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So Thor is coming out this weekend. Later in the summer we've got Green Lantern, Transformers 3, cars 2, Pirates 4, X-Men: First Class, Harry Potter 8, Kung Fu Panda 2, Hangover 2, Cowboys and Aliens, Captain America, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Super 8.
Those are the big ones, but naturally there are more. Personally, I can't wait to see all of the comic book adaptations. The only movies I probably won't see right away are Super 8, Planet of the Apes, and Cars 2. I never cared much for Cars, so that's just a given for me. The other two I'll watch at home when they get released on dvd.
As for the rest, I just have to watch them in a theater. I love the experience Posts: 1324 | Registered: Feb 2011
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I devoured Thor comics in my early teen years in the 90s. I am more excited about Thor then I was about Star Trek for some reason. Without my wife knowing I already found someone to watch our daughter Satursday morning so we can see an early show.
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I am just thrilled to see how many daring new and original properties are coming this summer to cinema.
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Kind of a lame summer overall. I think I'll see alot of movies and I hope to be pleasantly surprised by a few, but no real knock-outs...
...with the exception of Harry Potter 7.2. I could not be more excited for this movie. My friends and I are looking forward to dressing up, camping out, and then bawling out eyes out. Someone could make a killing with Harry Potter themed kleenex.
Thor: Already have plans to see this with my dad next weekend. I'm thinking this will be on of those pleasant surprises. A lack of prior knowledge also helps.
Green Lantern: Even if there's not a single good review, I will see this movie for Ryan Reynolds alone. The initial trailers were NOT good but some of the more recent and international ads are focusing on the larger Green Lantern Corps which seems pretty interesting and different (this is another comic I'm not familiar with.) I've been reading Kirkman's "Invincible" for awhile now and I'm really in the mood for some superhero-in-space awesomeness.
X-Men First Class: This is my favorite Marvel set of characters and I HATE what they've done with the movies. I like the idea of a "before they were Prof X and Magneto" movie but the execution is not doing it for me. Why do they insist on cramming too many mutants into one movie? I know its all an excuse for big special effects but the end result sucks. Too bad they can keep the cast small and do different movies for different sets of character. It'd be a cool way of doing an ongoing franchise.
Captain America: So excited for this. I've finally gotten use to the casting for Cap and since then, everything I've seen in photos and trailers has been great. Now its just a matter of it living up to my high expectations.
Kung Fu Panda 2: I wasn't as in love with the first one as some people. I think those people who prefer it over HTTYDragon are crazy. But it looks cute enough and Dreamworks does seem to be on a roll lately.
Hangover 2: Did not see the first one and I have no desire to watch it or its sequel.
Cars 2: The first movie is the only Pixar movie I haven't seen, though I may force myself to watch it next week while I'm stranded in the middle of rural Texas. It just doesn't seem like anything special, I mean, outside of its special ability to sell lots of toys.
Cowboys and Aliens: This is another one that I have high expectations for. Hopefully, it'll go down as the second best western-space mash-up in history.
Super 8: I haven't seen much about this. I'm guessing its a big alien, special effects movie?!?
Rise of the Planet of the Apes: I confess, I am a huge PotA fan. I own the big fancy blu-ray boxset of the entire series and have been known to marathon it from time to time. The first movie gets alot of credit for make-up and some interesting social ideas. The rest are just good campy fun. Since this reboot/remake/whatever is going all big and flashy, I'm optimistically hoping for atleast a fun, summer action movie. Bonus points if it manages some level of intelligence.
Pirates of the Caribbean 4: I love the first movie. I remember being a teenager, working at the movie theater, and seeing this movie every weekend. I remember sitting in packed theaters weeks after its release listening to an entire audience reciting all the great lines. It was like a modern Monty Python/Rocky Horror experience. However, I'm not sure how we can be on movie 4 since I don't remember any sequels. Must be like those people who talk about the Star Wars prequels...whatever those are...
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Shanna: Super 8 is supposed to be Pete Abrams salute to Steven Spielberg movies from the 80's and 90's.
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Blayne Bradley
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Super 8 I'm going to see purely because there was a Half Life engine playable teaser level/trailer in Portal 2.
