The first official trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class was released earlier tonight exclusively via Facebook. Check it out:
It looks interesting. It certainly looks a LOT better than Wolverine put it that way. Plus, it is directed by the guy who directed Kick-Ass – arguably 2010’s best comic book movie. I still think James McAvoy is horribly miscast as Xavier though. I have nothing against the actor, but he clearly hasn’t taken ANY of Patrick Stewart’s mannerisms on board. And judging by the opening, they are classing this as a direct prequel rather than a spin off like Wolverine. Oh well, still, there’s a ray of hope in the form of Michael Fassbender (you may remember him from Inglorious Basterds) as Magneto – he looks positively brilliant.
As most people know, I’m no Marvel fan, and I know very little about X-Men. So maybe somebody out there could enlighten me as to why Professor Xavier in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class looks like a hobo:
Seriously, how the fuck does that scruffy looking so-and-so inherit the mansion that would become the school in the original films. Am I missing something here?
This is going to be very difficult. 2010 has been one fucking hell of a year for movies. In this day and age, the typical blockbuster no longer exists. Film makers are becoming more and more daring with their movies. Every movie that has made it into my final list can be deemed “experimental” in one way or another. So here we go, the top 10 movies (in order) of 2010 (in my opinion of course)
10. Precious
Precious isn’t by any means a ground breaking movie, nor does it have amazing directing or cinematography. What it does have, however, is the single greatest performance of any actor in 2010 by Mo’Nique. Playing the villainous mother with heaps of believability and emotion, it is her who gives the film it’s huge dramatic heft in the final scene. She won an Oscar for her performance and it is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most deserved Oscars of the past 10 years. Just check out this video and if there isn’t at least ONE tear in your eye, you are seriously cold hearted:
9. Machete
When Robert Rodriguez made the faux trailer Machete to accompany his and Quentin Tarantino’s double feature Grindhouse, the internet went crazy. The Mexican/Exploitation (dubbed “Mexploitation”) trailer told the story of a Mexican day-labourer who goes by the alias “Machete” (played by cult favourite Danny Trejo), who is hired to assassinate a facist US Senator. However, the very same people who hired him also double cross him and leave him for dead, which kick starts Machete’s quest for bloody revenge. The trailer caused do much buzz that Rodriguez felt obliged to turn it into a full feature. He then revealed that majority of the script/story had already been developed by himself and Trejo years ago, and so placed the film into quick production. What we have now is everything from the trailer with a full story (which includes Machete also out for revenge for the murder of his wife), and some extra big name actors (Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Steven Seagal and Michelle Rodriguez) thrown into the mix. It’s a bloody, brutally entertaining roller coaster ride, with an kickass central performance from Trejo. Throw in Rodriguez favourite actors Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey and Tom Savini and this is the Exploitation movie of the year. Check out this trailer:
8. House of the Devil
As anybody who knows me knows…I’m a sucker for old school horror. So when I saw the trailer for House of the Devil i was hooked instantly. Little known director Ti West enters the (albeit low budget) mainstream with a throw back to 1970s/80s horror films. The story is classic John Carpenter-style slasher: young college student takes a babysitting job in a spooky mansion…and the rest would be spoiling it. Everything here is perfect: the film is actually set in the 80s and the characters are very stereotypical of the time (clothing/hair/music sense etc). But the best is how the film is shot. Let it be said that if you have a low attention span, House of the Devil is not for you. It is the classic, slow burning style of film making. Literally nothing happens for at least the first 45 minutes. It slow burns to build up to uncontrollable amounts of tension. And to top it all off, the American (region one) Limited Edition version of the DVD also came with a copy of the film on VHS!! Check out the trailer (also one of my favorite trailers of 2010) Genius:
7. Four Lions
Easily the funniest British film in a long while. But also one of the most controversial. This is the kind of film that spells the difference between the American and British film industry. What I mean by that is that there is no way the MPAA would have passed this film for release. Telling the story of a group of hopeless British muslims who have blindly turned to extremism and terrorism, after a botched mission in Pakistan they return to England and decide the only way forward is to devise a terrorist plot of their own. Yes, you read all that right. Lots of people have different opinions on this film. It is my opinion that the film has been made as a sort of piss take of our human nature. It pokes fun at people like the BNP by saying “Okay, so you think every muslim is a terrorist? Well, if the average 20-something muslim WAS a terrorist, this is the kind of terrorist they’d be”. But despite all that it really is fucking hysterical and one of the most quotable movies of the year. This clip is evidence of the brilliantly funny dialogue:
6. Shutter Island
