Synopsis: Rise of the Guardians is an epic adventure that tells the story of a
group of heroes - each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit
known as Pitch Black lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the
immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the
hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.
Review: The vocal performances are excellent: Chris Pine makes an appealing lead
as Jack Frost, giving him an air of cocky bravado with an underlying
vulnerability (he's frustrated and upset because children can't see him)
that works well, while Baldwin and Jackman are both very funny as North
and Bunny, particularly Bunny's lively spats with Frost (‘Who's this?
The Easter Kangaroo?’). On top of that, Jude Law makes a suitably
hissable villain as Pitch, injecting exactly the right tone, while the
silent but imaginatively animated Sandman manages to be an expressive
and interesting character in his own right.
Ramsey maintains a lively pace throughout and orchestrates some
entertainingly zippy action sequences (some of which are possibly a
little too zippy). Similarly, the dialogue is frequently very funny and
the film carries a powerful message without getting bogged down in
sugary sentimentality. That said, parents should probably be prepared
for an onslaught of questions about the real-world existence of all the
characters.
The animation is extremely impressive throughout, thanks to some
gorgeously detailed and colourful production design, augmented by some
decent 3D effects. Crucially, the characters and story are deliberately
global in appeal rather than obviously all-American, with character
design elements (such as the bright green colours of the Tooth Fairy's
costume) taken from other cultures and legends around the world; this
also allows for one of the film's best moments, a cameo by a little
French mouse that the Tooth Fairy explains as ‘our European division’
(this is even funnier if you've seen the delightful and charming Ernest
& Celestine).
Rise of the Guardians is a lively and entertaining family adventure that
should appeal to adults and children alike, thanks to gorgeous
animation, a witty script and terrific performances from a superb voice
cast.
After
a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen was missing and
presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote
island in the Pacific. When he returns home to Starling City, his
devoted mother Moira, much-beloved sister Thea, and best friend Tommy
welcome him home, but they sense Oliver has been changed by his ordeal
on the island.
While
Oliver hides the truth about the man he's become, he desperately wants
to make amends for the actions he took as the boy he was. Most
particularly, he seeks reconciliation with his former girlfriend, Laurel
Lance. As Oliver reconnects with those closest to him, he secretly
creates the persona of Arrow - a vigilante - to right the wrongs of his
family, fight the ills of society, and restore Starling City to its
former glory.
By
day, Oliver plays the role of a wealthy, carefree and careless
philanderer he used to be - flanked by his devoted chauffeur/bodyguard,
John Diggle - while carefully concealing the secret identity he turns to
under cover of darkness. However, Laurel's father, Detective Quentin
Lance, is determined to arrest the vigilante operating in his city.
Review:
Despite the Batman parallels, including returning home to find that his
ex-girlfriend has become a lawyer fighting for the little guy, Arrow
actually does have a few significant differences from Gotham’s dark
knight (besides being less rights restricted, I mean). For one thing,
there’s a reason the Green Arrow of the comics has traditionally worn an
outfit reminiscent of Robin Hood, and TV’s Oliver Queen looks like
he’ll be taking on similar themes: when a corrupt businessman is robbed
at arrow-point, he tells the police, “I’m not some grocer who got taken
for his register. I go to the front of the line.” So far, it
looks like CW is setting up Arrow as a fighter for the disenfranchised. I
don’t find his motives entirely convincing at this point, given that
the man we have seen on screen only has experience as a castaway and a
party boy, unless a weak parallel between Oliver’s father closing his
steel plant, and the general fall in standards of living counts, but
it’s pretty timely to see a super hero working against the corporate fat
cats, rather than being one of them. By the end of the pilot we find
that Arrow is willing to go to great lengths to share the wealth around.
Altogether, I am pretty optimistic about the show. There’s corporate
intrigue and shadowy bad guys, there are corrupt businessmen getting
what they deserve, and the show’s lead actor, Stephan Amell, is
convincingly menacing to both his enemies and to unduly curious
bystanders. The action scenes are dynamic and flashily choreographed,
and surprisingly fatal for a superhero show. The stage is set for some
growing tensions as the series progresses, with Oliver’s
sister, nicknamed Speedy, falling in with a bad crowd, dark hints about
the nature of the family business, and a hit list that could be the
length of a small black book. Green Arrow has been a fixture of
DC comics for a long time, including successful parts in the popular
Justice League, unlimited cartoon, and in the long running series Smallville. If the 4 million people who tuned in for the premiere are any indication, Green Arrow has a good chance of standing on his own.