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Shanna, you are missing out on Hangover. I'm assuming you think it's a stupid comedy like so many others, but it has something the others don't, although I don't really know what that is (a baby?). It's just plain awesome. When it first came out, it was that film that no one had heard about because the advertising campaign sucked, but it became a HUGE success because of word of mouth alone. Go see it right now!
My take on a few of these flicks:
Green Lantern combines two of my favorite things: space scifi and comic book movies. Combine that with Ryan Renolds, who seems to be on a roll lately, a pretty good story, brilliant special effects, and the fact it's the first non-Batman live-action DC film to get released since Superman Returns (unless you count Jonah Hex...), and I think you've got a winner. But even if it totally sucks for some silly reason (I just don't see that happening) then at least I've got a green lantern movie.
The same goes for Thor and Captain America. These people are really taking a huge risk with these characters because unlike Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, or even Iron Man, they are not the kind of characters you'd expect to see on the silver screen. In fact, if Thor and Captain America fail, we probably won't see too many more "off the beaten path" comic book movies that have taken so much risk in their development. So I'm hopeful that they succeed, or at the very least make their money back. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a movie about the Flash or Wonder Woman, and there's no way that'll happen unless these films work out.
As for X-Men, I have some serious doubts about it, thanks mostly to X-Men 3, but maybe it can erase that disaster (along with Origins: Wolverine), but only time will tell. On the bright side, it's being directed by the guy who made Kick Ass, and that movie was pretty darn good.
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I thought Kick Ass was boring in it's best moments, and as much I loved Hangover I'm not seeing the exact same movie with the baby replaced by a monkey.
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I am excited for most of the films on that list.
Super 8 - I was kind of let down by Cloverfield, so I'm not sure if I will watch this in the theatre.
Hangover 2 - If it has Ken Jeong in it, I'm there. I loved the first one.
Thor - I'm getting to see it for free from a vendor that is renting out a theatre to have a 10 minute Netgear Presentation / Movie night.
X-Men - I don't know how I feel about this one. I understand they wanted to do a reboot, but X3 was so horrible my hopes aren't high.
Green Lantern - My wife thinks Ryan Reynolds is cute and he is my man crush so I'll go see it.
Cowboys and Aliens - Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde? Oh yeah, count me in!
Pirates - I've seen the rest in the theatre, so I'll see this one.
Harry Potter - Same thing
The animated movies I don't really care about. I went and saw Tangled but I doubt Cars 2 or Kung Fu Panda will be able to come close. I may skip those two.
Captain America I haven't really heard much about, but the posters look great. I guess I'll need to see a trailer or two. I will probably end up seeing it though.
Planet of the Apes - I probably won't see this one. I really have no desire to. The premise just doesn't interest me.
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The only redeeming factor of Pirates 3 was the absolutly immaculate sets they built for a whopping thirty seconds of camera. Chow Yun Fat's town was a piece of art, which is something I cant say for the script.
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Super 8 - I really have no urge to see it, or check it out as I have not heard of it yet.
Hangover 2 - Sometimes dumb fun is just that, dumb fun. I enjoyed the first one and am a Zack Galifianakakis fan not to mention Ed Helms, dissapointed by the removal of the Liam Neeson scene though.
Thor - I never really cared about Thor, but I love Kat Dennings and the movie appears to have its head on straight anyway.
X-Men - Much like Wolverine the premise seems good, go into the past of the X-Men universe and explore differant characters in that setting. But then again Woverine didnt exactly astonish me either.
Green Lantern - I think Reynolds would have made a much better Kyle Rayner, but I cant think of a better a-list name to play Hal Jordan. I appreciate the suit being made of light rather than physical material, and will definatly see it opening weekend.
Cowboys and Aliens - why?
Pirates - I have already made thoughts clear on this one.
Harry Potter - HP is kind of a generational thing for me, I stopped reading the books when I graduated to better writers but I am looking forward to putting an end to the story and the series.
Captain America - Im stoked for this one, right actor right time right production team.
Planet of the Apes - Why?