Shutter Island is one weird film. First of all, it’s Martin Scorsese’s first foray into horror. Second, it’s one of those films that kind of struggles with it’s own identity. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it has stopped it appearing higher in my list. It’s almost as if the film can’t decide what genre it wants to belong to. In essence I suppose the movie is a mystery thriller, but there are hefty moments of horror, gore, action and even comedy. But it is brilliant. Scorsese’s direction is impecable as always and I can’t wait to see what he does with his next horror film if he does indeed return to the genre. Like wise Leonardo DiCaprio is outstanding as always. But the trump card for this movie is in it’s final act, the ending. Oh dear god, that ending. Check out this trailer:
5. Toy Story 3
Any animated movie that features TOYS that can make a grown man CRY deserves to be in anybody’s top 10 list. Threequels usually suffer a very grim fate and turn into shit films. Case in point: Jurassic Park 3, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Superman III, X-Men III to name but a few. Thankfully Toy Story 3 doesn’t fall under the same curse. It’s fantastic for both kids and adults a like, although adults will enjoy the more dramatic scenes a little more. Yeah, that’s right. Dramatic. And by dramatic I mean fucking dramatic. This film will make you cry and it will make you completely relive your childhood. Check out the trailer:
4. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Quite simply, the ultimate “geek” movie. The video game references are astounding, the dialogue is the kind of thing you say to your mates on a Thursday night, the fight scenes are mind boggling, it’s just seriously cool. Edgar Wright returns from the phenomenal success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz with his first American movie. Scott Pilgrim is the average young, twenty-something hipster: he’s in a band, he’s dating a high schooler, he has the “perfect” life. That is, until Ramona Flowers comes into his life. Scott falls in love with this skater chick instantly. However, Ramona has baggage – namely a league of evil ex-boyfriends who will stop at nothing to make sure Ramona never dates anyone else. And so in order for Scott to date Ramona, he must first defeat her evil exes. Before the film’s release Edgar Wright described the film as a sort of musical. But instead of characters randomly breaking out into song, they randomly break out into massive, full choreographed martial arts fights. Check out this brilliant clip:
3. Kick-Ass
Mark Millar’s epic graphic novel turned into a full movie by Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman. It’s one hell of a triumph and a massive genre bender. Awesome action/fight scenes, hilarious comedy and genuine emotion blend together in one of the best comic book movies of the past 10 years. I hated Stardust, but here Jane Goldman shows that she really can write a damn fine script. The film isn’t for anybody though, it’s incredibly controversial and definitely for adults only. Make no mistake, this film contains some vulgar stuff: an 11-year old girl who is a kung fu master and uses words like “cunt” and “fuck” a lot, various mafia hitmen, copious amounts of blood and extreme violence including decapitation. If you think that just because this movie contains an 11 year old girl that it is for kids, then think again because that same 11 year old girl is the one who delivers the most obscene language and decapitations. Check out this clip:
2. The Social Network
It was really difficult of me to pick between this and Kick Ass, but ultimately I thought “Given the chance, which one would I watch right now?” – and the answer to that will always be Social Network. In 10 years time if somebody were to make a film best on Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg, it wouldn’t be even half as good as this one. The time to make a “Facebook movie” was right now, when Facebook is pretty much at the height of its popularity. This is simply a brilliantly made film. Also it’s a David Fincher movie through and through, you can always tell when you’re watching a Fincher movie because everything is green, but also the tone is always the same. His movies are very bleak but still sustain a huge amount of entertainment. One of the best things about the movie though is in its performances. Jesse Eisenberg is brilliant as Zuckerburg, he’s incredibly annoying and pretentiout but you can’t help but root for him at the same time. He’s an absolute joy to watch. The most surprising performance though is definitely from Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker. He comes across as the closest thing the movie has to a villain and he does it brilliantly. At heart it’s a courtroom drama, but one that we all can relate to. Facebook is a part of all our lives and it’s awesome to watch its creation unfold on screen. Check out this clip:
1. Inception
In my eyes, no other film could possibly be number one. Inception is a true triumph. Christopher Nolan has proven himself again and again as being the new powerhouse of Hollywood. The script for Inception took around 10 years to develop and it really does show. This is another genre bender, fusing an array of different cinematic styles into one epic movie. It’s a blockbusting action movie with a difference; a thinking man’s action movie. It contains a fully enthralling plot coupled with mind melting special effects and action set pieces. Once again, DiCaprio shows he is very capable in an action role. In fact, each member of the cast is completely integral to the story. The way the characters work together to achieve their goal is the meat of the film. Unfortunately it’s also one of those films that meets with unfair criticism. Like Avatar before it, Inception is hated by people simply down to its massive hype, success and critical praise. Quite simply put, fuck ’em all, because this is the best film of the year. Check out this stunning fight scene:
Weeks ago, it was announced that the likes of Diane Kruger, Alice Eve and Rosamund Pike were competing for a female role in Christopher Nolan’s and Zack Snyder’s Superman: Man of Steel. We then learned that this role would not be Lois Lane. To this new, the worry started. A Superman movie without Lois Lane? That would just suck, end of.
