Yet more superheroics on STS today, as Thor and Cap are joined by the less well-regarded (at least, inside the Marvel Universe) mutant heroes The X-Men. Here’s the first trailer for upcoming X-Men: First Class (we covered it before, but frankly got a bit distracted by a certain ex-MadMen star..), and it looks -not nearly as bad as we’d thought.
Sure the uniforms are dorky, but have enough 60s flair that they feel real enough, and Magneto’s younger cape/buckethead combo really does resemble his 60s comic counterpart -as does the storyline. Longtime comic fans will recall that the X-Men first encounter the deadly master of magnetism as he invades a missile base…
Whether or not this will work sans a certain razor-clawed mutton chopped killing machine remains to be seen, but based on this it could be some fun classic era espionage action.
Slashing The Seats knows bugger-all about sport, but this Sunday’s Superbowl between.. oh, I don’t know, the Arizona Mongooses and the New York Serengeti Gazelles… did cough up a few interesting bits and pieces. Not, unfortunately another Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction (although we did notice that Christina agulera missed out a whole verse of a certain national anthem -top work there Chris), but rather a bunch of trailers for this summers biggest movies!
While Pirates of the carribean 4 made a strong showing, STS is way more dorky than you, so here’s some new sneak peeks at Marvel’s mighty Avengers -Thor and old wingnut himself -Cdaptain America!
Going solely on the trailers, the latest effort from Will Ferrell looks like a return to form, a crazed mish-mash of Lethal Weapon action and Anchorman stupidity. And it is. But for some reason, it just doesn’t gel.
Things get off to a promising start, with New York super cops Danson & Highsmith (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) blasting their way through criminals, driving a 1960’s muscle car through the side of a bus, blowing up buildings and firing off enough hot lead to drown a Terminator, and despite the reckless endangerment and massive property damage, they’re beloved by the population of New York and the worldwide media.
Of course, it isn’t all guns and glamour in the NYPD, which is where Ferrel, a safe, quiet and relentlessly stable Police accountant comes in. Teamed up with a bizzarrely hirsute Marky Mark when Danson & Highsmith jump to their death in a ridiculous display of bravado, it’s up to the worst cops in the precinct to take down Steve Coogan’s Bernard Madoff-like businessman and save the police pension fund.
All pretty formulaic no?
And that’s half the problem (we’ll get to the other half in a bit).
The Other Guys follows a very basic plotline that works out ok, and has some very funny lines. Ferrell’s background as a naive pimp named Gator is hilarious, and Wahlberg shows some likeable comic timing, coming off as likeable and genuine while directing traffic, lusting after Ferrell’s ‘plain wife’ (actually a smoking hot Eva Mendes). The whole thing is crammed to bursting with ridiculous one liners, idiotic situations (dirty Mike’s homeless orgies are a particular standout), and a relentless driving pace.
So what went wrong?
Ass is the norm for Ferrell’s movies, things don’t quite fit together properly. You get the feeling that someone had four or five unused scripts lying around and rammed them uncomfortably together. Of course, in a bit of nonsence like this, that’s not really a major problem. Instead, The Other Guy’s problems sit squarely in the lap of director Adam McKay.
The whole thing is poorly paced and badly shot, to the extent that any life and vibrancy is sucked right out of the thing, and it’s not just a question of scale. If this had been shot in an intimate TV show style it would be balls-out hilarious. Likewise, if they’d stuck McG at the helm and soaked it in slick then we’d be on to a winner (and I promise never to associate the name McG with the concept of win again). Instead, the movie hovers in a washed out, curiously 80’s middle ground, with action not as exciting as it should be, gjokes not as funny, and the whole thing…well, just underwhelming.
This has some of the best comedy lines and concepts of the year, but much like Ferrell’s wooden gun (a long story involving Michael Keaton and a poorly executed ‘desk-pop’…), it fails to leave a lasting impression.
Definitely worth waiting for the DVD, as a small screen would be infinitely more suitable.
So there’s this sort-of sexy, sort-of spooooky girl yeah? And she’s needs a part time job. Now, if you have lank black hair, then obviously a creeeeeeepy mental institute would be your first choice too right?
I mean, I’m not exactly carrying all my hammers in one bag either, so I can see the appeal -free meds lying around, getting to lick Sarah Connors face, it’s the complete package…
Judging by the trailers, Repo Men looked like it might be quite good, what with the ever-reliable Forest Whittaker promising to kick some ass Ghost Dog style, and hey –I was kind of hoping it would have something to do with Alex Cox’s mental 80’s Emilio Estevez vehicle as well.
