watchmen once again. While I don’t want to make Love to you Zack, let’s face it you’re no Ben Affleck, I do want to make creative love to your genius. Some people, like Tim Burton, don’t respect the source material when they make comic book movies but you? You make my geeky dreams come true and take panels from the page and make them come to life. I’ve had a crush on you ever since 300. Your adaptation of the Frank Miller novel I love so much almost made me cry. Almost – I’m still a dude. But as sweeping and grand as 300 is my full on man crush on your creativity and my deep burning passion for your vision can be put down to Watchmen.

Sure you have your critics. Like you took the Giant Squid and didn’t use it. Hey sshh don’t listen to them they just don’t understand that after Jon Peters and the giant Spider idea for Superman Lives that would have been stupid. You don’t have to explain why people are saying the movie tanked in America in its second weekend at the box office. No. You don’t have to explain to people why it’s not doing the expected business. True art doesn’t have to justify itself Zack.  Zack just remember you made an amazing film and that I think you’re great. You’re a huge big time director now!

But…….I have something to tell you. There’s someone else. I know I said we’d be together forever but as much as I love Watchmen. As much as I love 300. As much as there awesomeness makes me a happy man Zack I need to confess that you are merely a cinematic fling. A graphic affair if you will. I’m sorry that you can never be my own true love.  That will always be Bryan Singer. I will always love X-Men 2 more than any other comic book film ever made. Oh sure it’s not as amazingly accurate as your films. It doesn’t have bone crunching action like your films or have trailer lines that make me want to wet myself in geeky excitement at their mere mention. After all THIS IS SPARTA!

But X-Men 2 will forever be me one, true love.  The opening scene will always be the moment my heart was stolen by Bryan Singer. Sure it’s not perfect but what relationship is? I can even forgive him Superman Returns for the sheer fantabulous nature of the opening to X-Men 2. The music. Nightcrawler. The action. The drama. I’m sorry but the times may be a changing but not in my world of comic book love. X-Men 2 will forever be my love. Watchmen will forever be my lust.

Can’t you be happy with second place in my heart? I love you more than Nolan! I do I really do! Nolan could never steel my heart like you Zack. The way you direct makes me want you to direct me. Well not really but it makes me want to direct so that works right? The Dark Knight makes me happy. It’s great. But you make me really happy. Just not X-Men 2 happy! Zack believe me when I say I never meant to hurt you. My love for you is firm and true. But when it’s all said and done and the curtain falls and the credits role all I am left with is the faint and subtle sense that I will forever love Singer more.

Zack you rock. You kick so many other comic directors’ ass.  But you will forever live in the shadow of my love for Bryan Singer. Sorry. You may shout out Love me more than Singer but I’ll whisper…..no

In sheer awe

The Fan Boy
( Written by Richard Wright )