Outlaw King Impresses With Its Production Value But Underwhelms With Its Characters

The Hollywood epic was a common sight in the 1950's and 1960's as Hollywood tried to combat the rise of television programming with a horde of movies that used gargantuan budgets to bring to life massive-in-scale stories that usually took place in ancient periods of history. How funny then to consider that the newest Netflix original movie Outlaw King, which reunites director David Mackenzie with his Hell or High Water leading man Chris Pine, is an obvious homage to those types of movies, complete with a $120 million budget that makes it the most expensive Netflix movie yet (Martin Scorsese's The Irishman is waiting in the wings for its chance to turn to Outlaw King and say "Hold my beer!"), yet it'll be seen by the vast majority of people on...televisions!

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington Can Be Overly Heavy-Handed But It Can Also Be Quite Stirring

In the nearly 80 years since Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes To Washington was released, the landscape of American politics has drastically been overhauled, to the point that the overall political stances of the countries two primary political parties, the Republicans the Democrats, have now got completely opposite political aspirations compared to where they were in 1939. But one thing was true then as it is today, the general public does not like politicians, they seem them as crude, conniving and not to be trusted. Some things never change and the core ideas of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, namely standing firm to your morals in the face of corruption, still very much ring true to this day.

Professor Marston And The Wonder Women's Best Moments Reinforce How Clunky Some of its Storytelling Is

Now that Wonder Woman is the star of one of the biggest superhero movies of all-time, the character's backstory is pretty well-known by the general public, but the life of the creator of Wonder Woman is likely still a mystery to many. Well, in order to fully process who was behind the character of Wonder Woman, we have to go all the way back to the 1930's, when husband/wife duo William Moulton Marston (Luke Evans) and Elizabeth Holloway Marston (Rebecca Hall) are trying to hit the big time at the college they work at, a college that, incidentally, does not recognize Elizabeth's intellectual achievements solely based on her gender.

In Laman's Term: The Power Of Proper Build-Up

In Laman's Terms is a new weekly editorial column where Douglas Laman rambles on about certain topics or ideas that have been on his mind lately. Sometimes he's got serious subjects to discuss, other times he's just got some silly stuff to shoot the breeze about. Either way, you know he's gonna talk about something In Laman's Terms!

SPOILERS FOR WONDER WOMAN AND THE GODFATHER FOLLOW
I love the feeling of anticipation. That sensation that builds up in your stomach as you see the waiter approach your table with your meal or seeing Christmas presents under the tree you get to open in just a few days, there's something about being so close yet so far to an object or event you want ever so much that can be quite exhilarating. Many movies get to replicate this phenomenon by way of leaving the viewer on the edge of their seat via the process of build-up, which in movies can make certain character revelations or action sequences all the more powerful. Today, I thought I'd take your dear reader through two excellent examples of proper cinematic build-up by way of examining an individual scene from two separate movies that both manage to demonstrate the power of well-done build-up.

The Terrific Wonder Woman Is Just As Thoughtful As It Is Rousing Fun!

WONDER WOMAN
IS
AWESOME!!

Oh does that ever feel good to say!

After taking decades to get to the big screen, Wonder Woman finally has her first theatrical movie and thankfully, we don't have a Green Lantern or Fantastic Four on our hands here wherein the first theatrically released film adaptation of a beloved comic book character turns out to not have been worth the elongated waiting period. Instead, Patty Jenkins Wonder Woman is an absolute delight, one that mixes together the iconic compassion and warmth that made this character so beloved for decades now and stirring them up with plenty of rousing action sequences and even some contemplation of the complex morality present in mankind.

Prepare For Glorious Battle With The New Trailer For Wonder Woman!!

So...look, it's been a bit of a rough year for DC, let's not beat around the bush. Neither of their live-action films were quite the box office bonanzas (read: billion-dollar hits) they were hoping for, both Suicide Squad and especially Batman v. Superman were critically savaged and even that Killing Joke movie became a punchline thanks to a Comic-Con panel gone horribly awry and that Batman/Batgirl romantic subplot. Luckily, the future holds some hopeful properties such as a new animated Justice League TV show that looks like a lot of fun and next year's Wonder Woman movie, which just dropped a new trailer that you can watch directly below!

