2012: Sequels and Remakes Strike Again *Take 2*

    Sequels and remakes aren't all bad, there are some of them that still capture our hearts and give us hope for the future of sequels. So far this year we have received a solid list of announced titles, one we are all looking for I'm sure, with titles like "The Hunger Games" and "Chronicle" coming out how can one not be excited about what this year will bring. A side note, we will not be covering Twilight within this article, though we are about to be faced with the fourth movie this series does not apply as a sequel, for its a series, the books were written before the movies began to be released and the whole story was already developed, thus its not a sequel but a story told in parts, like "Lord Of The Rings" was a story told in parts, anyway, here we go:

   Superhero Movie Extravaganza

     We are being bombarded with superhero movies this year, some are original like "Chronicle" which comes out next week, but the majority of them are sequels or remakes. Let's start at the top shall we, the "Avengers" a sequel of sorts, here we have a combination of various other movies puzzled together over a period of time and thus creating a sequel, an elaborate sequel but a sequel none-of-the-less, this movie will be amazing, or so we hope. "Batman Rises" this actually happens to be the sequel of a remake, yeah Nolan rebooted the Batman series brilliantly, and thus we look forward to his conclusion this year, but don't forget that this was a sequel of a remake done well, a rarity. Finally we reach our webbed hero who desperately need a reboot after Toby did the whole emo Venom thing, "The Amazing Spider-man" will be coming out this year, complete with web shooters, Gwen Stacy and the Lizard as a villain, this movie looks legit, guess they figured that if the new ideas were bombing they should go back to the roots to get inspiration, a good move over all we think. 

   MIB III

    We have not had a "Men In Black" movie in a long time, the first one came out in 1997 just so you get the picture, yeah it's an old series but its a good one for sure. This is the role we all loved Will Smith playing in, the role that complimented movies like "Independence Day" and "Enemy Of The State" so well, and now we have old Will back doing another MIB, we can't wait. The preview looks really good and its being surrounded by a good cast which always helps, as long as they keep it simple like the first one and avoid tons of twists like the second one we feel that this movie will come out great. The great thing about the MIB series is the element of humor combined with action, we haven't had a good action movie that was centered around humor for a while, not slap-stick humor but intelligent humor, like the ones found in the first installment of this series. We can't wait for this movie, if you haven't seen the preview yet then do yourself a kindness and go watch it, it looks really good.

    Skyfall

   
     There was a time where we would receive a James Bond movie per year, those were good times, though we're ok with waiting two years for a Bond flick if Daniel Craig promises a repeat blockbuster performance he has shown us in the previous two Bond movies he has done, rather impressive really. One cannot help but be excited about "Skyfall" here we are seeing a complete evolution of the series taking into account our culture of today, our technology and so forth. Though many of us were skeptical about Daniel Craig being the new Bond we could not have braced ourselves for how awesome of a Bond he was, there were some minor quips with the last movie, like no gadgets, but that feels like a minor detail when you take into account the performance shown within the movie. One has only to watch some of the older Bond flicks to see how far we have come, truly a movie to look forward to.

      Oh The Brashness

   What year would be complete without some brash movies to entertain us along the way, this year we are being hit with the father of brashness, "Expendables 2". Before we even start talking about the movie let's review the cast: Liam Hemsworth, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Chuck Norris, Jet Li, Charisma Carpenter, Terry Crews, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, and Scott Adkins, right, this movie perspires brashness to a level beyond understanding. There is one way that this movie could drive the nail home and that is if they had recruited Liam Neeson to this little brash party, surely that would have blown our minds even more so if they had included Steven Seagal to the cast as well, guess they are saving those and others for "Expendables 3", either way this movie is sure to be the brashest movie of the year, no way anyone could even compete.    

Would be the runner up for sure

    And there you have it, proof that not all sequels and remakes are a bad thing, so when you look at the upcoming movies list and begin to feel noxious by all the horrible sequels and remakes, remember that though those will cause us pain, that there are others out there that will bring us plenty of joy.  We also hope you liked the new look for the blog, we are growing more and more so thank you for your support.

