NEWS ROUNDUP Ver 2

BATTLE ANGEL VS. AVATAR
     James Cameron has confirmed that Battle Angel Alita is still on his slate of feature films to make. Yet how long this is going to take as Cameron has said that he's only going to concentrate on the Avatar sequels, two confirmed by him with a possible fourth, is anybody's guess when it will get made.

KICK ASS

     With Universal Pictures looking for a franchise it looks like a Kick-Ass sequel might just be in the works, minus Mathew Vaughn from the director's chair. If it is green lit, production could start as early as this fall.

THE AVENGERS
     Well this is a no shit Sherlock, everyone saw that one coming news. Disney and Marvel are putting The Avengers 2 into pre-production as soon as possible. Though the film wouldn't come out until at least till 2015. This will give time for

The Captain America sequel

Iron Man 3

A third Hulk film

Thor 2

A possible Shield movie

and the wanted by me, Edgar Wright's Irredeemable Ant-Man film to come out.

THE WALKING DEAD

     Creator Robert Kirkman talked a little bit about season 3 of the show recently saying that the prison is one of the most amazing set pieces done so far for the series. He also hinted the origin of the sword Michonne carries and uses will be told.

THE DARK TOWER

     Ron Howard twitted recently that he was in a story meeting for the much wanted film. Though he did say there is no time table yet for it.

PROMETHEUS

     I can't end this without a small but happy Prometheus news tid-bit. The rating for the film is "R". All I can say is thankfully someone got smart in Hollywood and let this one be what it should!

THE AVENGERS

THE AVENGERS (2012)
US
Directed by Joss Whedon

CAST:
Robert Downey Jr. - Tony Stark/ Iron Man
Chris Evans - Steve Rogers/ Captain America
Chris Hemsworth - Thor

PLOT:
     Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. brings together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.

REVIEW:
     So it's Summer, so that means that it's time for the studios to roll out their biggest films and movies. Even though there were other movies before this one already, Hunger Games if you were wondering, this is the beast that is going to make or break Marvel as a whole and set-up a whole slew of film if it did well. And from what it did over-seas last weekend, it's going to be a Juggernaut (sorry had to throw a character reference in there, me being a comic book reader). So going into this I actually tried to be even so where I won't be completely biased. But hell, who am I kidding..... here's why you should see this film!

 
1. The Hulk: Yes, the Hulk is the Hyde to Bruce Banner's Jeckyll and they are for all intents and purposes two separate entities in the movie. But when the Hulk shows up you know it.  At the end of the movie when every time the Hulk is on screen something cool happens and you find out why everyone is afraid of him and his power. Skip the seeing the recent Hulk movies and just watch this instead as they finally get the character right.

2. Joss Whedon: While yes, he wrote Cabin In The Woods that came out last month (review here) he finally can get the true exposure he truly deserves, not just as a writer but a director. While anyone that has seen Buffy, Angel, or Firefly know he's an amazing writer and director, now the studios and the world in general know it. And that is a good thing.

3. The script: While the film is a geek dream come true, it wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for the writing. From the small quips that everyone makes toward the other person to the more personal, smaller introspections that happen, the movie wouldn't have worked if it wasn't for this. Each character has their own voice that sticks out. Which in a film this big, is something amazing in and of itself.

4. The Characters: Actually that's a bad way to put it, as I should say icons. Everyone knows who they are or at least seen pictures of them before, yet in this they actually see why they are icons from the past and present. And now, the future. Captain America leads finally like he should. Thor is shown as a protector. Iron Man as the billionaire genius. The Hulk as the time bomb with the faulty timer that he truly is. Nick Fury as the man that does what needs to be done no matter what. Hawkeye as the ultimate marksman. And Black Widow as the spy that was only previously hinted at.

5. The last 45 minutes of the film: Holy hell that was pure awesome.

6. The movie itself: It shows that a film packed with so many stars and characters can work if the story is treated correctly and not dumbed down or become to preachy as some other superhero movies. Even with a small nag about the camera work during one scene causing the action to get lost, it didn't take anything away from the film at all. While most people who see this will only concentrate on the action aspect of the film, it's the characters themselves that drive the film through and through. This is about as close to a perfect film and what blockbusters are meant to be.

BEST DEATH:
     Hulk smash!

BEST LINE:
     Puny god.

FUN FACTS:
     Mark Ruffalo, who play Bruce Banner/ The Hulk describes Bruce Banner as "a guy struggling with two sides of himself, the dark and the light; everything he does in his life is filtered through issues of control." He furthermore describes Banner's alter ego the Hulk as "a loose cannon - he's the teammate none of them are sure they want, it's like throwing a grenade into the middle of the group and hoping it turns out well!"

