Three Stooges Trailer Reaction
Just saw the preview, it hurt me as a longtime fan. This is for you 20th Century Fix:
The Farrelly Brothers (the makers behind Dumb & Dumber, one of my all-time favorite comedies) hit an embarrassing and insulting low.
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Nick Paramonte
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Nick Paramonte
Expendables 2 Poster
Joblo has an exclusive print to Stallone’s follow up of actioners.
Minus the Charisma Carpenter (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) subplot, I still enjoyed the first one. I’m siked to see this film since Schwarzenegger (Trench) and Bruce Willis (Church) are going to have extensive roles (aswell as the additions of Jean-Claude Van Damme and overvalued Chuck Norris) this time around.
At first I thought that was a chick on the upper left-hand corner (before realizing it was Jet Li).
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Nick Paramonte
New York Comic Con 11′ Stills
Images I took at the Javits Center on Saturday.
Click here for more photos on Flickr.
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Nick Paramonte
Avengers Teaser
Surprised the Paramount logo remains despite the reports about Disney wanting full distribution of the film. But then again, I’d still find it weird seeing the Cinderella Castle in the opening credits.
Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is clearly talking to The Cosmic Cube. Perhaps that fall through the Bifröst’s full power short-circuited some screws in his head (as that scar on his forehead in Thor‘s after-credits scene showed). Second line of dialogue in the monologue, The God of Mischief shows his true colors to the Kree or Skrulls. Since he didn’t have a problem manipulating Laufey (his biological father).
The visual effects on Hulk this time around are being done by legendary ILM as opposed to Rhythm & Hues. It looked sick (even by that quick shot).
I understand that if Iron Man wasn’t successful, the Marvel Cinematic Universe wouldn’t have happened. But what I don’t want to see is Shellhead hogging the limelight (The Wolverine Syndrome) from the other two main characters of the team (Cap and Thor).
Kevin Feige (President of Production) and company (Robert Downey Jr. at the San Diego Con) will go onto pretend that Mark Ruffalo has been Bruce Banner the whole time (that punchline fell flat), completely erasing Ed Norton’s existence (and likely the continuity setup in The Incredible Hulk aswell). Scarlett Johansson appears to be doing more poses for Maxim Magazine.
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Nick Paramonte
Dark Knight Rises Teaser
It seems that the respirator from the photo released prior is Bane’s “mask”. No articles since then to suggest a second version resembling a Luchadoor front is probably for the best.
Batman and Gordon clearly get the crap kicked out of them by The Prison escapee (regardless on where Bane’s birthplace is internationally). My theory on The Hospital scene is Jimbo talks to Bruce Wayne (since he too is wearing a wristband) having found out his secret identity after the confrontation shown at the end of the preview which appears to be in the improved Batcave.
Whether or not Chris Nolan and company will actually have the brilliant assassin break Batman’s back (which made this villain so popular in the first place) is still up in the air. I hope so, otherwise what’s the point of bringing in this character?
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Nick Paramonte
First Look at Superman
I’m on the fence with Man of Steel. At first it was shaping up well with an unknown in the lead role surrounded by an all-star cast (Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Russell Crowe).
But then Zod was announced as The Villain (later to be accompanied by Faora / Ursa), then my expectations severely dropped. I dreaded Superman II.2 (like Super-Fail was beat-by-beat of the 1978 film), and most recently Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) cast in the role of Perry White. He’d more suited for Ron Troupe (a fellow reporter for The Planet) then yet another case of Billy Dee Williams Syndrome (Lando Calrissian in Batman 89′).
But this kinda makes up for that with Warner Bros. giving us a glimpse of Henry Cavill (The Tudors) in the role of Big Blue.
Talk about making a first good impression unlike that half-assed debut of Brandon Routh in the suit. This setting definitely indicates that Zack Synder (the severely underrated Sucker Punch) will deliver the long overdo big fight scenes that severely lacked in that other film.
The S insignia is very much the Earth-2 symbol. It appears the belt is back to the oval shaped buckle which is good because the thing I really despised about the past design was the branding all over. Don’t mind the red tights being gone, I just couldn’t see that staying in the redesign. The flowing red cape is a great finishing touch.
The only other bit of skepticism I have is this tone being in the film’s entirety. The last thing anybody wants to see another Emo Man of Tomorrow.
