The three figures in the sky were supposed to look like Andrew, Matt, and Steve the stars of the upcoming film Chronicle. But what are they doing in the sky?

Chronicle tells the story of three friends who discover a strange crater in the middle of some spooky area a la Superman. But these kids are punks. Using their powers to scare little girls and mess around with locals…until one takes it too far. Apparently the dark horse, one of the boys has evil running through his veins. Classic superpower story.

Here is the video of the “people” flying around NYC.
Here is the trailer for Chronicle, out February 3rd.\

I’m sure most people out there are aware of Marvel’s ‘The Avenger’s coming to theaters May 4^th of next year, but am I the only one who is not looking forward to it? While the concept seems pretty spectacular, I just think it’s a little too much for one film. Does anyone remember ‘Spider-man 3’? Yeah that was a highly anticipated superhero flick that ended up a complete mess thanks to way too many characters (most of them villains) and those subsequent characters being under-developed.

Sorry to be a downer but I think ‘The Avengers’ is biting off more than it can chew with way too many superheroes and just not enough time to showcase them all. Granted almost all of these characters (with the exception of Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye) have been prominent in other Marvel flicks in the past so the character development is already there, but I still don’t see any way each character will have a good chance to shine in a mere 2-3 hour film while at the same time having a strong plotline.

‘The Avengers’ boasts a cast of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, and Samuel L. Jackson. Does this remind anyone else of those horrible ‘Valentine’s Day,’ ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ films with more celebrities than an actual story?

As much as I want to love ‘The Avengers’ I’m afraid to get my hopes up after similar disasters with the aforementioned ‘Spider-man 3,’ ‘X-Men: The Last Stand,’ and even as far back as ‘Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’ which also suffered from way too many characters (and a pretty terrible plot on top of that). Hopefully I am just over thinking this and the film will turn out to be spectacular, I’d love to be proven wrong on this one.

What are you most looking forward to Banters, ‘The Avengers’ or ‘The Dark Knight Rises’?

While this is usually a bad thing, in the case of Captain America, it isn’t necessarily. Chris Evans—playing the most patriotic of all superheroes—carries the film well. He keeps the audience engaged enough so the simple structure does not fall apart. In weaker hands, this movie could have unraveled quickly. Very, very quickly. But Evans understands his role. He’s not as funny as Robert Downey, Jr. He’ll never be as manly as Chris Hemsworth (even though he does a good job attempting it.) And he’ll never be replaced as easily as the revolving door of Hulks. He does get more screen time than the other featured members of S.H.I.E.L.D. and, it seems, he’s content with that. He fits perfectly in the middle of all those that will surround him. Whether this is a bad or good thing is not the fault of Evans nor the other actors nor the movie. It can only be blamed on one thing: the limitations of the origin story.

It’s always the same. I guess it’s inevitable? But I’m bored. Captain America isn’t anything special. This, that, and the other thing happens, and now he’s AMAZING. First, it’s a struggle one way or another. Then he defeats the bad guy set on world domination. Why not start the film with a montage so we’re all caught up and then BAM! Hit us with something new. Start in the middle. There’s always an opportunity to introduce new villains. Just ask any superhero sequel.

In the end, Captain American succeeds where both Iron Man 2 and Thor struggled. It didn’t set up The Avengers all that much (mostly because it’s set in the 40’s) nor does it have too much of a sci-fi edge. The only real downside is that there is almost no way to incorporate anyone else from Captain America into The Avengers because they’d all be too old or, frankly, dead.

Captain America is a fun summer movie. No more. No less. Go check it out.

SEE IT

While it is still a bit early for a trailer, the lovely folks at Marvel have revealed multiple character posters at this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego. What’s even better is all the posters together create one giant character banner!

Take a look at the character banners below and let us know what you think!

Well this is news to me, Fox is planning on rebooting the ‘Daredevil’ franchise after the pretty lackluster 2003 film starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. To be honest I’m not surprised considering Hollywood is fresh out of ideas and seems to only be able to rehash old films. I can’t say I’m excited about this news however, not that 2003’s ‘Daredevil’ was a bad film technically, but it is less than a decade since its release! This definitely reminds me of the reboot of ‘The Hulk’ and while Edward Norton made a valiant effort, the reboot still wasn’t a hit with audiences. Maybe some superheroes just aren’t meant for the big screen?

