The first trailer for the Joaquin Phoenix Joker film has landed, and it's... different. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing, we'll just have to wait and see.
The Joker seems to take a completely different approach to other DC films in that it gives us the origin of the Dark Knight Detective's most famed villain and puts it center stage. I'm cautiously optimistic as it does look good, but could revealing the Joker's true origin ruin some of the magic that made him so special? I'd previously written that Nolan handled him perfectly, he arrived on the scene and "had no fingerprints, no ID, nothing but 'knives and lint.'" He arose from nothing, and in the end literally vanished. But here, we get motivations and familial links- which can only serve to humanize him, making him more relatable and understandable, which in turn takes away the true wild card aspect of his being.
"I think they went a little too far into a Tony "Scarface" Montana look. I mean, while he is the Clown Prince of Crime, they entirely left out the clown part. When he makes Griggs kiss his hand I was totally expecting a water spout to splash out of the ring in the face, or have a flower on his coat do it, but it never happened. Ayer completely left that aspect out. They made him all bling and no sting."
Hopefully this team has learned the lesson of failure from Ayers and Leto. In the mean time, I'll keep my fingers crossed that Joaquin Phoenix along with writer/director Todd Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver have done something much more in line with the iconic and beloved arch-rival to the legendary Batman himself.
Seriously, this looks to either be a masterpiece, or something very, very terrible. It's a risky film that DC is taking a massive chance with.
In an out-of-left-field announcement, Sony has announced that Jared Leto has been cast in a Morbius film, based on the 1971 comic character created by Gil Kane and Roy Thomas for Amazing Spider-Man 101.
This comes as an odd surprise as Morbius has never been a huge character in the Spider-Man universe, whereas the Venom film makes sense because he's been in countless issues and series as well as being wildly popular as a dark and gritty anti-hero. Morbius has only appeared periodically since that first issue and even had a solo-series for a few years.
Michael Morbius was a scientist with a rare blood disorder, and in a typical old horror story fashion through an effort to cure the disease via a science experiment gone wrong, he instead transformed himself into a pseudo-vampire- along with all the vampire-like traits that come with it such as enhanced strength, speed, a healing factor, night vision, echolocation, and the classic vampire staple- a thirst for blood.
He began as a foe of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and eventually grew to be a tragic anti-hero and fight for the side of good. Perhaps Leto will be able to really nail the tragic dichotomy of a man torn between seeking to do good and fighting his inhuman lust for blood. Rumors say that Daniel Espinoza (Safe House) is going to be directing the feature, so hopefully we'll get something more character accurate than Leto's bizarre take on the Joker from Suicide Squad. In addition, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless are writing the script, and they will be overseen by Palak Patel.
Now I'm curious to know if Sony hold the cinematic rights to Jack Russel, of Marvel Comics' Werewolf By Night. Or if they'll have a cameo appearance of either Venom or Spider-Man considering the relation of the properties.
Morbius has no set release window yet.
Venom is set to release October 5th.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is slated for early July 2019 release.
Looks a bit clunky for flow, and his character model isn't nearly as square-jawed and bulky as most modern incarnations of Superman have been portrayed, but still looking good. A more fully formed description of the skills, including a plethora of unseen passive skills, is listed below.
We're finally getting a steady stream of new game info at a decent rate now, so I'm really hoping the game will be released soon, and shortly after to the rest of us in the western markets- unless they do a global launch right off the bat.
It looks like DC fans will finally have a mobile game good enough to compete with Marvel's truly amazing Future Fight. I truly hope that publisher 4:33 Creative Labs and developer Thumb Ageis can make this the mobile DC Comics game we've been clamoring for years to get.
Since Korean publisher FourThirtyThree, Inc (4:33 Creative Lab), along with DC and Warner Bros., announced the upcoming mobile game DC Unchained I've been quite excited to see what looks to be the equivalent of Netmarble's absolutely amazing Marvel Future Fight. Unfortunately, early last month the company broke the news that they would be undergoing some drastic changes and the game would be delayed into 2018. Then just a couple days ago 4:33 gave us the first official trailer for the closed beta test.
DC Unchained is shaping up to be a tremendous 3rd person action-RPG letting players take the roles of an initial 30 heroes and villains across multiple modes including story, PvP, and real-time co-op.
