Awesome: Destiny Character Development Video

Destiny

In case you weren’t aware, Bungie is working on a new game. In case you didn’t see it, here is a video they screened at GDC about developing their characters.

Damn this game looks good so far. I am holding out pretty high hopes for this one. I might be let down, but on the other hand it’s Bungie.

What do you guys think?

[More info about the game here](http://www.destinythegame.com)

Review: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

GI Joe Retaliation

My biggest problem with 2009s _G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra_ was that it says just too generic. G.I. joe was always about colourful characters and ridiculous world domination plots and while it certainly had the latter it definitely lacked the former.

Retaliation fixes that first problem, mostly by casting Dwayne Johnson but also by adding Ry Stevenson and Jonathan Pryce. That’s not to say its perfect though, as it also adds Adrianne Palicki and D.J. Cotrona, the former of whom seems to phone in everything except her admittedly smoking hot body and the latter of which does pretty much precisely nothing except occasionally admire the formers admittedly smoking hot body.

Jonathan Pryce in particular has a ball playing Zartan playing the president, but it’s Johnson who anchors the film and he does a great job doing it. He’s perfectly suited to a movie that’s all about the action and explosions, not because he’s bad but because he buys in more than any of the other Joes that aren’t killed in the first reel. That would be a spoiler except that its in the trailer.

Channing Tatum is also nice to see and he has good chemistry with Johnson, and when Bruce Willis shows up he’s his usual Bruce Willisy self. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s not exactly extraordinary either.

The plot is pretty basic and picks up a few years after the last film ended. Zartan is still the president. Joes still fight the bad guys. Cobra still wants to take over the world. Many explosions ensue. Zartan has the Joes and attacked and the few that survive fight the good fight.

That’s pretty much literally it. This movie isn’t rocket science it’s a toy commercial, remember? Cobra takes over the White House after the Joes are eliminated and the proceed to try to take over the world. They come pretty close too, and even blow up London –also not a spoiler as it’s in the trailer, but what’s not in the trailer is that they’ve actually clearly targeted Birmingham on the map– which elicits … well, nothing really. It happens and then no one ever mentions it again.

Also, Snake Eyes is half way around the world for most of this and leads his own subplot for the first and second act. Yes, the nameless, faceless, silent guy is the main character in his own separate thing for most of the movie. Of course if this movie were trying to sell character development that’d be a problem but since it’s trying to sell ninjas fighting on mountains and men with guns blowing things up it’s not really a problem at all.

The film’s main problem then is that it’s not really tense. There’s no real feeling of peril in the film. Even with 99% of the Joes dying in the first act it never feels like any of them are ever in any real danger. It’s not boring either, the action is well executed, it just falls somewhere in between. There aren’t any real surprises except possibly what new cars and guns they are going to show up to the next scene in.

So that’s it really. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is not a bad film and if you like movies with explosions you could do a lot worse this weekend. For those of you who had the toys growing up you can rest easy that yes this at least looks and feels like a G.I. Joe movie which is a welcome change from the previous one. There are plot holes you could drive a tank through but when it comes right down to it? I had fun watching this movie and that’s all that really matters with a movie like this.

**Rating: 7/10 **
[rating=7]

Get a Load of These New Iron Man Armours

So the wrost kept secret in the world is that in Iron Man 3 the newest and shiniest suit you’ve seen in all the posters and trailers is called “Mark XLVII” and that the reason for that is that Tony has built 40 new suits between the Mark VII seen in the Avengers and Iron Man 3.

Well, we’re starting to get a glipse of them thanks to the [Iron Man Facebook Page](https://www.facebook.com/ironman)

Here’s what we have so far:

im3-heartbreaker

im3-heartbreaker-full

Heartbreaker is my favourite so far, mostly because it looks so much like the suit from The Ultimates.

More after the jump.

Continue reading “Get a Load of These New Iron Man Armours”

New Iron Man 3 TV Spot Confirms Pepper Wearing a Suit

ironman3-pepper

Yeah, you read that right. There’s a new Iron Man TV Spot and Pepper is wearing the suit in it. Watch:

This is the first of the Iron Man 3 trailers to piss me off. This is pepper wearing the new armour (doesn’t look like her own) which means at some point she’s going to uit up and it’s probably going to be a surprise to her and _it should be a surprise to us too._ I’m sure there is more going on than just her wearing the suit and there’s a lot to be said for wondering _”what’s she going to do in the suit??”_ but for myself I’d rather have been completely surprised by it.

Well, maybe not completely surprised since Pepper gets her own suit in the comics, but I’d rather have not known it was coming anyway.

Awesome New Ender’s Game Poster Heads for the Battle Room

[Yahoo Movies has a new Ender’s Game poster and it’s freaking awesome](http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/ender-s-game/photos/ender-s-game-stills-slideshow/ender-s-game-poster-watermark-photo–1573263477.html).

Ender's Game

If you’ve read the books (or the title of this post) you know where this is. Ender is at the door to the battle room, the zero garv training room that Battle School uses to train recruits. I seriously can’t wait to see this in real life.

Fansite [Ender’s Ansible](http://www.endersansible.com/2013/03/25/enders-game-teaser-poster/) has a breakdown on some of the details of the poster but be warned that it’s a bit spoilery if you haven;t read the books.

Ender’s game is set to release 1st November.

Now, which way is the enemy’s gate??

Hummingbird Trailer Has Jason Statham doing what Jason Statham Does Best

hummingbird

Have you seen that Jason Statham movie where he’s a bad guy with a good heart? Yeah, so have I, but this one seems to be a bit different. Check it out.

