"People Want Heroes": Thoughts on the First TMNT Trailer

I don't know about you, but that was pretty gnarly. And while you may be partial to bodacious, bitchin', radical, wicked, or totally tubular, you gotta admit that trailer was a lot of fun, right?

At this point, I'm not entirely sure if I actually enjoyed it, this trailer is our first real look at this year's reboot of Eastman and Laird's comic book classic, or if my expectations have been lowered so severely, plunged into a Mariana Trench-sized pit of sadness with every new reveal, that anything that didn't burn out my retinas upon first glance would have made me happy. And it totally did! Yes, Michael Bay in producing. Yes, the guy (Jonathan Liebesman) who is directing also directed such masterpieces as Darkness Falls, Battle: Los Angeles, and Wrath of the Titans. And yes, Megan Fox is starring as plucky news reporter April O'Neil. But, despite it all, there's a bunch of things to like about this trailer. 

I was initially worried about the tone. As the trailer begins, we get a serious sounding William Fichtner (whose casting I love) talking about the rampant crime and mayhem in New York City. As he does, his words are laid over scenes of destruction and armed police looking scary and then getting manhandled by some unknown force. There is dramatic music, gun fire, terror and menace and while watching it I started to get some serious Battle: LA flashbacks. And then you see them. Then you see Leonardo flip down in front of O'Neil. Then you see them sliding on their shells down an icy slope and you hear Donatello say, "Batter up!" and then woo! and chuckle as Rafael slams into a vehicle. And then you know things might just be okay. 

The tone seems like exactly what I want it to be and what it needs to be. It has the grit and the darkness, the whimsy and the goofiness, and it seems to balance it well. William Fichtner is rightfully austere and intimidating as he attempts to sell April a line and as he later stares longingly, almost smiling at the armor that will turn him into the turtle's greatest foe. Megan Fox has never been Katherine Hepburn or Meryl Streep, but she is asked to do relatively little outside of looking confused and afraid which suits her perfectly (and which I hope is representative of her role throughout the film). And the Turtles themselves are pretty much exactly what I wanted. Are they kind of gross? Yes. Are they off-putting and a little scary? Yes. BUT THEY'RE MUTANTS. They Teenage MUTANT Ninja Turtles. They were common pet turtles who were mutated by some strange green chemical and then taught the ninja arts by a rat named Splinter who has also been mutated. And that's what they look like! Sure, I kind of miss the smooth, rubbery suits from the early '90's, but in the age of CGI, this was the best we could hope for and I for one like it. They're wise-cracking, they sound like surfers, they can kick ass and I'll bet you anything that they have a burning passion for a good pizza. 

I'll come clean though, despite how much I enjoyed the trailer, I wouldn't say I'm sold. Even with all the things to like, we're still dealing with a director whose track record would suggest that even at his best, the most we can expect is "pretty alright" or "I didn't hate it." I also worry about the feel of the beginning half of the trailer. As much as I like William Fichtner, it still looks like a generic CGI-filled meh-fest.  Blue/Green, Orange, Blue/Green, Orange, Destruction Porn, Blue/Green, Orange. Everything changes when the Turtles hit the screen, however. Even though the action is still generic, the quartet's patented silliness and fun-loving nature is more than enough to make up for it. My hope is that they will be the focus from the get-go instead of there being an unnecessarily long build up to their reveal where we follow snoopy April O'Neil as she tries to make her bones with hard-hitting journalism about the corrupt and crumbling City of New York. The film isn't called April O'Neil: Just the Facts or Shredder Origins. It's called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That's who audiences are paying to see and that's to whom I hope the film pays paramount attention. 

Do I think it'll be great? No, probably not. I worry that it'll be caught in the dead zone of being too violent/scary/intense for children but too mild and uninteresting for adults. I worry that Michael Bay and Jonathan Liebesman and Megan Fox will find away to screw things up majorly as they have time and time again. I worry that even though the tonal balance in the trailer is great, the finished film will not pull it off nearly as well. And I worry that it will be compared unfairly (and too harshly) to the beloved 1990's film, where even if it's pretty great, it won't be good enough. But despite all my worries, I'll be damned if this trailer didn't get me at least a little excited. I have loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ever since I was a little kid. I've read the comics, watched the movies and the animated series, played with the toys and wore clothes based on the franchise. Hell, I even carried a Ninja Turtle shell backpack all fours years of college. And based on this brief glimpse, this seems like the Ninja Turtles I know and love. Sure it's got that new school look, but the flavor is totally old school. 

