Trailer Addict just added a new Japanese Watchmen trailer that looks awesome! Lots of new footage, and most of the scenes gives you that hey-I-recognice-that-from-the-graphical-novel feeling. At least if you have read the graphical novel written by Alan Moore. 😉 If you haven’t, do it!
Trailer: Watchmen (Japanese trailer)
See also my previous post regarding the Watchmen movie (including the two previous trailers)
The first official trailer to the upcoming (May 2009) Wolverine movie has just been released.
I was especially glad to see some scenes from Wolverine’s childhood in the 17th century that was superbly described in the 6 issue limited series “Origin” (2001-2002). I just hope that they also have enough character development of Rose, which had a great influence on his early years. On the other hand, there are so many good Wolverine stories that all made a big impact on him before meeting X-Men (remember Mariko?), and it would be hard to fit them all in and still do them justice.
I think they are focusing too much on modern day characters in the trailer (Sabretooth, Gambit, Storm, etc.), and I would prefer if most of the movie would revolve around his beginning as a child, and the time up until (and of course including) Weapon X – In Canada this time, not the United States! Cramming as many mutants as possible into this one will not make it better, quite the opposite! A focus on the actual story of James Howlett (or Logan, as you might think his name is) would instead be more engaging.
Even so, I still have a good feeling about this one.
Trailer: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Nice, a new Watchmen trailer has been released!
For those of you who didn’t know, Watchmen is a 12-issue comic book by Alan Moore, who among other things also wrote V for Vendetta, From Hell, Batman: The Killing Joke and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Visually they got just about everything right – The Comedian’s wry smile, Rorschach’s mask, the power in Dr. Manhattan’s origin etc..
However, the first trailer gave me much more of a wow-feeling. But that might just be because the characters I had previously read about in the Watchmen comics (which I highly recommend, by the way) for the first time came to life.
Read the original Watchmen comic book limited series, see the trailers below and you too will long for March 6th.
Trailer: Watchmen (Trailer 2)
And in case you missed the first one, here it is as well.
Trailer: Watchmen (Trailer 1)
Update: A new Japanese trailer has also been added in a separate post.
Kung Fu Panda is an animated movie from Dreamworks, starring major voice actors as Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu.
The main story revolves around Po, a clumsy panda who dreams of being a kung fu master while having to work in his fathers noodle shop. After some curious circumstances, he is given the opportunity to learn kung fu by a grumpy kung fu master. Without spoiling to much of the story, a big threat is later revealed and unexpected things happen.
I didn’t have the highest expectations, and was maily expecting a slapstick parade. I was pleasantly surprise how good the movie was. Granted, there was a fair deal of slapstick in the movie, but (almost) never too much. There was also a more serious side about not fitting in, not wanting to be yourself.
As a fan of eastern cinema, I have watched a fair deal of kung fu movies (as well as practiced kung fu myself). It was a delight to see so many clichés and homages as they could fit into the movie, most executed with a twist. The voice acting is most of the time very good (though I didn’t think Angelina Jolie really fit the role as Tigress).
On a whole, Kung Fu Panda is a warm, engaging and very enjoyable movie. Recommended.
p.s. Martial art turtles rock. d.s.
A few days ago I had the pleasure of watching Hell Ride, the Quentin Tarantino-produced, Larry Bishop-written-and-directed biker movie.
It’s a good mix of sex, drugs and violence – the kind of movie you’ll enjoy watching with a few friends and a few beers.
Larry Bishops character Pistolero is leading the motorcycle gang Victors, where Michael Madsen and Eric Balfour also has their allegiance. The rival gang, Six-six-six (led by the character played by Vinnie Jones) is basically out to eliminate the competition, and hard feelings arise. Throw in a 32-year old murder, a safety deposit box with three keys, David Carradine and Dennis Hopper, and you get yourself a Hell Ride.
It’s not a great movie. But it’s a darn good and entertaining one.
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to see Tomas Alfredson’s screen adaption of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s superb novel.
It is a drama about a harassed 12-year old boy (Oskar) making friends with what he thinks is a girl (Eli). It soon obvious to the audience that Eli is in fact a vampire. Sounds cheesy? It ain’t. It is a gripping film which gets into your skin. Never boring, always keeping the pace. Since I read the book two or three years ago, I knew about what was going to happen. However, I still found it exciting and didn’t want it to be over.
There were a few scenes however that I sorely missed from the book – mostly the flashback where Eli’s origin from the 18th* century is explained. The scar is shown in the movie, but there is no explanation for it. Several main characters are also missing or radically reduced, but since the movie already spans almost two hours, it is understandable that didn’t incorporate them into the screen version. But it did make me want to read the book again.
To cut it shourt: Let the Right One In is the best Swedish movie that I have seen in many years.
The book is (as in most cases) better than the movie, but I am still very happy with the adaptation.
* Don’t remember exactly, +/- a century.