The Mad Libs of comic book movies. This one’s for the fans.
Ryan Reynolds in costume as Deadpool. No feet. Apparently this is important.
The journey to theaters for Deadpool has been a long one. Ryan Reynolds played the titular character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as a silent but deadly killer, which misses the entire thrust of the character. This character is a wisecracking, violent character known as “The Merc With a Mouth.” After the utter failure of Green Lantern, a Deadpool movie with Ryan Reynolds seemed as far from reality as possible, but some test footage of a possible movie “leaked,” became a viral hit, and the movie was greenlit. Would this movie be the crass, irreverent, R-rated film that the fans want?
R.I.P.D. is a good reminder of how similar movies used to be better.
Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds are ready for all the terrible CG creatures coming their way.
– What do you call an undead police force? – The R.I.P.D. The Rest In Peace Department. – Ha! – They would be like the Men in Black. – Yeah. Except instead of aliens, they’d be fighting hell’s escapees.
(…to be continued)
Although R.I.P.D. is based on a comic book series of the same name, first published in 1999 (after Men in Black), I can easily imagine the concept for this movie arising in the above fashion. I haven’t read the source material, and therefore can’t speak to it, but it’s a bit too easy to find the parallels between R.I.P.D. and MIB; every character, plot turn, and joke from the former has a close equivalent in the latter. It’s surprising that we don’t see the MIB writers getting credited for the R.I.P.D. story or screenplay. Perhaps I’m being too harsh. But for the sake of argument, perhaps extra time should’ve been spent polishing what ends up being a cheap clone of a concept already executed to a much more satisfying degree. The characters in R.I.P.D. aren’t well developed, the special effects look gummy at best, and the plot doesn’t take any unexpected turns.
A cute, formulaic, one-joke movie…but at least it’s not sluggish!
He’s going the distance! He’s going for speed!
Low expectations commonly yield better-than-expected results. In the case of Turbo, a charming result emerges from an incredibly lackluster premise. ‘A snail that goes fast!‘…Okay, not really piquing my interest. ‘And, he races in the Indy 500!’ Snails and racing? No thank you, I’d rather read a book.Turbo doesn’t break any new ground, nor is it distinctly memorable. Its straightforward story is respectable, its characters are pleasant, and the colorful visuals are good. Nearly every joke is about the ‘snails vs. speed’ theme at play, but luckily the movie never slows to a snail-like crawl. But despite the film’s drawbacks, audiences will still be rewarded by Turbo, if only because it’s just not as bad as it seems.
Geoff Johns (love his Flash stuff with Kolins) asks Ryan Reynolds why he's so awesome. (Photo from Nicole Abalde on Flickr. Thanks for sharing!)
The 2011 Wondercon film panel lineup was the worst in recent memory. It was more notable for what was missing (Captain America, Thor, Super 8, Pirates of the Caribbean) than what was there (Immortals, Priest, The Three Musketeers). Jon Favreau noticed that movies weren’t prioritizing Wondercon for their promotion, and I can’t say I understand why. Was it the relative commercial failure of such ComicCon-loved properties such as Kick Ass and Scott Pilgrim? Or was it really all just about scheduling? But we did have film panels on Saturday (and one on Friday), so I was there. And this is what I saw. Continue reading “Wondercon: The 2011 Film Panels”
