Monday, July 23, 2018

Checking out the SD Comic Con highlights at the Movie Trailer Park

Summer isn't just the time for checking out the big movie blockbusters, it's also the season for seeing what lies ahead on the pop culture landscape. The best place for that star search are the Comic Cons, with the major one in San Diego finishing up over the past weekend.

For those of us unable to head out there, watching for the trailers online is fine sport indeed and a big piece of bait was the first trailer for Aquaman, set to hit theaters by Christmas time. Jason Momoa gets to flex his considerable muscles as Arthur Curry in a solo film after donning the swim suit in Justice League(which I have not seen yet!).

From what is shown here, this is your basic origin story with Arthur being the misunderstood son of human lighthouse keeper Thomas Curry(Temuera Morrison) and Queen Atlanna(Nicole Kidman) who is called upon by underwater warrior princess Mera(Amber Heard) to fight his half brother Orm(Patrick Wilson) for the throne of Atlantis to prevent a war with the surface world.

The film does look like it could be fun and Momoa is certainly a charmer. I'm pretty hesitant to climb onboard the bandwagon here, as we've been fooled by awesome appearing trailers before(yes, that means you, Suicide Squad!). Points to the writer who slipped in that "Aquaman, you go talk to some fish" joke early on but for the most part, I'm keeping my enthusiasm for this DC comic book flick at bay:


One movie that I'm not hiding my joy for is Glass, the long awaited follow-up to Unbreakable. M. Knight Shyamalan was able to bridge the cinematic gap between these films with the movie Split(I need to see that one,too!) and all three major characters are set to do battle here.

Unbreakable was an underappreciated film that has grown to cult status and one of my favorite of M. Knight's works,so I am so happy to see this unique take on comic book lore be continued. Another delightful surprise is having Sarah Paulson in the cast as Dr. Ellie Staple(is it just me or do I get a Harley Quinn vibe off of her?).

Glass is scheduled for January of 2019 and hopefully will be one of the big hits of the after holiday season. Seeing Samuel L. Jackson in true archvillian form is a fine start to a new year,if you ask me:



While there were plenty of movies talked about at SDCC, a good amount of TV trailers were highly promoted as well and two of them made major news that I just had to share.

Along with a trailer for the next season of Supergirl(set to air on Sunday nights starting in October), it was announced at SDCC that transgender activist/actress Nicole Maines would be joining the cast as Nia Nal, aka Dreamer. Based upon the DC superheroine with precognitive abilities known as Dream Girl, this  new version of the character will be working at CatCo and learning to deal with her powers.

This is a first for representation in the live action comic book arena and I'm so proud to be a fan of this show. Hey, DC-if your big screen adaptations were as progressive as your small screen ones, you would be more than heroes,you'd be legends:


Speaking of legends, the trailer for the upcoming web series from DC Universe Titans become infamous already. This live action take on the Teen Titans has a young Raven(Teagan Croft) seeking out former Batman partner Dick Grayson(Brenton Thwaites) for help with her growing demonic powers.

Along the way, they recruit space alien princess Starfire(Anna Diop) and shapeshifter Beast Boy(Ryan Potter) to battle the forces of evil, with guest appearances by Donna Troy,aka Wonder Girl and another Boy Wonder,Jason Todd. The trailer depicts quite the bloodthirsty Robin, who stomps on the necks of henchmen and says things like "F**k Batman!" Yep, this is not your old school Teen Titans, that's for sure!

As a fan of the 1980s John Romita/George Perez take on Titans, I'm not opposed to a mature content adaptation but the tone is feeling wrong here. Maybe the trailer is not the best depiction of the show but it's causing folks to be turned off by the initial vibe that this series is giving off. Plus, it would've been cool to have Cyborg as well(guess they prefer to have him in more Justice League movies and I believe a Cyborg solo movie is in the works).

While I find the cartoon series Teen Titans Go to be too goofy, at least that show looks like way more fun than this web series is going to be:


Well, it does seem as if there is much to look forward to on the cinematic and televised horizons as time goes on,which ought to be a welcome relief from our current day woes. However, as our friends facing Stranger Things strive to remind us, the past is not as safe as some of us would like to think:


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