Well, its been a while since I posted something, but i have not given up yet.
Oh no! I am going to back posting regulaly, with a 3 part info reel on Hellboy, on how he was created, how his comics became know, his transition to movies and now the expectations for his next movie.
But until then it’s goodbye from me… see ya!
So sequels…… Rambo is now out in cinema’s and its only just coasted in, as if no one cares about it. Now with this sequel in toe lets look back at the sequel and see why a sequel to a movie is never as good as the original.
first off it’s a cash in as the producers found the original to be a money maker so how do you make more money…… make another one.
blatant cash ins are in the embdyment of:
Dumber and Dumberer
best pic i could find….. shows just how great it is!
Now we have the problem that the creators used up all their fresh material in the first one and hence have nothing to produce a second and if they do it is very feeble such as:
Halloween saga
bad sequel…. very bad
Jason saga
bad sequel
now I have pretty much written the sequel off, but I think there are a lot of good sequels out there to, such as the classic Indiana Jones, which i will surley to a retrospective on, in the near future also Terminator 2, Star wars and i’m sure there would be a good sequel for film suchs Nightmare before christmas, but that is unlikely.
good sequel
another good sequel
In my conclusion i feel that sequels should only be made if they have fresh ideas for the next one or need another movie to continue the unfinished narrative. 
a great sequel
A bad sequel…….
just a few examples!
As said in the last article there has been quite a bit of speculation over the creation of a film version of the 2000 video game American Mcgee’s Alice.
Now in 2000 when the game was released Wes craven was signed up to direct the movie. EA the games creators also were in negotiations with Dimension Films, whom also created the like of the Scary Movie series, 10 months before hand.
Everything seemed great, a movie was on the way and this got the fans excited but then, Wes Craven gave in an draft of the adaptaion of the film. Craven didn’t really feel committed to create any fuller drafts.
This was problem number one, called : Where’s our director.
Next to happen was Dimension Film’s were to sign up Jon and Erich Hoeber to write a full script for the adaptation of Alice. By July 2003 it was announced that the script was completed and that the movie was ready to shot.
But then in March 2004 the rights to the films production were moved from Dimension Films to Twentieth centuary Fox. Then in June 2005 the rights were moved again to Universal pictures.
Problem number 2 no consistancy of and actual film company producing it.
Now problem one of the missing director was now solved under Universal pictures. The studio signed director Marcus Nispel to to direct the adaptation.
Now at the present these two problems in the films production seem to have been resolved as Sarah Michelle Gellar the famous actor from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Scooby-Doo has been signed up as Alice, also with Jean Marsh playing the evil Queen of Hearts.
Alice in the up coming adaptation of American Mcgee’s Alice!!
So at this moment in time it seems the creation of the Alice movie has been stabalised and we may even see it in cinema’s by July of this year which does seem doubtful.
Hopefully we’ll see Alice on the big screen this year!!!
In this two part look at one of the video games biggest underdogs we talk about it’s original release, but also the long expected movie that never seems to come to fruition.
Now in October of 2000, the video game industry had had a few good games under it’s belt such as Perfect Dark on the N64, Vagrant Story on the PSX and of course the legendary gaming franchise known as The Sims was started off.
Now one game came along that wasn’t offered such a friendly audience at first, and was not very hyped about in the gaming media of the time, but American Mcgee’s Alice busted it’s way onto the computer game scene.
Now if you are not an avid gaming fan let me explain what this American Mcgee’s Alice is:
Alice from the famous Lewis Caroll books, Alice in Wonderland and Alice: through the looking glass, finds herself once again in Wonderland. This time Wonderland is under the tyranical reign of the sadistic Queen of Hearts.
Wonderland though is a metaphor for the dementia that Alice is experiancing in the real world. This then poses the question to the audience: Is Wonderland in Alice’s head? and is it a form of her insanity?
Now sorry to come away from the story but this isn’t our focus, it is of this proposed film of the game which has had many a tale told of it.
Now the game was a kind of horror film in itself with the dark, dingey enclosed areas and also the the unerving music which sometimes may have had to be turned down if you were that of a nervous disposition. These unerveing tunes were created by the Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna. Now this is where I start off my exploration of this mythical movie.
Now Marilyn Manson was going to be the composer of the games music until somehow communications broke down and this led to Chris Vrenna composing the music. Now this music Manson composed is apparently to be heard in his dark and haunting adaptation of Lewis Caroll’s life, named: “Phantasmagoria: The visions of Lewis Caroll.”
Now doesn’t this strike you as weird that after, turning down Mcgee’s Alice Manson creates his own film on Caroll. Now I thought that was an interesting point to start off with on our little quest for the movie of American Mcgee’s Alice.
Next time find out if the movie will really be made or is it just tinsel town myth?
Will it ever be made into a movie?
