Friday, January 30, 2015

Ted 2 Trailer-He's Coming For A Second Time

 The world's most obscene teddy bear is back, but this time he wants a child of all things. Ted is easily one of my favorite comedies in recent years so to see him back on the big screen is a real nice surprise, though I wasn't exactly demanding he come back I'm not against it. Here in Ted 2, we find the lovable bear married and getting ready for a child, resulting in the trailers weakest joke, one lifted from Seth McFarlane's own Family Guy, beyond that it's pure comedy gold. As the trailer goes along we find out the main issue of the film, being that since he is not human he must go to court to prove his right to father a child, thus leading to a whole host of "how will Ted screw the legal system?" jokes that hopefully land more than they miss.

The most noticeable thing for fans is  the disappearance of Mila Kunis, while it is known that she is not back in this movie, this trailer makes no acknowledgement of her. A theory I've had is that  the film will mention she died between films due to some comedic mishap possibly just to have a bit of some really dark humor McFarlane has had in the past, of course the other option is maybe she really is just ignored all the way through. Regardless this looks like a really fun sequel and I'm glad it's not just repeating the originals plot, I'm seriously looking forward to this.

Written By Octaviano Macias

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Fantastic Four Trailer-The Failuretastic Fourth Jab At This

Ever seen a trailer that feels like it thinks it's telling a new story but is really just repeating what we've seen already? The kind of movie you just sort of forget about once the trailer is over and then remember it just when it comes out on theaters? Well the marketing geniuses at Fox  gave one of those trailers to the Fantastic Four, the reboot of the much hated 2005 adaptation of the classic Marvel team.

Now, I don't know how this movie will turn out, for all I know the marketing team may just suck at their job, but going by this trailer the movie looks as if it's ashamed to be a superhero movie.Nothing here seems to suggest it's even a "Fantastic Four" movie, in all honesty it just looks like a sci-fi film someone made after watching a lot of Nolan/Nolan inspired films and then attached the name solely on the basis of having four characters gaining strange abilities. Anytime we get a chance to see any of the four do something fantastic in this trailer it seems to be downplayed so much that they might as well not have shown it, it wasn't even until the third viewing of this trailer that I realized Johnny Storm was shown in flames. My expectations have gone down further, when they weren't even high to begin with which is never a good sign.

As for the trailer on it's own merits, I don't even know who  we're following, I get that it's a teaser, but even teasers, especially ones out this late should give us a hint of the characters personalities, I walk away from this with no knowledge of who these characters are, had I not been a fan or at least heard of the four I would just assume it's a bland assortment of teens, good trailers should indicate who we're following at a basic level. All I gather here is yet another trailer with ominous speech made to sound important and nothing else, why are they important?Why should I want to know their struggle? What am I even looking at? Is this unique? I feel this trailer walks away answering nothing, creating questions in hopes that people will think it has something intelligent to say when it doesn't, this trailer just fails.

In the end I don't want to bother watching this, not so that Marvel can get the rights back, but because I'm not convinced it's confident, or competent.

Written By Octaviano Macias

Friday, January 16, 2015

Muppets Most Wanted- Hardly Wanted

Synopsis- The Muppets are going on a world tour, thanks to new manager Dominic Badguy (pronounced bad-gie) played by Ricky Gervais, meanwhile, a Russian super criminal named Constantine,  takes Kermit's identity leaving Kermit to be arrested, the tour becomes a cover up to steal the world's greatest treasures.

Godzilla- King of the Reboot Monsters

*Originally written elsewhere around the time of the theatrical release.
Synopsis-When a pair of large monsters began ravaging the world for radiation, Ford Brody, will find himself witnessing some of the most horrific destructions. When a third monster, known as Godzilla, comes into the mix, the strategy for survival will change, let nature take its course.

Professor Layton & The Azran Legacy-A Finale for the Professor

*Originally written elsewhere.

Synopsis-Professor Layton must recover the lost treasures of an advanced civilization from the past, with the help of assistants Luke and Emmy, as well as an Azran girl unstuck in time named Aurora and a mysterious Professor Sycamore. Evil however, comes in the form of Targent, an organization  desperate on finding the Azran truths themselves, making for the darkest in the series so far.

Yoshi's New Island-Not So New


Synopsis- Yoshi must carry Baby Mario to stop Bowser and rescue Baby Luigi from certain doom, once more that is.

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2- Meatball Boogaloo


Synopsis-After the disaster brought by the FLDSMDFR, Flint's hometown must be evacuated until the island is repaired, thus bringing the Steve Jobs-like Chester V, an inventor whom Flint idolizes. The clean up faces a tough hurdle when the FLDSMDFR begins creating living organisms out of food, Chester V sends Flint to stop this mayhem. As the adventure continues hidden agendas begin to unravel, leading to a threat our heroes might have never assumed.

Transformers :Age of Extinction-Surprisingly fun?

*Originally Written elsewhere upon the movie's release.

Synopsis-This time around we follow Cade Yeager(played by Mark Wahlberg),  an unsuccessful inventor trying to succeed so his daughter Tessa(played by Nicola Peltz) can get into college. Upon discovering a truck he bought is actually a beaten down Optimus Prime (voiced by the original, Peter Cullen), Cade finds himself stuck in something much bigger, a government conspiracy. Five years after the battle in Chicago, mankind now hunts the Transformers down, Autobot and Decepticon, stripping them down to build man-controlled versions. Optimus being the most wanted, is tracked down relentlessly for a new foe, Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan) , a bounty hunter sent by the mysterious Creators.

2D Animation, Is It Dead?

*This is mainly talking about animation from major Hollywood studios, as that's what is commonly brought up when someone says 2D animation is dead. 
It Started It All
   With animated films now being successful for studios other than Disney, one thing remains a curiosity, why aren't there more studios, namely the big studios like Fox, or Warner Bros., etc. doing 2D animated films?  Even Disney as of late only occasionally puts out 2D animated films, with no sign of another coming soon. Why  are we no longer seeing these kinds of films regularly? Why has the animation king itself, Disney, followed the other studios? Is 2D just a thing of the past?