Summit Entertainment is getting in on the Super Bowl fun with an ad for their film, Snitch, opening in a few weeks.
The studio describes the film, starring the odd combination of the Rock and Susan Sarandon, this way: In this fast-paced action thriller inspired by true events, Dwayne Johnson stars as a father whose teenage son is wrongly accused of a drug distribution crime and is looking at a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 10 years. Desperate and determined to rescue his son at all costs, he makes a deal with the U.S. attorney to work as an undercover informant and infiltrate a drug cartel on a dangerous mission — risking everything, including his family and his own life.
For those of you not inclined to watch, we have the spot below.
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Genre: Action/Thriller
Rating: PG-13
Release date: February 22, 2013
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Writers: Justin Haythe and Ric Roman Waugh
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Benjamin Bratt and Barry Pepper
The second part of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns demonstrates how the world has changed since the graphic novel source material was published in 1986. Frank Miller’s reinvention of Batman was also his personal reaction to the conservative, jingoistic United States of America of the decade. President Ronald Reagan was a folksy president, good with a quip, and saw the world in stark black and white terms, which was feeling wrong in the final years of the Cold War. Miller also questioned all authority figures from know-it-all doctors who loved to hear themselves on the growing number of vapid talk shows to the unformed law-enforcement representatives who fired first and then questioned orders. While some of this was evident in part one, which was released last fall, this installment, out on Tuesday, really shines a spotlight on the themes.
A visual tour-de-force, Miller’s four-part The Dark Knight took the storytelling techniques he developed for Daredevil and applied them to DC’s two biggest icons. Readers had seen nothing like it before and heralded the work an instant classic. Here we are, more than twenty years later being given a two-part adaptation of this story and suddenly it feels dated. Here’s no question screenwriter Bob Goodman and director Jay Oliva honored the source material and its satisfying as an adaptation.
But the notion that Superman, the ultimate authority figure, was blindly taking orders from the President, and allowed himself to take lives in an international conflict feels wrongheaded. That Batman and the other costumed heroes and villains would all willingly vanish into the shadows that spawned them feels wrong, as well. Much as it felt wrong for Batman to vanish for eight years in the Christopher Nolan films, it also now feels like Bruce Wayne would never stop fighting crime in his city.
But he’s back, pushing fifty, and feeling the effects of time on his bulky form. He’s dealing with a city that needs him but an administration that does not want him, especially as Commissioner James Gordon steps down, turning the police over to Ellen Yindel, who immediately wants Batman shot on sight. Where Oliva’s action sequences totally fail is that the criminals and police alike fire endless streams of bullets with little consideration of the collateral damage being inflict or civilian lives being endangered. Thousands of bullets are fired, but none strike Batman or Robin, which is stunning incompetence (and bad storytelling).
The conflict on the island of Corto Maltese is the backdrop as the Joker talks his idiot doctor into bringing him to a talk show to tell his side of the story. Michael Emerson’s clown prince of crime is cold and maniacal but depicted, he is a homicidal figure, nothing funny about his actions or methods at all. The character design may be Miller inspired but he’s too normal looking, just a muscular specimen in makeup which feels wrong. The criminal madman is free and after Batman after making a stop to humiliate a gone-to-pot Selina Kyle, now a Madame. The Joker and Batman face off one final time and this is when the Dark Knight finally gets hurt, in the Tunnel of Love of all places, a subtle nod to the homoerotic subtext Miller added to their relationship.
All the episodic explosive action leads up to the inevitable conflict between the symbol of conformity and the agent of justice. Their climactic battle is nicely handled as is the denouement, bringing the 76 minute story to a fine ending.
Peter Weller’s Batman is okay but nothing special while Mark Valley’s Superman works much better. Ariel Winter’s Robin doesn’t get nearly enough to say but plenty to do in the film. The rich voice cast blends well together, aided by a good score from Christopher Drake.
The combo pack contains the Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultraviolet versions of the film. Special features include a too-short 9:24 Superman vs. Batman: When Heroes Collide, as the usual suspects talk about why these two fight and who should win. The longer, 14:07, The Joker: Laughing in the Face of Death nicely uses archival material so his creator, Jerry Robinson gets his say. While it’s good to have Emerson’s take on the character, Mark Hamill’s absence is missed as are his current handlers such as writer Scott Snyder. Oliva takes us through numerous sequences in the 43 minute From Sketch to Screen and he gives kudos to those who took Miller’s work and brought it the screen. Oliva is well-spoken and some of the information provided is interesting to hear and see.
