Here comes movie of the year. Lego Batman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9c83L8hevQ

 

Ocean's 8 Cast Adds Anne Hathaway, Rihanna & More!

Not necessarily news and probably set for 2018 (or late 2017), but what are your thoughts regarding this gem. With the agony that was Ghostbusters still raw I think it's a foregone conclusion, but the addition of Cate Blanchett makes me pause. Was she dragged in because of some studio obligations?

Anne Hathaway is probably in it, because she wants to reprise as some pseudo-Catwoman.

 

Hathaway might well be the weakest live-action Catwoman for me.

 

Ocean's Eleven was good, Ocean's 13 was kinda crap, Ocean's 8 shouldn't happen at all.

 

A chick-flick version of Ocean's Eleven? Well, that's one movie I won't be watching next year.

 

I assume you're ignoring Halle Berry.

 

Halle's a weird thing for me.

As a 90s Kid, my first superhero films weren't the Batman quartet but rather an ad-hoc trilogy of Phantom, Rocketeer and the Shadow, which weren't actually tied to one another but were sort of set around the same time period IRl and in-film and had some really memorable visuals (Shadow in particular was sort of Doctor Strange today).

If I recall correctly there hadn't been a public cinema in Jordan for a while growing up (or at least not one in Amman proper), so my superhero viewings were dependent on them popping up on TV and me being lucky to catch them.

As a result of that, my first "Catwoman" experience was Halle Berry's 2004 film on free tv, after which I sort of went back and watched a lot of live action materials like the Batman and Superman ones.

Halle's film was of course very terrible and deserved the Razzies it got, especially since it didn't have anything to do with the actual Catwoman Selina Kyle (it was some character just for the films with her own backstory for some reason), but it did stick with me for a long time that even to this day I'm vaguely in support Selina Kyle being black.

Dunno, sort of like an out-of-body experience, or a Quantum Leap thing where I was in a universe where that movie was actually great and influential.

So yeah. I sort of count and discount Halle's Catwoman at the same time.

Edit: Also, my first "superhero cartoons" with villains and shit were Gargoyles and the Mighty Ducks. I didn't get into the DCAU until mid 2000s.

 

Obligatory "Gargoyles, woo!"

Carry on.

 

To add on to my weird mental confusions, I thought Gargoyles was a CN/WB show for the longest time. Also, I'm dreading the day Disney reboots that.

 

*Ghostbusters theme starts playing*

 

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Directed by Luc Besson, starring Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Ethan Hawke, John Goodman and Rihanna.

I feel like the lead characters were horribly miscast.

Plot: Wikipedia

The aliens look like John Carter and the surroundings like Jupiter Ascending.

 

Ghost in the Shell trailer - looks quite fun, and well realised. I barely remember the original, although I know I liked it. It does make me wonder whether Scarlett Johansson is just signing on for any action movie she can until Marvel cave and do a Black Widow movie though.

Valerian looks brilliantly ridiculous.

 

Ghost in the Shell trailer.

Still dislike Major's hairstyle, but at least Batou will have his cybernetic eyes.

Overall, I doubt it will be anywhere as good as the originals (be it manga, movie or TV series), but it won't be terrible. If in the next few years we get more Anime adaptations, I would say that in hindsight it probably will be what Blade was to Marvel comics' adaptations - a decent starting point.

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Ghost in the Shell (2017) - Shelling Sequence Clip.

I'm sure some will complain that they're just copying the best parts from the original, including music, but it's preferable to not doing it and making a bad film with nothing in common with the rest of franchise.

Surprisingly, they allowed press to film the sequence instead of putting it as a teaser themselves. Weird decision.

 

I actually find the choice of characters quite interesting and refreshingly non-standard.

 

This^

I instanteously lose interest when the entire hook boils down to "come watch this shit you used to like but with chicks because we're edgy." If you want to make a female driven movie then by all means do so but have some damn creativity people.

 

I imagine that eventually we'll get the reverse; traditionally female-centric movies with a male cast.

 

Gag.

Who the fuck would ever imagine guys would want an all-male version of Bridesmaids? The stereotypical feminine gays have already seen the original anyway.

Please, don't let that become a thing.

 

Hangover

/10char

 

Good point.

The realization is even more depressing when I realize that Bridesmaids didn't get two unnecessary sequels.


Edit: Just watched the Beauty and the Beast trailer and I have to ask: why is it a thing?

 

Because literally every Disney movie is getting a gritty live action reboot. That's why.