Of the Phase One movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor was the one that seemed least likely to succeed. Iron Man felt familiar as a superhero story, while Captain America had a mass appeal, but Thor was unusual. It had a Shakespearean family drama involving gods combined with a fish-out-of-water story and a bit of romance. The question was whether viewers could buy an immortal, Norse god as a superhero on the big screen. It was a surprise success, however, and in my view was the key film in setting up The Avengers, both in laying the plot foundation and in expanding the expectations of audiences.
So here we are two years later with Thor: The Dark World. Continue reading
Welcome to “Trailer Tuesday” where I talk about trailers for upcoming movies, since I’ve always found them to be endlessly fascinating.
I’m sorry this post is a day late. I was going to come up with something creative about being out doing my Love Pirate duties, but the reality is that I just didn’t get around to it in time. However I finally got it done. As the release of Thor: The Dark World approaches, it’s time for Marvel to start promoting the next film in their Cinematic Universe. Behold the trailer for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which takes things in a drastically different direction than 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Take a look below, and read on for my thoughts:
When Marvel and Disney decided to combine the Marvel Cinematic Universe with cult favorite writer/director Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog), the result was The Avengers, the 3rd-highest grossing movie of all time. When you combine that film with the rest of the MCU, including the Iron Man series, Thor and Captain America and their upcoming sequels, it’s an obvious choice for Disney/Marvel to want to expand the empire that has brought them such commercial and critical success. And who better to give the reins to their new TV series to than Joss and his team, which in this case includes his brother and sister-in-law, Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen (also known as J-Mo)? The result is the awkwardly titled Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which I will from here on refer to as something that’s easier to type. SHIELD is not the story of the superheroes that get their own films but of the government agents who are forced to deal with them “to protect the ordinary from the extraordinary”, people who have no superpowers of their own yet who are constantly in contact with those who do. And who better to anchor that story than Agent Phil Coulson, who was stabbed through the chest by villain Loki during the events of The Avengers and presumed dead? But instead of getting ahead of myself, why don’t we just jump into tonight’s episode, boringly titled: “Pilot”.
I’ve been watching the Rotten Tomatoes score for The Lone Ranger slowly climb from a rather horrific 17% today, and it’s gotten me thinking about critics and reviews and the movie review industry as a whole. In fact, I read a blurb from one review that stated, “Everyone wants this to be horrible,” and it makes me wonder how much film reviews in the industry are shaped both by what people expect from a movie, what they want to happen to the movie, and what they think people expect and want the reviews to say. So if you’ll excuse the rambling, unorganized and meta nature of this post, here are some of my thoughts. Continue reading
The third CD that I ever bought was a film soundtrack (the first two were Michael Jackson’s “Dangerous” and Garth Brooks’ “Greatest Hits”). It was the soundtrack to Independence Day, and I actually bought it in the hopes of it having R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” which for some reason I really wanted on CD. I was disappointed when the song was missing from the soundtrack album, but after listening to the CD I realized how much I enjoyed the score, composed by David Arnold. Thus began my obsession with film scores, and my collection of albums showcasing them.
I’ve been listening to the Jurassic Park soundtrack for the past week or so on my commute to work, and I’ve realized that there are several very big problems with the film score album as a whole in the industry. I don’t know why it’s so damn hard to put together a decent album from a film score, but I’ve come up with a list of several of the problems: Continue reading
In my review of Man of Steel, I talked a bit about the modern phases of comic book superhero movies that began with 1978’s Superman. I’ve enjoyed some of these phases more than others (I’m not a fan of Nolan’s style), but they’ve all produced good films and bad. So I thought I’d come up with a list from best to worst of the comic book superhero movies of the modern era. I kept the list limited to my arbitrarily chosen “major” superheroes, so you won’t see things like Blade or Hellboy on the list (though I love Hellboy). I’m also not including more indie comic book films, like The Rocketeer or Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, both of which I love. I tried to just use the films people were most likely to have seen. (Note: Green Lantern is not included because I actually never saw it.)
Lists are great for discussion, so let me know what you think! (In other words… BRING IT ON!!! I can’t wait to hear people challenging where I have the Batman Begins saga or Man of Steel.) If there’s anything obvious that I left off, let me know. And then vote below as to what is your favorite comic book superhero movie (you can fill in your own choices). Continue reading
(This was movie #4 of my 4 movie marathon day.)
How do I become friends with Joss Whedon? If this is how he spends his vacations, filming Shakespeare adaptations at his absolutely stunning house with a troupe of enormously talented actors and friends, then sign me up. Much Ado About Nothing is damn near perfect, the melding of two brilliant minds across 400 years. It’s clear that both Joss and his cast have a deep understanding both of the subject matter and the Shakespearean dialogue, and I hope we get to see a lot more of this sort of thing from him, once The Avengers 2 is done filming.
Much Ado About Nothing tells the story of two romances that take place as a prince comes to stay with a local governor. Continue reading
(This was movie #1 of my 4 movie marathon day.)
The superhero movie as we know it was born in 1978 with Superman, starring Christopher Reeve. The posters claimed “You’ll believe a man can fly” and we were given a movie that seems very dated by today’s standards. Reeve, clad in spandex, soared on wires in front of a blue screen in many ways seems silly to modern audiences. Clark Kent was the squeaky-clean all-American, still standing up for “truth, justice and the American way” 40 years after his introduction in the comics. It was undeniably goofy, but timeless in a way. It gave us a modern yet dated world, where reporters dressed like they were in the 1930s yet boarded helicopters from the roof of the Daily Planet.
Of course, superhero films have gone through many incarnations since then. Continue reading
The Love Pirate 