Category: Movies
Sweethaven: The Real Life Popeye Village! RIP Robin..
It was very sad news yesterday hearing of the passing of Robin Williams, in a weird way he felt like he was a friend though i never met him. He seemed like a kind soul and it’s always so sad when someone takes their own life. When I was a child just six years old my mother took me to see the Popeye movie, Robin’s first starring role. I had already been a HUGE fan of Popeye as a child and seeing Williams brings him to life was truly a memory for me that I still cherish. I remember the day perfectly still. So last night I decided I would put on my Popeye dvd and it’s still just as charming in 2014.
One thing that I noticed again that simply amazed me was the setting and the sets that were used on this film. It’s such an incredibly beautiful landscape and the actual village that Popeye lands in is simply one of the most unique film settings I have ever seen. It dawned on me, what should have been very obvious, that the village of Sweethaven as it’s called in the movie must have been a real place! This was not a CGI creation and today you would most likely never see something like this in any movie. What’s more impressive is that this place was created by a film crew!
Here’s some info from Amusing Planet:
“When Walt Disney and Paramount Pictures decided to make a movie based on the popular cartoon strip Popeye, the production team picked the opened faced Anchor Bay in the north-west corner of the Mediterranean island of Malta, two miles from the village of Mellieħa, as location for Popeye’s fictional village of Sweethaven.
Construction of the film set started in June 1979. A construction crew of 165 worked over seven months building the village as described by the comic strip’s creator E.C. Segar. Nineteen authentic wooden buildings were built from hundreds of logs and several thousand wooden planks imported from the Netherlands, while wood shingles used in the construction of the roof tops were imported from Canada. Eight tons of nails and two thousand gallons of paint were consumed in construction. In addition, a 200–250 foot breakwater was built around Anchor Bay’s mouth to protect the set from high seas during the shooting.
This is the Popeye village today in 2014!
Today the movie set is open to the public as an open-air museum and family entertainment complex. Aside from the village itself, there are boat trips around Anchor Bay, audio-visual shows which includes clips from the actual film and the set’s construction, water trampolines, mini golf, and other games and fun activities.”
I don’t know about you but suddenly I feel the urge to explore Malta and visit the Popeye village myself….amazing…check out the official Popeye village website!
Cinematic Captain America: The Greatest American……..Virgin?!
I’ve been thinking about this since I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier in theaters, it’s like a big elephant in the room at this point! We just have to address this, the movie Captain America is most definitely still a gosh darn virgin!! Am I wrong?! Nope! Movie Cap was born in 1918 so technically he’s a 96 year old virgin-It’s been three movies that this Cap portrayed by Chris Evans has been in, one being The Avengers and thus far Cap, though quite popular with the ladies since he got his muscles, has gotten ZERO action, aside from a few random smooches! Daaang!
So I think a great plot point of the next Captain America movie must be him finally losing his damn virginity already! I could see this being an incredibly funny moment being discussed by him and his fellow Avengers at a bar over a few beers and I can already imagine a ton of jokes involving Tony Stark, Banner and Thor about this. Now though the bigger question is who’s going to be his first?! Let’s face it Cap is quite the goody two shoes, so he may benefit from a more edgy lady like The Black Widow, or could go old school with Agent Carter (well that might be a bit weird), or maybe he’ll hook up with that SHIELD agent he was talking about?
The Avengers are in serious need of some options for the guy, Black Widow is hot and all but let’s face it she’d tear this momma’s boy’s heart to shreds! Or maybe Cap hasn’t come out of the closet yet?! Maybe he and Bucky will hook up?!! Either way it’s been too many decades for the guy, he’s gotta be feeling some serious sexual frustration at this point with all that super soldier serum pumping him up too, whatever the case he better make sure the big moment is worth the wait….
“Uggh…I can’t focus on a word Fury is saying with this raging boner I’ve had since we made out in that mall earlier!!”
Guardians of the Galaxy: No Need for a Cinematic Avengers Crossover!
The verdict is in! The Guardians of the Galaxy have moved from C to D list superheroes to A list superstars literally overnight! I had my doubts about it, I mean who wouldn’t considering their previous popularity or should I say unpopularity in the comic books. But the movie was a ton of fun, it had great effects, a neat-o story, excellently executed characters and a ton of laughs! It also had another thing going for it-it stood on its own with out needing to constantly reference The Avengers!! It was honestly a breath of fresh air to see a Marvel flick that wasn’t (at this point) trying to tie in or crossover into The Avengers. I like the whole crossover cinematic movie universe that Marvel has created but does everything always need to tie into something else? The answer is no even though it seems now everyone is getting the idea that they want to crossover and create one big movie universe for their separate franchises.
