BQB here with some thoughts on the Suicide Squad trailer:
The official story is this trailer was only intended for Comic Con but DC decided to release it because nerds had pirated it and distributed it so they figured they might as well put out a quality version.
If you’re a nerd who isn’t in the know, the Suicide Squad is basically DC’s version of Dirty Dozen.
Based on a DC comic series of the same name, the government forces/recruits the DC villains (mostly Batman’s enemies) to use their evil powers for good, sending them on high-risk, practically suicidal missions.
Overall, the footage looks great and Jared Leto, in my opinion, looks like he’s going to be a better Joker than I’d originally given him credit for.
Like most geeks, I’m a big Harley Quinn fan. If you’re not a nerd, Harley is the Joker’s girlfriend who got her start in the 1990’s Batman: The Animated Series.
Why do we love Harley? Because she’s so hilariously over the top. Now, I get that when there’s an attempt to make a serious movie, she can’t be running around in a full harlequin outfit with a massive novelty hammer to bonk people over the head with but come on, at least do the “Harley” voice.
Judging by this footage, they movie’s going with a half-powered Harley. Harley at 50%. She’s sort of got the voice a little, she’s a bit out there, but she’s not bouncing off the walls.
All I can say is if she doesn’t say “Hiya Puddin!” or call the Joker “Mr. J,” there’s going to be a nerd revolt.
DC’s definitely trying to pull a Marvel. Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad both come out next year and assumably it will all lead up to the Justice League giving evildoers what for.
That was me trying to type the Jurassic Park/World theme song.
Nevermind. OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING.
To paraphrase Jeff Goldblum’s line from the original film, this franchise, like life, keeps finding a way.
Bookshelf Q. Battler here with a review of this summer’s blockbuster dino-fest Jurassic World.
Movie Trailer – Jurassic World – Universal Pictures
Do you remember Jurassic Park? I do. As a kid, I spazzed out over the movie’s sheer awesomeness. In fact, that flick was the first to use CGI on a massive scale to bring dinosaurs to life, thus ushering in an era of computer generated monsters, beasts and assorted bad guys.
In short, it blew peoples’ minds, mine included. The best description I can give is for me, seeing Jurassic Park was probably a lot like how young people felt when they saw Star Wars in 1977.
The only downside? Are we at the peak of what special effects can do? Are we spoiled now? Are we used to CGI? Will someone ever figure out some other awesome thing to do in a movie that will knock our socks off, leaving a new generation of kids’ jaws to drop the way mine did when I saw the first film in this series?
Time will tell, but a movie growing public that’s grown used to the wonders of CGI reminds me of the line uttered by Chris Pratt’s character Owen Grady – “Aren’t dinosaurs enough?”
He asks that in response to Bryce Howard’s Claire, the administrator of the new Jurassic World theme park, who notes that every few years a new and even more fearsome dinosaur has to be created to keep the public’s attention.
Sorry Owen. In theory, you’re right. Dinosaurs should be enough and so should a steady diet of CGI effects dished out by Hollywood over the past twenty plus years.
But it never is. Once the “wow factor” dissipates, whatever wowed us becomes yesterday’s news and we’re left wanting something bigger and better.
Here, we find it in the form of the Indominus Rex, the super dinosaur engineered to bring tourists to the park but alas, and perhaps as can be expected in these movies, he escapes, thus giving Owen a Claire a run for their money.
Owen is a dinosaur handler on the island working on a project to train raptors to work with humans. The raptors were arguably scarier than the T-Rex in the first film. Sure, the T-Rex might stomp or chomp you but the highly intelligent raptors will haunt you in a pack and find you wherever you’re hiding.
Raptors as the good guys in this film? Say it ‘aint so!
There’s plenty of homages to the original film. There’s a nerd with a soda cup and a messy work station ala Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight who went on to become Jerry Seinfeld’s arch enemy Newman). Claire’s nephews (the children in peril in this film) find a long discarded goggle hat similar to the one Tim wore when he and his sister Lex where the children in peril in the original. Mr. DNA makes a cameo. And of course, there’s a statue of John Hammond.
I don’t want to give much more away but suffice to say, it lives up to the hype and since the original, it is the first sequel to do Michael Crichton’s vision justice.
Sadly, we lost Crichton in 2008, but his books and the movies based on them live on. After watching Jurassic Park, I ran out and got a copy of the book and I remember being inspired by a man who didn’t make his way into the entertainment industry through the usual route (i.e. I’ll jaunt off to Hollywood and see what happens!) but rather as a doctor who took his scientific/medical knowledge and used it to churn out stories that kept us in suspense.
Chris Pratt continues to inspire nerds everywhere. Honestly, when you first started watching Parks and Recreation, did you think the guy playing Andy would ever find himself as a summer blockbuster leading man two years in a row? He’s not that cookie cutter, exceptionally handsome dude that looks like he got yanked off the Hollywood assembly line that we’ve grown used to. Rather, he kind of looks like a guy we’d want to have a beer with after the movie.
Bryce plays the bean counting administrator well, obsessed with work and dollars only to realize the gravity of the situation when the Indominus goes for a stroll.
Dr. Wu (B.D. Wong of Law and Order fame), was in the first film and he reprises his role here. SPOILER ALERT – he runs of with some dino DNA, thus leaving this reviewer to speculate that the door is opened for yet another sequel.
It’ll have to be awesome, because apparently, the average, run of the mill dinosaur just isn’t good enough anymore.
Sure. We click clack away on our keyboards whenever we find the time. We like to daydream about our name in lights, that our words will be embraced by the public, that maybe they’ll even be turned into a movie.
Well, Andy Weir, walking talking self publishing success story that he is, has done just that.