Now the news has been released that the role is actually a villain, and that Lois Lane could very well appear. However, the role has been revealed to be that of Ursa, the Villain from Superman II. If you’ve seen Superman II you’d also know that Ursa is right hand woman to General Zod, the main villain of that movie. Which means the main villain in Superman: Man of Steel could also very well be General Zod (pictured right).
This seriously pisses me off. It means that we’ll get a villain that we’ve already seen in Christopher Reeve’s series of films.
We hardcore Superman fans have been ACHING for a proper Superman villain. Darkseid, Brainiac, Metallo, Doomsday…the possibilities are endless.
Get it fucking right Warner Bros seriously. Don’t they want to stop the endless complaints from hardcore DC fans? I myself did actually like Superman Returns, but the argument among people who didn’t like it is that they opted for Lex Luthor as a villain with his real estate plots, rather than a villain who can physically match Superman blow for blow. Putting a human villain in a Superman film means that Superman can’t fight, because if he did, the collateral would be insane. We’re talking about a superhero who can create antimatter from his bare hands.
Here’s hoping this isn’t true. A few months ago, there was a rumor that Matthew Goode had been cast as Superman. Now we know that this was false, since Henry Cavill has been cast. So there is hope that this could be false as well.
The new Scream 4 trailer is here. And after the admittedly disappointing teaser we got last year, this new one is a HUGE improvement!
That was truly fucking epic. Especially as a huge fan of the original noticing all the little nods to it.
In all seriousness though, this movie has no reason to be shit. One of the main complaints about Scream 3 was that it had a different screenwriter. But this time, original scribe Kevin Williamson is back, as is the three main cast members Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox Arquette and David Arquette. Oh yeah, and there’s also the little matter of a certain Wes Craven returning to the directing chair.
comicbookmovie.com have just posted a new video from the set of Marc Webb’s up and coming Spider-man movie. Now, as many of you know, the movie is a complete reboot of the franchise and no way ties into the Toby Maguire/Sam Raimi movies. The film stars Andrew Garfield (of Social Network fame) in the titular role and goes back to his origins.
Recently, the first official photo of the movie was released:
Now, to me this new suit looks fucking awesome. Its dark, gritty, bloodied. It makes it look like Webb’s new movie is set to be the awesome over-haul that Spider-man needs. Also, you have to remember that this is coming from someone who hates the Spider-man character. I just don’t get it. He can either go out each night, fighting crime and risking his life, assuring death, and getting beat on by monsters and villains…or he can go home, relax and shag Kirsten Dunst. That just never made fucking sense to me. Between risking your life every night and sleeping with Kirsten Dunst? It’s not fucking rocket science.
But regardless, I was excited for this movie when I saw this photo, because it looks like the kind of Spider-man movie I could really enjoy…..but then, just today, I saw the video that comicbookmovie released. Seriously, this is some crazy shit. Prepare your self, and when you’re ready, click the following link:- http://comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=29512
Did you fucking see that bitch slap? How fucking gay was that jump? I seriously hope they’re doing some crazy CGI work to these fight scenes because that was just horrible! I mean what the fucking fuck. What the fucking motherfuck.
Seriously dude, I don’t care how much of a staunch Marvel fan you are, you have to admit that was pure balls. If that was set footage of the new Superman movie I’d admit it put it that way. This shit is not looking good.
Here is it Marvel fans; the first official poster for the Chris Evans (not the ginger radio host) starring “Captain America: The First Avenger”…
It is fucking badass, no doubt about it. I’m a little miffed that there’s no mask. What’s even more annoying is that I’ve seen TONS of set pictures of him wearing the fucking mask.
To be honest, I’ve never been a fan of the costume anyway, I just don’t think it works well on screen. I mean, what’s worse than plastering the American flag all over your body?
People constantly ask me “Why is facebook so popular? How does it have almost 600 million members?” Their reasoning behind asking this question is simple: other social networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo have existed for much longer and yet they aren’t nearly as popular. I also constantly get asked why Google is so much more popular than other search engines such as Ask Jeeves and AltaVista.
The answer to this is so simple. You only have to look at facebook and Google to see why they are so appealing. Just look at the layout of facebook:
Now take a look at the layout of MySpace:
Now which one of these sites is more simplistic? MySpace is a seriously cluttered design. Facebook is just much more user friendly. Having the ability to add music to your site and customized flashy backgrounds based off your favorite band or movie is all well, but the fact is that the average Joe doesn’t want that. They want a simplistic, basic site with big descriptive buttons/links, and a main page that doesn’t take about ten minutes to load on a sub-par computer.
