TRAILER PARK: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

It seems like more and more often these days, big budget comic book properties are favoring the slow build. Studios will release a couple teasers here and there to build hype for the trailer — or, rather, the short trailer. Then, to keep the hype building, a longer trailer follows that one. Not so for Captain America: Civil War.

This glorious two and half minute trailer for Cap’s third outing debuted on Jimmy Kimmel Live Tuesday night. And. It. Is. Marvelous!

There’s a lot to dissect in this trailer, but I’m just going to touch upon a few major details. 

General Ross is Back

We last saw Ross talking to Tony Stark in the post-credits sequence of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. In case you don’t remember that movie, Ed Norton played Bruce Banner and it was pretty okay — at least compared to 2003’s Hulk. Apart from the short scene where Ross and Stark discuss “putting a team together,” The Incredible Hulk barely registers in the big, elaborate web of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even though there’s hardly any carry over from that film, I’m pleased that Joe and Anthony Russo, directors of Winter Soldier, chose to bring a talented actor like William Hurt back into the fold. Then again, they kind of had to, right?

The Sokovia Accords

It’s not all that surprising the climax of Avengers 2 has brought about some major consequences for Marvel’s big players. But Marvel has never been that brave when it comes to actually following through with those consequences. Just look to the airplane scene in Iron Man 3 and you’ll see how Marvel cringes at the thought of letting someone, anyone, who’s not a villain die in their movie. Maybe War Machine won’t be so lucky.

Black Panther

How badass is this character, honestly? I can’t wait to see how Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa is introduced to the MCU, but the trailer suggests that he’s gunning for the Winter Soldier — or is he Bucky again?

There’s plenty more to discuss, but I’d rather you just watch and rewatch the trailer like I have over the last couple days. The heroes are divided, the battle lines have been drawn and I am so ready to see what Avengers 2 should have been.

Warner Bros. Studios’ BATMOBILE TOUR

Until January 1^st, 2016, Warner Bros. Studio is displaying every costume from Batman V. Superman and the new Batmobile. In the most recent episode of Variant, John Kourounis shows off almost every Batmobile seen on the big screen since Tim Burton’s Batman (1989). Check it out.

Overall, I really like the new Batmobile — I think it smartly blends the comic book dimensions of the old Batmobiles with the tank aesthetics of The Dark Knight trilogy. I also enjoy that this new design is meant to look well used with dings and scrapes showing its age. As Kourounis says at 10:12, “He’s not just starting out as Batman. He’s been Batman for a long time now.”

Its most prominent feature is the giant Gatling gun mounted on the hood of the car. As the Batman V. Superman trailer indicates, Ben Affleck’s Batman might be A-Okay with killing some folks. Then again, he might just need the extra fire power to take on the man of steel. While I enjoy the new look, part of me wishes they built the classic Bat Tank design from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. Maybe that’s far-fetched, but if any one were to do it, it’d be Zach Snyder.

The new Batmobile will debut when Batman V. Superman hits theatres on March 23, 2016.

Highlights

(2:47) H.R. Geiger, who’s perhaps best known for his designs in Alien, first designed The Batman Forever Batmobile. Tim Flaherty finished the design, which was inspired by deep-sea creatures and a bat’s skeleton.

(5:17)  Robin’s Redbird (Batman and Robin) is a Honda prototype that never went to market.

(7:00) In Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, a separate Tumbler was made to show Christian Bale entering the vehicle

(8:35)  The Batpod is actually functional! Although, it is incredibly slow — the engine is essentially that of a lawnmower.

TRAILER PARK: MARVEL'S JESSICA JONES

Last month, I took a quick look at two teasers for Marvel’s Jessica Jones. This week, I’m kicking up my feet and spending more time in the trailer park because we have two new full-length trailers to look at!

The first trailer was released two weeks ago and focused heavily on the creepy, dark, thriller elements of the series, giving us our first glimpses of Luke Cage (Mike Colter), Purple Man and Patsy Walker (Rachael Taylor).  

“You have no idea what I’ve done, what he made me do.”

The second more action-heavy trailer, released two days ago, features our first good look at the Purple Man (played by Dr. Who’s David Tennant) and Jeryn Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss). It also gives us more of Krysten Ritter’s portraying Jessica — a perfect casting choice if I’ve ever seen one. I predict Ritter will be receiving a lot of critical praise (and nerd praise) for her performance.

