Suddenly several animated series and movies in the fantasy, adventure, and science fiction genres are going to be appearing on your TVs and in theaters. Most are coming to Netflix and Disney+, so get ready. Each one has a unique look, and they all feature intriguing trailers that offer enough to get us to give them at least a try. From a pirate sea beast tale to Sonic the Hedgehog, Ice Age, and Despicable Me sequels, to the latest seasons of the Pacific Rim and Ghost in the Shell spin-offs, a new kind of vampire series, an Apollo movie, and more. Which will be the biggest hit? Take a look at all these trailers:
These days most movies translate just fine from the big screen to a home high definition television. Late December’s release from Warner Brothers, DC’s Aquaman, is a surprisingly good transfer, showcasing the film’s epic fantasy seascapes and truly unique otherworld sea creatures without the sound contrast and lighting issues that plague recent action film releases. Aquaman is available now on 4D, Blu-ray, DVD, and in digital formats, and it’s available both on Vudu and Amazon Prime. A single word to describe this rare, solid entry in the DC franchise? Epic. Throughout the film viewers will see concepts from the history of fantasy films absorbed into its plot, from the likes of Raiders of the Lost Ark to Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth, to Ray Harryhausen fantasy classics, King Solomon’s Mines and Tomb Raider, and even Harry Potter and Tolkien’s Middle-earth stories.
It all begins with the cast, and in particular the chemistry between the always cool and confident actor who looks born to play superheroes, Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, and Amber Heard as a beautiful grown-up Ariel turned badass named Mera, who may be the best realized heroine from the comics in the DC universe. Aquaman director James Wan(Furious 7) does something rare for the superhero genre and forms his film around a romance between the two as they embark on a quest across the planet for the legendary trident of King Atlan, first king of the earliest water-breathers living under the sea. Wan makes that happen more successfully than other DC romances of the past, including even Clark Kent and Lois Lane. What is not lost on the small screen is the CGI-heavy undersea universe, but this time a film is CGI-heavy in a good, exciting way (Aquaman knocks the much lauded CGI film Avatar out of the water in every way). Atlanteans riding sea horses, sharks, whales, and turtles. Aquaman and Mera hiding out inside a whale, Pinocchio-style. The film hits its visual zenith with a giant Kraken-like beast with an appearance as awesome as seeing Godzilla for the first time. The visuals have all the imagination and colorful execution that makes for a rewatchable film, and the score has a pounding synth feel, with a mixed vibe of Daft Punk from Tron: Legacy and Queen from Flash Gordon.
The home release is accompanied by 15 behind-the-scenes features. The best has Dolph Lundgren explaining the connections between key characters and concepts in the comic books with the portrayal in the film, in Going Deep Into the World of Aquaman. You get a feel for how energetic and how fun Jason Momoa is in real life in Becoming Aquaman and A Match Made in Atlantis. Details of how the director expanded on the comics and where he mixed Kaiju and historical sea stories can be found in James Wan: World Builder. Heroines of Atlantis will leave viewers convinced future films in the series need more women characters, with only two to speak of in this film. Other features include Aqua Tech,Atlantis Warfare, Black Manta,Villainous Training, Kingdoms of the Seven Seas,Creating Undersea Creatures, three Scene Study Breakdowns (the Sicily battle, the early submarine attack, and the underwater trench climax), and a sneak preview of Shazam.
As much as fans of DC Comics see Aquaman and think superhero, his undersea world is very much the stuff of the fantasy genre, much like that of Marvel Comics’ Thor, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther. Jason Momoa‘s unique take on Aquaman was no doubt the highpoint of last year’s big-screen Justice League, and each new trailer has made the film look more intriguing. Undersea people riding sharks is a difficult image to top.
The final trailer hints at the advisory role Willem Dafoe as Vulko will play for Momoa’s Arthur Curry aka Aquaman. It also provides a glimpse at Dolph Lundgren‘s King Nereus, and one of the coolest actors–Jango Fett himself–Temuera Morrison as Arthur’s father. And David Kane looks straight out of the pages of the comic books as Black Manta.