The closed beta test will run for one week in January (Wed. the 10th through Wed. the 17th), and sadly it is limited not only to Android devices, but also to players located in Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Testers have the chance to obtain Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, along with numerous other goodies such as gold, gems, and skins to aid them in their quests once the game has its grand launch at a later date. So if you are lucky enough to live in one of those areas head over to the pre-registration site to get signed up!
While many of us have been eagerly awaiting DC Comics' mobile game version of Marvel's Future Fight, DC Unchained, we received the news that its western release would be pushed back into 2018 from the game's Korean developer FourThirtyThree, Inc (4:33 Creative Labs). Coincidentally, DC Comics has also licensed and soft-launched an extremely similar game to the Chinese market through Longtu games called Justice League: Superheroes in earlier this year in April.
The game features a current total of 20 heroes obtained through either a "gacha" system or slowly collecting pieces to unlock a hero. Each individual hero falls into a paper-rock-scissors type set of classification- Assassin, Support, Warrior, or Mage- breaking down into the traditional roles of tank, rogue, healer, and so on.
As of now, there's roughly 10 different game modes to keep players occupied and grinding away including a traditional story mode, world boss mode, bounty quests, and PvP modes.
While Justice League Superheroes does not have the promise of a western release, there's always a small possibility that it could happen, though the chances might be slimmer due to DC Unchained coming here and creating the problem of the two games competing between each other.
After it was revealed at Comic Con Seoul, the upcoming mobile action-RPG game DC Unchained has been oddly missing from the news. In late October however, the developers released some potential bad news for the title.
Due to some financial woes, DC Unchained developer FourThirtyThree, Inc (4:33 Creative Labs), a one time top South Korean developer, has reported massive net losses since 2014 with great competition from mobile game giants like Nexon and NetMarble (who make the Marvel comics equivalent game called Marvel Future Fight). Since the announcement 4:33 has had to make huge alterations to their business model after having no break out titles in years. They had an emergency board meeting to discuss and plan a new business strategy, which includes a move away from creating 3rd party and move towards more self-developed IPs and titles, as well as reductions in manpower in marketing and publishing roles. While 4:33 have said there's been no restructuring, they have offered employees the opportunity to retire from the company.
The company has stated that any games that already have 3rd party deals will remain unaffected. With that, they've got Blade 2, Boxing Star, and DC Unchained on the way to hopefully alleviated the financial troubles. Part of the announcement mentioned the fact that DC Unchained will not hit the expected release of late 2017 in time for the release of the Justice League film, but rather the game will be released in 2018- and it has been confirmed to be coming to western markets for certain.
It looks like Korean publisher 4:33 Creative Labs announced at a recent Comic Con that their development studio Thumb Ageis has been officially working on a DC Universe based mobile game, called DC Unchained, and it looks like worthy competition for Netmarble's massively popular Marvel Future Fight.
Much like the Marvel Future Fight, players will choose a team of 3 characters- such as Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman- out of an initial 30 heroes and villains, for a variety of modes including story, PvP, and even real-time co-op. There's been hints that there are still a couple modes yet to be revealed, and there's always the potential for the DC roster to expand greatly after the initial launch.
Not much else is known at this point. It looks a little choppy at points, but overall it could easily become the best DC Universe game available once it launches as titles like DC Legends or the mobile versions of Injustice, the 3rd person RPG fun just hasn't been matched nearly as well as Future Fight nailed Marvel's characters.
I'm seriously looking forward to this and will be updating here as more information and news comes in.
DC Unchained is expected to hit Western shores in 4Q 2017.
After ignoring what fans have been bitching about for years, the box office numbers of Fox's Deadpool film, and last weekend's Logan raking in huge numbers, have made some studios rethink the ratings on their own films. Deadpool had over $130 million just for the opening weekend.
The Wrap reports that an Insider at Warner Bros.' DC Films recently said that, "With the right character(s)" they would definitely make an R-rated film. A "100% yes," they would consider making a more adult oriented movie.
Granted there have been previous R-rated superhero films such as Blade, Kickass, and Watchmen, but I worry that the studio goal is to simply make money, without putting in the effort to understand why Deadpool and Logan are doing so damn well at the box office.