Last year, the trailer for Ryan Reynold’s Green Lantern. Forgive me but that is such a fucking awesome casting decision, seriously. Obviously we know that Reynolds can handle the comedic nature of Hal Jordan, but after last year’s awesome Buried we also know he can MORE than handle the much needed drama as well. Anywho, just in case you missed the trailer, check it out below:-
To be honest, I can completely understand anybody being put off by that trailer. Anybody who knows next to nothing about Hal Jordan/Green Lantern that is. If you’re a Green Lantern fan, that trailer should be the fucking second coming. The awesome blend of Jordan’s wit with the majesty of Oa (the Green Lantern Corps planet) and Jordan’s inner turmoil (“The one thing a Lantern should be is fearless…that isn’t me). It seems I was right all a long. Reynolds is perfect. The trailer may not seem quite epic enough, but then you have to remember this was released last year, very early days. And the producers have been quoted as calling it “A new Star Wars“; that’s a pretty fucking bold statement to make. Trust me, it’ll be awesome.
Superman: The Man of Steel (reboot)
Nolan & Snyder
Whether you’re a Marvel Fan, DC or don’t really give a fuck, you have to give in to the sheer fact that Superman is the godfather of superheros, and certainly the most Universally recognizable. I love all the Superman movies (yes, even Quest for Peace), but when the Christopher Reeve/Brandon Routh movies started out, it was back in the days when Superman was deemed a “simple farm boy” who saved the world from natural disasters…thus the general movie goer has the impression of Supes being quite “gay”. About 30ish years ago, DC completely turned the Superman character around, and started to portray him as more of an indestructible God like being who punches holes in the Moon and battles titanic creatures like Darkseid and Doomsday in devastating fist fights.
Thus, Warner Bros have come to the decision to reboot the movie series completely. That means a total overhaul, everything including John Williams infamously amazing soundtrack will be scrapped. This is a Superman for today’s new generation. A Superman that punches motherfuckers in the fucking face.
The first thing Warner Bros did was take on board their favourite genius Christopher Nolan (director of Batman Begins/The Dark Knight, Inception & Memento) as producer. Nolan’s job is to spearhead the entire project. And his first task was to find a director. Many, MANY people were considered, including Darren Arronofsky (Requiem for a Dream), Duncan Jones (Moon), Ben Affleck (fucking Ben Affleck) and Matt Reeves (Cloverfield). In the end, Nolan chose controversial visionary Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen). I say controversial because people tend to either love Snyder or hate him. The general idea is that he is all style and no substance. I’m sorry but if you think Watchmen has no substance, then you have no right being a movie/comic book fan. Fact is Snyder is perfect for this reboot. If there’s anybody to perfectly portray the current version of Superman, it’s Snyder.
Casting
As with the director, Nolan and Snyder scoured for months to find their Superman. It seemed this was the first role they wanted to get out of the way. Which is the best way forward. First, employ your main character, and then the rest of the cast can be built up on the strengths of that actor. This is the best way to cast a film with such a prominent main character as Superman.
Many actors such as Brandon Routh (who starred in the previous movie Superman Returns), Tom Welling (of Smallville fame – seriously, as much as I love Smallville…fucking keep Welling in Smallville, he has no place in an actual Superman movie), Joe Manganiello (True Blood), Patrick Wilson (Night Owl in Watchmen), Sam Worthington (Avatar), Matthew Goode (Ozymandias in Watchmen), Armie Hammer (the Winklevoss twins in Social Network) were all rumoured to be auditioning for the titular role.
However, just earlier this week, Nolan and Snyder officially found their Superman in little known British actor Henry Cavill (pictured below). Warner Bros always said from the go that they would prefer to hire a relatively unknown actor for the role, someone that they could make a career for. And when you look at past Supermen (George Reeve, Christopher Reeves, Brandon Routh, Tom Welling) what exactly where they before playing Superman? Nothing basically. The casting of Cavill makes me VERY happy. I’ve been worried about the casting for a while now (I certainly didn’t want to see Matthew Goode in the role), but now I’m at ease. I know the role is in good hands. Just LOOK at him, he’s fucking perfect. If you want to know his acting chops, he was in the miniseries The Tudors and is starring in up coming Mickey Rourke action fantasy movie Immortals.
