Year of Superheroes and Film Adaptations

Year of Superheroes and Film Adaptations

Been way too busy to post anything, everyday's cycle is work-sleep-work-sleep... OmG... anyways, thought of posting something instead of nothing at all, so I'm just listing a number of movies I feel are worth looking forward to this year, which may well be called the Year of Superheroes and Film Adaptations due to the number of comic-to-film, cartoon-to-film and superhero movies coming out, not that I'm complaining... hehe~

2008 Movies

Speed Racer

















No other movie brings so much excitement to me this year than Speed Racer. I mean it's Speed Racer for crying out loud! What is there not to like? It's directed by the Wachowski Brothers of The Matrix fame, it has state-of-the-art CGi (have you seen that damn-awesome trailer with all that insane sommersaulting and stunts?) and has Hot Wheels making it's merchandise (have you seen the new awesomely damn-good-looking Mach 5?). What makes me so glad is that they gave lots of respect to the original concept and are working seriously hard in making this look GOOD. This is so going to be unlike anything we've seen before... Seriously, the races look so damn-freaking good! Oh, and it's also got super-adorable and lovable cutie-pie Christina Ricci too! OmG OmG Oh-My-GOD!

Trailers:


ShoWest Extended Trailer

Video Link 1


International Trailer

Video Link 2


American Trailer

Video Link 3

Iron Man







Now this is the other big one... It's Iron Man! Everyone loves Iron Man, I used to really like his cartoons, despite all the problems he used to have. He was in a way, very human, much like how Batman was. He now gets an updated suit, which kinda grew on me slowly, and Audi has some say in the car department... sweet... But too bad because of Transformers, this movie's effects seem to lack some "kick". Anyways, it's the 1st movie by Marvel Studios, so with Marvel taking things into their own hands, I'm anxious to how this one turns out~

Trailer:


Video Link

The Incredible Hulk








Yup, the Hulk is back... but wait, it's a RE-MAKE. This time by Marvel Studios (yup, the same people doing Iron Man), so expect pretty good stuff. From the looks of it, it seems they have turned the saturation down for the green chap, and there's the totally kickass-ugly Abomination as his nemesis. This must not be missed!

Trailer:


Video Link

Hellboy II : The Golden Army








Hellboy's back and this time there'll be no more Super Sapien title nonsense. He's just so cool (and somewhat cute), there's no reason why anyone should miss this. Looking red as ever, he's kicking ass with his buddy Abe Sapien and super-hot (literally too!) girlfriend Liz. And he has a totally badass huge gun this time around!

Trailer:


Video Link

The Dark Knight








Batman's prequel continues as he now faces his most famous nemesis, the Joker (looking eerily psychotic, played well by the late Heath Ledger). He also has the Batpod now, which is one heck of a supercool bike. It's sad that Heath died, making this his last feature film... the Joker's going to have a significant role in this film, and it's going to be interesting to see how they make up for the missing scenes and how Batman (who can now finally turn his head) faces him~

Trailer:


Video Link

Hancock







Will Smith is back and I'm sure Hancock is going to be a blast like every single one of his films. Being a superhero won't be the same again... seriously! From what we've seen so far it seems like a fun comedy with some twists, can't wait to see how this one goes~

Trailer:


Video Link

WALL-E







Pixar does it again with WALL-E, a 3D extravaganza featuring a robot abandoned for 700 years after humans left Earth, who kept doing his thing. Until one day, he makes contact and goes on the adventure of his life... Should be a feel-good movie for the family~

Trailer:


Video Link

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull







Indy's (surprisingly) back and this time he has Transformers kid playing his son! The makers have gone to great lengths to re-create the look and feel of the previous installments... but hey, it's Spielberg and Lucas after all. Not much is known bout the story other than it takes place in 1957 after the 2nd World War and has Soviets in it, but it sure looks like one heck of a rollercoaster ride~

Trailer:


Video Link

Blood : The Last Vampire
This one doesn't even have a trailer yet but I've been all hyped-up since last year! It's Jun Ji-Hyun's Hollywood debut so I'm pretty darn excited... The pics have been circulating on the net and everything looks good so far... expect a gritty, dark movie... the costume and weapons pay tribute to the anime but I'm wonder how true the story will be to the original~





2009 Movies

Star Trek



This one's due May 2009, but it's no harm getting excited early... A prequel to the saga, I have a feeling this is going to be big~

Trailer:


Video Link

Transformers 2
The robots in disguise are due in June 2009, with filming starting June 2008... There are lots of rumors going on but Michael Bay says a lot of false info will be leaked to protect the real ones. A couple of photos have also shown the main characters being transported to filming locations. We'll just have to wait and see...





I guess that's all for now, I know there are many more movies coming up like The Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian, The Mummy 3 and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but these are probably the movies I'm most looking forward to at the moment~

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

L : change the WorLd

L : change the WorLd

The latest story to spin-off the highly-popular Death Note franchise, "L : change the WorLd" focuses on L Lawliet (played beautifully by the talented Ken'ichi Matsuyama) on his last 23 days. This time, L faces the challenge of yet another difficult case after the highly suspenseful one with Kira. And without Watari around, things are trickier than ever before...

A group of extremist environmental terrorists, consisting of a psycho mastermind, a greedy psycho dude and their psycho henchmen (the psycho girl is cute though) are determined to save the world by getting rid of humans through a hybrid virus and with various complications along the way, L is faced with a battle against time to both stop the terrorist AND save the world. Two children hold the key to solving this case, a young nameless Thai boy and Maki (played by Mayuko Fukuda), a young girl with more secrets than you'd expect. It's somewhat a psychological thriller, but also an action-packed one that has lots of great moments. Worth noting is that it also shows scenes of L before he came to Japan and also how he handled the temptation of using the Death Note.

L : change the WorLd plays quite differently from the previous Death Note movies, and shows a side of L we haven't really seen... which is his human side. It shows how despite all his quirkiness (L fans, there is much to be happy about, as candy-munching, crouching and squatting are all intact) and obvious lack of expression, he's still just human after all. I believe viewers will connect with his character more throughout this movie. And yeah, I'm amazed that he has a funny side too. Another pleasant surprise was young Mayuko Fukuda who plays Maki in this movie. You might remember her from "Nihon Chinbotsu aka Sinking of Japan" This adorable girl's really talented, and she acts as if she's been doing it forever. You can actually feel her character when she cries or smiles, she's a natural. This is one talent to watch in the future. Despite what you see in the poster, Ryuk and cute Misa have only short cameos this time around, and Light (aka Kira) appears in only a short clip. But believe me there is already lots to enjoy in this movie, with many new characters (including a really funny FBI dude) getting screen-time alongside L.

In my opinion, it's more moving and meaningful than the previous two Death Note movies, with many touching scenes, over-the-top comedy and the acting is rather top-notch. A good watch and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone, and even though it can stand on it's own as a movie, I'd say it'll be more enjoyable if you've watched "Death Note" and "The Last Name". And I believe you'll agree with me, that upon finishing the movie, you'd wished L could have had a chance to live longer.

And for goodness sake, stay after the credits. It's annoying how some people leave the cinema as soon as a movie finishes...










Trailer:


Video Link