DC Comics in film has generally been handled very poorly. Zack Snyder doesn't seem to grasp what makes these iconic characters important and lasting, and the result can be clearly seen in the vast difference between the abominable Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Christopher Nolan's tremendous Batman: The Dark Knight. Would making BvS: Dawn of Justice an R-rated film give it the boost it needed? Not really, as the extended version showed. It was a better version than the theatrical cut, but it still fell short of what is should've been. They need to learn character insight before a rating will make a difference. Deadpool nailed the character, and Logan got it almost 100% right- it made a giant leap forward and I think the first 2/3 is amazing and then it falters a bit. What is important with Logan is they learned that they need to make a good film first, then add the R, as I'd been complaining about for years. It's why X-Men: Apocalypse was garbage, they didn't make a good story.
Not every comic book movie needs the grittier reboot. The rating doesn't matter if the writers and directors don't "get it." Look at how shitty the first two Wolverine films were. As the Insider mentions, with the right character an R rating could do very well. Ben Affleck's Batman in the right hands could be an R rated masterpiece. Think of Casino or Goodfellas with the Batman- a hardcore crime story filled with the mob focused villains, and maybe a very serious take on the Riddler. It could be absolutely astounding, but I doubt it would work with Snyder a the helm. He lacks the fundamental knowledge of the underlying significance of these characters. We need a Scorsese leading the project, something handled by people that understand more than a simple good looking shot. They have to know what makes the stories and characters matter, and in the end it needs to come down to substance over spectacle.
It isn't often that free-to-play games are good, and even less frequently that a movie tie-in is good, let alone the generally doomed combination of a free-to-play movie tie-in, but somehow, against all the odds, Suicide Squad: Special Ops is really good. It plays with surprising competency, and even more surprisingly, with it does it all with absolutely no ads or IAPs whatsoever.
Suicide Squad: Special Ops is an oddity. It's a mobile first-person arena shooter of sorts letting you play as 3 of the Squad members- Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Diablo- and pitting players against wave after wave of increasingly difficult hordes. It has an odd mechanic where the standard attacks of the 3 playable characters happen automatically when enemies are in front of them. So players generally only move and aim, with normal attacking just occurring when in range of enemies.
Each of the characters have a meter which builds that allows for their respective special abilities. They all feel unique in their own ways and can be upgraded after killing so many enemies- things like more health or an increase in damage.
The game does have a couple downsides though. It is a survival rogue-like, meaning if you die you lose all the powerups and opened areas and have to start all over. I suppose that is an apt model for the Suicide Squad. One thing that makes this fact more harsh is the fact there isn't a true pause or save checkpoint to pick up from. You HAVE to play until you die. It isn't a big negative unless you play for long amounts of time a lot, but it does get to be an annoyance when you make it really far and have to quit or do something else.
Another issue that bothered me a bit was that the characters are definitely in need of some balancing. Harley is easily the least useful character relying on primarily melee attacks and a revolver, with a frenzied melee special puts her into direct damage consistently. Deadshot has a decent range and a great special ability, but has a problem with needing to find ammo refill boxes frequently. Then there's Diablo, who is the most versatile of the 3. He's got good damage and range with his flames, and his special move unleashes a 360 degree fire blast that is extremely useful as you progress into huge groups of very strong enemies.
It's been weeks since I started playing this, and it's still fun as hell. If you enjoyed the movie, I'd definitely recommend giving this a chance if you haven't already. Developer Sticky Studios miraculously made this game in a mere 3 and a half months, and it came out better than a vast majority of games with much longer development times. They've raised the bar for a creative use of a movie tie-in game license and I'm curious to see if they will expand this game with any future updates (ie: more characters to play, such as my favorite SS character Boomerang, more weapons, or environments) as has been mentioned by one of the developers in the Touch Arcade forums.
In the end, Suicide Squad: Special Ops is a simple and fun experience for fans of either mobile FPS games, or the DC Comics' anti-hero team. Give it a chance and you should get a fair amount of entertaining gameplay time out of it.
There's a lot of good in DC Comics' Suicide Squad, their first attempt at matching something on par with Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy's tremendous box office smashing greatness. But for all the good, writer/director David Ayer seemingly found a way to balance it with a bit of bad.
First off, every single member has been cast perfectly. The downside is that not all of them get enough screen time. For the ones that do get appropriate time (Deadshot, Harley, and Diablo), they get treated with cliched and typical story arcs. Nothing new or interesting to make them stand out. There's an overabundance of unnecessary flashbacks, and too many useless moments. Someone should've cut the crap, and pare it down. The film is a jumbled patchwork mess. But it kind of works here. Not in a great way, but it does "kind of" work.
