Hello everyone! Today marks the premier of the first episode of the new podcast Silverwolf Speaks. Released irregularly, this podcast will involve friends and I discussing every pop culture topic imaginable from the popular to the barely known. This episode features special guest Elessar, writer of the blog Arenor Productions.
Today’s episode discusses everything from upcoming superhero films to comics to favorite Transformers characters. Enjoy!
Be sure to also check out Fenrir’s in-depth review of the film.
Starshine: Hello everyone! And welcome to another action-packed edition of Objection! This week we’ll be discussing the new Baz Luhrmann film, The Great Gatsby. As always I am Starshine.
Silverwolf: And I’m Silverwolf! Personally, I thought the film was great and have few complaints. My compatriot, as you’d expect, holds a different viewpoint.
Starshine: I do indeed. I thought it was an incredibly disappointing film and adaptation. While there are some things to be praised about it, I think it falls flat on its face.
Silverwolf: What do you think were some of the films biggest failings?
Last week the box office partied like it was 1925 with the release of the Baz Luhrmann’s highly anticipated adaptation of that high-school English class classic: The Great Gatsby. The masses flocked to the cinema to get a glimpse of America’s favorite novel about the American dream—hint, it’s actually not about the American dream—remastered with hip song mash-ups, glittering CG backdrops, and perhaps one of the best performances by Leonardo DiCaprio as the charismatic, Jay Gatsby.
Unfortunately the critics seem to be snubbing the film, and with a dismal score of 49% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film stands in some sort of limbo: it seems you either hate it and think it’s a travesty to the memory of F. Scott, or you don’t and seek to defend it till the bitter-end. So what does this English major think of the film? Well – I can only say this much: You really can’t relive the past, and if you’re going to walk into this film, you got to let go of your expectations of the novel in order to give Luhrmann’s vision a chance.
Yesterday the news that was buzzing around the internet was the looming negotiations between Robert Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios since Downey’s contract had expired after the release of Iron Man 3. As one of the best paid actors in the Marvel movie franchise (reportedly earning $50 million for The Avengers), Downey has been in four movies total, and is now in talks to be in the remaining films of the Avengers trilogy. As of this morning, however, it has been reported that in these negotiations, there has been no mention of Iron Man 4. There could be several reasons for this including Downey’s other projects, a desire to retire in the near future, a discussion of a shortened contracted to allow for re-negotiations later, or perhaps that he is going to bow out as Iron Man after the third Avenger’s film.
The main theory that seems to be rampant about the whole affair is that Downey is using his leverage as Marvel’s biggest bread winner to force Marvel to re-negotiate for the rest of the cast by threatening to not appear for Iron Man 4. Marvel has a history with issues concerning actor’s salaries for various films. Samuel L. Jackson fought for better pay back in 2009, and Terrence Howard was dropped from the role of Lt. Col James Rhodes when he demanded higher pay, only to be replaced in subsequent Iron Man films by Don Cheadle. Chris Hemsworth has reportedly not yet been signed up for Avengers 2, and there are rumors that Scarlett Johansson is not going to take a pay cut for said film. Marvel has already threatened to replace Hemsworth in the film, or to remove the Thor character from the film all together. Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L Jackson are all signed on for the project, which is set to release in 2015.
If the negotiations do not work in Downey’s favor and he is dropped, many fans agree that it would be hard to see anyone but him piloting that iconic metal suit on screen.
Note: This discussion includes spoilers for the film Iron Man 3. Also be sure to check out Starshine’s review of the movie.
Silverwolf: Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Objection! This time, Judge and I are discussing our opinions on Marvel’s latest film, Iron Man 3. I personally thought it was a solid film, not the best Marvel movie but definitely in the Top 3.
Judge: Hey there, it’s the recluse editor-in-chief Judge here, filling the other side of the debate. While I thought the movie was good, there were a few things that prevented me from placing it in the Top 3, like Silverwolf suggests.
Summer blockbuster season has exploded onto the cinematic venue with one of the single biggest releases of the summer lineup, Iron Man 3. After the highly successful Avengers film, everyone was waiting on baited breath to see if this new film would surpass the less-than-well-received Iron Man 2 and continue Marvel’s streak of creating engaging, well written superhero films. So does it succeed? Is it a majestic train wreck? Does it stand a good chance of beating the Man of Steel as the superhero movie of the summer?
Let’s take a look at Iron Man 3.
There are only a few horror movie classics which fit neatly into their respective sub-genres rather than redefining them. Night of the Living Dead helped to shape what a zombie movie should be, Psycho (besides being the first movie to show a toilet on screen) is the definitive thriller, and Halloween is one of the most iconic slasher films of all time that helped to skyrocket the genre into fame. But The Evil Dead is nestled comfortably within the funhouse horror subgenre, where gore reigns supreme and your plot doesn’t have to make tons of sense. So how does the reboot fair in this respect? Does it work at all when the original film did it so well?
Let’s look at the Raimi and Campbell produced film, Evil Dead.
Oh Tom Cruise movies! The majority are schlockly crap made to promote him. Honestly, he only had one good film with A Few Good Men, maybe Jerry McGuire and Tropic Thunder if you stretch it. I have nothing against him personally, but his movies don’t tend to be very deep, compelling, or interesting to me (all a matter of opinion). But I’m nothing if not an almost fair and impartial judge of films, so when I saw this movie was going to be out in theaters, I thought “Well, it could be good for a laugh, at least.” After all, I wasn’t going to turn down the only major sci-fi flick coming out this year besides the sequel to Star Trek. But the movie I got was certainly not the one I expected.
Let’s take a look at the newest sci-fi release this year, Oblivion.
In the wake of mega-projects appearing on Kickstarter, like the Double Fine game (making over $3 million) and the upcoming Veronica Mars movie (making over 5 million dollars), Zach Braff has now taken to crowd-funding website with his own film idea.
Wish I Was Here is a film similar in tone to his previous film Garden State, but rather than reflecting on his 20s, Braff decided to make a film about finding himself in his 30s. The film, written by him and his brother Adam, revolves around Aidan, a 35 year old father of two who must attempt to home-school his children all while struggling to figure out what he wants in life, reverting back to childhood fantasies of being a Space-Knight.
Concept designs for the film.
Braff states in the Kickstarter video that he wanted to use Kickstarter so that he would be able to have full creative control over the project, rather than producers who he refers to as “money guys.” Braff is offering several benefits like art prints, tee shirts, and online screenings of his films to his backers at even the lowest levels of donation. At the time of writing, the Kickstarter has earned just over $280,000 out of its set goal of $2 million after only being live for a few hours. If you would like to donate to the film, click here.
It looks like we’ll be seeing more White Goodman, Ben Stiller’s character in 2004′s Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, in the future. It’s about damn time. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox and Stiller’s production company, Red Hour Films, have tapped Clay Tarver to pen the script for the sequel, which will reportedly see rivals Goodman and Peter La Fleur (Vince Vaughn) team up to battle an even greater force.
For those of you who don’t know who Clay Tarver is, here’s some background info:
Here’s hoping that we hear more info on what is, in my humble opinion, one of the best comedies in the past decade and one of Stiller’s best.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m a lot dumber than you thought that I think that I thought that I was once.”
–White Goodman
