Are Family Friendly Mantinees a thing of the Past?

With the Summer over and Autumn on the way out, Patrick poses the question today IS THE FAMILY FRIENDLY MATINEE DEAD?

Family Movies: A lost art?

As the youngest of five children, I watched a lot of movies. These movies were the beginning of my induction into Fandom. With the odd exception of Robocop (which I saw when I was 6! Yes, I saw Peter Weller shot to all hell at a tender age), all the movies I saw were family friendly matinee type movies, movies on a Saturday that went under the heading on Irish Television as “The Big, Big Movie”. All these movies shaped my childhood is some shape or form. These movies included The Princess Bride, The Three Musketeers, The Lion King, The Mask of Zorro, The Muppets Treasure Island, Back to the Future Trilogy, The Indiana Jones Series (excluding the terrible fourth one), Star Wars (original trilogy) et al. These are all brilliant and classical movies but they are also family friendly favourites. So what I’m asking is why are there no more movies like this around?

Nostalgia

I just want to make it clear that nostalgia had no impact on my feelings towards modern day family movies. I am an avid film goer and watcher, I am willing to give almost anything a chance. Lately any movie that I have gone to that has a family oriented feel feels just off. I can’t pinpoint it exactly but because there is something different in every one. For me I can still enjoy the movies I mentioned above still as an adult. I find it very hard to see the same being said for some of the movies that have come out lately. It’s important that these movies engage the adults as well as the kids. After all it’s the adults who are going to be taking the kids to the movies!

There is an element of nostalgia that impacts on you when rewatch these movies but it isn’t what makes them great. It’s the script, the story, the sense of adventure, the sense of wonder and the sense of being transported to a different place. At times this is all forgotten and kids’ movies are all about showcasing special effects and 3D. Like I said nostalgia isn’t going to play a part in this (I don’t want this to turn into a films were better back in my day sort of think). But there is a problem with the modern family movie.

Make it smart

Pixar= winning kid's movies

Why Pixar rule the roost at the moment in this department is that they don’t pander to kids’ perceived level of smarts. They know kids are intelligent and that they will get things, that’s why Wall-E works so well. It’s why all their stories have heart and why adults get a kick out of their movies too. I went to see Wreck It Ralph, and I was hopeful that Disney had learned from previous animated attempts. For the most part they had but what didn’t work were elements of the story. Initially the story is about Ralph looking for recognition but then it turns to Vanellope’s fight to be accepted. Okay, so they are the same story with the focus shifted from one character to another but that’s the problem. Look at Toy Story 2 it’s about the gang saving Woody. Toy Story 3 is about Woody saving the gang. Simple yet effective. I felt that the spreading the story over two characters lessened the impact of the story and in a way showed that the directors didn’t feel Ralph was a strong enough character to carry the theme of the film by himself. If the Pixar have proved any thing that with the family movie the smarter the movie the better it is. Hollywood should take more risks, it’ll pay off in the end.

Special Effects and 3D

Just No.

I have nothing against special effects and 3D. In fact, if it can enhance the movie going experience, great. When it comes to the family movies though it seems like the attitude is “Oh look at this shiny thing”, “Look at this cool laser”, “it’s in 3D so it has to be good”. So much of the family movies now are all about pushing the effects and the 3D that it seems like the movie has nothing else to offer, that kids will be happy with going to something as long as it has loads of special effects and that it is 3D. I don’t know why practical effects have been, effectively, been done away with. Kids are tactile by nature and if something is done for real rather than being imagined in a computer they can tell! Again the idea of making things smart applies here too. Remember first story then think about how to tell it. Don’t be like the latest version of The Three Musketeers. I mean, come on, a flying pirate ship!? Remember kids have the most powerful weapon of all: imagination. Create a world they can get lost in and your movie will be a success.

Yes. All for one and one for all should watch this one.

Give the market a chance and hit a happy medium.

