‘Venom’ Trailer Looks Intriguing — Except for Venom Itself

I hate Venom, the Marvel Comics villain-turned-anti-hero spun off from The Amazing Spider-Man, so I am definitely not the target audience for Venom, the movie. That would be 13-year-old boys who think the stylized hyper-violence of the comic is cool, and love the idea of a character whose costume is not only alive, but fights its wearer, Eddie Brock, for control over Brock’s body.

The new trailer for Venom was just leaked to the interwebs, compelling the studio to officially release it earlier than planned. Apparently far earlier than planned, because the worst thing about the clip is the appearance of Venom itself.

The title character is supposed to be a mix of actor and CGI, but it clearly needs to spend more time in rendering. Green Lantern also tried to pull this off back in 2011, and we all know what an unmitigated disaster that turned out to be!

This Sony film is centered on a Marvel character, but it is not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (like the Avengers and Spider-Man), which is unfortunate because Venom’s comic book origin is intimately tied to Spidey and his supporting cast; with Peter Parker and pals off-limits, the movie has to manufacture a new origin for Venom, and it’s… weak.

It’s also part of this trailer. See what you think:

‘Solo’ Official Trailer Shows Why Studio Waited So Long To Drop It

The first official full trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story dropped overnight, and while it’s not quite a snooze, nothing in it made me sit up and pay attention, either. In fact, if anything, I was disappointed by the lack of imagination on display.

Overall, I can see why the studio waited so long to release a real trailer: Curiosity is the only thing that’s going to bring the casual viewer in to see this Han Solo origin story, so maintaining the mystery about what it actually is, seems to be the best bet. The more I learn about Solo, the less excited I am about it.

A train robbery? Really? That old saw? Sure, it’s “in space,” but c’mon, FIREFLY already did that years ago, not to mention Sucker Punch!

Almost Christmas Means Almost Time for DOCTOR WHO Christmas Special!

Two versions of the Doctor — the 12th (Peter Capaldi) and the First (recreated by David Bradley) — team with returning companion Bill (Pearl Mackie) and Mark Gatiss‘ Captain to battle a brand-new threat that has frozen time in “Twice Upon a Time,” this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special.

Here’s another clip that teases the action!

First ‘Stargate: Origins’ Footage Teases Series Story

After twice tweaking fans with behind-the-scenes footage, Stargate Command has finally released a teaser trailer that hints at what will happen in the series when it premieres on Feb. 15, 2018.

While it is difficult to piece together what might happen, we do see Catherine Langford (Ellie Gall) in the clutches of Nazi Germany’s dreaded SS; lots of guns and running; constellations (stargate addresses?), notably Orion, scrawled in a notebook; Egyptian-style architecture — and a stargate chevron locking on the symbol for Earth.

Japanese ‘Black Panther’ Trailer Boasts New Footage

 

The just-released international trailer for Black Panther contains a significant amount of new footage and dialogue not seen in either version of the first domestic trailer, shedding more light on the characters and hinting at the film’s storyline.

We also get a slightly clearer look at Andy Serkis‘ villain — Ulysses Klaue a.k.a. the supervillain Klaw — using the sonic device on his left arm. (We saw his arm get chopped off in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.) There are also some nice shots of Michael B. Jordan as the film’s Big Bad, Erik Killmonger.

Does this new international trailer make you more excited to see Black Panther when it opens Feb. 16, 2018, in the USA and on March 1 in Japan?

First Trailer for ‘Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom’ Drops

One of the most surprising hits of 2015, Jurassic World, gets its inevitable sequel with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, featuring the return of cinema’s most beloved man-child, Chris Pratt, and his counterweight, the more mature Bryce Dallas Howard.

And, almost equally inevitably, the sequel’s first trailer stinks worse than a giant mound of dinosaur poop. As Samuel L. Jackson said in the original Jurassic Park (1993): “Hold on to yer butts!”

I am very, very disappointed in this trailer, which tells me Fallen Kingdom is going to be just more of the same. More goofy Owen (Pratt), more uptight Claire (Howard) — well, maybe she’s loosened up a bit — more bubble cars, more annoying kids and yet another heavy-armed “rescue mission,” but this time to save the dinos, not people, trapped on the island. And, on top of all that, we get Jeff Goldblum as the pompous Dr. Ian Malcolm one more time, as well as B.D. Wong as the conniving geneticist, Dr. Henry Wu.

‘Stargate: Origins’ Wraps Production

Production has wrapped on Stargate: Origins, the 10-episode web-only series that will serve as a prequel to the 1994 movie, the three live-action TV series, two direct-to-video movies and several comic book series. (We do not speak of the non-canon, short-lived animated series. Or the five non-canon novels.)

The new show focuses on Catherine Langford (Ellie Gall), whose father, Professor Langford (Connor Trineer, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE; STARGATE: ATLANTIS) uncovers the stargate in Egypt in 1928. However, no one understands what it is. Presumably this series will explain how Catherine gets the idea that the giant metal ring is supposed to do something.

‘The New Mutants’ Film Scares Up its First Poster

This spring will see the debut of a new group of superheroes who are mutants, but not part of the X-Men, and their movie aims to be nothing like the complicated long-running franchise featuring their elders.

Today’s release of the creepy first poster for The New Mutants confirms that director Josh Boone is going all-in on something totally new: a superhero horror movie.

“We are making a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe,” Boone (The Fault in our Stars) said. “There are no costumes. There are no supervillains. We’re trying to do something very, very different.”

Debuting back in the 1980s, The New Mutants (created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod)  comic book series featured a handful of youngsters gathered by X-Men mentor Professor Xavier, who intended to teach them how to control their powers, but not for the purpose of being superheroes. However, events conspired to force the fledgling team into battle.

What’s a Jaeger? The Heroes of ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’

An extended version of the Pacific Rim: Uprising trailer has been released that includes a featurette on the Jaegers, the giant robots that battle the giant monsters known as Kaiju.

Designed as a sort of recruiting film for prospective Jaeger pilots, this primer is part instructional, part propaganda. It’s the sort of expanded universe trope that reminds me of Kaiju Emergency Alert System. If you haven’t seen the first movie, this video will tell you just about all you need to know about these cool robots.

So, what exactly is a Jaeger?

The First ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Trailer Is Here, and It Is Everything!

This is it: Every movie in the Marvel Studios line of superhero films has been leading up to Avengers: Infinity War, and the House of Ideas has finally dropped the first trailer promoting its ultimate achievement. If this movie tanks, all 18 films Marvel has put on the screen over the past 10 years will have been for nothing.

But from the looks of this trailer, AIW will not tank. In fact, it looks like the biggest, baddest superhero movie ever. It looks positively epic!

Not only do we get to see Peter Parker’s Spidey Sense make its franchise debut, we get a bearded Captain America, a blonde Black Widow, Thanos without his helmet, Doctor Strange, Loki wielding the Cosmic Cube… I mean, the Tesseract, the cool Black Panther — and those A-holes, the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Take a deep breath. Just breathe.