Deadline recently broke the news that Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds recently signed a new 3 year contract with FOX and first of these upcoming projects is the re-make of the 1985 Tim Curry classic CLUE.
Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick will be joining Reynolds to provide their maximum effort to the script of the live action Hasbro board game property.
The original release was known for it’s originality, including it’s 3 very different endings. We don’t know yet if something similar is planned for this edition, but with this creative trio helming the film, who knows what we can expect!
It has net been revealed yet which character Reynolds will be portraying, but I am hoping to see him bring new life to Tim Curry’s Wadsworth, the extremely sarcastic butler. It would also be cool nod to the original film to see Curry brought on the remake for a cameo or as another character, such as Col. Mustard.
With Disney’s recent acquisition of FOX’s movie properties, a Hydra Bob cameo wouldn’t outside the realm of possibilities as well…
Deadpool’s $783 million gross profit made it the highest grossing rated R film of all time and FOX has high hopes for the sequel, which is scheduled to release this May with director David Leitch (Atomic Blonde & parts of John Wick) at the helm.
I have been looking forward to this movie since the release of the first trailer! Seeing the Hulk come crashing into the arena and the visual of Hela destroying Asgard to the score of Led Zeppelin’s classic “Immigrant Song” had me hooked from the beginning!
“Guardians of the Galaxy”, “Suicide Squad” and now “Thor Ragnarok” are fine examples of how much movie marketers stick with a winning formula once they find one. The latest being to score comic book movie previews with classic rock tracks that were recorded years (possibly even decades) before many of the movie goers were even born.
My brain will now permanently associate Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” with Thor Ragnarok. Much like how, even twenty years later, whenever I hear Van Halen’s “Right Here, Right Now” my taste buds crave a Crystal Pepsi!
The Good
Chemistry Of The Cast
As we have seen in the previous films, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) have excellent comedic chemistry and play very well off each other. But in Ragnarok, the comedy went beyond this duo to include the entire cast.
The CGI created Korg, voiced by Thor Ragnarok’s director Taika Waititi, was my favorite new character and provided laugh out loud humor to every scene he was in. You will leave the theater “liking the New Doug”.
“Hey New Doug!”
Hiddleston also continues his track record with his scene stealing charismatic portrayal of the God of Mischief. He is so well cast for this role it is hard to envision him portraying any other character.
Comedy
The producers of Thor Ragnarok successfully took the movie much further into the realm of comedy than previous Marvel movies (including Guardians of the Galaxy). Loki’s reaction to seeing the Hulk was hilarious, Thor giving Banner his interpretation of his battle with the Hulk was well done and did I mention the new character Korg?
Thor and Hulk’s interactions provided some of the funniest moments of the film. Of all of the Hulk’s appearances in the Marvel cinematic universe, I thought his best portrayal was in the first Avengers movie…until now! When Stan Lee first created the Hulk, he was going for a Frankenstein style misunderstood child and this film’s creators nailed it!
We never did learn exactly what Hulk flashed to earn those Mardi Gras beads…
It almost seemed as if the script was handed to Seth MacFarlane at one point and he was told to make it more “Seth MacFarlane-esque”. Frat humor inspired scenes such as an intoxicated Valkyrie falling off the ramp, Korg carrying around his dead friend and Bruce Banner plummeting onto the Bifrost bridge seemed as if they could have been lifted directly from “Family Guy” or the “Orville” and were all hysterically executed.
Some scenes appeared to be written in for the sole purpose of adding in humor, rather than to advance the story (cough…Dr. Strange..cough) but were still done well and didn’t feel forced as they were in Avengers: Age Of Ultron or Superman V. Batman.
The Bad
There were very few components of this film that I would consider “bad”, but there were a pair things that I was not a huge fan of…
Remember, I warned you about Spoilers ahead!
Mjolnir Is Bupkis
In the previous movies, we learned that Thor’s hammer Mjolnir was one of the most powerful weapons in the Marvel Universe. Some fan theories went as far as suggesting that Mjolnir contained one of the Infinity Gems Thanos is seeking, yet Hela was able to thrash it with the same ease my one-year-old is able to destroy a diaper after getting into My Taco Bell meal.
