Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all our friends, fiends, minions and monsters, both near and far! Embrace some make believe and bring on the screams!

Five Star Review Focus!

Let's come down from the superhero clouds for a bit and take a look at some of the other new films that are making strong names for themselves.

I like to keep track of the reviews over at Empire, as they tend to have a pretty good first-take on new releases, while being very particular with their coveted five-star "Unmissable" rating.

Lately, Empire has given the five-star nod to three new pictures, one of which opens here in the states tomorrow:


Mr. Turner - From Topsy-Turvy director Mike Leigh, a biography of British painter J.M.W. Turner (Timothy Spall), contrasting his professional success with his personal turmoil and isolation.

The Babadook - A horror genre entry with genuine oomph about a nightmarish monster's visitations on a young boy and his family.

Nightcrawler - Opening Friday, a breakthrough performance from Jake Gyllenhaal about a Los Angeles loner's foray into the world of crime scene video journalism, it's a dark satire that's been mentioned in the same breath as Taxi Driver.

Not a cape or superpower in the bunch! These all sound pretty interesting, and at least a couple of them are bound to find their way into the pack at Oscar time. Keep your eyes peeled!

Marvel Unveils Complete Phase 3 Plan!

...and what a plan it is! We only just got our first real taste of Avengers: Age of Ultron a few days ago, and now Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has revealed the entire war plan of the ensuing nine movies that will unspool following next summer's Age of Ultron (May 1st, 2015) and Ant-Man (July 17th, 2015) - a sweeping strategy that extends out to May of 2019. Talk about a five-year plan!


Feige confirmed everything but the by now assumed casting of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, including the Mark Millar Civil War storyline as the title of the third Captain America film, which will pit Cap against Iron Man in a conflict over forced government registration of anyone with superhuman abilities.

Here's the rundown:

5/6/16 – Captain America: Civil War

11/4/16 – Doctor Strange

5/5/17 – Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – moved up from its previously announced July release date.

7/28/17 – Thor: Ragnarok – "Ragnarok" means the end of all things in Norse mythology. 

11/3/17 – Black Panther – Hugely cool, featuring the prince from the African nation of Wakanda

5/4/18 – Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 – The third Avengers chapter will be split into two parts and focus

on the ultimate threat to the universe by Thanos. 

7/6/18 – Captain Marvel – CM has had many iterations, but this one will be female Marvel Carol Danvers.

11/2/18 – Inhumans – A new galactic saga featuring super beings ruled over by Black Bolt.

5/3/19 – Avengers: Infinity War Part 1I 

WHEW! There you have it! That's a mighty intense counter-punch to the game-plan DC and Warner Brothers have announced. Marvel is clearly expanding their saga into a universe-spanning landscape that will allow them to tell stories on a much more cosmic scale. They're also confidently positioning new characters and responding to previous complaints of the lack of prominence for women and African Americans in lead roles. Two things are certain - with competing multi-film franchises involving characters from DC and the Star Wars universe, superhero stories aren't going anywhere...

...and it's going to be getting awfully crowded out there!

The Early Word on Interstellar...

The early reviews are making their way out on Christopher Nolan's ambitious science fiction saga, Interstellar. In this day and age, the higher a film's expectations, the more pundits stand poised to hurl barbs and furrow brows. Phrases like "flawed" and "near masterpiece" will abound, so detailed reviews are to be avoided like the plague, as there are bound to be many who feel entitled to discuss more than they should.
There is one review that might bear paying attention to - consider this excerpt from Scott Foundas' review at Variety: "...Interstellar reaffirms Nolan as the premier big-canvas storyteller of his generation, more than earning its place alongside The Wizard of Oz, 2001, Close Encounters and Gravity in the canon of Hollywood's visionary sci-fi head trips. Global box office returns should prove suitably rocket-powered."

We'll meet back here in a week or two to discuss, but by all accounts Interstellar cries out to be seen on the largest format screen you can find.

Florida Mom's Slippery Slope

What's the old saying about good intentions? The saga of "Florida Mom" (aka Susan Schrivjer "Meyers") and her quest to raise awareness about the evil of adult collector action figures has become a full-blown national media story, and illustrates a couple of things - it's a great example of how a single individual can harness social media to inflict change. It's also a good reminder of how fear and an opinion can sweep up thousands of others into agreeing with an agenda that tars one "parolee," while hundreds of other "escaped cons" frolic in its wake.