A kaleidoscope of color danced on the floor that night, you were such a pretty sight, a whirling dervish of utter delight. I was memorized by your strong, sexy thighs, hypnotized by your penetrating eyes that stole my mind and beating heart. Together we twirled with reckless abandon, without a worldly care, your thick curly hair flowed in splendor to the rhythm, the melodic beat. We were not discreet, moving our feet, creating heat,a joyful burning, searing our bodies. I could feel your endless energy, your sensual power. I knew I wanted your beautiful feminine flower. We floated, blew across the hard wood to the edge of the crowd and walked as if on clouds to the exit door. My core was on fire, my manhood rigid with desire, we did not go too far, against the car, you offered me your fine bottom, legs slightly spread to greet me, I dropped to my knees with eager fingers, pushing aside wet laced panties, my tongue quickly found your succulent mark, a delicious lady mixture of sweet nectar and saline. A wonderful tasty dessert, I lapped incessantly, but, with a delicacy that respected your moist gift, hooded sensitivity. On silent cue, I rose and slide my hardness deep inside your love nest, softly caressing your perky breasts, you sighed with content, again and again. I gently stroked your bent body to a fevered pitch, you itched with a yearning, a burning for my boiling seed, the wet sound of our perfect union echoed our lust, I sunk, I thrust , I unloaded my sticky warmth into you, a flood of reciprocation filled your swollen sexy place, our faces revealed the joy, oh, boy, mutual satisfaction! The attraction was complete as our flow streamed down our inner thighs, toward our dancing feet, we were not sinners. At that very moment, your specialness was
imbedded in my mind, sealed forever by true love, a kindness I’ve never found since. Always at night, I think of you and these succulent acts, I cannot sleep. I even weep in my empty bed, a lone tear rolls down my cheek, your meekness is sadly missed. I kiss the heavy air and cup my hands to smell your grace, visualize your rosy face. Indeed, as a matter-of-fact, I miss you very much, especially, when in incredible need. Like now and forever.
Synopsis: The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast,
running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast,
violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only
force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the
combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared
throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge,
challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous
drug epidemic that
has users of "Slo-Mo" experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed.
Review: This was an excellent film, truly banishes the memory of the piss poor Stallone
film. And ignore all that crap about it being a copy of the Raid, it was
produced, written and filmed before that and its not trying to be the
same film anyway. A superbly filmed action sci-fi movie that ain't for
the faint hearted.
Robert Downey Jr. plays billionaire Tony Stark (Iron Man’s not-at-all secret identity) in the Marvel Studios movies, and he’s looking to make some pretty good money himself as a result of the phenomenal box office success of Avengers.
The Hollywood Reporter cites “multiple knowledgeable sources” that RDJ is looking to take home $50 million from the picture, which includes back-end compensation and bonuses. After the success of the first Iron Man, Downey’s reps negotiated a deal where he would make a percentage of the profits from any Marvel movie where he plays the character — with The Hollywood Reporter says could be as high as 5 to 7 percent, though no concrete numbers are publicly known.
As far as the rest of the cast, THR’s sources say that Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo will all make about $2 to $3 million from Avengers, with Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson making around twice that. Avengers currently sits at a worldwide total of $1,016,095,436, according to Box Office Mojo.
Synopsis: Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane brings his boundary-pushing brand of humor to the big screen for the first time as writer, director and voice star of Ted. In the live action/CG-animated comedy, he tells the story of John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), a grown man who must deal with the cherished teddy bear who came to life as the result of a childhood wish...and has refused to leave his side ever since.
Review: If you’re easily offended, then give it a miss. But you will be overlooking this summer’s biggest comedy hit, which has many hilarious moments. The central joke is that Ted may have started off cute, but grows into a disreputable, pot-smoking, lascivious layabout. Seth MacFarlane voices the bear like a Bostonian Danny DeVito, with a string of sexist, racially offensive, scatological gags.
For about half-an-hour, it’s a hoot to hear these things said by a teddy. It’s also fun to hear a plummy-voiced English narrator (Patrick Stewart) with an evident distaste for popular culture and Hollywood garbage like the stuff he’s having to narrate.
Wahlberg proved in The Other Guys he can do comedy, and — though he’s mostly the straight man here — he, too, has his comic moments, especially in a scene where he rattles off a list of white-trash girls’ names. The jolliest scenes are ones where Wahlberg and MacFarlane can forget about plot, and seemingly improvise riffs on their weird buddy-buddy friendship.