This was then explained away by Odin to Thor in the same manner that Yogurt explained away the ring of the Schwartz to Lonestar in Spaceballs. The lightning was always inside Thor and Mjolnir was merely used to focus the power.
Warriors Three
I enjoyed the characters of the Warriors Three and Lady Sif from the previous Thor movies. I understand Jaime Alexander was unable to reprise her role of Lady Sif due to scheduling conflicts with her current TV show “Blindspot“, but why dispose of the Warriors Three in under three seconds?
A certain amount of shock and awe was needed to establish to the audience exactly how powerful Hela is and I guess what better way to shock the audience than with the unexpected death of established characters. But, at the same time, there must have been a better use of these characters, especially with how Thor Ragnarok ended (mid credits scene).
The Unexplained
Sibling Rivalry
We learned early on the Hela: The goddess of Death is the daughter of Odin. We already knew that Thor: The God of Thunder is the son of Odin. Which my public school education leads me to deduce that they are siblings.
If the two are siblings, why is Hela incredibly more powerful than Thor? Because she was simply the first born? Was her mother revealed to be different than Thor’s and I just missed it? I have an older sibling and he is not that much more powerful than I am. In fact, I think I could probably kick his butt in anything other than maybe assembling furniture purchased from Ikea.
Hela’s Exile From Asgard
Hela disposed of the Valkyries with the same speed and ease that I dispose of cocktail wieners during the hors’derves portion of a wedding.
So how was she exiled from Asgard? And how did the passing of Odin suddenly allow her to return? Some type of magical spell? My suspension of disbelief allows me to overlook a lot in comic book movies, but this mystery left me baffled.
The Result
I really enjoyed this movie and would (and most likely will) pay to see it in theaters again (which is the definition of a very successful movie).
As I pointed out earlier, Thor Ragnarok was loaded with more comedy than I expected and felt much more like a Guardians of the Galaxy movie than a Thor movie, but that is fine. Thor and Loki were true to the characters that we fell in love with in the previous movies, multiple enjoyable new characters were successfully introduced and the entire film felt that it belonged in the ever expanding Marvel cinematic universe.
As with all Marvel movies, make sure you stick around for the mid and post credit scenes. The mid credit scene (which was foreshadowed when Loki stole a glance at the tesseract in Asgard) should bleed directly into next year’s release of Avengers Infinity War!
Thor Ragnarok rated a 5 out of 5 on the Geeky Daddy Movie Rating Scale and a Kid Friendly on the Geeky Daddy Sidekick Safe Scale.
Full Disclosure: I am not a huge horror movie enthusiast but I know many that are excited about this film.
Fox just dropped their first trailer for their upcoming Marvel mutant movie, New Mutants, which will be unleashed in theaters next April (2018).
The New Mutants comic books focused on a younger generation of students at Professor Xavier’s School For The Gifted who were just learning how to control their mutant powers and get by in a world that feared and hated them.
While is has been known for a while that Fox was planning on taking this X-Men installment into the horror genre, I don’t think many were expecting them to go full on American Horror Story-esque with it!
In the trailer, we see that the Xavier Mansion (an X- movie staple, even in Deadpool) has been replaced with a spook-tacular insane asylum where the teenagers are being experimented on.
Sort of reminiscent of the movie Sucker Punch, minus the sexy Sailor Moon outfits and hopefully a much better story.
Sexy girl in a sexy school outfit with a Samurai sword and a gun? Who needs a plot!
In the preview, we see Alice Braga (whom I loved in Predators) as Dr. Cecilia Reyes, appearing to draw blood from Danielle Moonstone while explaining to her (and the audience) the premise of the movie: that the young mutants are being locked up because their inability to control their powers makes them very dangerous.
From there, if it weren’t for the title, I would have had no idea if this was a preview for one of the Ring movies, a Conjuring movie, one of the Exorcist films or a season of American Horror Story.