I Am Legend which is saw about a week ago, was, i had heard to be very good, with tension, action, monsters and Will Smith!! The film caught my attention when i heard that upon it’s opening weekend in America it exceeded box office takings and took more than the Lord of the Rings!!
WARNING: This review contains one or two spoilers, so if you have not see the film and don’t want to know about some key scenes please do not read on, but if you have seen it or do not care about some plot points being spoilt, please read on.
The film in brief without giving much away sees humanity being destroyed by a virus which took the world by storm through a vaccination for cancer, but sadly it failed and turned humans into monstrosities which just seem to seek and kill all unaffected humans.
Now this leads us to Will Smith’s character and his dog Sam. Smith is apparantly the last surviving non-affected human on Earth. Smith appears to have been involved in the Cancer cure and wants to cure it’s catastophic affects, and so starts the film of I Am Legend.
The film itself can be divided into two half’s pre-dog death and post-dog death. Now the pre-dog death side of the film which lasts about 45 mins is enjoyable. Smith and the dog as characters have one of those uncommon emotional onscreen links. This reinforced by such quotes from Smith as:
“You haven’t organised a surpise party for me now?”
followed by a close ups of the dogs cute but clueless face. The feeling that they only have eachother left on the Earth and how Smith lets out his raw emotions by seeing his dog as another human being are tender and artfully done.
This leads me on to another part of the pre-dog death part of the film where Sam, Neville’s (Smith’s) dog runs off into a dark building which is infested with infected humans, the actual tension in this scene was well done as at one point I thought I was playing a Silent Hill game rather than watching the film. The tension was hightened to just the right extent until a chase with the infected ensued.
Post-dog death sadly isn’t as emotionally sound or as tense. Neville tries to commit suicide after his dog dies, this sadly is the last good part of the film as it shows how much he has lost and that the dog Sam meant more to him that anything else in the world, to such an extent that he is willing to die and be with Sam once again.
Neville though finds another two humans and this is where the film trails off, it tries to make out that Neville after so long has socialiseation problems but just turns into a scene where he sits in a bath tub deeply contemplating.
The two new characters do not have strong enough persona’s to be able to carry the film along and becomes totally reliant on Smith once again to continue the story.
It’s abrupt ending also has much to be desired as it shows how everything is at peace one again but also tries to give us a Philosophy lesson which is to big for a Hollywood film like itself to pull off energetically or believably.
It tries to make the audience contemplate wheather us being saved from extinction was Gods doing or just fate, now i admit the films story was trailing a bit towards the end. But then for it just in a slap dash ten minute slot try and claim that all the events that transpired were messages from God as the new woman character Anna (Alice Bragga) repeatedly tried to claim to an unbelieving Neville.
This plot twist i would not mind so much if the film as a whole had a completely deep complex meaning to it, not just a feel of action genre mixed in with a bit of survival horror.
The film feels like it wants to be something grander and more Prestigous than it really can be. Lets be serious its an action film about a guy fighting against loads of infected human monsters, not a film looking at the deeper psyche of man and is our life written within the stars?
The film is overall good, it has good levels of tension and a rare and satisfying on-screen relationship between Smith and his dog. Sadly though the last 50 minutes or so trail off and seem devoid of emotion or character, with a deeper meaning which can’t be pulled off properly.
Will Smith supposedly said that he wanted this film to be as emotionally pleasing as Forest Gump or Gladiator. Well this film seems like another Independance Day from where I’m sitting.
overall:
6/10
******
In this last installment of the Ironman info-reel we shall look at Ironman’s advertiseing campaign, the special effects used and make very early predictions about wheather they will make a second!
The easiest place probably to start is the Ironman movie website.
The website itself has a home page with the trailer for it, the trailer seems to portray Tony Stark as a hip new reinvention of the character, and obviously trying to get the character to seem more accessible to the audience as not all of us are multi-billionaires.
On the website the catagories are as follows:
Story, Video, Images, Cast and Fan Art.
The story gives information on the creation of the film and whose in it very briefly.
Images shows various screen shot from the film itself.
Cast shows whose playing who.
Finally Fan Art shows various pieces of art which the devout and unquavering fans of Ironman have created in their spare time.
To check the website out for yourself click here!!!
Also to build upon what I have already said about the trailer. The trailer shows us a reinvented Tony Stark which i think some fans may like and some fans may hate. I don’t want to criticise here but did Tony Stark really warrant any reinvention to bring him into the 21st centuary for a mass audience.
We can gather from the trailer that there will be quite a bit of action and the stock explosions and the like, just what we expect from a good superhero movie!!
The use of Silver Ironman should please many fans of the comics, as it was the suit Ironman wore in his first appearance, the origin story, this i know made me quite excited. If anything the film should be good just to see the original Ironman suit in action.
The Silver Ironman suit should be great to see in all it’s filmic entirity.
To go on to the special effects now and as shown in the trailer their should be many an explosion with cool fighting set pieces.