Nonetheless, despite my apprehension, Fox is moving ahead with the reboot of ‘Daredevil’ and they have finally found a writer for the job. His name is Brad Caleb Kane and you may know him as a writer and producer from the TV show ‘Fringe.’ Fortunately, Kane will be adapting the screenplay from the Frank Miller story titled, “Born Again.” Apparently the story follows Daredevil aka Matt Murdock up against the villainous Kingpin who figures out Daredevil’s secret identity from an ex-girlfriend of the hero. I’m not very familiar with the ‘Daredevil’ universe but this doesn’t sound half bad and if it’s a story created by Frank Miller we may all be in for a great ride.

Additionally, writer Brad Caleb Kane is apparently a huge fan of ‘Daredevil’ so I’m sure he’s going to try his best to make this a solid film.

All that being said, I still wish Hollywood would come up with some fresh ideas and stop rebooting franchises that have begun less than a decade ago!

So Banters what do you think? Too soon for a reboot or does ‘Daredevil’ deserve another shot? And who do you think should play him this time around?

There’s another option movie studios take too lightly as well, sturdy marketing campaign without cramming it down our throats. Making us eat it. If you turn on basic cable for even ten minutes you’re bound to witness an advertisement for this weekend’s blockbuster, the one they’ve held back from us until the Monday before its release to flash us glimpses of. Has this become routine? Would I prefer to see commercials for Salt in April? Maybe I’m just looking for something to complain about, who knows.

These past few months have been especially tortuous. Any movie geek who stays current with blogs or trailers or casting notes knows Martin Campbell’s 2011 epic The Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds in the titular role (and Blake Lively, whose character could probably be described in the same words) is coming, and no one is going to stop from digging up costume design, set photos, or any other minimalist brouhaha. Don’t get me wrong, I can get behind any superhero movie, especially when it’s good. (I’ve seen any given Batman movies, be cool.) Today’s flicks have seemingly morphed into narcissistic villains whose projects are never that worried about its audience. Hell, we pay. Spider-Man 3 stunk, but we gave it $336.5 million. They might be misinterpreting fanaticism, or they really just don’t care anymore. Because, indubitably, we pay. We pay to see anything Hollywood lurches out, every weekend. Because movies are sport, not only on the screen but some of the most fun stuff takes place off it. I’d love to see who’s directing Thor or what the Green Lantern’s costume is made from. It’s a matter of nitpicking perfection, and to fully please the real junkies there needs to be a steady build-up. Look at Watchmen, which did exactly that, and still bombed.

Sure, just this past weekend Christopher Nolan’s Inception was able to remain trippy and true to its fans and audience alike. A miracle? Nolan got us excited long before the film’s July 16^th release date by not showing us much but showing us something. Let’s go back to The Green Lantern, which has shown us what looks to be every boring, indulgent aspect of the thing a year before it comes out. Blake Lively is the Megan Fox, and Ryan Reynolds has dozens of CG renderers behind him and a six-pack in front. Who cares? When I say productions are misunderstanding fanaticism, it’s to say our idea of it has been frazzled by marketing wigs. That’s why every blog or site you’ll visit this week will be serving asinine stills of Kenneth Branagh’s Thor and The Green Lantern. We’ve come to expect this nonsense, and even I’ll admit to sort of forcing myself to hype the two. To my own ego, I could care less.

A solution isn’t mandatory because if your movie is good, word will get around and people will still see it. But right now there’s nothing being left to the imagination. Shall we pull a Jonah Hex and show nothing until the shallow few weeks before its release date, to remind us the property is still alive? Maybe it goes back to creating a good movie, not having to worry so much about marketing or whatever fanboys are able to get their hands on to show their respective pals of the same interest. These two aforementioned capers could be great, for all I know. This isn’t fanaticism we’re feeling for them, though. Each souped-up banner is another example of negligent derogation.

Agree or disagree?