Don’t get me wrong I love The Avengers-it was awesome. But I can’t tell you how happy I was that this had nothing to do really with Thor, Captain America & Iron Man! I hear the plan is to have the Guardians meet The Avengers. When I think about that, it really doesn’t excite as much as I thought it might. maybe because I simply enjoyed The Guardians so much that I’d just love to see them hit space on their own, Avenger free so to say. I think they should tie in a little bit with Thanos but do we really need a movie jam packed with ten plus superheroes crammed into space? I don’t think so! Right now I’m just excited to this movie again and I’m this close to saying I like the Guardians movie even more than The Avengers! Nice work Mr. Gunn!!!
This was one of my favorite comics as a kid! And it is a crossover…so well, maybe Marvel will once again prove me wrong?!*-
Top 5 Obscure Marvel Superhero Teams Who Deserve Their Own Movies Too!!
So Guardians of the Galaxy is all the rage suddenly! The movie is on it’s way to being a HUGE hit for Marvel. Well I’m sure that’s got all the big wigs in Hollywood and at Marvel thinking about what the next big thing is gonna be. It seems that the characters in these movies really don’t have to be A-list characters to hit it big time. Maybe you Avengers aren’t quite as special as you thought you were huh?! Well listen up Marvel and Hollywood, fear not, because I’ve got the 5 superhero teams who who got the muscle to score you another blockbuster! Forget about the X-men, forget about the Justice League, The Avengers? Ha! old fucking news! There’s really only so much of Captain America, Thor and Iron Man that we can take! Here are five lesser known teams that could be the next big thing on the big screen!
5. The Defenders: This is Marvel’s safest bet, The Defenders are the B-list Avengers and always have been. But through time they’ve embarked on some of the most downright bizarre adventures in comic book history. This is because of one character in particular, at the core of the group is Doctor Strange, who Marvel is already getting ready to cast into his own feature film. Also in the group is The Hulk, an Avenger who people now are demanding more of on the big screen, ad on The Silver Surfer, who’s one of the coolest characters ever and lastly Namor, the first Marvel Mutant and you’ve got the perfect team to head into truly Strange territory in the movies.
This movie I have no doubt will at some point be made and if you have any doubt that this could be a great big screen adventure take a moment to read The Defenders mini series from 2005 it’s the perfect reference point to success! It’s jam packed with action and some really great comedy, mostly revolving around the Hulk’s sex life!
4. The Exiles: This was a great series that was designed as a “What If?” comic for X-men fans, it involved the team traveling to different dimensions, times and alternate realities. It was kinda like Quantum Leap with superheroes. We have already seen that the alternate timeline stuff works quite well for movie fanatics lately so why not give this team a shot at some big screen glory? You get some weird mashed up versions of popular characters that would sure to quite interesting as well. The Exiles were hired to fix broken realities and the team originally consisted of Blink (Clarice Ferguson, from the Age of Apocalypse), Mimic (Calvin Rankin), Magnus Lensherr (son of Magneto and Rogue),Thunderbird (John Proudstar), Nocturne (Talia Josephine “T.J.” Wagner, daughter of Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch), and Morph. How’s that for a stellar line up?
3. The Invaders: Ok, how cool was it that the first Captain America movie took place in the 1940’s? Let’s face it this is an awesome era to tell comic book stories-and with the backdrop of WWII it’s the perfect place to kick some Nazi ass-something people never get tired of seeing! We already got a tease of a loose version of the team in the first Captain America movie, but sadly the team didn’t sport costumes or get much development. JJ Field was even cast in the movie as Montgomery Falsworth, who becomes “Union jack” one the most prominent and awesome members of the team.
The movie version could be a mix of The Howling Commandos who had some of it’s members in the Cap movie as well(Dum Dum Dugan!). The movie could take place after Cap’s death and maybe even be developed in the “Agent Carter” Tv series before it hit the big screen. This one would be huge and could take them on an Indiana Jones-esque type of adventure battling the likes of, Baron Zemo, The Hate Monger, Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, The Master Man & Baron Blood!