"People want heroes," Shredder tells April O'Neil. "They're not born, they're created," he says. They're also not aliens or mute monsters wielding dangerous weapons. What they are, are a group of rambunctious teenage turtles who love to have fun and munch on Italian food, but who also stand up for what's right. What they are, are heroes in a half shell with turtle power. And, amazing as it sounds, that seems like exactly what Bay and Liebesman are trying to give us. 

And to that I say, "COWABUNGA!"

My 15 Most Anticipated Films of 2014: 5 - 1

Following through! Part three of three! In the post-Oscars glow of this fine Monday night, I look at my top 5 most anticipated films of 2014! Will we be talking about any of these films come this time next year? Even with my poor intuition I can't help but think so. Let's see what you think!

5.) Godzilla by Gareth Edwards (Release: May 16th)

If I had a dollar for every time I saw an amazing trailer for a film that ended up being a complete dumpster fire disaster, I would have way too many dollars. And, needless to say, I'm going to be devastated if Godzilla follows that pattern. When it was announced that they were making a new Godzilla picture, I was immediately struck by PTSD flashbacks of 1998 and seeing Roland Emmerich's adaptation in the theatre. When it came out I was 7 years old, about to turn 8. It was the first PG-13 movie I was allowed to see and I remember being so nervous and excited at the prospect of what I was going to witness. It was also the first time I remember being genuinely upset with a film. I remember being struck by how much of a nothing the monster was. Sure, it was big. MONSTROUS! But it was like looking at a skyscraper-sized piece of paper. There was no substance, no personality. It had the size, but lacked the power. But this time, things just might be different. Gareth Edwards is not Roland Emmerich and what he was able to do with only $500,000 dollars in 2010's Monsters was spectacular. This time he's been given 320 times the budget and if the glorious, glorious trailers are any indication, he's making it count. The monster looks and FEELS impossibly huge. With just second-long glimpses in the trailer, the fear of total destruction is already firmly entrenched in my mind. Not only that, but Bryan Cranston is doing some amazing character work and along with the likes of Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the cast is much, much stronger on the whole than than it was in 1998. Am I worried? Of course, I don't know if I can handle another heartbreak. But it's impossible not to get excited with the two absolutely stunning trailers we've already gotten. 

4.) Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch (Release: TBD)

I have become, as I'm sure the vast majority of you are, completely exhausted with the ubiquity of vampires in books, film and television. Like zombies, they are literally everywhere. When Wal*Mart has a section dedicated to you, you know it's time to stop. UNLESS IT'S JIM JARMUSCH DOING IT. One of the living gods of independent cinema, Jim Jarmusch has been cranking out sensational and powerful cinema for 30 years. Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, the list goes on and on. He also did a quiet dramedy in 2005 called Broken Flowers in which Bill Murray gets a letter explaining that he has a son and then goes on a cross-country trip tracking down his former lovers in an attempt to find the mother. It's one of my favorite films of all time and is on Netflix and you need to see it RIGHT NOW. 

Being a big fan of Jarmusch's and knowing his filmography pretty well, if you asked me what genre he'd never do, a vampire drama would be near the top. Actually, it wouldn't because what the hell is that? But it looks absolutely incredible with a knockout cast including Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt and Jarmusch regular and all around amazing (and massively underrated) actor, Jeffrey Wright. Nominated for the top prize at Cannes, Only Lovers Left Alive tells the story of two centuries-old vampire lovers (Hiddleston and Swinton) who... actually that's all I really know about it. And honestly, I don't need anything else. This seems like something that is custom fitted to me in every way. The United Kingdom already has it and it's not clear when we're going to get it in the States, but when we do, don't let this one slip by. It will undoubtedly fly under the radar even with being about vampires and you really aren't going to want to miss it.

3.) Interstellar by Christopher Nolan (Release: November 7th)

Let the McConaughnaissance continue! Fresh off his Oscar win for Best Actor (Alright, alright, alright!), McConaughey looks to keep his outstanding career resurrection going and perhaps bring himself right back to where he stood last night (If you've seen True Detective, you know how much he likes a good circle) with the latest film and first original creation by Christopher Nolan since 2010's Inception - Interstellar. Like Only Lovers Left Alive, not much is known about the film, but essentially scientists discover a wormhole and send a team of explorers to investigate, sending them on a voyage that will push the boundaries of space and time. Christopher Nolan is Kubrick-like in his chilly filmmaking and it is going to be interesting seeing what fruits come to bear from his collaboration with McConaughey who would have to channel Olivier, Brando and Daniel Day-Lewis just to attempt to play "cold." But even with that brief glimpse of McConaughey driving away in his pickup, it already looks like they've created something emotionally resonant. Not to mention, this marks Nolan's first film since 2000 without cinematographer Wally Pfister - teaming with Hoyte Van Hoytema whose work on Spike Jonze's Her was marvelous. Oh, and it's an original sci-fi story from the man that brought us Inception, Memento and The Prestige. So, there's also that. 

