The first trailer to Apple TV+'s series adaption of Isaac Asimov's Foundation is certainly gorgeous eye candy. It remains a mystery how they plan to adapt such an immense and complex space opera, but... fingers (toes and tentacles) remain crossed.
On Quinn's Ideas, he offers his reaction to the trailer and discusses both this series and the forthcoming Dune film.
Here's a decent little backgrounder on Foundation.
Image: YouTube Read the rest
The first season of the DC Universe Original Doom Patrol TV series was truly wonderful in all the weirdest ways. Ostensibly about a group of "superheroes" (kind of) who are kind of like a way more fucked up version of the X-Men, the show (like the comic) was less interested in traditional superheroics, and more interested in an avant-garde exploration of the damaged psyches of these strange individuals. Their greatest enemies are the Brotherhood of Dada, who aren't trying to destroy the world but rather prove that everything is meaningless nonsense. Like that time they kidnapped Paris and trapped it in a painting.
The first season begins with a journey down the butthole of a donkey who speaks with its farts, segues into Kaiju sex between a giant rat and a messianic cockroach, passes through a sentient genderqueer street named Danny, and somehow still finds a way to invoke Chumbawamba in a surprisingly touching and emotional way. The show's biggest "villain," as it were, was the US Bureau of Normalcy, determined to make all the freaks and queer people and people with disabilities fit into some idyllic Pleasantville mold.
Needless to say, I could not recommend it more highly, regardless of whether you typically enjoy "superhero"-fare. It's just some gloriously bonkers abstract art about a bunch of damaged people trying to connect with one another.
For Season 2, the show has graduated from DC's proprietary Universe app to HBO Max, beginning June 25. And this season introduces paranormal investigators, the SeX-Men! Read the rest
A hit movie with a trailer that is comically horrible. I guess the trailer doesn't matter.
This movie was a huge thing during my childhood. I was never into slasher flicks. RomComs are scary enough. Read the rest
I loved Robert Eggers' The Witch. It was a moody, masterfully shot masterpiece of slow-simmering tension, mistrust and the gentle hand that moves desperate people to make terrible decisions. I bought it and ripped it to watch on all the screens I own, as soon as it was released to video. Today I learned that Eggers' second film, The Lighthouse, first broke cover at the Cannes International Film Festival, a few months back.
The trailer for the movie dropped earlier today and holy crap, am I ever invested.
I've watched it a few time today and I'm sucked in further with every viewing. Read the rest
Enjoy. Read the rest
Topher Grace, creator of the famed Star Wars: Episode III.5: The Editor Strikes Back that recut the prequels into a single film, has now released a trailer that combines material from all ten Star Wars films. I'm going to send this to the two people I know who have never seen a single Star Wars movie. Not that they will bother to watch it, of course.
As you may have gathered from the headline, there's a new Captain Marvel trailer to be had. This time around, we're treated to a little more background on one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel comic book and cinematic universes.
Also, Nick Fury fucking loves kitties. Read the rest
The latest trailer for Universal Pictures' First Man packs a whole lotta action and drama into a 2-minute 14-second package. The movie chronicles the life of astronaut Neil Armstrong, his first manned mission to the Moon, and the cost this mission took on Armstrong's family in the days leading up to the launch.
I don't head to the theater often these days, but I'm down for this. Read the rest
Thanks to YouTube and short attention spans, the humble movie trailer has surged in popularity in the past decade. In that time, the number of agencies that make trailers jumped from 12 to over 100. Read the rest
When you've got a 77-year-old hunk of intellectual property that can breathe underwater and talk to fish, it's not a bad idea to update it so that it's relatable for a modern audience. In the case of what I'm seeing in this first trailer for the Aquaman movie, I feel like DC may have missed the mark by about 20 years. It is so grim-dark and EXTREME that you'd swear that 1990s Todd McFarlane was called in as a consultant.
