Trailer Talk: Sleeping with The Last Hateful Deadpool

2oolander

The first glimpse in the much-delayed sequel of the 2001 original, this 2 minute tease offers very little in any area - plot, characters, or comedy. Not much really to comment on aside from the iffy Stephen Hawking impression being, well, iffy.

The Intern

Now that we've been given a plausible reason for Robert De Niro to be hired as an intern, a little more understanding can be made about the film and some of its charm. It looks relatively harmless, but is likely a very predictable picture. But hey, at least the performances seem alright.

Norm of the North

Well, this looks rather shoddily put together. Some garish character designs here, some already out-dated comedy beats there - and Rob Schneider - are we sure this isn't just some rejected Happy Madison vehicle that Adam Sandler actually managed to say "no" to?

Deadpool

Aww yeah...at long last, Deadpool finally has a public trailer, following last year's leaked test footage and the more recent SDCC trailer. And while the moments which reflect some of the highlights of said test footage don't work quite as well in this context - particularly the line reading about his red suit - the rest of the trailer is stellar stuff. Meta hilarity blended with extreme violence equals a film which leaves high hopes for fans and great intrigue for general audiences.

Visions

Oh, Britta's in this? Sorry, couldn't resist upon the glimpses of Gillian Jacobs in this small-budget horror film - which has an alarming number of comedic actors present, including Jacobs, Jim Parsons and Isla Fisher (granted, that's not her main area of work, but it's a good portion of it). Add an unscary element at hand and it's evident why this film has been so delayed. Britta'd it.

Everest

As weird as it may sound, I think this may be this year's answer to Gravity. A big, ambitious IMAX feature which certainly looks aesthetically pleasing, but unlike Gravity may also have a good enough plot and characters to boost it closer to Oscar glory. Everest looks, with no other word suitable, epic.

The Last Witch Hunter

Financially speaking, Vin Diesel is on a roll thanks to the recent onslaught of Fast and Furious films and Guardians of the Galaxy. But in this, his answer to last year's Hercules with his monster-fighting and ye olde battle tactics, comes a film which looks rather dull despite how ambitious it's trying to be. In a word - meh.

By the Sea

This film has gained a lot of publicity due to the fact that the film stars real-life couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as a married couple, and with the film directed and written by Jolie too, we have on our hands an interesting tale of "how much will the press eat this film up?". Going by the fact that even my grandmother knows about this film, I'd say they'll eat it up quite a lot

About Ray

Transgenderism is a subject which is slowly gaining more an dmore awareness in the public eye, with this, the upcoming Eddie Redmayne vehicle The Danish Girl and, most notably, Caitlyn Jenner all being major players in the subject. And with the first trailer for one of the noteworthy pictures, it does a good job at highlighting its slightly touchy subject matter without going in full force. It shows both sides of the spectrum in this modern age and how both the person and those around them react to this new approach - and it looks good. Performances, particularly by Elle Fanning, look strong, and the story is appealing enough to garner a viewing.

Stonewall

A lot of controversy surrounded the trailer for Stonewall upon release earlier this month for its white-washed approach to arguably the biggest part of gay rights history. Within hours a petition was made, and at the time of writing sits at around 23,000 signitures. White-washing has been quite a big deal lately thanks to Exodus: Gods and Kings and the upcoming Pan, so it's surprising that this is what has lead to a revolution of sorts, but I do understand why - for these are real people at hand, and they're being sidelined for white characters to lead the charge. Odd choice for an intriguing film.

Jem and the Holograms

Yep, our fears can pretty much be confirmed - this film looks appalling. I mean, it's directionless, precictable, and even its planned usage for the titular 'holograms' seems less like a good idea for a film and more for enforced emotional baggage. Burn every copy of this film please, Universal.

Dad's Army

Dad's Army is something of a British staple, with episodes continuing to be aired on terrestrial television despite concluding back in 1977, so a feature film was inevitable. And people seem to be liking what they see with the reimagined and recast set of characters present. Humour is a little iffy, but aside from that I may be able to go forward with it...if we see more material and it's good.