2.) The Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson (March 7th) 

That's right! My second most anticipated film of 2014 and it will be here this Friday! Wes Anderson is easily in my top three of favorite directors. Some people complain that he always makes the same movies and that may have truth to it. But who cares? I can name bands whose songs all sound the same and they're some of the greatest of all time. Granted, around The Darjeeling Limited, his style briefly soured for me. However, he followed that up with Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom and all was forgiven. I've finally accepted that Wes Anderson has settled into his aesthetic like one of those elderly people living in a rent-controlled apartment who refuses to leave so some big business can tear the building down to build a mini-mall and my love and respect for it has grown exponentially. This time around, he looks to be at his most Wes Anderson-y as he tells the story of a hotel concierge (Ralph Fiennes) who teams up with one of his employees to prove his innocence after he is framed for murder. As always, the cast is magnificently stacked with talent and from the trailer it seems that there is an organic emotional journey underlining the wacky caper. Every single one of these elements have been aces for Anderson in the past, and I don't expect this time to be any different. Here's just hoping that the Academy won't forget it come next March.

And the moment you've all been waiting for! My number one most anticipated film of 2014! And the award goes to...

1.) Inherent Vice by Paul Thomas Anderson (Release: December 12th)

This shouldn't really be a shock to anyone who knows my taste in film. I mentioned that Wes Anderson is easily in my top three favorite directors. The only people he's behind are the Coen Brothers and my number one - the other Anderson, Paul Thomas. In my opinion, Paul Thomas Anderson is the greatest filmmaker of his generation. No one makes the kind of movies he makes. No one shoots movies like he shoots them. No one does it like Paul Thomas Anderson. This time around, as if I needed more of a reason to be all in, I have a particular interest because of the wonderful source material. The film is an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's (V., Gravity's Rainbow) 2009 novel of the same name. What is essentially a detective novel, it's a shaggy-dog mystery set in Southern California and centered around a pothead private dick named Doc Sportello who is thrust into investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her current lover Mickey Wolfmann, an importance real-estate mogul. Of all of Pynchon's novels, Inherent Vice seems the most tailor-made for adaptation and, in my opinion, there is no one more perfect for handling the novel's sprawling cast of characters and Pynchon's kooky and dense rhythms than Paul Thomas Anderson. Anytime you have this much talent in one place, something magical is going to happen. Inherent Vice may just have that magic and that's why it's my most anticipated film of 2014. Whether or not it ends up being my favorite film of the year remains to be seen. 

And I can't wait to start seeing. 

My 15 Most Anticipated Films of 2014: 10 - 6

Hey, look! I promised something and I'm totally trying to follow through on it! Last time I brought you five of my top 15 most anticipated films of 2014 and now I'm back again to bring you another five. This time it's numbers 10 through 6! So, you know, get all kinds of excited! 

10.) X-Men: Days of Future Past by Bryan Singer (Release: May 23rd)

Like many people when X-Men: First Class was released, I was incredibly nervous. After the travesty that was X3, I was neither convinced First Class A.) would even come close to being a quality film and B.) was even a worthwhile or necessary dip back into the franchise. Thankfully, however, Matthew Vaughn and company were able to create both a compelling period drama and what could be argued as the best X-Men film to date (though I'd still give to the edge to X2). Now, Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X1) has returned, bringing veteran alums (Sirs Ian Mckellan and Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, et al.) along with him as the original cast must team up with their past selves in order to save their future from a seemingly unstoppable force. Honestly, I remain very hopeful for Days of Future Past, but it's still in the "could go either way" category. Though it's hard to see how so much talent, both behind and in front of the camera, could produce anything short of spectacular, it remains a possibility that the sheer ambition and difficult nature of the story could be its undoing. Still, it's way too hard not to get excited at the possibilities. And really, any movie that gives me Peter Dinklage sporting a flavor-savor to die for gets top 10 by default. 

9.) Foxcatcher by Bennett Miller (Release: TBD)

Bennett Miller may not be a name that most people will know right off hand. He's only directed two films in the past 9 years. However, those two films were Capote and Moneyball. I love his style and his gift for telling narrative stories based on true incidents is nearly unmatched. With his newest film Foxcatcher, he puts Steve Carrell in the shoes of a real-life murder, John Eleuthere du Pont, a paranoid schizophrenic Olympic wrestling trainer that ended up shooting one of his trainees' brother to death. Anytime Carrell gets off of his Michael Scott wavelength (a la Little Miss Sunshine) he is a spectacular actor and as du Pont he looks nearly unrecognizable. Though the casting of Channing Tatum worries me slightly (he much stronger in his comedic efforts), I believe the combination of Miller and Carrell being allowed to exude a pants-shitting level of intensity could make this one of the best films of the year. Don't be shocked to see Steve Carrell all over Oscars talk come this time 2015. 