What The Hell Is Going On With The DC Extended Universe?

I was so excited for Man Of Steel. My God, me and my buddies absolutely couldn't wait. We were all superhero movie geeks and in love with Christopher Nolan's take on The Dark Knight, so the idea of him shepherding Superman into the modern age just sounded like a recipe for pure gold as far as we were concerned. And those trailers! They inspired a sense of awe that we couldn't wait to see in the movie itself. So, on Friday June 14th, we all met up at our local Cinemark and excitedly sat in our seats, prepared to see Superman's newest motion picture.

We went in hoping for awe-inspiring spectacle. What we got was Shaky-Cam: The Movie that managed to waste Kevin Costner, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon in one movie.

Ranking This Year's Comic-Con Trailers

1. Doctor Strange: Yeah, I'm gonna go with this one as the best (narrowly). The trippy visuals seems like something we haven't seen too much in American cinema as a whole, let alone in a major superhero blockbuster. Plus, Benedict Cumberbatch does look pretty damn awesome in the titular role, not gonna lie. And Mads Mikkelsen as a bad guy? Oh my God, this whole trailer was just two and a half minutes of me thinking "This is real and it looks so beautiful."

2. Wonder Woman: Speaking of things that are finally real and look amazing, how about that Wonder Woman trailer? There was far more color, interesting visual language and personality in this trailer than Man Of Steel and Batman v. Superman combined and Gal Godot looks like she's a perfect choice to play the part of Wonder Woman. The action looks quite great and World War One is a unique environment to set the film in. Really excited for this one, totally has the potential to be something special.

3. The LEGO Batman Movie: This movie looks like so much fun and boy howdy is it nice to have a more light-hearted Batman after a decade plus of various dark and brooding versions of the character. Despite being a kids movie that's also a ninety minute long commercial for LEGO's, it's also got a legitimately interesting thematic conceit for Batman; can he be an effective father-figure to Robin despite his own parental related hang-ups? Really excited for this one and Michael Cera looks to be the Robin of our dreams.

4. Kong: Skull Island: This may have been the biggest surprise of Comic-Con, mainly because nobody really knew what to expect from this new take on King Kong. Turns out, the idea behind this project is to take a 1970's war movie and toss in more fantastical creatures into the mix. Sounds good to me and the trailer made sure to highlight an ominous tones, an all-star cast and a ton of lovely looking visuals. Very interesting stuff and one I'm curious to see more of in the future.

5. Justice League: A whopping 16 months prior to its release, Justice League showed off some footage that emphasized a lighter tone compared to the last two Zack Snyder superhero movies. The more comedic beats were pretty fun, especially Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne bouncing off each other in a moment that delivered both laughs AND character information! Unfortunately, The Flash and Cyborg have some really clunky looking costumes and it's hard to really get excited for this one considering Zack Snyder's absolutely dismal track record with Man Of Steel and especially Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

6. King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword: I honestly forgot all about this one until I started writing up this piece. It's a generic looking fantasy movie to a tee, aside from some fast-paced editing at the start that does seem like vintage Guy Ritchie. While the best trailers released at this year's Comic-Con emphasized uniqueness and boldness, the trailer for this new King Arthur adaptation just seemed too derivative of past fantasy adventures to stand out.

The First Trailer For Wonder Woman Is Online (Plus, Other News And Trailers From Warner Bros. 2016 Comic-Con Panel!)

The amount of movie themed panels may have diminished at this year's Comic-Con compared to years past, but today brings two major panels in the esteemed location of Hall H that will surely rock the geek world. Those panels in question are the Warner Bros. and Marvel Studios panels, with both planning to divulge information about their upcoming movies. WB is going up first, with trailers for upcoming movies King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, Kong: Skull Island and Wonder Woman planning to debut at the convention and will be appearing online shortly afterwards directly from the Warner Bros. YouTube page!

I'll be updating this post as news begins to pour in. The panel starts at 1:30 PM central time, so stick around and refresh this page for updates!

OK, so, panel moderator Conan O'Brien (whose talk show, Conan, is aired on TBS, a Cable TV station owned by Time Warner which also owns Warner Bros. Synergy in action folks!) kicked off the panel with an extended look at...

