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    Nick Paramonte 9:53 pm on 07/09/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Predators Review 


    I wasn’t thrilled about (cheap moneybag) Fox making another one considering the AVP films flat out sucked. But with Robert Rodriguez producing and the trailers, it looked interesting.

    The first and second half of the movie has very good momentum, establishing characters, atmosphere, and setting. Very few jump-scares was a good sign, it’s been done to death.

    There’s some excellent camera work like the P.O.V. shot while the group is falling into the water (ala Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the samurai duel with the incredibly badass Hanzo played brilliantly (because he had the least amount of dialogue) by Louis Ozawa Changchien.

    Biggest problem is the third act falls into the trappings of the 1987 original. Adrian Brody is not action hero material. He can not deliver catchphrases like Arnold or Danny Glover could. Yet they hammer it up, especially by the final battle.

    You had Danny Trejo, (Machete, which looks better when I saw the latest trailer before the movie started) Oleg Taktarov (Nikolai), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (Mombasa), and Louis all reduced to supporting roles (Danny getting killed off early which was a total buzz-kill) that don’t get axed until the end. They all would’ve been much better leads then Adrian. Hell, Mark Wahlberg or Jason Statham would’ve been really cool.

    Lawrence Fishburne was Mac with an imagery friend instead of Jessie Ventura. Alice Braga was Anna with a gun, but ends up as a damsel (Sonya Blade kicks ass in the beginning of the Mortal Kombat movie and then becomes helpless screaming).

    While the duel was well shot, there’s one tiny problem with the whole thing. An old katana sword can withstand the blows of a Predator’s chopper? Are you kidding me? It’s alien tech, it should’ve sliced that blade in two, plus it’s ancient so there should be rust all over that thing Hanzo would’ve bother picking up. If it was a piece off another chopper that Noland stole during his time then I would’ve bought into it.

    I can’t get over Topher Grace. He’s still Eric Forman from That 70’s Show to me and when he makes “the turn”, his expression is like he’s about to pass out. Overall, it had the potential to be on par with the previous films in the franchise but just inflates.

    Rating: 6

     
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    Nick Paramonte 4:30 pm on 07/09/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Batman/Superman: Apocalypse Teaser 

    A glimpse of the ninth DC Universe feature after Under The Hood.

    I never get tired of the female opera singer in trailers. She makes it epic, dramatic, and sad all at same time. Hope the score in the actual product is on par with this.

    The great Tim Daly and Kevin Conroy are back and Eddy Asner (Up) returns (having played the character twice in Superman and both Justice League series’) as Granny Goodness. Animation has little a bit of the early Micheal Turner’s slender art style but Granny looks less like the ugly harlot from the DCAU, more leaning towards the Jack Kirby facial I’d guess.

    Lauren Montgomery (director of Wonder Woman and also co-doing again with Sam Liu on the upcoming Batman: Year One adaptation, which comes aftertenth feature Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, where pre-Parallax Hal Jordan arrives in the future when Kyle Rayner was the new successor) is at the helm which is awesome (despite being involved in the making of that atrocity called Superman: Doomsday).
     
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    Nick Paramonte 1:07 am on 07/07/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Whedon’s Wonder Woman 

    With the recent debut of Diana Prince’s new (horrible nineties looking) threads in #600 of JMS’ run, costume designer, Shawna Trpcic (artist on Josh’s previous work like Angel and Serenity) posted on her Twitter account concept art of what the uniform could’ve been in the live action film.


    Spot on with the left, not so much on the right. There should be no black on The Amazon Princess’ uniform whatsoever. The leggings comes close to my thoughts even though the stomach exposure is a little much. It should still be one piece suit.

    About the other illustration (minus belly exposure being a little much), it’s pretty exactly what I thought the final one would look like.

     
    • Unknown's avatar

      Anonymous 5:59 am on 07/23/2010 Permalink | Reply

      Am I the only one who thinks Whedon isn't God?

      Like

    • Unknown's avatar

      Nick "Blaze" Paramonte 2:20 pm on 07/23/2010 Permalink | Reply

      Haven't seen a lot of his work, I was just saying Shawna was on the right path to translating the outfit to live action. But got carried away with the black.

      Like

  • Unknown's avatar

    Nick Paramonte 6:43 pm on 07/05/2010 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: aaron, , , , city of scars, , , , , , , , scarface,   

    Batman: City of Scars 

    BITS’ latest Dark Knight film has been out a month now, so here it is for your viewing pleasure:

    On a budget of $27,000, Aaron Schoenke made a visually stunning movie. Kevin Porter has the look, physique, and just the right level of Bat-Gravel (unlike Christian Bale).

    Jay Caputo really stood out performance wise. He hit the right level of schizophrenia to Arnold Wesker which I’d say that’s on par with George Dzundza’s portrayal from B:TAS. Victor Zsasz didn’t have a big role as I thought prier, but Guy Grundy still manages to pull off a serial killer without any dialogue. Paul Molnar delivers the goods once again as The Clown Prince of Crime with his prosthetic nose improved upon then Patient J (even though it was still obvious).

    Few gripes I had are that while it was neat to see Black Canary (the bartender) in there, it was a throw away cameo. The Joker’s hair and make-up on Paul’s face this time around was very glaring unlike previously. A problem the costume suffers from The Cowl Syndrome. The actors that were the weakest links were Christopher Parker (Crispus Allen) and Katie Joy Horwitch (Rene Montoya).
    Rating: 8

     
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    Nick Paramonte 4:55 pm on 07/05/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    The Next Webhead 

    Relative unknown, Andrew Garfield has been hired to replace Tobey Maguire in Columbia‘s reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. Also comes complete with many more stills and video of the announcement which isn’t showboating at all.