To capture the movements of Ironman, Robert Doney Jr. has to participate in motion capture work for a full 8 months after filming to make Ironman’s movement’s in the film look realistic.
Robert Downey Jr. is a big fan of Ironman also so maybe this Ironman could be faithful to the Ironman of today’s comic’s, while as you could have guessed Stan Lee will appear in a cameo role, as Ironman is one of his creations. So get Stan spotting once again!!!
Now to see if their will be an Ironman 2 is a bit premature I admit but we can see the fan communities approach to the movie.
The movies approach by fans has been Luke warm with some complaining about Stark’s persona in the trailer to just declairing it a oncoming dud at the box office. The otherside of the fan community seem to like Robert Downey Jr. in physical appearance to Tony Stark and also Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
I feel the films release will either make or break this film and also decide for yourself, will be the next Batman Begins or the next Hulk? You decide, and on that note i shall finish this three part series of Ironman and return in the very very near future with a review of I am Legend!!
Till then See Ya!!
In this article we shall look at the actors who will be in Ironman and also what the story man revolve around.
As said in the introduction Ironman will be played by Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. has also stared in the critically acclaimed film Chaplin!
Also starring in this film will be Gwyneth Paltrow, as virginia “Pepper” Potts, who in my own belief will be the prominant female love interest, like all comic films, from Batman Begins with Rachel Dawes to Superman with Loise Lane and now to Ironman!!
Ironman’s love interest in the up coming movie?
Samuel L. Jackson is to be Nick Fury, that slightly unhinged leader of S.H.E.I.L.D and if your old enough to remember the leader of the Howling Commando’s. Personally this is one casting that has not been messed up.
See the resemblance, remarkable!
Looks like they have gone to make as good a Ironman movie as possible and not anything like the bombshell of a film which was the dire Nick Fury: agent of S.H.E.I.L.D which David Hasslehoff stared in.
Even Nick Fury has had a few bad days!!
The stroy of the film seems to revolve around Tony Stark who is a weapons desinger goes to Afghanistan (instead of Vietnam to keep with the times) to introduce new weaponry to the US air force. Then while flying with them he gets attacked and and taken hostage, while this is happening a piece of shrapnel is lodged near his heart slowly killing him.
His captors order him to make weaponry for them, but Tony uses his brain and and creates an exoskeleton whith the ability to maximise his strength and gives him the ability to fly and use flamethrowers. But also it is used as a pacemaker to keep him alive. Wow thats one HELL of a suit!!!
Tony then back at home uses his new suit to fight crime within the city only to find an arch-enemy awiats him….
Iron Monger!!!
This concludes part two of Ironman but next time we shall talk about Ironman’s adversary, the advertiseing campaign and also the special effects which will be incorporated.
See ya!
I have returned from whats got to be at least a 3 month interval, and i return with the long promised Iron man series of articles.
This first instalment will talk about the long running comic series which this new upcoming movie is based upon.
Ironman was created in 1963 by the incredible man of Marvel Stan Lee, in Tales of Suspense #39.
Lee based Tony Starks (Ironman’s) personality around Howard Hughes the world famous aviator, as he felt hughes was a colourful man, just like Tony Stark.
The original origin story of Tony Stark was that, on a visit to Vietnam to see how one of his inventions worked on the battle field, was caught by a booby trap which put him into the brutal hands of the Vietnamese warlord named Wong Chu.
Stark was dying from a piece of shrapnel which had become lodged in his heart through the booby trap. The warlord Wang Chu then made Stark creat weaponry for him, thius is where he met the Physicist named Yin Sen who helped Tony create an exoskeleton which boosted his strenghth and also allowed his heart to keep beating. This new exoskeleton of his allowed him to escape the warlords clutches.
This marked the start of Ironman!!
Iron man has had also issues other than supervillains to fight, the fight against the bottle!!
Tony Stark became a depressive throughout the years and started to become an alcoholic, which drove him to the brink of insanity. The consequences of his alcoholism were apparent when he lost control of his business Stark international and became a homeless vagrant due to it!
Dark times for Tony Stark!!
Stark sees himself as a visionary a futurist and see’s that the only way for earth is the future not the past.
in part two we shall talk about the transition Ironman will take from the pages of Marvel comics to multi-million dollar big screen event which is coming in 2008!!
Todays blog is dedicated to that hero in iron,……. IRON MAN!!!
I talk about this today due to the fact that an iron man film will hit the big screen next year.
this is an early realeased film poster for the movie picturing the films iron man.
robert downey JR. is set to play iron man and his alter ego Tony Stark.
downey JR pictured here will play the famous iron man.
This an introduction to my new informational articles which will start on monday with the origins of Iron man in a new 5 part epic. until then tata!!
or as Stan Lee says
Excelsior!!!! woot i guess!!
I said about 1 and a bit weeks ago i would start writing articles again, but due to circumstances i have not….
But do not fear as there will be a truly new blog post on this place by friday, i mean it!!
Till then though… tata!!
