The Final Destination series started off as a nice little horror film with a pretty original take on the slasher genre. We don’t have a psycho maniac on the loose killing off teens and pretty young adults. No, this film had Death itself stalking the usual photogenic and stereotypical young people (and the token adult). The film didn’t just have Death stalking and killing them but doing so in the most complex Rube Goldberg-like death scenes ever on film.
As with any horror film that has any sort of success this one received a sequel and then more sequels until it has become an almost bi-yearly event. My favorite of the series will always be the second film in the franchise.
Final Destination 2 is not a good film by any stretch of the imagination, but what it lacked in the fresh originality of the first film it more than made up in the inventiveness of it’s kills. Final Destination 2 makes absolutely no sense whatsoever other than Death decides to kill off a bunch of new young people. The film’s plot doesn’t even follow the same rules brought up in the first film. But none of that matters because it’s all about the kills and deaths. From the eye-opening freeway pile-up in the beginning of the film to a large plate glass literally squashing a teenage boy straight into the pavement, the kills in this film could never truly be topped by any of the others later on in the series.
As a guilty pleasure this one is always a must-see for me. Though I make sure I’m not going out on a drive any time soon after seeing it.
Leading up to this film I was still hesitant to embrace it after the underwhelming Superman Returns. I think the more fun and energetic Marvel Studios fare has spoiled me to the the more dour (though still entertaining) take on the DC main heroes (though the Green Lantern one was neighter serious, fun or enjoyable).
The trailers and teasers already released for Man of Steel has focused a lot on the existential question about who or what Superman is and his role on Earth. Some of the teasers and trailers even try to ape the Terence Malick visual-style with the close-ups of waving wheatfields and background narration asking deep questions. But this latest trailer now switches gear and focuses on the villain of the film and more action.
I’m not hugging this film 100%, but this latest trailer has me closer to embracing it.
Will Man of Steel be too dour a la Christopher Nolan or two much a visual overload by way of Zack Snyder or will the two differing storytelling styles be able to meld into a perfect balance to finally give Superman his day in the sun once again.
Man of Steel is set for a June 14, 2013 release date.
That line above would make such a great send-off for what could be the final Iron Man film. In a perfect world, having Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 as the final one in the franchise wouldn’t be such a bad thing. This doesn’t mean that Iron Man will not appear in any future Marvel Studios endeavors, but as a solo franchise a series couldn’t have found a better way to fly into the Malibu sunset. I say this because in over 5 years Marvel Studios has created a trilogy that took a character in Tony Stark and put him through a character journey encompassing four major film releases and one cameo. They did so in such a way that we saw the character grow from a rich genius dilletante, to a desperate asshole trying to find his identity as Iron Man to finally realizing that he’s the hero with or without the Mark suits he’s has created.
Iron Man 3 is the culmination of what Jon Favreau began with Iron Man in 2008 and Joss Whedon expanded on in 2012’s Marvel’s The Avengers. It took a writer of renown such as Shane Black (who also replaced Favreau as director) to get to the heart of what makes Iron Man ticks. It helped that the returning cast led by Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark and Iron Man once again did a great job in their roles with some characters even getting to do some surprising heroic stuff on the screen.
Iron Man 3 starts off with a flashback scene just hours before the arrival of the new millennium. This is just Tony Stark before he becomes Iron Man so we see the character in full charming asshole mode. This sequence is important in that it sets up the whole plot of the film and, in my opinion, the overall story for the entire trilogy. We’re introduced to the geeky Aldritch Killian (played with equal amounts of geeky desperation and overconfident megalomania by Guy Pearce) who sees in Stark the mentor he needs to get his think tank going. With only sex with brilliant scientist Maya Hansen (played by Rebecca Hall) on his mind Killian is soon forgotten and humiliated by Stark.
The rest of the film sees Tony Stark having to pay a steep price for his behavior towards Killian in that flashback and, in conjunction, with his days and nights haunted by the events in New York with the invading Chitauri invasion having given him a case of the PTSD the film looks to bring Tony Stark at his most vulnerable and lowest. It’s a return to the proverbial “Cave” for Tony Stark as he must contend not just with the elusive terrorist mastermind The Mandarin, but also solve the mystery of who or what’s causing the inexplicable explosions and bombings occurring around the nation. All this he must do through most of the film without the use of his Iron Man suits and relying mostly on his own genius intellect and skill with making weapons and gadgets out of anything readily available.
Speaking of The Mandarin (in an excellent performance by Sir Ben Kingsley), Shane Black and co-writer Drew Pearce made a controversial decision (for comic book fanboys at least) to make the iconic Iron Man villain more than he appears to be. It’s a decision that won’t sit well with the more vocal and rabid comic book fans who sees any deviation from Iron Man lore as an affront worth of loud, vociferous rabble, rabble, rabbling that would make Randy Marsh and the people of South Park proud.
