Super Bowl Trailers
So every year, the trailers for the years biggest blockbusters debut during the annual final of the NFL which relates to something you Americans call ‘football’. This year contained some promising looking films as well as adverts for cars which somehow incorporated Transformers. At this point this years crop of summer madness looks infinitely more promising than last year, its still early days though and this weeks Men In Black is next weeks Pearl Harbor.
Super 8: This for me is the one after Captain America that I am most looking forward to. From what we know its a monster movie, set in the early eighties, gives a lead role to Kyle Chandler from King Kong and the old series Early Edition and is heavily influenced by Steven Spielberg’s early work because he is also a producer. Thats all we know and JJ Abrams is a master of keeping things secret until the last possible moment which I love. The trailer shown during the super bowl showed us more footage, mainly of carnage and character reactions to some unspeakable horror. Love it, but goodamn in the UK we have to wait until August.
Transformers – Dark of the Moon: I hated Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen, in fact its one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Michael Bay’s first effort was damn entertaining and visually stunning and I will stand by my love for that film from a visual spectacle point of view if not much else. With this 30 second clip (Damn You) Michael Bay has got me all over again. Footage of some kind of invasion and destroyed cities along with what looks like fluid coherent action scenes with Optimus Prime twirling about with a sword and in 3D too. I’m so there…
Captain America: Its been a while and we have only now gotten our first glimpse at footage from Joe Johnston’s upcoming Captain America movie which comes out this summer. With the minute long clip we got, everything seems to be in place. Chris Evans looks the part and the tone seems to be just perfect with the story set predominantly in world war 2. Wisely they have avoided some of the more goofy aspects of the costume and gone with the more recent incarnation of the costume which makes sense from a war point of view. This is now the last of the marvel comics I bought as a kid to make it to the screen. Now I'm almost 33 I feel like something has come to an end,I can finally grow up, my dreams have been fulfilled…. basically I care okay?
Fast Five: The fast and the furious series could have been something of a joke by now, it is basically junk food cinema best watched with beer and nachos and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that, it has its place and chavs are a necessary and sometimes large portion of the audience. This is director Justin Lin’s third effort in the FF franchise and looks to be true to the formula of babes, explosions and cars flipping about. Plus you have Dwayne Johnson, the artist formerly known as the Rock on their trail and he has it all to play for. I’ll probably catch this if I’m at a loose end one afternoon this summer.
Cowboys and Aliens: This is one I am very curious about, the first trailer for this revealed a somewhat more serious tone than I was expecting. Daniel Craig seems like a strong choice for a leading man in a western and Harrison Ford hopefully won’t mumble his way through a role that calls on him to play a bad guy. Seems to be the year of alien invasion flicks at the movies and this one blends that with the western. This seems like it could be the summer’s biggest gamble. Could surprise everyone and be awesome or could be this years The Last Airbender.
Thor: I’ll see this film but I don’t know if I am bothered really. Nothing about the footage so far gets me terribly excited as it doesn't look much above a sci fi channel TV movie so far. Thor belongs to a whole sub section of the marvel universe that has never really interested me too much, the realm of gods and cosmic beings. Kenneth Branagh has done some good work with mythical beings before but he can also descend into camp (Dead Again, Frankenstein) so the jury is out. This is the one I really see as a stop gap before The Avengers next year.
Pirates of the Caribbean – On Stranger Tides: Another film I’m not really that excited by. I love the first two movies in the series but the third was so overblown that unless they go back to basics with the blend of action and humor that the first movie had, I think I’ll just be bored. Looks like it could be a cracking adventure but there is no Davey Jones or a Kraken. Is there something they are not showing us in the trailer?
Rango: Looks interesting but I’ll wait for DVD unless it gets stellar reviews (which it didn't)
Limitless: I’m sort of intrigued by this film, its Bradley Cooper’s first big leading role along with Robert De Niro. Cooper plays a man who takes a medication that unleashes the potential in his brain that humans do not typically use. Cue much success and some kind of conspiracy. If this brings the darkness and avoids the schmaltz then it could be worth a look.