I love DC comics. I grew up with them. I really want their movies to do well. But I'm not sure that this is the right way to go. Read the rest
Here's the trailer for the upcoming sequel to Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, called Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 leaves Litwak’s video arcade behind, venturing into the uncharted, expansive and thrilling world of the internet -- which may or may not survive Ralph’s wrecking. Video game bad guy Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) must risk it all by traveling to the world wide web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope’s video game, Sugar Rush. In way over their heads, Ralph and Vanellope rely on the citizens of the internet -- the netizens -- to help navigate their way, including a website entrepreneur named Yesss (voice of Taraji P. Henson), who is the head algorithm and the heart and soul of trend-making site "BuzzzTube."
So, why didn't they call it Ralph Wrecks the Internet -- that question is answered in the trailer. Read the rest
I grew up watching Star Wars. I was bought Star Wars toys for Christmas. I had Star Wars sheets on my bed. At some point, those sheets were made into a quilt that I proudly took along with me to university. Despite having science fiction bed clothes, I still managed to have a respectable amount of sex during my four-year degree program. I love Star Wars!
But I'm kinda worried about what Solo: A Star Wars Story is gonna be like.
What I've seen of the movie, so far, has me less than excited for the film. I say this, having loved The Force Awakens and Rogue One. I enjoyed The Last Jedi as well. They felt like a part of the same universe that I've been immersed in my entire life. But the way this trailer for Solo is cut along with the other trailer for the film, has me worried. Watch this thing and tell me that you couldn't remove Han, Lando and Chewie out of the story and still have the same damn movie. It looks and feels like every heist movie and every sci-fi film I've seen over the past few decades.
Don't get me wrong: I'll still go and see it. Alden Ehrenreich's turn in Hail Caesar is one of the funniest things that I've ever seen:
Will he be believable as Han Solo? I don't know. But I feel like I want to give him the chance to fill Harrison Ford's massive boots. Donald Glover? Read the rest
Trailers have a mostly negative reputation, these days, drawing working-class resentment and middle-class contempt. But they once embodied a compact, affordable rendition of the American Dream. So let's talk about "Tiny Houses" and how it navigates a stigma that must end...
The trailer-trash myth took off after World War II, when soldiers coming back from the war were faced with a housing shortage. Much of the travel-trailer and mobile-home industry got its jumpstart at that time. Confronting the housing situation, a lot of returning servicemen chose to move into RVs and mobile homes, at least for the short-term. It’s unfortunate that our veterans were also then associated with this notion of being “trailer trash.” In the ’40s, people living in “regular” homes also looked upon those in RVs and mobile homes as “trailer trash” because they had to go to the outhouse or the campground wash facilities just to use the toilet. We have hundreds of postcards in our trailer-themed collection just about outhouses.
Trailers are stigmatized because the poor can afford them, and when the first generation of Tiny House dwellers start selling up in earnest, Tiny Houses will be stigmatized too. Read the rest
Back when Star Wars was "an adventure unlike anything on your planet.... A big sprawling space saga of rebellion and romance."
Starring Bryan Cranston, Isle of Dogs is a new stop-motion animated movie from Wes Anderson, director of Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Looks very Wes Andersony! And check out this cast:
Sand. The indefinite but distinctive quality of Star Trek dialogue. We can beam out of the wilds any time. Space is desaturated now, but still with a brightly diverse cast. 1990s Babylon 5 outfits. Xtreme Klingons. Vulcan on the bridge (Type: Jewish ☐, British ☐, 1950s transatlantic newsreel accent ☑). "Starfleet doesn't fire first." Alien Mason Verger senses death.
Looks fine! Read the rest
Harsh Reality is a short movie about how horrible VR is going to be; here's the trailer for the crowdfunding campaign.
ENERGEIA FILMS is proud to be a part of the launch campaign for NOIR Systems's latest entry in the field of VR-enhanced rehabilitation -- the NSYS-EX. As seen in the new short film, HARSH REALITY!
What happens when the technology designed to help us is turned against us? Please help fund HARSH REALITY so you can find out!
VR dystopias are usually posed as an assault on our senses, on our privacy, our sense of self. But honoring the utopian viewpoint--VR as a manifestation of everything we want to see and become, an unfettered self--always held more power for me, especially as prelude to dystopia. The 1988(!) Red Dwarf episode Better Than Life, wherein fully-immersive VR is revealed as a way to completely idealize one's everyday personal flaws, remains my favorite! Read the rest