Sleeping with Other People

Welcome back, current favourite person Alison Brie! The red-band trailer for her sex-based indie has some level of hilarity involved (although never out loud) and a plot which, by no means original, does bring about some level of interest. I blame Brie though.

The Hateful Eight

Confession time: I have barely seen any of Quentin Tarantino's films, with the exception of Pulp Fiction some time ago. I've always been meaning to check out the majority of his filmography, but time has never given me the chance. So The Hateful Eight - a film that was initially cancelled following the original script leaking to the public - will be a good place to start, with its natural blend of comedy, drama and mystery.

Trumbo

Bryan Cranston aims for an Oscar in this biopic about the communist screenwriter, and from what's shown it does appear to be a watchable film with strong performances - but nothing else. The story is alright, but there isn't anything else to really comment on. Sorry, Mr. White.

Life

Dane DeHaan recently hit a stumbling block with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Life After Beth was more a television movie than anything. So this drama about the origins of classic actor James Dean does seem like a good place to get his groove back, alongside co-star and one-time Twilight actor Robert Pattinson. Both seem to be doing well in their respective roles, but the film is ultimately lacking in appeal...there's nothing new about it.

Ride Along 2

Who authorised this?

Burnt

What do you get when you mix American Sniper with Chef? Well, you get Burnt, which has some level of appeal to it but does feel like a comedy-less Chef...and an easy Oscar nomination for Bradley Cooper. Not an awful lot for it, really, unless you really like food porn.

Victor Frankenstein

At long last, a glimpse into the newest retelling of Mary Shelly's classic...with the forever underrated Daniel Radcliffe teaming up with everyone's favourite Scottish actor James McAvoy! And it does certainly look like an interesting take, with a slowly maddening Victor wishing to make more monsters and Hugo being somewhat fearful about it. Add some Andrew Scott and woah nelly we have a good movie on our hands here.

The Martian

I recently read The Martian by Andy Weir, and was impressed with what I read. And now that I've read it I can be appeased by this trailer even more. We get more information on the situation at hand and a look at other viewpoints of the travesty; a better look at the ensemble cast (Hello Donald Glover!), and even more of Ridley Scott's visuals. Ticket please! 

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

ZOMBIE CATS. ZOMBIE CATS.

Ahem. So we have yet another zombie film, this time going the Zombieland route, which I really should like as much as I do. This trailer actually made me laugh at points despite how simple its approach and how predictable the whole thing will be, not to mention the hero's journey that's being hinted at. But I may actually watch it. Like American Ultra before it, it looks strangely good.

Paper Towns (2015) Film Review

Following the surprise success of last year's critical darling The Fault in Our Stars, the remaining selection of YouTube sensation John Green were quickly brought up by various studios, with Paper Towns being the very first of the post-Stars selection to be released. Based on the 2008 novel of the same name, its quickened production by the same team as Stars alongside an upgraded role for new lead Nat Wolff and its somewhat disappointing box office gross compared to the highly popular predecessor does warrant some level of worry from standard audiences and Green fans. And when considering that this specific cinephile was somewhat underwhelmed by Fault in Our Stars, can Paper Towns be a worthwhile (or better) successor Green's opening triumph? 

From the moment Margo Roth Spiegelman moved in across the road from Quinten when they were young, he has been in love with her. Once forming a close bond to one another due to the simple reasons of being neighbours and the same age, over time they grew apart and became part of different social statuses – with Margo (Cara Delevingne) being part of a popular clique while Q (Wolff) is a simpleton with numerous targets to earn a happy life. But when Margo suddenly breaks into Q's bedroom with a mission of revenge following the discovery that her boyfriend cheated on her. But when she mysteriously disappears after that night with a series of clues in her wake, Q, his two best friends Ben and Radar (Austin Abrams and Justice Smith respectively) and Margo's friend Lacey (Halston Sage) to embark on the quest to locate the missing miracle of Q's life before prom comes and it's too late... 

