For A Few Movies More

In the last couple of weeks it became official: Iron Man is one of the biggest and most popular superheroes of our time. Not so long ago the comic book heroes were resigned to live amongst the greasy thumbs and forefingers of the fanboys at Comic Kingdom, and flicker by the hypnotic stares of children every Superhero Saturday. For so long there was only room for Batman and Superman to rule the big screen, but new technologies paved the way for a web slinging teenager in a spider suit to make a lazy billion dollars every few years and it became only logical to give every hero and his superdog a chance at the big time. For every success – Bats, Spidey and the X-Men – there were more than a few misses; even Superman had a short lived revival. But in 2008 we had a new entry into the genre that would challenge the upper-echelons. Iron Man, well known in the comics but relying on the much more recognisable Robert Downey Jr to get the attention of the wider populace, starred in what was one of the best origins films ever made. And five years, three films and too many squillions of dollars later Tony Stark has become one of the most captivating, popular and simply entertaining characters out there. So what is it about this cocky, arrogant, entitled billionaire that makes him so great?

For the next  few editions of Scary Sunday, I’m going to be watching a plethora of movies. Namely, entire franchises. I’ll be writing mini overviews and reviews for each one…yes even the crappy direct-to-DVD/VHS/Beta max movies that should be avoided like the plague manifested as dysentery, or something icky, because that’s the kind of guy I am. Anyway, Let’s start things off with a simple trilogy. Scanners

Scanners (1980)

The films and books that you connect with when you’re a spritely little pre-teener, full of hope and driven solely by fun, are some of the purest experiences you will have with art and entertainment. You’re old enough to appreciate a good story, but not old enough for the trash of teenage lust, or the pre-tense of a budding hipster, or the decaying hope as you enter your late twenties, thirties and beyond. For myself, and countless other eighties babies, the children’s horror series Goosebumps was the perfect marriage. Combining fun and engaging writing with the supernatural, author R L Stine took us on a monthly escape with mummies, ghouls, ghosts, werewolves, witches, shrunken heads and a couple more mummies, with twists and turns, and an almost brutal ability finish each chapter teetering on a knife edge.

I couldn’t get enough (well, that is until I discovered Animorphs) so you can imagine the rush of nostalgia as I read the news that they are planning to bring Goosebumps to the big screen! My head was swirling with fond memories – admittedly most were of the joy of reading the series rather than the actual stories themselves, but I banded together with fellow FFMM writers Dean and Jason to put together a couple of our favourites which we would love to see re-imagined. We’re not sure how the film will be constructed as yet, but whether it is an amalgamation of a couple stories, one stand alone feature or even an anthology-style film, all I know is it will be awesome- or at least mildly entertaining like that TV series they did…

Read on for our picks

The three-piece is back and we talk remakes, lots of remakes. We’re also prepping for Iron Man 3 and rattling off the latest films we saw.

Movie of the Week: Rec 3: Genesis

Next Week: Indie Game

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Marvel has released the first full-length trailer for Thor the Dark World.

First impressions are important and this trailer has left a huge impression. Everything looks bigger and better than the first film. The visuals are still stunning as ever, the relationship between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Jane (Natalie Portman) looks more powerful, the Dark Elves appear to be a more sinister threat, and having Thor team up with Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is a great plot device brimming with potential. Thor The Dark World is absolutely splitting at the seams with exciting content, consider this viewer officially excited.

Watch the trailer below.

One of many thousands of fan made posters speculating on what form Star wars Episode VII will take. Hugo Weaving as Grand Admiral Thrawn, eh? I can see that working…

Recent news of the shutting down of LucasArts left a sour taste in the mouths of many Star Wars fans a few weeks back. But now Disney may well redeem itself in the eyes of the fans with promises of even more Star Wars goodness to come. At CinemaCon Las Vegas, Disney and LucasFilm announced that the highly anticipated Star Wars Episode VII is definitely set for release in the summer of 2015, and then there will be a new Star Wars film released every summer following that, alternating between the new trilogy, and the standalone films focusing on such characters as Boba Fett, Yoda, and Han Solo.

More details below.

Dean and Eden return with more news, more movies, more Batman and more podcast!

Movie of the Week: The Dark Knight Returns Parts I & II (warning on the spoilers. Highly recommend watching the films before listening to the last 20 minutes of the podcast)

Next Week: REC 3: Genesis

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I’m excited. Really, really excited. In fact I haven’t been quite this excited for any movie for an incredibly long time. So what’s got me all giddy with anticipation? Why the Evil Dead remake of course! A year ago I would have sworn to you that an Evil Dead remake would have meant nothing to me, it had to be Evil Dead 4 or nothing damn it! Who wants to see one of the most iconic and beloved horror films of all time get churned through the reboot machine. Surely not this viewer! Well it seems I was wrong on that account, as everything we’ve seen for this new take on the familiar story of demon possession looks phenomenal. Not to mention the early reviews for it have been almost unanimously positive across the board.

However, with all this hype being thrown around I could easily be setting myself up for a long, hard fall. I hope not, but I will admit that there are a few nagging doubts about whether director Fede Alvarez will be able to craft a remake that will appeal to both hardcore fans of the original, as well as absolute newcomers. With that in mind I’ve created the following list of things I would love to see in the new Evil Dead remake. Not all of the items listed below will necessarily make or break the film, but they were to be included they would certainly make me smile, or recoil in delighted disgust. Either is good.

Also just as a note, I know very little about this reboot. I have only skimmed reviews for their overall scores and I have watched no clips from the film. So just be aware that some of the items listed below may have already been revealed or debunked. But either way, let’s rev up the chainsaw and get stuck into it shall we?

Check out the list below.

Producer Michael Bay and director Jonathan Liebesman have at last revealed who will be playing the heroes in a half shell in their upcoming Ninja Turtles reboot.

Details below.

The FFMM podcast is back bigger and better than ever! Well actually it is noticeably shorter and the quality of a podcast is a relatively subjective metric…but we are definitely back! Well not all of us – Lee is off til next week – but there is plenty of movie news, What To Watch, and some film discussion.

Movie of the Week is back next week with The Dark Knight Returns animation from DC Comics. Parts I & II.

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