The trailer just came off as very generic to me and made from the same recipe as every other horror trailer of the past 15 years. A loud noise accompanying each quick camera change, creepy cover of a classic rock tune playing in the background and, of course, faces pushing through walls…
The New Mutants in last year’s popular Logan film were created with experiments from vials taken from mutants, so there is some connection with the films there, but no word yet on how much the films will tie in together.
The stereotypical super-hero movie genre is getting over saturated recently so I give the studio credit for attempting to expand the Marvel properties into other genre’s. Marvel has already tried the revenge genre with the Punisher movies so the horror genre seems like the next obvious venue to try.
Maybe someday we will see a Marvel comedy with Hercules as a bumbling womanizer or a romantic comedy with Nathan Fillion as Wonder Man and Emma Stone as Black Widow II.
How excited are you to purchase your tickets to see the New Mutants?
As always, I will do my best not to reveal any major spoilers, but be warned, specifics of the movie ahead……
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
This is the first Geeky Daddy Movie Review I have done for a movie that was not technically a movie, but I watched it at the IMAX theater, so it counts.
Marvel’s Inhumans was originally slated to be part of Marvel’s phase 3 feature films, but was later switched to be a spin-off from the successful ABC television series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The series launches on ABC this fall, but some mastermind at the Disney merchandising machine realized they could release the 2-part pilot in IMAX theaters as a feature film first and double dip on the revenue! It is the first live-action television series to do this, which means other studios will be watching closely to see how successful (or unsuccessful) the method is.
The release runs approximately 75 minutes, about 10 minutes shorter than the cut that will air on television.
The Good
I was concerned how the network television produced special effects would translate to IMAX, since I previously read that only parts of the series were filmed with IMAX camera, but for the vast majority of the effects were very well done.
“Why can’t I hail a taxi?”
There were a few shots of Medusa’s hair that were not as fluid as some others and Lockjaw did appear overly CGI in at least one shot, but I did love what they did with the teleporting effect, most of Lockjaw’s scenes and Black Bolt’s voice.
The actors all put forth strong performances with the best being done by Serinda Swan (Medusa) and Game of Thrones alum Iwan Rheon (Maximus). They also happened to be the only 2 characters with depth or internal conflict, but none-the-less, well done.
The only exception to the overall strong cast performance may be that of Isabelle Cornish as Crystal. Although, in her defense, I am not sure if that was due to her acting, her dialogue or just the distractingly stupid hair tattoo. But whatever the reason, something about Crystal just didn’t resonate as well as the other characters.
The Not So Good
For some reason the producers thought that lifting the special effects from Dr. Strange was the best way to explain Karnak’s power, but it didn’t translate well at all.
Based on Karnak’s scenes, the viewer can determine that Karnak can either:
Determine an opponent’s weaknesses?
Briefly glimpse into the immediate future?
Access an abstract non-working compass?
The main eye-sore of the movie was the architecture of the Inhumans’ home city of Attilan, which appears to have been solely inspired by parking garages.
Seriously, how much grey boring poured concrete can one possibly look at before they willingly step out into the vacuum of space?
“Vast boringness. As far as the eye can see.”
For half the feature I just assumed Black Bolt’s power was that he was able to endure sitting in the world’s least comfortable throne without hemorrhoid irritation.
Black Bolt’s brother Maximus contemplating ordering a seat cushion from Amazon...
Also the second half of the feature (episode 2?) saw the storytelling speed up a bit…thankfully. First episodes for any series are always slow paced. Character and plot development take priority over action, but holy cow the first half of the movie had a lot of talking and not a ton of doing.
The Confusing…
The Inhumans live on the moon (in parking garage inspired structures), with advanced technology such as laser guns and Apple Watch inspired communication devices (with sub-Google Maps technology).
So why did Maximus go after Medusa with regular, off the Walgreen’s shelf Norelco hair trimmers? Hair care technology is not advanced on the moon?
Did the prop master show up to work one day, look at the itinerary, say “Crap! We’re shooting that scene today!” and simply run to the corner drugstore for the purchase?
The Result
Overall, I enjoyed the movie, or pilot or feature or whatever we want to call this.
The audience is able to easily jump on here without needing to have a familiarity of Terrigen gas from the comics or the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series. Although, I am not sure that a casual television viewer (non-comicbook fanboy) would be drawn into the series having just watched this pilot.