Story wise, I really hope (since this movie will most likely be an origin story) they go with Superman: Birthright. It has all the fantastical elements that make Superman awesome: a personal journey, a heroic reveal, Lex Luthor with an evil plan, a titanic battle with otherworldly beings. Brilliant. As for the look of the movie, it looks like they’re going with very recent graphic novel Superman: Earth One. This is another origin story, but a very dark almost emo storyline. Admittedly, I don’t like Earth One that much as I feel they took to many liberties to modernise Superman’s origins. He spends half of the novel moping around complaining “BAAAWW, I HAVE ALL THESE POWERS BUT I DON’T WANT TO USE THEM, I WANNA BE NOOOOORMAL!” That’s not Superman. Where Earth One does succeed however is in its artwork. It’s simply stunning, and the reinvented “look” of Superman I really dig. Muscular, but not Arnie, slightly darker costume but still retaining it’s “classic” feel…perfect.
The Dark Knight Rises (sequel to Batman Begins & The Dark Knight)
Title & Shizz
It’s been an awesome few months for Batman fans. First, Christopher Nolan confirmed he was indeed going to return to his saga of The Bat. Then he confirmed that this would be his LAST Batman movie, and close the story off for good, turning his saga into a definitive trilogy. Then he announced the title would be The Dark Knight Rises. I’m not sure I like the title, I’ll be honest. The reason I’m not feeling it is that it connects too much to The Dark Knight, almost as if it’s entirely dependent on it. Kind of like Warner Bros are screaming “LOOK! IT’S A SEQUEL TO THE DARK KNIGHT! THAT MOVIE MADE A FUCKLOAD OF MONEY!!”
Don't freak out. As awesome as this poster is, it's just a fan poster made entirely for fun.
Pretty much anyone who knows me knows that I thoroughly believe Batman Begins to be a much better film than The Dark Knight. Especially as a comic book adaption. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Dark Knight; but as a comic book movie it kind of falls a little flat in my eyes. There’s nothing in the movie that makes it feel truely comic book-y. Batman Begins on the other hand contains all the majesty of a true comic book movie: a journey of discovery to a mysterious land (R’has Al Ghul’s temple), fantasy-esque villian (scarecrow), futuristic city landscapes and features (the monorail, the neon lights etc). The Dark Knight pretty much got rid of all these elements. The part of the monorail was destroyed at the end of Begins, but that doesn’t mean the whole thing was destroyed, but in The Dark Knight the monorail has all but disappeared. The Dark Knight is essentially a crime drama where one of the cops dresses as a bat and the main gangster wears clown make up. Also think about this…it has but ONE action sequence. Yeah, the chase in the middle, that’s the ONLY action scene. The “fight” scenes are too darkly lit and often obstructed with strobe lights to the point where you can’t see what’s going on and can’t follow each punch and kick. Batman’s supposed to be the world’s greatest martial artist so the fact that you NEVER see him kick someone in a fucking Batman movie is a pretty peculiar sign. It’s my view that The Dark Knight Rises should go back to the tone and style of Batman Begins, the film is a lot more epic, has a fantasy but realistic vibe, and the fight scenes are much better. What title would I have gone with?…Gotham City. It’s simple but effective and it has bags of character. After the events of The Dark Knight (the world believes Batman to be the villian), an obvious plot point in the next film is going to feature Batman turning the city itself into the hero. That’s why this title (Gotham City) rules.
Casting the Villians
The Dark Knight Rises has had as many casting rumours as Superman: Man of Steel. The first was the likes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Tennant, Johnny Depp, Hugh Laurie, James Franco, Leonardo DiCaprio and Doug Jones all being considered to play The Riddler, but then that was shot down by Nolan making is adamantly clear The Riddler was not going to play a part in the film. Other villians said to definitely not feature are Penguin, Crock and Mr Freeze because they were all deemed to “unrealistic” for Nolan’s style of film making. Which is fair enough, I can do without Mr Freeze forever after the abomination that was Batman & Robin.
Well last week, Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros officially announced the casting of two of the film’s villains. The first was venom-fueled meat-head Bane, to be played by Tom Hardy (the British Forger in Inception). That’s the first sign of The Dark Knight Rises’ recipe for fucking success. Hardy is PERFECT for Bane. Disagree? Have you ever seen/heard of his breakthrough role Bronson? Well, check out this clip:
That bald guy beating seven bells of fuck out of the other guy? That’s Tom Hardy. I know, amazing isn’t it? Beefy without being cheesy, macho without being ridiculous. He is simply the perfect Bane. This is honestly one of the single best casting decisions I’ve ever seen in a comic book movie. Also, the promise of Bane gives me a thought…that this movie will contain one hell of a one-on-one bust up. In fact, in the Batman comic book series Knightfall (Batman: Knightfall wikipedia link) Bane eventually broke Batman’s back and he was paralyzed for a large amount of time. During the healing process a guy named Jean-Paul Valley was forced to take up Batman’s role. But he was a very violent rage-filled fighter, who’d rather just kill than arrest, which naturally tarnished Bruce Wayne’s reputation. This led to the resignation of Bruce’s butler Alfred. Eventually Bruce healed and fought Jean-Paul and beat him, he then also had a rematch with Bane and beat him as well. Knightfall would make a fucking epic movie. It’s also recently been confirmed that Inception star Joseph Gordon-Levitt is playing an as-of-yet unnamed role in the film. Could this be Jean-Paul? He would certainly be perfect. My ass is literally boiling. Seriously.
