Last night, Ryan Reynolds brought the Deadpool Red Band Trailer to CONAN on TBS and premiered it for all…of course after giving Conan O’Brien a massage with Panda tears.
Yep. Panda tears.
If you were on the internet while watching the interview, you probably caught the trailer already…but when isn’t Ryan Reynolds entertaining (outside of Green Lantern)? Unless you were at Comic-Con or like me and eager for bad bootleg copies of the San Diego screening, last night was your first chance to see “The Merc with a Mouth”. Before introducing the trailer, Reynolds took one more shot at Green Lantern, just to let the you know he thinks it sucked too. Then he let it roll…
“And please don’t make the super suit green…or animated.”
Fans have waited for this thing to become a reality for a long time. We were teased by the X-Men Origins version, also portrayed by Reynolds, that left a bad taste in everyone’s mouths…because they took his away.
The 2 minutes and 54 seconds we’ve been provided is already better for the geek’s pallet. And thank Stan Lee/God they made this an R-Rated movie. I don’t need Deadpool to be marketed with Burger King collectibles or the Toys aisle at Target. I need a gory and explicit flick, that’s already proven to work with the Daredevil Netflix series.
I am also excited by the ties to the X-Men universe. In the trailer, we get a good look at Piotr Rasputin, aka Colossus…
But there’s also a shot of another “must-be important” character as well. After a quick glance at IMDB, we can identify her as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, named after the Monster Magnet song. She’s a telepath who receives premonitions and precognitive nightmares.
What I’d love to see is an X-Men: First Class style Wolverine cameo. You may have hated the Origins flick, and maybe that would give you shell shock, but I didn’t. I personally loved the back-and-fourth between Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber’s Sabertooth. He was one of the more underrated Marvel cinematic villains that I want to be reprised in future X-Men Universe films. Give me one of these Logan quips and I’ll be good with that too…
Makes sense considering Deadpool the same way that Wolverine was, and Reynolds brought that up twice in his interview with Conan.
Lastly, TJ F’n Miller…
“You look like an avocado had sex with an older avocado.”
Your R-rated comedy action movie gets a significant bump when you add TJ Miller to the equation. He has the perfect combination of appropriate inappropriateness that works well with Reynolds’s brand of humor.
Are you as pumped for Deadpool as I am? Sure you are. Lets talk about it some more on Facebook and Twitter.
Ant-Man premiered last night, and it was good…Oh, was it good.
The film does an excellent job maintaining an upbeat tone. May even be more of a comedy, but that’s refreshing coming off of Age of Ultron. Paul Rudd was definitely the right choice, Evangeline Lilly was a badass, and Michael Pena steals the show. Aside from some really awkward editing and cutaways, Ant-Man wasn’t the “doomed movie” people expected it to be. As you probably know, the #1 rule to Marvel films is to not leave before the credits are over (besides Ultron). Fans looking forward to what’s next get an excellent tease for the upcoming installment for “Phase III” of the Marvel Universe. WhileMarvel Studios wasn’t as prevalent at Comic-Con San Diego this year as it has been in the past, Ant-Man provides enough promotion and a taste for Captain America: Civil War.
DC, on the other hand, put on the full-court press for Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The epic trailer, which looked even cooler in IMAX before Ant-Man, has fans buzzing and excited for the Dark Knight and Man of Steel to finally throw down.
“Nobody cares about Clark Kent taking on the Batman.” Speak for yourself, Laurence Fishburne.
You may recall that there was already a battle between Marvel and Warner Bros for their movies’ release dates in 2016. Both studios had a staring contest while eyeing May 6th, and the WB flinched by moving Superman v. Batman up to Easter weekend, March 25th. While the rivalry in the box office will be interesting, the fights on the screen are what we care about most.
Batman and Superman will be fun, but what about Captain America vs. Iron Man? We saw the tension between the super-soldier and the self described “genius billionaire playboy philanthropist“. While Steve Rogers and Tony Stark duke it out, we get to enjoy it…like Thor will from up in Asgard.
So which of the two superhero clashes are you looking forward to the most? Vote here and let’s talk about it on Facebook and Twitter!
I envy everyone who attended San Diego Comic-Con 2015 this past weekend. Attendees were lucky enough to witness first looks at upcoming Star Wars, DC, and Marvel films. Fortunately, those of us who couldn’t attend have the internet and access to the streaming of panels, and releases of footage (official or leaked). Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice finally gave us their first full trailer. Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Suicide Squad headlined with panels and trailer presentations that made their way to the internet shortly after. Even THE MUPPETS made their presence felt, discussing their mockumentary series that will air on ABC later this year. The biggest takeaway from the SDCC weekend may have been exactly what all of us young (and old) padawans have been waiting for…Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens coming to life.
