It’s My Birthday And I’l Do What I Want To! :D

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another causal blog post and today’s one is a bit special as it is my birthday again, so what better time is there to do blogging again? The answer of course is none haha.

Indeed it is the day of my birthday and want to spread the joy of the occasion, yes even on my blog.

So yeah it is March 30th, a day I’m always looking forward to, but always seems to sneak up on me. In recent years I have looked forward to my birthday for at least 6 months, but when it is upon me it always feels bizarre and completely surreal. Like it shouldn’t be real. But of course I eventually get the groove and it feels like a good time.

Now recently I have had a lot of random and annoying shit to deal with, my dissertation at uni is changing constantly and becoming harder and harder to write, my laptop had just recently got repaired just for the network adaptor to stop working randomly and for some reason life has just been kind of dull in general. So when it comes today I’m just saying “Fuck it.” Its my time and I think Cartman from South Park summed it up pretty well in this video below:

So what have I been up to today? Well besides being flooded with birthday messages on Facebook which is always a good feeling. I entered my birthday at midnight playing games with my mates, then got some garlic bread from the takeaway and watched some of my favourite episodes of Regular Show. I have also been walking around town and stuff and the music selection on my phone has been very good with some great choices from some of my favourite artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jamiroquai, AFI, Manic Street Preachers, Deadmau5, Crush 40 and an assortment of songs from Sonic games. 🙂

But the highlight of my day has to be when I went to the cinema to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier again. I already reviewed the film earlier on this week and I haven’t been able to get over how good the film is. Seeing it again has not only gotten me so hyped for seeing the film again, but also for the future of Marvel Studios and what They are gonna do with Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron. In addition to seeing the awesome film, the film screen I was in pretty much showed all the trailers for my most anticipated films of the year which are Godzilla, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy. If any of these films deliver what their trailers give us or are at least as good or better than The Winter Soldier then this is gonna be a glorious summer for films.

If you haven’t seen this film yet go out and do it now, it’s really good! 😀

At this current moment I’m just blogging on a PC quickly at uni, but soon I’ve venture back outside to go collect a free cookie, a free cupcake and possibly a sandwich from Subway. Then tonight I think I’ll have a filthy film session because I have plenty of films to watch and why not do it on the best of days, my birthday. XD

Anyways just wanted to share my birthday experience with you all so far and here’s hoping it continues to be badass into the night. Until next time people, later on yo 😀

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Trailer 1# Review

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, time for a trailer review and this is one I have been wanting to see for the longest time, I am of course talking about the teaser for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Out of all the summer films that are coming out this year this is the last big one to show any footage off, so now we finally have at least a teaser to work so let’s talk about it!

Have a look at the trailer below:

So my first thoughts after seeing the trailer? Looks decent and interesting.

Now while I’m not jumping over the moon about this trailer, it does look pretty interesting and has some potential to be pretty good. That being said I’m questioning the origins of the turtles, the tone of the film and still questioning to this day the inclusion of Megan Fox.

So can I say about the trailer? Erm, well it looks like a modern, kind of darker interpretation of what has come before. It seems like there is not only a bigger level of crime in New York then ever before (especially if buildings are being destroyed and shit), but also a larger sense of scope than previous films. I mean you’re in New York at one point and then you see the turtles sliding down a snowy mountain slope, there’s definitely gonna be some travelling involved.

It also looks like April and he man who will become the Shredder play a big part in the origin of the turtles. Seems this film is changing up the origin a bit and I’m kind of in two minds about it. But in the end I don’t know how the origin is done, but it is weird to hear  William Fichtner talk about creating heroes and how he and April’s father were trying to make heroes. So clearly he’s implying something about the turtle origins but I guess we don’t know until we get a longer trailer so see the film which is still months away.

