Like most, I was suckered in by that heart-felt, Hans Zimmer-approved Man of Steel trailer. Well...it's time to let Honest Trailers speak the truth.
Oh. Right. Man of Steel is out on blu ray, digital HD, and DVD today.
Showing posts with label ZACK SNYDER. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ZACK SNYDER. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Summertime is like the playoffs here at ACTIONAGOGO.COM. We track these big budget monsters from announcements, which are years ahead of release dates, all the way to opening night. Sometimes we even bet on opening weekend draws. Yeah, it’s serious business ‘round here. After the smoke from all the explosions and car chases has cleared it’s become obvious that we have some problems that are being baked into every big budget action film that came out this year.
This summer came and has left me feeling disappointed. Why? I went to three major Hollywood releases in a row and came out feeling like I’d somehow watched the same movie with the same problems. Those movies were Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Man Of Steel. All three of these feature characters and franchises that I grew up with and, to an extent, cherish. For me, there was a lot of excitement going into this summer movie season, and why not? The directors list was a who’s who of hot Hollywood talent at the top of their game. Shane Black, the edgy director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), was going to take a swing at a Marvel movie. J.J Abrams was going to bring the thunder for a second time to the Star Trek franchise he helped bring into a bold new cinematic era. And last, but certainly not least, Zack Snyder was bringing Superman back to the big screen. Of all the directors who’ve made comic book movies, Snyder is the one who has been able to bring a level of jaw dropping cinematic artistry that brings a level of dedication to the original story, proving he’s actually read it and, more importantly, gets what makes it great.
Then it began. I went to see Iron Man 3 with the rest of the fans, packed into the theatre like sardines when the film began. I was with it. The stakes were raised. It was personal. Tony Stark (excellently played by Robert Downey, Jr.) was doing some Batman level investigating and self-actualization. He needed to do that after saving the world from aliens in The Avengers. Ok, whatever, that seems forced and suspiciously convenient, but it can be forgiven. Then the twist happened. ***Spoilers ahead*** The Mandarin, played amazingly by Ben Kingsley, is a fraud -- an actor pretending to be a terrorist so the real bad guy can get things done. At this point, when Marvel is epically trolling the entire Nolan Batman franchise, it lost me. Some hilarity ensues, Tony goes on another round of fight scenes to get to the real bad guy, and then everything explodes endlessly. And then it’s over and everything’s fine. The moral of the story being kicking ass cures alien PTSD.
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| Apparently "falling" was the new black this summer. |
Then Star Trek Into Darkness happens. And it’s good. Captain Kirk is struggling to hold his crew and ship together, and yet, it’s the same thing. The stakes are higher, it’s personal, and the bad guy isn’t who he says he is. And at the end everything explodes, with San Fransico getting owned by a Star Fleet ship and most certainly ending the lives of untold numbers of people. But everything’s all right because Captain Kirk (one guy!) is saved at the end through the magic of space medicine. Vengeance has been wrought! (Sucks for those dead people.)
Man Of Steelthen hammers home all of the points of the first two except one. The bad guy, General Zod (played by the awesome Michael Shannon) is who he says he is throughout the entire movie. Which was refreshing. The rest of the problems were all there. Superman (Henry Cavill) is trying to find himself the entire movie and even let’s his Father (Kevin Costner) commit the silliest suicide of all time so that no one finds out he has powers. What? Again, I was lost. Then Zod shows up on Earth and begins to own the entire planet. Metropolis is hammered over and over again, millions of lives are lost…and Superman isn’t saving anyone? Ok, not his fault. So he manages to turn off the destruction and fight Zod hand to hand. It’s epic! The best fight scene like this ever filmed, better than Matrix Revolutions, better than Dragon Ball Z! And then when Superman realizes he can’t win in a fair fight he snaps Zod’s neck. Then he cries about it. After this, he leaves an entire city leveled to the ground, but he is the hero.
With this trifecta opening the summer I was starting to get really bummed. Fake Bad Guy = Genius Plot Twist? Destroyed city = Victory? If Superman can’t save me, who can?
