Sep 13 2015

Superman Shafted Again In The Movies

There were rumors percolating recently that Warner Bros. dictated that Batman be emphasized more in the upcoming movie superhero slugfest Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Last week, the film’s director Zack Snyder confirmed that the film will focus more on Batman. On top of that indignity (for Superman), there are further rumors that a proper Man of Steel sequel focusing solely on Superman won’t happen. Instead, Warner Bros. was so wowed by Ben Affleck as the Caped Crusader in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that now there will be three Batman films coming out.

Yeah, the Batman fans must be tickled pink about this development but what about Superman? Once again, the Man of Steel, the first superhero gets pushed to the curb in favor of Batman. Sure, Batman is DC Comics’ most popular superhero and the marketing department just love him, but the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) can’t just rely on him to carry the load for the film franchise. One of the reasons why their competitors Marvel Studios has done so well with their cinematic universe is because they doesn’t just rely on one superhero. Their biggest hit isn’t called Iron Man and the Avengers. No, that film, The Avengers, spread the attention around its many heroes. Marvel Studios hasn’t been shy about producing films on more obscure characters and their gambles paid off. Look at Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man.

In order for the DCEU to thrive, they need to diversify. They also have a rich comic book universe, it’s a shame that it’s largely ignored for Batman and his universe. Here’s another example, what went over so big in a recent DCEU trailer? The Joker and Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad. We barely are aware that it features Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and other DC supervillains. The trailer even had a Batman cameo. Probably DC/Warner concluded that since Green Lantern and Man of Steel didn’t do too well, then they should go back to what worked for them. It’s a shame really because the DC Universe is ripe for exploring on film. At least, the DC TV shows realize this with their hit shows Arrow and The Flash, and it’s more amazing that they can’t use Batman at all.

Will we ever get a true sequel to Man of Steel? Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was originally supposed to be that. Metallo was slated to be the main villain and the film was going to end with a chunk of kryptonite being sent to Wayne Manor. That Batcameo ballooned into having Batman be the co-lead and now supposedly the lead. Snyder’s excuse for this is that the film needed to explore Batman. What is there to explore? We know his origin already (which was shown yet again in the film’s trailer), why not just cut out all references to Superman and be done with it?

Right off the bat, DC and Warner Bros. seem to be panicking and going back to their old crutch of making all things about Batman. If this goes on expect to see Batman shoehorned into other upcoming DCEU films like Aquaman and Green Lantern Corps. He’s already has a guaranteed spot in Justice League. Sure, from a marketing standpoint it makes perfect sense to highlight your most popular characters but don’t be afraid to focus on other assets, if nurtured correctly, they too will be just as popular as Batman. That is the best way to compete against Marvel and it will delight fans to no end.

Waldermann Rivera

Sep 6 2015

Assorted Star Trek Highlights

As we celebrate the 49th anniversary of Star Trek (God, that makes me feel old!), some quick thoughts came to me regarding the beloved show and the franchise it spawned. Star Trek and its many incarnations had many highs and lows, but what stuck with me throughout the decades were the highlights and some general observations about Trek.

Captain

James T. Kirk, played perfectly by William Shatner, is the best Star Trek captain. Period. Nothing more to say.

Villains

Star Trek has many memorable villains that faced off against Kirk, Picard and others. The biggest and baddest of them all still remains as Khan, the first version played by Ricardo Montalban. While Benedict Cumberpatch did a menacing job reimaging Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, Montalban’s Khan was just insane. The other great Trek villains are the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) from Star Trek: First Contact, General Chang from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Christopher Plummer had great chemistry with Shatner), Shinzon from Star Trek: Nemesis, Nero from Star Trek, Kurge (Christopher Lloyd) from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Q (John DeLancie) from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Romulan Tomalak (Andreas Katsulas) of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Ron Perlman’s Nosferatu-like Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis, Gul Madred (David Warner) in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In general, I enjoyed the Klingons, Romulans and Borg. Finally, I have to give a shout out to the black oil spill creature that killed Tasha Yar. It proved that oil spills will be the death of us!

