MOVIES AND PHYSICAL MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS AND INSIGHTS
GREAT MOVIE TRAILERS OF THE DAY
Sports and Competition
AUTO AND HOME IMPROVEMENT NEWS AND INSIGHTS
INSIGHT AND NEWS YOU CAN USE
ART BOOKS AND COMIC BOOKS
Trailers
Movie Trailer of the Day : HIGHWAYMEN & TRIPLE FRONTIER
THE HIGHWAYMEN & TRIPLE FRONTIER– I have not been the biggest fan of Netflix, mostly for their price hikes, but also I have never been a fan of their user interface. But their actual content, since the Marvel/Netflix shows, has over all been sound.
I think the Netflix/Marvel TV Shows,for the most part, were very strong. IRON FIST was an unfortunate misstep (my least favorite show next to the PUNISHER. While loved by many, I found season 1 after a strong start, plodding, one note and unlikable), however DAREDEVIL Season 1 set the action standard, and LUKE CAGE Season 1 and 2 for me set the story standard. I like the places LUKE CAGE went, and I think it holds up the best to repeat viewings, as it has something to say more significant than supposed good guy hits bad guy. And for me has character growth, the other shows lacked. I love where LUKE CAGE Season 2 ends, and of all of them, its loss of one more season seems the most unfortunate.
But beyond the Marvel/Netflix collaboration, Netflix is well represented by its new films and straight to Netflix films.
While Will Smith is currently getting the stink eye for his ridiculous look in the live action ALADDIN (what was he and his agent thinking???), I enjoyed BRIGHT and I have enjoyed other Netflix branded films such as MUDBOUND and BIRDBOX.
Also Netflix has a great offering of international TV shows from RIPPER STREET to NARCOS to MINISTRY OF TIME.
So I am always open to being impressed by their content.
And with the latest THE HIGHWAYMEN trailer and TRIPLE FRONTIER trailer, I am very impressed with Netflix’s March Lineup. These two trailers look stellar!
Even though I philosophically am more inclined to the Warren Beatty version of BONNIE & CLYDE, I am open to giving this opposing take a chance. See for yourself here…
Movie Trailers of the Day!
Trailer shows promise in this tale of cat and mouse.
I saw the first few images of this trailer, and turned it off. Because I was sold on seeing this immediately.
The trailer plays a bit like THE WITNESS meets FIRST BLOOD. Definitely intriguing.
This THE WAVE (BOLGEN) Trailer made me go… Awesome. That’s pretty high praise for a trailer.
I watched the first thirty seconds of this trailer, and turned it off. Why? Because I knew this is a film I would be trying for myself. So much of what sepArates good genre movies from bad ones, is do you care about the characters?
Most genre fiction gravitates to the annoying or stupid kids who go exploring usually where they shouldn’t. This trailer in 30 seconds showed more depth to these characters than most genre films ever pack into a full movie. So yeah, I was immediately intrigued by the isolated THE THING like vibe.
All movie trailers courtesy of my new go to spot for watching trailers… Amazon Prime via Roku!
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Movie Posters Re-Imagined: Alternative Designs for the World’s Favorite Cult Films
MOVIE TRAILER ROUNDUP: SUPERMAN RETURNS vs MAN OF STEEL and the bigotry of ELYSIUM?!!
MOVIE TRAILER AND UPCOMING MOVIE ROUND-UP
THE GHASTLY LOVE OF JOHNNY X- I gave this trailer a download. It’s a send up of 50s movies, especially of the drive-in, monster, teen angst variety. Not my beverage of choice. And it just wasn’t interesting at all. Save yourself the viewing time… avoid.
PACIFIC RIM- I keep watching this trailer, and I keep being impressed. “Today we are canceling the APOCALYPSE!!” Delivered as only Idris Elba can deliver it! This summer blockbuster hits screens in July. And I’ll definitely be in the crowd.
NOW YOU SEE ME- “First rule of magic, always be the smartest guy in the room.” A stellar cast, and an inventive and surprisingly original feeling trailer (no small feat for a film to seem original, given how many caper and heist films I’ve seen) makes this film one that I’m interested in seeing on the big screen when it hits on 31 May.
MAN OF STEEL- The latest full trailer is out and looks very good, though I have to be honest it doesn’t excite me the way the SUPERMAN RETURNS trailer of several years ago did. And I know it’s envogue these days to hate on that movie, but the young and foolish forget how well received that trailer and the movie initially was. That plane sequence alone having people cheering in the theaters. And while the pimply set in hindsight dismiss SUPERMAN RETURNS because of some pacing issues and I think some weaknesses with the casting, particularly the Lois character, it was, warts acknowledged, a good movie, with a great trailer. So far MAN OF STEEL merely has a good trailer, let’s hope that translates into a great movie. Being a fan of Zack Snyder (not so much Christopher Nolan) I’ll be in the theaters to find out.
