Grizzly Review: Dredd 3D

Dredd 3D is fantastic and beautifully brutal from the visuals to the sound. This film clearly learned from past failures and started with a very simple plot that is hard to screw up, this being done with people who clearly knew the source material and from that knew that this was the best way to start a film about Judge Dredd. The only problems with this film is that it would need a more complex story out of the comics and an increased budget but apart from that I can’t find faults. So I would love to see a sequel which could easily fix the problems I found with this film and would love to see a Batman begins to the Dark Knight Style turn around. In other words it’s a great start.

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge – a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed.

Just as always I will not be giving away any spoilers so you don’t have to worry about reading this review before seeing the film. To start off let’s talk about the acting. The acting was very good for the most part but in saying that there weren’t many situations that required it although the actors played the parts they were playing as the characters so I don’t have any faults in that area, but there would have to be more of the film to really tell. The main character Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) was really top-notch for portraying a comic book character in a real world environment, credit to him a great performance (the chin was particularly impressive).

I would like to see more characters to interact with in a sequel because that’s what is needed to get a better feel of Dredd. Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) was actually much better than I thought she would be and although not quite the same as the comic character she still gives the character justice (she kicks ass basically). Ma-Ma was an interesting character who I would have like to have seen more of but there is a prequel comic to the film which explains her back story which is free here if you would like to read that before seeing the film. Good strong female leads in this though which I like to see and the best is that it didn’t feel forced.

So let’s talk about something more fun like the visuals. The special effects, physical props and visual landscape shots where both excellent viewing and brilliantly immersive to the world that Judge Dredd lives in, very repressive and cramped with too many people in one place. The best thing I thought about this film’s visuals was that even though the budget was relatively low they didn’t use too much CGI but instead went for real props and building which means it didn’t feel cheap and felt more like a big budget film because of the detail put into everything from the judges uniforms to the blending of real world building and futuristic mega blocks.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the 3D but I am a bit biased because I tend to get used to the 3D effect within the first 10 minutes of films and find that it might as well be in 2D because of the length of a full movie, but if you like 3D there were some good 3D shots. I loved the Lawmaster chase scene and would really like to see more of the city itself in a sequel but I understand with the budget that’s the most they could do (I want a Lawmaster and the Lawgiver, screw it I just want to be a Judge). Oh and I should warn people that it’s really violent but insanely fun with brilliant music, the soundtrack with this film really worked well and it was massively adrenaline pumped from start to finish with no time for boring.

My favourite scene without giving anything away would be anything with Dredd kicking ass or maybe Mini gun bit, this doesn’t make sense really until you see the film but I won’t be ruining it for you so if you have seen the film then comment below and we can discuss. The Slow Mo scenes are good and the Deadpan acting of Urban is perfect.

Finally I would like to say that a sequel would be great to see and I would be sad if one didn’t get made. The possibilities are endless in the Dredd universe and could easily expand. I really liked the relationship between Judge Dredd and Cassandra Anderson because I got the feeling like it was kind of a buddy cop style connection with a rookie but because of her Psychic ability she is probably the only person who Dredd could have that partnership with, no romantic connection at all and there shouldn’t be, I actually think that would be the easiest way to ruin this film (or bring back rob Schneider). So go watch it because the film is a great viewing.

4.0 Grizzlies

Avengers 2: Possibly Featuring Vision and Ant-Man?

We all know what’s slated for Phase 2 of the Marvel movie plan. The ambitious three year plan will culminate in The Avengers 2, which is due to melt your eyeballs on May 1st, 2015. One of the big questions though is what characters will be introduced in the sequels (Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2) and the new flicks in the fold (Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man) that might be involved in the Avengers sequel. Right now we’re going to concentrate on two of the heroes that could make their way into the lineup: The Vision and Ant-Man.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

First, the Vision stuff. There’s been a lot of chatter about the Vision and who should be cast. Vin Diesel has been the one major actor that wants to throw his hat in the ring. According to GammaSquad, the Diesel himself posted a profile pic on his Facebook of the Vision before taking it down.

Obviously if we got our news from Facebook pages, all I would gather is people like to shove political views down my throat, claiming their intelligent views are supreme despite the fact they can’t tell the difference between the words “your” and “you’re”. Basically we’re going to take this with a grain of salt. While I have no doubt that Vin is lobbying heavily for this role, we are going to take the ‘wait and see’ approach. After all, he’s not even the popular choice to take on the role. That would be…

Agent Coulson himself, Clark Gregg. Despite the creepiness of seeing someone take the initiative to plant the seed in our heads with the image above (courtesy of Comics Alliance), you have to admit it would be cool despite the fact that it would go against the extremely convoluted comic canon, which frankly there is no way they’ll adhere to anyhow.

Of course, we all know what happened to Agent Coulson in The Avengers, and if you don’t, stop reading right now and go watch the damn movie. Regardless, Nerd Reactor asked Clark Gregg about the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show. For spoiler reasons, I’ll let you know that the link throws out Agent Coulson’s status in the Avengers movie in the first sentence so *SPOILER ALERT* I guess.

