Category Archives: Movies

Disney Outbids Comcast (Or Mice Aren’t Typically Known For The Size of Their Genitalia)

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Apparently Disney has upped their offer for the studio and theatrical divisions of 21st Century Fox to somewhere in the ballpark of $71 billion, topping Comcast’s prior bid of $65 billion.

As I understand it, Comcast would normally have five days to raise their bid, but apparently Fox has accepted Disney’s diabetes-inducing offer so it’s likely ‘Game’s Over!’ for Comcast.

And while I am glad the X-Men and Fantastic Four will be part of the MCU or Marvel Cinematic Universe (let’s be honest: Fox’s management of the X-Men franchise has been, at best, mediocre–which is a high complement compared to their mismanagement of the Fantastic Four) I am not entirely sure we need another massive company which seemingly exist only to enrich the rich and screw the workers (I.e., the people who do the damn work).

And something tells me that soon–not today, not tomorrow, but soon–the worm will turn on these mega-monster mergers and trustbusting will be back in vogue.

Mark my words.

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Does DC Stand For ‘Damn Clueless!?’

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Actually that’s ‘Detective Comics’ but based on some of their current decisions you’d be perfectly justified if you were slightly confused.

For instance, DC Films is reportedly developing two movies based on the Joker. One’s based on Jared Leto’s interpretation of the iconic Batman villain from Suicide Squad and the other…not so much (though reportedly some sort of alternate universe take on the character).

So, let’s see if I understand…one movie’s based on a not particularly well-received version of the Joker and if that weren’t bad enough, the second movie will be ‘Joker’ in name only, and exist outside of DC Comics continuity (and rumored to be played by Joaquin Phoenix).

What’s wrong with such an approach should be fairly obvious, though let’s start with the creation of an alternative to a character that’s been already introduced to audiences.

And speaking of which, suppose audiences are more into Phoenix’s movie than Leto’s?

What happens then? I have no idea but I’d bet money they’ll be retconning Leto’s version.

Think I’m wrong? Maybe, but what about the DCEU (or whatever they end up calling it) makes you think they’d be loyal to an actor when they apparently don’t hold their directors in too high an esteem (as much as I can’t stand what Zach Snyder did to the DC Extended Universe he should have been ‘fired’ long before Justice League. Heck, he should have been fired after Batman V Superman as opposed to the trifling way he was actually treated)?

Black Manta or Black Man-Duh

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I understand the moviemakers sometimes have to sacrifice accuracy for realism when producing something based on a comic book because what looks good in a drawing doesn’t always translate well to real life (which is why we’re likely to NEVER see a comic-accurate Scarlet Witch in the Avengers movies).

That being said, the goal should be as close to comic book accurate as reality will allow.

And the recently released photos of Black Manta from James Wan’s upcoming Aquaman movie? It misses the mark by quite a bit.

Manta’s helmet from the comics is particularly odd in that in the ways it’s typically depicted it’s too ovoid and flat to hold a human head.

The likelihood that this was made possible by the lower half of his face extending into the neck of the suit, while the ‘saucer section’ only contained the upper part of his face.

Black Manta’s helmet as (seemingly–after all, this could just be a prototype) depicted in the Aquaman movie? It’s a full helmet, which means the weird dimensions that made is so iconic aren’t (unless it were comically–pardon the pun–massive) possible.

And that’s a shame because the DCEU needs to keep it 100 because people are losing faith and one way to begin to get it back is depicting these characters as accurately and faithfully as possible.

I (Might) Have A Problem With Vertigo

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, DC Comics is relaunching their Vertigo imprint, though I wonder why it stopped in the first place.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I was never a huge DC fan–I started on them, but migrated to Marvel Comics–but Vertigo always held a special place in my heart because they were doing all sorts of stuff you’d more likely find from a small boutique publisher–like Calibre though there are many others–than one of the ‘Big Two.’

Stuff (in no particular order) like Hellblazer, Shade: The Changing Man, Animal Man, Lucifer, Sandman, Sandman Mystery Theatre, to name a few.

Vertigo stories covered all sorts of topics, though a trait they more often than not shared was a paucity of spandex-clad heroics, and an emphasis on thought provoking, mind-bending fare.

So you’d think that I’d be overjoyed at the relaunch of such a prestigious label. And I was, till I read this:

‘The series will tackle subject matter including white supremacy and sex workers struggling to survive in a repressed future dystopia.’

My problem is that Vertigo dealt with ‘mature’ issues like sexuality and racism all the time, though they weren’t the point of the imprint.

Instead what they did was tell interesting, adult stories first, which isn’t to say that the new Vertigo won’t do that, but when you seemingly wear your agenda on your sleeve–unnecessarily in my opinion–it makes me wonder if that will come before story, which the original Vertigo was renown for.

Halloween (2018) – Teaser and Official Trailer #1

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I was particularly unimpressed with the teaser trailer for Halloween (2018). Then again, they call them ‘teasers’ for a reason.

The full trailer is better but not by a lot. Reason being, if you were in the water with a shark, would you wave a bloody steak in front of it?

Probably not, yet there’s a scene in the trailer where some guy visits the asylum (sanitarium?) where Michael Myers is being held, and waves his mask–the same mask he wore to kill a whole bunch of people in the original movie (though I don’t recall it having hair. I always assumed that that was Myers’ which doesn’t make sense since I recalled hat it covered his entire head)–at him as if he were taunting him.

It does without saying that this will likely not go well.

What I particularly liked, in the same scene, was the crane/drone shot. It reminded me a bit of a chessboard, with Michael at the center (or thereabouts).

Bumblebee – Teaser Trailer

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Screenshot 2018-06-05 10.44.44Before I begin, I have not been a fan of the Transformers franchise since the first one.

Once you get over they’re robots changing into cars, trucks and fighter craft there just isn’t that much there.

Which would be bad enough if the movies weren’t–to varying degrees–chock full of cynicism, contempt for the viewer, sexism and oddly enough, racism.

That being said, I have no idea how Bumblebee will perform–though it’s worth keeping in mind that the Transformers movies have been on a downward slide since Age of Extinction (which is a pretty remarkable when you think about it because most of prior films are bad, though that badness also varied  from film to film)–though the teaser has more heart than the last four movies combined.

And it’s important that that tone carry though most of the movie because if Bumblebee needs anything it’s to differentiate itself from what came prior.

And besides, Paramount really, REALLY needs a hit.

Suspiria (2018) – Teaser Trailer

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Screenshot 2018-06-04 12.11.04I’ve never been a fan of Dario Argento–or giallo movies in general for that matter–possibly because there always seemed to be so much going on on top of the feeling that horror lovers were supposed to like them by default, never mind that I never thought that they were particularly good.

Or perhaps I should call them an acquired taste.

But then there was Suspiria.

I honestly barely remember the movie, but that trailer…it made quite the impression on my young, not-quite-developed mind.

As for Luca Guadagnino’s (Call Me By Your Name) remake,,,I can’t yet say though the trailer doesn’t hold a candle to the original.