Now let’s talk about the Turtles themselves, they look pretty cool if a bit too detailed. Those models that were leaked on the internet a little while ago were a pretty good representation of the characters in the film as they look pretty spot on to how the characters are in the film. The turtles look rough as hell, dark in their shades of green, they’ve got gear and armour on and overall they look pretty nice. While we don’t hear that much of them talking, we hear Raphael, Donatello and Michelangelo speak and they sound decent enough. I think their CGI could use a little touching up, but since it was motion captured it could have looked a lot worse and obviously since the film isn’t out until August the SFX guys have a plenty of time to beef things up.

The best part of the trailer is at the end when Leonardo drops and April backs away only to bump into Michelangelo behind her. And then he tells her not freak out about his mask, he takes it off and then April faints. I liked that moment just because that seems just like something Michelangelo would do, it felt funny and reminiscent of the character.

So how this looks compared previous Ninja Turtles adaptations? Well let’s take the animated adaptations out of the equation and look back at the previous films. Now to this day I’ve only seen the first and last Ninja Turtles films, the 90’s one still holds up pretty well and I still like it a lot, where as the full-on CGI film was okay but seriously dull and lacking in any form of charm. This film looks like it’ll once again be a dark affair with sprinkles of humour and while I’m tired of everything being dark and edgy, if it the tone and atmosphere is done right then it can work so I’m gonna give this new film a chance.

So in conclusion the first teaser trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks interesting and definitely could be decent if there is the right balance between seriousness and humour. I don’t care for Megan Fox, I just want to see the turtles and so far they look good, as long as Michael Bay’s involvement doesn’t turn the film into Ninja Turtles meets Transformers in terms of the destruction of cities and explosions then I’m all good.

So what do you think of the first trailer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Does it excite you or make you cringe with fear? Whatever your thoughts are drop them in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next review yo. 😀

 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review

Good day to all who may be reading this blow, today is an important day I’m finally able to review Captain America: The Winter Soldier! I have waited for AGES for this film and avoiding spoilers has been a frigging mission for me. But after all the waiting I finally saw it yesterday and I’m ready to share my thoughts. So how did the film fare? Read on and find out!

Set after the events of The Avengers, Steve Rogers/Captain America is trying to adjust to the modern world and while working for S.H.I.E.L.D. he starts to realize that there is a lot of secrets and complications hat come with working for an organization that has so many secrets. Soon a  new enemy emerges known as the Winter Soldier and it require not only Cap, but the help of Black Widow and newcomer Falcon to join in and help.

I thought the story was great, it was action-packed, dramatic, dense, thrilling and complex. There is so much to love in the film like:

• Steve Rogers trying to adjust to the modern world
• The secrets and deceit of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• The introduction of the Winter Soldier
• Getting to know more about Black Widow
• How this film not only links to the past of Captain America but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general

One of the great things about the film is that it doesn’t feel like a typical superhero flick, it feels like a mix between a thriller and a your usual comic book material. If you know of films in the political and spy thriller genres then you’ll totally see elements borrowed from that here and it is used to great effect. The story emphasizes the themes of trust and the price of freedom, plus since this film is all about secrets and lies nothing is black and white, just loads of grey. The Russo brothers do a great job with this film’s direction, it seems like they have a good idea of what Captain America is, how to handle him in film and change things up while giving the fans what they want.

Oh and by the way, there are things in this film that basically change the whole of the Marvel Cinematic Universe forever. I can’t say what they are, but when you see this film, you’ll be looking at everything in a totally different light and will be trying to wrap your head around things for ages after the film ends.

When it comes to the cast they are all really good and there really isn’t any weak links. So let’s start with Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, honestly Cap has gone from being one of the most bland superheroes to being one of the coolest. Evans embodies the character so well now as he feels cool, serious, yet vulnerable and emotionally versatile, the guy really gets to spread his wings and shows off why he’s a badass seeing more of his strength and combat skills in a way unseen before now. Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow is also very good in the film, we get to learn more about her, see more layers get stripped away and see more of her personality too. Johansson really does well as this character and I would love to see her continue in this role for a while longer. In addition to that Johansson and Evans have such a great screen chemistry as Cap and Widow whether it humour-based or action related.