Can’t quite put my finger on what’s different. Maybe it’s that he starts with nothing and we get to see all the context? Or maybe it’s just been too long since Jason Statham made a proper Jason Statham movie.

This one comes out May 17th in the UK, no release date for this side of the pond just yet.

Riddick Teaser Isn’t Afraid of the Dark or Repeating Plots

Riddick

So Riddick is actually happening. Here’s a teaser.

I loved Pitch Black and I liked Chronicles of Riddick so i am holding out a hope that this turns out ok. However, a teaser that doesn’t show much a repeat of the characters most famous line isn’t exactly going very far to convince me.

Awesome: Robert Redford in Talks to Join the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Robert Redford

[Mike Fleming Jr. Writing for Deadline](http://www.deadline.com/2013/03/marvel-surprise-robert-redford-in-talks-to-star-in-captain-america-the-winter-soldier/):

> EXCLUSIVE: Here is a fun Marvel scoop. I’m hearing that Robert Redford is in discussions to join the cast of Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the sequel that brings Chris Evans back as the shield-carrying superhero. Redford is in talks to play a senior leadership role in S.H.I.E.L.D., the superhero collective run by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury character.

Please let this be true. Redford would make an amazing addition to the film and the MCU. No word on who he’d be playing specifically but it’s sounding like Nick Fury might be subbordinate to him (as in, he might be one of the council members as seen in Avengers 2). My favourite theory so far though is thathe might turn out to be original Nick Fury and that Nick Fury is just a codename that Samuel L Jackson’s character currently happens to have. Hey, it could happen.

Word is that if he signs Redford will sign a Marvel standard contract which means he’d be showing up in any/all future marvel films too.

As everyone else is pointing out, that’s great, but also kind of ironic for the guy who founded the biggest indie film festival there is to become a regular player in some of the biggest blockbusters of the next few years.

Either way, I’m excited to see this happen.

New Trance Trailer, Complete with Dubstep and Danny Boyle

Trance

So Danny Boyle made a new film, and in case you had any doubt here’s a trailer.

I love that this trailer references Shallow Grave, a film that appears to be simiilarly in the “people trying to screw each other over whilst being slightly crazy” genre. If anyone can spin that yarn it’s Danny Boyle. That it’s full of great actors doesn’t exactly hurt either.

I still wish I’d known about this before I’d written my ‘[most anticipated of the year](https://awesomefriday.ca/2013/01/matts-most-anticipated-of-2013/)’ post.

Welcome to the Punch Trailer

welcome_to_the_punch

Yearing for that certain type of crime film that only the UK can provide? Looks like Welcome to the Punch might provide it.

It’s already out in the UK and should be coming soon to North America. Does it look interesting to anyone other than myself?

Review: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is more just The Pretty OK Burt Wonderstone

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

I’d like to preface this by saying that I went into this movie with incredibly low expectations. I think that might be why I had an OK time watching it. But that’s the problem really, is that it’s never more than just an OK time.

The structural problem here is that when it comes to the plot there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, and when it comes to the magic it’s nowhere near as inventive as I imagine it could have been.

What do I mean? Well have you seen that movie where the main character as a kid was bullied and then found a way (in this case magic) to overcome his awkwardness and then grows up into a total douchebag, then loses everything and has to learn how to be a nice guy again to regain everything and be better off than before? Also, the only girl who has ever rejected him and endures YEARS of his being a total ass and then starts to forgive him at the first sign of him not being such a dick? Also also, he has a falling out with his best friend and partner over his inability to change but eventually reconciles once he’s learned to be a good person again while they’ve spent time apart?

I could go on, but I don’t have to, literally every character arc in this movie is something you’ve seen before and none of it is particularly well executed, which is a shame when you consider the list of amazing actors they’ve assembled.

Steve Carell is as good as he’s ever been at selling his deadpan reactions to the ridiculous but his character is all over the map, both a scheming evil genius asshole and an idiot AND just a normal nice guy, and the film can’t seem to decide which it wants him to start out as or grow into.

Steve BUscemi is the best friend and the film just wastes him. He’s basically Donny from _The Big Lebowski_ again, the character everyone just abuses without thinking.

Olivia Wilde is the girl, and she’s great. By far the most engaging and relatable but her story arc is also by far the most predictable and in the end she’s really just around to let us know that Steve Carell’s character arc is over. Which she does by sleeping with him. I would have warned you thats a spoiler but you’ve seen this movie before so it isn’t.

Alan Arkin also shines, as per usual, as the aging magician who originally inspired the main character and then also coincidentally shows up to help reignite his passion. Again, he’s great, but it’s just so damn predictable.

Jim Carry is the bad guy, a Criss Angel type douchebag with hints of David Blaine’s endurance tests and self harm thrown in. I suppose it’s something that I really did hate his character, that’s the point of an antagonist after all, but I also can’t remember laughing at much of what he did. One gag in the middle and his big final trick and that’s really it.

And then there’s the magic itself which you’d think they’d use to great comic effect but they just…. don’t. They try a few times but it always seems so forced and obvious that it falls flat and the one time they really go behind the scenes of a trick it’s the intricacies of the big comeback trick and it’s during the credits and while it was genuinely funny it also completely undercuts the ending.

I feel like this is a movie that might have been hampered by it’s rating. If it had been R rated they might have been able to actually explain the dichotomy of smart and stupid that Burt Wonderstone is with something like alcoholism and had it make sense, they might also have been able to go behind the scenes and show some of the nitty gritty of the business, but none of that happens.

Instead we’re left with a kinda funny movie instead of the hilarious romp that it could have been.

**Rating: 3/10
[rating=3]**