THOR II- I’m watching the 1st trailer for this film and I’m not particularly gripped by the ‘story’ of the trailer, but I’m thinking how awesome it is that we can produce movies on this scale. Super-hero movies are possible due to CGI and advances of technology that can make a man swinging around and hitting things with a big hammer prop look awesome rather than stupid. That said,the absence of Branagh as director worries, as I couldn’t find anything close to an interesting story in the trailer. But it is just an early trailer, perhaps the movie has more depth to it than the trailer hints at. This one is a wait and see.
ELYSIUM- This scifi trailer is for a film by Neill Blomkamp ,the director of DISTRICT 9, and starring Matt Damon. That is strike 1 and strike 2. I disliked DISTRICT 9 for its pretty blatant Nigerian bashing, and am not a fan of Matt Damon. ELYSIUM is based on a great short film by Ricardo De Montreuil’s THE RAVEN, which sports a Black/Hispanic protagonist, almost a christ parable, taking the fight to the powers that be in a drone plane/terminator oppressed future, ELYSIUM seemingly takes everything edgy and original and challenging about THE RAVEN, and literally whitewashes it with a Dutch/South African director and a White savior in the form of Matt Damon. Compare the short film THE RAVEN (my review and a link to the film here) to the ELYSIUM trailer and I think it is clear which one is the far more interesting. ELYSIUM is a definite wait for DVD, if that, and is yet another glaring example of the bigotry and programmatic and exclusionary nature of Hollywood sanctioned films.
THE MAN OF TAI CHI- Keanuu Reeves is one of those actors like Nicolas Cage who takes a huge amount of crap from Western critics for his acting style, or perhaps more precisely utilizing the same style regardless of project. Whether that assessment oh his acting ability is true or false, in Asia Keannu Reeves is HUGE, again like the aforementioned Nicolas Cage. And that Pan-Asian popularity seemingly has to do with their looks (since their acting/voices are dubbed by Asian actors). Asians being a, seemingly, very homogeneous society like supporting their own, and both Reeves and Cage are of the necessary dark hair and build and perhaps presence to be adopted by Asian audiences. So it makes perfect sense that Reeves’ directorial debut should be geared to that part of the world market that has always embraced and made profitable his films. The trailer for THE MAN OF TAI CHI is out and it sports glimpses of impressive fight choreography. Whether there is a story to go with it remains to be seen, but it definitely interest me enough to look for it on DVD
Okay that’s all for this segment. Join us next time for more!
MOVIE TRAILER Update : STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS in IMAX
The third and latest trailer for STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is out, and while it still doesn’t make me as excited as the trailer to JJ Abram’s first STAR TREK movie, it however is far better than the earlier teaser trailers. There’s actually a story here that I’m intrigued to view and the visuals are, in a word, sublime.
For those of us who grew us with the Star Trek mythos, the trailer doesn’t particularly scream Star Trek. It feels like something decidedly different and I for one think that’s a good thing. With sequences shot in the 70mm IMAX format (not with the IMAX 3D cameras) it should be a great film to see on a REAL IMAX movie theater.
STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (would it have killed them to put a ‘The” in there?! 🙂 ) hits theaters on May 17th.
PACIFIC RIM aka TITANS OF THE PACIFIC
The posters for PACIFIC RIM I don’t think do the trailer I saw justice.
“We are canceling the Apocalypse!” That’s just a kick-ass trailer! The posters not so much. They remind me of a poor man’s Transformers. The trailer however makes me very excited for the film.
You can view/download the trailer here!
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE DAY: A DARK TRUTH
I have not seen this straight to DVD film. I looked up the pedigree of its director, Damian Lee, using IMDB, and all his films are (according to IMDB reviews) reviled, straight to video retread type films, using less than ‘A’ caliber actors.
So that doesn’t fill me with confidence about the film, that said… I adore the trailer.
Forest Whitaker has never given a bad performance, and for that matter neither has Andy Garcia, so to see both these power house actors, in a script with seemingly some nuance to it… is pretty compelling.
Again I can’t speak on the quality of the film but the trailer… rocks!
“All we can do is search for the truth, and defend it.” — A DARK TRUTH
View the trailer here and decide for yourself!
Movie Trailers of the Day!
A quick recap of some movies trailers I sampled today. Here’s the lowdown on the winners, the contenders and the losers!
THE BEST:
UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: THE RETURN– I’m not a fan of the UNIVERSAL SOLDIER movies at all. Thought the first movie was mediocre at best, so imagine my surprise going into this trailer. It seemingly has very little to do with UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, which in my book is a good thing, and the trailer comes across with very much a horror, off-kilter vibe. UNIVERSAL SOLDIER by way of NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. If the ultimate goal of a trailer is to make you want to pay to see the film, then this trailer succeeds.
