Hero Express: ‘The Flash’ Movie Still Alive, New ‘Avengers’ TV Spot, and Animation Station!

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the top five stories in comic based Film & TV news!

Movie Trailer #2 – Wrath of the Titans

Clash of the Titans was a decent enough movie. I went into the theater to see it, knowing to only expect a dumb action movie, and I was well satisfied by it upon leaving. It wasn’t a movie that got better the second time you watch, but you just have to take it for what it was. The next installment entitled Wrath of the Titans looks to outdo it’s predecessor in every way. Even though we saw Medusa and the Kraken in Clash, now we get to see the titans whom the Gods imprisoned as they are breaking free to wreak havoc on the world, and Perseus seems to be the only one who can stop them. He’ll fight a hydra, the cyclops, a minotaur and many other mythological beasts in this one and the action throughout the trailer looks pretty phenomenal compared to the first one.

Much of the cast returns including Sam Worthington (now with more hair!), Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades. I’ve noticed in the trailers that Hades has lost his raspy voice which so vexed me in the first one. Did they hear complaints about this or is it just the fact in the movie that Hades is growing stronger through everyone’s mistrust and dissent? Among those returning are also a few new faces to grace the Titans scene. The obviously beautiful and terribly underutilized Rosamund Pike will play warrior Queen Andromeda  and Billy Nighy takes a turn at Godhood as Hephaestus.

 

The movie promises at least to be entertaining due to the crazy amount of action and visuals shown in all of the trailers up to this point. But do we really just want another dumb, action popcorn flick out of the filmmakers? The first movie was entertaining but lacked the heart and soul of a movie you care to watch more than once. I’m hoping they do a little better job with story and character development in this movie rather than waste time with 3D conversion and constant mindless action.

Live-action TMNT Movie Gets ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Director Attached

GammaSquad via Variety is reporting that the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie may be getting a director soon. Jonathan Liebesman, director of Battle: LA and the upcoming Wrath of the Titans, is negotiating right now to take the helm of the franchise. The film is using a script from the Iron Man writing team of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, but Paramount and Nickelodeon have employed the Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol team of Josh Appelbaum and Andrew Nemec to rewrite.

“I am totally available to reprise that role.”

Now that we got all that stuff out-of-the-way, here’s what we know about this movie: It’s a live action movie that wants to emulate Rise of the Planet of the Apes and use CGI characters replacing a motion captured actor in a practical environment. The Foot will be present (hopefully they won’t just gather and get their asses kicked methodically, oh wait, it’s the Foot, of course they will), and April O’Neil and Casey Jones will most likely be involved so that Kronner can yell “Casey Jones” anytime that new actor comes on in any other movie, a privilege normally reserved for Elias Koteas. [F–k Yeah!] 

No word if Vanilla Ice will jump on board. I personally think this movie should not exist until ‘Keno’ gets involved. My boy needs work, and with Linsanity happening, I think Ernie Reyes can be your next superstar. I mean, did you NOT see Surf Ninjas? Actually don’t. It seriously does not stand the test of time. Nor did it stand the test of time when it came out. I did not know any better as a 10-year-old…

“Let’s surf and eat pizza!!! God the 90s were awesome. Now where did I leave my roller-blades and Spin Doctors cassettes? Oh – is that a Laser Disc of REALITY BITES?”

Movie Trailer Roundup: Wrath of the Titans, The Dictator, Lock-Out and MORE!

Wrath of the Titans

Perseus embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, who has been targeted for capture by his traitorous son, Ares, and his brother, Hades.