Increasingly it's movies like this are aimed at kids

A great deal of movies now are being aimed at the teens and tweens. There is very little that hits a medium that allows everyone in. either you love melodramatic vampires or you love blockbusting superheroes. There is very little choice out there for a large portion of the market. When you think of all the movies in Fandom at the moment how many are really orientated towards families? When you think about it superheroes and the twilights of this world are being marketed towards this demographic but they really don’t allow for children at all. I remember going to The Dark Knight Rises and seeing a kid dressed up as Batman. That was really cool (mainly because adults can’t do that), but it also shows the lack of choice for kids. In a world of seemingly endless choice, we have to think is there really a world of films that kids will look back on and say were classics of their childhood? Or will they go back to the old staples that we grew up on? The market needs to be looked at again and Hollywood bosses need to take more risks.

At the end of the day it’s hard to see Hollywood changing its patterns. Franchises are the new money makers and that means a lot of good stories could be lost because the potential of having multiple movies isn’t there. It’s a sad fact but the Family Friendly Matinee could be dead. If it isn’t, it needs reviving. If it is, it needs resurrecting.  

The Spectacular Spider-Man Episode 4: Market Forces Review

Patrick continues his quest along with SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN and EPISODE 4: MARKET FORCES.

WARNING: SPOILERS!!!!! 

The high standard of this cartoon of Spider-Man continues with Market Forces. The start of the episode is excellent as we get a great heist scene that involves trucks and a security van. In the van is a case and we see that the case is stolen and given to the Big Bad’s right hand man Hammerhead. He tells Montana, of The Enforcers to put on what ever is in the case. It’s an intriguing and interest start that gets us hungry to see more.

Peter is the focus of this episode

This episode gives us a glimpse at lots of elements. We get our first mention of Mary Jane Watson and her “wonderful personality”. This serves as a nice lead up to what will probably lead to MJ being a more prominent figure in the series. Peter is juggling a lot in this episode. He is trying to help Harry with study, get pictures of Spidey and keep his school and home life in balance. It’s a testament to the writers, who have done really well so far, to keep all tings storylines and not make the episode feel crowded.

Harry: feels lost and abandoned by Pete

The Peter side of the story is jammed with story but it’s nice to see some focus on Peter too. His interactions at the Daily Bugle and Betty are nicely done and show Peter is not the wallflower you’d expect, even if he is awkward. His crush on Betty is understandable, she’s nice to him and besides Gwen, Peter has little interaction with any girls. It’s nicely written too, it’s awkward without being cringey. The writers have also started to show the strain Spidey has on Peter’s life. Harry and Peter are at loggerheads due to the fact that Peter is never around to help him. it’s understandable to see Harry’s point but it’s like Norman says to him: “You want to pass Calculus, study.”  I liked the way the friction between Harry and his father was introduced in a sort of sideways manner. You know it’s there, but it hasn’t come to the boil yet. Another sign that sticking with the series means that characters around Peter will be developed too. A nice touch.

Montana in Shocker garb.

The Spidey story is fairly simple. Montana’s suit creates shock waves and this has lead to him being a supervillian called Shocker. Montana’s motivation is fairly simple too. He’s employed by the Big Man to take out Spidey. The fights are good and again it’s clear to see that the animators especially have their ideas down about how the fights should work. This episode was probably focused on Peter more than Spidey son developing the villain was not a big issue and the episode doesn’t really suffer too badly from it.

An interesting twist at the end was the encounter between Hammerhead and Norman Osborn. We get a clear sense that we will get much more of these supervillians as Osborn’s tech and the Big Man’s resources will be used to keep Spidey busy while the crime empire is left uninterrupted. It’s a nice twist and it gives a plausible background for more villains.

Osborn is going to become a key figure.

Verdict: 3/5

A good episode with some nice moments but it feels like an episode that is being used as a stepping stone to a lot of stories being developed in future episodes. With more weight on the Peter side of the story, we see that Peter is as important as Spidey is and that can’t be underestimated. It’s cool to see that things from the initial episodes are still there as it looks like the urgency is about to e rammed up in future episodes.