2. Alpha Flight: I’m not sure how many times I have to say it-Alpha Flight is just begging to be a big screen smash!! These guys have been a fave of mine since I was a little kid. They’re the Canadian X-men for cryin’ out loud! The movie could have strong ties with the X-films, heck Hugh Jackman could even be in it when Wolverine was a member of the team! The finale of the flick could be when Wolverine goes a-wall and the Flight chases him down ultimately clashing with our very favorite movie X-men! How awesome would that be?
Also visually seeing Sasquatch in action alone would be worth it! Plus Marvel could be the first to introduce the most bad ass first full-on gay superhero to the silver screen-Northstar! This one has success written all over it and the team is always filled with a ton of drama-just read the first 12 issues of the original 1980’s John Byrne run, it’s golden…
1. The Great Lakes Avengers: This one is the one. The Great Lakes Avengers has all the ingredients of big time hit. It’s got heart, drama, a ton of comedy and one other thing going for it the word “AVENGERS” in it’s title. So who are these guys you might ask? Well they are a midwest superhero team that forms in Milwaukee Wisconsin!! They’re huge fans of the Avengers and decide they want to give the superhero stuff a shot themselves. The only problem is that this team is band of regular joe type people with weird superpowers who’ve got zero cred and really zero experience in costumed crimefighting. Think of the movie as a cross between Kick-Ass and Mystery Men. This would be a great one for Edgar Wright or someone who could write something truly hilarious with some well cast comedic actors.
We could get a few cameos from the other real Avengers as well, unintentionally blowing these guys off on the street. Then, the team who we follow from the beginning, as leader Mister Immortal (who no matter how badly he’s injured, can’t die) assembles them all from ads on telephone poles and Craig’s List . He eventually gets them all in to deep with a major Marvel villain, this is where things get serious. This could be one of the most funny superhero movies ever and at the same time have some good serious drama and action as well. Plus it seems that one of it’s members Squirrel Girl already has quite a cult following-To not jump on this now would be a crime Marvel-make it happen!!! Still don’t believe me check out The Great Lakes Avengers trade “Misassembled” from 2005 it’s proof of my claims!
Deadpool Test Footage: Does it Warrant a Full on Feature Flick?!
We all got to see the leaked footage of the test footage that was made with Ryan Reynolds voicing the character and it seems like it’s generating a lot of hype for a big screen solo adventure! I’m intrigued by this footage, as it came directly off a wretched portrayal of the character from probably the worst superhero flick of recent times, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But with that said the test footage was actually better than I expected. Fans all over are hoping that this idea will turn into a full fledged “R Rated” feature film, with a ton of gore and the typical Deadpool smart ass humor we all have come to expect from the character. However, today it’s been said that if it happens it WONT be rated R, it will be PG-13. It will generate far more money if they make it more kid friendly, that’s the motivation behind the rating.
So it really seems, with no surprise, that everything in Hollywood is indeed about money. The times are past when Hollywood just wanted to make an amazing movie and take any real risks. Today any superhero flick apparently needs to make an obscene amount of cash for it to be even considered. To me this is sad. I know it’s the world we live in today, but it’s too bad that it all revolves around making a big big buck. A movie like Blade which was rated R was made for 45 Million dollars, it made 131 million worldwide, but today those numbers just aren’t good enough. Today Hollywood is looking for four to five times that, as Iron Man made 582 million buckaroos. There’s a lot of cool movies being passed on these days (Hellboy 3 anyone?) because Hollywood doesn’t think they can make the money. But how much money is enough?!
Well in this case I’m certain that Deadpool will be made, and it just might be a damn good flick. However I miss the days when they might have made an awesome Deadpool flick without trying to market it to thirteen year olds. How many thirteen year olds do you know that read Deadpool anyway? Now let’s move on to the footage we all saw, I think it looked decent but why did we get a CG motion capture version of Deadpool?! This isn’t Roger Rabbit dammit! What’s wrong with having Reynolds in an actual costume? Is that too complex now? Designing an awesome costume that the actor actually has to put on? It seems to me that the whole motion capture thing is getting a bit out of hand, I fear that there will soon be no actual wardrobe or costuming for fantastic characters on the big screen. How about Ultron in the upcoming Avengers “Age of Ultron” did he really need to be motion capture? Have you ever seen C3PO? Or now what about Thanos? They couldn’t transform Brolin into the character with make up? I mean what if Ron Perlman didn’t get the make up for Hellboy-would he have been as convincing?
