Random Bits From The Week That Was...

So, here we are again. It's a rainy Friday here at home and there have been bits and pieces of pop culture goodies that have come in over the week that I have either been too lazy to blog about, or they just didn't warrant a full on rant. So, here we go...


Gareth Edwards Set To Direct Star Wars Spin Off...

So, news broke last night that Disney has signed Gareth Edwards, the director of the recently released Godzilla, to helm their first Star Wars spin off movie. Set for release sometime in 2016, there have been very few details released in regards to this, or any other Star Wars project. Personally, I think that Edwards is a good choice for this project and that it will fit his directing style well. I thought that Godzilla was visually stunning, and while I understand some people's issue with the characterization, I personally didn't have a problem with the way that the characters were portrayed or developed. It will be interesting to see what project this actually turns out to be. A lot of people are speculating that it may be the much anticipated Boba Fett movie, which would be a great fit for Edwards. Disney is going to have to move forward pretty quickly if they want to make their 2016 release date, however, so I expect more news to be released soon.


Disney's "Big Hero 6" Gets Teased...

So, the House of Mouse has really stepped up their game in the animation department over the last couple of years, and I love it. Following the success of Wreck It Ralph (which I loved!) and Frozen (which I liked!), Disney is set to release another charming tale this November, entitled Big Hero 6. Based on a Marvel comic book of the same name, it's the story of brilliant robotics prodigy, Hiro Hamada, and his companion, a robot named Baymax, as they join forces with a team of first-time crime fighters trying to save their city. The animation looks great, a mix of contemporary and anime styles and so far, the characters look amazing, in what little glimpse we got of them, anyway. This is definitely on my must see list for the fall, and I am looking forward to a full trailer, so that I can get a little more in depth knowledge of the actual story.


Alfonso Cuaron Courted For 2 Big Projects...

So, it looks like Alfonso Cuaron may be headed back to the world of Harry Potter. Warner Brothers is said to be in deep negotiations with the Oscar winning director to helm their new Harry Potter based film, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. Cuaron also directed the third Potter movie, Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. To be perfectly honest, this news doesn't thrill me. While I get that Cuaron is a world class director, Azkaban is actually my least favourite film in the series. What others seemed to love about it, the artistic flair and tone, are the things that pulled me out of it. To each his own, I guess, and if this happens, I won't lose any sleep over it. The other big announcement involving Cuaron this week is that Warner Brothers is also courting him to direct their The Shining prequel, The Overlook Hotel. Apparently, Warner Brothers not only wants to be in the Ben Affleck business, but the Alfonso Cuaron business as well. I think that this is a better fit for Cuaron, and if he had to chose only one, I hope that it would be this one. I think his style is perfect for this kind of project and his take on it will be very interesting. I guess we'll see what happens.


The Coen Brothers Seem Set To Write Tom Hanks To Another Oscar...

Word has leaked that Dreamworks has hired Joel and Ethan Coen to do some additional writing on their Steven Spielberg directed, Tom Hanks starring Cold War political thriller, expected to start production in September. Holy dream-team, Batman! Based on the true story of prominent American attorney, James Donovan, who is enlisted by the CIA to negotiate the release of a pilot who was captured when his spy plane was shot down over Russia, this is definitely an Oscar buzz worthy project, and it hasn't even started filming yet. The combination of all this talent is mind-boggling and it will be interesting to see if the project lives up to the hype and expectation. I expect way more information to be released on this project and it's high-profile list of collaborators, in the coming months.


First Trailer For Matthew Vaughn's Kingsman: The Secret Service Released...

So, apparently, Matthew Vaughn is sticking with the comic book adaptations. His follow up to X-Men: First Class, Kingsman: The Secret Service is based on Mark Millar's comic book series The Secret Service and depicts a veteran secret agent who leads a young protege into the world of espionage. To be perfectly honest, this is the first I've heard of this project, but it looks really good. The trailer is fun and the cast is stellar. Vaughn is one of my favourite directors, (he not only directed X-Men: First Class, but also Kick-Ass and one of my most favourite movies, Stardust, which if you haven't seen, you should really check out, by the way!) so I am looking forward to the release of this project in the fall. This one might be an opening weekend kind of thing, actually.


More Godzilla Coming Our Way....

After the massive success of Godzilla, ($93M domestically and $103M internationally in it's opening weekend), Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures announced they are developing a sequel to the monster movie. No word as of yet if Gareth Edwards will be back to direct (he's going to busy directing the new Star Wars spin-off, after all!), or any of the cast members will be returning, as this is still in the very early stages of development. But, let's face it, this is a no brainer. The movie opened with better opening weekend numbers than The Amazing Spiderman 2! Of course they're going to start production on a sequel. It's obvious that the general movie going audience is excited to see these big, epic monster movies and if they are done as well as this one, then all the better. It will be interesting to see how much the numbers drop this weekend, with the opening of X-Men: Day of Future Past, and what the second viewing numbers are like.