Marvel's Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D: Progress Report

With two more episodes of Marvel’s AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. has passed Patrick takes a look at where we stand.

Warning: Mild Spoilers

The last two episodes of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have shown that while the standard is still decent, it has lost it’s way a bit. This article will explain why I believe this.

While the episodes have been good we have yet to see any of the characters really being established. The each character has yet to be rounded out. It all seems a bit one note at the moment. Skye is still the reckless one, Ward is still the by-the-book agent, Fitz and Simmons still running around like the mad scientists, Melinda May is still scowling and disapproving of the team and Coulson seems to be sidelined to a certain extent. So what is the problem? My main issue is that the character have yet to be broken free from their constraints, they have yet to be cut loose and let breath. Any situation which could lead to some character insight or development is quickly brushed under the carpet. It’s disappointing as Joss Whedon’s other television ventures have been based on strong characters. In the last episode set in Sweden we get small insights to Skye, Coulson and Ward. We know that Skye had a rough childhood, Coulson pushed people too hard back in the day and Ward wouldn’t take betrayal too well. All of these moments were only passing and there was little in the way of seeing any impact these have or might have on the characters.

Skye: we need to know more.

Skye is clearly the shows in character. She is the character we are suppose to bond with and take this wild adventure with. The problem is that the writers are trying to make her seem like a mystery that we know nothing of the character and nothing is really revealed about her either. It also seems that the writers are trying to divide the main story plots between Ward and Skye. This is some of the trouble with the show at the moment. It isn’t sure if it wants to be character driven or situation driven. At the moment it is a more situation driven. This is done really well but it doesn’t leave enough room to help learn about the characters. This can be fixed and it is something I think should be fixed.

Whedon: knows how to create characters

I have to say the spectacle of the episodes have been really good. The action and the feel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has translated well to the small screen. The action has been quite grounded as well, with any strange or weird goings on being explained in a reasonably realistic way for the universe. The mysteries surrounding Coulson’s comeback and Skye’s motivations are intriguing for the most part. They are the common links between the episodes at the moment. They are also what are keeping my interest from episode to episode.  What we seem to have as well is a villain that is in the background that could be pulling the strings but it’s not clear. I always feel that it’s better when we have an end game in sight. At the moment we don’t have something definite that we are moving towards. We seem like this is the case but we aren’t really certain of this yet. Both episodes showed how well the team work together but we don’t get any real sense of characters outside this team context. It’s all work and no play for the team and it’s in the quieter moments that we learn about the characters.

Is AoS a bit too CSI?

It’s a small thing at the moment but I feel the direction of the some seems to be moving towards the sort of procedural shows like CSI, which I have nothing against, but they aren’t really character driven. In the end all good shows are character driven, shows where we bond with the characters. We haven’t been let in totally the characters. It’s disappointing but not enough for me to stop watching. Hopefully this can be tweaked so that we get a show that enhances the Marvel Universe and doesn’t fall away for not giving Fandom what we would like to see, characters we can relate to and really like. I’ve read pieces where people argue for how the characters have been developed but I haven’t connected with the characters in the same way. I will agree that the themes of the episodes have been solid and we have seen that the show is well produced but I feel it needs to take a step back and look at what people are getting out of it. Good action, great spectacle but characters are slightly weak. We have great humour at times despite this but in the next two episodes I hope I can tell you that we know our characters better, for good or for bad.

Have we got the most from our Characters yet?

I think that most people will like what the show is doing but there are things that can be improved upon and that is always a good thing. Hopefully we can see that a slight change. Even if it doesn’t it’s still enjoyable to watch, I’d just like to see the show get the maximum out its characters, something I think we all want to see.

Patrick's Trailer Park Part Three

Patrick finishes his trailer park with his final 5 favourite trailers.