Battle Los Angeles: As of time of writing this comes out next Friday and I am stoked. Its Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day and apparently the first chapter in a larger story. Jonathan Liebesman has made some shockingly bad movies previously like Darkness Falls, but this looks like its thrilling and visually stunning. I really hope I’m not disappointed by this but I’ll keep you informed.
Priest: I’m really looking forward to checking out this CG vampire schlockfest on DVD in October.
The Eagle: Hmmmm not sure I’m a fan of Channing Tatum and him trying to do a Russell Crowe does not inspire me. Still Kevin Macdonald is a very good director so this could still wind up being decent.
Kung Fu Panda 2: I liked the first one, it surprised me quite a bit. This looks like more of the same, non-offensive above average entertainment for the kiddies this summer.
The rest of the trailers at the superbowl were for stuff that has already come out or things like the Justin Bieber movie which I will not even dignify by acknowledging its existence.
X-Men First Class
Something that did not debut during the super bowl but instead some days later was the first trailer for Matthew Vaughan’s X-Men prequel, First Class. I’d pretty much written off this franchise after Brett Ratner’s lackluster third film in the series. This is a prequel set back when Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr (Magneto) were friends and founders of the school for gifted youngsters. Set during the 1960’s and somehow involving the Cuban missile crisis, the teaser was brilliant. It has all the snazzy sixties style outfits and lots of spectacle, plus a new team of pre-x-men are introduced including Beast and Havoc. Matthew Vaughan previously did great work on Kick-Ass and is teamed with screenwriter Jane Goldman for a third time for this movie. This summer is shaping up to be one of the best on record.
Oscars
So to nobodies surprise The Kings Speech went and won all the awards it could during tinseltown’s annual patting of itself on the back. Despite my gut feeling that The Fighter would surprise everyone and come out a big winner, it did win the two supporting performance categories. Christian Bale was very deserving of that award in a performance that was a huge transformation and a massive part of the film. Melissa Leo was also really good in the role of the awful mother of Mickey Ward in the movie and after having lost for Frozen River, it was her time. Natalie Portman deserved her big win for Black Swan, because although I think the film is slightly overrated, her performance is mesmerizing. Now I haven’t seen The Kings Speech, and its nice that everyone in Britain over 70 had a film to go and see in January and almost ruin my trip to go see The Green Hornet, but is it really a better film than The Fighter, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3 or Inception? I would like to think no, but it is the kind of film that is the safe bet for the academy voters. Unbelievably last year, District 9 was nominated for best picture. Who are we kidding that a film like that will ever win the best picture Oscar? We can dream I suppose, Return of The King was a fantasy film after all.
Die Hard 5
For the record I actually quite like the fourth Die Hard movie, So Die Hard 5 has been announced and I really don’t give a shit. Is it just me or is Bruce Willis just entering the not caring phase of his career now? Y’know the point that Harrison Ford got to after What Lies Beneath, where he just sleep walks through every role and is happy to collect the big paycheck, Ala Ford with Indiana Jones. Willis seems content to flog a dead horse to the masses because somebody under 21 has seen the first Die Hard movie and remembers how good it was and how vulnerable and human John McClane was for an action hero at the time. Someone called Noam Murro who has only made the little seen indie Smart People, will be directing this one, aka the nobody that Bruce Willis can order around. Unless something miraculous happens and this turns out to be actually good then I am skipping this. LET IT DIE MR WILLIS…
by Chris Holt
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This week I was lucky enough to watch two fine examples of trashy B-movies full of violence, sex and strong language. These were the best two movies I watched this week but in any other week would have been the worst. They are fine examples of modern exploitation cinema and would ideally be paired together with a case of corona and some Doritos.
