I apologize if you thought this was going to be an action-packed fan-made movie, a la Batman: Dead End. But I’ve loved these Mac/PC parodies for some time now, and I couldn’t help myself. This one not only bridges the past weekend with the upcoming weekend by including Hellboy and returning DC toy Batman, but it also seems to unite all the summer 2008 superheroes, save for Hancock, who apparently does not have an action figure tie-in.
Of course, this one doesn’t beat the best of the series, which came earlier this year with the Iron Man/Batman showdown (eventually we’ll similarly need each a Quicksilver/Flash movie showdown, an Aquaman/Namor showdown and a Plastic Man/Mr. Fantastic showdown), but it’s fine until this winter, when we’ll probably get another “I’m a Marvel; and I’m a DC” clip featuring The Punisher and one of the many characters from Watchmen (toys for which hit stores in January — unfortunately no comparative Comedian action figure, it seems).
Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army hits theaters this Friday. Del Toro is a rare filmmaker who, despite his unique vision, often works on projects based on material from an outside source (Pan’s Labyrinth being a notable exception). Assuming all the legal issues get ironed out, he’ll next direct a two part film adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit, the most prestigious property to date to get the del Toro treatment. Here are seven either failed or unjustly obscure movies ripe for being remade by Hellboy’s father.
1. Spawn - Todd McFarlane’s comic about a Hell-trotting anti-hero indebted to the Devil opened my young eyes to genuinely dark storytelling. While the 90s were a simpler time in terms of comic to movie adaptations, I was already dreaming about a big screen adaptation after reading the first issue. Unfortunately, my dream came true in 1997, when Mark A.Z. Dippé’s god-awful Spawn slumped into theaters.
BUT tomorrow is Independence Day, aka the 4th of July, and that means it’s time for MUPPETS. Specifically the most patriotic Muppet of all: Sam the Eagle, who presents us with a rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever” performed by Beaker, Animal, the Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear, a penguin and some chickens. Sam also recites part of the Declaration of Independence, Crazy Harry provides the fireworks and Statler and Waldorf show up for some criticism. Forget the hot dogs and the red, white and blue boxer shorts; this is all you need to make your holiday complete.
Who needs Will Ferrell’s impersonation when the real James Lipton is willing to do stuff like this. It’s short, it’s sweet and it’s helping me maintain my excitement for Hellboy II: The Golden Army. And I wasn’t even a fan of the first movie. In fact, I can’t remember a darn thing about Hellboy except for the Nazi-heavy prologue, which gave me the first impression of Indiana Jonesknockoff (the subsequent plot made me think Indy meets Men in Black). Fortunately, the follow-up looks more like Pan’s Labyrinth, which was at least directed by Hellboy helmer Guillermo Del Toro.
To get me back up to speed before Hellboy II drops next Friday, I’ve rented the DVD of the original. And I’ve also watched this animated prologue, which gives us background info regarding the Golden Army. Personally, I’d be OK with the whole film being in this style. I just have lots of love for minimal animation. I definitely need to check out Broken Saints, the web series directed by this prologue’s animator, Brooke Burgess.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army opens nationwide July 11.
It’s been three months since the trades reported Guillermo Del Toro was in talks to direct The Hobbit(as two separate films). So why has it taken this long for the deal to be set in stone? Over at The Movie Blog, John thinks some of it had to do with Del Toro wanting to make sure he would have enough creative control, considering he’ll be working for producer Peter Jackson.
How much control will Guillermo del Toro have? I’ll be willing to bet this was one of the big issues delaying the official announcement of his agreeing to direct the projects. Peter Jackson helmed The Lord of the Rings… will he allow del Toro (a better director over all in my opinion… although both are insanely gifted) the freedom to make these films as he sees fit with modestly limited interference? Clearly del Toro should listen to the studio and to Jackson in particular… but these are HIS movies now, not Jacksons, and for the most part he needs to be the man in charge now. Will they let that happen?
Guillermo Del Toro’s previous film, the Spanish fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth, scored three Oscars (half of those it was nominated for), received honors from 15 separate critics groups and featured on at least 91 end-of-year top ten lists (or 94, if you count this year’s lists, too). But it didn’t quite make as much money as Del Toro’s movie before it. Actually, that movie, Hellboy, also ended up some top ten lists, but really it was just another well-made comic book movie. And by well-made, I mean that it looked great (shot by Pan’s Oscar-winning cinematographer, Guillermo Navarro) and was directed efficiently. I certainly don’t mean that the writing was all that remarkable. In fact, with all its generic ancient paranormal stuff, Hellboy’s plot was terribly derivative (I can do without the non-Indian Jones-based Nazi baddies for awhile, thanks) and even got confused in my memory with Bulletproof Monk, which was probably my least favorite film of 2003.
So, you can imagine I’m not all that excited about Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Yet thanks to this trailer, I’m a little more interested than I had been. Never mind the lack of Nazi bad guys, this trailer really wants to capitalize on the fact that it was directed by the guy who gave us Pan’s Labyrinth. First, we see a little insect-like creature that evokes the fairy/mosquito thing from Labyrinth. Then there’s a shot of Doug Jones (who also returns as Abe Sapien) as the Angel of Death, an eye-less character evoking Jones’ Labyrinth characters, Fauno and Pale Man, and a scene set in some Autumnally leafy place that closely resembles Labyrinth’s labyrinth. Yet the trailer also plays on this capitalization by addressing the fact that this world is not part of someone’s imagination (as in the case of Labyrinth’s Ofelia). Will Universal be able to combine the audiences of the comic book movies and foreign language films with this strategy? Well, Hellboy II isn’t going to be winning any Oscars, and it’s probably not going to gross more than the first Hellboy. But at least Del Toro (who has acknowledged the parallels between Labyrinth and Hellboy II) seems to be trying to respect his fans and appeal to the whole spectrum in which they exist. That isn’t something all filmmakers who fluctuate between highbrow and lowbrow fare are able to do successfully.
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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It’s been three months since 