Ships

Star Trek is well known for its many distinctive space ship designs. Of course, one of the best has to be the original Enterprise from Star Trek. It’s simple, classic and culturally important. With that I will state that I loooooove the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture! As for the Enterprise seen in the Star Trek reboot, I admit that I like it, but don’t love it like I did with the earlier movie versions of the Enterprise. I also thought the space station designs in the reboot didn’t work (but I loved the ones used in the early films, the same goes for the early space dock used in the first two Star Trek films).

Other great ships for me were the Enterprise D from Star Trek: The Next Generation with its amazing concept of having the saucer separating from the ship. Meanwhile, I also liked the Enterprise E first seen in Star Trek: First Contact because it had this neat, sleek look.

Starfleet also had other great designed ships. Let’s start with the shuttlecraft Galileo. It was a classic, and I’ll have to say that the updated shuttle designs seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation were nice. Two other great ships were the Defiant from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (it’s one great, tough, little ship!) and the Reliant from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It’s got the most innovative design and was actually a happy accident. Director Nicholas Meyer saw the blueprints for it upside down and approved it. This allowed for the designs of differently shaped Federation starships.

The alien ships used in Trek were also wonderful, take the Klingon Bird-of-Prey ships that were seen in most films and TV shows. It just showed what a great design it was. I also liked the Romulan warbirds from the Trek spinoffs and the Ferengi ships, too. Other ships that deserve mentioning should be the alien probes V’Ger and the whale probe. With V’Ger I didn’t know the full shape of it until I saw the director’s cut. I think it was OK, but the closeups of it are more spectacular than its outside silhouette shape. What I liked about the whale probe from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was that it kind of mimicked the elongated shapes of the whales.

I should point out that the Borg cube first seen in Star Trek: First Contact is Trek’s answer to the spherical Death Star. Maybe the next sci-fi franchise should have the enemy ship look like a cone! Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise had many more ship designs, but they weren’t very memorable to me except for the Bajoran solar sail ship.

Costumes

A common thread in these musings of mine is how great the original Star Trek was and how it got so many things correct. Any so-called improvements made by the movies and spinoffs, while mostly good, just can’t compare to Classic Trek. A good example of this is the costuming of the original show. They used simple multi-colored costumes that made it easy to denote rank and division. The design and colors were so great and the 2009 movie reboot kept the same pattern, but improved on the fabrics and patterns used.

A close second would be the classic red uniforms that were used for most of the original cast movies starting with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. They had a naval design that was just perfect for the movie’s tone.

The spinoff Star Trek TV shows also had some nice costumes, especially the ones used in Star Trek: The Next Generation that followed the spirit of the original series in having different colors denoting rank and division.

As for costumes that didn’t work, that dishonor goes to the bland outfits used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. They looked like grey pajamas! But the fancy white and grey uniform worn by Admiral Kirk and Spock’s black Vulcan tunic were great.

Music

The original theme by Alexander Courage has a resonating hailing overture that builds to a sense of adventure thanks to the use of a singer and bongo drums. I just love listening to it. Composer Michael Giaccino built on that mood with his take of the original Star Trek theme in J.J. Abrams’ reboot. His version of the original theme is magnificent.

The second best Star Trek theme for me is actually a tie between Jerry Goldsmith’s majestic score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture and James Horner’s adventurous work in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Goldsmith’s fanfare is a hail to adventure and the rest of the soundtrack made the movie better than it was. Horner’s work meanwhile had the right tone for the movie which evoked naval ships and battles.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country had a score that I liked a lot. It was dark, intriguing, yet had fanfares that were sentimental farewells for the original cast. The signature send off at the film’s end was fantastic. Other noteworthy scores are the ones for Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Voyager, while the one for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine grew on me.

Background Design and Cinematography

For me, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan had the best look on the whole because of its slightly darker lighting. It’s funny to think that the sets used in that film were the same ones from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It’s amazing what lighting can do! On that note, I’ll say that I hated the bridge lighting used in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but loved the improved lighting in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country thanks to Hiro Narita, who also worked on The Hunt for Red October.

Star Trek: The Next Generation had the best computer interfaces, it still looks futuristic and I love the look of the graphics. Meanwhile the look of the Trek reboot sports a fresh interpretation. It’s like walking into an Apple store with mirrors that produce lens flares! I didn’t mind the look, but I know purists object to it.