Check out the final trailer for DC’s next Justice League film, Aquaman:
We know Sylvester Stallone more for his action movies than any acting prowess. Yet he is Oscar material. Rocky, the movie and role that made him a household name, earned him Academy Award nominations for both acting and his screenplay. The latest Rocky movie, Creed, was his seventh film as boxer–now retired boxer–Rocky Balboa. His performance in that film and the first trailer for the eighth film in the franchise, Creed II, proves he still has the acting chops, and can give as emotional a performance as ever, and maybe one that could garner him another Oscar nod for the same role he created more than 40 years ago in 1976. And after his success in Black Panther, everyone is watching the career of star Michael B. Jordan, too. Has there been a bad Rocky movie? The first garnered ten Oscar nominations and three wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Stallone wrote each of Rocky II, III, IV, V, and Rocky Balboa in 2006. That changed with Creed, and the film proved the change-up was just fine with contributions from writers Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington (check out our borg.com review here).
Like the first Creed film, Creed II looks more like a character-driven drama than just another boxing movie. This time Creed director Ryan Coogler hands the directing duties over to Steven Caple, Jr. with a script by Luke Cage’s Cheo Hodari Coker. Will this be as good as the last film without Black Panther director Coogler at the helm? An intriguing plus for this film is the re-emergence of the name Drago. The original Drago played by Dolph Lundgren killed Adonis Creed’s father Apollo in Rocky IV. Now his son, played by Florian Munteanu, seems to be back for a repeat performance.
The Rocky universe has turned into a “Who’s Who of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” with Black Panther co-lead Michael B. Jordan (Killmonger) back as Creed, Thor: Ragnarok co-star Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) as his new wife, and Guardians of the Galaxy II’s Stallone (Stakar Ogord) back as Rocky. Check out the first official poster for the film (above), and here’s the first trailer for Creed II:
It’s simply one of the greatest science fiction movies of all time. It stars the biggest action hero of all time. And it was the proving ground for two actors who would become state governors. Okay, maybe that’s a stretch. But 1987’s surprise hit Predator, reviewed here at borg.com in its recent 3D incarnation, is one of those sci-fi/horror/action mash-ups that will leave you coming back to watch it over and over.
It also launched a multi-film franchise, which although not as successful as its sister franchise Aliens, gave us more to hope for: Predator 2 in 1990, Alien vs. Predator in 1993, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007, and finally Predators in 2010. In truth, none of these possessed either Arnold Schwarzenegger’s star power or Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October director John McTiernan’s eye for suspense.
So what better time to look back to the original film? A new film by writer/director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3, The Nice Guys) is coming your way, and this week 20th Century Fox released a new poster to tease us. No mention of A-list stars or plot summary. Just an image of one of our two favorite interplanetary bounty hunters.
But here’s the thing. And it’s illustrated by a new trailer for Kindergarten Cop 2 (you don’t need to watch the entire trailer to get the point):
Our annual “All the Movies You’ll Want to See…” series has been one of the most viewed of all of our entries at borg.com each year. So this year we again scoured Hollywood and its publicity machine for as many genre films coming out in 2016 as have been disclosed. Usually we select the 24 that look like the biggest hits, but we’re going all out for 2016. The result is a whopping 48 movies, many you’ll probably want to see in the theater or catch on video. We bet you’ll find a bunch below you’ve never heard of. Bookmark this now for your 2016 calendar!
Most coming out in the second half of 2016 don’t even have posters released yet, but many do. We’ve included descriptions and key cast so you can start planning accordingly.
What do we think will be the biggest hits of the year? How about Star Wars: Rogue One? Or Star Trek Beyond? You’ve heard endlessly about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but 2016 will also see Doctor Strange, Captain America: Civil War, and X-Men: Apocalypse. There’s even a handful of Westerns, with The Hateful 8, Jane Got a Gun, and another remake of The Magnificent Seven heading our way.
The Hateful Eight – January 1
Tarentino’s Western! Ennio Morricone score! Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Channing Tatum!
The 5th Wave – January 8
Chloe Grace Moretz and Liev Schreiber in an alien invasion.
400 Days – January 12
The CW’s Brandon Routh, Caity Lotz, and Tom Cavanaugh in a movie about astronauts that seems to be a play on Ender’s Game.
Some call them guilty pleasures–those films that are more bad than good, but have some quality you can’t quite identify that cements them in your own memory. You might not admit how much you like those films, but you do, and you’d also willingly admit the quality of the film is still bad, bad, bad. As you watch writer/director Mark Hartley’s new film about two cousins that created one of the most well-known independent B-movie film studios, I will wager you will see at least four movies from the 1980s that you’ll admit only to yourself “hey, I loved that movie.”