Three episodes from Batman: The Animated Series and Batman: The Brave & the Bold are included on the Blu-ray disc. On the other hand, the promised preview of Superman: Unbound is curiously absence from the disc. Instead, there is another digital excerpt from the graphic novel.
Matthew Holness first rose to notoriety with his character of Garth Marenghi; author, dream-weaver, visionary, plus actor. He’s a perfect creation, all the insufferable genre authors boiled down to one. Holness has returned with another author and another genre, and takes the story in the opposite direction. A Gun For George, available for viewing at Britain’s Film4 website, is a short film featuring a down on his luck author who’s angry at the world for the loss of his brother, and his popularity.
Terry Finch is the author of the (once) popular Reprizalizer series, a two-fisted vigilante, taking to the criminals of suburban England. He’s self-deluded, down on his luck, and angry at the world about it. While you laugh at garth and look forward to someday seeing his head trapped in farm equipment, Matthew makes you feel for Terry. His books are clear Mary Sue fiction, but with the world of Men’s Adventure series as their base, series like the Mack Bolan books that emerge from Gold Eagle press with astonishing regularity. Terry is hanging onto life by his nails, trying to sell his books door to door to make enough to repair his car, George, named after his brother. But when an old fan bequeaths him the contents of his council flat, including a loaded revolver, the implication is that Terry may finally erase the line between reality and fantasy.
Holness is a contemporary and collaborator with the gang from The Mighty Boosh, as well as popular comedians Richard Ayoade ([[[The IT Crowd]]]) and Matt Berry ([[[Snuffbox]]]). It’s a darker comedy than the Marenghi work, and features none of his past collaborators. Marenghi is an ego-trip on two legs, while Finch is a poor and desperate man, unwilling to admit that his books are a thing of the past, if indeed they were ever much popular at all. The film switches between modern day reality and Finch’s revenge fantasies, filmed in the style of a seventies “One man against crime” film trailers. Terry’s past is only alluded to, but it can be easily inferred that his books are an impotent strike back against the real assault of his brother George, which is why they are so important to him.
Holness is representative of a lot of British humorists who don’t feel the need to crank out non-stop product of questionable quality, preferring to take their time a craft the work to perfection. This short film is an example of why that can be a very successful process. No news on if we’ll see any more of Terry Finch in the future, but what we have seen here was well worth the wait.
Getting a film like GANGSTER SQUAD into theaters has had it’s issues, and we bring in in actors Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling to talk about the challenges they faced, plus more on the new season of JUSTIFIED with Timothy Olyphant and goodbye to THE COMIC BUYERS GUIDE.
At the Consumer Electronics Show, Paramount unveiled a clip featuring British actress Alice Eve, who plays Carol Marcus in May’s Star Trek Into Darkness. She introduces the film’s cutting edge App.
Star Trek has a history of leading others along the marketing trail. They were featured on the very first Happy Meal and Star Trek was the first movie to have a dedicated website back in the World Wide Web’s earliest days. And now the app promises the following:
• An audio scan function that can be turned on to automatically recognize and reward users for watching Star Trek Into Darkness content on TV and other media;
• An image scan function that enables users to interact with images printed or viewable in the real world;
• A geofencing function for location-based experiences;
• New Star Trek Into Darknesscontent, such as videos, images and wallpapers delivered directly to users’ mobile devices;
• Exclusive opportunities and special offers only available to app users;
• One lucky sweepstakes winner will be rewarded with the grand prize of attending the Star Trek Into Darkness U.S. premiere.
The app was developed by Qualcomm Incorporated using Gimbal context awareness technologies which will be used to deliver exclusive content and advanced real world game experiences for the Star Trek Into Darkness application based on the upcoming movie from J.J. Abrams.
These cutting edge technologies are being showcased in a never before-seen way and will enable users to automatically engage with a wealth of movie related materials by utilizing their real-life surroundings to auto-complete integrated missions by employing audio scan, geo-location recognition, and image recognition functionality powered by Qualcomm Vuforia. The Star Trek Into Darkness app will launch at the end of January.