The relationship between Wahlberg and Kunis’s characters is far weaker. Kunis has to be a nag, which seems a waste of her natural naughtiness.
And the film is too close to the oeuvre of Judd Apatow in its fear and hatred of women. It turns into just another study of a middle-aged man trying to extend adolescence.
Writer-director MacFarlane made his name with animated TV shows (Family Guy and American Dad!). They favour gags over plot, and this lets him down in a feature-length film.
The plot starts moving in ever more conventional directions. The least gripping part is an attempt to kidnap Ted by a psychopath (Giovanni Ribisi) with a creepy, overweight teenage son (Aedin Mincks), whom Ted tastelessly addresses as Susan Boyle. This thriller sub-plot is charmless, ugly and unfunny.
Its only reason for existence is that it leads to a big chase that belongs in a different movie, and reinforces the suspicion that the screenplay has run out of ideas.
Yet underlying the poor plot and questionable humor is a Spielbergian wonder that stops things being unpleasantly offensive. The bond between man and bear is almost as touching as the one between E.T. and Elliot.
Ted may be a one-joke movie, but the joke is funny, and the special effects are so believable you forget there aren’t such things as garrulous, debauched teddy bears.
There’s nothing fluffy or adorable about Ted, but — at least for the first hour — he’s fun to be with.
Synopsis:Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black
Widow answer the call to action when Nick Fury, director of the
international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., initiates a
daring, globe-spanning recruitment effort to assemble The Avengers team
to defeat an unexpected enemy threatening global safety and security.
Despite pulling together the ultimate dream team, Nick Fury and longtime
confidant Agent Coulson must find a way to convince the Super Heroes to
work with, not against each other, when the powerful and dangerous Loki
gains access to the Tesseract and its unlimited power.
Review:It was the perfect blend of action, adventure, and humor! They had the
perfect actor for each character! It will be a while before anyone tops
this movie!
It makes more sense (and is funnier) if you know the background story
for each character, but even if you don't, you will still enjoy this
movie. You won't even mind the new actor for the hulk.
It's fast paced and gets right to the point. You laugh and clap throughout the movie.
This is definitely worth every penny!
Managing this many famous characters without taking anything away from
the other is THE HARDEST THING in the world and somehow Joss Whedon has
done it perfectly. The humor through out the movie had Joss's signature
humor but taken to a higher level which suits each character which was
another thing that was done effortlessly. :) another thing was that Mark
Ruffalo had to sell that he's The Hulk and he was flawless. Funny when
needed to be, tortured, angry...just perfect. Do I even need to talk
about the awesome special effects, fights, action, acting?? Oh and on
top of that there are few surprises for Whedon fans that might be
noticed after 2nd and 3rd time viewings. :)
I would DEFINITELY recommend this movie and give it an A plus for its awesomeness. :)
At this point Marvel really doesn't have to do anything to promote The Avengers ahead of its release next month. They have had us from day one, but why look a gift horse in the mouth?
Today's gift comes in the very shapely form of Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow character. You know, I was always curious what Black Widow brought to the table other than to round out the group and not make it such the proverbial boys' club.
Well, now I know.
For those of you, like me, who are able to look past certain bouncing assets you will see that Black Widow is a fiercely determined fighting machine that is capable of taking out three people while tied up in a chair. Or so they tell me.
For the rest of us, it's a nice 40 second clip of ScarJo tied up wearing an unnecessarily skimpy outfit that resembles lingerie more than an actual uniform. Yep, my job is tough.
I think that one of the biggest reason why relationships do not work out in the long run is because at one point, one side (or both) stops trying. Before one claims another person as their significant other, they would do anything to make that person happy. They would chase, they would flirt, they would be charming. They would send daily morning and goodnight texts every time you wake up or go to sleep. They would write corny messages and pick up lines just to make sure that there is a smile upon your face. But once they claim you as theirs, all of those things eventually stop. The 5 page texts slowly turn into 1. The constant calls turn into not calling at all. And the lovely endearments turn into daily arguments. In order for a relationship to work, don’t ever stop chasing. Just because the person you want is now consider “yours”, it does not mean they deserve anything less than the time when you’re trying to win them over.
In a new interview with Seraphemera.com, the legendary writer (and douche bag) Alan Moore goes on a tear once again, discussing his Watchmen contract with DC and why he believed he would get the rights back, why he and collaborator Dave Gibbons no longer speak (hint: Before Watchmen), and what he thinks of the creators who have signed on the for the prequels (and the people who want to read them). Deep breath everybody!