WARNING: NSFW trailer

11.    Inception

Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi epic is showcased brilliantly in this trailer. It gives us a glimpse at the wonderful cinematography. It also shows us that after The Dark Knight, Nolan showed no sigh of slowing down. Showing us the great cast, a solid premise and some breathtaking action this trailer makes us question what is Nolan doing? Creating some cinema few other directors can is the answer.

12.    Iron Man

It was the movie that truly set the wheels of Phase 1 in motion and also became the building block of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. This trailer does everything that the movie does; it subverts what should be the canon for Superhero Movies. Instead we get the witty, smart and impossibly cool Tony Stark as embodied by Robert Downey Jr. This trailer allows us to see the unconventional hero from the start and gives us a great look at what Iron Man is going to look like. From the first look at the suit Mark 1 to the finished Red and Gold look that we know and love, this trailer is fun, fast and exciting.

13.    Skyfall

As the trailer to the most success Bond ever, it’s clear even from this that 007 is back to his best. With cranes demolishing trains to falling through a frozen lake, this shows Bond with his identity back. No more competing Bourne, this is about Bond. Skyfall’s trailer brings back Bond staples, exotic locales, sexy Bond women, an intriguing storyline, the Bond theme music and a creepy villain. Heck, even Q is back. And as Skyfall announces so is Bond.

14.    21 Jump Street (Red band)

Based on the television series Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum serve up a modern, foul mouthed, funny movie. What makes this trailer great is that we see what a great comedy team Hill and Tatum are, bouncing off each other really well. We also see that the premise of the movie and this is a very different animal to the T.V. series. With all the swearing and silliness you can handle it was this trailer that got me to go to the movie. And I didn’t regret it.

15.    Drive

Nicohlas Winding Refn’s neon contemporary classic has a trailer to match. It has a trailer to match. Similar to the fever dream like state of the movie this trailer puts lots of different elements together and somehow it works. Watch it for yourself. I think you’ll agree. 

Patrick's Trailer Park may return... when Fandom needs it to. Probably.

Patrick's Trailer Park Part 2

Patrick continues his Trailer Park countdown today with 5 more of his favourites.

6. Captain America: The First Avenger

Out of all the Phase 1 movies this is my favourite and the trailer points to all that is good about Cap. We see he’s an underdog, given special powers to help defend the world, we see the great threat that he faces in Hydra and we see what a hero Cap really is. The trailer gives us nods to just how iconic Cap really is, his shield, his suit everything. We also get a great look at the supporting cast of Tommy Lee Jones, the sassy Haley Atwell, the kind Stanley Tucci and the menacing Hugo Weaving. Any worries about Chris Evans in the lead are put to bed too. With nodds to the wider Marvel Universe (“Now Mr. Stark…”), great trailer music and a good look at the action, this trailer ticks all the boxes for all the right reasons.

7. The Dark Knight

This trailer gave us the first glimpse of Heath Ledger’s Joker and gave us a sense of the spectacle that we could expect form the Christopher Nolan was going to serve up to us. It also allowed us to see that Nolan stepped Batman up a notch. Even the trailer feels big, powerful. It feels like a real blockbuster. I always feel that music makes a huge contribution to the way we see and feel about a trailer. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s Batman theme pounding out from the trailer gives this its epic feel. It’s hard not to feel chills. HERE WE GO!!!!

8. Superman Returns (Teaser Trailer)

Bryan Singer’s take on Superman is very reverent to its predecessors. This trailer is no different and it works because of it. We see all the things that we love about Superman: his Smallville home, his crash to Earth, him flying over the Earth etc. it’s all played out over the music of John Williams and Marlon Brando’s Jor-El voiceover. This trailer will make you believe man can fly, even if the movie didn’t.

9. Star Trek Into Darkness (Trailer 3)

This trailer continues our epic feel and that’s while I like. It gives us an insight into Chris Pine’s Kirk. He was cocky in JJ Abram’s first Trek, but even in this trailer we can see that Kirk is human after all. That is what sets this trailer apart from the others and it gives us a chance to see a different side to Kirk’s character. We also get flashes of Benedict Cumberbatch’s big bad and of course Spock, Bones, Uhura and Scotty. With all Abram’s movies there is a sense of intrigue and suspense which are some of the reasons for this trailer making my list.

10. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2.

For an animated movie and trailer this is intense. The reason this trailer is here because of the questions it poses. Batman’s a murder? He’s fighting Superman? Batman’s firing a gun?! This is a visceral and confident looking movie that has Frank Miller’s story down. Plus I think Peter Weller is great choice as an older Batman.

For more Trailer fun, the end of Patrick’s Trailer Park Trilogy is coming soon.

Spectacular Spider-Man Episode 3 Review: Natural Selection

Patrick continues his SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN reviews with episode three NATUARAL SELECTION.

WARNING SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week’s episode opens with Spidey foiling an attempted robbery, where one of the robbers is actually robbing from one of his Great-Aunts Bakery. Spidey quickly dispatches and defeats the baddies and manages to get a few snaps of him doing it too. As he is getting home inside his curfew he is delighted with life, he says himself: “I’m making all the right moves.” Unfortunately as ever Spidey is wrong. As he comes home and settles down to sleep, he sees that the pictures he took and desperately need to win a contest and badly needed funds at home, are useless. Strike one for Peter.

The episode then shifts to Curt Connors and him injecting a now electrified lizard serum into his arm. In a flash we see his eye change and we know we are in for a rough ride.

Curt Connors' arc is handled superbly

The writers dealt with the Connors storyline very well. We have seen in the last two episodes his experimentation with his serum and his failings. Therefore when it works the joy from him and his family is understandable and well-voiced acted all round. The writers all strike the right balance with Curt’s wife. She is obviously happy but she also scolds Curt for trying such a risky procedure on himself.

Eddie is given an interesting arc.

As each episode is only 20 minutes long the action moves fast and Connors deteriorates very fast. This is also explained as the rapid change in Connors’ cells and it isn’t fobbed off and forgotten. It’s interesting how the writers push Eddie Brock to the front and we see his character develop.  Eddie as we saw from the last episode is a very protective and jumps into action again to protect Peter and Gwen. It’s interesting to see his interaction with Spidey need the end too. Again Eddie’s first instinct is to protect Spider-Man and not himself.

The episode is resolved by Spidey giving Connors a gene cleanser which removes all lizard DNA from his body. It’s nice that the idea was initially Peter’s in the lab earlier in the episode. Here it points to Peter’s intelligence, a major character trait and also highlights Spidey’s ability to think on his feet. It was also nice to see that he does the same with the when he pulls The Lizard into the Polar Bear pit to slow The Lizard down allowing him to administer the antidote. The intelligence that Peter has is in the forefront of all the episodes so far and it’s nice to see that the character is shown to be brains and not just brawn like some heroes tend to be.

This episode again manages to balance the action right and it’s great to see how the animators adapt Spidey’s fighting technique to his different adversaries. This episode is no exception and the subway sequence is a particular stand out.

The Lizard was an interesting challenge for Spidey

The end of the episode shows that Peter managed to get pictures of Spidey in action against The Lizard. However this lands him in trouble with Mrs. Connors and Eddie and he loses his internship. It’s worth noting the sense of betrayal that Eddie especially feels. It’s looks as though Eddie will get a good story arc in the future. It’s to the writers credit that they feel confident to build story arcs for B characters this early in the series. Peter’s reaction to being fired is excellent. We see a teenager at the end who wants to help people but who finds that he can’t do right for doing wrong. The writers are clever enough to show us that Peter is after all a teenager and that he will make mistakes, they are also clever enough to see that Peter will question his decision to be Spider-Man. It works well and it was nice to see a nod to Uncle Ben and his influence on Peter at the end. The fact that Peter consider to use a gene cleanser on himself shows the struggle he has gone through in the episode and you can tell that this will have a big impact in the future.

Peter is left questioning himself at the end.