During the second quarter of the big game, the app will allow users the ability to unlock the first of many surprises during the airing of the Star Trek Into Darkness TV-spot, making this one of the most unique and interactive apps ever created for a movie.
“We are excited about collaborating with Paramount on this app as it further brings to life Qualcomm’s vision of the digital sixth sense, where devices intelligently interact with the world around you,” said Dr. Jacobs. “By leveraging the Gimbal platform, this app harnesses the power of the smartphone to bridge the digital and physical world, allowing the studio to market the film in the real world and simultaneously bring users into the film’s story and world.”
Star Trek Into Darkness is written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof and directed by J.J. Abrams. Abrams is producing with Bryan Burk through Bad Robot Productions, along with Lindelof, Kurtzman and Orci. Jeffrey Chernov and Skydance Productions’ David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake are the executive producers.
Pixar has released a clip from The Blue Umbrella, the short film that will be sandwiched between a million trailers and Monsters University beginning on June 21.
The adorable looking short is described as, “It is just another evening commute until the rain starts to fall, and the city comes alive to the sound of dripping rain pipes, whistling awnings and gurgling gutters. And in the midst, two umbrellas—one blue, one not—fall eternally in love.”
The short comes from director Saschka Unseld and producer Marc Greenberg.
Most of ComicMix’s readers know that Tim Burton made his live action Frankenweenie short (starring Barret Oliver, Shelley Duvall, and Daniel Stern) while at Disney and was too quirky for the Mouse House so left to carve out a career of his own. The short was visually stylish, creepy, and filled with affection for the horror films of his youth. Since then, he has created his own brand of horror (Edward Sciossorhands, Legend of Sleepy Hollow) and has reinterpreted classic works (Batman, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Planet of the Apes) with varying success.
Last fall he finally released a feature-length version of Frankenweenie and while it underperformed at the box office, it is a creatively satisfying effort, and a great family feature. This can now run with The Nightmare Before Christmas as annual Halloween viewing for which I am grateful.
As with most great tales, this is a love story. In this case, it’s about a boy, Victor (Charlie Tahan), and his dog Sparky. When the beloved pet dies in a car accident, Victor uses his scientific genius to bring Sparky back to life. While some see this as a noble thing, Victor’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein (Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara), worry that their son is overly involved with the dog and lacks human friends.
A boy and his dog is classic and Sparky is your typical dog, although he now has trouble keeping all his parts intact, notably his tail.
When the local boys hear about the successful experiment, things begin to go off the rails. Victor may have Sparky back but things have certainly not gone as planned and that’s where the film’s charm and humor shines through in a well-plotted expansion of the original tale. That said, things do drag the further we move on, as if Burton said all he had to say and needed to stretch to get to a proper running time, 87 minutes, for a feature.
Burton stayed true to his vision, retaining the black and white, evoking the great Universal horror films of the past. And like them, this is filled with winning supporting character — Mr. Rzykruski (Martin Landau), Edgar (Atticus Shaffer) — enlivening the overall story.
The film is being released by Walt Disney this week in multiple formats including the four-disc combo pack — 3-D, 2-D, DVD, digital — and the Blu-ray comes packed with fun extras starting with “Captain Sparky vs. The Flying Saucers” (2:30) — a new short with Victor and Sparky watching the title home movie; “Miniatures In Motion: Bringing Frankenweenie To Life” (23:00) minutes), your typical behind-the-scenes featurette; Frankenweenie Touring Exhibit (4:30) 1/2 minutes); the original Frankenweenie short film (30:00); “Pet Sematary”, a music video from Plain White T’s. The first few featurettes are eye-opening in the effort that goes into making these stop-motion films. Burton, executive producer Don Hahn, producer Allison Abbate, and animation director Trey Thomas exhaustively cover the production, shot at the London-based Three Mills Studio.
This is the most entertaining video release of the week and comes highly recommended.
Entertainment Weekly, of all places, presents one of the most thoughtful essays on superhero films and how– similar they’re all becoming, and even worse, how many other movies are aping them to great financial success and overall boredom.
