Let me get this off my chest right from the get-go. The best way to enjoy J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness is to watch it in IMAX 3D, switch your brain off and simply enjoy the ride. The visual spectacle should be able to remove all your concerns about plot holes, character motivations and illogical actions.
Iron Man 2 was only half a movie, in my humble opinion. The first half was quick-paced and exhilarating but then the wheels came off and the movie came to a tired conclusion. The sequel did well at the box office but one sensed that director Jon Favreau had lost interested in the franchise that he had kickstarted. So when it came to talk about the third Iron Man movie, Favreau passed and Shane Black came onboard.
Originally entitled Jack the Giant Killer, this latest Hollywood foray into the classic fairy tale update (Snow White and the Huntsman, Hansel and Gretel) looks like it might actually be worth the trouble. Directed by Bryan Singer – whose last two movies Superman Returns and Valkyrie were decidedly less than stellar – the movie tells the familiar story of a young farmhand (Jack) who must rescue a princess from a race of giants after inadvertently opening a gateway to their world.
This first installment of director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit, sub-titled “An Unexpected Journey”, clocks in at almost 3 hours long and has been deliberately crafted to (hopefully) re-create the awe and wonder that Jackson achieved with Fellowship of the Ring all those years ago.
As regular PoP readers will be aware, I was less than impressed with the disaster that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine – it was simply a bad movie and totally wasted the opportunity to develop one of the most interesting Marvel characters. But of course, due to the movie’s immense success, a sequel was always going to be on the cards. According to reports, the James Mangold-helmed The Wolverine is based on the classic Wolverine mini-series by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, which is set in Japan. Looking at the new poster (above), it’s clear that a strong Milleresque vibe has been assimilated to appease and excite comic book fans. To be honest, I have low expectations (I still believe that Hugh Jackman is totally wrong for Wolverine but that’s another story) but it’s wait and see for the time being…
The Wolverine will be released on 24th July 2013.
2013 is on the horizon and the movie studios are letting us know that there is much to look forward to next year in terms of scifi and superhero movies. Here are a bunch of new trailers that have caught the eye and captured the imagination.
Sam Raimi’s original Evil Dead is/was a genre-defining horror classic with some of the grossest scenes ever committed to celluloid (tree rape, anyone?). This remake updates the original with Fede Alvarez at the helm and has Raimi and Bruce Campbell on-board as producers. Does it have any chance of coming close to the beloved original? Watch the redband trailer and make up your own mind. Not for the faint of heart – you have been warned! Hitting cinemas in April 2013.
The Man with the Iron Fists promises to be a campy kung fu classic with a tag line to kill for – “You can’t spell Kung Fu without F and U”!!! To get us geeks in the mood, check out the character trailers below for Bronze Lion (Cung Le) and Madame Blossom (Lucy Liu).
Time travel has provided some of the most inventive scifi movie concepts in history. For me personally, two of my favourite movies involved time travel viz. 12 Monkeys and Back to the Future. Unfortunately, time travel as a concept can also be highly problematic and has ruined many a promising scifi movie – Star Trek: First Contact comes quickly to mind.
Well, it’s all over the interweb so it must be true. Disney will release Ant-Man on Nov 5th, 2015. Directed by Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim vs the World, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), the movie has been in development hell for the longest time and so this is exciting news indeed! However, considering that this release date is after that of Avengers 2 raises the important question of whether Ant-Man and Wasp will be in the Avengers sequel. I certainly hope so!
I was rather intrigued by the pilot of the Arrow TV series, based on DC Comic’s Green Arrow. It appears that the producers are intent on making the series as grim, gritty and realistic as possible whilst being true to the DC Universe in which Oliver Queen/Green Arrow inhabits. IGN revealed this exclusive first look at one of DC’s favorite villains- Deathstroke – and it’s encouraging to see the character’s mask accurately depicted as well. Very promising!
According to Indiewire.com, David Fincher has turned to crowdfunding to finance the adaptation of Eric Powell’s comic series, The Goon! You can find the campaign over at Kickstarter. Closer analysis will indicate that $400,000 is needed to put together a full-length story reel based on Powell’s script. But what’s in it for donors? Well, amongst other things, blog access, t-shirts, limited edition posters and original artwork AND a day at Blur Studio where’ll donors will get an all-access tour and meet the filmmakers… along with a special screening of the finished story reel! Of course, depending on how much you DO give…
Check out the campaign video below.
