Pop Culture Princess

Pop Culture Princess
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Monday, December 07, 2015

Peeking at some future film goodies in the 2016 section of the Movie Trailer Park

I know that we still have a few more big movies to look forward to in the remainder of 2015(including a certain awakening force), it's hard not to peer off into the movie trailer mist to see what awaits us in 2016.

To begin with, we have another trailer for Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice that shows us Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent verbally sparring, a mutual threat that looks a lot like Doomsday being created by Lex Luthor(so non-canon!) and a brief yet amazing appearance by Wonder Woman.

While I'm still not sure about how good or bad this movie might be, one element that is already irritating is Jesse Eisenberg's take on Lex Luthor. While I can overlook a Lex with a full head of hair, having one that is always "on" like a bad comedian who never leaves the stage is the worst. The guy is as subtle as a chainsaw cutting through an ice cream cake.

 Seriously, if you thought Gene Hackman and Kevin Spacey were a bit hammy, Eisenberg's vocal inflections alone make those prior villain party platters seem more like mildly flavored spam. With lines like "If man can't destroy God, then the devil will!" and making goofy menacing faces at everyone, this version of the iconic Superman nemesis is not a good sign of things to come:



Fortunately, we have the promising Captain America: Civil War trailer that shows a break between Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark, due to former Winter Soldier Bucky regaining full mental control of himself and being targeted as a scapegoat for the evil deeds of Hydra.

Other heroic allies come into play, as Black Widow, The Falcon and War Machine take sides while new heroes such as Black Panther make their presence known. While I haven't read the comic book series that this story line is based upon. the other two Captain America films were smartly written and engaging entertainment, so I have zero doubts regarding this one:


 In the Expected Sequel department, the third film in the Divergent series Allegiant will be part one of the finale(part two is titled Ascendant) and our heroine Tris is happy to leave the city that oppressed her and her friends so much but it turns out, the world outside is perhaps even dangerous.

Granted, this dystopian teen saga is no Hunger Games but it is interesting nonetheless and I am at least willing to see it through to the end. While Kate Winslet is no longer around to strut her villainy stuff, we do get Jeff Daniels as a dubious ally, not too shabby.

Since the adventures of Katniss Everdeen are over, there's still time to check out the books(written by Veronica Roth) that this saga comes from and catch up with Tris Prior and pals as they tackle the high tech deception of their elders together:



In the Unexpected Sequel section, we have The Huntsman: Winter's War on the way this spring, which is supposed to be a prequel and a sequel all in one.

It seems that Queen Ravenna from Snow White and the Huntsman had a sister(Emily Blunt), who uses a certain frozen type of magic,  that set up her own separate magical kingdom. Upon hearing about her sibling's demise, the Ice Queen(yep, that's her name) sends for the magic mirror in order to bring Ravenna back from the beyond.

The Huntsman naturally decides to go after this sinister sister act with the help of some new allies, including Jessica Chastain as a warrior maiden. Now, I enjoyed Snow White and the Huntsman but not enough to really long for a follow-up but I guess it made pretty decent bank for the studio to greenlight this. Should be fun yet not quite a must-see, in my opinion:



All in all, there should be plenty to talk about when it comes to fantasy/comic book themed films next year and hopefully, plenty of popcorn to go along with them.

One film that I am anxious to see is the Austen zom-com Pride & Prejudice & Zombies that brings to undead life the Seth Grahame-Smith classic monster mash on screen. Zombies are not my favorite fear factor but getting the chance to see the Bennet sisters do battle with the "sorry stricken" along side Mr. Darcy just sounds like a ripping good time to me.

Plus, having Downton Abbey's Lily James take on Elizabeth Bennet while Game of Thrones players Charles Dance and Lena Headey(a Lannister family reunion!) do their part as Mr. Bennet and Lady Catherine De Bourgh is a trio of British cherries upon this engagingly English silly sundae, so serve me up this scary sweet delight in the new year,please!:


2 comments:

Thaddeus said...

I gotta say, the only one of these that I really look forward to is Pride and Prejudice Versus Zombies. I thought Avengers was underwhelming, and I never saw Capt Am 2, so I have no stakes in this third film. There's simply too great a risk that it's all foreshadowing for future marvel films...

But PaPvZ has the potential to be completely new and inventive, and I find that quite encouraging. I also must confess a perverse fondness for the idea behind this story, although I can't say if it will work as I've never read the source material...

lady t said...

P&P&Z should be great genre entertainment, it was written by the same guy that gave us Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter(both the book and movie were funky fun)and it mixes Austen's classic with zombie fare quite nicely.

There is a prequel and a sequel written to Pride& Prejudice & Zombies(both by different authors) but stick with the Seth Grahame-Smith version, it's the far better choice.