Star Trek: Into Darkness Trailers: Good Things Usually Come in Threes, Therefore…

Posted on May 1, 2013 by geelw

You’re welcome. I’m actually hoping to heck that this film is closer to two hours or so than shorter, as it seems pack a ton of story in between all that stuff falling apart and exploding (and people leaping off high places). Yeah, I think a lot of movies are too short or over-edited so more screenings can be run during an average day and those of us who like what we see have to end up buying a DVD or Blu-Ray to see what we paid for earlier.

Granted, that’s not a big crime by any means… unless you don’t like buying or renting movies and keep hoping that the trend of “Unrated”, “Uncut” and “Director’s Cut” films all vanish in the same time loop or something. Of course, given that there have been some great films that didn’t get additional footage tacked in just to sell a few million more copies, but hell, not every director can be a Kubrick, right? Wait, I’m mentioning J.J. Abrams and Stanley Kubrick in the same breath? Well, it’s not too far of a swing for genre fans, so I’m not worried one bit…

Anyway, Star Trek: Into Darkness hits a theater near you on May 17, 2013.

Iron Man 3 Clip 3: Flying The Unfriendly Skies (But You’ll Get A Snack At Least)…

Posted on April 29, 2013 by geelw

The funny thing about this clip is there’s always going to be that ONE guy in the theater when Iron Man 3 hits on May 3 with a slide rule and calculator taking measurements and tapping in numbers just so he can let out a mighty “A-HA!” afterwards and say that the scene was impossible because of the air to mass ratio times the advent of steam or something annoyingly dopey like that. People who do this at films where the goal is to sit down and let your brain enjoy the show for two hours drive me nuts. Applying arbitrary rules of reality to a genre flick such as this should get one immediately bounce ejected from a theater with a big box of Jujubes thrown at the back of that person’s head as they go sailing onto the pavement on a fresh bed of that nasty butter-flavored popcorn that’s sold at the concession stand. Yeah, it’s called a concession stand for a reason – you trade in your hard-earned bucks and in concession, you get some overly salty popcorn swimming in enough chemically laced oil to clog a whale heart. Yuck. Someone call up Tony Stark and ask him to invent a repulsor-powered organic only popcorn machine…

Random Film of the Week(end): The Palm Beach Story

Posted on April 27, 2013 by geelw

You’ll probably need to watch Preston Sturges’ The Palm Beach Story at least twice if you’ve never seen it before. The second time will be to catch some of the rapid-fire dialog you missed the first time out from laughing so hard as your brain attempts to keep up with the wild setups and payoffs the movie hits you with. Sturges’ gift for well-timed comedy direction comes through excellently in yet another gem he also wrote and you have to give the man major credit for letting his actors fly through scenes (and sometimes the scenery) as if they were tossed around sets by small cyclones. Of course, having some great actors throwing those lines around helps quite a bit… Continue reading →

Iron Man 3 TV Spot 7: Getting Closer To That Heavy Metal Madness…

Posted on April 26, 2013 by geelw

I haven’t followed any of the early reviews and in fact, I don’t even know if there are any out there yet. OK, I did hear about a few today, but I didn’t even bother to peek at one. Yeah, I’m THAT disinterested in some parts of pop culture because (dammit) I really like to be surprised (dammit!). That said, it would be pretty hilarious is this film was really bad when all is said and done. Hey, I’m NOT wishing that on this flick at all, folks. I was at the library today and some kids were having a rather animated conversation about that very thing for some reason and although I wanted to beat them all with a heavy book for yapping so loudly, they made me laugh as well AND get an idea for a post. So, yeah, kids are good for something after all (hee hee)… Continue reading →

Pain & Gain: Reality Bites Harder Than In Bay’s Gaudy Live Action Cartoon…

Posted on April 26, 2013 by geelw

Hollywood revisionism isn’t anything new, but I’d say a few films over the last few years including this one have stood out for being more vile than most when going for the funny when they needed to go somewhere else. Did you see 30 Minutes or Less and leave that theater laughing? Well, that “comedy” was “inspired” by an actual series of events in 2003 that led to the death of one man and the arrest and trial of those who planned the crime. Paramount’s Pain & Gain is actually a tad more disturbing when you follow the even weirder and horrifying true story the film is based on. It’s a pretty compelling read, that’s for sure and may have made for a better (and yes, harder to watch) documentary than a heavily re-scripted popcorn flick with some mega-stars chewing the scenery up.

Of course, I’d bet you a wooden nickel that anyone seeing this film won’t give a hoot in hell at all and sure, you can rattle off a whole list of films that bleach out the awful truth and mine the results for comic gold. Eh, perhaps I’m complaining too much here… on the other hand, too many people seem to get their truth solely from these “based on a true story” flicks and yep, that’s a damn dangerously dumb person to try and hold a conversation with…

Iron Man 3 Updates: Clip Joint, World Premiere, And Wait… A New Game, Too?