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| Our heroes came... |
But all was not lost. This summer salvation came in the form of a giant blue robot named Gypsy Danger. That’s right, Pacific Rim saved this summer movie season for me, and in flying colors. It was an original story directed by Guillermo Del Toro that didn’t rely on a franchise. It had giant robots. It had giant monsters. Characters, while at times not fleshed out, were honest and fun to watch. The story didn’t try some cheap fake me out. The stakes were high and the good guys gave their all to save the cities being attacked, with certain death a consequence of failure. Yes, this was a summer blockbuster at its finest.
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| ...and they fell. |
And it was a box office bomb. It debuted at number 3 in the U.S.A, behind children’s movie behemoth Despicable Me 2 and the Adam Sandler vehicle Grown Ups 2. I was shocked. Appalled. Saddened. But what were the reasons for this? As usual, hindsight is 20/20. First, U.S audiences weren’t ready for what looked like a Transformers rip-off, and even if they were, marketing efforts were lackluster on the part of the studio. Second, core Anime fans seemed to be rebelling against it, with many labeling it a Neon Genesis Evangelion rip off after seeing the trailer and pictures of the cast in costume. Third, it was just a crowded marketplace. Despicable Me 2 grabbed families and Grown Ups 2scooped up males in Pacific Rim’s prime demographic that decided to go with a laugh and a cavalcade of familiar faces instead or heavy metal action. Which brings me to the last and certainly not least reason why Pacific Rimdidn’t do better than expected at the box office. Blockbuster fatigue. After three straight epic city destroying, disaster filled blow outs people simply saw the poster with giant machines wreaking havoc and shrugged their shoulders. No, not this week. Adam Sandler getting pissed on and Steve Carrell talking funny was enough to knock out the most original action movie to come out in a long while. Move along. Nothing to see here.
That is a shame, but more importantly, it illustrates a disturbing trend. Audiences have gotten so conditioned to go back to the familiar that original movies, even big ones like Pacific Rim , aren’t finding eyes to grab. Even worse, the movies that are grabbing the eyes are becoming so paint by numbers similar that even when they do check them out they’ll see the same beats, verbatim, with the same forced plot twists and character developments. Long term audiences will catch on without the help of critics, and once people realize the Emperor has no clothes you’ll have diminishing return after diminishing return, and the golden age geeks have been experiencing will come to a close. Instead we are going to have even more pandering Sharknado-styled tomfoolery and a collection of streaming services with a ramshackle mix of original/interesting content and tired crap.
Despite my grievances this movie season has been a good one in terms of cash. $4.7 Billion this summer alone. And we all know movies as a medium aren’t going anywhere for a while, but I recognize a trend when I see one, and the only way for media giants like News Corp. and Time Warner to not end up like the real Titanic is to steer away from the iceberg when it’s far away and not close enough to sink the ship. The guys who wrote the book on summer blockbusters, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, seem to see something coming. I hope the rest of us keep our eyes open as well.
Best Regards,
Derek Scarzella
Publisher and Editor in Chief of Action A Go Go
Saturday, 20 July 2013
A few weeks ago, I joked on Twitter that WB was going to f@#% us 'til we loved it. While the decision to get off of Warner's superhero train lands squarely on the individual viewer, it does seem that my lewd metaphor is coming true.
At SDCC today, it was announced that WB will be making a Superman and Batman team up film. Zack Snyder is going to direct. David Goyer will write.
While I'm curious whether audiences will pay through the nose for a Batman portrayed by someone who is NOT Christian Bale (but, I'm assuming, is supposed to be the same character from Nolan's film) and a Superman that spins entirely out of the like it or hate it Man of Steel, I'm ready to retire my interest in the DC films altogether.
Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Today we're getting a first look at the packaging for the limited blu-ray 3D edition of Man of Steel. The set includes a 3D blu-ray version of the film, as well as regular blu-ray, DVD and an Ultraviolet copy, presumably on four or five discs.
