It's December now, so we the movie-viewing public are getting our first look at next summer's big blockbusters. First up, Amazing Spider-Man 2.
My thoughts:
- First off, I like how the colors are brighter. This highlights the improved Spidey costume and is very comic-booky.
- I'm also digging how the fight scenes seem to focus more on acrobatics and web-slinging over straight up fist fights. Very Spidey.
- God, somebody give Andrew Garfield a hug. His opening narration here is still way too mopey. We don't want mopey Peter Parker. The moment with Gwen Stacy? Much better.
- No offense to Dane DeHaan, but his Harry Osborn looks too young. Might just be the haircut though.
- Rhino as a big robot? Not sure how to feel about that. The design is cool but it comes off a like a Chris Nolan "We need a plausible explanation for why this looks like a rhino" idea. A wait & see on this one.
- Ooh, Doc Ock & Vulture teases. Neat, but I'm worried the franchise is in too much of a rush to get to all of Spidey's classic foes. Guys, you didn't even really use the Lizard to the fullest last time. Slow down.
- I'm not too keen on the black hoodie look for Electro, but Jamie Foxx's narration here seems right on the money. Most of Spidey's villains are just as big losers as him, so the idea of giving a bullied nerd superpowers who then uses them against his perceived bullies is a nice double for our hero.
But the big thing here is the teased Goblin, whether he is Green or Hob is still unclear. I don't like it. Not that they're using the character again, that was going to happen sooner or later, but his design. The Goblin suit itself looks too complicated, with latches and metal bits all over it, and I'm not even sure what's going on with his face. I guess the filmmakers are going for the Ultimate universe version where the Goblin was a genetic mutation instead of a dude in a costume, but that was a dumb idea then and now. And if they are doing that, why don't they go whole hog and just make his skin green?
Next up, Godzilla
My Thoughts:
- Not much to say on this one, given that it's just a teaser.
- I like the build up. The opening scene with the army guys makes the audience expect a different movie at first. It grounds us in something we understand, but also builds suspense for whatever strange situation David Straitharn is talking about.
- First-person POV of Godzilla. Cool shot, again grounds the audience in something familiar. I also like the slow reveal of Godzilla. How he only pokes out of the clouds to give us glimpses before the skyscraper comes up to give us size reference.
- People running in panic, leads looking concerned, panning over destroyed landscapes. Standard disaster movie stuff
- Then Godzilla turns to the camera and roars. I love how this movie's marketing is really banking on iconography. As though audiences only need a signature roar and silhouette to know what it is. Godzilla is an icon, so focusing on this stuff is actually really smart.
- The new Godzilla design is good too. Kudos to the art department for not fixing what wasn't broken. This is basically the Millenium Era Godzilla rendered gigantic and in CG.
And now some non-francise stuff. Here's the Wachowskis' next film Jupiter Ascending
My Thoughts:
- Overall, looks cool. Exciting, original Sci-Fi adventures are a rarity these days, so that Cloud Atlas was sucessful enough to let this get made already makes me happy.
- Channing Tatum's makeup is rather uninspired though. He's supposed to be playing an albino werewolf soldier, or something, but his pointy ears and white goatee here wouldn't pass muster on a lesser episode of Star Trek.
- Oh hey, Sean Bean's in this. Who wants to take bets on how long he'll stay alive?
- I'm split on the spaceship designs. There are some elements that are good, like the guardian statues outside the hangar at 1:03 and the weird hanging fins some seem to have. But in motion, they look like the alien spaceships of any other Sci-Fi movie of the last ten years. Maybe they'll look better in the movie when we can get a closer look.
- Wachowskis? Please don't spend tons of time on Earth in this movie. Sci-Fi movies have been too stuck on Earth for a while now and this is a genre that will literally let you go anywhere. Even the Star Trek reboot barely left our cosmic backyard. You have aliens and spaceships and apparently the Queen of the Universe. Show us that stuff! Don't contrive reasons to stay on our own planet.
Finally Edge of Tomorrow. Or its original and better title, All You Need is Kill
My Thoughts:
- This movie's premise is still killer. Tom Cruise plays a futuristic soldier in a war against aliens who is for some reason stuck in a time loop a la Groundhog Day. And the loop ends on the day humanity loses the war. Sweet.
- And say what you want about Maverick, but the guy's still a good actor. Just from this, we can tell he's bringing a world-weariness and resignation to the part. It's outside of Cruise's usual flippant and badass comfort zone and it looks like he's pulling it off.
- I'm digging the powersuits. Powered armor became a big thing after Iron Man, and only a couple movies have made it work. These look like a winner though, realistically bulky and cumbersome but still having plenty of cool sci-fi weapons.
- We only see a little of her, but I like Emily Blunt as the soldier in red. It'll be fun to see her more stoic and conventionally action hero persona clash with Old Man Cruise, who seems to playing a more regular person. It's also interesting how her character seems the more strategically minded, figuring out how to use the loop to defeat the aliens. Don't see that very often in Sci-Fi.
- Can we see some more of the aliens? I know it's a trailer and you want to build intrigue but give us some idea what these guys are fighting. Big Bugs? Tentacle Monsters? Xenomorphs? What?
- Small thing, but it's cool that they're using more locations for the battle scenes than the standard BBC rock quarry.
That's it for this edition of Trailer Park. Looks to the making of a good summer.
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