Posted on April 25, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm… you know, “Roll out the Barrel” should be playing right about now, what with Marvel in full non-stealth mode dropping all these Iron Man 3 videos. of course, they’re just doing what they need to to get fans excited (well, more excited) and non-fans reaching for the remote or finding a new site to poke around that doesn’t have ads for the film all over it. Good luck with that or even better, just embrace the madness that is marketing. Hell, it’s not as if Marvel is going to send people to your home in order to drag you to that theater…
Continue reading →

Star Trek: Into Darkness Clips: A Lesson In Undressin’…

Posted on April 24, 2013 by geelw

Hmmm… you know, Paramount… there’s such a thing as TOO much exposure when it comes to some reveals. Now, I love a good tease once in a while, but I say take a lesson from the late, great Sally Rand and not show it all off all at once. Some things are worth waiting for, so a little anticipation goes a longer way than just whipping everything off all at once. Of course, I’m also wanting to see more, so your little ploy has worked out quite well…

That said, it IS a J.J. Abrams flick, so the template is there and easy to pinpoint. That bodes well for the movie, but also makes it a wee bit too predictable to some longtime fans or those who can catch the telegraphing of plot points a few star systems away as the film hits its thematic notes in their proper order. Granted, THAT part is up to the editing team as well as the director’s skills… but I’m not too worried about either.

On the other hand… if Into Darkness gets too formulaic, it means there’s room for improvement and a writing team (or hell, ONE writer) who can deliver the goods fans of the different Trek franchises can approve of. It’s hard to please so many generations of people who grew up watching or have caught the Star Trek bug over time, but the minute that magic moment happens, the person behind that particular wheel will become an intergalactic treasure of sorts…

Iron Man 3 TV Spot 6/Featurette 3: Who Knew Billionaires Were So Cool?

Posted on April 24, 2013 by geelw

Usually, it’s all pompous 1-percenting about tax shelters, how much that gold-plated platinum toilet (with bidet, of course) cost and trying to get legislation passed that keeps the poor from doing no more than scraping the outside of the bottom of the barrel for scraps they toss down, but I bet if Tony Stark were a real guy, he’d be fun to hang around with. Well, provided he wasn’t constantly having people like the Mandarin trying to get rid of him. One minute, you’re talking with him about the possibility of trying on a non-working Iron Man prototype and the next minute, you’re hiding under one of those suits because the ceiling just fell in. Whatever happened to “Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams…”, I say…

Hmm, I wonder what Bill Gates is up to? I’m sure he’s not having crazy guys with too many rings on their fingers putting holes in his property (unless he’s getting a golf course put into the back yard)…

Thor: The Dark World Trailer (UK): If I Had A Hammer, Too…

Posted on April 23, 2013 by geelw

OK, everybody… SING! Yeah, if you’re old enough like me, you know how that music goes. If you don’t, there’s a visual aid below:

“Cross the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard,
Where the booming heavens roar,
You’ll behold in breathless wonder
The God Of Thunder, Mighty Thor!”

The Marvel movie revival juggernaut continues with this upcoming sequel set for an October 30, 2013 launch in the UK. Marvel’s US YouTube page seems to a wee bit slow on uploading the US version, so here you go. Even though there’s a bit of corny on display above, I like the way this sequel looks. Then again, I liked the first film because it was pretty fun and quite amusing thanks to the direction and a solid cast. Of course, there’s that interesting crossover thing happening here, meaning it’ll be fun to stick around for the credits and see what new Marvel flick gets teased. I do wonder if we’ll see some sort of huge blockbuster that brings in ALL the current Marvel movie heroes, as I’d bet the most hard-core fans would line up for that one a year in advance if it were announced…

Star Trek: The Video Game Launch Trailer: Some May Ask “Warp Factor Who?”

Posted on April 23, 2013 by geelw

Namco Bandai Games and developer Digital Extremes “prequel” of sorts to the upcoming Star Trek: Into Darkness has warped into stores today, but I haven’t seen much in the way of fanfare in the form of a decent TV spot. Then again, I’m not a regular TV viewer outside of some cable shows, but even when I do catch something on another channel, I haven’t seen a thing other than an ad or two for the film. Normally, this doesn’t bode well for a game, but I think that there’s the automatic assumption that Trek fans won’t need to be pressured to snap this up with big ads and too many dollars spent on hyping something many will buy without hesitation. Poking around a few message board shows that those who have the game are liking it in varying degrees, so let’s hope this one catches on as does well, as a lot of work went into it…