TRAILER - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Teaser)

Worst. Teaser. Ever. There's noting to get excited about. There's nothing in this teaser to motivate you to see the film-- For those who went to see "The Dark Knight" in Imax for this trailer... You got duped. You got duped hard and badly. A line from Dumbledore and the same logo we've seen in the last five movies is not a teaser. It's moving billboard.



This November, I expect to see more than a logo Warner Brothers.

If gets taken down (and I don't know why it would, it has nothing) let me know. But trust me, you're not missing much.

New Trek Teaser Poster

Although there's no Trek panel at Comic Con, a new poster was released featuring some of the characters. Eric Banna's villian rumored to be named Nero, James T. Kirk in the lower right hand section, Spock in the lower left and Uhura in the upper right. Not bad, but nothing spectacular. It's quite a tease though.

TRAILER - Terminator Salvation (Teaser)

And it is very much a tease. I don't really like how the trailer wants to be "Cloverfield" when obviously the movie is not. The brief cuts distract from any excitement. Give us something to actually look at. I liked what little we hear of Bale though. And the music is, of course, legendary.

EDIT: I've already had to replace this with a new link in just a few hours, so help me out if this goes down.



Still not feeling it. Maybe I'll think otherwise come next year.

REVIEW - "The Incredible Hulk" (2008)

In 2003 Ang Lee’s “Hulk” was released to the world with mixed reactions. Some felt it was a smart movie that took the character to a more believable height. Others felt it was a massive insult to the character and a poor comic book adaptation. Regardless, Marvel felt it was necessary to hit the restart button on the Hulk. The result is not a massive film that will blow people’s minds, like “Iron Man,” but it does give the Hulk a little more direction than the previous movie. Unlike Ang Lee’s film, this movie gives the Hulk some intelligence and a character of his own. The result leaves a prominent question within the film: Does Bruce Banner still exist within the Hulk? Or is the Hulk a completely separate being using Banner as a host?

The movie is hardly an origin story. It only shows brief flashback’s to Bruce Banner’s initial transformation and escape. Banner, played by co-writer Edward Norton, is shown hiding from the U.S. military’s darkest and most secretive division. General Ross (William Hurt), the person behind Banner’s alter ego, is obsessed with finding the man he considers “property of the U.S. government” and prodding the secrets of the beast out of him. The hunt forces Banner in to desperation and his search to get rid of his “Hulk” leads him back to ex-love interest Betty Ross. It’s a race for General Ross to find the Hulk, and for Banner to get rid of it.

Rather than using the Hulk as an uninteresting, soulless piece of CGI, (i.e. Ang Lee’s film) the big guy takes on a personality of his own. He even says a couple of words! (Fans will dig that.) Although, with the advent of a distinct Hulk there’s still an uncertainty that Banner is conscious within. He notes it feels like he’s experiencing an acid trip during the transformation— He remembers very little. Betty believes there’s still an inkling of Banner when the Hulk takes over; from there the possibility of controlling the beast is mused over until the very last shot of Norton. Does he end up controlling it? It’s an interesting cliffhanger and worth exploring for any future installments.

In the meantime we have Banner, a man struggling to keep the beast caged and scouting the world for a way to get rid of it. The Hulk is seemingly mindless and destructive in contrast, but his care for Betty indicates the possibility that Banner may have some influence over the beast. It’s important to treat Banner and Hulk as two characters in this film because that’s how the script treats them. It’s absolutely riveting the way this movie portrays the main character(s). The way it works makes them so much more interesting; I just wish it were explored further.

Betty’s character is decidedly underused in this movie compared to the version in Ang Lee’s film. Though it’s a disappointing move, she’s onscreen enough to make a difference. One of my favorite scenes is when she sees Bruce at a restaurant for the first time in years. The way the scene is shot is so shockingly well done that I have to wonder how many takes it took to get the perfect reaction from Liv Tyler and Edward Norton. These two never seem to lose chemistry with each other. Yes, there are a few cheesy scenes concerning the couple, but nothing unhinges the belief that they love one another. (No matter how unrealistic their irrational decisions are in this movie.)

Of course the big difference between this film and Ang Lee’s is the villain. While Tim Roth always makes a good villain, I felt that his inclusion is where the movie falls to pieces. Why did General Ross decide to test the super soldier serum on him? He hardly knows the guy. And while the character’s physical transformation throughout the movie was interesting, his obsession with becoming stronger was poorly fleshed out. It’s not like William Hurt didn’t do a fine job as a heartless General Ross anyway. But of course it’s way more fun to watch two Hulk-like monsters slugging the crap out of each other and I must admit that if there is an action sequence to see this summer it is Hulk vs. Abomination. It’s not too long, it’s not too much, but it’s a lot of fun!

In the end that’s what it really comes down too; “The Incredible Hulk” is fun. I enjoyed the look in to Banner/Hulk’s characters a lot, but the jokes, the action and the characters’ mingling personalities are what make this thing. Hulk’s battle against military vehicles, including helicopters, was astounding. And Banner’s free fall to the final battle is as exciting as it is funny. (Although the CGI isn’t top notch, it doesn’t really distract from the film either.) I also might as well mention Robert Downey Jr.’s cameo as Tony Stark. Just as I predicted, he alluded to the Avenger movie slated for a 2011 release. Marvel fans rejoice.