And then there’s Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier, oh how I loved him. This villain here is cold, merciless, scary and relentless, he’s like the frigging Terminator and had an intimidating and screen-dominating presence. And Stan just does such a great job as the character, he’s stepped into this role so well and I he’s just awesome. Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon is an awesome new addition to the MCU. Wilson is cool, funny and capable action man, he’s not just thrown into the film, he is key to the plot and has some cool key scenes. Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce is simply amazing. I knew that he’d be awesome after I watched All Is Lost, but here is great because his character has a lot to do with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the main plot and he was really awesome. And then there’s Samuel L. Jackson who is still killing it as Nick Fury. In this film we get to see more of Fury emotionally and see how he fits into the world of lies and deceit that S.H.I.E.L.D. have created. Jackson is still cool and badass as hell and he has such a good handle on the character that it would be hard to see another person do the ultimate version of the character.

And the there’s all the other people that show up in the film and even if they’re only around for a little while, they still have relevance. Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill was cool, Frank Grillo as Brock Rumlow was intense and smooth and Emily VanCamp as Agent 13 did a good job in her role too. By the way there is a cameo of a character that is from a certain TV show, I won’t say who it is but when you see him you’ll know and for me it was a great moment.

As for the presentation MY GOD it is GORGEOUS! Honestly this might be the best presentation of the Marvel Studios films just behind Avengers. The action sequences and scenes are done with such precision, scope and style that you’ll be hard-pressed to fight something you didn’t like. There are fights in the sky and on the ground and it is a mixture of hand-to-hand combat, gunfights, car chases and so much more. The best part for me what the fight scenes, they were some of the sexiest fight choreography I have seen in years, i was tight, well-down, hard-hitting and SO cool to watch. Also the CGI in this film is very clean and works well to give us some of these larger-than-life set pieces. The soundtrack by Henry Jackman is also very good and in my opinion is better one then Alan Silvestri’s score for The First Avenger. While this film doesn’t have any stand-out themes, the music just amps up the action, drama and tension and it just felt so good in addition to what was going happening on-screen. And seeing this come together on a massive IMAX screen just made it SO much better. 😀

In conclusion Captain America: The Winter Soldier just night be the best Marvel film yet! The direction, story, characters and action is simply incredible and this film really does change the game for future comic book films. Forget Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, this is the best Phase Two film and possibly the best film from Marvel Studios. 2014 films have finally gotten awesome and The Winter Soldier sets the bar really high for future films. Do yourself a favor and check this film out, it is mint.

Rating: 9/10 (Another win for Marvel with a kick ass action-based thriller)

So what did you think of Captain America: The Winter Soldier? Have you seen it or are you gonna see it? And how do you think it stacks up against the previous Marvel Studios films? Whatever your thoughts are drop in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next film review yo! 😀

 

My Thoughts on the Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver Avengers: Age of Ultron Set Photos

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, time to talk about some big news that hit the web yesterday (at least I think it was yesterday) and no it’s not the awesome Days of Future Past trailer, but the first set of set pictures featuring the cast of the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron film. Now I’m not one who likes to dive too deep into set pictures as I like to keep the film as fresh as possible and avoid any secrets they may have for the film in question. Having said that though, I have seen set pictures and videos of a few films in production including Captain America: The First Avenger, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises and Thor: The Dark World just to name a few. So when I heard that there were set pictures for this film with cast actually on-set I had to look. So now that the internet has had some time to adjust to them, what are my thoughts on them? Well read on and find out.

Oh and by the way I’m only going to do a one photo per person. Okay? Then let’s begin.