If you’re like me, you salivated at the idea of “real sets” and “practical effects”, which were missing from Episodes I-III…and Jurassic World for that matter. (CGI takes the magic away from things, but that’s a discussion for another day.)
This past weekend, overall, was an excellent reminder of how good it is to be a geek these days. A generation that grew up on comic books, video games, and Superhero cartoons are now being treated to a Hollywood that appreciates those mediums. Before the first Iron Man movie, did you expect to see a full timeline of Avengers/Marvel films scheduled through May 3rd, 2019? Following Revenge of the Sith, Did you imagine Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford would team up again as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo? You’re lying if say you did…Or have a time-traveling DeLorean in your garage.
While we have new Superhero films hitting theaters every 3-4 months now, television has caught up to the big screen as an excellent resource for geek entertainment (and distraction). What Marvel has accomplished with feature films and creating an epic universe for the Avengers, DC has done on the CW network with Arrow, The Flash and the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow…
Fox’s Gotham and ABC’s Agents of Shield series are fun, but not nearly as compelling as the stories presented in the Arrow/Flash universe (which I wish the DC film division took notice of). Meanwhile, Netflix has entered the ring with excellent original programming. The first season of Daredevil cleansed the pallet of a fans who were left with a bad taste after the previous adaptation, starring Ben Affleck. It also opened the door to a universe that will involve 4 other Marvel series on Netflix, including Jessica Jones later this year, then Luke Cage, The Iron Fist, and then The Defenders.
Recently, I’ve noticed a contrarian and trendy narrative in TV shows, such as Community and Mr. Robot, that suggest people are suckers for enjoying Superhero films. In the writers’ opinion, we’re all lemmings for going to the movie theater and paying money for these films, and that’s just simply wrong. Just about every one of the Marvel films consist of better stories and dialogue than you’ll find in any of other franchises getting recent installments (looking at you Jurassic World,Terminator: Genisys and ALL of the Transformers films). I also think those are counter-culture comments being made for the sake of being counter-culture. Consider that a win, Geeks. You are today’s “culture”, and it’s wonderful.
Have you ever Googled the definition of “Geek”? The definition isn’t particularly flattering and may have been written by Biff from “Back To The Future”…
Yep. straight from Google. (Google is a jerk sometimes). Those who believe in the “unfashionable” and “carnival performer” assumptions are the same people who made fun of you to feel better about themselves and are probably looking forward to their high school reunions way more than the average person should.
The truth lies somewhere in the sub-definitions. “A knowledgeable enthusiast” (obsessive is a bit strong) or one who “becomes extremely excited about a subject” sounds more like a typical fan than a “socially inept person”. It also applies to more than comic books, video games, and superheroes. If you are amped up for next seasons for The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, or even less fantasy-driven shows like House of Cards or Empire, you are indeed a geek. If you are checking every new beer you try on the Untappd app, you are a geek. If you are over-preparing for your upcoming fantasy football draft or really looking forward to when Blackhawks tickets go on sale, you are a geek…not a freak.
Geek is fun. Geek is chic. Geek is “normal”…I use the term “normal” very loosely because I don’t think there is such thing as normal. We all have different backgrounds, different interests, different hobbies, and different experiences. When we can bond on any of those different things, then maybe we start to feel “normal”. Being a geek is sort of like that.
I love that I can discuss the things I get excited about on this website like movies, music, TV, sports and food, because I know there are many who share these same interests…many of whom, are in fact geeks (whether they identify as such or not). It’s a community that grows everyday thanks to social media and the ever-evolving entertainment culture, one that can be both appealing but sometimes over-critical.
For now, it’s just simply good. I mean, who ISN’T geeking out about Star Wars returning this Winter?
[Update]
Of course as soon as I mention it in this post, Warner Bros releases the Suicide Squadtrailer. Enjoy!
Have something to add? Continue the conversation on Twitter @Mike_PiFF03.
A week after the premiere felt like the proper amount of time to digest Marvel’s “Phase II” epic, Avengers: Age of Ultron and to comprehend what that was I saw in IMAX 3D.
Rather than write a “review” of the movie, I consider this as a collection of thoughts and reaction regarding what I saw on the screen and heard from people after. If you haven’t seen the film, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. THERE ARE PROBABLY, MORE THAN LIKELY, SPOILERS! I would recommend going to see it and coming back to this for discussion though.
So let’s begin now…
Avengers: Age of Ultron wasn’t great, but it didn’t have to be…
The movie itself was a blast. The action scenes were incredible and it was cool to see each Avenger have fighting chemistry with their teammates right off the bat as they took on Baron von Strucker’s snow covered Hydra base…most notably the combo uses of Thor’s hammer and Captain America’s shield. The banter and Joss Whedon’s influenced snappy comebacks also kept the mood light…not just with the Avengers while they experienced their own turmoil, but with Ultron himself (which I’ll talk about further on).