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Nick Paramonte
Captain America Review
While I admired Superman, The Sentinel of Liberty was my childhood icon. I loved the 60’s cartoon, that crappy 1990 flick, owned alot of merchandise, dressed up for Halloween, and even took pictures with a guy in costume at Wizard World Philly back in 96′ when I was a kid.The embodiment of USA ideals (liberty, equality, democracy, opportunity, and rights) that this cynical world we live in desperately needs. So this film was the one I was anticipating the most out of Marvel Studios’ slate.
With a production cost of 140 million dollars, the canvas was larger, grander, and more epic then Thor‘s 150 masses. Joe Johnston’s previous directorial work on Rocketeer (which was the first movie I ever saw in the theater) paid off in fold. It certainly redeemed himself after that letdown called a Wolf Man remake.
Chris Evans became one of my favorite actors over last few years (those abysmal Fantastic Four films, Cellular, The Losers). Unlike Ryan Renyolds, he made the transition from being a Jokester to serious / dramatic actor (with occasional humor) smoothly. He absolutely pulled off Steve Rogers, The Little Guy from Brooklyn before and after the Super-Soldier experiment. I still stand by my early statement about the frail effect.
Hugo Weaving is a chameleon. The man embodies every role he plays (Agent Smith, V, Megatron) and The Red Skull is no exception. Glad he was an Übermensch that can go toe to toe with Winghead as opposed to his comics counterpart who was human. I didn’t mind Hydra being the antagonists instead of The Nazis. They’re involved (Hydra being the science division), just not at the forefront. Stanley Tucci (Dr. Erkskine) followed in the footsteps of mentorship left by Shaun Toub (Yinsen) very well. Tommy Lee Jones (Colonel Chester Phillips) definitely earns an award for Most Funny Pick-Up Lines. You care about Steve’s friendship with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in the amount of screentime they have together.
I was also skeptical about the USO sequence. The last thing anybody wants to see is the superhero himself singing and dancing on Broadway (Spider-Man and Batman not withstanding), but thankfully that didn’t happen. Still, The Star Spangled Man written by Alen Menken was a catchy song. But also in context, Steve inbleshes it a little before being hit (literally and figuratively) by the harsh reality of World War II.
Alan Silvertri (the Back to The Future trilogy, Predator 1 & 2, Judge Dredd) delivers a magnificent score. I’d say the Captain America March is a close second to John Williams’ Man of Steel rally.
However, I didn’t like The Misunderstanding cliche thrown into the ligament Love Story for being the reason Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) shoots at Steve shown in the trailers prior. (Nothing against his acting) Dominic Cooper came across more young Tony then Howard Stark. He clearly was the most youthful person there compared to the rest of the supporting cast. Even resembling Robert Downey Jr. then the other guys that played his character’s father (Gerard Sandars and John Slattery). I don’t see the connections between them.
Neal McDonough (STF: The Legend of Drama Queen) was another Ray Stevenson (Volstagg). Completely miscast, popping through the Dum Dum Dugan makeup, and blatantly wearing padding underneath his military jacket to make him look overweight. Also, there should’ve been an extended scene with The Howling Commandos (Derek Luke, Kenneth Choi, and Bruno Ricci) stumble at first then triumph in one their missions to blow up the Hydra facilities rather then splicing all of it in a montage.
But aside from those minor complaints, it blew all the other big comic book movies (one good and the other pitiful) out of the ballpark this year.
Rating: 9
Next year, Avengers Assemble. While the after-credits preview had me pumped, it still bugs me though to see Mark Ruffalo and not Edward Norton as Bruce Banner aka The Hulk.
With Thor’s look, it appears they’ve gone back to one of Alexandra Bryne’s early concepts. My only gripe about Cap’s new threads are the white stripes on the shoulders.
Anyway still looking forward to this culmination of the past three years despite the recasts, miscasts, speed-bumps, and shortcomings.
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Nick Paramonte
X-Men: First Class Review
After the abysmal spinoff to 20th Century Fox’s money making character, I was done with this studio’s level of stupidity. But with Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) directing and Bryan Singer (even though he lost my trust after driving Superman into the ground) returning to executive produce, this franchise has made a somewhat decent comeback.
For once in Fox’s incompetent life, this actually felt like a Children of The Atom film as opposed to Wolverine: Guest Starring The X-Men that has been for the last four years at The Cinema.
First and foremost this movie is a reboot (as stated by Vaughn in his Slash Film interview), but tips it’s hat to the first two with some of the same aspects (plus cameos by Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Romijin). Examples being a section of The Government run by a short-lived CIA Executive played by Jimmy King himself, Oliver Platt knowing about The Mutant Phenomenon prior to the start of the 2000 film. Hank McCoy aka Beast (Nicholas Hoult) being the one that built Cerebro in opposition to Erik Lehnsherr (Ian McKellen) and Charles Xavier (Patrick Strewart) as the exposition in the first one provided.
Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of Magneto and his on-screen chemistry with James McAvoy (Wanted) as pre-Professor X stole the show. The performances of their respective characters’ friendship turned sour was just so damn good. You’ll never read this from me, but I actually prefer this version of Charles’ paralysis happening through Magnus’ superiority as a opposed to a costumed Devil. It absolutely hit the right emotional cord that The Filmmakers were going for. Kevin Bacon seemed to be having fun playing the antagonist, Sabastian Shaw. While Moira MacTaggert (Rose Bryne) was a CIA Agent instead of The Scientist, it was still a proactive role.
But aside from Magilla Gorilla and Sean Cassidy alias Banshee (Caleb Landry Jones), I didn’t care for the other Mutants on the team. Armando Muñoz / Darwin (Edi Gathegi) and Angel Salvadore (Zoë Kravitz) didn’t need to be there, for they were entirely pointless. I especially didn’t like Alex Summers / Havok (Lucas Till) being Cyclops’ father instead of brother (as stated by the actor on his Twitter account) before release or post. I also found the brother / sister relationship between Chuck and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) to be really off-putting. So then later you have Raven Xavier (instead of Darkhölme) spontaneously embrace her Mutation after one scene with Erik (plus the needless fling with Hank).
While I commend Beacon’s acting, Shaw wasn’t his own character. I mean he had the same powers as his comics counterpart (being able to absorb energy, then unleash it), but his only usage was to be a prelude to what Erik ultimately becomes with his World War III scheme. January Jones’ Emma Frost was mainly there to be just eye-candy and be a lousy actress while doing it.
Overall, this isn’t the great X-Film nor the best adaptation ever but the saving grace were the two leads. It would’ve been more beneficial if they just made that Master of Magnetism offshoot instead.
Rating: 8
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Nick Paramonte
First Look at Bane
The official website for The Dark Knight Rises‘ first viral campaign provides a glimpse of Tom Hardy (Inception) as The Man Who Broke The Bat.
Based on the still, this is very early in the film (so the mask is still possible) where he’s still in Peña Duro Prison (that is if they stay true to the character’s roots since the actor isn’t South American) after the Venom experiment considering the tubes running up and down his breathing apparatus. The scar on his back also implies some surgical implants aswell.
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Nick Paramonte
Smallville “Finale” Part 2 Review
I’m not going to dwell on the idiotic things that happened in the first half to this two-parter for the final episode of the series.
Like Chloe “Mary Sue” Sullivan reading a nonsensical DC published Smallville comic about The Life of Superman to Roy Harper (oh I’m sorry, Queen Jr.) aka Speedy in the future, the underage (illegal) marriage that is Chlollie being “happily” married before Lois & Clark tie the knot’s existence mindbogglingly, and Clark in self-doubt (aswell as Lois) for the one thousandth time. But focus on the pros and cons of the second part.
Michael Rosenbaum’s return as Lex Luthor was bittersweet. His commentary on Clark’s pronunciation of his name was priceless.
“You still say it the same way — astonishment mixed with a hint of dread, yet…but a hopeful finish.”
I knew from the start of the season that there wasn’t going to be a big battle with Darkseid (Failsday being the classic example), but AU Lionel possessed was still a decent benefit. John Glover has been such an amazing actor on the show (give that man an Emmy) that he manages to make it eerie as hell.
However, the voice was nothing to right home about. Michael Ironside will always be the definitive speaker to The God of Evil. I was also aware that Lena Luthor (since TPTB decided to make Mercy / Tess whatever you want to call her into a Luthor in this final season) was going to die by her brother’s hand, but Lex’s mindwipe from another Deus-Ex-Machina at the end was complete BS.
While Clark saving the world in costume (in faraway CGI) was epic, my main problem is the same with how The Man of Steel has been portrayed on screen. Can we please move on from The Silver Age / Pre-Crisis era where he’s able to do everything (even when it’s used for plot-conveniences) like being able to push the entire planet of Apokolips out of orbit.
Such wasted talents of Christine Willes (Granny Goodness), Michael Daingerfield (Glorious Godfrey), and Steve Bryers (Desaad) when all three of The Prophets get taken out in less then a minute.
Rating: 6 1/2
Bottom line, I’m glad this show is finally over.
Grade: C+
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