breakdown

Let’s Talk About The First Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ 1 Comment

That trailer’s pretty good right? In all fairness it doesn’t show much, but the stuff it does show is pretty cool. Overall the Pirates movies have had a rough go of it following Curse of the Black Pearl. The sequel, Dead Man’s Chest, is very lacklustre, and has that sort of non-finish a la The Empire Strikes Back (but you know, not as good). At World’s End is actually kinda an ok finish to the series, but then the series didn’t finish because studios like money so they made the pretty terrible On Stranger Tides. Sexy evil mermaids! Blackbeard! Christianity! All the things you’ve ever wanted in a movie franchise based on a theme park ride!

Dead Men Tell No Tales looks to right the ship, so to speak, and bring the fun of the original back. We know that Orlando Bloom‘s Will Turner is back and there have been hints that Keira Knightley will return as Elizabeth Swann-Turner. As long as they reign in Johnny Depp and have Jack Sparrow return to a supporting cast member and not the focus we might be ok. Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Oh well. Let’s get on with it and Talk About The First Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Trailer. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The New Logan Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

Wow. That’s two trailers now for this film that look outstanding. I didn’t do a breakdown for the first one because I kinda just stood there in awe. The whole thing would have just been .gifs of people with slack jawed expressions. With this one, though, there’s more we can glean about the story and characters.

Logan looks to take some inspiration from the Wolverine comic “Old Man Logan” and a whole hell of a lot from the origin of X-23 in “NYX“. Logan and Professor X are on the run and are protecting a little girl that’s very similar to Logan. In the comics Laura Kinney/X-23 is a clone of Wolverine that Logan sometimes treats as a daughter. She has the same ability to heal herself, as well as two adamantium claws per hand and one in each foot. Much like Logan’s berserker rage state that he enters, Laura has something very similar in a trigger scent. A scent that, when smelled, causes Laura to black out and go into a murderous rage. She is also currently the Wolverine of the Marvel Universe as Logan is dead, but it’s comics so I don’t imagine that lasting for very long.

The movie looks to course correct the Wolverine franchise after an abysmal opening salvo and 2/3rds of a good follow up. This is also Fox’ second R-rated X-Men Universe flick following last year’s Deadpool. But enough talking Let’s Talk About The New Logan Trailer: Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The New Beauty and the Beast Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

So in an effort to not only do breakdowns for action movies, comic book movies, and Star Wars movies I figured I’d give this a whirl. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great trailer and looks gorgeous it’s just not completely in my wheelhouse.

RDT and I have talked a lot about how Disney is remaking many of their classic animated movies as live action affairs. Beauty and the Beast follows Cinderella, The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, and of course the cinematic masterpiece 101 Dalmatians (Glenn Close’s finest work). This is just the start as they have upwards of 18 more live action versions in the pipe, like Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid. Basically your childhood brought to life.

Alright there’s a good deal to get into in this trailer so let’s not waste any more time. Let’s talk about the new Beauty and the Beast trailer: Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The New Wonder Woman Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

God dammit DC. Stop tricking me. You can’t give me three terrible movies that had good trailers and expect me to buy that this movie is going to be good.

Guys, this trailer is really good. DAMMIT! Maybe, just maybe, this is the movie that turns it around for the DCEU. Here’s hoping. As I’ve said before, I don’t want to hate these movies, that’s just where we are. Alright enough whining Let’s Talk About The New Wonder Woman Trailer: Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The Newest Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

Yep, still in for this movie.

This is the second full trailer we’ve gotten for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and it’s still pretty damn good. I won’t lie and say that it didn’t give me chills like the first one did but it doesn’t have to.

The trailer that came out today is what we’d call the “story trailer”, the trailer that tells the audience the basic story after they’ve presumably seen the “hype trailer”. Here we find out more about Jyn’s back story and connection to both the Empire and the Rebellion.

Don’t get me wrong though, this trailer still has a ton of awesome footage to unpack. Let’s not waste any more time and Let’s Talk About The Newest Rogue One: A Star Wars Story trailer:
Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The NEW “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

I’ve said it before I’ll say it again,  AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!1!One!!!!ExclamationPoint!!

That’s a damn good trailer. It’s no secret that 75% of the staff here at The Hollywood Picture News is really excited for this movie. (I’m looking at you Rick). Not only is it the first theatrical release to not directly deal with the Skywalker family, it also apparently has a much darker tone, it being more of a war movie after all. We get an actual sense of the universe the Rebel Alliance is dealing with in A New Hope and it’s not a nice place.

