My Favourite Trailers From San Diego Comic-Con 2018

Good day to you ladies and gents, so San Diego Comic-Con has once again come and gone, and even though I’ve been interested in this convention  each year it’s come around, this year, in particular, I actually found myself way more hyped than before even though I wasn’t entirely sure of what was going to appear. And this year had a lot of really cool, fun and interesting reveals. A good chunk of which we have gotten to see, and some that we haven’t unfortunately. But anyway, I just wanted to make a quick post about my favourite trailers releases from this year’s Comic-Con. 😀

Godzilla: King of the Monsters Trailer

Now if you’ve followed this blog for a while then you know I was a big fan of Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla from 2014, I know the film has it’s fair share of issues, but I still believe it had a great sense of atmosphere, tension, distinctive visuals, a great film score and brought Godzilla back into the public consciousness in a good way. And while I thought last year’s Kong: Skull Island was fine, a lot of people really liked it and the film teased the larger universe where all these characters exist, and it feeds into this trailer. Good gravy I loved it. The sense of dread and chaos going on throughout this trailer is excellent. I like the choice of that classic piece of music (though I can’t remember what it’s called), I also love the visuals, there’s a love of striking colours from the skies to the creatures, and speaking of the creatures, we’ve got good old Godzilla back but we also see brief shots of Mothra, Rodan and frigging King Ghidorah! I’m also curious to see how this new family fit into the film, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler and Millie Bobby Brown are great talents and clearly, their family has gone throw some stuff due to Farmiga’s pursuit of the monsters, and it looks like their drama will only get worse. I just hope this human element will be stronger than the last film.

Shazam! Trailer

So we finally, FINALLY got a trailer for Shazam! and it looks good. Now I’ve never been a massive fan of Shazam, but I have really liked him in the animated stuff like Young Justice and Justice League Action, and from what I know of him, the film feels pretty accurate to the source material. This trailer really gives off a fun kind of vibe, the tone and overall presentation are brighter than most of DC’s previous films except for Wonder Woman and there’s a relatable factor that comes with Billy Batson becoming a superhero. Oh and the costume definitely looks better in motion than the recent images suggested. However, some of that humour was a bit hit and miss, and that stupid floss dance made it into a frigging superhero film and that just irks me. Otherwise, bring on April 2019!

Aquaman Trailer

And then there’s Aquaman, I liked this. What really impressed me was the visual style of this film, it feels like a combination of the Zack Snyder style with what was done with Wonder Woman when it comes to the scenes in darkness and scenes in the daytime with muted and vivid colours. I’m liking the sense of scale, the underwater world of Atlantis looks cool and some of the sea creatures look great. And while I know a lot of this material has to be in CGI, it looks a little inconsistent, but I know there will be time to fix it up before release. Right now I’m a little less excited for the film than before because I was hoping for something with a little more of James Wan’s style, but whatever I’m still gonna see it.

Young Justice: Outsiders Trailer

Hooray for Young Justice‘s return! I don’t know if I mentioned it on the blog before, but I LOVE Young Justice, it was one of my favourite TV experiences while I was at uni around 6 years ago, and for the longest time, I thought there was no hope of a third season, but for it to exist and for there to be a trailer, I couldn’t be happier. While I would have liked a fully new trailer without the mini recap of season 2, at the same time it was great to see the crazy and emotional highlights from the last season, and then transition into this new material with all the new and familiar faces, new locations, Darkseid and a whole load of other stuff. I’m just happy to know that it exists and I can’t wait to see it next year!

Disenchantment Trailer

Once I heard about this new project from Matt Groening I was intrigued, but seeing it in action only enhances my excitement for this new show. As much as I’ve loved the classic episodes of The Simpsons and certain elements of Futurama, it is refreshing to see Groening on another project that is different, but feels like it has his style all of it. And that’s the best thing about it to me; the fact that it is different yet familiar, and the fantasy setting mixed in with the humour feels like a nice and strange mix.

