It’s been a slow news day today, post Age of Ultron trailer, but I did go see Chappie last night (it’s terrible, I suddenly fear for the Alien franchise). Here’s your quick round-up of today’s entertainment-related news:
– Per Latino Review, Jared Leto‘s hairstylist Chase Kusero just posted a picture on Instagram of a “work in progress” look at Jared Leto’s Joker hair as it will appear in Suicide Squad. From that back-shot, it looks very Greg Capullo-esque:
– As we’re on the verge of Avengers: Age of Ultron debuting, in just under two months, it should be no surprise that theaters are planning big Marvel movie marathons. But it’s not just Phase 2 they’re showing, no sir/ma’am, it’s the entire Marvel oeuvre to this point. Starting April 29th at 6 pm and ending just before 10 pm or so the next day, select AMC and Regal theaters across the country will be showing all 11 Marvel Studios films in their order of release.
Here’s the full schedule:
6:00 p.m. – Iron Man
8:25 p.m. – The Incredible Hulk
10:35 p.m. – Iron Man 2
1:00 a.m. – Thor
3:10 a.m. – Captain America: The First Avenger
5:30 a.m. – The Avengers
8:48 a.m. – Iron Man 3
11:15 a.m. – Thor: The Dark World
1:45 p.m. – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
4:20 p.m. – Guardians of the Galaxy
7:00 p.m.– Avengers: Age of Ultron
As you can see, you can take a nap during Iron Man 2, and maybe run out for IHOP around the showings of Iron Man 3 or Thor: The Dark World. Otherwise though, there’s no breaks built in and you better make good use of that unlimited refill on the popcorn and sodas!
Those who are feeling a little more time crunched can instead opt for Cinemark‘s Avengers double bill. I remember I tried to do something like this once with The Lord of the Rings movies right before The Return of the King came out. By the time I got to the third film, I was ready to see Frodo tossed into Mount Doom. But more power to anybody that gives this one a go!
– Variety spoke with WB’s CEO Kevin Tsujihara for a piece about the possibility of audiences facing superhero fatigue, an assertion that he dismissed. Yet, the quote that fans are zeroing in on specifically is one that posits WB’s upcoming DC-based superhero slate against the meteorically successful Marvel one:
“The worlds of DC are very different,” he said. “They’re steeped in realism, and they’re a little bit edgier than Marvel’s movies.”
“Edgier” is a word I wish he hadn’t used, as that brings to mind many of the major criticisms that detractors struck Man of Steel with: that it was film too grim for its own good, among many other complaints. Whether that will prove true for the upcoming offerings in 2016 remains to be seen. Where I feel like WB should set the DC films apart from Marvel is by making them more auteur-driven, rather than forcing an overall edict of realism onto Aquaman and Shazam!. The one big Achilles’ heel that Marvel has is that they’re a bit “samey” in their approach, in that every film has to fit the same tone, plot beats, and has to uphold the on-going universe above all else. There’s no real room for a director to really lay his stamp onto the characters the way Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan did for Batman and Sam Raimi did for Spider-Man (the good ones anyway, whichever those are, I’ll leave to your discretion). But, I can’t think of anything less appealing than a cinematic universe that operates just like Marvel but in the same gray sludgey tones as Man of Steel. For all its faults, the MCU at least has some great color throughout and is a good deal of fun to watch on the biggest screen possible. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I’ll be pleasantly surprised come next year.
– After Marvel’s early Age of Ultron trailer release, today they let loose with a few short behind the scenes videos with Cineplex featuring Joss Whedon and Jeremy Renner while in the midst of filming:
-Last but not least and just in case it slipped your mind; on March 17th, the same day The Flash returns to CW, iZombie will be debuting just after, here’s a trailer for the upcoming adaptation by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars) of Chris Roberson and Mike Allred‘s Vertigo comic:
Until Sonni Pacheo — and TMZ’s constant (self-serving) suggestion that “things will get ugly” — is resolved, Marvel best not focus on Renner. Most times celebrity divorces blow over. But this one has particularly salacious details and most people seem either sympathetic to Pacheo at best for Renner, or downright disgusted that someone would so defraud (Pacheo’s words) another in such a way.
This is Hollywood 101.
Silly but True
And this, summed up in just a few words, is exactly what has been wrong with WB adaptations of DC material. Both the idea that DC’s worlds are steeped in realism and the idea that adaptations should be.
I’m so glad that Marvel at least understand that people want to see movies about walking trees, talking racoons, and evil Nazis that have transferred their consciousnesses into a supercomputer to escape death and have their final revenge on Captain America. You’d think the company that brought us the Harry Potter franchise to the screen would understand this stuff too, but I guess not.
That’s a bingo, Jer!
+1 on Jer’s comment. Movies are escapism, superhero movies should be inspirational, Man of Steel was neither. It had a claustrophobic nature to it. They’ve already butchered Captain Marvel (the Shazam one) in the comics, I can only imagine how “realism” will manifest itself in that character on the big screen.