Superhero Movies have evolved to the point where three of the genre’s standard-bearers can embody radically different filmmaking styles – this is a good thing, right? Well, maybe. But the problem is, when you dig underneath the three films’ respective stylistic excesses – and they are excesses; few genres in film history are more fundamentally decadent than the Superhero Film, with the ever-expanding budgets and the swooping digital-effects-crane-shots and the ruined cityscapes and the supervillains planning to conquer/pillage/destroy every city/world/galaxy in sight – there is a depressing sameness to lurking within each movie’s basic DNA.
I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises last Saturday.
Just a short recap: personal demons of mine kept me from seeing the film when it opened because of the shootings that happened during an opening night screening.
The first day the film came to Blu-Ray I brought a copy and planed a Dark Knight Rises night, complete with all the man cave fixings. That week another mass shooting happened and again I put the film on hold. Then Sandy Hook happened and again I put the film on hold.
I freely admit that I’m a pussy when it comes to confronting my own demons. I also freely admit that because of those demons I’ve made stupid decisions and reacted quickly instead of smartly.
Comics, animation, video games and the like take up a great deal of my time and my life, but they are not all my time or all my life.
I was not ready to see The Dark Knight Rises and waited until I was.
The film was, in a word, great.
I don’t regret waiting I don’t regret not seeing it on the big screen because the film was so badass I could have watched it on an iPhone and loved it.
On another note…
Dwayne McDuffie was a dear friend and creative partner of mine. I have yet to watch All-Star Superman, written by Dwayne, which debuted around the time of his death. I’m just not ready. But it sure is something to look forward to.
There are flashes of characterization, wit, and warmth in House at the End of the Street, making you hope it is a cut above your modern day horror film. The movie largely focuses on the mother and daughter tandem of Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence), as they struggle to start fresh in a town after divorce. They can only afford to rent such a nice house because it is situated near the home where a young girl murdered her parents so is tainted. Of course, right there, you know the daughter is still around. Then we learn the son, who had been living with relatives when the heinous act occurred, had moved back in. And we’re off.
The movie, said to be inspired by a short story written by Jonathan Mostow, probably worked better as prose, where more could be done to set mood and character without falling into the tropes that reduce this to a cookie cutter thriller that fails to really thrill. The best thing it has going for it as some twists and turns towards the end that are interesting but are not explored (nor will I discuss so as not to spoil it for fans).
What makes the movie interesting to watch is the cast, headed by Shue, who hasn’t done much interesting work since Leaving Las Vegas, but makes the most of the underwritten role of the mother tightening her grip on the teenage daughter she loves, realizing she’s losing her at the same time. Lawrence, a major star thanks to Winter’s Bone and The Hunger Games, also doesn’t really get enough to work with but plays the new girl at high school rather well. Her scenes with Max Theriot, the boy next door, are some of the best in the film.
Had screenwriter David Loucka and director Mark Tonderai –two men with negligible credits — played more with the mother/daughter, new girl in town threads, this could have been a far richer, more believable tale. Instead, they fell into the trap of using that as window dressing, focusing instead on the mystery of who is trapped under the floor of the cursed house. The soundtrack by Theo Green adds a level of suspense that the perfunctory photography fails to deliver.
The disc coms with the 101-minutetheatricalversion and the unrated 107-minute version, which is just more of the same, making it all the more disappointing. The promised shocking added twist is interesting and could have made the film more interesting, and certainly more of a Hitchcockian thrill ride as promised in the short extra “Journey Into Terror” where the cast and crew heroically make it sound like the film was worth the effort. For Lawrence, this is one of those she will keep on her resume and probably never talk about again.
This release, out now from 20th Century Home Entertainment comes with both versions on a Blu-ray disc and the standard DVD and digital copy are on the second disc.
Summit Entertainment is getting in on the Super Bowl fun with an ad for their film, Snitch, opening in a few weeks.
Terry Finch is the author of the (once) popular Reprizalizer series, a two-fisted vigilante, taking to the criminals of suburban England. He’s self-deluded, down on his luck, and angry at the world about it. While you laugh at garth and look forward to someday seeing his head trapped in farm equipment, Matthew makes you feel for Terry. His books are clear 