With the film split into three distinctive parts, with the first cementing the relationship between the two, followed by the heist-esque aspect of their brief reunion and the later search, the film does occasionally drag its feet through the genre's usual footsteps despite an opening which does provoke interest. But once the adventurous duo of Margo and Q reaches its conclusion in the office tower and it deviates onto focusing on the mysterious missing girl that Q is so deeply infatuated with, the film does begin to slow down quite severely, almost to the point of a standstill. And while the later roadtrip element does bring life back into it, it takes quite a while for it to kick-start while we instead bring focus onto Q's two friends and their arcs, alongside Lacey and her place all of it. But on the plus side, there isn't an out-of-place sequence during the entirety of the film, and it should be noted that Green handles the occasional comedic aspects present here much better than before, and while never gut-bustlingly funny it is at least easier to get through than some of the romantic elements from Fault in Our Stars.  

As our hopelessly in love (but not really) lead male Quinten, Nat Wolff is saved from being the well-spoken, extensive lexicon-talking machine that dampened Stars, and is instead a lot more like a human, and plays it as such. While his understanding and motivation for his actions will likely be questioned as perhaps going a little far for a crush, Wolff does at least make the guy rather likable, and his character growth from goal-driven A-Grade robot to adrenaline-fueled soul-searcher does happen at a natural pace. However, the lack of consequences given to him from his mother and teachers for his sudden divergence does affect the character only by sheer existence – a guy who has a sudden change of pace but doesn't get questioned about it by anyone. As the puzzling and mostly absent Margo, Cara Delevingne fills the bewilderment machine that somehow captivates Q so much rather well despite her limited acting experience to date. Whilst she does fit playing a younger character, the character itself does come across less as a teenage delinquent and more like an older character trapped in a younger person's body. Maybe that's why Delevingne was cast, but despite her supposed place as Q's 'prize' she is thankfully far more than that.  

By Q's side, Austin Abrams is the gross friend who lies about who he's 'laid' with and is stuck with a nickname which has purged him since his early days of high school. Because of this, his character can be sometimes off-putting, with his story arc revolving around getting a date for prom and trying to grab the attention fro Margo's friend Lacey being limited and a tad too predictable to really warrant much interest from. But as the comedic one of the trio, he does at least have some success on that front – even if the gross-out-ness of it all is usually the reasoning for that. On Q's other side is Justice Smith, who's arc revolves around girlfriend Jaz Sinclair and keeping her away from the more embarrassing side of him – including his friends and his parents weirdly specific collection of objects (I won't spoil what, but's very obscure) - while doing right by her and keeping things between the two of them well. He's likable enough as the semi-nerd, and does occasionally earn a laugh of his own (although one is now ill-placed and should be approached with caution), but never brings much to the plate aside from the aforementioned drama and nerdiness. Meanwhile Halston Sage offers good chemistry but little else with Wolff despite being designated to Abrams but at least has fun with the role, whilst Sinclair is introduced late in the game and is there solely to be with Smith and maybe some additional diversity to the ranks.  

Paper Towns is a superior step-up from last summer's big hit, but is still riddled with a few problems. It suffers from some of the standard clichés of the teen romance genre and ends on a particularly low note, but is at least enjoyable and rarely raises questions about some of the decisions made by these characters. But it's evident that the films peaks at its elaborate prank sequence and struggles to figure out where else it should go, leading to a main romance which lacks much interest and a far superior concept withheld within for a B-plot instead. Occasionally funny but never heart-warming, Paper Towns does at least deserve a little bit more attention than it's currently receiving. 6/10. 

Editorial: What's Going Down at the House of Mouse?

This past weekend marked the fourth bi-annual Disney D23 Expo, in which numerous news and updates are made for Disney's multiple properties, including their own in-house live action and animation production studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and LucasFilm. And with it now out the way, it's time to delve into each little bit of information released, piece by piece, starting with...