...THE COVER UP...
Ayer had the chance to really make a difference and show us what bad guys can do and he fumbles it into something just slightly better than mediocre. Take, for instance, Flag and Deadshot's rivalry. It makes no sense to see Flag continually point out that Deadshot is a murderer/mercenary whereas he is himself a "soldier," while at the same time trying to show that Flag is in awe of Deashot's abilities. It makes no sense to go with the low bar they stuck with. Will Smith's Deadshot is charming and highly skilled, Joel Kinnamen's Flag is a perfect soldier and leader- so why wouldn't they balance it more towards two conflicting point of killers-for-hire growing towards mutual respect. It just isn't handled properly at all. No nuance, no real heft to their relationship.
The same thing goes for many of the characters. Diablo's refusal to participate in the fighting would've been made more apparent if he was under attack as opposed to all the enemies apparently simply running by him. Then have only at the end, have him release all that pent up anger to the end bad guy, yelling something like, "You think you are gods?!? Well, I'm the fucking devil!" And go into raging fire-titan mode. But no, Ayer played it too soft. (I do really like the look of Diablo's "transformation"- it kept in line with his heritage and powers well.)
Because it's needs to be talked about, Harley Quinn and the Joker are next. Leto has indeed created a new and interesting take on the Joker. I think they went a little too far into a Tony "Scarface" Montana look. I mean, while he is the Clown Prince of Crime, they entirely left out the clown part. When he makes Griggs kiss his hand I was totally expecting a water spout to splash out of the ring in the face, or have a flower on his coat do it, but it never happened. Ayer completely left that aspect out. They made him all bling and no sting. His demeanor is wonderfully crafted however. Harley on the other hand is handled pretty damn well. She's crazy and capable and easily the Joker's equal- and by the sounds of it WB will be capitalizing on that fact soon. They probably could've carried the film if they wanted.
Then for the Enchantress, I actually think her essence was captured quite well. She was at times creepy and powerful. Moving in a jittery walk and swaying motion- she exudes a strange dark power. Then at other times she seemed to be an absurd caricature of herself- bright and cartoony. Her role was nicely split between the doctor mortal and the supernatural witch.
As for the rest of the crew, they are all criminally under utilized. Boomerang is hilarious and should've used at least a dozen more of his signature weapons all at once. Katana might've been far cooler if, instead of moping into her soul-absorbing sword, she spoke to it as if lovingly feeding it. Killer Croc might've been better off if he was an even larger CG-ed beast like Colossus in Deadpool, and should've asked to watch the much more appropriate National Geographic channel.
Then there's Amanda Waller. I actually think she's perfect here. She's every bit as unscrupulous and agenda driven as she should be. She exudes a conviction of purpose and drive that should definitely be maintained for any future films.
...DON'T FORGET, WE'RE THE BAD GUYS
Considering the title it should have had a significantly higher death toll. Ayer should've started with twice the number of villains and in the first encounter with Enchantress's soldiers, kill all the non-essentials off in a bloody tough as nails fight. We should've seen how hard they all could fight, but what we got is some small stakes and only really Deadshot showing off. It would've shown us exactly how high the stakes are, and pointed the remaining villains to know that something far more serious is behind all the lies.
We should've seen them truly using their villainous behavior as a force for something good. Unfortunately we don't get that. We just get a bunch of misfits doing some decent stuff. If there's a sequel, Ayer needs an assistant writer and some really dark and questionable decisions put on screen.
Overall Suicide Squad, despite all its problems, is still fun as hell. This felt like a film based off of a rough draft of a script that should've had a couple DC Comics geniuses like Geoff Johns come in and punch up the dialogue and edit down the flashbacks to make a stronger overall film. But as I said, it's still fun as hell. I really hope to see a second one with better writing, cleaner characterization, darker story, more characters, and a much, much higher death toll. It isn't the best of DC's movies, but it's far from the worst and honestly, I really enjoyed it anyways.
And really, I have a feeling this is a rushed cut, and there'll be a better cut for the DVD/Bluray release. The cast is right, the ideas are right- but they've got only the base and the right direction- now they need to find the right writer and director to crank this up to Deadpool levels of amazingness for fans.
Ever since the LEGO Movie hits theaters, I had considered LEGO Batman to be one of the greatest cinematic interpretations of the Batman character. Then I heard he was getting his own LEGO spinoff movie, and I was quite overjoyed.