Now let’s  explore what Gregg had to say about the Vision:

“You know the Vision is synthetic with a soul, sort of, and he’s an amazing character who I loved when I used to read those comics. I love the idea of Coulson as that guy, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards.”

I love Agent Coulson. He felt like part of the team, having brought them together for the finale, and being in all the films because Samuel L. Jackson can’t be the only one building his IMDB resume by the minute. Again, this would defy the comic continuity, but who knows, I think we can trust Joss Whedon to make the right decision on this one, right?

As for that next character, Ant-Man. We know that Edgar Wright is doing At World’s End with his boys, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost right now. Where does that land the Ant-Man movie? SlashFilm is saying that we could see it in two different scenarios: After The Avengers 2 movie, or perhaps even in the middle of Phase 2. The biggest indicator is that they are citing sources stating that after Thor 2 is done filming, that Ant-Man will occupy the same lot immediately afterwards. Of course, he’d also be into post-production on At World’s End so this could prove to just be wishful thinking. Marvel also seems to want to keep to the schedule of two Marvel movies each year, and with Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 occupying 2013, and Captain America 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy taking on 2014, there might not be enough room for Ant-Man.

However, if we stick to the Vision showing up in the Avengers sequel, we NEED Hank Pym to show up and set the stage – so stay tuned. I’m sure we will have more news as it comes because it seems to be coming out at a good pace now with the hype slowing building.

Doctor Who: 702 “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”

Just to let you know, there will be spoilers in this review – so be warned. We start in 1334, Egypt, with the Doctor getting a lot of attention from Queen Nefertiti after he has saved her kingdom. They both get whizzed off to a distress signal from Earth (2376) where a ship is on a collision course.

Continue reading Doctor Who: 702 “Dinosaurs on a Spaceship”

‘The Hobbit’ Pictures (Including Elvish Fabulousness)

I’m sort of looking forwards to The Hobbit films – I’m not quite sure how it’s going to cope with being three films, but I liked The Lord of The Ring enough (and Peter Jacksons other stuff) to hold off on judgement until they are released.

And now we have some pictures! These are going to be published in a 2013 annual for the first film but they’ve already leaked out (messy) via Uproxx.

First up we have a great looking group shot of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and all the dwarves – all looking moody as they tramp off on their quest.

There are 13 dwarves in all and I’ve no idea what most of them are called. I do know that the lead dwarf is Thorin Oakenshield – played by Richard Armitage – seen her with Aidan Turner as Kili (the pretty dwarf) and…some other dwarf.

Here is Aidan Turner again looking all mean, moody and, dare I say, sexy. Surely dwarves should not look this hot.

Two more dwarves. I’m pretty sure the one on the right is Scottish actor Ken Stott, so that would make it Balin.

And here are three more battle ready dwarves (Happy, Bashful and Doc…maybe?)

They all look great but what we all want to see is Lee Pace as Elvenking Thranduil ( Legolas’ Dad). And here he is in all his camp, elvish glory.

Is that not the most fabulous crown you ever did? Coupled with the finest eyebrows in all of Middle Earth. No wonder he’s king.

So, anywho, the first film The Unexpected Journey is out in early December.

James Bond Will Return in “Daniel Craig is Swimming in Money”

It looks like we’ll have to get used to a blond Bond for a little while longer. According to EmpireOnline and Deadline, Daniel Craig will be donning the tux and Walther PPK for the foreseeable future. Craig, James Bond since the fantastic 2006 Casino Royale, has signed on to be in at least two more 007 movies. This will take him into the 25th (official) film of the Ian Fleming character franchise. He will have done five Bond films by the end of his contract.

Sony Pictures also is involved in the deal with making the deal with the newly restructured MGM to co-produce the next couple of films. This is of no shock to no one because they definitely made a lot of money backing Daniel Craig as the spy since Casino Royale. Their plan is still to get a Bond film out every two years to capitalize on the money train they have been riding on since they had to wait for the new 007 film Skyfall for the last four years because Quantum of Solace arrived in theaters in late 2008.

This is a great decision of course. As much as Quantum of Solace blew open ass (Dr. Kronner and our group of friends almost got into a fight with a punk teen wearing a skullcap…probably would’ve been more entertaining in hindsight), Craig definitely offered a newer insight as the “blunt instrument” Bond, ready to take on all comers and still inhabit a dark side and brooding that would make Timothy Dalton jealous. Casino Royale remains a great “reboot” of the franchise and by the looks of it, Skyfall looks AMAZING. I am actually glad they took their time with this flick because Quantum felt rushed and lacked purpose. I hope the filmmakers took note of this. Of course, the cinematography in the trailer is just gorgeous and while that should be an obvious statement in a big budget flick, there seems to be a higher focus on the imagery that surrounds our favorite MI6 agent. Basically, I’m saying I’m geeked and Daniel Craig is able to jump back into the role and happy to see what other layers he can bring to James Bond. now that’s out-of-the-way, cue the Bond girls (including Eva Green for the Doc)!

Star Trek 2 Gets New Title: Into Darkness.