Glass Trailer

I quite liked this trailer, so much so that I recently rewatched Unbreakable and Split, and it got me super excited to see what Shyamalan comes up with in this new film. It looks cool, unique and strange. I like how Mr Glass, the Beast and David Dunn have somehow ended up in a mental institution and are being interviewed by Sarah Paulson’s character. When she says that she’s looking at people who believe they are superheroes it does make me wonder how many people she’s come across and if there will be more seen in this film. Either way, it is great to see Samuel L. Jackson back after so many years along with Bruce Willis, I’m very curious to see how their lives have changed and what brings them back together, There’s a lot of possibilities with Glass and that’s the most exciting part for me.

Christopher Sabat and Sean Schemmel Yelp Reviews

This is something I had to include, it was just too good not to. Now while this brief IGN interview was in relation to the upcoming Dragon Ball Super film and the dubbing process of the film and Super tv series. But the main thing that I took away from the interview was Chris Sabat and Sean Schemmel reading angry Yelp reviews as Vegeta and Goku. These are such silly, silly reviews, and hearing Chris and Sean bring their energy to these Yelp reviews really helps sell you on Vegeta and Goku in these scenarios and makes you wish these moments would be animated. 😀

And so that’s my highlights from this year’s SDCC, what was your favourite trailer or announcement from this year’s Comic-Con? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post, laters! 😀

 

QUICK THOUGHTS: Dragon Ball Super: Broly Trailer

Good day to you ladies and gents, from out of the shadows I have emerged again to talk about something very, very important to me; the first trailer for Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Now I really liked Battle of Gods and thought Resurrection F was decent, and while Super was one of the most up and down experiences I’ve had with any TV show, however when it was good, it was hella good. So Dragon Ball in recent years has gone from being fairly invisible and nostalgic to being right back in the conversation of current anime and media in general, so when Toei Animation announced a new film and the teaser dropped with the new art and animation style, I was surprised but so intrigued. Since last year I’ve been following this guy online called Ajay who is really knowledgeable about animation and people who work on Dragon Ball and did a great job to detail the pros and cons of Super.

Now it was recently revealed prior to this trailer that this new film would feature Broly, the legendary Super Saiyan from Movie 8 and the two subsequent sequels, and this caused a mixed opinion from the DB fans I saw online, some people were hyped for this character to come back, some weren’t so happy and some just didn’t care. But with word that Akira Toriyama would be involved in the story and would be finding a way to integrate Broly into the official canon of DB, that’s what got a lot of us fans hyped that the character would return with more depth and purpose than before.

And last night the first trailer and it is glorious! Check it out either the Japanese or English dub below:

Simply put, this film looks insanely good. It looks like a lot of stuff will be going down and all of the key players from Super will be back to play a part in this film.

From the teaser trailer, I knew this film would be special and interesting because of its art style, colour palette and animation, and this trailer just dialled it up to one hundred. The movement of the characters is so smooth, elastic, expressive and is so fluid when compared to anything Dragon Ball has done in the past. The art direction is notably different from the recent/current DB animated material, with art that looks more illustrative or from the pages of a manga with detailed line art and a colour scheme that feels in line with the old DB manga. I also appreciate the camera angles and scaling as it makes this film feel more cinematic than the TV show.

Here are some personal highlights:

• The facial close-ups look great: There are some nice shots of character faces up close and especially with Goku at 14 seconds, Broly at 27 seconds, and wonderfully detailed shots of Vegeta and Goku at 29 and 30 seconds. It all looks so beautiful.
• Broly looks intense: While there hasn’t been any of his classic “Kakarot!!” shouting just yet, I do appreciate how he comes across in the trailer. He’s mostly quiet, stern-looking, emits powerful energy and when he is fighting he packs a punch. There’s a shot of Goku in Super Saiyan Blue looking shocked at Broly’s power, so that has to tell you something about this dude’s strength.
• Vegeta looks cool: Vegeta is one of my favourite characters and he looks like he’s getting his time to shine here. I love how when Broly first punches him and he smiles, such a classic Vegeta thing to do, I love it!
• Frieza’s back: Now in a different reality, seeing Frieza again would be a major turn off, but because he was handled so well in Super I love the fact that he’s getting be part of this film and witness Broly first-hand.

So yeah if you couldn’t tell already I’m really excited by this trailer, it was everything I wanted and then some. I reminded me of some of the best moments of Super but magnified on a whole new level with crazy slick animation and artwork. I really hope to see this at the cinema when January comes around.