Here is the first full and glorious trailer:
My only complaint is there is currently no LEGO Mr. Freeze. I hope he gets a cameo.
The LEGO Batman Movie hits theaters Feb. 10th, 2017.
The best part of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has received her own film's trailer, including the best part of the soundtrack- Wonder Woman's theme song.
Wonder Woman's trailer looks quite good. My only complaint is the fight scene looks a bit odd with the sliding around in slow motion- her movements feel like they're moving her around while she is holding a position instead of a proper flow of body mechanics. Otherwise, Wonder Woman is looking damned great.
With all the great things going on at SDCC 2016, it was a sure bet we'd get the Wonder Woman trailer, but this Justice League one is a bit of a surprise.
What is a bigger surpriseis how awesome Ezra Miller's Flash is. He's all set to be the most entertaining character of the film. Also, that nice jab at Aquaman talking to fish was a very nice touch.
Although, I do have to question how DC Comics's handling of their film properties are really copying the Marvel precedent. Wonder Woman's trailer looks an awful lot like Captain America: The First Avenger, and Justice League is really hitting all the Avengers notes. They are formula's that work, so I'm not really put off by it. At least DC is learning and these films are looking better than their predecessors.
Also, where's Green Lantern? He was cast and removed from the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and there's no sign of him in this trailer- so where's our intergalactic policeman? We need a cosmic powered emerald warrior to help fight Darkseid.
Justice League is set to arrive in theater November 2017.
With Suicide Squad nearing it's theatrical release, I anticipate a plethora of hype through marketing. There's been a ton of trailers and tv spots, action figures, and even a mobile game, which sadly doesn't have Boomerang as a playable character.
Since the first trailer, I've actually been most excited to see this incarnation of (Captain) Boomerang. I was initially worried because Jai Courtney was cast, but he actually doesn't appear to be his usual sack-of-meat "acting" self and seems like he'll be putting forth a real effort, which all of us fans will be grateful for. Hell, I might even cosplay as him sometime this year.
This film looks like it'll be a ton of fun. I can't wait to see how many of the cast don't make it out. Coming as a fan who really enjoyed the 2001-2002 run of the series, I hope the toll is high. And if you get a chance to read that series, do it- particularly issue 3 with the island of killer ants. That issue alone is worth reading the whole dozen issues.
First we got the Suicide SquadComic Con Trailer, then we got the "Worst Heroes Ever" trailer, now we get "Blitz." Once again, there's a ton of great material here including some peaks at what might be the real villain behind the film- because I'm not convinced it's just the Joker.
There's a lot more humor here, as well as some decent looks at some of the characters' weapons- I'm looking at you Boomerang! There's also a couple new shots of Batman to give us some more of Ben Affleck's great take on the Dark Knight. Suicide Squad is already looking far better than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Readers already know my thoughts about that travesty.
Instead of pointing out all the little things I spotted as I usually do, I'll just link to a Mr. Sunday Movies video that gives a great rundown:
Just in time we for this Easter weekend, we got an Easter Basket. What I mean about that is the fact that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice isn't really a movie with a few Easter Eggs, but rather it's a series of Easter Eggs strung together in an attempt to be 2 and a half hour commercial for DC Comics' future films. I'm not even kidding, the whole film was predicated on setting other films up when it should've rightfully been it's own damn story.
SPOILER ALERT for past the break (This is also a long-winded rant warning.)
[ EDIT: I forgot to post this Friday night before I left for the Holiday weekend. ]
I'll be seeing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice tonight after work, and with the film's release, Entertainment Weekly has posted an article about the future Wonder Woman film. The picture itself looks pretty damn great. I'm still hesitant about Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, but I'll wait to see her in action to make a full judgement on how she does, as some people pull off roles despite not appearing as many believe they should. Warning: this could get into ramble mode.
The Amazonian warriors from left to right: Lieutenant Menalippe (Lisa Loven Kongsli), Diana/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), General Antiope (Robin Wright).
There's something a little disconcerting about the article. I found the decidedly strange take on the costumes a bit odd. They want them to be authentic and real, but not like the males? Interesting, the armor definitely keeps a semi-Grecian vibe, but also looks a little like Viking gear.
