We are living in a golden age, dear friends. We are living in an age where every year brings us more and more superhero delights that many of us could only ever have dreamed of in darker times. We are at the point where there are comic book movie universes to rival those created in the original comics themselves, and the genre continues to grow and evolve.
Some things are just meant to be. In 2005, Lethal Weapon and Last Boy Scout screenwriter Shane Black directed his first feature: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The film combined two supremely powerful catalysts to explosive effect, namely Black’s ear for hilariously snarky banter amidst violent gun-play and the phoenix-like post rehab Robert Downey Jr. Whilst not a huge blockbuster hit, the film has gone on to be a widely loved cult favourite and directly led to Jon Favreau’s casting RDJ as the titular Tony Stark. Meanwhile, in comic book land, Warren Ellis was writing his “Extremis” arc for Iron Man. Extremis is recognised as the point at which a previously silly, 2nd tier Marvel hero was given a Grim’n’Gritty new millennial reboot and has been cited as a major influence on Favreau’s Iron Man movie.
So here's a thing that a lot of people don't know, but really should. X-Men, starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Sir Ian McKellan and the gang wasn't the first X-Men film. In fact, there was another X-men related movie released a few years before that, namely a low-budget FOX TV movie adaptation of GENERATION X, the spin-off title featuring characters like Jubilee, Skin, Banshee and Emma Frost.
The more avid 'Plexers among you may have spotted we've been following this story quite closely. There's been confusion and anger aplenty amongst British comic-book-movie consumers as it was noticed that our region's release of Avengers Assemble (and only our region's) on Blu-Ray and DVD has been oddly censored.
In a key scene (I'll try not to be too spoilerific but if you're the sensitive type, do stop reading now) featuring the demise of a key character, said demise has been rendered child-friendly by a fairly lame post-post-production cover-up.
Well, it looks like this particular news saga is coming to an end; not with a bang, but with a whimper.
It's always tricky reviewing the final part of a trilogy. While there's no guarantee Christopher Nolan intended for there to be a "Dark Knight Trilogy" in the first place when he directed Batman Begins, the critical and commercial success of that film and The Dark Knight ensured its creation pretty easily. But as this is knowingly the last chapter, it's a dilemma on to whether to judge the film as a standalone piece or on the whole with the other two parts, as it's really integral that they be viewed before seeing The Dark Knight Rises.
Thomas Jane revealed a rather expensive looking short film to Comic-Con during which it looked like the actor was revisiting his Frank Castle role in 2004's The Punisher - although clearly in a way that would avoid any potential legal action.
With shooting on the sequel to superhero/comedy hit Kick-Ass 2 set to begin in September, news is circulating on the internet that a casting call has been put out for the brutal antagonist Mother Russia.
Due to some insider whispering picked up at Comic-Con, we’ve received an interesting little titbit of information about Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot: Man Of Steel.
Hellboy fans rejoice, Guillermo Del Toro has confirmed that a third Hellboy movie is very much on the cards. Ok, so there’ s no studio or script or anything like that, but Del Toro himself has a fair bit of pull as director and one would imagine if he shows enough interest in getting it made, there’s a fairly strong chance that it will come to fruition.
300: Battle of Artemisia is the upcoming film which defies the laws of story-telling. Rumoured to be both prequel and sequel, and promising another few hundred naked men, we can happily announce that one set of bronzed pecks will belong to rising star Jack O’Connell.