The Martian, a movie based on his bestselling book of the same name, is due out later this year. The trailer’s been released it it looks amazing:
Movie Trailer – The Martian – 20th Century Fox
“I’m going to have to science the shit out of this.”
– Astronaut Mark Watney
Matt Damon in the lead role. An ensemble cast that includes Jeff Bridges, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara (Zoe from freaking House of Cards!), Donald (Troy from Community!) and Kristen Wiig in a role which, from the looks of it, might be her bridge from comedy to more serious fare.
Earlier this year, Andy spoke to three of my favorite self-publishers, Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt and David Wright aka Johnny, Sean and Dave of the “Self Publishing Podcast.” He spoke how he wasn’t an overnight success story but rather his journey was one that involved years of pain staking hard work.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and your self publishing career won’t be either.
Andy, you’re an inspiration to every nerd with a laptop and a dream of becoming a self-published author. You did it. One man. One computer. One story. And now one major movie that has every indication of being box office gold.
I tip my hat to you sir, and shall raise a frosty beverage in your honor on opening night. Your achievement has made it possible for a new generation of self publishers to be taken seriously and we are forever in your debt.
There’s been so much speculation that this movie will stink. Me? I always had a feeling that the people behind this flick knew they were taking a big bite with this one and assumed they wouldn’t be doing so if they didn’t think they’d be able to chew it.
In my opinion, the trailer looks great.
The apparent premise? Superman has God-like powers that make people afraid. Those in fear include Batman who, presuming the Man of Steel poses a threat to the world, decides to take the notorious tights wearer on.
We can only hope the film ends with them patching up their differences and singing a hearty round of kum-bai-yah. After all, they’re both good guys.
But if someone has to be the victor, my money’s on Batman.
Well, at least I’m rooting for the Dark Knight.
Good Old Superman – the superhero who started it all. People love to root for him and over the years, he’s become a symbol for “Truth, Justice, and the American way.”
He’s also hard to identify with. Handsome, flawless, chiseled – shoot him and he spits out the bullet with his teeth. Set him on fire and he doesn’t burn. Blow him up and he comes back for more. He can fly, run fast, lift enormous and heavy objects, turn back time, shoot lasers out of his eyes. He has every power.
Unless you chuck a rare piece of Kryptonite at him, he’s going to eat you for breakfast and therefore, while fun to cheer him on, it’s hard to look at Superman and say, “there’s a fella like me!”
Batman? Well, his powers are derived from money, intellect, and drive. Money is obviously the big factor as it affords him the ability to spend a vast repository of wealth on his vigilante persona.
So, yeah, you might argue it’s also hard to relate to Batman except for the fact that Batman, though he probably wouldn’t budge at the sight of Kryptonite, could otherwise die in a multitude of ways!
Superman has always proven to be a difficult character to portray on the big screen. Here you have a character with so much power and one would think the ultimate foil would be an equally powerful bad guy.
Yet, for some reason the 1970’s and 80’s movies pitted him up against Gene Hackman’s caricature of a criminal mastermind. Though fun to watch, Lex Luthor was historically, at least in the comic book world, a more intelligent, cold, and calculating foe. So many old Superman films and yet the hero to end all heroes rarely met a baddie his equal.
2013’s Man of Steel sought to remedy that with General Zod, a fellow citizen of Krypton who, like Superman, also becomes blessed with super powers when under Earth’s yellow sun. In fact, I’d argue the old film starring Terrence Stamp was the best of that series because it was the only one where Superman fought a challenger with similar powers.
Man of Steel, to this blogger, wasn’t the dud that other critics labeled it. However, I have to admit, when I saw Superman and Zod smashing their way through an IHOP, a 7-11 and other chain stores, my reaction was, “Wow, that is a lot of product placement.”
Since that was my only issue with Man of Steel, I assume I’ll have a fun time watching Batman and Superman, as long as Bruce doesn’t drive the batmobile through an Outback Steakhouse or something.
Were you skeptical of Ben Affleck as Batman? Admittedly, I was. Actually, I was on the fence. On the one hand, Affleck has given us Gigli. On the other hand, he also gave us Argo. He’s given us more pops than flops, so I assumed he wouldn’t have taken the role if he didn’t think he could deliver, and thus far this trailer proves me right.
Will DC finally catch up to Marvel’s box office prowess? We’ll have to wait until next year to find out.
EXPERT ANALYSIS BY BOOKSHELF Q. BATTLER, THE NERDIEST OF THEM ALL
For the first time in over thirty years, Luke Skywalker and co are back on the big screen.
It is said that Leia has the force, which was never displayed in the films (though it makes sense)
Han and Chewie are back. Han looks as good as a man in his 70s can. Chewie has either found the fountain of youth or he dyes his fur.
Don’t those droids ever get updated with newer models? I feel like I have to upgrade my phone every five minutes.
Harrison Ford – for the love of God, can you please stay away from the WWII planes? Yes, we love you. We’re glad you survived the crash. But come on man, if you crash an antique plane (yeah yeah besides the obvious tragedy) do you realize what a bummer that would put on this awesome movie? STAY AWAY FROM THE WWII PLANES!
Enormous crashed Star Destroyer!
Luke’s robot hand on R2D2’s head!
Darth Vader’s crushed helmet!
X-Wings!
Tie Fighters!
It looks great! This Christmas…celebrate the birth of Christ and…yeah yeah yeah bring on STAR WARS!
Meanwhile, the first six films are available on digital download for the first time in forever. Have you downloaded any of them yet? Which one is your favorite?
Sometimes I think all these “leaked” trailers are just a way for studios to beta test their films – get the audience’s reactions and make tweaks accordingly. I just have a hard time believing there’s such lax security around such a massive movie.
But oh well – it looks awesome. Ultron is no Pinocchio.
Bookshelf Battle 