To say that the twist in the story that explains who The Mandarin was such a surprise would be quite the understatement. The most important and iconic nemesis of Tony Stark comes out with both barrels of deliberate menace and sociopathic showmanship. We’re meant to see this character as the face of all the evils and troubles that has plagued Tony Stark since the first film. Kingsley plays this part of the character in the film to the hilt. Yet, it’s not until the second half of the film when we find out just who exactly The Mandarin really was and is that Black and Pearce finally put to rest whether the producers and writers would be able to handle a character that’s been seen as a racial caricature from a less than enlightened time.
Whatever howls and apoplectic ravings fanboys might be having about changing the traiditional character of The Mandarin into the pill-popping, drunk British wanna-be actor Trevor Slattery as a bait-and-switch was a brave move on the parts of Black and Pearce. To find out that The Mandarin was just a conjuration by Aldritch Killian to keep the eyes of the world’s governments and superheroes on someone else was very Bond-like. The fact that Killian himself is the true Mandarin and the Ten Rings terrorist organization his creation to have his revenge on Stark for humiliating him on the even of the new millennium closes the circle on what was begun all the way back in the first Iron Man.
This so-called “twist” was so unexpected (the internet scouring for any tidbits about the film’s plot having found nary a hint of this change) that it seemed like some sort of gimmick but as the film barreled on through the second half into it’s explosive conclusion one had to admire the massive stones by Black and Pearce to change such an iconic character knowing how it could easily alienate and anger fans of comic book. It’s this thinking outside the box by this franchise’s new director and screenwriter which makes me feel like Marvel Studios (especially studio head Kevin Feige) have their Phase 2 plan set to spring surprises on comic book and non-comic book fans alike as it marches on towards Avengers 2.
Iron Man 3 was a definite improvement over the bloated second film in the series. It also manages to reach the high bar set by the first film, though as an origin story it still comes away as being the best of the trilogy, but not by much. There was much trepidation from fans of the film franchise when Favreau was replaced by Marvel Studios as director by one Shane Black. While Black was well-known for being a top-notch screenwriter who literally redefined the buddy cop genre his work as a filmmaker was just still only the suprise film Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang. While this third film still had some holes in it’s plot that was explained rather conveniently by some brief bits of dialogue it still managed to tell a compelling story of actions and consequences and the discovery that our hero finally makes about just who is the hero of the saga: the man or the machine.
If there’s to be another film bearing the title of Iron Man I would surely hope that Feige and the powers-that-be over at Marvel Studios and Walt Disney just speed-dial Shane Black’s name and to also bring back his co-conspirator Drew Pearce. The franchise is well and good in their keeping. As the final moments of the end credits tick by we’re promised that Tony Stark will return. I sure hope so.
Well, I mentioned in the previous post that one of my guilty pleasures was watching the 80’s film to Eddie Murphy’s growing egocentricism called The Golden Child. There’s one particular scene in the film that has always struck me as hilarious for some reason. It does so even more so now that Charles Dance (who plays the main villain, Sardo Numspa) has seen a resurgence in popularity as the badass Tywin Lannister, patriarch of House Lannister on HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Whether it was staring down Eddie Murphy’s Chandler Jarrell in this film or King Joffrey in Game of Thrones it’s always great to see Charles Dance get some proper due for the work he’s doing.
I just love how he plays the straight man in this scene and one could almost sense that he would find it quite satisfying to punch Murphy’s face off. If there was one a redeeming quality to The Golden Child it would be Dance’s work as Sardo Numspa.
During the 80’s there were three names who earned the title of megastars. There was Sylvester Stallone with his Rocky and Rambo films. There was also Arnold Schwarzenneger who was pretty much the biggest action star of the decade. Then there’s Eddie Murphy who pretty much redefined the role of comedic action star. Yes, Murphy was an action star in his own right.
Once Murphy made a huge hit with the odd couple action comedy 48 Hours he began making one action comedy after the next. They all made money and to certain degree they were actually pretty good. There was one Murphy action comedy vehicle that was initially well-received by many when it came out in December of 1986, but has since seen a revisionist take from those who originally hyped up the film. I’m talking about The Golden Child.
Many who seem to have enjoyed and loved this film when it first came out has since backtracked to calling it one of the worst films of the 80’s. A film that indulges the ego of it’s star. While I agree with everything people have said about this film with each passing year I still can’t keep myself from enjoying it whenever it comes on cable (been awhile since it has). It was a fun flick when I first saw it as a 13 year-old and it continues to be fun.
Yes, it hasn’t aged well, but I think how it encompasses the kitchy-style of the 80’s not to mention the egocentricity of Murphy at the height of his stardom makes this one of my guilty pleasures. It even has a much y ounger, but still badass, Tywin Lannister playing the role of the main villain Sardo Numpsa aka Brother Numpsy.