This episode had quite the arc that saw Peter go from “making all the right moves”, to questioning his motives behind being Spider-Man. This third episode has highlighted the maturity of the writing staff and they have managed to produce a well crafted, three dimensional character as the focal point for their series. As the series continues it grows in confidence and that stems from getting aspects of all the Spidey characters right. I have to say that this episode is probably the best of what I have seen so far.

Verdict: 4/5

With great action, storyline and some priceless moments this episode had it all. There were nice sequences with Peter struggling with the nuances of having a secret identity (being pelting with water balloon by Flash, almost calling Eddie “bro”) and we begin to see how right the writers have gotten the character of Peter/ Spidey. The transformation of Connors into the Lizard is really well animated on top of the fact that the episode arc gets it just right with regard to the character. The reason the episode loses a mark is that I am sure there are other great episodes down the line so 4 is as high as I can give it at this early stage.

Part 1 of Patrick's Trailer Park.

Patrick has decided to have a look back at some of his all time favourite trailers.

 

Trailers have become a huge marketing tool for movies and they have become even more important not that information hungry Fandom has them at there fingertips and on demand. Thanks YouTube! Today I’m going to look at five of my favourite trailers. (This is part 1 of 3)

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

This is the ultimate trailer. It has everything. It has trills, spills and lots more besides. When I first saw this trailer it blew my mind. I must have watched it a thousand times. It starts of slow but it builds to the perfect crescendo because of the brilliant use of the Requiem for A Dream music. It hits on all the important points from the last the movie and allows us the see the all action movie that we eventually got. Aragorn looks bad ass, we see the danger that faces Frodo and we see glimpses of the amazing Helm’s deep battle. One thing that is a possible point of contention is the appearance of Gandalf. Talk about Spoiler Alert!

2. Kingdom of Heaven

Despite the fact that the finished movie itself is poor, the trailer is good. Very good. It shows us the spectacular crusade scenes and gives us an indication of the scale of movie Ridley Scott had in store for us. Here again there are some great shots. Liam Neeson holsters his sword like a true warrior, Ed Norton’s masked King is shown slapping a knight in the face and we hear Jeremy Irons tell Orlando Bloom that “The King has no need for the perfect Knight”. The scoring of the trailer is chilling too. Plus I defy anyone to watch it and not be quoting the last line for the rest of the day. What the trailer did show us was that Orlando Bloom maybe a leading man, but he sure can’t lead men (see what I did there…).

3. House of Flying Daggers

This trailer is an example of how beautiful images and great scoring are sometimes all you need to create a great trailer. It’s amazing how we can tell what the story is about without the use of language. Again it shows that a great deal of human language is down to more that speaking. The choice of “Now We Are Free” from the Gladiator soundtrack is inspired suits the trailer brilliantly. This like The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers trailer this is addictive viewing.

4. Man of Steel (Trailer 2)

This is one of those trailers I watched over and over again last summer in anticipation of Zack Snyder’s blockbuster. It makes this list for a special reason. It flips the blockbuster trailer convention on its head. This is a more reflective take on the superhero genre. This has to be on a grander scale, it is Superman, the grandfather of the superhero. The tone is perfect and the images glorious. The music “Elegy to a Storm” is amazing. It gives the trailer a modern, yet classical feel. A feeling of something otherworldly. Despite how you feel  about the movie, you have to admit, this trailer is damn good!

5. Marvel’s Avenger’s Assemble

Again this is all about being epic (in the comic book movie sense). When Chris Evan (Cap) says “Trying to get me back into the world?” and Sam Jackson’s line “Trying to save it.” always gets me. This is how blockbusters should be sold. It’s all about the set up, the evil the good guys will face, the characters and the feel. Here we can tell that the movie is going to be popcorn fun. We can tell it’s going to be witty and clever. We can tell that the characters we saw separately will be great together. But perhaps most importantly from the trailer we can’t tell what exactly is going to happen and that is a good thing. Most trailers give too much away but this does just enough to have us drooling over what was to arrive at multiplexes. And it didn’t disappoint.