Moore goes into great detail about the sequence of events that alienated him from DC Comics, and while it's not a new story, it's a thorough rendition. It also walks down the garden path of Moore's estrangement from his Watchmen collaborator, Dave Gibbons. The final blow, according to Moore, was Gibbons acting as an intermediary for DC Comics in regards to the Before Watchmen prequels, and asking for Moore's blessing:
I was then offered by an increasingly frantic-sounding Dave Gibbons an unspecified but really, really large sum of money to just give my blessing for them to do these sequels and prequels... and that he had been offered something in the region of a quarter of a million dollars to oversee the project -- that it would be handled by the top talent in the industry, to which I said some quite intemperate things... So yeah, I was angry and I said some things which I still stand behind. And, that was the end of it. And, that was the end of my friendship with Dave Gibbons.
Moore also addresses the creators who have signed on for the prequels in extremely harsh terms, referring to them alternately as "possibly halfway decent writers and artists" and people who don't even deserve the title of "creators":
I don't want to use "creators." I feel that the industry employees who are actually working upon this book--I had only heard of about three of them--but I'm certainly not interested in seeing any of their work. But, I'm unlikely to because I don't read comics anymore and they're never going to do anything outside of comics. I think it's a shame. I can see why the people concerned are involved, having either never created anything original themselves or they did, but it wasn't good enough to get DC out of their current hole. It strikes me that, yes, I can understand why they took on Before Watchmen. It will probably be the only opportunity they get in their careers to actually be attached to a project that anybody outside of comics has ever heard of. So, I can see how that would be a great lure.
His comments about the fans that would be interested in reading the books were also uncompromising, suggesting that you are either with him or against him:
As for the readers, I have to say that if you are a reader that just wanted your favorite characters on tap forever, and never cared about the creators, then actually you're probably not the kind of reader that I was looking for. I have a huge respect for my audience. On the occasions when I meet them, they seem, I like to think, to be intelligent and scrupulous people. If people do want to go out and buy these Watchmen prequels, they would be doing me an enormous favor if they would just stop buying my other books.
Moore also discussed the sticky issue of why his extensive use of characters in the public domain is different from what the Before Watchmen creators are doing, and while it still seems a bit difficult to parse, the answer seems to be that "stealing" and fundamentally changing works is better than "adapting," but mostly that he thinks he did a better job of it:
In The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, I am not adapting characters. I am flat out stealing them in what I think is an honorable way... What we were doing was taking these often obscure literary characters and, when they were in the public domain, yes, we could use them and we could hopefully bring new ideas to them. There wasn't any point in simply recycling these characters. I think that our interpretations of them have put them into new contexts, and have probably been truer to the originals than any of the official adaptations.... So, it is done with respect for the material, apart from our satirical touches--in which it is sometimes done with contempt for the material. But, this is a bit different to actually, one would have thought, breeching [sic] copyright and also breeching a lot of moral obligations.
It's a point that has been addressed by some of those very creators he dismissed, including Before Watchmen: Doctor Manhattan writer J. Michael Stracyznski, who told the Hollywood Reporter shortly after the announcement of Before Watchmen that he would have "zero right to complain" about unauthorized prequels for Babylon 5, the sci-fi television show he created for Warner Bros:
The perception that these characters shouldn't be touched by anyone other than Alan is both absolutely understandable and deeply flawed. As good as these characters are – and they are very good indeed – one could make the argument, based on durability and recognition, that Superman is the greatest comics character ever created. But I don't hear Alan or anyone else suggesting that no one other than Shuster and Siegel should have been allowed to write Superman. Certainly Alan himself did this when he was brought on to write Swamp Thing, a seminal comics character created by Len Wein.
Finally, Moore offered the tantalizing and odd proclamation that he has a idea that would totally fix all the issues with DC Universe continuity, but since the publisher pissed him off, he's not telling (mwhaha):
I know a way that they could have sorted out their continuity. I could have gotten rid of all of their problems for them. It would have been really simple. But, like I say, they unfortunately alienated me.
These six new Avengers posters are a bit cut and paste, using some of the same elements in multiple designs – and elements that were used in a previous poster at that. Let’s call it cost effectiveness, shall we?
As the “Demon” storyline continues this week in INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #513, Tony Stark finds himself assaulted on multiple fronts. The Mandarin and Ezekiel Stane have upgraded his old foes, he faces betrayals from friends and colleagues, a negative publicity campaign has been launched against him, and the ramifications of decisions made during his lowest moments in Fear Itself linger.