Lastly I really do hope we see a good Deadpool movie, I hope it’s wild and funny. That means that we need some good writers who know how to blend comedy with the genre. I’d take Edgar Wright on a project like that. In order to make Deadpool a success they need a lot more than him cracking wise ass jokes that simply aren’t funny. So this will all be interesting to see what comes to be with this one, they are on the right track I think, but they need to go a far distance from the movie he first appeared in to make it everything the fans love about the character…
Now We’re Getting “The Evil Dead” TV Series? I’ll Believe It When I See It!
We recently once again got “news” from Sam Raimi at Comic Con that he’s writing an Evil Dead TV series with his brother and Bruce “Ash” Campbell. Wow sound like an awesome idea huh? Well as everyone on the internet flips out about this, I’m saying I’ll believe it when I see It! Look, this all seem like a really swell idea, but how many damn times does Mr. Raimi expect us to get excited about this whole damn Evil Dead thing?! The idea of a true modern sequel has been announced many times by Sam, then either he or Bruce come back and say stuff like they were just kidding, weren’t serious, or just trying to say what the crowd wants to hear etc, etc, etc.
I’m personally getting a little tired of the whole idea of another movie with Bruce as Ash. I’m tired of hearing about a sequel to the reboot, that’s not going to happen and then is going to happen and then nothing. I’m tired of hearing about how we’ll be getting a new Evil Dead sequel from Fede Alvarez, then getting Army of Darkness 2, then the universes colliding in a final installment with Bruce and then hearing that- that is NOT actually the plan, nope now we’re gonna get a nifty TV series with Bruce Campbell in the leading role…..becuz i’m sure in a week from now Bruce will make some smart ass comment about it saying it ain’t gonna happen. The more I see Raimi’s recent work the more I hope that he just gives up on the idea! He’s stated several times that he’s really not into doing any more Evil Dead-so why would I want to see a movie or TV series by someone who ain’t interested?! That’s not the Evil Dead flick I’ve been waiting for!
So these three guys can keep talking at Comic Con’s every year about a new Evil Dead movie, a sequel, a tv series, a crossover blah blah blah. This won’t mean shit to me until it’s on a screen in front of me! If they don’t make something happen soon it will indeed be too late. Now is the time to put Bruce back in the role, not ANOTHER 10 years from now! So Raimi, listen up, don’t do more Evil Dead if you really don’t care about it anymore, because we still do. How fun is it dating someone you’re super stoked on who’s simply looking for something better to come along? Answer is it totally blows! So until the whole gang can get their heads out of their rear ends and come up with something solid that everyone involved is actually truly pumped on then I suggest just keeping your ideas to yourself at Comic Con. Ok, rant is done, now prove me wrong please! I can’t bear to watch another clip like this dammit!!
Cyclops, The Punisher and Slingblade vs. The Killer Grizzly!
I’m pretty excited about this upcoming thriller called “Grizzly”! It was more recently known as “Endangered” then “Red machine” which I think is a better name, as many might think this is now a direct remake of the 1976 Grizzly bear horror flick of the same name(maybe it is?). I’m a pretty big fan of wilderness survival movies like “Black Water” which is a great realistic crocodile attacks flick, “The Edge” which was a pretty great wild Grizzly bear action flick, “Burning Bright” which was a neat-o trapped in the house with a savage tiger flick just to name a few. The premise is always pretty simple, totally believable and could actually happen to you(the tiger in the house scenario maybe not so likely)!
Grizzly looks so good mainly because of it’s cast, Billy bob Thornton, James “Cyclops” Marsden, Thomas Jane and Piper Perabo. The trailer looks like a damn good time and quite some time ago I saw of the special effects work of this movie, mainly the animatronics used for some of the grizzly sequences and it instantly made me keep close watch for this. More recently recently I saw some make up effects done on Billy Bob with his face totally mangled by the grizzly with his ear dangling, yet he’s still on the hunt and it’s pretty crazy! I think this one is going to be pretty intense.
Well now it’s here, check it out!
Son of The Dark Crystal: ‘Lessons Learned’ Brings Back the Magic!
I am thoroughly bummed out that “Lessons Learned“, the short film by Toby Froud somehow slipped through my radar here undetected! Being a huge fan of Both Labyrinth & The Dark Crystal this film is on my must see list and Mr. Froud I find also lives right here in Portland, Oregon! Now that’s not even the most interesting part, Toby is kind of a legendary guy, his parents created the puppets and landscapes of The Dark Crystal & Labyrinth, but get this, he also starred in Labyrinth as the legendary baby that David Bowie kidnaps!!