Star Trek is a thing that is near and dear to my heart. Granted, there was a time, when I was young and foolish, and didn’t get it. I remember seeing my Mom watch the movies, liking the ships, but not understanding the story and thinking it was boring, especially compared to Star Wars. Only as I got older, and found myself appreciating the original series, did I REALLY start getting into it. I even started catching episodes of The Next Generation from time to time, following the story when I could, in between bouts of Goldeneye 64 matches, or Wrestlemania 2000. I even got into the movies, and, found that the original series movies were way more awesome than I remembered, and First Contact was probably the best space/cyborg/zombie film of all time. So unlike a lot of people, I wasn’t born a Trekkie, I slowly became one. Bit by bit, won over by its charm, writing, characterization, and social commentary.

Jonathan Frakes’ gorgeous beard helped as well.

I have a feeling that that’s how a lot of the populace felt in 2009, after JJ.Abrams took the concepts and characters of Star Trek, and made them accessible to a new audience, not pre-conditioned to Sci-Fi fandom. Despite the film having some plot holes, inconsistencies, and weird “What’s canon? What’s a reboot? What’s ret-conned?” issues, managed to be massively entertaining to an entire new generation of fans, who might have never given Star Trek a chance otherwise. Factor in the advent of Netflix bringing all 5 live action series being readily available, and it seemed like the dawn of a new era of fandom for Star Trek. I personally know several people who only are fans of the movies, or are fans of the shows, or both, or one particular show and not another, and multiple combinations of all. Star Trek is unique in that it really does have something for everybody, and the newer fans from 2009 have been waiting for a sequel pretty patiently for 3 years now, along with all the other die-hard Trekkies.

So after 3 years, with only set photos, and the occasionally purposely leaked screenshot, we’ve gotten yet another tasty morsel of information from the project, and this time, it’s the alleged  confirmed title of the film:

Star Trek Into Darkness

My first thoughts on the title? I’m not really impressed. It’s actually kind of corny, and borders on almost being a pun. But, I suppose the attempt to make a title that’s memorable has succeeded, because everyone expected the typical STAR TREK 2 COLON SUBTITLE style of title instead. In that way, it goes along with the previous movie’s intentions to subvert our expectations and help keep things new and fresh. Will the second sequel continue in this fashion? Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before? Actually, holy shit, they could totally use that for the next movie if they wanted. This whole title sets up a precedent. Here, I’ll come up with some more for them.

Potential future Star Trek Titles:

Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before

Star Trek Across The Universe

Star Trek Back Home

Star Trekkin’

Star Trekkin’ AGAIN

Star Trek to Electric Boogaloo

Star Trek Over To Bennigans, I Hear Their Broccoli Bites Are Amazing

All jokes aside, the actual movie does sound pretty awesome. What little we know of its plot, is mostly due to Karl Urban, who plays Doc McCoy. During an interview, he made one revealing comment about Benedict Cumberbatch’s role in the film.

via [SFX]

At a promotional junket for Dredd, Karl Urban looks to have let slip to SFX who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in the forthcoming Star Trek sequel. When asked what it was like having the Sherlock actor on set, Urban said:

“He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Gary Mitchell was a pretty big deal back in The Original Series. Basically he was an officer who came into contact with an energy barrier, and it gave him godlike psionic abilities.

Bad ass silver eyes too!

He started using them in increasingly dangerous ways, until he was stopped by Kirk and Company, as is to be expected. What was fascinating about the episode, was seeing an everyday man, transcend past humanity, into figurative Godhood, into believing he was actually above all of humanity entirely. It’s one of the best episodes from the original series, and I always thought that his character was intriguing. Hopefully, we’ll get to see an interpretation of his character, now with a much larger budget, and modern special effects crew to really demonstrate what a powerful, godlike being he is/became. I know a lot of fans were a bit disappointed we won’t get to see the new continuity’s version of Khan in this movie, but he’s coming. We all know he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a few mentions of the “Eugenics Wars”, or whatnot, in the background of this film. Khan is a role that was pretty solidly Ricardo Montalban’s, and casting that role is just as hard, if not harder than casting the entire crew of the Enterprise. Factor in that Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan is by far the most popular Original Trek film, and I really don’t blame JJ for trying to hold off on that for a while. If I had to cast Khan right now? Benicio Del Toro. The guy has the unique look, voice, and acting skills to make you forget all about Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, and would work tremendously. I have a feeling he’d be a bit too old for the role though, and my back up would be Jason Momoa, known most widely as Khal Drogo, from Game Of Thrones fame.

It goes without saying that I’m stoked for the film to come out already, and I’m really looking forward to seeing JJ Abrams’ new interpretation of all the original series concepts that were so wildly imaginative, but limited 47 years ago by technological and budgetary restraints of the time. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more and more of those ideas re-imagined for the big screen, where they can be appreciated by a wider audience. I’m always supportive of Science Fiction being more readily accepted and viewed by the mainstream public, because in my opinion, it’s the best genre out there, and Star Trek, is, has been, and always will be the best example of it around.

…Except for this news that Worf is getting his own series. Worf was the worst Lieutenant ever.

Ever.