Best start saving up pennies in your piggy-banks early cause Warner Bros. is not kidding about this edition being "limited". Only 35,000 copies of this set will be put into production, so if you're a fan of the film you may want to pre-order this one ASAP.
Man of Steel will be hitting shelves this October.
Friday, 14 June 2013
Our man Andrew Allen took a crack at reviewing Man Of Steel. What follows is his take on the film. You can get the first review by our Sci Fi Columnist Stephen Sumner here.
Superman is back and he's ready to take out the trash, Zack Snyder style!
In a movie landscape dominated by superhero flicks based off of Marvel comics, it's easy to forget that there's even another contender in the playing field. DC comics has always struggled in the film industry, their track record is filled to the brim with lackluster efforts to bring their heroes to the screen (I, personally, have never particularly liked any DC based films prior to "Batman Begins"). With Marvel only gaining box-office traction, it seemed like it may be time to call it once and for all..... That is, until "Man of Steel".
"Man of Steel" has the vision, the heart, and the torque to bring DC comics to the forefront yet again, and to make people care about one of their heroes that isn't Batman for the first time in decades. Superman is a tough one to crack, nigh impossible to make a film about him that won't have audiences rolling their eyes every ten minutes at the sheer, juvenile implausibility of the whole shebang. But Zack Snyder and Chris Nolan have set out to drag the bad-sequel weary Kal-El into the realm of the legitimate, and although they don't succeed at every turn, boy do they try, and their unrelenting dedication to their goal is well worth the price of the ticket.
The film kicks off with a lengthy introduction which takes place entirely on Krypton, a somewhat revisionist version of the history established in the most mainstream versions of Superman lore, though the basics of it stay the same. Krypton blows up, Zod expelled to the Phantom Zone and baby Kal-El launched into space.
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| Jor El, played by Russell Crowe, watching his world crumble. |
From there on out we get a narrative mainly concerned with Kal/Clark finding his identity in a world where he simply doesn't fit in. Trying to find a way to use his powers to help others, while still not really sure what his purpose is, or where he's trying to go. Then everything changes when General Zod shows up with an army of pissed off Kryptonians, threatening Kal-El and his adoptive home world. And that's when the show really gets started.
The good:
The cast is stellar, far more stellar than a franchise this tired really deserves, and they sell this movie like nobody's business. The MVP in this one is Supes himself, Henry Cavill. More than just a hulking mass of uncontrollable masculinity, Cavill brings genuine charm to the role of Kal-El. There are dimensions to this version of Superman that I had never seen before, and that credit goes largely to Cavill for bringing that to life.
Though the rest of the cast does great across the board, the runner-up for MVP will have to go to Michael Shannon for his portrayal of the fearsome General Zod. Zod is truly the result of the failures of Kryptonian civilization, he's almost a robot programmed with one goal, one reason to exist: to ensure the survival of his people at all costs. Shannon plays the role with a grim gravitas, yet also with a pitiable naïveté. Yes, he's a battle-hardened general from space, but he also seems genuinely convinced of his jingoistic life purpose that it's hard not to feel some sort of pity for such a blinded individual.
One of the film's greatest successes is the modernization of Superman as a hero. From slight costume changes, to a fleshed out backstory, to a deepened character arc, this new Superman is a story that feels thick with storytelling potential. And, for the most part, Snyder and co. make fine use of that potential. It's a fascinating experience "rediscovering" such an iconic figure, and DC made the right decision banking on the vision of established film makers instead of hawking half-baked scripts off to indifferent directors (lookin at you, "Green Lantern").
And last, but not least, the action is awesome. A little CGI-heavy, but tons of fun none the less.