It’s worth noting that the first trailer includes a possible clue of how the series might tie in to Marvel’s Daredevil. At 1:50, Jessica refers to “the devil” and how she’s “going to find him.” Is she referring to the Purple Man, a particularly sadistic villain, or to Daredevil, the devil of Hell’s Kitchen? We’ll have to wait just a little bit longer to find out — all episodes of Marvel’s Jessica Jones premiers on Netflix on November 20^th.

TRAILER PARK: GHOST IN THE SHELL: THE NEW MOVIE

Welcome back,

This week, I’m going to take a break from writing reviews and head back to the trailer park. Why? Because of this slick new trailer for Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie.

If you’re somewhat familiar with the Ghost in the Shell franchise, The New Movie is a continuation of Ghost in the Shell: Arise — a five-part series that reimagines the 1995 feature film. More specifically, it continues the plot that started with the fifth episode, Pyrophoric Cult.

If you’re unfamiliar with Ghost in the Shell, I’ve probably already lost you. But if you’re still reading, hang in there! Ghost in the Shell is probably my favorite anime franchise and definitely worth exploring.

Long story short, Ghost in the Shell began as a manga series and was turned into a full-length film in 1995. It’s hard to put into words just how incredible this film is — its vision of the future is deeply layered and feels disturbingly real — despite being an anime. I would also count it as one of my favorite science fiction films of all time.

If you enjoy adult animation or even just sophisticated storytelling, Ghost in the Shell should be on your watch list. And I’ll be looking to review The New Movie as soon as I can. I don’t have any hard facts on where to catch it just yet, but TNM will be getting a limited release in North America starting November 10th.

Until next time!

Review: JUSTICE LEAGUE GODS AND MONSTERS

Well, despite my insane schedule, I managed to carve out some time to watch Justice League: Gods and Monsters with my DC-loving girlfriend. After seeing the three-part Gods and Monsters Chronicles series, I was really curious to see how this feature-length story — centering on alternate universe versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman — would play out. If you haven’t seen the three animated shorts yet, check them out below.

As you could guess from the title, Gods and Monsters offers up darker versions of Justice League’s big three.

This universe’s Superman is not Clark Kent but rather Hernan Guerra (Benjamin Bratt). Just before being jettisoned from Krypton, General Zod imbued Superman with his DNA, explaining that wicked goatee he’s rocking throughout the picture. And, after landing on Earth, this baby Superman was taken in by a Mexican couple, adding a political twist to Superman’s alien status. Batman (played by Dexter’s Michael C. Hall) is a former scientist named Kirk Langstrom who, while trying to cure himself of a life-threatening disease, unintentionally turns himself into a blood-sucking vampire. And Wonder Woman is Bekka (Tamara Taylor), a member of the New Gods who had a less-than-stellar wedding on the planet Apocalypse.

It’s made rather clear from the outset that this is not our usual Justice League — the three heroes (if we can call them that) quickly dispatch a group of terrorists in some particularly brutal ways. And their position on the world stage is also tenuous, with President Waller (24’s Penny Johnson Jerald) weakly asserting her authority over Superman, who reminds her of how powerless she really is. To complicate matters, scientists with ties to the Justice League begin dying in mysterious circumstances, and all evidence points to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The three seek out whoever is behind the elaborate frame job and try not to create a major conflict with the U.S. government in the process.

Although Gods and Monsters explores a new offshoot to the DC Universe, stylistically these characters look very familiar. Any fan of the DC Animated Universe’s style in the ‘90s will feel right at home. And the casting couldn’t have been better — Michael C. Hall brings a kind of creepy cool to the DC Universe matched only by Jeffrey Combs, and I hope DC calls on him to do more voice work in the future.

Where Gods and Monsters fell short for me was in the story. The three shorts I mentioned above are tight little snippets of these characters in action. They immediately pulled me in and left me wanting more. Unfortunately, I just can’t say the same for the feature. And it pains me to say it — I really wanted to like this movie! The murder mystery plot weaved in the characters’ backstory rather well, and the violence certainly upped the stakes, but the element of human drama I saw in the shorts (at least the Batman and Superman shorts) was missing. And the story never culminated into satisfying climax. Simply put, the villain just isn’t that interesting — probably the rarest complaint I could make of a DC animated movie. And with such a vast amount of villains to choose from in the DC Universe, I couldn’t help but wish they had done something more interesting with a well-known and powerful baddie — the same way they did with Brainiac in Superman’s short.

That being said, I did enjoy Gods and Monsters. And I’d definitely consider revisiting this alternate universe — I found all three characters genuinely interesting, and I’m more than curious to see what other DC characters might look like. I’d just need to be hooked with a more interesting plot.

If you’re a big DC fan, I have no doubt that you’ll like it. I just don’t know that you’ll love it.