So these days he lives in Pdx and works on puppets at Laika Studios on movies like Paranorman and the upcoming Box Trolls. Most recently however he’s completed his epic puppet short film, “Lessons Learned”, which was funded on Kickstarter. Now the film is complete and screenings are popping up. The movie looks pretty awesome & it really looks like it takes place in the same universe as The Dark Crystal!
So check out this trailer for the film which he teamed with Heather Henson (Jim Henson’s Daughter)! I think if he could follow this up with a feature length film, in the same vein it would excite legions of people all over the world. Lessons Learned will screen again as part of the Portland Film Festival in August. For those not in Portland, it has been selected as part of FilmQuest in Salt Lake in July, and will possibly play at festivals elsewhere pending acceptance.
Harbinger Down: The Real Prequel to “The Thing”!!
I just checked out the long awaited trailer for a movie I’ve been pumped about for quite some time time now, Harbinger Down! If you follow my blog at all you’ve probably heard me complaining a lot about CGI and how there aren’t nearly enough movies these days that utilize rad practical monster effects like they used to back in the 1980’s. Well Alec Gillis at Studio ADI announced a while back that he planned on making a full on monster movie utilizing all practical effects only using CG to eliminate things like rods or wires.
You see a while back they made a prequel to the classic John Carpenter Monster flick “The Thing” and Gillis and his crew were hired to do the special effects, they were told to use all practical monster effects to keep the same vibe as the 1982 classic. They went hard to work and filmed much of the movie with the effects but at the last minute the studio changed their mind, and CG’d over all of there work, claiming that people these days like their movies to look more like modern video games. The movie was bashed by fans of the original and did little at the box office. So here is Alec Gillis’ response to what happened to them, a movie that bears some resemblance to the premise of The Thing, as if him and his crew is giving the fans the movie that they were hoping for in The Thing prequel. So take a look at the trailer, this one is on the top of my list!!
Seth Rogan & James Franco VS. Kim Jong Un: Maybe Not So Funny?
The Interview, Seth Rogan’s & James Franco’s new upcoming comedy has made huge headlines as it’s pissed off the dim witted manchild Kim Jong Un causing him to declare the movie as an “act of war” if it is released! This is clearly a whole heap of ridiculous BS going here. Not to mention it sounds like the ultimate PR stunt, Kim is totally hyping the shit out of this movie by exploding into a child like tantrum-perhaps he’s in on the gag? In any event on the off chance that the little guy is really serious about his threats, the whole thing just kind of stinks. When I first caught wind of the movie’s trailer it kinda bummed me out. It made me wonder which of these guys were actually more idiotic, Rogan & Franco or Lil’ Kim?!
To me this movie/hype isn’t helping ease any tensions in the world. Franco & Rogan have in my opinion lost their charm some time ago, they kind of embody the pompous, cocky, spoiled American that a good portion of the rest of the world seems to think we are here. I technically should have loved “This is the End”, their apocalyptic comedy released a couple years ago, however, watching that whole crew of actors in that flick had me rolling my eyes at just how ridiculously awesome these guys think they are today. I think, they’ve gotten a little too big for their britches these days. Then reading the comments sections on the news stories online about their new movie “The Interview” from fellow Americans made me kinda sick to my stomach. It seems like the ol’ “Bring it on” mentality is back in effect, here in the USA as people don’t really seem to care at all about the tensions of the world increasing.
So as I agree that Kim Jong Un is a total piece of trash dictator who needs to go, I also see that Seth Rogan and James Franco right now seem like two cocky Americans hiding out in Hollywood having made a movie that taunts a potentially dangerous real life dictator, not really considering the gravity of their actions. Yeah it’s an interesting concept for a movie, but it doesn’t help this completely messed up world that’s far too full of war and violence at this point. The whole situation really isn’t that funny is it? I don’t think there’s anything funny about war or the possibility of war. Now I’ll say this too, I haven’t seen the movie, and perhaps I could be completely wrong about it’s content and message. Hell, this movie just might change things and who knows maybe Lil’ Kim will even get a kick out of it? I guess it remains to be seen, but so far the trailer has just made the world an even more scary place for the time being. It’s a sad world when the USA’s best diplomat to North Korea is Dennis Rodman….
Universal Dork 