By the time all’s said and done, how will even Iron Man cope with the mounting pressure?
“As we’ll see at the end of ‘Demon,’ General Babbage, [Tony’s] primary antagonist at the Pentagon, and Justine Hammer of HAMMER Industries, present Tony with an ultimatum,” preview INVINCIBLE IRON MAN writer Matt Fraction. “Accepting it is the only way he can remain in control of the Iron Man without losing everything. And Tony very quickly finds that arrangement to be unacceptable. The ramifications of that are what ‘Long Way Down’ is all about.
“So basically…Tony quits.”
And so begins “Long Way Down,” kicking off in May’s INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #516, the story Fraction refers to in regards to his and artist Salvador Larroca’s run on the character as “The third act. The grand finale. The beginning of the end.
“The finale pages of INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #513 [are] a double page spread that harkens back to our very first issue—a showcase of the full scope and scale of the rogues we’ll see Iron Man going up against in the next year. Mandarin’s five-year plan is finally bearing fruit.”
However, all might not be so well within the Mandarin’s camp, as one of Iron Man’s newest and most implacable foes looks to rock the boat with likely volatile consequences.
“[Ezekiel Stane], as Mandarin’s number one, starts to discover maybe Mandarin isn’t the greatest boss in the world,” Fraction notes. “Yet Mandarin has absolute control over him. So while their alliance makes perfect sense on paper, the reality of it sees the only thing they hate more than Tony Stark is each other. Zeke will have Tony’s head one way or the other, even if that means going through Mandarin to get it somehow.”
While turmoil hits the villainous side of the equation, the mole within Stark Resilient will at last be revealed, with Fraction forecasting dire repercussions:
“People start dying. Bethany Cabe starts earning her paycheck.”
This shows just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to “Long Way Down,” which will also see, among other things, a new Iron Man. Fraction vows that every domino he has set up since he and Larroca launched INVINCIBLE IRON MAN nearly four years ago will be knocked down by the end of this pivotal story.
“All the pots from the very beginning of INVINCIBLE IRON MAN are coming to a boil,” he vows. “Mandarin and Stane’s alliance, the revamped and upgraded rogues gallery, the Hammer girls, Spymaster’s infiltration—‘Long Way Down’ deals with all of it.”
Tony Moore is suing Robert Kirkman over compensation from The Walking Dead, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The article states that Moore is claiming to be owed as much as half of the proceeds related to the series, which has been adapted as a popular AMC live-action series. Moore is alleging that he was, as The Hollywood Reporter puts it, "duped" into signing over his interest in The Walking Dead to Kirkman, that he's received "very little compensation" and hasn't been able to access profit statements related to the franchise.
The Hollywood Reporter quotes Kirkman's attorney Allen Grodzky as calling the suit "totally frivolous," and that Moore is "owed no money at all."
Moore illustrated the first six issues of The Walking Dead, and provided covers through issue #24. Kirkman and Moore also worked together on Brit and Battle Pope, which are also mentioned in the complaint. The Walking Dead TV series debuted on Halloween night in 2010, setting ratings records for AMC the time. The latter-half of the second season is scheduled to debut this Sunday, Feb. 12. Kirkman serves as executive producer on the series, and has written multiple episodes. The franchise has also spawned action figures, a board game and an upcoming video game.
Chris Brown has been getting attention for all the right reasons lately, but a judge said Thursday that he should continue to remain under the watchful eye of a probation officer as he works to complete the terms of his sentence for beating then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. The Grammy-nominated R&B singer did not appear for a brief hearing during which his attorney asked that Brown's term on supervised probation be ended because of his good behavior. Superior Court Judge George Lomeli agreed with prosecutors that despite the singer's high marks so far, he should continue to report to a probation officer in his home state of Virginia.
Brown is in the midst of a remarkable comeback, with the singer set to perform at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night.
His multi-hit album, "F.A.M.E. (Forgiving All My Enemies) was a top seller and he is nominated for three Grammys, including best R&B album.
Attorney Mark Geragos' request came after Brown's probation officer wrote in a report that the singer has been truthful with officers, passed all required drug tests and "has made great strides" while under probation supervision. He has completed half of the six months' worth of roadside cleanup, graffiti removal and other manual labor that he was ordered to do after pleading guilty to attacking Rihanna.
Brown was ordered to serve five years on probation.