The second trailer for Peter Jackson’s adaptation of Tolkien’s Hobbit has landed. By all accounts, An Unexpected Journey certainly appears to be lighter in tone than the Lord of the Rings trilogy – the original book was written for children, after all – and the stars of the film would definitely be the fun-loving DWARVES, represented by Gimli in LOTR but this time in full force! It’s all looking very promising but whether or not the decision to make three movies is justified or not, remains to be seen. In the meantime, look forward to December!
This one’s for us geeks! STGCC (Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention) is back!!
More information at the Official Site.
Power of Pop will be covering both days of the convention so stay tuned!
Batman Begins was – after the risible Batman Forever and Batman & Robin – a shot in the arm for the Batman movie franchise and the superhero film genre. Director Christopher Nolan together with writers Jonathan Nolan and David Goyer presented Batman in a more realistic and darker tone. Batman Begins was a critical and commercial success and paved the way for the even greater things to come.
A Wizard of Oz prequel directed by Sam Raimi. Sounds like a winner right?
Here’s the plot summary - When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
A prequel that works? We’ll see…
We are a week away from the movie event of the year – forget about The Avengers – The Dark Knight Rises is the real deal! Four years ago, after watching The Dark Knight, this is what I wrote.
“One imagines that it would be difficult for director Christopher Nolan to follow this wonderful movie achievement but it will be intriguing to see him try.”
The more I see of writer/director Rian Johnsons’s time-travel flick, Looper, the more I think that this is going to be one of the best scifi films of the year. Already, I am totally sold on the fact that the two leads – Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt – play the same person at different ages in a life-and-death struggle with each other! All possible through that wonderful scifi device called time-travel. Wonderful!! Check out the trailer. Looper opens in late September.
Remakes can be tricky. Early on, the producers talked up the new version of Paul Verhoeven’s classic Total Recall as being more a adaptation of Philip K Dick’s short story We Can Remember ItkFor You Wholesale rather than a straight remake of the original movie. WRONG! As it is clearly apparent from this latest trailer, this is a straightforward remake of the movie as there are no three-breasted ladies or actual trips to Mars in the short story. Fact is, the short story would make a boring action movie if faithfully adapted. So is there any point to repeated the whole exercise once over again. Well… I think so. Based on the trailers, the effects and action sequences look pretty good and having Bryan Cranston on board as the villain of the piece never hurts. Also, the combined eye candy of Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale should make up for Colin Farrell’s anticipated over-acting. I mean come on, look at the image above and not picture Arnie in that chair. Try…
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When I arrived at Lido 5 ten minutes late due to some unnecessary administrative hassle, the film had just begun and whilst I was struggling to find my seat, I missed a scene between a very young Peter Parker and his father Richard. Great start! BUT once I settled down in my seat, the story of awkward, geeky teenager Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) began to unfold before my eyes. Very soon, his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field) were introduced, in addition to the gorgeous Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) and I bought it lock stock and barrel!!!
With each new trailer of The Dark Knight Rises, director Christopher Nolan has revealed more and more of his epic vision for this final chapter of the Dark Knight trilogy. This final (?) trailer is probably the best yet with enough reveals to send shivers down your spine but still with so much held back to keep one in eager anticipation of the power and glory to come. Certainly all bets are off on whether The Dark Knight Rises will be the best superhero movie ever… was there any doubt??
When I first heard that SONY Pictures had put a stop to developing Spider-Man 4 with director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire and decided instead to reboot the franchise completely with The Amazing Spider-Man I was skeptical about the idea as it had only been a decade since Raimi’s Spider-Man and I thought that it was much too soon (as did many many other geeks).
It is epic, visually dazzling and most definitely, the prequel to director Ridley Scott’s first movie, Alien, released back in 1979. Yes all that nonsense about Prometheus not being an Alien prequel but instead being set in the same universe was simply a distraction. In fact, Scott pretty much sets out the film’s narrative based on that found in Alien.
With John Carter, The Avengers and MIB3 out of the way, the serious contender for your hardcore scifi fan attention arrives in 5 days time as Prometheus opens in Singapore on 7th June. Marking director Ridley Scott’s return to scifi, Prometheus promises to be an epic horror-adventure flick to keep your senses and your mind engaged.
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