The second villain confirmed to be in the film is Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman). This could be seen as a peculiar choice, considering Catwoman isn’t exactly a realistic villain. But if you look at the original announcement, Nolan never refers to her as “Catwoman” and just “Selina Kyle”. I like this decision. She could just be a nameless warrior. Also, in the comic, Selina Kyle is actually the daughter of Falcone (the mob boss that Batman defeated in Batman Begins). This could give rise to a story of revenge. Playing Selina Kyle is Anne Hathaway. Now…before you start saying “OMFG THAT’S AWFUL SHE CAN’T ACT FOR SHIT!” First of all, shut the fuck up; she is a good actress. Second, you’re forgetting that everyone said the exact same thing about a certain Heath Ledger, and look what happened there. Basically Christopher Nolan is in a position now where he could cast fucking Gary Barlow as The Riddler and nobody could say shit because of what he did with Heath Ledger/The Joker.
Thor
Trailer
If you haven’t seen the trailer for Thor yet, then check it out:-
Addmitedly I don’t know that much about Thor. The trailer does look pretty badass though. Also, it’s directed by Kenneth Brannagh…but then again his Frankenstein movie wasn’t exactly amazing. However, the cinematography is what grabs me the most: gritty and grounded one minute and then full of majesty the next. Very cool. Also Anthony Hopkins as Odin = fucking epic.
I just hope it doesn’t end up being another 2 hour trailer for The Avengers like Iron Man 2 was.
Dylan Dogg: Dead of Night
Trailer
The trailer for the Brandon Routh starring gothic comic book movie Dylan Dogg: Dead of Night has also just been released:-
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. I love Brandon Routh, but to me this just looks like a poor man’s Constantine, and that film wasn’t exactly amazing itself.
So there you go, a plethora of comic book movie news. There’ll be plenty more coming (albeit in snippets next time rather than one big article). I realize this was kind of DC-biased, but what you gonna do? Moan and groan? Bite me.
Before I continue with this list, bare in mind that this isn’t a “Bad Movies” list. Most of the movies in this list are actually half decent. No, this is a list of 2010 movies that just didn’t live up to expectations/hype. Also, this films are in no particular order.
1. Tron: Legacy
I’m probably going to get a decent amount of backlash here, but here’s the thing: I don’t hateTron: Legacy; that’s important to note. The thing is, being a huge fan of the original Tron, I had set my expectations for the sequel to gargantuan heights. Thus, the film had to be nothing short of spectacular. Alas, It’s just okay. That’s the problem I have with this film. It starts off awesome. I went to see it in 3D, and I loved how the scenes set within the real world were 2D and it shifted to 3D whenever we entered the Grid. The first 30 minutes are set up brilliantly, I loved Sam’s journey to finding his father, and when we do eventually get to Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges again on TOP form), it was a real geek moment for me. But after that is when the film starts to fall flat and lose it’s momentum. It just becomes a really bland sci-fi piece. And I can’t stress enough that I refuse to call the film an “action movie”, as there is very little action to speak of. About 45 minutes into the film I was sat there thinking “Christ, I’m actually quite bored”. Another thing that bugged me was the unbelievable amount of plot holes. I usually ignore plot holes in a movie such as this (after all it is a SCI-FI film), but the plot holes here just present a massive problem for me:
—What exactly were the ISOS and why were they so damn important? This just wasn’t explained enough for my liking.
—How come Kevin had Jesus-like powers, and why didn’t he use them sooner?
—Kevin has a disc and yet he NEVER uses it = lame.
—How come none of the programs in the Grid actually ACTED LIKE PROGRAMS, they just walked around, dancing, drinking booze, watching entertainment; I’ve certainly never seen my copy of Microsoft Word or Adobe Premier bust a move for my entertainment or down a bottle of gin, THIS MAKES NO SENSE
—Why was Tron himself reduced to a fucking glorified cameo. Fucking pathetic, he DID NOTHING DECENT IN THE WHOLE FILM. I also don’t get how – if Tron is meant to be the most powerful fighter within the Grid – that Clu and his men were able to overpower him. With today’s technology and awesome fight choreography skills, Tron should have been this movie’s trump card, a badass warrior cappin’ ass left right and center…but NO, what we get is about 10 minutes of pointless screentime. Fuck you.