    “After a comprehensive worldwide casting search, Andrew Garfield has been chosen to portray Peter Parker when Spider-Man swings back onto the screen in 3D on July 3, 2012. The new film will begin production in early December directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad will produce the film from Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.”

    Andrew definitely passes off as a teenager with his slim appearance (build a little bit of muscle), more so then Maguire. I’m a little optimistic, but Vanderbilt of The Losers wrote the script for this and we all know how that turned out. Without Chris Evans’ hilarious performance as Jensen, it would’ve been just another mediocre action flick.

     
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    Nick Paramonte 5:47 pm on 06/19/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Jonah Hex Review 


    After the trailer came out, all the optimism was ripped out of me, especially when no reviews for it came out, that’s was a massive red flag.

    Despite drastic changes to the character (the revenge plot and the supernatural ability to talk to the dead), the movie was just so damn bland. Nothing really stood out for me.

    Josh Brolin was a great choice for Hex, the problem was he had little to almost nothing to work with it. Plus he must had something in his mouth to keep his jaw positioned with the scare makeup because you couldn’t understand a word he said at certain key moments. Malkovoich just walked through the movie with no sense of effort whatsoever.

    After his performance as Lt. Archie Hicox in Inglorious Bastards and the set pictures, I was looking forward to Michael Fassbender as the tattooed, knife welding psychopath, Burke. But when he said in an interview that he be channeling Frank Gorshin’s Riddler, my thoughts were it was gonna be extremely over the top. Minus one moment where he pulled a Gorshin laugh, I was proven wrong.

    Onto Megan Fox, they’d could’ve gotten anyone better for a prostitute (ironically enough since that’s picking up speed for her, ergo Jennifer’s Body). Like the Twilight series and the Chloe Sullivan worship, I just don’t see what people see in her (from what I can see is disillusionment). Yes she’s hot, but other then that she can’t act to save her life.

    As I said, it was nothing special. Rental at best, but that’s saying very little.

    Rating: 1

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    Nick Paramonte 8:53 pm on 06/17/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Toy Story 3 Review 

    The Day & Night short before the movie started was very creative with 2D characters with visuals of the internal emotions in 3D animation.

    Beginning the film with Andy’s imagination that was shown in the previous films and afterward Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got A Friend in Me” playing was a great way to reintroduce these beloved characters we haven’t seen in 11 years since the second film. Just pure nostalgia.

    Spanish mode Buzz Lightyear doing the tango with Jesse was the most hilarious moment ever. Blake Clark replaced the late Jim Varney (Ernest P. Worrell) as the voice of Slinky did a good job imitating Varn’s distinctive speech pattern, despite one scene where it slipped.

    Director, Lee Unkrich delivered an emotional ride (the incinerator scene), the one that stood out for me was the absence of Woody’s girl during the exposition, Little Bo Peep (played by Anne Potts) was sold in another garage sale.

    The Disney Digital added to the experience rather then subtracting considering the tread is kicking into overdrive. While Lotso voiced by Ned Beatty was a pretty good antagonist, out of him and Stinky Pete (susprisely performed by Kelsey Grammer), I still stick with Sid Phillips from the first one.

    Overall, this lives up to the title of “Best Movie of the Year”. It was a satisfying conclusion to the franchise. In my opinion it deserves to be in The Great Hall of Trilogies such as the original Star Wars and Back to The Future.

    Rating: 10

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    Nick Paramonte 9:57 pm on 06/10/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    On Set of The Mighty Thor 

    Thank you Entertainment Tonight.

    Seeing Hemsworth on location, I mean DAMN. He’s a big guy that totally fits the Herculean stature stated by Kenneth Branagh. There’s definitely chemistry going on between him and Natalie Portman that’s definitely going transcend to screen perfectly.

    Anthony Hopkins looks great as The All-Father, my one gripe is the costume looks way too similar to the lead character’s uniform. I understand it’s supposed to illustrated their father and son but to have both their armor look exactly alike is a little too much.

    On a side note, I watched some of Portman’s rap skit from SNL, it was quite hilarious.

     
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    Nick Paramonte 1:10 am on 06/10/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    Wizard World Attendence 


    I’ll be going to Philly convention. Unfortunately I’m going by myself since Rob has other obligations that can’t be ignored, but on the bright side my older cousin, Louis will be there instead.

    Expecting the crowd a mob scene considering the huge lineup of celebrities that will be there. Sir Patrick Stewart, Linda Hamilton, Linda Blair, Adam West, Bruce Campbell, and James Marsters to name a few. You’d think this would be on L.A.’s guest list.

    The trades I ‘ll be looking for at the Midtown Comics booth are some of the early nineties Superman trades (the notables being Krisis of Krimson Kryptonite and President Lex.) and Flash: Born to Run.

     
  • Unknown's avatar

    Nick Paramonte 5:39 pm on 06/03/2010 Permalink | Reply  

    A Better Look at Thor 

    With the release of official illustrations of Chris Evans as Captain America, Collider has received better looks of Chris Hemsworth in the outfit.

    With the addition of the recent logo, director Kenneth Branagh is going for the Jack Kirby version where the Asgardians are aliens as opposed to the figures of the Norse mythology that’s current. More like an amalgam of both Kirby and Oliver Coipel’s styles.

     

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