Walter L. Stevenson

Aug 17 2015

D23 Expo Highlights: Star Wars, MCU, Theme Parks & More

Disney had their own version of Comic-Con this past weekend with their D23 Expo held in Anaheim. As can be guessed, the convention was related to all things under the Disney umbrella and what’s coming up. The highlights from D23 Expo dealt with exciting theme park and genre film developments.

Star Wars

Many fans were disappointed that there wasn’t a new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but were titillated with the reveal of a Drew Struzan movie poster for the film and an official cast photo for the first Star Wars Anthology film Star Wars: Rogue One. There was also confirmation that Colin Trevorrow, the director of the mammoth hit Jurassic World, will direct Star Wars Episode IX. But the juiciest revelations had to do with the expected and highly anticipated Star Wars Land to be built in Disneyland Park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm and all of its intellectual property from George Lucas a few years ago, fans have impatiently waited for some kind of expansion of Star Wars in the Disney parks beyond Star Tours. Yes, the famous simulator ride had been updated with new, random scenes recently, but aside from Jedi Training Academy and the popular Star Wars Weekends, it seemed as if Disney hadn’t really paid a lot of love to its newest IP acquisition. Meanwhile, its rival Universal Studios Orlando stunned and dazzled Harry Potter fans with its meticulously developed Harry Potter lands in their parks.

That all changed with the announcement. Finally, Disney will have a worthy answer to Harry Potter with an equally revered IP. The Star Wars Land (note: it wasn’t called that in the announcement) will be 14 acres, which will feature a cantina and an immersive Star Wars environment on a new planet similar to what Universal did with Diagon Alley and Hogswart. There will be two new E-ticket rides, one will allow visitors to pilot the Millennium Falcon (most likely some kind of simulator ride), while the other will be based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There will be another update to Star Tours that will include a destination from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, an updating of Jedi Training Academy, and an interactive experience called Star Wars Launch Bay. This attraction will be in pavilions in both parks that will feature meet and greets, exhibits and stores, of course. The only drawback to these ambitious plans is that when it came to the time table for all of this the only answer was “coming soon”. Just thinking out loud here, but Disney should take heed on how quickly Universal builds its new attractions. Some of us would like to have something open before this decade ends!

Marvel Cinematic Universe

The two items that are keeping fans salivating had to do with Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange. With the latter, Marvel Studios guru Kevin Feige introduced concept art (Doctor Strange begins filming later this fall) that featured a classic look for the sorcerer that includes his red cape and Eye of Agamotto. A trailer for Captain America: Civil War was unveiled, which, of course, no one that didn’t attend D23 Expo could see. There are tons of fake “leaked” trailers out now on YouTube and the smattering of legit ones are taken down too fast to bother linking to, but rest assured as soon as its released to the masses, you can see it here. Based on the descriptions, it sounds like an awesome film and it could be part of the reason why DC/Warner Bros. moved their own superhero civil war flick to another date.

Theme Park News

The other major announcement regarding the Disney theme parks was that Disney’s Hollywood Studios will build a Toy Story Land for the young and young at heart. At 11 acres, this land will have two new rides (a spinner ride and a family coaster), expand Toy Story Mania, which is probably the best news because the wait times for that attraction is beyond ridiculous (and frankly not worth the wait). No time frame was given as to when this will happen. But based on the other big construction needed for Star Wars Land, Disney might as well shut down Disney’s Hollywood Studios until all of this is finished. They may finish ahead of schedule that way, make fans even happier, who will more likely spend money sooner.

Speaking of slow construction, the Avatar Land in Disney’s Animal Kingdom is still chugging along. At least with this expansion we have an actual opening date (2017). For anyone that doesn’t know, there will be two attractions based on Avatar, one is similar to the popular Soarin’ ride and will allow visitors to fly over the skies of Pandora, and the other attraction will be a boat ride.