Florida Mom's ire and outrage involves the Mezco Toyz line of Breaking Bad figures, and their availability at retail giant Toys 'R Us. Her issue being that the figures are packaged with Crystal Meth and assorted drug-manufacturing accessories. That these figures were available in a toy store where children can see them was an affront to the values of parents and the retailer, so said FM, despite the fugures being clearly marked "15 and Up" and displayed in the adult collector aisle of Toys 'R Us.

 

So guess what? Toys 'R Us buckled like a belt. The retailer caved, and FM's 9,000-signature petition was enough to cause TRU to yank the figures from their shelves and their website, despite the media attention of Breaking Bad stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston, and a counter-petition from Action Figure Insider champ Daniel Pickett to keep the figures, that currently has over 53,000 signatures.

 

TRU has revealed a complete lack of character in this move, and Florida Mom's focusing on one lone feather of the entire bird is misguided at best. Because while the Breaking Bad figures are gone, you can go into the same aisle and still find plenty of Mezco's Sons of Anarchy figures,which evidently don't cause Florida Mom to lose any sleep. Because clearly the message here is that while the depiction of drugs is bad, depictions of gun-running outlaws, firearms or violence are perfectly reasonable. She had no issue with the Scarface Tony Montana figures, Texas Chainsaw Massacre figures, gore-splattered Walking Dead figures or any of the countless adult collector movie and TV depictions of violent characters that companies like Mezco, McFarlane or NECA have been selling at TRU for years. FM is evidently totally fine with the legions of violent videogames and tarted-up Barbie/Bratz objectification/role-model dolls for girls. That stuff's perfectly acceptable!

 

I'm a toy collector. I'm also the parent of a small child. Those two identities aren't in any kind of conflict, and there are thousands of similar enthusiasts across the USA and beyond. I've got Breaking Bad figures myself, and if I've got a beef with Mezco, it's their recycling of endless color variations in figure outfits, rather than diligently expanding the line (How may differently colored jumpsuited Jesse Pinkman figures does anyone need, all with the same expression?).

 

But it's my responsibility as a parent to shield my child from harmful imagery or negative depictions. If parents are letting their children run unsupervised into the (gasp!) adult collector aisle at TRU, maybe same parents should put down their phones and monitor what their children are doing.

 

I know plenty of moms (including my own wife) who aggressively advocate for, champion, and protect the rights, safety and well being of our children. I have nothing but respect and admiration for parents who take to social media to keep their children safe. In this day and age, we have to. The world is full of bad influences. But like adult content video games, these figures aren't displayed or sold to young children.

 

More importantly, if there's anything we need to truly be vigilant towards when it comes to our children's futures, it's being watchful against the knee-jerk impulse to ban things. To restrict the freedoms of everyone in the name of fear and protection. History teaches rather dramatically that that's a slippery slope. If one upset consumer can get big retailer to label products with a scarlet letter, and we see how quickly retailers flinch, then how hard will it be to start looking for other objectionable items that could threaten our youth? That should be removed or banned?

 

While this is definitely a First World problem and undoubtedly worthy of plenty of laughs, Florida Mom might be better served in directing her efforts to consider that the real epidemic that threatens our kids is the epidemic of school shootings and gun violence that claims the lives of so many of our nation's children each year. Instead of worrying about an accessory of blue plastic crystals, maybe we ought to be more concerned about the accessories that have triggers - and maybe let's worry about what's going on outside of the toy store for once.

 

Ultron Pops Our Jaws Off!

Immediately monnikered as The Empire Strikes Back of superhero movies, the trailer for this darker, more dangerous sequel to The Avengers sent shock-waves of glee throughout the community of the faithful yesterday:

Mr. Whedon, you have our attention! The most delightful of surprises - a supposed leak that almost immediately got legit, Ultron himself looks like the villain of villains - the trailer's tone, backed by the most disturbing rendition of Pinocchio's "I've Got No Strings" is lethal and epic. We don't just get teased with Tony Stark's Hulkbuster suit, we get a full-reveal demo!

2015 is getting me so delirious with anticipation, I can hardly stand it.

Now THAT's a movie trailer!!!

WOW! Just look at this footage from Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea. Just spectacular.
The cinematography by Anthony Dod Mantle (who's worked with Howard before) is simply jaw-dropping:

 

It's a true story, and the book by Nathaniel Philbrick is an amazing read.
This just moved up to the top of the list!