So as you can see here it is Jeremy Renner back as Hawkeye and he looks exactly the same. Now that be interpreted as one of two things: 1) His character didn’t feel the need to change his costume. 2) He’s possibly gonna get a costume change during the film. OR 3) No one cares about his character to give him a costume change. To be honest it is a bit random, but at the same time I won’t lose sleep over it. I liked his character in Avengers so I look forward to seeing him get more screen time and become a character who isn’t the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Next up we have Aaron-Taylor Johnson as Quicksilver. At first I was kind of underwhelmed with his look considering how cool the concept art for his character is and normally in Marvel Studios films the concept art is pretty close to what the end result will be like. That being said, after looking at it again I do like it. His look just seems like a more streamlined and updated version of what was done in the comics, sure he’s not silver and green in his costume and his hair isn’t slicked back, but I think I can see some similarities to the version of the character that was in Marvel Avengers Alliance. Plus I can still see the character in Johnson and for this Marvel Cinematic Universe I feel like it works.

And lastly you have Elizabeth Olsen as Scarlet Witch who in my opinion is the best-looking out the cast so far. Like I said in my blog post when the concept art came out, I believe that it is impossible to do a live-action version of this character with her original costume. So when I see what the costume designers have done I can’t help but feel happy and like what I’m seeing. I think Olsen looks cool, a bit hardcore and hot in her costume and it is incredible to see how she’s hoped from role to role in recent times and looks so different in each one.

You can see more of the set pictures at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=96674#dd2hYmb6j5ule6KK.99

Well that’s it from me for now, what do you think of this and the other set pictures? Are you loving it or are you hating? Leave you thoughts below yo! 😀

 

Ant-Man Targets Corey Stoll for Mystery Role

Good day to you ladies and gents, time for some film news and it seems like another actor has been added to the cast of Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man film. The following information comes from superherohype:

(Photo Credit: Ivan Nikolov / WENN.com)

“Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man has targeted “House of Cards” star Corey Stoll for a mystery role in the upcoming Marvel Studios film, Variety reports. He’ll join Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas for the July 17, 2015 release with Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena and Patrick Wilson also still in talks to form the cast.

Set to begin production shortly in Georgia, Ant-Man will be directed by Wright, who co-wrote the script with Joe Cornish (Attack the Block).

Stoll is also well known for big screen roles in projects like The Bourne Legacy, Salt and Midnight in Paris.

The film, which is supposed to launch “Phase Three” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will follow Avengers: Age of Ultron’s May 1, 2015 release.”

Okay, cool, so we have another cast member for this film, unfortunately I don’t really remember him from anything. I just looked up his filmography and have found that he’s been a few films I’ve seen including The Number 23, Push, the last Bourne film and more recently Non-Stop, and that’s when I realised where I’d seen his face before. He’s one of the passengers on the plan that has a fair bit of interaction with Liam Neeson’s character. I can’t tell how good of an actor he is because I’ve not seen him in a leading role or a massive supporting role, I’ve yet to see House of Cards so I dunno if he’s good in that or not, but hey if he’s been cast in this film he must have some talent right? As for the mystery role he’s got I’ve got no clue. I don’t read any of the Ant-Man comics, however fans online have speculated Stroll could be Egghead just because he’s the only bald villain in that universe. I’m curious to see what happens in the future when the mystery of Stroll’s role becomes apparent.

 

X-Men: Days of Future Past Trailer #2 Review

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen of the world, its time for another trailer review and today I’m gonna be talking about the second trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past. Now the first trailer was pretty good, but since then it has sort of slipped away from my mind, weighed down by all the other trailer releases like Godzilla, Captain America 2 and Amazing Spider-Man 2. So how does the second trailer look? Read on and find out!

But first have a look at the trailer below:

So my first thoughts after seeing this trailer? Damn! I am pretty impressed yo.

Now the first trailer did well to establish the tone and feel for this new X-Men film giving us visions of the past and future and when the two intervene. But this trailer just takes it to a whole new level diving deeper into the drama, emotion and chaos that will take place.