—How come the flashback scene with the “young” Kevin, Tron and Clu didn’t look like the first film’s graphics? I understand that it was a second Grid that Kevin had created, but had technology really progressed that much in such a short amount of time?
—What the FUCK was the Wasteland?! Never explained!
And that ending…dear god. I hate the word cliché because film has progressed so much now that the very idea of a movie is cliché in itself, but Tron: Legacy has the most horribly fucking cliché ending EVER. It would have been MUCH better for Tron to have come back (as his suit clearly changed color) and sacrifice HIMSELF to save Kevin, Sam and Quorra. That’s the ending I would have done and it would have been much better, rather than the fucking cliché “veteran main character sacrificing himself to save the younger characters”. It was such a fucking cop out to just kill Kevin off after everything he’d been through. Fuck this movie.
Expected Rating: 9/10…Actual Rating: 5/10
2. Alice In Wonderland (Tim Burton version)
The Lewis Carrol novel and Tim Burton’s visual genius should have been a match made in heaven. Add to that the likes of Johnny Depp, Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman in the cast list and this should have been one hell of an epic gothic feast. Instead it’s the perfect case of style over substance. Burton went the interesting way of creating a sort of semi-sequel rather than adapting the novel exactly. But this decision didn’t work in his favour. The pace of the movie is just horribly written and forces it into the realm of “boring”. Johnny Depp just acts like Pee Wee Herman in Keith Richard’s clothes. Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry are cameos, and the chick playing Alice is just there. The film’s only saving grace is Helena Bonham Carter (a favorite actress of mine) as the Queen of Hearts. She gives much more enjoyable insanity than Depp could ever dream of.
Expected Rating: 7/10…Actual Rating: 3/10
3. A Nightmare On Elm Street
Horror remakes usually are a load of horse shit, but last year’s remake of Wes Craven’s classic A Nightmare On Elm Street had promise in the fact that it starred Jackey Earl Haley (Rorschach in Watchmen) as Freddy Kruger himself. Surely even if the rest of the film is shit, it would be worth it seeing Haley on screen carving some faces? Not quite. Haley does give off a deeply wounded, somewhat tragic performance, but it never gets its chance to shine. Save for some interesting flashback segments, this character just becomes a pure caricature of the horror genre. A boring one. Instead of working around the idea of “even in our dreams we’re not safe” like the original, this remake just gives way for cheap jump scares and unoriginal death scenes.
Expected Rating: 6/10…Actual Rating: 2/10
4. The Last Airbender (based off the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” American anime)
A big budget martial arts movie based off a very successful anime where each character has the ability to “bend” the elements and directed by the guy who directed The Sixth Sense & Unbreakable…how could this POSSIBLY go wrong? Of course, you have to remember that same director also made The Happening & The Lady In the Water – arguably two of the worst movies ever made. Jumping from his usual works of Horror/Fantasy Dramas into a fully blown martial arts epic (seemingly) was an odd move for M Night Shyamalan, but many felt it was just the change he needed. And then the casting decisions arose. The Last Airbender was publicly doomed from the start because of it’s many controversial casting decisions. The main characters in the original anime are off oriental origin, and yet the closest we get to that ethnicity are a couple of Indian/British actors. Ironically, one of those actors Dev Patel (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) is the only actor who is any good, playing villianous Prince Zuko. Sure, he’s cheesy, but in an enjoyable way. Not in a “omg i want to tear my fucking hair out and gouge my own eyes” kind of way – e.g. the rest of the cast. The fights are also horrible. The only decent fight being a grounded fight between Aang and Zuko. Most of the other fight consist of characters “throwing” certain elements at one another an contain very little actual martial arts. What made the movie worse was the 3D. The “grey” 3D glasses added with the fact that the movie’s visuals were naturally dark anyway made it feel like watching a movie whilst wearing sunglasses.
Expected Rating: 7/10…Actual Rating: 3/10
5. Skyline
Skyline was billed as being “2010’s answer to District 9“. That’s a fucking bold statement right there. District 9 was a fucking awesome movie that blended so many genre styles and influences together so effortlessly. It is arguably one of the best sci-fi movies of the past 10 years, and certainly one of the more original I can remember. If Skyline was to live up to this, it had it’s work cut out for it. It’s first trump card was that it was shot on a relatively low budget, a mere $10,000,000 (that’s pretty bad isn’t it? When you can say $10,000,000 is a LOW amount for a film. Just look at all those fucking zero’s!!). Its second was its trailer. Fuck me, what a trailer. Say what you want about the finished product, but Skyline had one of the best trailers of the year. Seriously, just fucking watch it the fucking thing:
Now THAT is how you edit together a trailer. Tense news snippets to begin with, then small and subtle VFX sequences, and then BOOM, you end with a BIG money shot. And fuck me what a money shot! Unfortunately the film has turned out to be one of the worst mainstream movies of the year. With writing that can’t live up to the impressive visual effects, and performances that force you to seriously question the skills of the directors. And that ending…oh dear god that ending. Ugh, let’s move on.