Drive Angry is the story of Milton (Nicolas Cage)who escapes from hell in order to rescue his infant granddaughter whose mother has been murdered and is about to be sacrificed by a cult leader. He teams up with feisty white trash waitress Piper (Amber Heard) to track down the cult and take violent revenge. They are pursued by The Accountant (William Fichtner) a bounty hunter straight out of hell to bring Milton back. The problem with Drive Angry is that its too derivative of several other better films, had this come out in the 80’s it would probably be fondly remembered. As it stands its a mish mash of elements of The Crow, Mad Max, Shoot Em Up, The Prophecy, Spawn and any other grindhouse revenge title you care to mention. Having said all that its still a damn fun time at the flicks. The stunts are all fantastic pieces of mayhem and there is tons of violence, and in 3D too! Lets talk about the 3D for a moment. Patrick Lussier’s previous film was the superior My Bloody Valentine remake which really knew how to use 3D to add value to the exploitation movie. Drive Angry despite its shortcomings is actually the best use of 3D so far. Its the first 3D film where I didn’t notice any blurring that seemed completely smooth. Piranha 3D was great but the 3D sucked, Drive Angry having been shot on 3D works really well, stuff flys out at the screen but there is also depth to the scenes. Its a shame that the quality is not attached to a better film. Nicolas Cage is unfortunately on auto pilot mode again here after the lunacy of Kick Ass and Bad Lieutenant. Amber Heard is great in the first role where she really gets to come alive rather than be the eye candy, but William Fichtner walks away with the whole thing as The Accountant, he brings some real flair to a role that could have been an atypical wooden killer and you will want to see more of this character rather than Cage’s badass with bad hair. Drive Angry may not win any awards this weekend, but its worth seeing with beer or at a matinee if you are stuck for something to do.
Death Race was a Paul WS Anderson remake from 2008 with Jason Statham in it. Based on Roger Corman’s 1975 film, It was fun but like most of Paul Anderson’s films, it seemed to lack a third act. Somewhat inevitably it was decided there would be a straight to DVD sequel, problem is the 2 in the title is actually somewhat misleading as Death Race 2 is a prequel that focuses on the beginnings of Death Race and the rise of the number one racer/inmate Frankenstein. Shockingly this is better than the first movie. 
Luke Goss plays Carl Lucas a top getaway driver who works for the ruthless mobster Markus Kane (Sean Bean). A bank job goes wrong and Lucas kills a cop, he is placed in a maximum security prison and a price is placed on his head by Kane. Meanwhile the prison system is bought by a corporation who start to look into ways of turning a buck from it. Thus Deathmatch is born, Deathmatch is a brutal fight to the death between two inmates for a pay per view audience with axes and flamethrowers chucked in for good measure. Lucas ends up being drawn into the violence after a friends life is threatened and its not long before he is fighting for his life in front of a live audience. Deathmatch ends up being a ratings failure and thus the Death Race is born, Lucas again is forced into a car and uses his driving skills to become a major contender. Its not long before a terrible tragedy strikes Lucas and then Frankenstein emerges from the infirmary in his iron mask. Death Race 2 feels like a more complete film than the first movie, it has a clear three act structure and the performances feel better. Luke Goss is a better actor than Jason Statham and has more range, here he gets to play a hero for once and really pulls it off. He is supported by the likes of Sean Bean, Danny Trejo and Ving Rhames who each give their customary solid performance. A film like Death Race isn’t watched for its top quality thespians though, its watched for the carnage and here you get it in spades. The action scenes and Death Races in particular are really well done despite the straight to DVD budget and they are more thrilling than the first movie. Director Roel Reine has a better idea of how to stage a set piece than Anderson and deserves to be better known outside of his native Holland, his filmography so far has consisted of many Dutch thrillers, The Marine 2 and a forthcoming Scorpion King sequel. Somehow the fact that the cast is made up of mainly unknowns adds to the tension as you are unsure as to who will survive. As I was watching this I had no idea it was a prequel and as events unfolded and I recognized characters from the first movie I was genuinely surprised to realize what I was watching. Like Wrong Turn 2, this is a straight to DVD sequel better than the original and that is something that should be encouraged. In an ideal world this would have gotten a cinema release and would be programmed on a double bill with Drive Angry. Of course the magic of DVD will allow you to do this yourself later this year.