IRON MAN 3- No doubt everyone and their grandma has seen this trailer now, but let me just jump on the bandwagon and say it looks great. I’ve enjoyed all the previous MARVEL STUDIOS movies, and this appears to be no exception.
MAMA- is the latest by the director of BLADE II, PAN’S LABYRINTH etc, and looks like a worthy and creepy addition to that body of work. It’ll get my theater dollars.
LINCOLN- A bio-pic on Abraham Lincoln done by Spielberg, with a huge, high profile cast. Of course this is a must see in the theaters.
THE UNDECIDED/WAIT FOR VIDEO PILE:
REACHER– Tom Cruise’s latest looks interesting, though nothing you haven’t seen before.Though the ageless Mr. Cruise finally begins to show some age, which probably works for the weathered character he plays. I’m not bowled over by either trailer, nothing that screams see me in the theater, but one I’ll rent at least.
PUSHER- The trailer of this remake does nothing for me. But it has some heavy hitters behind the camera so the film may surprise. Worth a rental maybe.
BIGFOOT- A found footage BIG FOOT film. I’ve liked Big Foot related items since the old SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN TV show, so the premise is enough for me to give it a look. But nothing worth seeing in a theater or buying. Particularly considering the trailer makes it look even stupider than Blair Witch (which I disliked).
STOKER- Well when I heard the title STOKER I was hoping this had something to do with Bram Stoker, but no such luck. The trailer makes this seem like a drama/thriller about a young girl and her serial killer uncle, something of a distorted reworking of Hitchcock’s brilliant SHADOW OF A DOUBT. Quite frankly the trailer is pretty uninteresting, the only saving graces it has are… Nicole Kidman (she’s such a captivating beauty and actress, even here when she should be playing a worn, mother figure. If the purpose of a star is to make you want to look at them… all the time, then Nicole Kidman is a star of the highest order) and the director Park Chan Wook, of OLD BOY fame with his first English language film. So STOKER, poor trailer or not, is definitely worth a look when it hits video.
TAICHI- A steam-punk martial arts film by the creators of IP MAN and DETECTIVE YEE. I’m sold! 🙂 Not something I’m going to pay theater prices for, but it is definitely a future rental.
EVIL DEAD REMAKE- That’s a gory trailer, jury is still out whether it is a good trailer, much less a good movie. Off the bat none of the actors come across as interesting which already puts you at a HUGE disadvantage. Bruce Campbell’s performance and likeability is a huge part of the success of the original EVIL DEAD, so to toss in some stock CW actors, with the depth of pond water (just going by the trailer, they may be Oliviers in the finished film) and think you earn the right to call it an EVIL DEAD film… could be a problem. This is going to be worth a look on video, but not in the theaters.
THE WORST:
HAUNTED HOUSE– A Marlon Wayans comedy/spoof on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. The trailer is as stupid and uninteresting as you think it would be. Avoid.
THE COLLECTION- by the SAW creators. Seemingly their SAW franchise is dead, so they are trying to jump start a new one, using the same torture porn premise. Going just by the trailer… utter garbage.
CLOUD ATLAS- The easiest way to get me not interested in a film is to put Halle Berry in it. Tom Cruise doesn’t help either and an unfocused time-hopping storyline leaves me equally uninterested.
SMILEY- Seemingly an urban legend Serial Killer film. A killer with a smiley face made of flesh? Ugggh. It’s an effective trailer for this type of movie, I’m just not the audience for it. I hesitate to put this in the worst category until some of the reviews come in. It may actually have a story to it, and some craft, unlike something like THE COLLECTION.
That’s all for this installment of the best and worst in movie trailers! And you can view all the mentioned trailers for yourself here! Just say NO to Flash/streaming web trailers, which are always slow and crappy, and get them in downloadable quality at the link above!
And come back soon for more!!
MOVIE REVIEW: TOTAL RECALL (2012)
Much delayed Movie Update.
I did see TOTAL RECALL a couple weeks ago and just now getting around to my thoughts on it. Visually it’s a feast, filled with one elaborate, futuristic, mayhem-filled set piece after another. Unfortunately the pieces don’t really fit together into a particularly satisfying or engrossing story.
While visually, the film should be applauded for a world every bit as fantastic and well realized as BLADE RUNNER, the story itself seems very pedestrian when compared with those visuals and grandiose ideas.
So it’s an okay film, but long before the ending I felt myself trying to stay engaged, and not too long after the ending, trying to remember anything really noteworthy about the film.
It’s good performances, solid direction, spectacular effects, but ultimately in service of a script/story that felt more than a bit empty and lackluster.
In summation a great trailer for an okay film; worth a rental, but not a purchase. Grade: B-.
Heroic Times 