However, the editing was choppy and there were some excruciatingly slow moments that took away from the action packed ride. A comment from WGN and Rivet Radio host James VanOsdol stuck out to me on Twitter when he referred to it as “The Age of Dulltron”, right before I went to see the movie. I really don’t blame him for thinking so, but I also found a lot of the film to be more necessary than anything.
Much of ‘Age of Ultron’ was heavy for character development and plot…especially for what’s to come in “Phase III”. (Here Come Some of Spoilers so it’s on you now if you haven’t seen the movie)
I’ll begin with the day dreams that Scarlet Witch placed in each of the Avengers’ minds, whom were effected:
Tony Stark: Tony is the first to have a spell casted on, which sparks the creation of Ultron…and his apparent “heel turn“. While getting a good look at von Strucker’s basement weapons of mass scariness, Scarlet Witch casts her spell, which forces Tony to envision his greatest fear…He sees all of his Avengers teammates laid up on meteor-like platform, either dead or dying. It looks like something we’ve seen Thanos standing upon in his collective brief appearances. Tony is the last Avenger standing while Captain America grabs for him, and in his dying breath says “You could have saved us.” And so begins the tension we see between Tony and Cap throughout the film, foreshadowing to the plot of Captain America III: Civil War.
Tony also gets a good look at what appears to be a fleet of aliens on their way to annihilate Earth…So much for Earth’s mightiest heroes. My instant thought was, “Is this a look at the eventual endgame film, Infinity Wars?” This would be a good time to call the Guardians of the Galaxy, right?
Thor: This was the other more significant vision that was casted by Scarlet Witch. During the run-in with Ultron in Wakanda, Scarlet Witch’s purpose is to tear apart the Avengers from within their minds. Thor’s dream involves him seeing Asgard in absolute terror, and a one-on-one battle with Heimdall (played by Idris Elba). Heimdall blamed Thor for what appeared to be war and destruction in his supposed kingdom, which eludes to the next Thor film “Ragnarok”. Ragnarok refers to Asgard’s version of the apocalypse. With Loki on the throne posing as Odin and Thanos in hot pursuit of infinity stones, seems like a recipe for that kind of disaster. Thor’s vision does prompt him to further investigate the significance of the infinity stones and who may be after them, so it all makes sense.
Black Widow: Natasha’s vision seemed more relevant to the present than what could happen in the future. It also gave the audience some insight to how she came to be and how she views herself. I actually correlate it more with the storyline from the ‘Agent Peggy Carter’ series, as we saw Russian girls being trained to become absolute killing machines for presumedly Hydra. I’ll go into Black Widow’s storyline (and apparent backlash) later, but this dream did seem to go on for too long.
Captain America: I don’t think Scarlet Witch’s spell caused conflict for Steve Rogers as much as it helped him overcome a hurdle in his arc. The hopeless romantic in me was excited to see Steve finally getting that dance with Agent Carter, even if it wasn’t real. Captain America’s mindset had been stuck in the past for more than 3 films now and it was about time for him to leave it there. Having the opportunity to start SHIELD back over and run the New Avengers training facility gives him purpose again. Captain America can finally be the new man that came out of the ice…not the one that was frozen there.
I’d be terrified to see what Bruce Banner saw in his vision…
Ultron was SO James Spader…
It was really hard to not picture Red from ‘The Blacklist’ or Robert California whenever Ultron spoke…
Ultron was very much more human than I anticipated. He cared about being compared to Tony Stark. He cared about what he looked like. And he cared about Scarlet Witch…That last part may have surprised me the most.
I liked that about Ultron. He showed some vulnerability throughout the film that you don’t get from robots or computer programs, like Jarvis. That’s what made Vincent D’Onofrio’s adaptation of The Kingpin so good in Daredevil. At times, you found yourself rooting for the villain…until he did something so despicable that it was hard to keep the pom poms up.
I never found myself rooting for Ultron, but I did consider him to be likable. He was very witty, with some Tony Stark influence. A comparison to Loki would be fair, with better one-liners. Ultron didn’t seem to like hurting innocent people, not until the end at least. Even when he cut off the hand of Ulysses Klaue (played by Andy Serkis…yes, the same guy who does the voice of Gollum from Lord of the Rings) in a fit of rage, he felt bad about doing it…at first.
You could try to compartmentalize what Ultron was doing. He was designed by Tony to protect the Earth, not necessarily humans. And although an attempt to eliminate billions of people sounds pretty harsh, he did seem to care for a few…the Inhuman Maximoff twins, that is. But at the end of the day, Ultron wasn’t going to do much past this film and it’s for the better that The Vision took care of that.