Toy Story 4

The first delve into the new releases came quite early on, with the film's director John Lasseter revealing that the fourth instalment in the beloved franchise will focus on the romantic entanglement between Woody and Bo Peep. Now, as some of you may know Bo Peep was absent during the proposed conclusion to the series with a comment about her being sold off some time ago (although if she were still there she would have melted during the furnace scene, as the studio realised during production), so bringing her back is an interesting turn of events - especially when considering that there already is a resident couple in the toy box with Buzz and Jessie, who were hinted at getting together at the end of the second sequel. But if this leads to hijinks similar to that of Toy Story 2 when Buzz and co. go out to save Woody, but in this case for romantic reasoning, then colour me interested - even if a possible dark turn in which Bo Peep is broken and has to be left behind is highly unlikely (but oh how sad it would be!)

Pixar Posters A-Plenty

Soon after came this image, featuring previously seen posters for The Good Dinosaur and next year's Finding Dory. While there's isn't much difference in design for any of them (and I assume that Luxo Jr. image will be replaced with an original film poster (UPDATE: it was), it is certainly an interesting spectacle - especially how they've done the logo for The Incredibles 2. Not to mention an interactive poster for Finding Dory has been spotted with the tagline "She just kept swimming...", and it's safe to say that Pixar is in safe hands.

Through the Looking Glass...

I had forgotten that this Alice in Wonderland sequel was coming...so tada! Now directed by James Bobin, who helmed the two recent resurrections of the Muppets (so quite a jump!), this poster doesn't reveal much about the film, so could any released footage tell us something ahead of its May release next year? At this early stage, I haven't got many thoughts on the project (well, there's "Why?", but Hollywood is a sequel game these days...) so I can only hope all is well. The production seemed to go untroubled, so there is that...

Welcome to Zootropolis

Or Zootopia, if you don't live in Blighty. The first film profiled during the Animation panel on Friday, small details began to emerge for the next Disney Animation film which admittedly has gotten me a little worried. The teaser released back in June was sweet, and there's nothing wrong with the plot as far as I can tell. But seeing imagery of the world they live in and Shakira being announced as voicing a gazelle (see above) and producing a song for the film gives me somewhat vivid recollections of Chicken Little from a decade prior. But hey! I hear the level of detail on the character designs is intense, so it'll at least be pretty.

Gigantic Surprise

And as the first major announcement by the studio comes a new retelling of a classic fairytale, Jack and the Beanstalk! And with Tangled's directors and Frozen's musical talent involved, not to mention the minor details given over the film's plot (an 11-year-old giant treating Jack like a living doll) does certainly peak interest. It looks like it could be a really good film if done well. But alas we have to wait until 2018 for its release.

Tiki Girl

But before Gigantic comes Moana, the next Disney Princess film (and first non-white princess since The Princess and the Frog). Many of Twitter were speculating that they'd reveal who would be voicing the new girl (why Dinah Jane anyway?), but instead came an insight into the character designs, music, and plot, with Dwayne Johnson adding much-needed fanfare. Not much was revealed, least of all to the public, but expect more details later this year/early next year as we come close to its late 2016 release.

Do the Dinosaur

 Then came Pixar with the first of their line-up, starting with the upcoming Good Dinosaur. With preview clips making the audience cry, and with the newer details hinting at some deeper layers as well as some good fun (including the above T-Rexes being their version of the sharks from Finding Nemo), and it remains a film to be excited for - although the original belief of this film being akin to WALL-E may have been squandered.

Meet the Parents

Then comes the film I was most looking forward to. More than Toy Story 4; more than Captain America: Civil War - this is what I so wanted to hear about, not only as a big Pixar fan but as an adorer of Finding Nemo. With new cast members and characters announced (including the above cantankerous octopus) as well as some clips which show just how easy it's been to slip back into it, I am beyond excited for this film. And if this image is all we have to show for it for now, then I can be happy enough.