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quote:Originally posted by umberhulk: How can a movie with Depp's Jack Sparrow, Geoffrey Rush, and Iam Mcshane be bad.
Pretty easy. If it's pretitious(ish) or a rush job, it can be bad. Very, very bad.
2 is an ok movie.
3 is serviceable if you watched it in theater.
4 is the first stand alone movie since pirates 1, and it seems to be set on being a fun free for all except trying to set up a character development arc for Jack. I dont know about the director though.
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I am definitely going to avoid the 3D versions like the plague. I am driving to a theater further away because my local one only has two showings for Thor without the glasses.
I have only seen two where it was worth the extra money. Avatar and Jackass 3d.
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Avatar is less of a movie (imo) without the 3D. It's just amazing. However, not too many other films require 3D the same way Avatar does in order to fully appreciate them, so I don't see why every movie with special effects has 3D. I guess it makes them seem more successful since you pay more for the tickets? Meh.
I'm seeing Thor tonight! Very excited. Here's hoping it's amazing!
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So yesterday I saw THOR and it was pretty awesome. I'd put it right behind the fist Iron Man movie in terms of story and overall quality. The sets were amazing, especially Asgard, so if you're hoping for a visual treat, you won't be let down. I couldn't stop gawking at the sheer awesomeness of it all.
I loved the characters too. If you're a fan of mythology like I am, you'll recognize names like Sif, Odin, and Heimdall. These characters retain much of their mythological origins, but with a nice scifi twist, which is fun to see on the silver screen. I won't say too much about it, though, because half the fun is just learning about who they are and seeing how they interact.
I went into this film with low expectations. Despite my love of comic book movies, I've developed a pessimistic outlook on them ever since the disasters X3 and spiderman 3 came along and shattered what had been decent stories/franchises. Plus, if you don't expect anything great, you rarely get dissapointed. Suffice it to say, I was ginning the entire time.
Thor is a big deal for those of you who don't know. An entire industry is more or less riding on its success, and I'm not being dramatic. See, before Thor, we had a few gambles like Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, but they really didn't stretch the line as much because of the material they were dealing with. Thor is different. It's heavily drawn from mythology and unlike past films, is much more of a science fiction/fantasy epic about gods interacting with mortals rather than your typical "average man gets powers and now must save the day" kind of story. On the contrary, it's almost the opposite.
And that's not all, folks. Thor's a fairly unknown character for non-comic readers. Oh sure, you might know his name because it IS part of Norse mythology, or maybe you remember seeing him battle the Hulk back in the eighties on TV, but when was the last time we had a Thor TV series, lunchbox, roller coaster, or film? For the most part, he's taken a backseat to all the big names, but Marvel seems to be trying to change that. What's more, they aren't dumbing it down or drastically changing the story or characters like studios did back with Spiderman or the X-Men, doing what they felt was the safer path to tread. Rather, Marvel wants to keep it as close to the source material as possible because they believe in their product. That, and they also want to create a kind of shared universe in their films, which is also something new that has never been done in the history of cinema.
Thor represents a new generation of films, if it is successful. From here on, if things go well with it, we could be seeing a slew of other lesser-known names like Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Ant Man, and so on, coming in to star in their own franchises. It's a huge risk and Marvel is banking on the fans' dedication to see it happen.
People are hopeful that it will work out, and so far it's looking up. Thor cost approximately 150 million dollars to make and it has already made about 140 million at the box office (it was released in Australia a week ago), so it's already made most of it back, and that's great news for fans. Chances are we'll be seeing Thor again even after the Avengers gets released, and maybe if the momentum continues we'll be lucky enough to see Marvel tackle a whole new deck of characters most of us have never heard of.
And let's not forget the fact that Marvel distributes the Ender's Game comic books.
You never know what the future holds....
...now go see Thor!
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Saw it this morning, recommendable for comic book fans and normy's as well. Far too little Kat Dennings, but I appreciate the dedication to the helmets.
It was in my best interest to go to the 3D showing and in case anyone was wondering if it is even remotely worth it, no it is not.
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quote:Originally posted by AchillesHeel: Saw it this morning, recommendable for comic book fans and normy's as well. Far too little Kat Dennings, but I appreciate the dedication to the helmets.