The favorable probation report was written three years to the day after the attack, which left Rihanna bloody, bruised and unable to perform at the Grammys.
Lomeli said he didn't think it was unreasonable for Brown to remain under supervision until he completes more of his community service hours. Brown has completed anger management and domestic violence counseling, and last year another judge relaxed a restraining order that had prohibited Brown and Rihanna from contacting each other or getting too close at music industry events.
The judge scheduled another progress hearing for July 10.
Smallville Fans Rejoice! New Comic Book Series, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11, to Pick Up Where Show Left Off
Fans of the smash-hit TV series Smallville haven’t had much to cheer about since the show ended its critically acclaimed 10-year run on The CW last May. That’s all going to change with the upcoming new comic book series from DC Entertainment: SMALLVILLE SEASON 11. Written by former Smallville show scribe Bryan Q. Miller, the new digital first series will be published digitally on April 13, 2012, with new digital chapters released weekly thereafter. Additionally, the online chapters will be offered in a print periodical, along with an episode guide to the hit television series, with the first print issue released on May 16.
The new comic book series picks-up where the show left off (with Clark officially now as Superman!) and features other fan-favorite characters including Oliver Queen/Green Arrow, Chloe Sullivan-Queen, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and General Lane. The book features an all-star creative team – in addition to Miller, SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 creators include print cover artist Gary Frank (SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN), digital cover artist Cat Staggs and interiors by Pere Perez (BATGIRL).
“Six months after Clark Kent donned the cape and took to the skies to save Earth from Apokolips… enter Season 11!” enthuses Miller. “New allies abound! New enemies afoot! And old friends return where they’re least expected! Pere and colorist Chris Beckett have done a fantastic job of capturing the look of the show and the players, and Gary and Cat are knocking it out of the park on covers. I couldn’t be more excited to help give seasoned viewers and new readers an all-access pass to Clark’s first year in the cape.”
So, Matt Damon didn't want to make any more Jason Bourne, that's ok. The studio just went to the next actor on their list and decided to reboot the franchise.
If you think about it, the only franchise where this level of actor switching has worked is when the character in question is Bond. James Bond. So, for Universal to decide to move forward with another Bourne movie took some real cajones.
Of course, it helps when the next guy up is Jeremy Renner.
For the actor that really established himself with 2009's The Hurt Locker, 2012 is looking to be the year of Renner with not one, but two surefire blockbusters coming out this Summer. We all knew he would make a big splash in The Avengers, but we were a bit leery with The Bourne Legacy.
I mean how do you honestly step into Matt Damon's shoes? He owned that role and I've been more than skeptical about this project since it was announced.
Then today, I watched the teaser trailer for The Bourne Legacy.
First, I loved the artistic way they revealed Jeremy Renner without giving away anything. Next, I thought the idea of rebooting the franchise around Renner's character who isn't Bourne exactly, but is another soldier in the same top secret program. Theoretically, if Damon ever decides to get back into the Bourne business, both he and Renner could both headline a cross-over.
It's hard to believe that a relaunch of a movie franchise that's brought in nearly $2.5 billion globally might be seen as an underdog in any given year, but Sony Pictures certainly had been biding its time in how much or little it showed in regards to their big summer movie, The Amazing Spider-Man. On Monday, February 6, Sony pulled out all the stops for a global event that showed off the trailer as well as a great deal of never-before-seen footage from Marc Webb's Spider-Man relaunch.
The event took place in thirteen cities globally with New York and Los Angeles being the only North American cities participating. ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype was in New York City, which is indeed Spider-Man Country, fully expecting the Regal Union Square to be a madhouse and it certainly was as many people had been outside waiting for hours for the event to start.
Kicking off right at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, the satellite feed first went out to Los Angeles where director Marc Webb was on-hand, then to Rio de Janeiro, who got Emma Stone (those lucky Brazilians) and producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, London got Rhys Ifans aka Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard, and New York got Spider-Man himself, Andrew Garfield, who was received with huge cheers.