“The Incredible Hulk” isn’t incredible, but it’s quite good. I’ve heard a lot of stuff was cut from this film and the DVD will feature a director’s cut of some sort. It’s just a rumor, but an exciting one as far as I’m concerned. “The Incredible Hulk” is a very fun, and thoughtful, piece of summer action. It’s no “Iron Man,” but it’s proof that Marvel knows what they’re doing.

*** out of ****

Wanted 2: Ready and Set

Is it surprising? The movie is heading for $180 million at the box office and it was made on a budget of $75 million. I've yet to see the film, but fro my understanding it was made with the idea that it could be a franchise starter.

It seems there's some speculation if the same principal actors will return for a sequel, but producer Marc Platt has revealed that his intention is to return director Timur Bekmambetov and writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas.

"The writers are at work already, and those creative discussions are taking place," said Platt.

Fans of "Wanted" rejoice I suppose. I for one still need to see this flick...

"The Flash" In Development Hell

Recently there was some catch-up played on the current condition of a future Flash movie. Slashfilm reports that producer Charles Rovan had a few words to say on the project:

“We had hoped to be able to get a new draft going before the writers’ strike and we weren’t able to,” Rovan admitted. “And since the writers’ strike, we just haven’t been able to find the right creative compatibility between what we’re looking for and a writer and you know, we’re a little bit dragging our feet, we’re just waiting to see what’s going to happen with this actor’s strike, you know.”

I've been wanting a Flash movie for a long time here, but as it stands I may not see this movie until I'm 80. The character has a lot of drive and I'm interested to see how he translates to the big screen. Flash is one of my favorite DC characters next to Batman, who's simply my favorite super hero in general. Hopefully one day....

New "Max Payne" Photo

Following the trailer a "Max Payne" photo has been released. It looks like a screenshot from the trailer itself, so if you want to see this shot in action, the trailer is right below this story:

TRAILER - Max Payne

The first trailer for the "Max Payne" film has been released. It's not quite as I imagined it would look and much hope I had for it has been squashed by this trailer which looks like its inspired to be a "Transporter" or "Hitman" quality movie. No doubt it looks fun, but I wonder what Wahlberg sees in it to be apart of.


Theaters, October 17.

Favreau Back for "Iron Man 2"

Well, it's official. Marvel has reached a deal with Jon Favreau, director of "Iron Man," to do a sequel. It seems both parties are satisfied with the deal and Favreau got the raise he was looking for from Marvel Studios. "Iron Man 2" is scheduled for an April, 2010 release.

Previously, Favreau reported that he's worried the production will be rushed and wants to take more time to strengthen the script. He has his paycheck, will marvel give him more time? I'm sure we'll be hearing more on the production of "Iron Man 2" in the not too distant future.

REVIEW - "The Happening" (2008)

Well he’s done it! M. Night Shyamalan has done it! “The Happening” is not simply his worst film to date, but the worst movie I’ve seen this summer. I’m not sure what was going through M. Night’s head while writing the script for this movie. Certainly he wasn’t trying to sabotage his own career, but he might as well have. In what I firmly believe should have been titled, “An Inconvenient Truth 2: Revenge of the Plants,” “The Happening” does exactly what Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” did for me years ago: Encourage me, with great annoyance, to destroy nature.

Mark Wahlberg plays the “cool” science teacher Elliot Moore that tries to escape with his wife (Zooey Deschanel) from a “happening” (Whoa! The title!) that is causing people to kill themselves. I wish I had more to tell you plot-wise, but there’s not much more to it than that.

I’m writing this review kind of late so I’m sure I’m not spoiling anything when I say the plants are behind all of this. Yes, the trees, grass, plants of all sorts are releasing some sort of pheromone that cause something in the human brain to activate a suicide command and that’s that! If this is M. Night’s idea of helping out the whole Global Warming and pollution issue he needs to rethink his message. As it stands, the logical thing to do if trees began attacking us is to kill them all. Then again, Shyamalan also created characters that are somehow able to outrun the wind. Apparently he needs to rethink other ideas as well.

The script left no mercy for the actors. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel, two A-List actors as far as I’m concerned, have never looked so lost. There are moments where it seems like Wahlberg is tripping over his lines. Any other time he’s simply under-acting; giving a lackluster delivery that comes off as cheesy and is impaired further by Shyamalan’s “in-your-face” camera shots. Perhaps I wouldn’t have noticed Wahlberg’s poor performance if I wasn’t able to see straight in to his eye every other shot.

“The Happening” also seems to be intent on being poetic when really there’s just no reason behind some of the choices made in this movie. The old woman at the end of the film, Mrs. Jones, was interesting enough to be tied in to the overall occurrences within the film and thus leading to some solid resolution. As it turns out the character is nothing more than a senile woman who adds nothing to the overall story. No, Mr. Shyamalan, I don’t get it. You have me. Why was she there?

I’m also sure someone in the world believes Shyamalan’s mindless killing off of children, so that the main characters could be alone, was really a decision made to honor some moral message concerning mankind’s selfish need to survive. Hey, if they can look way too far in to an obvious plot device, so can I!

I want so badly for this review to tell you that this was M. Night’s big comeback—That “The Happening” is a fantastic film that brings back Shyamalan’s faith-based storylines with his powerful characters. It is not though. The man has finally made a movie worse than “The Village” and created something so bad that I don’t think I can look forward to any more of his films. He created three great gems and then plummeted head first in to frivolous dreck. If this review seems sparse it’s because “The Happening” didn’t give me a lot to think about. Even as I think of all the negatives, a movie with so little leaves only so little to talk about.

½ out of ****