Straight from the beginning you know shit is serious when you see this desolate, dark, post-apocalyptic city  with scenes of the past and future Professor X and Magneto and Storm looking like she’s about to get stabbed by a Future Sentinel? I looks mental. Along with this wonderful look at the future we get a off-screen monologue from Patrick Stewart’s Professor Xavier talking about how many battles have gone done but nothing like what him and the mutants are experiencing in the future. He questions whether the future is set or whether you can change it and I think that’ll be one of the main themes of the film; can the future be changed?

It seems like mistakes were made somewhere between the current point in the X-Men franchise and the future because the mutants are being hunted by what seems to be massive ships full of robot Sentinels flying all over the place like swarms of bees. So to rectify this old Professor X wants Wolverine to convince the younger version of himself to unite the mutants and save the world from the future, however he and Magneto know it won’t be an easy task as now in the 1970’s both men aren’t on the same page and are on totally different paths. I like how young Magneto is totally hands-on-deck and is proactive, whereas young Professor X is in a depressed, moody kind of place and Wolverine has to shift him into gear.

There is so much to take in that is easy to miss the subtle things. So here are a few of the things that stuck out for me:

1. Old Magneto’s Lament: It is interesting to see old Eric admit to Charles that fighting him for all those years was a wasted effort. Just to see him in a position of regret is surprising and quite beautiful.
2. Wolverine’s Lost People: Just hearing that Wolverine has lost people in the time where he’s from means that things must be real bad and the way he said felt really heartfelt. So I’m curious to know just who bites the bullet.
3. Young Charles and Eric Bickering: Charles says that Eric took everything from him, to which Eric says that he should have fought harder. That is a great moment for me and I think Charles may be referring to Raven among other things, but I like how Eric does give a fuck and is more serious.
4. Bolivar Trask Talks Mutants: Trask knows of the mutants existence and seems to have a weapon ready to take them on, the Sentinels.
5. Mystique Picks A Side: It seems like Raven aka Mystique is fighting against the humans and from her lines in the film it seems like we see where her more hateful side comes into play.

I love the montage towards the end of trailer with all this dramatic scenes of action and emotion. People shout, buildings fumble, Future Sentinels are running amuck and several mutants are running around doing mutant things, its kick ass yo. And while the visuals look a little questionable in clarity and sharpness, I assume they’ll be fixed up in the final film. But what they do have on display is awesome. I love the look of the Future Sentinels, the X-Jet looks sexy in the night sky, the effects used on some of the mutants especially Mystique and finally seeing Bobby Drake in full-Iceman mode, also a lot of additional special effects added to some of the scenes that were shown in the last trailer look so much nicer.

If I had one nitpick it would be near the end with the Future Sentinel head beam attack, I’m pretty sure it was ripped straight from the Destroyer Armour from Thor, it is almost exactly the same. But hey that’s just a tiny thing.

In conclusion X-Men: Days of Future Past looks pretty awesome and I can’t believe that I had sort of written this film off beforehand. Days of Future Past is back on my radar and I can’t wait to see it. All that being said, I’m still cautious of this film, it has the potential to be the best or worst X-Men film ever, but it all depends on the execution and whether Bryan Singer can make it work again. I pray that this film is as good as the trailers make it out to be.

So what do you lot think of the second Days of Future Past trailer, sound off your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya later. 😛

 

Brian Tyler to Score Avengers: Age of Ultron

Good day to you ladies and gents, hope you’re having a good weekend, I’m just coming online to talk about a little film news relating to the second Avengers film. The following information comes from superherohype:

(Photo Credit: Brian To/WENN.com)

“Film Music Reporter has confirmed that Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World composer Brian Tyler will be coming back for another Marvel venture, this time providing the score for the highly-anticipated Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tyler’s work can also be heard in the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot along with Fast 7 and Into the Storm. Composer Alan Silvestri scored the first “Avengers” film.”