It was in my best interest to go to the 3D showing and in case anyone was wondering if it is even remotely worth it, no it is not.
From what I understand it was not shot in 3D.
Saw Thor 9:15am showing Saturday morning, 2-D. Most pleasant theater experience I have had in a long time. $6 tickets, and nothing but geeks like myself and my wife.
The movie was great, my personal favorite Marvel film so far.
My only complaints were that the end felt rushed, and I think it could have used some more early childhood flashbacks to build on the brothers characters a bit more.
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Agreed, I was never a Thor fan and know nothing about the canon but Loki was not very mischievous in my opinion and childhood flashbacks could have helped cement the trait into the character even while being a calm and collected adult.
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The film has made quite a splash so far. According to Wikipedia (I know, not the most reliable source, but it is usually correct about these things), the film has made about 242 million. That's after just one weekend. Impressive! I think it's safe to say that we'll see both a sequel to this and a slew of other new comic adaptations from Marvel. Huzzah!
Next up on the radar is Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides which debutes May 20th.
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quote:Originally posted by Jeff C.: The film has made quite a splash so far. According to Wikipedia (I know, not the most reliable source, but it is usually correct about these things), the film has made about 242 million. That's after just one weekend. Impressive! I think it's safe to say that we'll see both a sequel to this and a slew of other new comic adaptations from Marvel. Huzzah!
Next up on the radar is Pirates 4: On Stranger Tides which debutes May 20th.
242 in the US or worldwide? It opened overseas a couple of weeks ago.
Still impressive though.
Spoiler....
On further thought the whole early childhood scenes bother me even more. Major continuity error. Loki and Thor were babies according to this movie when the Asgardians were considered gods by humans. How could Loki have entered mythology as an adult trickster god?
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quote:Originally posted by AchillesHeel: Agreed, I was never a Thor fan and know nothing about the canon but Loki was not very mischievous in my opinion and childhood flashbacks could have helped cement the trait into the character even while being a calm and collected adult.
Yeah during the movie when one of the characters says in effect, "Loki's always been one for mischief, but nothing like this!"
I thought, "Really? Sure he uses illusions a lot, and you've established he's supposedly good with rhetoric, I don't really see any prankster mischievousness, just pure malevolence."
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The second and third movies were panned as well. You either like the series, or you don't, I think, at this point. I plan to see it, and I'm looking forward to it.
By the by, has anyone here ever watched a movie with D-Box seating before? A new theater opened up near me that has it, and I was wondering if someone who wasn't in a testimonial for the seats had ever used one and if it was worth the upcharge. Looks interesting, and if it's not like a lame theme park ride, I might spring for it.
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Thor is getting a really interesting set of reviews. I've had two friends rave about it, a couple more say it was ok, and a webcomic author I read decried it as total crap. I think her line was that if you only go see one blond superhero movie this summer, make it Captain America.
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quote:Originally posted by AvidReader: Thor is getting a really interesting set of reviews. I've had two friends rave about it, a couple more say it was ok, and a webcomic author I read decried it as total crap. I think her line was that if you only go see one blond superhero movie this summer, make it Captain America.
Even though she hasn't seen it yet. Captain America might not be as good as Thor, so how can she say? I think it just comes down to preference. Some people just can't get behind the premise, but that's not the movie's fault.
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: The second and third movies were panned as well. You either like the series, or you don't, I think, at this point. I plan to see it, and I'm looking forward to it.
By the by, has anyone here ever watched a movie with D-Box seating before? A new theater opened up near me that has it, and I was wondering if someone who wasn't in a testimonial for the seats had ever used one and if it was worth the upcharge. Looks interesting, and if it's not like a lame theme park ride, I might spring for it.
The guys I'm talking about liked them, but ripped this to shreds. All mean like.
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For me, the first trailer for X-Men: First Class was a turnoff, made it look like the movie would pretty much fall flat. Then these teasers made me reconsider.
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Same here. I thought it was going to be an awful attempt to reboot the series after some pretty bad movies, but the latest teasers and trailers have really piqued my interest. I'll probably see it now.