Stars: Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Bill Nighy, Rosamund Pike, Edgar Ramirez, Danny Huston

Release Date: March 30th, 2012

Hollywood’s Compulsion: Sequels We Don’t Need

Have you checked the Zodiac lately? Because it is of course the year of the sequel. That’s right, 27 major studio sequels to be exact. It must be the current Hollywood fad right now to give every movie a 3D sequel. Below are recently announced and upcoming movies that follow up other movies that did not warrant a sequel to begin with. Actually some didn’t even deserve to have a first one made, but let’s go over them:

Bad Santa 2

According to IGN Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to reprise his role as the foul-mouthed mall Santa from the first 2003 movie. But the biggest question is why? Do we really need a sequel to such a let down, crude movie starring an actor who hasn’t had a decent role since his only noteworthy acting turn in Sling Blade? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for crude movies. I love ’em. But a sequel to Bad Santa eight or nine years after the fact seems like doing a sequel to Battlefield Earth a decade later. Admittedly, I may just be hating on Billy Bob because he effectively ruined any fantasy I could have about Halle Berry, after sloppily plowing her in Monsters Ball. Thank you Mr. Thornton, that is now burned into my retinas.

American Pie 4: American Reunion

I’m not really sure how this one will go, but I’m pretty sure they’ll have no problems rounding up the likes of Chris Klein, Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari and Tara Reid to do this movie. Lord knows they aren’t doing anything of note at this point in their careers. Eugene Levy and Sean William Scott are the only ones who will add any entertainment to this, the fourth entry into the American Pie franchise. Well, it’s the fourth if you’re not counting the four Direct-to-DVD sequels starring no one from the originals except Eugene Levy.

Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance

The first Ghost Rider was so bad I honestly think I’ve somehow erased it from my memory, or aliens did because the recurrent nightmares I kept having from its suckiness interrupted their sleep study of me. This is one movie there should not be a sequel of. Reboot? Maybe. But a sequel, yet again starring Nicholas Cage? No! No! No! I don’t care if nothing from the first film is mentioned, because having to look at Cage’s face the entire time will only be a constant reminder of how much scum inhalation the first movie performed. (Basically the movie was a scum sucker.) Seriously Cage, turn Drive Angry into a franchise and get it over with.

Check out details on Spirit of Vengeance at SupaScoot’s Action News!

Clash of the Titans 2

Honestly, I did enjoy the 2010 version of Clash of the Titans. It was entertaining to me, and I saw it in 2D instead of that “slimy piece of worm ridden filth” (Thank you Han Solo) they tried to pass off as a 3D feature. Imagine how I would have enjoyed it if actors like Ralph Fiennes and Liam Neeson were utilized better, and the story didn’t seem like a fan fiction written by a 16-year old ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ fan. The effects and action were good, but I was hoping they would just end it with Clash of the Titans being an entertaining, dumb action flick. But no, they’ve come back for more. At least the story for Wrath of the Titans sounds decent, you can read about that here.

Fast Five

This Fast and the Furious sequel just got downright lazy. Maybe the next one will just be called Fast6, all bunched together like that. I was not a fan of the first movie, didn’t get a chance to see the second one, and flat out refused to see the Tokyo Drift. And though I actually enjoyed the fourth movie, Fast and Furious, Fast Five looks extremely entertaining to me, so I will be checking it out even if it wasn’t warranted. I mean come on, they are throwing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson into the mix. However, if they had decided to end the franchise with number 4 I wouldn’t have cared at all.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

Two words sum up Revenge of the Fallen for me; Colossal Failure. It took me awhile to come to grips with that, but multiple views at theater, and a purchase on DVD finally did it. That’s when I noticed more and more how terrible the film was when robots weren’t beating the ever-loving cybernetic crap out of each other. Shame on me. Even though the franchise should have ended with part two, it was a given with the amount of box office cash it raked in that a 3rd installment was inevitable. But that doesn’t mean it should be happening. This is another I will be seeing, giving Michael Bay a second chance to make something even comparable to the first Transformers. I may be setting myself up for a huge fit of gouging my eyes out at the theater, but that is a risk that I’m willing to take.

Now I understand I’ve committed to seeing half of the movies I just described as being ‘sequels we don’t need’, but I can’t do anything to stop them from being cranked out of the Hollywood machine. So I’ll just buckle up and hope the ride doesn’t suck too much.