Ok, this is the final and most awesome trailer of Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming giant mechs vs. kaiju (giant monster) blockbuster spectacle, Pacific Rim.
While it might look like so many trailers and teasers about this film will spoil the film for those still to see it I must say that it doesn’t. This latest and last trailer from Warner Bros. still uses scenes from previous teasers and trailers, but just extends each sequences a second or two longer. We get some new images of the jaegers and kaiju fighting, but just extended versions of what we’ve already seen. In the end, this latest trailer still doesn’t give a chronology of how these scenes fit in the film.
I know people probably have their pitchforks and hater-hats on to tear Pacific Rim apart for being too CG, all-action and no brains despite not having seen it. Or worst yet…Looks like Transformers.
I say to these people they should just stay home and go watch their indie, arthouse film that only ten other people have seen and let those of us who enjoy spectacle of this magnitude to enjoy (or not) what Del Toro seem to have cooked up in his mad scientist brain of his.
I don’t go into this film thinking it’ll be a new standard in high art in cinema. I just want to see a giant rocket punch smash into some interdimensional giant monster face.
Pacific Rim will punch fans and detractors a like in the face this July 12, 2013.
Behold, Through the Shattered Lens’ own Jaeger contribution to the fight: Ferrus Mannus.
Awhile back site editor pantsukudasai56 wrote that the term “epic” has been overused and lost all its meaning. Everything and everyone has been called epic when most do not truly deserved the label. He did say that if there was anything which truly deserved the label of being “epic” then it would be one of the longest running manga and anime series: Oda Eiichiro’s One Piece.
It’s from One Piece that the latest “AMV of the Day” comes from. To be even more specific it’s from one of the most epic story arcs in the series that the latest chosen AMV originates from: the Marineford Arc (aka Paramount War Arc). It’s a story arc that lasts as long as most anime series (30+ episodes) yet is just a fraction of the current total number of episodes already shown. No other piece of entertainment has had such a long-running success which it continues to this day.
Not much else to say other than watch why this series deserve the title of “epic”.
Anime: One Piece
Song: “Diamond Eyes (Boom-Lay Boom-Lay Boom)” by Shinedown
I first saw a clip of this trailer at Anime Expo 2010. It was a just a pilot trailer that TOEI Animation released earlier that year at Kawaii-Kon to show people that they were indeed producing a 3D CG anime film of the classic Leiji Matsumoto space opera manga and anime of the late 70’s. Space Pirate Captain Harlock, in addition to Space Battleship Yamato, were the Japanese answer to George Lucas’ Star Wars (though some would say that these two anime series were original on their own). Still, they were huge hits and very popular both inside and outside Japan. Scores of kids who grew up during the 80’s saw their first major introduction to anime from these two anime.
It’s been awhile since there’s been any new Captain Harlock anime releases. With CG technology having improved exponentially over the years it looks like TOEI Animation saw it high time to release a new Captain Harlock anime. It’s been three years since the release of the pilot trailer over at Kawaii-Kon 2010, but it looks like the wait for the Space Pirate Captain Harlock movie is coming close to an end.
The 3D CG anime film will see a Japanese release sometime in the Fall of 2013.
Here’s an English-narrated trailer that Toei released for the international crowd. I prefer the original Japanese above even if I could only understand a tenth of what was being said.
I think this might be the first time for “Scenes I Love” that I’ve chosen from something other than a film, tv show or video game. But then again the scene I’ve chosen this time around surpasses any attempts to shoehorn it into a particular label or genre.
The latest “Scenes I Love” comes courtesy of Old Spice. It has starring in the scene the person who I believe is not just the most interesting man in the world (sorry old Dos Equis Man), but probably the most awesome one out there. I believe him to be the human form the Almighty takes when walking amongst the humans the Almighty created was required (sorry Morgan Freeman). This scene is just awesome and why I love it. There’s nothing much else to say.
If you don’t think this to be scene as not being awesome then you just don’t have it and will never have any of it and people will know.
It’s been almost 7 years since Alfonso Cuarón had directed a film. His last one, Children of Men, was such an underappreciated piece of scifi filmmaking. Now, after all these years, he returns to the scifi genre for his latest film due out later this fall.
Gravity stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as a pair of astronauts who have become stranded in space after their space shuttle explodes and takes out the space station they’ve been sent to. The film literally is about just the characters Clooney and Bullock plays. It’s quite the sparse cast, but should also make for an interesting drama about two individual who must find a way to save themselves after being stranded in space with no way to contact Earth.
The film will be filmed fully digital with the 3D coming by way of post-production conversion. Even from the sequences put in the teaser it gives hints at 3D that looks to wow and immerse rather than annoy.
Gravity is set for an October 4, 2013 release date.
Through the Shattered Lens 