Before they got to questions, they showed the new 3D trailer, which begins with an amazing helicopter shot of New York City in 3D and we see Spider-Man swinging up onto a fire escape and landing outside Gwen Stacy's window and she asked him how he got there, because they're twenty stories up. It then shows a scene of Peter looking at a valise that his uncle Ben says belonged to his father and his Aunt May (Sally Field, looking very young compared to previous incarnations) tells him his father was a very secretive man. Peter then goes to see Dr. Curt Connors and we see a bit of his transformation into the Lizard, as well as a scene of Spider-Man stopping a car thief. As he breaks into a car, Spider-Man is sitting in the back seat and he makes a joke that if he's going to steal cars, not to dress like a car thief. When the thief asks if he's a cop, Spidey retorts, "You seriously think I'm a cop? In a skintight red and blue suit?" (We'll see more of this scene later as well.) A lot of the trailer shows how Gwen's father Captain Stacy, played by Dennis Leary, is trying to get Spider-Man, sort of making him a secondary antagonist, as he puts a warrant out for Spider-Man's arrest. (Later, we'll also get to see some idea why Stacy is so against Spider-Man.)
We didn't get to see that much of the Lizard in the trailer, just snippets to give us some idea of how CG is being used to create him, but Peter states he has to stop The Lizard "because he created him." The trailer ends with a scene of Spider-Man trying to escape as a giant radio antenna at the top of a building comes crashing down. The tagline for the new trailer of course is "The Untold Story Begins," driving home the point this is a relaunch in the Batman Begins vein.
After the trailer, Webb and cast members at each location were asked a single question with Stone talking about the differences between her and Mary Jane Watson, the love interest from the previous three films. She said they were polar opposites in that Gwen falls in love with Peter as opposed to Mary Jane, who was in love with Spider-Man. Ifans was asked a similar question about what makes The Lizard different from other Spider-Man villains to which he responded that the relationship between them is a "complex and emotional one" since Connors worked with Peter's father. Garfield gave the best answer when asked why he wanted to be Spider-Man, saying he wasn't an idiot and how everyone wants to be Spider-Man and that Spider-Man belongs to everyone. He admitted to being terrified but he really won over the audience by saying that the next guy who plays Spider-Man after him should be half-Hispanic, half African-American, making reference to the very popular new Spider-Man that had just been introduced in the Ultimate Marvel Universe.
After that quick Q ‘n' A section, the real fun came with the extended sizzle reel, which expanded on many of the scenes we saw in that new trailer and gave us a much clearer idea of what to expect from the movie, showing a good mix of drama, action, story, characters… everything really. This wasn't just a quick glimpse of footage but instead was made up of full never-before-seen scenes shown in what seems like a logical chronological order to give us a good idea of the film's story structure.
The footage began at Parker's school, "Midtown Science High School," as Parker sees Flash Thompson torturing a smaller kid in the playground and he tells Peter to take a picture, but when he refuses, Flash pushes him to the ground and starts beating on him, but Peter says he's still not taking the picture. When asked about it, Peter says he fell off his skateboard, and we see more bullying of Peter at school before he lashes out and slams Flash into lockers. We then see him being reprimanded by Uncle Ben for fighting, and when his uncle sees Gwen standing in the background, he embarrasses his nephew by asking if that's the girl he has on his computer and says he's Peter's probation officer. Embarassed, Peter has an awkward conversation with Gwen that gives us a good sense of the dynamics between them as well as the strong dialogue we can expected. He ultimately ends up asking her out as the Coldplay ballad "Til Kingdom Come" starts playing in the background and they go their separate ways.
This then transitions into a black and white flashback of Peter as a young boy with his parents (including Campbell Scott as his father Richard), then we get a little more of the scene from the trailer where Peter finds his father's valise and his father says he asked them to keep it safe for them. In the extended footage, we see the contents of the valise which includes a picture of his father with Curt Connors, and we then get a much better introduction to Ifans as Connors, who talks about the fact that he's missing his right arm, saying he's a scientist and the "foremost authority on reptiles," and that he is hoping to fix himself.
One of the questions on many minds is whether we're going to once again see Spider-Man's origin in the new movie, and that was answered as we see Peter looking at a large glowing glass cell that's literally filled with spiders being irradiated. We don't actually see him being bitten but we see the after-effects when he wakes up and smashes his alarm clock and tears off one of the handles of his sink. As the music kicks into Rolling Stone's "Street Fighting Man," we see him training to use his powers, swinging on chains and using his skateboard along with his powers.
We also see him designing the mechanical web-shooters we've heard he uses in the new movie and testing them out, eventually combining the different skills as he starts swinging on webs. We see the costume briefly before we see him going on the beat, first taking on a bunch of muggers bothering a woman, then getting an extended scene of the car thief from the trailer, but this time, we see Spidey taking out the knife-wielding thief using his webshooters, while cracking some funny jokes, showing this isn't a deathly-serious Spider-Man as some had worried. In fact, the film doesn't seem that much darker than the Raimi movies even if Webb has said that he's striving for realism and naturalism.