The Black Widow thing…
There has been a lot of backlash toward the way Black Widow was depicted and I don’t really get it. Are superhero romances a little weird in movies that are meant to be that action packed? Maybe…But didn’t it make sense? A comparison I liken Natasha and Bruce Banner to is that of another Joss Whedon produced couple…Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Referring to the vision she had under Scarlet Witch’s spell, Natasha explains that she is no less of a monster than Banner is as the Hulk. There’s nothing wrong with sympathizing with two characters you don’t expect to do so with. Like Buffy, Natasha has lived a life of killing and sticking to the mission. Like Angel, Banner has always been the one terrifying EVERYONE. What’s the matter with either of them growing in a way you wouldn’t expect?
Then there is the perception that Black Widow was portrayed as a “damsel in distress.” – You realize that the Avengers wouldn’t have found Ultron if she hadn’t been taken captive and created her own makeshift radio/homing beacon, right?…And continued to kick ass in an almost impossible battle.
Other things…
The introduction of Klaue and Wakanda segway to the eventual debut of Black Panther, who was confirmed today to appear in Cap 3: Civil War along with Ant-Man. Since Wakanda is now officially part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we’ll see more references in Ant-Man this summer or perhaps get the debut of Black Panther/T’Challa
The “my girlfriend’s better than your girlfriend” argument Thor and Stark have is adorable, but I wish Jane Foster and Pepper Potts were actually in the movie.
When do Agents of SHIELD finally appear in the Marvel films? With Agent Coulson “dying” and igniting the team in the first film, wouldn’t they be thrilled to see him in the second? The Agents would probably have loved dealing with the Maximoff twins as well.
I liked the Avengers take on Quicksilver. Obviously with FOX having the rights to X-Men, he had to be very different than the Evan Peters version. Still good, but THIS will forever be one of my favorite superhero movie scenes ever.
Hawkeye may have been the funniest character in the whole movie, and having him as a moral compass (kind of like Coulson) was refreshing compared to the first film.
The Vision RULES! And that’s all I’ll say about that.
With Thanos assumedly jumping into the action, how soon do we see him come face-to-face with an Avenger? My bet is Thor 3: Ragnarok, as he is hunting for the Infinity stones in Asguard’s keeping. Thanos would also bring the type of chaos that Loki would want…and also regret.
Anyone else stay ALL THE WAY TILL AFTER THE CREDITS? Of course you did. And you were disappointed when you found nothing, like I did.
Comment here with your own thoughts and reactions. You can also Tweet me @Mike_PiFF03.
I understand not everybody is into basketball, or even sports for that matter. So for the past few years (with the help of some awesome people), I have released a TV Madness bracket for the masses to vote on. Dexter vs. The Wire, Friends vs. How I Met Your Mother, Breaking Bad vs. Mad Men, Game of Thrones vs. The Walking Dead…It was a good time.
This year we’re switching things up and moving from the small screen to the silver screen. Movies from several genres and eras…there’s certainly something for everyone. We’ve also added 2 Play-In Games to expand the field to 68, much like the NCAA Tournament. Voting for the Play-In Games will start HERE tomorrow (3/25) morning. The REAL THING will begin 3/26 and voting will be open till 11 PM CST each day.
Obviously everything is subjective with the seedings, but let’s take a closer look at each region for you to start making your picks!
The De Niro/Brando Region
This is a very Drama filled region, and not the kind you get in Mean Girls. Most of these films have ranked high in the typical “all-time” lists, and are likely the ones that “Shawshank” you when they are played on AMC…
(For future reference, being “Shawshanked” happens when you catch a film on TV and no matter the point you tune into, or what time it is, you have to finish the film.)
(1) The Godfather
Matchup To Watch:
(3) Pulp Fiction vs. (14) Fight Club
The Willis/Statham Region
Like Explosions? Gunfights? Epic oneliners?…What do you mean “No”? Get the hell out of here!
(1) Die Hard
Matchup To Watch:
(8) Top Gun vs. (9) The Matrix
The Belushi/Murray Region
This is the kind of “funny” Henry Hill was referring to when he pissed off Pesci in Goodfellas. Had to give John and Bill the region’s title considering they star in 4 of the above films.
(1) Animal House
Matchup To Watch:
(7) Anchorman vs. (1) The Big Lebowski
The Harrison Ford/Clooney Region
This region is a fun mix for fans of adventure, fantasy, and other miscellaneous awesomeness. Yes, I understand “Harrison Ford” is the only one to get his full name in a region…but when have you ever referred to him by just his first or last name? He also stars in the Top 2 seeds.
(1) Star Wars
Matchup to Watch:
(7) Toy Story vs. (10) The Lego movie
Check in tomorrow morning (3/25) as voting for the Play-In games will begin. Votes on Twitter directed to @Mike_PiFF03 with the hashtag #MovieMadness will also be counted. Feel free to fill out your own copy of the bracket and Tweet it to me to be shared.
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