Expected Rating: 7/10…Actual Rating: 1/10
6. Iron Man 2
Yes, Iron Man 2wasn’t that good. It was certainly no where near as good as the first film. Ironically, it’s exactly the same as the first film…but therein lies the problem. With Iron Man 2, two things are very clear: First of all, director Jon Faverau did not want to make this film. His usual directorial passion is completely absent. Second, it’s obvious that in oder to apease both the studio and the audience, all Faverau did was watch the first film, note down what worked so well, and repeat it here. But he repeated it to the point where he was afraid to try anything new. He turned Tony Stark into an even bigger twat than the first film, so much so that it makes it VERY hard to root for him. Take the Iron Man Vs. War Machine (his mate Colonel Rhodes) fight. I was rooting for War Machine the entire time, because Stark was acting like such a fucking prick. Was this intentional? Were we supposed to be hating on Stark. But he’s the MAIN CHARACTER, the fucking TITLE CHARACTER. Even movies where the main character is the antagonist like American Psycho and The Woodsman you still end up rooting for them (fucking WOODSMAN, Kevin Bacon was a pedophile in that movie but you still want him to come out on top!). The main thing I hated about Iron Man 2 was how underused all the cool shit was. Like Mickey Rourke. I fucking love Mickey Rourke, and he was awesome here, in his acting I mean. The writing of his character was balls. Another thing I hated was the fact that the whole film was just a 2 hour long trailer for Joss Whedon’s up and coming Avengers movie. Apparently Jon Faverau isn’t coming back for Iron Man 3, and I think that’s a good thing. As much as I love Faverau, he clearly can not handle sequels.
Expected Rating: 8/10…Actual Rating: 5/10
7. Clash of the Titans
I’ll admit, I was fucking PUMPED when I first saw the trailer for this remake. I’m in a very small minority of film fans who actually don’t like the original all that much. I just find it very bland, and a story that doesn’t lead to much. I love Ray Harryhausen’s creature effects, but the film itself just never interests me. So you can imagine my surprise when I watched the trailer for the remake and found Sam Worthington jumping around cappin’ ass, big fucking scorpions and FUCKING PETE POSTELTHWAITE (R.I.P). And then I went and watched the remake and it turned out to be bland with a story that leads to absolutely nothing. Just like the original. But so, so, so, sooooo much fucking worse. This is the kind of movie that doesn’t have a single fucking saving grace. I awarded Skyline one out of ten, but at least that had impressive visual effects. Yes, here it goes…Skyline is a better film than Clash of the Titans. There I fucking said it. Sam Worthington is an awesome actor (if a little overused), but here he just doesn’t recieve the right direction. Which is weird because the film was directed by Louis Letterier (director of the awesome Jet Li starrer Danny the Dog, and director of the impressive Edward Norton version of The Incredible Hulk). But Clash just doesn’t feel like it was directed by him at all. The big kick in the dick with this movie is when Medusa makes her appearance. Seriously, just look at this fucking picture:
That is literally the worst CGI I’ve seen in a movie in A LONG WHILE.
Expected Rating: 7/10…Actual Rating: 0/10
8. Devil
The premise for Devil was awesome: handful of strangers get trapped in a lift and find out that one of them just may be Satan himself. And it was a return to horror for M Night Shyamalan (albeit in a “produced by” and “story by” sense and not as a director or writer). Admittedly the film also had a fantastic ending. But that’s just the last 10 minutes. However, I have to also admit that the first 20 minutes were also of awesome quality. The build up was very tense, and it set up each characters qualities very well to the point where we were guessing which character we were eventually going to root for. But the hour in between was just so damn formulaic. It was a case of: lift stops, lights go out, people scream, they come back on, someone has died, police look at the CCTV confused, the people in the lift argue,lights go out, people scream, they come back on, someone has died, police look at the CCTV confused, the people in the lift argue, lights go out, people scream, they come back on, someone has died, police look at the CCTV confused, the people in the lift argue etc. It’s like watching a 5 minute long music video and then watching about another 100 music videos of the same song but by a different artist/band.
Expected Rating: 7/10…Actual Rating: 5/10
And that’s it for now. I may think of more later, but for now this is my definitive list of most disappointing movies of 2010.
Feel free to add your own additions in the comments below…
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