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films chronicles two Israeli cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, successful filmmakers in their home country who took America by storm, taking over Cannon Group in 1980 and churning out more movies than any other studio, eventually releasing about a movie a week before it ran out of money. The documentary highlights one of the studio’s defining, over-the-top and embarrassingly bad movies: Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo. Cannon helped the careers of names like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren and helped propel the second phase of the careers of actors like Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, and Sylvester Stallone. The list of surprising names showing up in their films included Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Marina Sirtis and Patrick Stewart, and Sharon Stone, but even once big names like Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing could be found in a Cannon movie.
Delta Force, Missing in Action and Missing in Action 2, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Lifeforce, Hercules (with Lou Ferrigno), King Solomon’s Mines, Runaway Train, Invaders from Mars, American Ninja, Bloodsport, Cyborg, Death Warrant, Masters of the Universe, Powaqqatsi, and Superman IV, for good or bad, emerged from Golan and Globus’s years at Cannon.
Has there been a bad Rocky movie? Sylvester Stallone’s springboard to stardom was the character and stories he wrote and starred in beginning with the first, garnering ten Oscar nominations and three wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing. Stallone’s acting and screenplay even earned a nomination for the 1976 classic. In fact Stallone has written each of Rocky II, III, IV, V and the most recent Rocky Balboa in 2006. Now the Rocky story takes a new direction, this time with new writers, newcomers Ryan Coogler and Aaron Covington, with the fall release Creed.
Who doesn’t remember the motivational Bill Conti soundtrack to Rocky?Rocky II’s “Eye of the Tiger”? How about cheering on Rocky as he defeated Dolph Lundgren’s Drago in Rocky IV?
This time Rocky steps into the shoes of those that trained him, Burgess Meredith’s Mickey, Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed, and Burt Young’s Paulie, to train a new fighter. That fighter is Adonis Creed, son of Apollo, who we saw as Rocky’s unlikely trainer in Rocky III, and last saw as he was killed by Drago in Rocky IV.
Next month Dark Horse Comics releases a must-read for fans of He-Man, She-Ra “Princess of Power,” and the Masters of the Universe world of toys, animated series, magazines, chapter books, posters, comic strips, and comic books. The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Limited Edition Hardcover includes more than 300 pages full-color art, a portfolio featuring an exclusive print by Gerald Parel, a foil-embossed cover, and a die-cut two-piece Castle Greyskull slipcase. A standard edition of the book will also be available. Many well-known creators worked with these characters since its inception in the early 1980s, including Ralph McQuarrie, Drew Struzan, Dick Giordano, J. Michael Straczynski, George Tuska, Klaus Janson, Boris Vallejo, Tony Moore, Darwyn Cooke, Geoff Johns, and Tommy Lee Edwards.
Designers from every stage of the creation of He-Man, She-Ra, Skeletor, and the large cast of sword and sorcery heroes and villains, offer insight into character development, decision-making, and the impact on 1980s kids. The best feature is the inclusion of hundred of pieces of full-color art, concept artwork, page layouts, sketches, storyboards, packaging art, prototypes, never before seen and unused imagery, advertising art, original comic art, and final comic book pages, covers, and animation cels. It features restored art from master illustrator Earl Norem, as well as interviews with Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the 1987 movie, director Gary Goddard, well-known TV producer/comic book writer Paul Dini, and voice actress Erika Scheimer, among many others. Captions for photos were written by comic book creators Tim Seeley and Steve Seeley.
Particularly of interest to toy collectors are the original notes from the development stage of the toy line at Mattel. Mattel, which had passed on the ground-breaking Star Wars action figure line, developed He-Man as a direct competitor to that toy line. Mattel drove the look of the characters–this was first and foremost a toy line, inspired in part by the fantasy art of Frank Frazetta. But it grew beyond that. Artists and writers and other creators remark with pride about the focus on the stories that went beyond the toy line.
The all-star cast ensemble movie is alive and well (well maybe not “well”) thanks to The Expendables franchise. It’s a forum for action film stars of the past to tell everyone they think they still have what it takes, whether they really do or not. You can whistle along to the Colonel Bogey March as you check out the teaser for the third installment due out this summer, The Expendables 3. We included it as one of our entries on our 2014 “movies to watch” list, with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Dolph Lundgren back, along with Antonio Banderas, Wesley Snipes, and Kelsey Grammer–and Mel Gibson as the show’s villain. Wait a second… once of these guys doesn’t fit the action hero mold so much. Then there is The Expendables newbie Harrison Ford. What? Is Ford taking every gig that comes along these days?
Along with plenty of extra-long action sequences you can usually find a few fun scenes between these personalities in these films.
With Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude van Damme, Mickey Rourke, and Chuck Norris in the prior outings, we’re still left wondering one question: Where the heck is Steven Seagal?
