We’re starting to hear some positive buzz about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Apparently it doesn’t rape or ruin your childhood; rather, it may make you feel like a kid again. This is what a toy/cartoon adaptation should do, we guess, but we still wish they’d made a Reagan-era-style war movie instead of a CG-heavy action blockbuster with too much comic relief. Because even when we were little we knew the property was a young person’s version of the conservative, Cold War-informed military pictures of the 1980s. And if Rambo could get his own Saturday morning animated series, why couldn’t we get a hard-R-rated G.I. Joe after all these years?
We know the answer to that question, but that doesn’t change the fact that we’re disappointed. See, while others might feel GIJTROC has ruined their childhood by being too unfaithful to the action figures and show, we feel it’s ruined our childhood because it isn’t the movie we dreamed of. So that’s how the following list of films was selected. Instead of going for all the obvious remakes and video game adaptations (we’ve never cared about games), we’re focusing on movies that really turned our beloved films, comics and cartoons of our youth into something we’re now almost embarrassed to ever admit we enjoyed. …Read more
I’m historically not a DC Comics defender, but the company could really use some support today following the very weak reception of an announcement that DC and Warner Bros. have some new film ideas up their sleeves. Sure, the news isn’t that exciting, but that may be The Hollywood Reporter’s fault for making it sound like DC is “storming the film world.” Compared to Marvel, DC’s plans still seem more like a light breeze, and therefore it’s understandable that the geeks and fanboys are disappointedly bitching today.
But as much as I’d love to see a Flash or Aquaman movie, neither of which I’m expecting anytime soon, I have to continue giving DC & WB credit for having given us the first and last great superhero movies. Supermanis still the film to which comic book adaptations are compared, and it’s more than 30 years old. And now we also have The Dark Knightto judge every other movie against. Marvel has more films to show for themselves, but they actually have fewer great adaptations and therefore fewer films I’d call classics. EvenIron Man, in my opinion, fails to hold up as well as a number of DC films.
So let’s just be patient. It might be worth it. Or, feel free to keep up the whining and ridiculing in the comments section below. First, check out what the film blogs have to say after the jump:
If you buy the kids only one new video release this week, make it Pinocchio. Obviously. But if you have enough spending money to buy two, pick up Howard the Duck as well. Finally on DVD in America (with a Special Edition no less), the infamous flop is anything but a great film. Yet it is hardly one of the worst films of the 1980s, despite its reputation.
For the past 23 years, I’ve stood by my childhood love for Howard the Duck, constantly acknowledging that I even owned Ellis Weiner’s novelization of the film. Technically, the best reason to defend the movie’s existence is that it directly led to the creation of Pixar. But this reason doesn’t influence anyone to watch the thing. So, in order to defend the movie’s onscreen worth, I’ve come up with ten points for why you should pick up the new Howard the Duck disc and not feel at all guilty about doing so. …Read more
Many smart cinephiles and comic book geeks will avoid watching Watchmen this weekend. Not to avoid the crowds of opening weekend, and not to patiently await word of mouth from friends and reactions from critics. No, these bright few will ignore the out-of-season blockbuster event because there is absolutely no reason to see this movie. They recognize that any Watchmen adaptation (particularly this one that’s been made) is completely unnecessary. Well, for anyone not out to profit from it, anyway. Of course, even Warner Bros. might have been better off not producing the thing, since the studio won’t be making as much money as it had initially envisioned thanks to that profit-participation settlement with Fox.
The point of this post is not to call Watchmen watchers stupid. Rather, our list of five reasons the film is unnecessary is to help moviegoers get smart. After reading this, though, if any of you are still determined to waste your time sitting through almost 3 hours of redundant, rehashed, irrelevant, ridiculous and inescapably disappointing superhero cinema, we’ll be left with no choice but to consider you mindless sheep, the kind that deserve to be duped. And if Dr. Manhattan chooses to vaporize us (or fans choose to curse us out in the comments section) for exposing the truth about this enterprise of excess, then so be it. We believe we’ve served justice here. …Read more
Unfortunately, Fox is not making an X-Babies movie. Yet. Instead, the studio is continuing the franchise with X-Men: First Class, a kind of New Mutants or Generation X-likespinoff that will probably capitalize on the risen stardom of Ellen Page, who played Shadowcat in X-Men: The Last Stand, rather than a reboot/origin story a la the First Class comic book. And with Josh Schwartz writing the screenplay, it should be like The O.C. and Gossip Girl, only with mutant superheroes.
No wonder Hollywood likes familiarity when the most original movie announced today is about “aliens invading Earth by traveling backwards through time and wiping out humanity — yesterday by yesterday — while one man stays a yesterday ahead of them, trying to convince the world that the end is coming again.” The Days Before might just have the most confusing sci-fi synopsis of all time.
As expected, Eagle Eye came in at #1 at the box office over the weekend with $29.2 million, and as speculated, adult moviegoing was down Friday because of the presidential debate. The real box office news, though, is the success of the Christian-themed Fireproof, which came in at #4 with $6.5 mil. despite playing on fewer than 1,000 screens. Especially interesting because another seemingly red-state-geared (though definitely more blue-state-friendly) limited release, The Lucky Ones, opened to a tiny fraction of that amount ($209,000) on only half as many screens.
In one of the best ideas from Hollywood ever, Kenneth Branagh has been offered the gig to direct Thor for Marvel Studios. An appropriate move given that Stan Lee originally wrote the character as speaking in a Shakespearean manner.
Still on the subject of comics, Hollywood continues its feeding frenzy on the work of Mark Miller (Wanted; the upcoming Kick-Ass), whose super-soldier tale War Heroes (created with Tony Harris) will be made into a film by Columbia Pictures.
A majority of the major studios has apparently finally agreed on a suitable virtual print fee. In the next two weeks, Universal, Paramount, Disney and Fox will announce the long-overdue, billion-dollar-financed plan to put 15,000 digital projectors in theaters owned by Regal, Cinemark and AMC. Interestingly enough, as the deal will allow more screens to be 3-D-equippable, Warner Bros. is not reportedly involved, despite the fact that it could have done better with its Journey to the Center of the Earth had there been more 3-D screens. Also, it has the fourth installment of Final Destination, which has been shot for 3-D, out next year.
After seeing the sleek teaser trailer for The Spirit, Frank Miller’s adaptation of the classic Will Eisner comics, it’s hard to believe that this new leaked trailer (originally posted on Film School Rejects, where it may still be available) is for the same movie. It begins with an arty, perfume-ad sort of misdirected marketing angle and then evolves into a goofy mix between the campy Batmanseries/movies, Sin City, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Brenda Starr(remember that piece of crap?).
And I’m not alone in thinking it now looks pretty terrible. Bloggers and commenters around the web are mostly critical of Samuel L. Jackson’s look. Personally, I think Gabriel Macht, as the lead, looks about as lame as Billy Zane in The Phantom(is it possible domino masks are never cool on an actor?). For a roundup of what others are saying, since you probably can no longer see the clip out yourself, check out some links after the jump.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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I’m historically not a DC Comics defender, but the company could really use some support today following the very weak reception of an announcement that DC and Warner Bros. have some new film ideas up their sleeves. Sure, the news isn’t that exciting, but that may be The Hollywood Reporter’s fault for making it sound like DC is “storming the film world.” Compared to Marvel, DC’s plans still seem more like a light breeze, and therefore it’s understandable that the geeks and fanboys are disappointedly bitching today.