We see the earlier scene of Spider-Man swinging up to Gwen's window, which we now learn is him meeting her to have dinner with her family which leads to him having an argument with her father, played by Dennis Leary, about the importance of Spider-Man. The footage from the trailer about Gwen Stacy setting a warrant for Spider-Man's arrest and him having to take on the New York police department starts to make a bit more sense after seeing this scene.
We're then introduced to the Lizard as he rampages on one of New York's bridges, smashing his scaly arm through the windows and throwing cars over the edge, but then it cuts back and we see all of the cars dangling over the edge of the bridge via webs. The sizzle reel then showed a lot more fighting between Spider-Man and the Lizard leading up to what we assume to be a climactic fight on a radio antenna high above the city, which as we saw in the trailer, comes crashing down.
The one member of the cast that was noticeably absent from all the footage was Irrfan Khan's character "Dr. Ratha," who was once called "Van Adder" after a character from the comics, but who may not play as pivotal a role in the movie as thought earlier. (UPDATE: We've been informed that Khan is actually in the very first car attacked by the Lizard on the bridge. Guess we didn't recognize him, although I guess that tells us a little bit about his relationship with Connors.)
Everything looked great both in 3D and 2D and we don't think any of the fans who loved the Raimi-Maguire movies are going to be disappointed by what they're doing with the new movie, because it certainly fits into what they did with the previous three movies, just with new actors and characters and maybe the focus not being so much on Spider-Man's origin. The new trailer will certainly give everyone a much better taste of what to expect but that sizzle reel and seeing all that extended footage really was a treat and probably as good or better than anything they could have showed at Comic-Con last year.
The Amazing Spider-Man opens on July 3 in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters.
Disney XD announced today that the somewhat-delayed Ultimate Spider-Man animated series will premiere April 1, forming the centerpiece of a Marvel programming block that seems similar to Cartoon Network’s upcoming DC Nation. Called Marvel Universe, the block also will include new short-form animated series, live-action interstitials and the return of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Iron Man, Hulk, Thor and Captain America will be among the characters featured.
“Iconic Marvel heroes and villains and stories with core values of accomplishment, discovery and growth make Marvel Universe a perfect complement to Disney XD and a destination for parents and kids to experience together,” said Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer of Disney Channels Worldwide.
Announced in April 2010, Ultimate Spider-Man is inspired by the acclaimed Marvel comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley, and boasts a creative team that includes Joe Quesada, Paul Dini, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle and Bendis himself.
The voice cast includes Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Chi McBride (Boston Public, Pushing Daisies) as Nick Fury, JK Simmons (Spider-Man) as J. Jonah Jameson, Stan Lee as Stan the Janitor, Clark Gregg (Iron Man, Thor, The Avengers) as Agent Coulson and Steven Weber (Wings) as Norman Osborn.
The official website for Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man is now online and with it comes a bunch of brand-new images from the July 3rd release. Check them out below, beneath the official story and character descriptions, which officially promise that this film is the first of several in the works!
Also of particular interest is the cast listing for Irrfan Khan. Originally said to be playing a character named "Van Adder,", he's now credited as "Dr. Ratha."
The Story
Like most teenagers his age, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he to be the person he is today. In his journey to put the pieces of his past together he uncovers a secret that his father held... a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man. This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story. On July 3rd, 2012, the untold story begins.
Peter Parker
Ever since Peter's parents disappeared 13 years ago, he has struggled to find his purpose in life. Now, on the brink of unlocking the mystery about what happened to them, he must face the ultimate challenge - one that has been created within the laboratories of Oscorp.
Gwen Stacy
Smart, charismatic and rebellious, Gwen is the chief intern at Oscorp, a position she takes very seriously. But her life takes a complicated turn as she watches both her boyfriend, Peter, and her mentor, Dr. Connors, undergo radical transformations.
Captain Stacy
An esteemed police officer for over twenty years, Captain Stacy is the public face of the NYPD who leads the department's investigation into Spider-Man's vigilantism. The only thing Captain Stacy vows to protect more than the city is his family - and particularly his only daughter, Gwen.
Dr. Curt Connors
One of the leading scientific minds, Dr. Connors attempts to engineer a revolutionary regeneration serum to help re-grow limbs and human tissue. His motivations are unclear as to why he elects to be the first human test subject - but what becomes evident is that something goes horribly wrong.
