Cats: First Trailer For The Lloyd Webber Musical Adaptation Is Here And What The F@*K Did I Just Watch?

Universal has debuted the first official trailer for Tom Hooper’s big new movie musical Cats, based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s famous Broadway show and what the fuck did I just watch?

‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ Trailer Looks Epic

Almost exactly a year since the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the follow-up is set to debut. Once again directed by Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug picks up immediately after its predecessor, continuing the journey of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, who reluctantly teams up with a group of Dwarves and the great wizard Gandalf to retrieve their gold from the vicious dragon Smaug.

The majority of the cast from the first film returns, Martin Freeman (Sherlock), Ian McKellen (X-Men), and Hugo Weaving (The Matrix) to name a few, but the more exciting news is the additions to the cast that include Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, Sherlock), returning LOTR’s star Orlando Bloom, and Fast & Furious 6 villain Luke Evans. The trailer’s a bit long, coming in around 3 minutes, but it does a pretty stellar job of showcasing the scale of this film. While I wasn’t that excited before, this trailer’s finally convinced me. Check it out:

This trailer is pretty awesome, but what scares me is the trailer for the first Hobbit was pretty damn good too. Going into that knowing this series was set up for a trilogy, I found I was able to simply enjoy it and have fun, without looking for an actually fulfilling story. That worked cause it was simply setting up the characters, but at the same time, it led on that it’d be this epic journey, when in actuality it was a small adventure. This again looks to be an epic journey, and hopefully it can skip the exposition of teaching us the characters, and move past seceding the story to preserve for the third film. Also, the addition of Cumberbatch is always welcomed. Even in voice alone, he is a force to reckon with, and makes me that much more excited for the film.

Lastly, it’ll be interesting to see the ticket sales this time around for the HFR (48 Frames per a second) because last year people were selecting to see it that way to check out this “new form of cinema”, but this time they most likely have an opinion on it (and most likely negative). To me, I didn’t mind it too much, I thought the scenes of character’s faces and of the landscape were beautiful, but the special effects stood out like a sour thumb, and the majority of people I’ve talked to really disliked it.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is due out December 13th.

‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ – Viral Website Reveals Bolivar Trask and Sentinels!

That Bryan Singer is one sneaky little bleeder. Over the past few months Singer has done a superb job at raising the excitement levels of X-Men: Days of Future Past by dropping sneaky little Tweets and Instagram shots of new characters, costumes, set design and those beautiful character posters during Comic Con.

Now the promo job seems to have set itself into viral mode with the launch of www.Trask-Industries.com. The website itself was launched a little while ago during San Diego Comic Con, but at that time there was very little up on the site. Today there seems to have been a major update that gives us our first shot of everyone’s favorite Lannister, Peter Dinklage, in full 70’s Bolivar Trask get up.

We are also treated to a great little propaganda style Trask Industries infomercial explaining how, if the X-Gene is allowed to continue propagating without limit, that homo sapiens could cease to exist by the year 2030.

The website also gives us a nifty little bit of X-history with a timeline of the Sentinel program as well as the big reveal of the Sentinels themselves.

Now, this all sets up the premise and tone of the film very nicely and obviously starts to point us towards the dystopian future that Wolverine, Kitty Pride and the rest of the X-team inhabit. I imagine that most of the material used here, or at least the premise it sets up, will be covered briefly within the opening scenes or credits of the film once it is released. In the meantime it gives us good insight into were they are going with the film. One of X-Men: First Class’ main accomplishments I feel was the tone. By the looks of things so far, Bryan Singer has really picked up on that and is stylistically aiming to conjoin the two cinematic threads.

I particularly like the ‘Mutants are the Enemy’ posters that were popping up around SDCC and on the web. which you can see more of at the link above.

There are a few things that worry me about X-Men: DOFP, though. I loved X-Men: First Class. In my opinion it was the strongest of all the X-films (I wonder how many more X-idioms I can use). It’s my opinion that the film that X-Men: DOFP bridges First Class with (X-Men: The Last Stand) is probably the worst. Singer revealed to UK magazine Empire that the future set parts take place 10 years after The Last Stand. This leaves a lot of questions to be answered, such as how Professor X is now inhabiting the body of Patrick Stewart again, and not that bloke in the bed who he ‘mind-swapped’? Also, there does seem to be a rather bloated cast. Will there be enough time to give them all the screen time they deserve and not turn it into the cameo fest that was The Last Stand.

Ultimately, this could all be explained very easily and done satisfyingly. I for one am more excited to see this and hopefully Singer and co. will pull out all the stops to avoid X-fanboy ire.

X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters on May 23, 2014.

Doctor Who Returns in the New Christmas Special Trailer

Here is a treat for all you Doctor Who fans who have struggled through the mid-season break. Uproxx have put up the trailer for the Christmas special called The Snowmen. So without further a due here it is!

Now I have to be brutally honest here. Most of the Doctor Who Christmas specials I felt suffered because they were a bit rubbish. Some people may hate me for saying it, but I just felt they all lack a decent story and feel like padding for the new series. But this trailer has some interesting elements in it which I hope proves me wrong. For a start it is great to see Richard E. Grant playing a sinister character. The killer snowmen look great, even though they do remind me of the horror movie Jack Frost . Obviously the big talking point of this is the fact that Jenna-Louise Coleman is back.