THE DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE 

The DC films got a big push today, as the directors of the next three films in the DC Extended Universe (David Ayer for Suicide Squad, Patty Jenkins for Wonder Woman, Zack Snyder for Justice League, Rick Fumuyiwa for The Flash and James Wan for Aquaman) came out to chat about their individual projects with the swarm of people in Hall H. Speaking of directors, after months of speculation, Ben Affleck was officially confirmed to be directing and starring in a solo Batman movie and the film was confirmed to be released in between The Flash and Aquaman movies.

And then, we got our first trailer for....

WONDER WOMAN

After years of development, Wonder Woman's first live-action movie is hitting the big screen next year and director Patty Jenkins, Gal Godot, Chris Pine and Connie Nielsen showed up to talk about the movie and introduced attendees at Warner Bros. panel to the world premiere of the first footage from the motion picture! Luckily, the studio was kind enough to upload the trailer for Wonder Woman onto the interwebs so you can watch it below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lGoQhFb4NM

So, aside from the blue color grading in the battle scenes (an odd choice that I wonder if will make sense in the movie itself), wowza, what a trailer! There's humor and color in it! And the action is coherent! And Wonder Woman looks as confident and awesome as can be! Honestly, the entire last minute of this trailer had me just fist-pumping constantly, it looks that awesome! To say the least, Wonder Woman looks like it has some serious potential!

Then, it was time for...

JUSTICE LEAGUE

This awesome promo image (seen above) of Justice Leauge got released that not only shows the full team assembled, but shows them in (GASP!) sunlight!! The visual language of this shot indicates a tone of hopefulness! What madness is this??

Ya know what else got released? Some Justice League footage. Yeah, you read that right. Check it out. It actually looks pretty good to me, the guy who considers Batman v. Superman one of the worst movies of the year. Jason Mamoa as Aquaman is particularly a highlight of this trailer and Ezra Miller already looks like he could be lots of fun, even if his costume seems a little too visually reminiscent of Iron Man for my taste.

#FlewAllNight #NeverMissHallH #JusticeLeaguehttps://t.co/PH2loOdHOY

— ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) July 23, 2016

David Ayer and the cast of Suicide Squad then came out to talk about their forthcoming movie, which entailed KING a Hall H exclusive trailer that you can watch below!

Thank Squad. The wait is almost over. #SuicideSquad #WBSDCC #SDCC https://t.co/S28CCS5duehttps://t.co/c3s429nFB8

— Suicide Squad (@SuicideSquadWB) July 23, 2016

Not as big of a fan of the second song in this trailer and the more melancholy opening doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the trailer, but I like a bunch of the visuals here and it's so good to see Will Smith back at being the charming cocky guy we all knew and loved back in the day after his performances in movies like After Earth. And woah, did Jai Courtney just make me laugh his fire joke? Also cute how the "Thank Squad" title cards at the end got all meta about how long the marketing campaign for this one's been running.

After that, it was time to move on to a different side of DC Comics movies, The LEGO Batman Movie! Direct Chris McKay and Will Arnett were on hand to show off footage from the movie and (you guessed it!) an all-new trailer!

And then it was time for something not DC Comics related...
KONG: SKULL ISLAND

You want a Kong: Skull Island trailer? Here ya go!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK5hbs4LOI8

Very much a teaser trailer, but it's an eye-catching one no doubt. John Goodman monologues about humans insignifcant place in the world as some gorgeous shots build up to a kind of reveal of King Kong himself, or at least his head. I'm very curious to see more from this one, since it seems like they're smartly embracing it as a full-on "war movie" and that could lead to some interesting story possibilities. Oh, and the cast for this one is insanely stacked too.

And now for another non-DC Comics tentpole...

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbPTQIdjmY

The fast-paced editing of Arthur telling his tale at the start of this trailer is very much classic Guy Ritchie, but the rest of this trailer looks like Peak Generic Fantasy Movie: The Movie. Washed out grey colors abound as does generic action that the trailer doesn't give much context or depth to. Hopefully the movie itself is far better than this generic trailer and that Jude Law as the bad guy of the piece finds plenty of time to chew up the scenery.