     Has an unusually high number of Academy Award nominees in the cast and crew for a comic book movie - or most movies for that matter.

      According to Joss Whedon, The original cut of the movie was over 3 hours long. There will be about 30 minutes of the excised footage included in the DVD Release, most of which revolves around Steve Rogers (Captain America). Whedon revealed that one of these scenes involved Rogers struggling to adjust to the modern world in his Brooklyn apartment and another revealed Steve Rogers' reunion with Peggy Carter.

     The Chitauri appear in the first story arc of The Ultimates. Their leader claims that they go by many names, including Skrulls.So the early rumors were true. In a way......

     The mid-credit scene hints at what is to come, and his name is Thanos.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (2011)
US
Directed by Joe Johnston

CAST:
Chris Evans - Steve Rogers/ Captain America
Hayley Atwell - Peggy Carter
Hugo Weaving - Johann Schmidt/ Red Skull

PLOT:
     After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.

REVIEW:
     Out of all the summer movies to come out this year, Captain America was the one that I was most unsure about. I'll admit that I've never been a fan of the character until they redid him in the Ultimate side of the Marvel universe. Now that the movie is out we have a much bigger picture of Marvel's plan for their movies. So what did I make of the movie?

     This movie worked due to Chris Evans plain and simple. A lot of people give Chris Evans flak for his acting ability. His choice of playing Johnny Storm didn't help with this, even though he basically played him correctly. I felt the same way about him until I saw him in Sunshine. And what do you know, he can actually act. And again he proves he can act in Captain America as the title character, as well as carry a movie. Evans downplays his character, which was exactly what was needed for the character to work as Steve Rogers wasn't never about ego. It was about doing what needed to get done even if it cost him his life. The one actor that didn't hit all the right marks for me was Hugo Weaving though. That's not to say that he didn't do great as the Red Skull, yet to me it seemed as if Weaving kept on losing his accent in the movie every third sentence. This thankfully didn't make his character seem any less threatening as Weaving is always a perfect choice for the antagonist as he always gets into his role and this one just seems like it was meant for him and I really can't see anyone else playing the Red Skull now.

     I just want to take this time to thank Joe Johnston. He knew what had to be done to make the film work and he pulled it off. Instead of having the film take place in present day, he set it during WWII. This might not seem like a big deal but yet in doing so, it showed how Steve Rogers truly became the man that he is and how that helped create Captain America. Half the movie is how Steve Rogers fights and claws to be accepted before he is even selected for the procedure to make him Captain America. We see that he's someone that even though he isn't strong and is frail, he is always thinking of different ways to accomplish tasks. We're shown that even when he's outclassed and beaten down he won't give up. It's thanks to this that the audience comes to care about Rogers and what he goes through. This is also thanks to Evan's acting that we can relate and enjoy the character, more than anything else though, Evans makes Steve Rogers human.

     I know that in this review it seemed that most of the attention was focused on Evans performance and that nothing else really seemed to stick out. The truth is the whole film was something amazing to watch. It felt as if I was watching a good Indiana Jones movie again. The action sequences are fun to watch and the retro sci-fi feel of the weapons just adds to this. I must say I was surprised with the film overall as it was better than I could have hoped for or even imagined it could be done. From strong performances from all actors and actresses to a great musical score from Alan Silvestri, Joe Johnston has done what I thought couldn't be done and that's make a amazing film based on Captain America and have you care about the characters.  Now all that is left to be seen is if all the pieces from the different Marvel movies can be put together and work in The Avengers next year. Please Whedon, don't screw it up!

BEST DEATH:
      The Hydra soldier that gets minced by propeller blade in mid-flight.

BEST LINE:
     I'm invisible. I'm....I'm turning into you!

FUN FACTS:
     Despite being "The First Avenger", it is the last solo Avenger film to be released before the team-up film, The Avengers, which comes out last year.

     Originally cameo appearances were planned in the film for James Logan Howlett (Wolverine) and Erik Lensherr (Magneto), who were present during World War II (Logan was a soldier and Lensherr was a prisoner of war). Also planned was a cameo by Namor, The Sub-Mariner. These cameos were scrapped due to various issues.

     Wolverine is connected to Captain America through the Weapon Plus Program. Steve Rogers was classified as Weapon I, while Wolverine, or James  Logan Howlett, was classified as Weapon X.

      This is Chris Evans seventh comic book movie, and his third Marvel comic book movie. The films are: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, TMNT, Push, The Losers, and Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World.