The issue isn't with the clothes, it's with the heels. Why? I can see for the cinematic quality it would be ok to a point for the clothing- but why have the fucking high heels?!? I've bitched about the issue for years, if a person takes action in any combat capacity- do not use heels! I even raged at the idea of Nolan's version of Catwoman and her idiotic heels. A cat burglar needs to be stealthy, quiet, and agile, not clacky-sounding as hell and totally impractical for any sort of evasive maneuvering for breaking in and out of places. Where is this idea of needing heels from? At least on some boots it serves as a control for stirrups, but here they are useless.
“To me, they shouldn’t be dressed in armor like men,” Jenkins says of the women’s battle wear. “It should be different. It should be authentic and real – and appealing to women.” Jenkins and her costume designer, Lindy Hemming (The Dark Knight), crafted a look that showed off the women’s ripped shoulders and toned legs, in outfits that looked practical but that still featured the tropes of the comic book, in particular the braces on their wrists and, yes, even the high heels.
Jenkins defends the impractical footwear. “It’s total wish-fulfillment,” she says, adding that the warriors have flats for heavy fighting. “I, as a woman, want Wonder Woman to be hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time – the same way men want Superman to have huge pecs and an impractically big body. That makes them feel like the hero they want to be. And my hero, in my head, has really long legs.”
All right, I've written about this topic over and over and over and over and over again. From a male's perspective, we don't want Superman to look like he's one of those preposterously huge muscle heads, we want someone to look like what they are doing is something they actually could do. I'd recommend you read the much lengthier post here, but in it I can sum up the image thing with this snippet from it:
Body types do mean something in these films. I'm not talking about breast size. I couldn't care less about that. This is about a fighter's physique. There's a reason no one would think of casting DJ Qualls in the role of Batman. No one would consider hiring a hundred pound actor for Superman. If Snyder is trying to keep with his own, new versions of these characters- grounded in reality, more gritty and realistic, then she needs to look the part of a hand-to-hand combat warrior. Think of Lucy Lawless in Xena: Warrior Princess. Would she have had the same impact if she was a twig? Not even close.
Think about it- would anyone hire Mackenzie Crook as Batman? No. He would, however, make a wonderful Scarecrow. Why is that? It's the image. It's because appearance is important, they are archetypal for some roles- most notably in globally recognizable iconic ones at that. Nobody is going to believe a scrawny Batman will get the job done now. Michael Keaton worked well back in the late 80's, but now? He wouldn't work. If we require the males to be buff and ripped to look their respective roles, so should the ladies.
Image does mean something, and the high heel came into fashion long after the Greek culture Themyscira is based off of is set in. I do think the armor looks great, I don't really have an issue with that. It's the heels, they look quite out of place. Even for the non-heavy fighting it's just plain stupid. If there's any fighting, there should be no heels. Seriously, I can suspend disbelief in most of the powers, and even that the twiggy-sized Gadot can be Wonder Woman, but those god-damned heels are ridiculous. It's almost worse than the Jurassic World high-heel fiasco- if a T Rex could run at roughly 18mph, there is no way she'd outrun one, let alone outrunning one in a pair of high heels. It was easily the most outrageous moment in the film.
On the other hand I must say the fact that Director Patty Jenkins wants "as a woman, Wonder Woman to be hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time." I really hope this will dispel the notion that beautiful or attractive superheroines are merely a male fantasy. No male looks at an ugly character, such as Toad from the X-Men comics, and thinks they want to be that dude. No men are lining up to be morbidly obese Blob either. This is exactly what I was saying with the snippets I took from my old posts- Mackenzie Crook or DJ Qualls would never fly as Batman because they aren't considered attractive male lead material.
It just seems like a double standard, that somehow males want fantasized muscular men and attractive women, but for some reason women don't? Attractive heroes, regardless of gender, will always be appreciated over those that are not (how many women went to see Deadpool simply because of Ryan Reynolds?), and it is so damn refreshing to hear a woman admit that she wants a capable and hot heroine.
Besides, it's about fucking time there's a bad ass superheroine film. It's been long overdue. There's a lot riding on this movie, and hopefully it does well enough to start getting some other female lead hero stuff in the mix. I mean, it's been 5 years since Iron Man 2, and Black Widow hasn't gotten an awesome espionage film yet and Captain Marvel isn't set to release until 2019.
If you've made it this far I wonder if I should make the joke about Achilles' Heel being a 6 inch stiletto. But then again, it's only slightly less absurd than seeing it on all the Greek warrior women.
