Film. TV. Music. Comics. Reviews and Analyses.
Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck In Time is an upcoming American documentary recounting the extraordinary life of author Kurt Vonnegut, and the 25-year friendship with Robert B. Weide – the filmmaker who set out to document it.
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We are a week away from the opening film of Scream Asia Film Festival. Here’s one I omitted from my must-see list – Hana.
The first trailer for the upcoming sequel to the thoroughly enjoyable Ant-Man has arrived!
As geek franchise movies devolve further and deeper into formulaic cash-grabs, it is left to the scifi adaptation to provide us geeks with edgy, artistic material to savour and meditate on.
This is what superhero geeks have been waiting for ever since Thanos was teased in that Avengers post-credit scene.
Once the Marvel Cinematic Universe was up and running, it was only a matter of time before an adaptation of the teen-centric comic Runaways would become reality.
Yeah yeah everybody’s got a fuckin’ list of recommended 2017 movies. Here’s ours – in order of anticipation. Nuff said.
The countdown to the fourth Marvel + Netflix original series begins now with this smashing trailer for Luke Cage!
Well obviously we held certain reservations when it was announced that Justin Lin (Fast & Furious) would be directing the new Star Trek movie. And whilst the first trailer did not allay those fears, this second trailer has gone a long way towards repairing awful first impressions.
Apart from writer-director Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa being animated from stop-motion puppetry, there is initially nothing too different about the film. But knowing Kaufman’s reputation for weird story-telling (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), that normalcy does not last for too long.
Debuting in January 2016, the DC/CW TV series Legends of Tomorrow is quite an ambitious superhero team project that spins off the successful Arrow and Flash series.
Barely before the excitement over the first Captain America: Civil War trailer has subsided, Warners releases a new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and it is a humdinger!
One of the best parts of having a new Star Wars movie this year is – apart from the film itself – the creativity demonstrated by hardcore fans. Here’s a heartfelt tribute to the original trilogy set to the score on the latest The Force Awakens trailer by Medley Weaver – it is breathtaking and emotional to witness. Kudos!
Last time out, Fox botched its characterisation of Dr Doom – one of the most iconic of super-villains – and that, and it’s rather campy approach marked its first attempt at adapting Marvel’s Fantastic Four as a failure. Watching this final trailer for this FF reboot, it is clear that the critical point of acceptance will once again hinge on the handling of Doom.
Apart from that, based on the trailers so far, this reboot looks like a serviceable origin story, using the Ultimate Fantastic Four series as a strong inspiration. In a year of mega-blockbusters like Fast and Furious 7, Jurassic World and Terminator: Genisys letting us down on the basic story front, hopefully Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four will surprise us all with a solid plot and characters, even as Marvel Studios itself roots for it to fail.
Fantastic Four opens in Singapore on 6th August.
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Zack Snyder has well and truly thrown down the gauntlet for DC superheroes with this new Batman v Superman trailer!
The trailer explains the background behind why the Dark Knight would want to take down the Man of Tomorrow and in doing so gives a solid middle finger to all the trolls who have been bitching about the third act of Man of Steel all this time!
There are great shots of Wonder Woman to savour as well and it does look like B v S is going to give Captain America: Civil War a good fight for superhero movie of 2016.
No finer time to be a geek!
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CW is on a roll with its superhero TV series and the new trailer for new series DC Legends of Tomorrow tries to ensure that you do not forget this fact!
So… we are ‘treated’ to a recap of the origins of Arrow and The Flash – for the newbies probably – before being introduced to the Legends team one more time.
Rather inconsequential all told but keeping expectations in holding mode till 2016.
See what you think.
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Ant-Man opens on 16th July and might be a good indicator of where Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is headed. This new international trailer (from Japan) highlights a little bit of our protagonist Scott Lang’s back story and also some history regarding Hank Pym and the Ant-Man suit.
By all accounts, it appears that Ant-Man is set up to take over from Iron Man in certain ways even as Robert Downey Jr winds down his MCU involvement. This movie is looking funny, exciting and a key MCU jumping point. Expecting the post-credits scenes to be epic!
Damn! Had goosebumps watching this. Switched off my pedantic geek critic and just enjoyed the thrill of DC Silver Age super-heroics done well. High hopes of the series now! Check it out!!
Well well well. The most maligned superhero project of recent times has just delivered a very promising trailer. This Fantastic Four reboot generated quite a bit of hate for its casting, story ideas, quotes from director and cast etc but when one looks at this official trailer, one cannot deny that this has the potential to be a good superhero movie.
In fact, the trailer has a very MCU feel – from the humour to the realistic tone of the characterisation. It actually looks better than X-Men: Days of Future Past to me. Of course, the proof will be in the pudding ultimately and my main concern is how Dr. Doom will be portrayed but at this point, Fantastic Four is looking pretty good.
Fantastic Four will open in Singapore on 6th August.
Warners have their work cut out to get ahead of Disney in the geek movie stakes. Man of Steel was the first salvo in its war effort. And it is certain that the reinvention of the DC universe in the movies is going to take quite a battering from Marvel fans, whilst it gets its act together.
The first proper look at what promises to be the beginning of a slew of Warners/DC movies – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer – demonstrates the uncompromising approach of director Zack Snyder and crew to a darker, grittier presentation of the DC characters.
Like in the Daredevil Netflix series, we are seeing the strong influence of Frank Miller’s 80s work (Dark Knight Returns) coming to bear on the DC universe. I am excited by the setup – that Superman is not accepted by the people of Earth (and after the events in Man of Steel, can you blame them?) and Batman has to confront Superman.
Of course, one cannot tell too much from a trailer but from what I have seen, this introduction to the Justice League looks very very promising.
In Snyder we trust!
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With the heightened anticipation for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man almost seems like an after-thought. After all, it does seem poorer in comparison and by all accounts appears to be a retread of the first Iron Man movie. But the first trailer does look very promising I must say, even if those accusations still hold true.
Also, Evangeline Lilly in her new short, pointy bob haircut looks appropriately like the Wasp, although I am pretty sure Hope Van Dyne never takes on that mantle in the movie. Effects look good and that entire sequence of Scott Lang running with the ants is awesome!
Not quite sure what to make of the high level of zany humour evident in the trailer (see above) but Marvel Studio’s track record demands that a level of trust be given to Ant-Man. The trailer does fill one with a bit more confidence that Ant-Man will not turn out to be Marvel Studio’s first dud.
Ant-Man opens in Singapore on 16th July.
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Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn
Starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Strong, Taron Egerton, Michael Caine.
This movie adaptation of the Mark Millar – Dave Gibbons comic (co-plotted by Vaughn) has a lot going for it. Strong cast, comic timing and fantastical settings. Underpinned by Millar’s stock in trade themes of the unlikely hero being thrust into an unimaginable new world (previously explored in Kick Ass and Wanted).
The 2nd trailer for the much anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron is out now. Although Ultron is set up to the villain of the piece, it does appear – based on this trailer – that internal strife within the Avengers ranks is the real enemy. If so, this plot point would lead us nicely into Captain America: Civil War.
Date of release: 30th April (Singapore)