Review: Oh, Godzilla, You're Such A Tease...

**********SPOILER ALERT!!!!!**********

This post is going to contain spoilers about the new Godzilla movie. If you have yet to watch Godzilla, and don't want to be spoiled, I suggest that you turn back now. If, you have seen Godzilla, or you don't care whether the movie gets spoiled for you, then by all means, continue...

So, Godzilla. 

The king of monsters makes his triumphant return to the big screen, and it is definitely a triumph. There are a lot of things to love about this movie. I mean, visually, it's stunning. The destruction is breathtaking in both it's scope and spectacle. This is a true monster movie and disaster movie all rolled in to one. The monsters, and especially Godzilla, look spectacular. The visual effects are stunning and the visual effects team went above and beyond to bring these characters to life.

I enjoyed this movie. It is a big, old popcorn flick, meant to be nothing more than a good time. And that's exactly what I got.

The movie starts off with a great montage of stock footage from the 50's about nuclear testing and a couple of quick glimpses of what may or may not be the monster. We then switch to 1999 and an introduction to the main, human characters. 

Apparently, as the lore goes, millions of years ago, when the world was nothing but radiation, giant creatures who used it as a food source, roamed the Earth. As the planet evolved, and the radiation on the surface decreased, these creatures burrowed under the ground, towards the Earth's core, where radiation is abundant. During a mining operations in the Philippines, a cave in exposes a cocoon of some sort that, of course, scientists must study. This leads to the scenes in Japan involving a Nuclear power plant. Apparently, there were two cocoons, the first of which hatched before they could get down there. The monster, needing food, made it's way to Japan to burrow in a nuclear power plant and absorb the radiation. This is where all hell starts to break loose. I think that Bryan Cranston was a brilliant in these scenes. The emotion and the depth that he brought to the film were spot on, and it is a terrible tragedy that they killed his character off so soon in to the film. Although I do like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, I'm not sure that making him the main protagonist was the right way to go. Besides the fact that I had a problem seeing he and Elizabeth Olsen as a couple... of course, that is only because I already think of the two of them as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in the upcoming Avengers movie, and those characters are brother and sister... just me? Yeah, that's a possibility!... I think that the movie might have had a bit more depth of character if Bryan Cranston had remained the main focus. Ken Watanabe was also fantastic as the scientist that has spent his life studying this possibility of these creatures. 

Of course, in any good Godzilla movie, Godzilla should really be the main character. In this iteration, Gareth Edwards gave us the slow burn... the tease... it takes until about the last 45 minutes or so before we get a really good look at Godzilla. And I am okay with that. Because once he makes an appearance, it's all good! :) I enjoyed the build-up to the main event and think that, overall the movie was paced quite well. It is more or less an origin story after all, and I think that the introduction was just fine. I will admit that some of the human elements to the film were a little on the weak side, but this really isn't about that, anyway. The human bits were really more like filler until we got to the big show down. 

And boy, do they deliver.

Downtown San Francisco is decimated as the three creatures converge in an epic battle. Buildings are crushed. Planes fall out of the sky. Utter chaos ensues. It's glorious! The scene that they alluded to in the trailers of the Navy Seal's HALO jump in to the city is breathtaking in it's entirety. The fall through the storm clouds towards the destruction, is undercut by the view from Taylor-Johnson's character, Ford. You experience the free fall from his perspective, the rush of the wind, the view of the monsters slugging it out in the distance... it's an amazing scene. I'm sure the visuals are great in 3D as well, but since I don't really care for the format, I saw the film in just regular old 2D, and it was still great. The fights between Godzilla and the MUTO's are epic. Apparently, in this world, Godzilla is the king of monsters, the guy that keeps the balance when the other creatures get out of line, and you know, try to take over the world. So, in essence, he's the good guy. And, even though we see that he's trying to help, in typical ignorant fashion, we, as humans, try to destroy that which we don't understand. Needless to say, we're idiots. 

There are a few things in the movie that bothered me, like one of the end scenes where the nuclear war head miraculously makes it far enough away from the mainland to safely go off, even though the timer was down to like a minute and half and that apparently, it's really easy to be reunited with your loved ones during the apocalypse... no frantic searching or anything required. But I'm willing to overlook those nit-picky things because of my overall enjoyment of this film. 

I've never been a huge monster movie fan... in fact, I never even saw the train wreck that was the 1998 Godzilla, but I will admit that, if the movies remain this entertaining, I am a convert. Word has now been released that a sequel is in the works. This is awesome news. I am looking forward to visiting with the King once again. This time, maybe a little more screen time for the big guy will occur, making it even bigger and better. If that's even possible.