8.) Captain America: The Winter Soldier by  Joe and Anthony Russo (Release: April 4th)

Of the three main comic book-based films being released this year, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is, for my money, the safest bet. That's not to say it's "safe." What I mean by that is that by trying something new, Marvel is looking like it could create a brilliantly executed superhero movie while garnering if not the largest audience to date (nothing is outdoing The Avengers), at least the most diverse. That something new is what intrigues me the most. If The Winter Soldier succeeds, it's possible that Marvel's efforts to make superhero movies that are also immensely satisfying as entries in other genres will be what keeps superhero movies interesting. What is essentially a political thriller, The Winter Soldier chronicles Steve Rogers' (Captain America, Chris Evans) struggles to integrate himself into contemporary society. However, when a member of the covert organization S.H.I.E.L.D. is attacked, Rogers along with Black Widow and Falcon (Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie) must investigate and uncover a plot involving and unexpected and powerful adversary THAT COULD DESTROY THE WORLD! The first Captain America ended up being one of my favorite Marvel movies and this one is easily one of the more exciting and intriguing films of the year. 

7.) Gone Girl by David Fincher (Release: October 3rd)

David Fincher is one of the best in the business at what he does. And what he does best are gritty and dour, magnificently shot dramas (crime dramas especially). Fincher looks to continue his amazing streak (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo notwithstanding) with this year's Gone Girl. Based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name, the film stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike as what seems like the perfect couple. However, when she disappears without a trace, he becomes the prime suspect. Is he the killer? Or is something much more nefarious at play? While the cast is worryingly eclectic (briefly, it includes Doogie Howser, Madea and the girl from the "Blurred Lines" video) and while I would have much rather seen Fincher take on something he created himself rather than a director-for-hire situation, it's easy to give him the benefit of the doubt with his wonderful creative team, patented 50-take shooting style and such strong source material. If anyone were perfect for the job it's Fincher and I couldn't be more excited thinking about what he'll do with the story's tricky structure and unsympathetic characters. 

6.) Guardians of the Galaxy by James Gunn (Release: August 1st)

Last one of this batch is a doozie! Ever since Marvel announced its plans to do Guardians of the Galaxy, I've been psyched. And that excitement only grew with each addition detail. The exceedingly weird James Gunn for director? Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) as the lead? Zoe Saldana and former wrestler Dave Batista (THE ANIMAL!) for support? VIN DIESEL VOICING A TREE MONSTER?! ROCKET RACCOON!?!?!?! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! And although Rocket Raccoon ended up being voiced by Bradley Cooper (no doubt a strong choice, but they could have totally nabbed H. Jon Benjamin) and although many of the jokes in the trailer didn't quite land the way I would've liked, I'm still incredibly hyped for this film. For those of you who didn't watch the trailer (shame on you) or for those of you who would like some clarification, the film is about an American pilot named Peter Quill (Star-Lord to you) who finds himself the target of a manhunt after stealing an orb coveted by Ronan (Lee Pace), a powerful Kree warrior and associate of the monstrous Thanos (the purple dude at the end of The Avengers). To avoid being quickly annihilated by Ronan, Star-Lord forms an uneasy bond with a group of misfit mercenaries that include Gamora, Groot, Drax the Destroyer and the aforementioned Rocket Raccoon (Saldana, Diesel, Bastista and Cooper respectively). However, when Star-Lord uncovers the orb's true power and begins to grasp what destruction it could mean for the cosmos if let into the wrong hands, he rallies his ragtag group for one final showdown TO SAVE THE GALAXY! 

As I mentioned with Captain America, there's starting to be a sense that the viewing public is getting superhero fatigue. However, like with Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy feels like Marvel trying to combat that. It's a bold and risky move putting 200 million into such a bizarre effort and I'm worried that the appeal won't be as large as it needs to be to be successful. However, with this new trailer showcasing the drastically different tone of this film from something like The Winter Soldier, there's hope that Guardians could be just what Marvel needs to stay solidly at the top of the box office. Either way, this film seems to fall directly into my wheelhouse and if Gunn's stellar indie film Super (2010) is any indication of what we can expect, I am literally foaming at the mouth raccoon-style to see what he does with nearly 100 times the budget. And if you're not feeling that, then you're just a bunch of a-holes...

Just kidding, I love you.