ABC’s choice to air Inhumans on a Friday evening is of note as well. The series is obviously targeting the male 18-34 year-old market who will be trying to score dates for those particular evenings. Maybe ABC is hedging their bets on DVR’s, or those fan-boys just not getting dates?
Overall, Inhumans rates a 3.5 out of 5 on the Geeky Daddy Movie Ratings Scale and rated well on the Geeky Daddy Sidekick Scale (mostly kid friendly)
Deadline is reporting that Walton Goggins has signed on to the Ant-Man sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, as “an undisclosed role”.
Goggins is a very talented actor who we have already seen convincingly pull off a traditional villain (Boyd Crowder in Justified) as well as a more complex protagonists role (Shane in the Shield).
Ant-Man’s gallery of rogues is pretty thin compared to other Marvel heroes, with Crossfire being the only one that really comes to mind. Crossfire would make sense as well since he is a relative of Darren Cross (the first movie’s villain) and was actually in the original Edgar Wright script for Ant-Man.
Although the producers could always borrow a villain from another Marvel property, such as Iron Man. Scott Lang was an employee of Stark Industries for a time in the comic books.
Obviously, I could be getting a little over excited as well. “Undisclosed role” could mean just a cameo or minor supporting character. Perhaps a former member of one of Lang’s old crews seeking Scott’s help on a new score.
Maybe Scott Lang and Janet Van Dyne will have a meeting with Goggins’ Venus Van Dam from Sons Of Anarchy?
Although, somehow I don’t see Disney signing off on that…
Whatever his role ends up being, 2018 is looking like it is going to be a busy year for Goggins. He is already attached to the Tomb Raider and Maze Runner sequels, as well as the new HBO show Vice Principals.
Since negotiations broke down, this is a moot point, but still fun to speculate!
At one point, action superstar Jason Statham’s name had been mentioned as a possibility for the role of BullsEye in the DareDevil Netflix program. Well it turns out he may have been closer to a Marvel movie role than television one…
Murdock’s thankful he didn’t have to fight the Transporter
While doing the press tour to promote Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel Studios frontman Kevin Feige confirmed to Den of Geek that Marvel Studios had been in negotiations with Statham for a role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“We’re fans…” said Feige when the topic of Statham came up. “We talked with him about doing a role in one of our movies”. Feige continued, “It didn’t end up working out, his schedule didn’t work out… He was saying ‘sorry it didn’t work out, maybe next time’. He couldn’t have been nicer!”.
Do Statham and Feige have the same forehead?
“Maybe next time…” is one of those things that makes you go “hmmm…”
When pressed to reveal the role, Feige smiled and declined to answer, but a lack of information has never stopped me from speculating before!
Here are some Marvel options I would love to see Jason Statham (who will forever be Frank Martin to me) as:
Captain Britain
Statham and Cap. Britain both have a similar jaw line…
Could the super-powered Captain Britain have been the role Marvel was exploring for Statham?
Recently Feige did confirm that Captain Britain was on the radar as a possible Marvel Studios project. Brian Braddock is a fun character and would add a bit of international flair to the Marvel cinematic universe.
Taskmaster
Don’t tell me you can’t picture Statham’s voice with this face.
The Villain Taskmaster has the ability to learn any hero’s fighting style through “photographic reflexes and physical movement prediction” just by watching them. In other words, think of a Bruce Lee-esque Skeletor.
With Statham behind the Taskmaster’s mask, we could be in store for some epic fight scenes!
Scourge
“After Cap, I’m going after Freddy Krueger…”
There have been a couple different Scourges throughout Marvel’s history (because comics, that’s why), but I am thinking of the most recent Scourge (formerly known as Nuke).
There are a couple reasons I think Statham would be a good fit for Scourge (beyond owning a copy of his first appearance that I would love to see go up in value):
Statham’s voice would be awesome behind the Jason Voorhees-ish hockey mask,
the fight scenes would be awesome (see: Taskmaster) and
Statham is always convincing playing a grizzled military vet.
Who would you like to see Jason Statham in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