Here’s some news that will rankle North American Marvel fans, Hong Kong Disneyland will have an Iron Man ride. Similar to Star Tours, the Iron Man Experience will feature the Golden Avenger facing off against the forces of Hydra in Hong Kong. Sounds great for anyone who has an updated passport and the money and time to burn. Look, we understand that there can’t be any Marvel rides in Walt Disney World, but couldn’t they have this slotted for Disneyland? That agreement between Disney and Universal only applies to rides east of the Mississippi.

Upcoming Films

Disney had presentations for its upcoming film slate and the announcements were fast and heavy. New animated films include Gigantic, Moana, Zootopia, live-action versions of Beauty and the Beast, Ghost in the Shell, and The Jungle Book, a remake of Pete’s Dragon, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Alice Through The Looking Glass. Part of the presentation focused on Pixar, which showcased The Good Dinosaur and announcements for Cars 3, The Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, Coco (based on the Dia de los Muertos festival), and Toy Story 4. This fourth film in the franchise will be more of a love story and will be about Woody looking for his lost love Bo Peep. The Pixar stuff is exciting except for the third go around with Cars. But marketing types at Disney would disagree with that!

All these announcements and presentations at D23 Expo confirm that Disney isn’t resting on its laurels. The next few years will be exciting times for fans, at least when it comes to films. The theme park components will pay off at a much later date.

Jul 12 2015

Comic-Con 2015 Highlights

Another Comic-Con has made its impact with genre fans from all over the world. As exciting as it was for those lucky enough to attend the annual gathering at San Diego, there wasn’t any Earth-shattering news to come out of the convention. Nonetheless, many presentations and speakers were able to whet the appetites for fans at what lies ahead.

TV Shows

New trailers for The Walking Dead and Fear The Walking Dead made their debut and whetted the appetites for followers of the zombie phenomenon. While Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) has leadership headaches in season six of The Walking Dead, we all finally get to see how the walker apocalypse got its start with the prequel spinoff.

While Marvel Studios was conspicuously absent this year, we did get news about their TV shows Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. The most intriguing was the tease that one of the actual Avengers (and Maria Hill doesn’t count!) may appear in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. That being the Falcon (Anthony Mackie), which is terrific news since he is so popular.

As for their natural rival, DC, we found out that Jay Garrick will indeed be featured in The Flash and portrayed by Teddy Sears, plus Wally West is coming to the popular show as well as a new villain Zoom. Also, Hawkman himself will appear in the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow. Do we smell another spinoff coming?

Movies

The three big movie-related revelations at Comic-Con were about Fox’s Marvel movies, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and DC/Warner Brothers’ superhero films. The clear winner was DC who presented a teaser for the Suicide Squad, announced that there will be a Green Lantern Corps. film and that Ben Affleck will direct and star in a Batman solo film, and showed a near-perfect trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. But let’s go over the first two revelations.

Fox presented teasers for next year’s Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse, as well as next month’s Fantastic Four. While the new X-Men presentation was fascinating, what brought the house down was the first look at Deadpool. The teaser featured many of the same scenes from the ashcan trailer that made the rounds in the Internet to sell the idea of a Deadpool film. But added to that were the basic origin stuff of how Slade Wilson became the Merc with a Mouth. Overall, the trailer clearly shows that this will be an R-rated film to the delight of fans.

Just as delightful to watch was the Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel that was highlighted by a reunion of the Original Trilogy stars, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. A behind-the-scenes video was released that had new footage from the upcoming Star Wars film and one point that seems to be hammered into the video is the reliance on practical sets and effects so as to set it apart from the prequel films.

Arguably the most popular presentations where done by DC/Warner Bros. with their two comic book films due next year. The Suicide Squad trailer was fairly standard with Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) winning over drooling fans as expected. The images were buttressed by Will Smith’s take of Deadshot, who added some gravitas to what looked like a costume parade. However, Jared Leto stole the entire trailer at the end when he showed up as the Joker. He seemed just as manic and deadly as he appeared in the photos.

What set the DC presentation apart was the winning trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It showed that there will be real repercussions for the events in Man of Steel where Superman (Henry Cavill) and his foes effectively destroyed Metropolis. We find out that Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) was present in Metropolis during the climatic battle and witnessed firsthand the threat that meta-humans pose. His hatred for Superman seems natural and justified. Meanwhile, Superman has to contend with either being revered as some kind of god and feared and hated by others. All the protesters with the signs calling him an illegal alien is very topical. The final and winning touch to the trailer was the premiere of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. It didn’t show much but she looked beautiful and powerful. Thanks to the trailer Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has become the must-see film of 2016.

