First off, I would like to confess to the world: I really suck at keeping an up-to-date blog. Are we clear on that? (pensive pause as the indifferent world answers with silence) Alright, moving on...
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So while biking between work and home I noticed a couple of cars with stickers like "End War" or "War is not the Answer," and I felt sorry for my peace-loving brethren. Obviously their message still hasn't been effectively communicated to this battle-scarred world of ours. I think it's time they try a different tactic. Instead of displaying their pacifist sentiments here in the USA, a program should be established to transport all our peace-loving brethren to the Middle East. There they can use their bumper-sticker summations of wisdom, peace-sign t-shirts, and John Lennon music to turn the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and various other Islamist insurgents from their violently coercive ways. I'm sure that a simple multi-cultural dialogue between idealistic college students and bloodthirsty zealots is the missing ingredient we need to add to the hopes-and-dreams stew to finally bring about an age of planetary Kumbaya.
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So during the superbowl (which, good Mormon as well as uninterested-in-sports-geek that I am, I did not watch) a veritable plethora of advertisements for new movies came out. I watched several of these half-minute montages of thrills, explosions, and stirring music on youtube. My thoughts:
Rango: LOVE THE MARIACHI OWLS! Looks beautifully animated, really original, and pretty dang funny. Love the bits of Johnny Depp's voice performance that you hear. Ever since I saw the first trailer towards the end of last year I've been really psyched for this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKbFcEHM4I0
Cowboys and Aliens: I have been very vocal about my excitement for this movie to my less enthused peers. Come on, it's Indiana Jones and James Bond in a cowboy movie, with FLIPPIN' ALIENS! This movie may have been #1 on my most-anticipated-for-2011 list, and now that I've seen the new sights from the super-bowl spot: I admit, I think it took my excitement down just a notch. Never fear, I shall stay faithful and fervent in my support for the film, but I kind of liked it better in the first trailer where I didn't see the space ships. It's true that the power of imagination almost always trumps the actual product. Still looks pretty awesome though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXNbpqc1gLE
Captain America: Looks pretty dang good and thrilling. They did a great job with the costume; it's the kind of thing that you wouldn't be sure of translating to the screen well, but the glimpses of it in action here all look glorious. I'm excited to see a superhero movie set in World War II, which hopefully should lend a distinctive spin and atmosphere to the superhero-origins genre that has become quite well-worn over the past decade. I just hope they don't water down Captain America's patriotic America-ness. The director's already made some comments that have rubbed me the wrong way; the trend in Hollywood now seems to be that America needs to act apologetic to the rest of world and that any suggestion of American exceptionalism must be wiped off the screen. But look, it's his name and his costume is the stars-and-stripes. I think it would make for a much more interesting chemistry-dynamic among the Avengers (basically Marvel comic's Justice League; Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and Hulk are all gonna meet up in the same movie in 2012) if they let his character stay old-fashioned in his love of country, letting him bounce off the more jaded personalities of the modern-set superheroes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnE4uzT7sro
Kung Fu Panda 2: The du-du-clap! of We Will Rock You totally got stuck in my head after watching this. I loved the first one. Hopefully the sequel can maintain the breezy fun of the first one. For some reason now I keep feeling the urge to exclaim "Shashapooi!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ote5aOIPpJQ
Thor: Well, this movie does have Anthony Hopkins in it so that automatically gives it some entertainment cred. It could be a lot of fun; it's got some awesome visuals anyways. Thor's gonna be the trickiest character to work in with the more grounded (for comic books, anyways) super heroes who will make up the Avengers. I hope it all works well. I wonder if the super hero genre's gonna run completely out of steam in a few years; we've just been bombarded with so many superhero movies and even superhero parodies over the past decade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTTGL-OxzGY
Super 8: They're going the Inception route with their advertising for this one, showing you barely nothing of the plot but just quick glimpses in the trailers. The plot details that have been announced is that it's about these kids in the late 70s making an amateur zombie movie with their Super 8 camera (hence, the title) by some train tracks when a military train transporting an alien gets derailed. ET breaks loose and apparently some creepy shenanigans follow. I might actually be more psyched about this movie than any other coming out this year. This movie is produced by Spielberg, directed by the JJ Abrams (who, after directing Mission Impossible 3 and Star Trek, in my mind can claim the popcorn throne as Spielberg's heir), and the glimpses from the trailer (combined with the very John Williams-esque music) does give it the feel of a vintage Spielberg fantasy film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu5dLtRnaOY
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Also, I just recently realized what would be the perfect, non-sinister application of memory-erasing technology should it ever be invented. Here's a real-life scenario: I watch a movie trailer and get really excited about the movie because the trailer is so awesome. As a devoted movie geek, I watch the trailer again and again. So, now I'm excited about the movie, but I've also now made myself very familiar with a lot of the "wow" moments and possibly even the plot points of the upcoming movie from its trailer. As such, my movie-going experience will be slightly-less-than-it-could-have-been as I ruined some of the element of surprise by watching the trailer. Now comes the sci-fi scenario answer: Thanks to memory-erasing technology I watch the trailer, get super-psyched for the movie, get my ticket for the movie, and then get mind-wiped just before I see it. I'll know, since I bought the ticket, that I was excited about this film, but I'll really have no idea what's about to come and thus can enjoy my first-time viewing experience to the fullest. Heck, I'd also use this stuff to keep wiping my mind before watching Star Wars movies (that way, when Vader drops the "I'm your father" line, I could really have my mind blown).