Read Part 2 and 3 later this week to find out more of Patrick favourite trailers!

Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World

With THOR: THE DARK WORLD set for release in the next few weeks Patrick has decided to look at what will make or break the movie.

I think every fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is looking forward to Thor: The Dark World, but with the box office success of Iron Man 3 it’s under a lot of pressure to keep Phase 2 on the road to Avengers: Age of Ultron without any bumps. I think there are a number of things that will make this movie great.

Highlight Thor’s Qualities

Thor is a warrior. He is in fact probably the only true warrior among the Avenger clan. Therefore it’s important to see him as this warrior outside the Avenger setting. We saw this in Thor, and it was that sense of him being a warrior that helped give the movie a different feel from Iron Man.

Thor: a true Warrior

We also need to see that Thor has been changed by the events of The Avengers and from his first outing. We saw a glimpse of this at the end of Thor but an emphasis is something that will be needed in this movie too. We can see this in the trailers that Alan Taylor, Chris Hemsworth and the Team have really thought about this and it’s pretty evident that this will happen. We have seen flashes of battles, Thor’s love of fighting, but we have seen a growth too. The main evidence of this is when Thor confronts Loki asking for his help: “WHEN you betray me, I will kill you.” Thor is wise enough now not to trust Loki completely. Again we only have fragments of this from the trailers but I am confident that we will see this in the movie.

Asgard Front and Centre

Asgard in Thor.

Thor is unique in that has another world away from Earth. We know from the trailers that a great deal of the action will take place in Asgard. This is a good thing. The Avenger clan all have their own qualities and Thor’s magical background is a huge part of his appeal.

Asgard seems to have changed from Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. We see that Alan Taylor is bringing in some of his Game of Thrones experience into the mix. In Thor, while I liked the look of Asgard, I felt I looked slightly to “Disney”. All the bright colours and flashing lights were nice but made the 3D very hard to watch without your eyes hurting. Taylor looks to have dulled the colours a small bit and this is a good thing. The Asgard we see in the trailers seems slightly more grounded and a little less fairy tale. It makes it more tactile and that allows us to associate with it a little more.

We know that Jane (Natalie Portman) is brought to Asgard based on the trailer, meaning that the action and majority of the film will be spent there. Wise move and one I endorse whole-heartedly. It gives us a chance to see Thor as the member of the mystical that he is.

Don’t use Loki…too much

Harsh...but true

I will probably be killed for this section (quite possibly by my sister), but it think Loki has to be put SLIGHTLY to one side for this movie. I love Loki as a character and I think Tom Hiddlestone is great in the role. Loki is a great villain but I think that Thor has to be the focal point of the movie. Loki to a certain extent has been the focal point in two movies (Thor and Avengers) because he was the singular bad guy in each. Thor’s struggle to find his way in the first movie is running parallel to Loki’s search for his identity. Therefore we learnt as much about Loki as we did about Thor. The trailer suggests that Loki will “help” Thor against the Dark Elves so that will be a change but with Loki, we will always be left wondering. My worry is that Loki will be given as much screen time as Thor, when we need to see Thor develop as a character in the lead up to Age of Ultron. The second official trailer has much more Loki in it and it almost seems like he is the major piece in the puzzle of the movie. This may have been a way to keep Loki fans happy but I hope it doesn’t reflect the overall direction of the movie.

Malekith

Make the Dark Elves Formidable

The trailers give us a good glimpse of the brilliant Christopher Eccelstone (Dr. Who) and his Dark Elven army. We can tell as well that his villain Malekith is going to pose serious problems to Thor. This is also reiterated by Taylor who said: “we will be killing Asgardians”.  Having watched Game of Thrones and the way they conduct business there, I wouldn’t be surprised is much loved character faced Malekith’s wrath. This points to the Dark Elves being tough opponents for Thor and that we may have a battle on our hands. The more formidable the bad guys, the more action after all.