  We hope you all had a fantastic week, and have a glorious weekend,

Love from your humble blogger,

Marvel's Big Move: "The Avengers"

    There are many ways that one could come and finish this week's comic book segment, but there is only one proper way to do it, and that is to point out the significance of The Avengers movie that is coming out next year. This movie is a big deal for a series of reasons, we're talking Marvel having to plan about 10 years of marketing in advance in order to pave the way for this movie to be a success. There are a lot of heroes involved, if you don't give each hero a solid fan base then you got yourself just another flop, but if this movie goes well and everyone loves it, then the way is already being paved for a sequel, the possibilities are endless, and their marketing team deserves not only a raise but a medal, for being awesome.
 

     This whole movement was done in two movies per year segments, though it started a little before then, with the release of the X-Men in 2000. X-men being a huge success Marvel decided to incorporate more of its heroes into the big screen and there we got Spider-Man. The issue here was that both these movies made tons of money and so they decided to give both series more funding for their second release, and thank God that they did, cause both movies had fantastic sequels, X-Men 2 and Spider-Man 2 were accepted by the whole populous and become huge hits, specially Wolverine (who was played by Hugh Jackman, who is now the permanent actor for that role). But then we hit some rough times, after a successful sequel Marvel decided to do a third segment for both movies, and we know how that turned out, X-Men 3 wasn't good but it was watchable, Spider-Man 3 was horrible, beyond horrible, the third segment of this movie successfully destroyed this franchise, it was almost sad to watch. But then, out of the horizon, we found hope.

   In 2008 Marvel released two movies that changed the game forever, the first was Iron Man and boy that movie did serious work. Till this time we didn't really have a wide mass love and respect for super hero movies, but after RB Jr. came into the scene that all changed. This movie pushed the boundaries it showed us a very corrupt arrogant prick who becomes a leading superhero, basically saying, "Hey, yeah you aren't perfect, but even with your character flaws people can change", which wow'ed the masses, the first realistic character in the sense or portraying the filth that consumes humanity sometimes. The big deal of this movie was it's ending, with Samuel Jackson coming into the scene as Nick Fury and recruiting Tony Stark for a team, now that is a huge deal, that changed the game. Two months after this we have the same thing going on with the Hulk, Nick Fury comes in and it's time to play ball. Let's not remember the 2003 Hulk, that was a definite fail, but the 2008 one was a lot better, oh reboots, sometimes I love you.

     Then we fast-forward to 2011 where we get both Thor and Captain America being released, both solid movies, Thor wasn't fantastic I would admit, but it was a Thor movie, and for that fact alone it was a job well done....think with me for a second, how does one create a good Thor movie....right...agreed...you can't, so I feel that the director came mighty close to something good, which in turn deserves major props. Within both of these movies we get Nick Fury, teasers, little easter eggs here and there, it's quiet impressive how they accomplished so much and done so well in such a short time. With The Avengers coming out next year, I would say Marvel did well in preparing us to be blown away by their awesomeness.

        Oh, it doesn't stop there, here are a few more things to consider. First is recognizing the director of this flick Joss Whedon who's work can be seen in the movies and shows: Toy Story, Firefly, Serenity, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dr. Horrible's sing-along-blog (a must watch if you're an NPH fan), and his work on the show Dollhouse, the man is practically a writing deity and therefore deserves some respect. Secondly is the fact that if this movie goes well then the possibilities are endless for the sequel. Did you know that Wolverine and Spider-Man where part of the Avengers? Yeah, why do you think they're rebotting the Spider-Man series, for show, nah, it's to open doors of opportunity. Can you imagine what that movie might look like with the inclusion of both Wolverine and Spider-Man to the picture, yeah, I know, I just blew your mind.

    To close let me put all this into context for you, here is the big deal that is going on around you, we have a huge selection of comic book induced tv shows and movies that have come out or are coming out, some of these movies tie into each other and for some of them even the tv show ties into the movies as well. We have not only amazing directors working on these movies but also a huge cast of actors that want to be part of this as well. This movement is just beginning, Marvel is making moves which means that DC will soon respond with it's own slew of movies. This is going to be a beautiful war where the winner will be us the consumers.

     Be sure to have a fantastic weekend and get some rest if you can,

    Love from your humble blogger,