After seeing the teaser a few months ago and the costumes and character descriptions at Star Wars Celebration Europe we finally get a full trailer and let me just say I am SUPER in for this movie.

I don’t want to waste any more time, so Let’s Talk About The NEW “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” Trailer: Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About “The Mechanic: Resurrection” Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

I asked for it, and Hollywood answered. Sort of. I mean, I did say worthwhile trailers but this will have to do.

Full disclosure, I didn’t see the original The Mechanic (1972) or the 2011 remake. The latter sat in my DVR for years before I blew it away (I don’t know why, it just did). All that being said, I’m a big Jason Statham fan, and Jessica Alba still looks good so why not, right?

The basic premise of the first one in relation to this sequel is Jason Statham plays Arthur Bishop, an elite assassin whose marks are killed in a manner that looks like an accident. Bishop ends up going on a revenge spree after one of the few people he’s close to is killed. He also trains an apprentice who does not appear to be in the sequel. It looked like and was marketed as a dark thriller more than an action movie. This seems to have gone out the window for the newest entry. As for the plot of Resurrection well, let’s talk about the trailer. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

First off let me just say it’s been a while and I’ve missed you guys. I would like more worthwhile trailers please Hollywood! Anyway, today we get a new trailer for the Jack Reacher sequel Never Go Back and honestly, it’s a little paint by numbers. I didn’t hate it or anything, but it’s kinda just a Mission: Impossible trailer but instead of Tom Cruise being a spy he’s a Bourne-esque drifter with less tech and more Maria Hill er, Aunt Robin er, Colby Smulders.

For those unaware, there are 20 some-odd Jack Reacher stories out there from British author Lee Child. This one (shockingly) is based on the story “Never Go Back” where Jack has to clear his old C.O.’s name after being set-up. Punching and car chases ensue.

I remember the first movie as being a pretty decent modern action movie that, especially with all the source material, warranted a sequel. So here we have it. Why don’t we take some time and let’s talk about the Jack Reacher: Never Go Back trailer.  Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The “Assassin’s Creed” Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

Guys, is this the first video game movie that might actually be good? (Sorry Super Mario Bros. and Doom). It looks like it could break the curse. Maybe this summer’s Warcraft will, but I kinda doubt it.

Assassin’s Creed is based on the video game series of the same name. In it you play as two characters, one in a near future, and one in the distant past. Your future self is hooked into a machine called the Animus. Through the machine you are able to live out (read: play the game as) the inherent memories of your ancestor, who just so happened to be part of the Assassins Guild. Obviously. The Assassins are locked in a centuries long war with the Templar Knights, and this war rages on through modern times and has incorporated a group called Abstergo Industries. But, using your Assassin skills and parkour (no, seriously) you protect the world from an alien threat. Wait… what? Oh yeah, there is also some sort of weird back story about alien artifacts and stuff. It’s really confusing.

There are some great installments of the series, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is a swashbuckling pirate themed version. And then there are some real clunkers, Assassin’s Creed: Unity I’m looking in your direction. Let’s hope this flick falls closer to the former than the later. So without further ado, let’s talk about the Assassin’s Creed trailer. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk About The Final X-Men: Apocalypse Trailer

~ Loren Elliott ~ Leave a comment

First and foremost this is a MUCH better trailer. In fact, every trailer for this has been better than the last. I was having trouble getting into this flick for some reason, which is pretty weird seeing as how I have very much enjoyed the X-Men movies. You know, except for the absolutely terrible X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Those two are garbage. This trailer has gotten me back on track.

Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

The last two films have been an interesting take on the whole series, staying in the same continuity while simultaneously rebooting the franchise. It does leave a whole lot to be desired when it comes to trying to figure out the timeline. Luckily for them though, X-Men: Days of Future Past went and retconned a lot of the weirdness/bad decisions from previous installments. This does make watching the whole series of movies a lot more confusing, however.

X-Men: Apocalypse will most likely be the end of this prequel trilogy. These movies have gone through three decades, setting up the version of the X-Men we saw in the first film from 2000. This won’t be the last X-Men movie we’ll get, though. We still have the final Wolverine movie and Deadpool 2 with Cable and most likely double the X-Men we got in the first one. There’s also talk of an X-Force movie, as well as an X-Factor television series, and more than likely more traditional X-Men movies.

But for now, we should focus on this one so let’s talk about the final X-Men: Apocalypse trailer. Continue reading →