by Chris Holt
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When they announced that Star Trek veteran Ronald D.Moore would be shepherding a new version of Glen A Larson’s classic late seventies TV show Battlestar Galactica to the screen it was easy to be dismissive. This was the man who had made us all fairly bored of Star Trek by the time the fourth spin off from the original show aired in the early part of the noughties. The new version of the show debuted with a mini series and nothing about it really inspired me to watch it, the most famous names in the cast being Edward James Olmos and Donnie Darko’s mum Mary McDonnell and then a bunch of young good looking types who wouldn’t be out of place on The OC. Oh and they had turned Starbuck into a woman which just seemed very contrived, this chick was no Dirk Benedict. After my brother raved about it I decided to give it a shot, and how wrong was I. The revamp of Battlestar Galactica, in my opinion is among the great works of visual science fiction. It is right up there with 2001, Star Wars and Blade Runner.
The premise starts off fairly simply, we are on the planet Caprica a planet of the twelve colonies where humanity had lived in peace for the past 40 years after a devastating war with the Cylons, a race of machines who turned on their human masters. The cylon’s return and nuke the planet Caprica and worst of all they now look and feel human and seem to have returned for religious and spiritual reasons. A rag tag group of around 50,000 survivors manages to make it off the planet in a fleet of ships including the old about to be decommissioned Battlestar Galactica commanded by Admiral Adama (Edward James Olmos). Among the survivors is Gaius Baltar (James Callis) a brilliant scientist whose relationship with a cylon woman lead to humanities defenses being lowered. Baltar constantly sees the Cylon number six (Tricia Helfer) in his own mind, guiding him and influencing him for an unknown purpose. The cylon’s pursue humanity across the galaxy as they search for the planet Earth, which legend has it will be the final resting place for humanity. There is brutality during wartime, people you come to care about die, people are tortured and there are constant twists and turns in allegiances and revelations about just who his human and who is not.
I’m currently re-watching the entire four season run on blu-ray and one of the things that I love about this show is the fact that now knowing how the whole thing ends, they very clearly had a plan on how it would end all along. Unlike Lost which kind of meandered and teased and didn’t really ever live up to the 6 season arc, BSG has a lot of cryptic weirdness and revelation from the start, all of which make perfect sense when viewed in the context of the finale (and it is among the best endings I’ve ever seen). In a strange way BSG mirrored a lot of what was going on in the real world during its broadcast run. The Cylon’s are a religious and fanatical enemy who look just like everyday people but can turn up with a bomb strapped to them and kill hundreds. There is a point in season 3 where the metaphor is almost too much as humanity temporarily settles on a planet only to have the Cylon’s turn up and take over. A resistance is formed and there are lots of shots of people with bags over their heads and night vision raids by soldiers on suspected resistance fighters, remind you of anything?
If you have not seen this yet, you really need to. Along with The Wire it is the best television series of this century so far. Even if you are not into science fiction, you should know that although set in space its not overly space opera like. There are no lasers for example (its all nukes and bullets) and the control room of the Galactica is much more like a submarine rather than the captains bridge on Star Trek. For a television show as well, the special effects are very impressive. Once you get past the first season and they get a bigger budget and shed some of the more shonky CG elements, the space battles are often breathtaking affairs full of excitement and adrenaline pumping acrobatics. Battlestar Galactica was never a show that out stayed its welcome. Coming and going over four years to tell its tale precisely and to the point without ever getting bogged down in its own complex mythology. Its the kind of series we need more of. Several people recently have tried and failed to remake an old series (V, Knight Rider and Bionic Woman I’m looking at you) in the same gritty style, but the key is they are copying the style rather than realizing that BSG just was brilliantly written.
The good news is that now its over, it is not the end. The series Caprica, a prequel set some 80 years or so prior to the start of the first Cylon/Human war is out now on DVD and a new prequel series Blood and Chrome featuring a young Adama during the first war is in production. Frakkin brilliant!
by Chris Holt
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