Marvel Studios MIA

DC’s presentations sucked all the air out of the convention for the other properties, even the Fox Marvel movies. What could’ve countered this was if Marvel Studios had bothered to make a presentation at Comic-Con. Instead, they stayed home and it remains to be seen if a price will be paid for this absence.

They had their reasons for staying out of Comic-Con, Ant-Man will be out in a few days and their other films may not be ready yet. Then there’s the fact that there may be presentations at next month’s D23 Expo, which will solely be about all things Disney. Or perhaps Marvel Studios will have another special presentation like they did last fall where they announced the full slate of the Phase Three MCU films. Except this time we’ll get actual footage from Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange.

Be that as it may, it is still probably a strategic mistake to take the year off Comic-Con. While the MCU films are riding a wave of popularity now, this year’s convention showed that genuine competition is coming and Marvel Studios needs to stay alert. Some cracks in the armor showed with Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man’s potential for success is unknown. If they didn’t want to show any footage, they could’ve at least shown some props or artwork from the upcoming films. Instead we got to see cool props from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice like the Batman armor. Score one for DC. 🙂

Lewis T. Grove

Jun 28 2015

Jurassic World Dominates The Summer

For the third weekend in a row Jurassic World is the box office champion having beaten off challenges from Inside Out and Ted 2. To date the film has earned $500 million in North America (and over $1.2 billion worldwide) making it the biggest film hit of the year, which is an amazing feat considering it’s the fourth film in a disregarded franchise.

Think about it. Of the three Jurassic Park films, only the first one is considered a classic, while the two that followed are seen as inferior, even though Steven Spielberg, the director of the first film, helmed the second one. The last film, Jurassic Park III, came out fourteen years ago and is a weak entry in the series. With such diminishing returns, the amount of time since Jurassic Park III came out and the thin credentials of Jurassic World’s director, Colin Trevorrow, not much was expected of the fourth film.

In fact, when the trailers first started making their way through the Internet, many kept snarking about how fake the dinosaurs looked and how dumb the idea was that the film had trained Velociraptors. The Summer of 2015 was supposed to belong to Avengers: Age of Ultron, remember that film? Well, to say that Jurassic World defied expectations is a gross understatement.

The question is why is it so successful? There are many reasons and theories. There’s nostalgia for the first film, which has endured for all this time and now the second film has come around to being recognized as a worthwhile sequel. So the public appetite was there for more adventures at Isla Nublar. Another reason has to do with the universal (no pun intended) appeal of dinosaurs. Out of a crowded summer schedule filled with superheroes and explosions, the sight of majestic and deadly dinosaurs was welcomed by those wanting something different. This leads to another reason; maybe the public is getting tired of superhero films. Avengers: Age of Ultron was over-marketed just like last year’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and although it was a huge success it didn’t match the original film in terms of quality and box office returns. The likely culprit for that has to do with that film’s merits and word of mouth. Then that leads to a final point, the word of mouth about Jurassic World and weaker-than-expected competition gave the film legs.

But the underlining reason for its success is that it’s a downright fun and well-made film. Jurassic World doesn’t have any pretensions and it isn’t a perfect film, but it accomplishes what it was supposed to do, being thrilling and entertaining. The textbook example of a summer film. Some may think it’s too early to declare Jurassic World the King of the Summer, but consider what’s left; Terminator: Genisys, Fantastic Four, Pixels. Seriously, can anyone expect these films to fire the imagination? Maybe Ant-Man and Minions will be contenders, but as of now Jurassic World rules the summer!

Waldermann Rivera

Starloggers

Observations, Reports & Remarks From Out Of This World & Beyond

Category Everything Else

Superman Shafted Again In The Movies

Assorted Star Trek Highlights

D23 Expo Highlights: Star Wars, MCU, Theme Parks & More

Comic-Con 2015 Highlights

Jurassic World Dominates The Summer

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