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First class just got reviewed by IGN and they said it was amazing.
I went and saw Pirates 4 and also Kung Fu Panda over the past few days. Pirates was fun, even though it wasn't as good as the first one. I found myself missing the original cast, but I guess it can't be helped. It was still a lot of fun.
Panda was awesome, but not as good as the first. Still, I love the series and it looks like they'll make a third one, hopefully. The ending hinted at it at least...
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The Hangover Part II made over thirty million from thursday midnight showings alone, without 3D and special effects.
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I'm starting to fall behind. I wanted to see The Priest, but it's third on my list behind The Hangover 2 and Kung Fu Panda II, and with X-Men coming out next week and Green Lantern soon, I'm never going to catch up.
Pirates to me felt like they were just going through the motions. It had all the appropriate laugh lines in all the right places, and I thought Ian McShane did an okay job, but didn't come close to rivaling Nighy's Davy Jones. It was just missing something. Maybe Orlando Bloom really did need to be there as a foil for Jack, because without him, the whole thing felt a little rudderless. I realized while watching it that Jack was never really the main character, it was always Will Turner, but Jack was weird awesome force. Without Will though, that force can't carry the movie alone.
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I went out today and saw Hangover, simply put the flick delivers exactly what you want after seeing the first. Just louder and creepier.
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Lyrhawn, I've heard terrible things about Priest, so your missing out on it could be a blessing in disguise. Honestly, I have a friend who loves that kind of stuff and he said he wanted his money back. That, coupled with the fact that it has been universally panned by critics makes me never want to watch it.
I'd like to go check out Hangover before the weekend is up. It looks pretty awesome so maybe I can make that happen.
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I'm hoping to gather some friends together for Kung Fu Panda 2 tomorrow. Most of the reviews seem positive. Not glowing, but positive.
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Not all kids movies can make you question the validity of life and how you would prefer to die like Toy Story 3 did.
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I'm surprised I liked Pirates 4. I forgot how much I like the base concepts. But the big flaw in it is that there isnt much at stake. Jack and Angelica are risking their lives because they want to. And they're not accountable for any important characters, in the same way Jack had to make compromises between what he wanted and protecting Will and Elizabeth. The missionary and the mermaind both feel like plot devices, not characters.
This, and the generally bad camera framing.
That said, this is one of the worst movies that I like. But nothing beat Transformers 2.
Ian Mcshane, Depp, and Rush were all excellent. I liked Mcshane more than Nighy. The look on his face when the missionary dude was storming at him (on the ship) was hilarious. And the guy looks evil when he smiles.
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quote:Originally posted by AchillesHeel: I went out today and saw Hangover, simply put the flick delivers exactly what you want after seeing the first. Just louder and creepier.
I actually didn't care for Hangover II. There were a few funny parts, but it didn't live up to the hype.
In fact, it was the exact same movie as Hangover 1, just set in Thailand.
The three guys wake up, can't remember anything. Stu wakes up with something wrong with him. They lose someone important. They check their pockets to see if there is any clues. They find a monkey instead of a baby. Stu finds out he did something he will regret for the rest of his life. They find the person they lost back where they woke up. They make it to the wedding in the nick of time. Then they see photos reminding them of what happened.
There movie was unoriginal. I remember laughing hysterically through the first movie. This one just made me yawn, with the ocasional chuckle.
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quote:Originally posted by AchillesHeel: Hangover 2 - Sometimes dumb fun is just that, dumb fun. I enjoyed the first one and am a Zack Galifianakakis fan not to mention Ed Helms, dissapointed by the removal of the Liam Neeson scene though.
I stand by my statement made before seeing the flick, they werent trying to break the mold of the movie industry, they were just making a comedy. If you laughed, even a little bit then it was still a comedy and not Gigli.
Almost nobody in my theater understood the jokes made at Bangkok's expense, Im surprised that they didnt include a scene where a middle-aged American that one character recognizes is atleast alluded to have come to Bangkok for child prostitution. And knowing that Liam Neeson was the original tattoo artist really made that scene feel odd to me.
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