Give us some lead into Age of Ultron

Age of Ultron: End Game for Phase 2

One thing that annoyed me about Iron Man 3 was that there was no real link to the Age of Ultron. We know that it’s on the road map and really I felt that there was no sense of the Iron Man 3 leading to the events of Age of Ultron. I’d like to see Thor: The Dark World to give us some indication what may happen in Ultron. It’s been rumoured that a trailer for Captain America: Winter Solider is going to be running with the film and I’m sure fans will eagerly awaiting for that. The thing for me is that near the end of Phase One we could tell it was building towards The Avengers, I like to feel that too with Age of Ultron too. Thor: The Dark World may be a good starting point for this.

My hopes are high for Thor: The Dark World and for some reason having seen the trailers for it I think it will make a nice step towards Age of Ultron.

The Spectacular Spider-Man episode 2: Interactions

Patrick continues his look at the animated series of THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN with episode 2: Interactions.

 

Warning: SPOILERS!!!

The second episode of The Spectacular Spider-Man kicks off in a more muted fashion from the first episode. We find Peter, Gwen, Eddie and Dr. Connors in the lab conducting experiments on eels. They are trying to harness the electricity of the eels to form a clean energy. To do this they need Max Dillon to up grade the circuitry. Of course there is an accident and Max is hurt, he is now pure electrical energy that has to be contained in a suit for his safety and for the safety of the public. Max is too upset though and escapes hospital and blames Connors for his change. It’s up to Spidey to catch him and stop him doing anything dangerous.

Electro is the main Bad Guy in this episode

The pace of this episode is quite different from the first episode but that is a good thing. In this episode we see how the transformation of Max into Electro is affecting Max and the impact it has. We rarely get to see that in cartoon, we don’t often see how this situation has hurt the person and how it has changed them. We get a sense of what is motivating Electro and his feelings of loss and frustration. He is a man desperate to find a cure. This allows us to relate and to understand the character. It also allows us to see the character of Peter a little better. We see how Peter, who didn’t know Max was Electro, beats himself up about not trying to help him. it’s interesting to see how Peter reacts this way, that he should know better and that he should be a hero. It’s a nice twist and shows the audience that Peter is still a teenager and the leap before you look syndrome is still there. It’s a nice touch, even if it is only a brief moment.

Spidey action is well done

The battles between Electro and Spidey are well executed again in this episode. It seems that the writers and the animators have a great grasp on Spidey’s fighting style and they have used it well again in this episode. This is important as Spidey is going to be battling in all the episodes, knowing his powers and how to showcase them on screen is paramount. I’m glad to say that the show seems to have a handle on this.  

Liz Allen: Kind of annoying.

The one thing that was annoying was the character of Liz Allen. I’m sorry but the voice actress was all nasally and whiney. I’m glad that her involvement was kept to a minimum but I feel that she will become more of a prominent character as the series progress because at the end of the episode it feels like she may have developed feelings for Peter. The creators may move to make Liz a more likable character but at the moment she is annoying. This may be the point of the character but if a relationship develops between them they will have to tweak the character to make her more likable. At the moment Liz is Flash’s cheerleader girlfriend and her attitude towards Peter is a little over bearing in the mean sort of way. the whole storyline of her needing tutoring too seems like it was a way for the writers to work into the story a meaningful start to a could happen relationship.

Dr. Curt Connors

A small note at the end is that Connors is seen injecting lizard DNA and judging by the end of the episode we may see the Lizard in the next episode. I also want to note the one piece of top notch writing is the scene where Spidey is using his powers, we believe he is being chased, but it turns out to be that he is late for school. Just thought it was a nice piece of misdirection.

3/5.

Verdict: Built well on the first episode and it was nice to see Spidey villain from a different side. The B-story with Liz Allen was the only misstep and for that it loses a point. Still nice to see a teenage Peter/Spidey on screen and the setup at the end means that the show may continue to go strong.