The bad:
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| "What's going n here?" |
As much as it pains me to say this, the narrative structure of the film deeply hinders the story's development. Which is really unfortunate because I really liked what they were shooting for, in theory. Most of Clark's childhood is told through flashbacks placed strategically throughout the film, which allows for the story to jump directly into his adulthood after the prologue and for relevant information to come to light as the movie chugs along. Unfortunately, our understanding of Clark as a person is very shallow without those flashbacks. Some of the key elements of his childhood are withheld until later in the film, so a lot of the earlier events in the movie ring hollow as they don't have enough narrative structure supporting them. By the end, the story does form a cohesive whole, I just wish I could've been as engaged toward the beginning as I was toward the the final acts.
Another rough patch is when the story turns it's focus towards General Zod's invasion of Earth. His appearance is somewhat unceremonious and therefor doesn't make much of an impact. An oddly paced sequence with Lois and Clark on Zod's ship serves as a poor reintroduction to his character and prevents the film from gaining the momentum it needs to propel itself into it's final act. The actual contents of that final act are just great enough to overcome a lack of proper set-up, but I can only hypothesize how much better they would have been had they gotten their proper intro.
So is "Man of Steel" ACTION A GO GO approved? By my standards, most definitely. Even when the story becomes clunky in places, the charisma of it's stars and the interesting twists on age-old characters keeps the film well-above sea-level. Also, this is the perfect film to show those people who have a grudge against Superman. A friend of mine who had been convinced from the very first trailer that it simply wasn't possible to make an interesting narrative out of Superman became a convert after this movie.
Personally, I'm already excited to see the sequel. Bring on Lex Luthor!
4/5 Arnolds
By Andrew Allen
By Andrew Allen
Man of Steel
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe
Just left a midnight viewing of Man of Steel not more than 20 minutes ago. The worst villain turns out not to be General Zod, but Christopher Nolan (writer/producer) and Zack Snyder (Director).
The movie is bloated with CGI and special effects. Since this review is on Action A Go Go, one would think that’s a good thing. But it’s like getting a cake that’s 99% icing. My gut tells me that at some point in time on the studio lot, someone with creative control had to utter the words, “You know, if we inundate the masses with explosions and space ships, they may not notice the script actually sucks.”
The movie is a vehicle for one-dimensional character development that left me with a complete absence of feeling for anyone in the film.
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe
Just left a midnight viewing of Man of Steel not more than 20 minutes ago. The worst villain turns out not to be General Zod, but Christopher Nolan (writer/producer) and Zack Snyder (Director).
The movie is bloated with CGI and special effects. Since this review is on Action A Go Go, one would think that’s a good thing. But it’s like getting a cake that’s 99% icing. My gut tells me that at some point in time on the studio lot, someone with creative control had to utter the words, “You know, if we inundate the masses with explosions and space ships, they may not notice the script actually sucks.”
The movie is a vehicle for one-dimensional character development that left me with a complete absence of feeling for anyone in the film.
And although a handful attempts were made (emphasis on attempts), there is almost a complete lack of any humor.
Since this is to be a spoiler free review, all I can say is that towards the end, something occurs that is essentially Nolan and Snyder taking an easy out and pissing on 70 years of Superman canon.
Therefore, instead of going to see this insult to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (the original creators of Superman), I would recommend taking your hard-earned money and buying the Blu Ray of this:
Since this is to be a spoiler free review, all I can say is that towards the end, something occurs that is essentially Nolan and Snyder taking an easy out and pissing on 70 years of Superman canon.
Therefore, instead of going to see this insult to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (the original creators of Superman), I would recommend taking your hard-earned money and buying the Blu Ray of this:
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Superman (1978, Christopher Reeve) |
Then anytime you ever think about watching Man of Steel, you can watch something that adds to your life, instead of wasting precious hours of breathing instead.
1 OUT OF 5 ARNOLDS
This film gets one Arnold on the Action A Go Go Arnold Meter because the special effects were pretty amazing. But in 2013, more than good CGI is needed to carry a movie. Other things, like, oh, I dunno….decent acting, character chemistry, talented script writing and respect for origins are expected as well.
Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. If you want to understand why he has classified Nolan and Snyder as super villains, please refer to an earlier piece he wrote, entitled Untouched by the Abyss: The Essence of Superman.
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