So what did you think of the trailer for Dragon Ball Super: Broly? Did it increase or decrease your hype for the film? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next video, laters! 😀

 

EPIC REVIEW: Incredibles 2 (Audio Edition)

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, how are you all doing? It is time for another film review and today I will be giving you my thoughts on the long-awaited animated sequel; Incredibles 2 via my Film Focus.

I literally saw this film yesterday morning at the earliest screening and I was thinking about doing a written review, but I felt like an audio review would be best. So yeah please enjoy the sounds of me talking about this film.

Anyway here’s the review:

So what did you think of Incredibles 2? Did you like it more or less or the same as the previous film? Whatever your thought are be sure to drop them in the comment section below and I’ll see you on the review, laters! 😀

Also check out my podcast on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

Or if you’re on iTunes subscribe and rate me on there: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/film-focus/id1114233892?mt=2

 

REVIEW: Whitney

Howdy ladies and gents and welcome to my first written film review for a while and today I’m going to talk about the new documentary released about Whitney Houston entitled Whitney. Now I only heard about this film around a week ago and I just happened to be in a city where the film was being shown, and while I’ve never been the biggest Whitney Houston fan, I’ve liked a lot of her music and wanted to see what light this film could shed on her that I wasn’t aware of, and I believe this film did a good job.

Most people are probably aware of who Whitney Houston is and know of her music unless you’re super young, but for those not aware, the life of Whitney Houston is one of triumph and tragedy, she started out so well, ascended into the stratosphere and then unfortunately fell and never quite recovered. and after all of her success, there was a lot of media coverage about Houston’s life mostly all in a negative light with many accusations, rumours and big reveals, but as we all know there’s a lot more to the lives of celebrities beyond what the media presents. I recall how much she was brought up in the news from the good stuff in the 90’s the all the bad stuff in the 00’s because of the drugs or marital issues with Bobby Brown. And while this film wasn’t as comprehensive as it could have been, it was emotionally charged, haunting and informative.

I feel like the film did a good job of introducing itself in a positive manner highlighting the best/fun part of Houston’s life but then changed things up immediately with some darker/negative elements, and that felt like it set the tone for the rest of the film as there were plenty of moments where the film changes its tone at several points throughout. The film confidently goes through a lot of her life from childhood to her first tv appearance to her initial explosion onto the music scene to marriage to problems with drugs and her downward spiral towards death. It is fairly comprehensive with great use of audio and video archive footage which shows every side of her whether she’s playful, funny, shy, sassy, aggressive, sad, exhausted and so on. I loved seeing her in her youth being so cute and crazy but also seeing how human she was dealing with some of these insane situations with varying degrees of success. The editing and use of sound are excellent, making you feel immense joy at one point, but then feeling scared or depressed in another. There’s also plenty of interviews from everyone close to her from her mother to her brothers to her ex-husband to family friends to music management, and so on. And they all give very detailed information about Houston’s experiences, the good and the bad and how some of them contributed to the long-term issues that became major hurdles for her later on. And the film isn’t afraid to go to those really dark places and ask questions that were dark or uncomfortable, there was a lot of rumour and speculation in the media about what Houston got up to, and while not every question is answered, there was a fair amount of clarification and certain revelations about Houston that was quite shocking and highlight that her life was anything but simple and that there were many factors that made things turn out the way they did. One moment, in particular, was a pretty major eye-opener that left me in stunned for a little while too.

And of course, the watching this film frigging hurts especially if you’re a fan of Houston, to you see this beautiful lady with such talent rise and then fall so hard that it’s hard to watch at times. I wasn’t alive or old enough to experience the Houston in her prime, but this film really highlights how much of big deal she was, how she changed things and made an impact with America and the world, black people, female singers and so on. When the film ended I really just felt like crying. This documentary did a great job of revealing Houston’s life, showing off outside influence and showing off what she meant to people, how big of a star that she was and highlighting her raw talent.

In conclusion, Whitney is pretty solid documentary that is emotionally engaging and very insightful, and if you are even remotely interested in this documentary I would recommend it, Kevin MacDonald did a fine job at asking the right questions and presenting the life of one of the world’s most interesting, brilliant and tragic celebrities. If you’ve seen the film I’d love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters. 😀