Going Coco for Unkrich

And thus, the Dias de los Muertos film that has been shrouded in secrecy for years has emerged with a title, director and plot details, with Toy Story 3's director Lee Unkrich helming the picture. While comparisons to The Book of Life are likely (it was comparisons that caused Pixar to cancel newt due to Rio), the small business it did won't do anything to overshadow this rumoured musical, least of all by the time of its 2017 release.

20 Years of a Classic

And wrapping it all off was Toy Story, with celebrations of the upcoming 20th anniversary it'll be having this year and confirming the aforementioned details about the upcoming sequel and that Randy Newman will be scoring once again, which is great news. But as the finale of the panel, it's a slight pity that little-to-no details on Cars 3 and The Incredibles 2 were revealed aside from the posters.

Strange Love

As the opener to the live action portion of Saturday's line-up came Doctor Strange, where lots of concept art and an intro by star Benedict Cumberbatch went by, along with confirmed castings for Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Much applause was given, apparently, but we have a long way to go before we actual see anything - well, I hope we don't. A picture would be nice.

WAR!

With its slightly altered logo and special appearances from Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans, the trailer released for the film got audiences pumped - even those who didn't see it! Breakdowns and quotes from the trailer, with glimpses of almost everyone confirmed for the film and with the resulting battle. All I have to say is "PLEASE SHOW US NOW!"

The Bare Necessities

After a brief look at the new Chris Pine film The Finest Hours (yep, not very interesting) came our first glimpse at the next live-action retelling in the very long line of announcements (many included in this panel). With this film upping the number of recreations from the 1967 classic, and the first official poster looking very good, Jon Favreau's remake may be Disney's first good one in a long time.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Then came details for the new Alice in Wonderland sequel, following the release of the posters and costume details. The footage revealed it would incorporate time travel elements, with Alice meeting younger versions of the townsfolk of Underland with Sacha Baron Cohen reportedly playing a hammy character called Time. Yeah, that...doesn't sound good. Not at all good. It sounds more like a TV movie...

Spared No Expense

Then comes remake #2, with the redo of the 70s classic of the same name. With Jurassic World's Bryce Dallas Howard, Captain America: The Winter Soldier's Robert Redford and Dredd's Karl Urban all appearing in the new version, the dragon has reportedly had a major design update while adding a magical element to it. Set for mid-2016, this may be good. I have my doubts, but maybe.

T'was Beauty

Very little new was announced for the 2017 remake starring Emma Watson, aside from confirmation that it will be a musical, with two new songs and the original musicians reteaming for the retelling. That is all.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho!

Then came the pirate who was once beloved  by all but now leaves audiences mixed with the belated fifth instalment in the long-running series. With a new logo (featuring a decadent skull) to boot alongside a live appearance from Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), it was announced that Orlando Bloom will be returning after being absent for On Stranger Tides. It's unlikely that Keira Knightley will also appear - having only recently given birth to her first child and filming wrapping recently - but this backstep to the supposed glory days of the series certainly has some appeal.

Next Time on Star Wars...

Wrapping the panel came two major updates for the future Star Wars instalments, with the first tidbit of information being in regards to the director's choice for the ninth instalment in the series (with JJ Abrams in charge of VII and Looper's Rian Johnson for VIII): Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World and Safety Not Guaranteed). This guy is building up an impressive resume, what with only directing those two films and an upcoming indie, so kudos to him!

Rogue Nation

Then came the first details for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (so no longer an anthology film?), with principal photography having started and the above photo being the first look at Felicity Jones and co. in the in-between scenes of Episodes III and IV. Add Godzilla's Gareth Edwards and the potential of this being a heist movie of sorts, and you may have an interesting addition to the Star Wars universe.

And that's everything! So far at least - Sunday may have some more stuff but the schedule suggests otherwise. But if updates are needed, then updates will be made!