I don’t think I’m alone in saying X-Men: The Last Stand is among the worst superhero film exploitation ever made. Potential was completely wasted on pointless special effects, and a dazzling source story was ignored on top of that. Last summer’s blockbuster of X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t even seem to be on the map of where the two radically different directors of the original trilogy took their individual movies. It felt lost. We’ve been left to wonder whether an X-Men Origins: Magneto is happening, a spin-off on the frontrunner for the mutant school Charles Xavier, played by Ian McKellen, after Xavier was so hilariously butchered in the conclusion of Wolverine. Honestly I’d much rather see Hugh Jackman humiliate himself onscreen over the marvelous Sir McKellen.

Bryan Singer, director of the enjoyable X-Men and its sequel X2, was in talks to direct X-Men: First Class, a series of comics that primarily ran from September 2006 and ended in April of 2007. Basically a paper reboot of the original X-Men publications, though introducing new characters such as Lizard, Scarlet Witch, Man-Thing, Gorilla-Man, Doctor Strange, Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman, and, most interestingly, Thor. Singer would have been a great choice, hopefully able to scrape the X-Men franchise from of the piles of cash and golden glitter bigwigs in L.A. have covered it in. However that’s no longer the case.

After Kick-Ass yielded amazing backlash among the people who actually saw it, its Matthew Vaughn (who also did Stardust and Layer Cake) was rumored as the replaced director. That was later confirmed. Now just a few days ago it was announced co-writer Jane Goldman (Vaughn’s wife) was currently rewriting the film’s script by Jaime Moss (Street Kings) and Josh Schwartz (Chuck). I’ll admit to being skeptical about this at first. Yet more writers and a director that aren’t Singer. X-Men is an extremely experimental property that nobody seems quite capable of hitting in the head. But if you’ve seen Kick-Ass you know how awesomely unconventional it turned out to be, and how the same can be said of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s off-the-wall graphic novel.

Not having read the comics, X-Men: First Class looks to be strangely opaque. It can be taken in multiple directions, as the past three movies were as well, and without consistently jerking it left and right a great movie can be squeezed out. Vaughn and Goldman were able to expertly transfer Kick-Ass onto the screen; even adding personal touches that gave it a sense of humor and a soul. If they’re able to do the same with X-Men: First Class it could mean the beginning of a fantastic franchise stepping out of the shadows. Should you hold out much hope? Vaughn and Goldman could have gone anywhere after Kick-Ass. I’m hard-pressed to believe they’ve succumbed to the evils of Hollywood this early in the game, as Kick-Ass had a torch of fierce ambition you couldn’t hold to much else. Though coming off Wolverine, a kick in the head could be a vital wake-up.

Currently at 74% and Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, here are some positive and negative critical reviews for Kick-Ass –

Positive:

• “A particularly timely story about civic-mindedness and the pursuit of fame.” – Jonathan Joe, Chicago Reader
• “Doing for superheroes what Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels did for gangsters, Kick-Ass is colorful, irreverent, Tarantino-ish fun, especially when the brilliantly oddball Cage is on screen.” – Nicholas Barber, Independent on Sunday
• “Kick-Ass starts with a big laugh and they don’t stop coming for two hours. The script is sharp; there are clever comic book graphics, a cool soundtrack and a satisfying ending.” – Roz Laws, Birmingham Post

Negative:

• “Let’s say you’re a big fan of the original comic book, and you think the movie does it justice. You know what? You inhabit a world I am so very not interested in.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• “I started hating this movie around the midpoint.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
• “Never as shocking as it thinks it is, as funny as it should be, or as engaged in cultural critique as it could be.” – Karina Longworth, Village Voice

Here’s to Vaughn and the rest of Kick-Ass. I haven’t been this excited for a book-adapted movie since Watchmen.

The news comes from MTV in an interview with Favreau (which you can watch here). To avoid any confusion, here’s exactly what he said:

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“They’ll have to [find a different director], because I’m not going to be available. It’s something I’m being the executive producer on, so I’ll definitely have input and a say.  It’s going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with ‘Avengers’ you’re going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor. How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it’s going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we’ve created.”

Auto Focus movie download Hey, that’s not so bad. He’ll serve as an executive producer on The Avengers, which should be pretty cool. Favreau also denied the rumor that Edward Norton (a.k.a, a better Bruce Banner than Eric Bana) would have a cameo in Iron Man 2 to hint at The Avengers. No word yet on who will take his place in the directing chair. The movie’s happening, and that’s all I’m happy about, Favreau in or out.

The Avengers comes to theaters May 4^th, 2012.

What are your thoughts?

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