So the big question is how is she back in this? First off, *SPOILERS AHEAD* for those who haven’t fully caught up on Doctor Who because there are still quite a few of you not yet on the bandwagon. I can think of three ways she could return. She could have come back in time (obviously thanks to the Doctors help) like River Song in the previous series, she could have survived her death (highly doubtful as she seems human here and the planet she was on exploded, a tough thing to come back from) or she is a new character and we are meant to forget she was in an episode. This seems silly I know but it has happened before, most famously with Colin Baker who was a villain in one episode and then later on became the Doctor him. Actress Freema Agyeman played companion Martha Jones but also played a character called Adeola in Army of Ghosts. The writers made out that Adeola was Martha’s cousin. So there are quite a few options the writers could have used to bring her back. The fun part will be seeing which one they use. She has such a great chemistry with Matt Smith and this is all from the one episode they were in, I think she will make a great companion. One final note, at the very start of the episode did anyone else notice the snowman voice over? It is Gandalf himself, Sir Ian Mckellen, who is voicing the evil snowman.

Finally, as a special Christmas gift for all you Who fans out there, here is the short Doctor Who special that was filmed for Children in Need reintroducing us to a now very bah humbug Doctor.

 

‘The Hobbit’ Pictures (Including Elvish Fabulousness)

I’m sort of looking forwards to The Hobbit films – I’m not quite sure how it’s going to cope with being three films, but I liked The Lord of The Ring enough (and Peter Jacksons other stuff) to hold off on judgement until they are released.

And now we have some pictures! These are going to be published in a 2013 annual for the first film but they’ve already leaked out (messy) via Uproxx.

First up we have a great looking group shot of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and all the dwarves – all looking moody as they tramp off on their quest.

There are 13 dwarves in all and I’ve no idea what most of them are called. I do know that the lead dwarf is Thorin Oakenshield – played by Richard Armitage – seen her with Aidan Turner as Kili (the pretty dwarf) and…some other dwarf.

Here is Aidan Turner again looking all mean, moody and, dare I say, sexy. Surely dwarves should not look this hot.

Two more dwarves. I’m pretty sure the one on the right is Scottish actor Ken Stott, so that would make it Balin.

And here are three more battle ready dwarves (Happy, Bashful and Doc…maybe?)

They all look great but what we all want to see is Lee Pace as Elvenking Thranduil ( Legolas’ Dad). And here he is in all his camp, elvish glory.

Is that not the most fabulous crown you ever did? Coupled with the finest eyebrows in all of Middle Earth. No wonder he’s king.

So, anywho, the first film The Unexpected Journey is out in early December.

CCI 2012: Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit” Panel Creates Anticipation for December

Those Lord of the Rings fans who went there and back again to Comic-Con International were rewarded for their line-waiting devotion.

This past weekend Peter Jackson took to the Hall H stage with screenwriter Philippa Boyens and actors Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen (it should be noted he received a standing ovation), Richard Armitage, Andy Serkis, and Elijah Wood, who was a surprise guest.  The panel started with a showing of the latest behind-the-scenes video blog that Jackson has been faithfully providing fans via the official Facebook fan page.  Then Jackson revealed a full 12 and a half minutes scenes from both parts of The Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey (out this December) and There and Back Again (December 2013).  A detailed description of each scene revealed can be found at Cinemablend.com or on Entertainment Weekly’s Inside Movies site.

Several seemingly minor yet key announcements and decisions rolled out during the panel.

First, Jackson chose to avoid screening his clips using 3D and 48 frames per second, a decision most likely based on the mixed reaction he received when he did this at Cinema-Con; this may have been in his best interest as the scenes were welcomed far more openly than they were at the previous convention.

Also, Jackson noted that he had shot enough footage to create extended editions of the films or possibly produce a third film.  The Internet has been filled with these speculations for the last few days, but Variety says otherwise.  A studio representative said there was no “planned surprise,” and that “The plan was always for two” (Variety.com).  Time will reveal how this pans out, but Jackson may have to just settle with some whopping extended editions.

A third announcement that should excite the women (or invoke the wrath of LotR die-hards) comes in the form of another female elf named Tauriel played by Evangeline Lilly.  Philippa Boyens wanted more “feminine energy” in the films: “We believe it’s completely within the spirit of Tolkien” (Wall Street Journal).  Come December, we’ll see whether or not this is true.

Finally, a fan questioned Jackson on his intentions for a Silmarillion movie.  Entertainment Weekly reported that Jackson said he wouldn’t live long enough to pull it off, and he hinted that the Tolkien estate, owning the rights to the Silmarillion, does not like his movies (Entertainment Weekly).  Despite being some of the biggest films of all time, The Lord of the Rings films do not always stay true to Tolkien’s books, and this has apparently been scorned by not only the books’ fans but also by the author’s estate itself.  Here, too, is a situation that will undoubtedly unfold more clearly the closer we get to December.

Despite my chagrin at the inclusion of a previously unwritten female character (yes, I did just say that, and I support strong women in movies and everything), and my distaste for Jackson’s occasional twisting of Tolkien’s stories, I feel that audiences will have a lot to look forward to in terms of cinematography, acting, and yes, even script adaptation for the two Hobbit installments.  The films previous to these have always provided pure entertainment, stunning visuals, powerful themes and messages, incredible scores, and unforgettable interpretations of long-loved characters (remember Ian McKellen’s standing ovation?).  I don’t doubt that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again will meet these expectations, and frankly, I just want to see Smaug interpreted on the big screen.

If this article wasn’t enough for you, you can view the majority of the panel on YouTube.  Though several users have already uploaded their videos, this one seems to be the best quality overall.  Don’t expect to see the clips from the upcoming films; Comic-Con is very strict about not allowing attendees to videotape or post film clips.  If you want to be that impatient, go google it yourself.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our Comic Con coverage. Big shoutouts to all of you who read the articles. I know it sounds corny but you are the reason why we’re doing this. We don’t get paid. Please keep following us on Facebook or Twitter (or start now if you haven’t already done so) for more pop culture opinions.