My kingdom. My kingdom for a chance to cry into a pillow for just five minutes. But for now, chin up. Things need doing, and only weak people cry.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, April 06, 2011
Summer Means Summer Movies
I hate arty movies. Long, meandering, thoughtful mood pieces that contemplate the humanity around us...and blah blah blah. I loathe those. Give me an old fashioned romantic comedy or a nice buddy cop action movie I'm a happy camper. So I look forward to summer every year as Hollywood, ever so reliably, brings out the big guns, the Iron Mans, the Hangovers and the Proposals. There are a bunch of other movies I am likely to really enjoy releasing this summer: romantic comedies, capers and animated flicks. I can't wait to see the second Hangover, Kung Fu Panda-2 or Fast Five.
I'm also a huge comic book fan. Not in the same way as someone who, say, hangs out all day in a comic book store and can name every secondary and tertiary character in every obscure comic book ever. But as someone who grew up reading a lot of Batman and X-Men, not to mention a whole bunch of other comics that don't exactly qualify as 'graphic novels', I love the worlds that this art form has managed to conjure up.
And a good comic book to movie adaptation will unfailingly get me to the theatre within the first weekend of release every time. This summer, I have Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class to look forward to. Not to mention Priest and Cowboys and Aliens (although the latter isn't a comic book movie, it very much feels like one, non?)
I'm super excited about Green Lantern, Captain America and X-Men: First Class. Green Lantern is one of the first on-screen adaptations of a comic book hero, in the last few years, that spends a lot of time in outer space. (not counting Superman here, I hate Superman. Plus the 2006 version didn't actually spend any time in space, it was about Superman returning to Earth.) The second trailer, in particular, did an exceptional job of giving us a good idea of the exact scope we can expect the picture to take. And since the Green Lantern Corps has some 7000+ members, we can hope sequels and prequels will include more of them, perhaps even centering on some of them.
Captain America's first trailer has me really pumped. I love the vintage-y, earnest feel of the movie. I was worried about Chris Evans fitting into the role of Steve Rogers, aka the titular hero. And since he's the leader of the Avengers, I was worried the usually smart-alecky Evans would not be able to pull off the sincerity and gravitas of Captain America. As of now, I'm at least convinced of the sincerity.
Finally, X-Men: FC looks just fantastic. Matthew Vaughn was a really unusual choice to direct the movie, and I love what he's done with it. The trailer makes the movie look really 60's, very hedonistic, almost European in its sensibility. And I love, love, love Michael Fassbender. The movie's got a whole bunch of acting pedigree, so it really remains to see how it pans out.
The one movie I'm not excited for is Thor, despite the fact Kenneth Branagh is the director. First of all, unlike Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, I don't think Chris Hemsworth has the ability carry off a movie of this scale. He seems to have the brawn part of it down, he's bulked up to an unimaginable size for this movie. But the charm, the wit, the humour and intelligence that the other four guys are capable of displaying seems to be missing from him. He just looks like a beefy gigantor. Not convinced by the trailer or the presence of Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman either. It remains to be seen if this gamble will pay off. Since the Avengers movie is a lock, the studio needs both Captain America and Thor to do really well.
Those are my summer movie plans as of now. If you are reading this blog, please leave me a note about what films will be getting your butts into theatre seats this summer.
I'm also a huge comic book fan. Not in the same way as someone who, say, hangs out all day in a comic book store and can name every secondary and tertiary character in every obscure comic book ever. But as someone who grew up reading a lot of Batman and X-Men, not to mention a whole bunch of other comics that don't exactly qualify as 'graphic novels', I love the worlds that this art form has managed to conjure up.
And a good comic book to movie adaptation will unfailingly get me to the theatre within the first weekend of release every time. This summer, I have Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and X-Men: First Class to look forward to. Not to mention Priest and Cowboys and Aliens (although the latter isn't a comic book movie, it very much feels like one, non?)
I'm super excited about Green Lantern, Captain America and X-Men: First Class. Green Lantern is one of the first on-screen adaptations of a comic book hero, in the last few years, that spends a lot of time in outer space. (not counting Superman here, I hate Superman. Plus the 2006 version didn't actually spend any time in space, it was about Superman returning to Earth.) The second trailer, in particular, did an exceptional job of giving us a good idea of the exact scope we can expect the picture to take. And since the Green Lantern Corps has some 7000+ members, we can hope sequels and prequels will include more of them, perhaps even centering on some of them.
Captain America's first trailer has me really pumped. I love the vintage-y, earnest feel of the movie. I was worried about Chris Evans fitting into the role of Steve Rogers, aka the titular hero. And since he's the leader of the Avengers, I was worried the usually smart-alecky Evans would not be able to pull off the sincerity and gravitas of Captain America. As of now, I'm at least convinced of the sincerity.
Finally, X-Men: FC looks just fantastic. Matthew Vaughn was a really unusual choice to direct the movie, and I love what he's done with it. The trailer makes the movie look really 60's, very hedonistic, almost European in its sensibility. And I love, love, love Michael Fassbender. The movie's got a whole bunch of acting pedigree, so it really remains to see how it pans out.
The one movie I'm not excited for is Thor, despite the fact Kenneth Branagh is the director. First of all, unlike Ryan Reynolds, Chris Evans, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, I don't think Chris Hemsworth has the ability carry off a movie of this scale. He seems to have the brawn part of it down, he's bulked up to an unimaginable size for this movie. But the charm, the wit, the humour and intelligence that the other four guys are capable of displaying seems to be missing from him. He just looks like a beefy gigantor. Not convinced by the trailer or the presence of Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman either. It remains to be seen if this gamble will pay off. Since the Avengers movie is a lock, the studio needs both Captain America and Thor to do really well.
Those are my summer movie plans as of now. If you are reading this blog, please leave me a note about what films will be getting your butts into theatre seats this summer.
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