Even though this is only a small piece of news I still think it worth talking about. Now while Tyler isn’t one of my favourite film composers and certainly isn’t of a legendary status, he definitely has talent and I have found myself really liking some of his work in the past prior to his work at Marvel. The Expendables and Fast Five were the films where I started to notice the cool and epic sounds he could create. And since coming to score two of the Phase Two films I think he did a great job with the Iron Man 3 soundtrack and did a decent job with Thor: The Dark World soundtrack too. That being said I’m not sure he’s the best choice to score something as epic as  Avengers: Age of Ultron. For me Alan Silvestri’s soundtrack for The Avengers had to be my favourite sound of all the Marvel Studios films, though I do have a lot of love for Iron Man and Thor too. The point I’m trying to make is why get rid of such a great film composer who did a really good job in The Avengers and made a really awesome main theme? It doesn’t compute. Maybe it is a case of money or creative issues? Who knows? I’m still gonna miss Silvestri, but I do hope Tyler doesn’t ignore that main theme from the last film, it is amazing and doesn’t need to be removed or replaced.

All I’m gonna say is Tyler you better be careful man, if you mess up, it will through this film out of wack. While I’m not happy, at the same time I am optimistic because Tyler has been doing good work as of recent and I think he’s improving, I just hope that he’s up to the task of crafting a soundtrack for one of the most anticipated films in recent film history.

Alan Silvestri

 

Fox Dates The Fantastic Four 2, a Wolverine Sequel and a Mystery Marvel Project!

Good day to you ladies and gents, time to talk a bit of film news and today it relates to 20th Century Fox’s plans for their future Marvel film projects. The following info comes from superherohype:

“20th Century Fox is doing some serious forward-thinking as far as their portion of the Marvel Universe is concerned. The studio has just announced that James Mangold’s sequel to The Wolverine will hit on March 3, 2017 with The Fantastic Four 2 coming to theaters on July 14, 2017. They’ve also set a just-announced mystery Marvel project for July 18, 2018.

All of these dates are newly claimed territory on the release schedule and will follow the studio’s X-Men: Days of Future Past this May 23rd, X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016 (both directed by Bryan Singer) and Josh Trank’s The Fantastic Four on June 19, 2015.

There’s no word yet on what the mystery Marvel film might be, but the studio is also believed to be developing an X-Force film with Jeff Wadlow directing.”

Okay, wasn’t not expecting any of this and to be honest I am not too sure I am all that interested. Okay so let’s look at the information that’s on display here.

The Fantastic Four 2

Firstly we’re hearing that Fox is already thinking about making a second Fantastic Four film and while it is not unheard of for studios to plan ahead with sequels, in the case of the current Fantastic Four I have to say slow the hell down. You haven’t even made the first film yet. I would understand if this film was almost completed or had gotten good reviews from early screenings or Fox had a strong track record with the franchise beforehand. But in this case the new Fantastic Four hasn’t even begun production, we still don’t know what the story is, we have no visual material to work with (concept art, posters, production stills) and the cast of the main team have only been announced recently. I think Fox are really rushing things and should just focus on making the first film a success because they have an uphill battle ahead of them with all the fans criticising them left, right and center.

The Wolverine Sequel

As for the Wolverine sequel, while I am interested, I am also concerned. There a million things you could do with the character but it would have to be one hell of a story that feels relevant and one that justifies him to be in his own solo film again. The Wolverine was good, not perfect but WAY better than Origins from 2009 and I really liked it, but some people still weren’t so keen on it and they’re the one’ Fox needs to convince. And then of course there’s the speculation as to whether Hugh Jackman will still be in this one or whether we’ll get a new actor in that department. I hate this level of uncertainty! 😦

The Mystery Marvel Film

As for this unannounced project, that has me a bit hesitant. I mean besides the talk of X-Force or the long-rumoured, on and off again Deadpool film, what else could it be? I mean I don’t think Fox has access to any other franchises besides those. I assume it’ll be X-Force, but the crazy side of me would hope that it would be Deadpool because we really need this film to happen!