Not sure why Warner Bros. is releasing the trailer for this one today considering all the attention the Kong, Wonder Woman and Justice League trailers are gonna get. Looks like this will be the second year in a row where Warner Bros. debuts a trailer for a new Guy Ritchie movie (last year it was The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) at Comic-Con that gets drowned out by the DC movie that also debut trailers at the event.

After King Arthur, it was time for more fantasy as the director and cast of...

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
As everyone came out to talk about their movie, a surprise was revealed that the panel would be giving away wands to everyone attending the panel! How cool! And then, wouldn't ya know it, they also had a new trailer to show off!

OK, that's the Warner Bros. panel for 2016! I'll be back tonight to cover the Marvel panel!

Batman v. Superman Review

"She's talking to angels
Counting the stars
Waiting for Superman to pick her up
In his arms" - Daughtry 

In the final scene of the 1959 Francois Truffaut film The 400 Blows, the lead character, a young boy named Antoine Doinel, finally makes it the beach, a serene domain full of the kind of peace and tranquility he's been yearning for. Yes, he's made it...but at what cost? He's alienated his parents, turned to a life of crime, sullied his reputation, he's sacrificed so much to get here. The closing shot of the motion picture focuses solely on the face of Antoine Doinel, an expression of remorse and confusion over realizing all that has been lost in his pursuit of escaping his demanding life. It's a haunting facial expression....and the very same one that was etched onto my face when I emerged from my Thursday night screening of Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

First Image Of Aquaman From Batman V. Superman Revealed!

We've still got more than a year to go until Batman v. Superman: Rise Of The Dawn Of The Age Of Justice arrives into theaters (it opens March 25, 2016), but the very first image of Jason Momoa as Aquaman has been shown off. That's the image above and it's...decent. The costumes from this movie, solely in image form (seeing them in motion whenever a trailer is released will be a better barometer for success), have been a mixed bag, for me at least.

Michelle Maclaren Officially Directing Wonder Woman Movie!

Yes folks, it's official, the Wonder Woman is really, really happening. While movies have gotten directors in the past only to fall apart, it does feel like this iconic superhero is finally getting to the big screen. The person in charge of handling her first solo appearance (she'll pop by in Batman v. Superman) is Michelle Maclaren, a director notable for her extraordinary work on Breaking Bad.

Warner Bros. Just Announced Release Dates For Nine DC Comics Movies As Well As Earlier Date For Batman/Superman Adventure

I'm more of a Marvel Comics kind of guy, especially when it comes to the world of film. I mean, compared to Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers, Green Lantern and Man of Steel look even more pathetic than they already are. And yet, DC has tons, and I mean tons of awesome accomplishments under their belts. Their animated programs run circles around Marvel garbage like The Ultimate Spider-Man, while they're responsible for some of the greatest graphic novels of all-time like Watchmen. Even in the world of film, them bringing us Christopher Nolans Dark Knight trilogy is an impressive feat.

Warner Bros. Brings Wonder Woman, Hobbits and Channing Tatum To Comic-Con

Gal Godot as Wonder Woman

I'm not down in San Diego this weekend, but I am obsessing over everyone else live coverage of each and ever panel taking place at Comic-Con. And one of the biggest panels of the event happened just this morning; the one dedicated to Warner Bros. and their upcoming films. The three they noted they were bringing beforehand were Jupiter Ascending, Max Max: Fury Road and The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies.

DC Double Dose! First Photo Of Superman From New Movie, Plus Adam West Batman Coming To Blu-Ray!!

I believe this is half of the cast for Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice

DC Comics has been in news overdrive this past few weeks, whether its been announcing the official title for the new Batman vs. Superman film, or unofficially announcing whose playing Aquaman. Two big things have dropped onto the internet today, one directly related to the expanding DC Cinematic Universe started by Man of Steel, the other dealing with the first ever home video release of Adam Wests Batman show!

Looks Like We Know Whose Playing Aquaman In Batman Vs. Superman!

The long casting process for Batman v. Super: Dawn of Justice is almost complete, even though they're deep into filming at this point. But don't worry; it won't be just Batman that Superman has to face in this feature. In addition to The Caped Crusader, Superman will face Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Swamp-Thing (just kidding on the last one...sadly)

Today, we discovered just whose playing another one of DC's major icons. Playing the role of Aquaman is....