Movies

The new Fantastic Four (2015) movie was supposed to set things right. Press the big reset button and start up a whole new movie franchise. Fox even went so far as to pull from availability digital copies of the previous two films so as to prevent confusion between the old and new movies. It was supposed to be a fresh start and a palate cleanse. And though people long suspected the new Fantastic Four film was already going to stink, when it did arrive they were found holding their noses and feeling nausea. The reboot left the foul taste of bootlick in the mouths of many moviegoers, for more than four reasons. Director Josh Trank, tweeted and promptly deleted: “A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would’ve received great reviews. You’ll probably never see it. That’s reality though.” Suggesting that the studio had meddled too ...

With the upcoming release of the live-action Attack on Titan films, something rather inconsistent is happening. It’s like commentary on the internet somehow can’t swing both ways. Or even seem to raise its voice. The story of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) may not be quite at the mainstream level of awareness as some other stories, so a very brief recount of the setting may be worthwhile. Set in a stylised quasi-renaissance-industrial age, it’s predominantly a Westernised and European-like walled city where what remains of humanity has built itself inside of to protect it from the attack of Titans. Giant human-like beings intent on eating humans. The human characters, with the exception of half-Asian Mikasa (and her Asian mother), are all Caucasian. The live-action films are Japanese, and as may be expected, Japanese actors have been cast in the two-part movie. This is understandable given the Japanese origins of ...

George R. R. Martin, “that Game of Thrones guy” has recently been active writing on his blog. Which may not be exactly the type of writing many fans of the author were quite hoping for, but it is George R. R. Martin doing some writing nonetheless. With it has come Martin’s take on the recent Ant-Man (2015) movie, which he reviewed favourably, but he did also have the following more general point to make: “I am tired of this Marvel movie trope where the bad guy has the same powers as the hero. The Hulk fought the Abomination, who is just a bad Hulk. Spider-Man fights Venom, who is just a bad Spider-Man. Iron Man fights Ironmonger, a bad Iron Man. Yawn. I want more films where the hero and the villain have wildly different powers. That makes the action much more interesting.” Does it really improve the movie any, ...

A sequel to Top Gun (1986) has been talked about for a very, very long time. It has only been in the past five years that the ideas for Top Gun 2 have really started to gain any lift. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has attempted the sequel in the past, but the ripcord was pulled in 2012 following the death of Tony Scott, the director of the original film. Now, however, with producer David Ellison, the film is cleared for take-off. More importantly, Tom Cruise will be back as Maverick. As Ellison stated: “There is an amazing role for Maverick in the movie and there is no Top Gun without Maverick, and it is going to be Maverick playing Maverick.” There’s some good news, like the expectation that both the film and star Tom Cruise will want to use practical effects, as opposed to it being laden with CGI. Which would ...

It seems 20th Century Fox has pulled its films the Fantastic Four (2005) and the Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) from digital platforms such as iTunes and Amazon, in the wake of the upcoming rebooted Fantastic Four (2015) film to be released this August. As reported by THR, a trade source said Fox has removed the digital distribution of the older films: “so as not to distract from promotion of the rebooted franchise, which is seeking to establish a different tone than the previous releases. The source says the older titles might cause confusion in the marketplace.” To the extent that Fox wishes to distance the new rebooted Fantastic Four film from the earlier versions, and potentially not cannibalise its sales, this does make sense. Further, THR also included: “The source also indicated the older films could once again be available digitally after this summer’s Fantastic Four ...

If the found Star Wars script was real, then Han Solo really did shoot first. Unfortunately it wasn’t real, and was the fourth draft. Yet was the scene with Han and Greedo unchanged from this version of the draft to what is seen in the 1977 version of the film? Within the University of New Brunswick, librarian Kristian Brown had been digitising old materials in the science fiction archives. Amongst the items, was a Star Wars script dated 15 March, 1976, complete with the Lucasfilm Industries stamp. The script is actually for Saga 1 instead of its later, and better known, re-retitled name of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. It also contains the original name of the character Luke Starkiller, instead of the later revision, Luke Skywalker. So far, so good. However, according to statements from Lucasfilm Publicity, they believed it appeared to be a replica of ...

Hollywood has increasingly of late, been under fire for its casting choices. Not necessarily the actors per se, but rather how the actor relates to the source material of the character in question. Particularly with respect to race and ethnicity. With this has come claims of Hollywood whitewashing characters. Taking the source material, and then converting it into the idealised and westernised archetypical characters of white males and females. So it’s not purely a case of apparent miscasting. Such as Jack Black in King Kong (2005). Or Matthew Perry as Friends character Chandler Bing in any and every other role. Or Michael Cera always playing awkward male tween. Just look at their acting range. Recent examples, include that of director Cameron Crowe issuing an apology over the casting choice of Emma Stone as Captain Allison Ng in the romantic comedy Aloha (2015). Notwithstanding the movie’s less than glowing reviews, that ...

Stars Wars, the space opera film saga which has spilled over into pop culture phenomena, again both strikes back and returns with another May the 4th. After the prequel trilogy, wiping the droids’ memories seemed like the best course of action. If only the rest of the world could’ve done the same. Now details of the sequel trilogy are doing not trying, and are breaking through with The Force Awakens. If only that cross-guard on the lightsaber made more sense. Probably none of the following is canon, but in this way, a trilogy of trilogies, or nine reasons if preferred, are offered up as to why Star Wars should be celebrated on May 4th 2015: Attack of the Clones gave the world dialogue wooden enough to make even Pinocchio seem like a real boy. Now that Disney owns Lucasfilm, the circle is now complete. George Lucas showed that flannelette shirts ...

In the upcoming Adam Sandler movie The Ridiculous Six, Native American (or “Indian”) actors and a cultural advisor have walked off the New Mexico set in protest. A general disrespectfulness of Native American culture, including bad jokes and character names such as Beaver’s Breath and No Bra, have been cited as the reasons. Further that the comedy is unfunny, racist and only serves the worn out stereotypes of “Hollywood Indians” from yesteryear, along with grossly misrepresenting the Apache culture. That it’s an Adam Sandler and is a direct-to-streaming movie made for Netflix may be enough to say it all. Warner Bros. dropped the film months ago. Plus the film’s cast is said to also include Jon Lovitz and Vanilla Ice… Adam Sandler in a movie as a big drawcard, hasn’t been something that’s happened in a very long while. Yet coupled with his Happy Madison Productions, Adam Sandler continues to ...

From messianic rocker to trout pouting duck-faced selfie taker, Jared Leto’s transformation into the Joker for Suicide Squad hasn’t exactly been outside of the limelight. Now, it appears the journey to whatever side it is, is now complete. You’ll get to see it soon enough. Don’t be so predictable. Few people doubt Leto’s acting chops. Yet his more notable roles have tended to focus on him being the androgynous pretty boy, or going that step farther as was the case in Dallas Buyers Club. The running commentary from both Leto and others regarding his role as the Joker has filled in the gaps along the way. His comments about aiming to put on some muscle for the Suicide Squad movie, given his shirtless pose, tend to make sense. In a wiry and lithe sort of way. Looking at the photo though, where exactly the “majestic” nature of the Joker is to ...