 

Marvel Reveals Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch From Avengers: Age of Ultron

So it seems like last night was a pretty big night for comic news on the Marvel side of town as viewers of Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe got to see some images relating to Marvel’s upcoming Phase Two & Three films. But the main bit of visual info I want to talk about is the concept art of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, two key players that will be showing up in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

So here the images are:

If you were to ask me about my opinion on the look of these characters I would say I like them, a lot actually and they are a lot better than I could have imagined. What I like about them is that they are familiar and yet grounded in our reality and that’s what Marvel have been doing with a lot of the more bizarre/complex superhero/villain costumes. And while I can hear many fanboys in the corners of the internet whining about the new looks of these characters, especially Scarlet Witch, for me I think the designers could have done a lot worse.

So let’s talk about the character uniforms starting with Scarlet Witch. While she is definitely a far cry from her original costume, I feel for the MCU she has a modern look that while not necessarily comic book-esque, still has a unique style to it. And then there’s Quicksilver who in all honesty looks pretty cool, he has pretty cool hair, his costume looks sleek and fast and I can see aspects of the comic character in there. And my god that this look like a better improvement over the version from X-Men: Days of Future Past, no doubt in my mind about that.

Obviously there were more concept images uploaded online related to Avengers 2, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, but I just wanted to focus on these and give my quick thoughts on them here on my blog. If you wish to see more have a look at the gallery on superherohype yo.

 

Peanuts Teaser Trailer Review

Good day to you people of the interweb, it’s time for a trailer review and this one is a surprising because it’s a teaser trailer for the upcoming Peanuts film. When I saw an image for the Peanuts film on the Snoopy Fanpage on my Facebook news feed I thought, “What’s this weird-looking 3D image. I don’t like it.” But then I heard on AMC Movie Talk that this was an image from a teaser trailer. I literally searched for it immediately and after watching the trailer I can say that I’m interested.

Have a look at the teaser below:

After having a look at the content on-show here I think there is a bit of hope for this film.

Now this is definitely the definition of a teaser trailer, it doesn’t give you any story or idea what the film is about. It is just a showcase of the art and animation style and getting a feel for what we can expect in 2015. And from what I can see it looks good.

The introduction to the trailer is quite humourous with the epic sphere that pans out just to see that it’s Charlie Brown’s fat head haha. He seems so happy and has the dumb, happy grin on his face, it’s his moment in time… Then Snoopy drops in and moves all over the place, waving, dancing, jumping around and constantly interrupting Charlie leading him to say his classic line, “Good grief.” Then we see the title of the film with Woodstock flying in to sit down and that bit at the end where Charlie hugs Snoopy is just adorable, and that’s pretty much it.

What the film has going for it if this teaser is anything to go by is that we’re gonna get a very nostalgic and faithful to the original comics and TV adaptations.

The obvious thing that sticks out is the visual style. It is clearly 3D animated and that at first is incredibly jarring and kind of off-putting because any nostalgic fan will know that everything Peanuts has always been 2D. And since most new adaptations have gone 3D (The Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Postman Pat, etc.), it really looks odd and is a potential area of complaints for long-tim fans. That being said, there seems to be some kind of 2D aspects put into the facial animations and they seem good. Also even though the animation looks absurdly smooth and fluid, it still retains a lot of the same elements from the old animations. It is being animated by Blue Sky Studios who gave us the Ice Age films, Rio, Robots and Epic among others and since their work looks good for the most part I hope that they don’t mess up the look and feel of the source material.

Now I heard a few years ago that after the death of Charles M. Schulz died in 2000 that there would never be another adaptation of the Peanuts ever, but I didn’t expect there to be anything coming out, let alone have it show up next year. But apparently Charles Shulz’s son, Craig, his grandson, Bryan, have a hand in the creation of this film so hopefully that means the source material will be handled with care.

So in conclusion I think the teaser for Peanuts is alright. The characters sound the same, their mannerisms are spot on and while the new 3D CGI look is fairly visible, the combination of that along with 2D aspects makes it look nice. While the new look will take some getting used to and until I see a full trailer I can’t make any judgements, but so far I’m interested. 🙂