Wonder Woman is set to hit theaters on June 23rd, 2017.
The final trailer for the highly anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has dropped, conveniently timed to coincide with the release of so many other films, notably Deadpool. Regardless, the hype for this is getting pretty high. Even I am super excited for this, although I still have plenty of reservations.
The trailer definitely looks to be building us up for one hell of a final battle. We'll probably get a Batman v Superman v Wonder Woman v Dungeon Troll Doomsday v ... and so on. I mean we still haven't gotten footage of Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, or Green Lantern. Though, to be fair, they'll probably be minor cameos at best- maybe even a just a small post credits sequence.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this turns out to be much more well written than Man of Steel, which was good despite it's flaws. It already looks better, but trailers aren't always indicative of substance- take Snyder's Sucker Punch. It was a brilliant trailer and a downright horrendous film. He tends to put style over substance. Though, in this case David Goyer is helping with the writing...
...then again, while Goyer did write the Nolan Batman Dark Knight films, he also did Man of Steel and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance and we all know how that last one turned out.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hits theaters March 25th.
While I have a ton of qualms with the way Gotham has been handling the Batman universe, I am both very happy and at the same time very displeased that they are bringing in my favorite Bat-villain Mr. Freeze.
On one hand, it's awesome that they are using one of the most tragic origin stories possible and it could potentially wind up being quite amazing. There's been some interesting developments through the show, but in general, they've turned what should rightfully be a badass, dark and gritty crime and detective show into an angst-ridden teen-focused drama, and my hopes for it are bleak.
On the other hand, the creators are really shoe-horning every last person they can into a continuity that most of them don't even need to be in yet. Seriously, not every damn villain had to be from the Gotham area and they certainly do not have to be all interconnected before Batman arrives on the scene. It's ridiculous and it's been a complaint I've had with the series since the first episodes. It's something I feared would be done even before the show began, and it definitely has.
When it was announced I thought it was going to be a show about Jim Gordon's rise through the ranks tackling the locale crime lords and that would be it with maybe some small cameos. Such as Victor Fries as a consulting specialist during a single crime. Or maybe Gordon chases away a teenager spray painting a wall, and it would've been a question mark. Little things that serve as nods to the future of Gotham as opposed to the giant flashing neon signs pointing and screaming, "Look at who this is!"
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise, Marvel is doing the same damn thing with their movies. It's nice to have a bunch of little nods here and there for long time fans, but when it's so overt it loses its magic and the effect it should have is wasted. At least the Marvel's Netflix shows are keeping it low key and done well.
Regardless, I'll be returning to Gotham when it begins again on Feb. 29th at 8pm so I can see what they do with Mr. Freeze. There's absolutely no way it can be worse than what DC Comics did with him for the New 52 comics. God was it ever awful. They took Paul Dini's masterpiece of origin story writing and tossed it in the garbage making Freeze just another forgettable super-powered crazy. I'll be crossing my fingers for this to turn out well.
Hot on the heels of DC Comics' amazing new Suicide Squad "Worst Heroes Ever" trailer, the CW had Kevin Smith on to talk about the upcoming Wonder Woman film yesterday and we get to see some of the film in action. As Gadot (Diana "Wonder Woman" Prince herself) says, "We're going to see her coming of age, an entire history."
So it sounds and looks like we'll be seeing yetanother origin story movie. Similar to Marvel's Captain America, this one seems set to Nazi crushing World War 2 era and some flashbacks to a much older time.
I think it looks pretty damn good. Zack Snyder's influence on the dark and muted colors appears to be a little heavy handed, but what footage there is, is decent. I'll remain cautiously optimistic in the mean time. I was hoping for a much bulkier Amazonian warrior, someone that looks like they are right out of the WW2 era like, and apologies for the 2nd Marvel reference in this post, but something more like Agent Carter- a woman with some meat.
That might sound crude, but I've written about it time and time again. I think Gadot still looks far too slim for the role, and while she might be super strong and an Amazonian fighter, she also should look like the part. The physique should reflect the activity and lifestyle. No one would believe a super scrawny 150 pound Superman, because sometimes image does matter, so why do we still have a stick-figure thin Wonder Woman?
Despite the qualms, Wonder Woman looks good enough to give me hope for more female led super hero films.
Wonder Woman is set to hit theaters on June 23rd, 2017.
