Wolfman News

AVENGER NEWS

The last news we heard regarding Marvel's highly anticipated "Avengers" Film was the lost of an admired cast member. But with a film uniting heroes such as Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, you can't be down for too long.

According to one of our very well placed sources (think: USA, West Coast, sunny, lots of big buildings that look like warehouses, people zipping about in electric carts) Joss Whedon’s movie version of The Avengers will be shooting in Manhattan next year. What exactly will go before the cameras isn’t yet known – or, if we’re being honest, hasn’t even been completely decided – but the plan at the moment definitely involves the SHIELD Helicarrier. And apparently there's' going to be a great need for "Avengers" extras on the streets of Manhattan next year.

For those who don't know, in the Marvel comics, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier is a flying aircraft carrier specifically designed to be itself capable of independent powered flight in addition to the conventional functions of aircraft carriers. It is the signature capital ship of intelligence/defense agency S.H.I.E.L.D, which has made it's way into "Marvel's Cinematic Universe through The Incredible Hulk, heavily in Iron Man 2, and presumably in Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. But never has the Hellicarior been mentioned or referenced to.

The Design teams have been working on The Avengers for some time, even before the appointment of Joss Whedon as director, and have developed some ideas of how much of the film will look. As regards some key items – including the Helicarrier.

Regarding the Manhattan filming as well the Helicarrier overall, you can take with a grain of salt...for now. Whether it's true or not, THE AVENGERS" supposedly begins production February 2011 with Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) confirmed. And Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Nathan Fillion (Giant-Man), and Eva Longoria (Wasp) unannounced. The film hits theaters May 4, 2012.

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THE EXPENDABLES ARE COMING TO THE BIG SCREEN IN AUGUST!!!

If you could combine their features into one specimen of supreme manliness, their biceps would be as big as the forelimb of an ox and their neck as wide as an oak tree. The fusion of Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis would be truly impressive to behold.

They are not, yet, being genetically welded into one; but the three actors are being brought together into one film in what is being billed as the action hero dream team. The Expendables, scheduled for release in August, will see Stallone lead a team of mercenaries on a mission to overthrow a South American dictator. The film will see the three actors brought together for the first time since 1991, when they attended openings of their ill-fated restaurant venture, Planet Hollywood.

Speaking at the Venice film festival, where he is receiving a special award, Stallone explained the thinking behind the movie. "I wanted to do a film that was more about men, just doing things that we did back in the 80s and 90s with films that were a little bit more men on men." Schwarzenegger confirmed he would be making a cameo appearance in The Expendables. In an interview with a fan website, he described the scene, poking fun at his and Stallone's trademark verbal dexterity. "I walk out of a hotel or out of a office building and [Stallone] will walk up and we will bump into each other and there will be some mumbling and then we will walk off."

Stallone said his ambition was "to find certain personalities that never would ever work together normally and put them altogether. It's like a dream team". He certainly has built the ideal lineup for anyone who likes their actors to be built like prize bulls. In addition to the big three, Stallone has also brought on board Mickey Rourke, flush from his success in The Wrestler, the Ultimate Fighting Championship star Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Jason "The Transporter" Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Austin 3:16 himself, Stone Cold Steve Austin!!! Check out a first look at the Trailer below!!!

"Salt" is a damn fine thriller. It does all the things I can't stand in bad movies, and does them in a good one. It's like a rebuke to all the lousy action movie directors who've been banging pots and pans together in our skulls. It winds your clock tight and the alarm doesn't go off for 100 minutes.

It's gloriously absurd. This movie has holes in it big enough to drive the whole movie through. The laws of physics seem to be suspended here the same way as in a Road Runner cartoon. Angelina Jolie runs full speed out into thin air and doesn't look down until she's in the helicopter at the end. Jolie is one fine-looking woman. You don't need me to tell you that. It's why she gets the big bucks. The movies have celebrated her eyes, lips, profile, biceps, boobs, waist, butt, thighs. “Salt" pays tribute to her ankles. Anyone who can jump from the heights she does here, in the way she does it, may die from a lot of causes, but a sprained ankle won't be one of them.

You know parkour? Wikipedia defines it as “the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one's path by adapting one's movements to the environment." Jolie's character, Evelyn Salt, makes it look as though "Run Lola Run" was about walking. There's a scene when she descends eight stories in an elevator shaft by simply jumping across it to one wall support lower than the last. Each time she lands she says “oof," but that's about it. You're not going to hear much about the plot here. Nothing I could tell you would be necessary for you to know, and everything could be fatal to your enjoyment. Let's just make it simple: She plays a woman determined to singlehandedly save the world from nuclear annihilation. Oh, it's not that the plot holds water or makes any sense, but it's a pleasure to be surprised here and there along the way, and it's not like the movie lingers over each twist and turn as if it's just pulled an elephant out of a hat. No, each revelation is the occasion for another chase scene.

Evelyn Salt escapes from, or breaks into, one inescapable and/or impenetrable stronghold after another. And she does it all by herself, and with her bare hands, plus a few guns, grenades and a home-made rocket launcher. You know how it's been said of Ginger Rogers that “she did everything Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels"? Evelyn does everything James Bond did, except backwards and barefoot in the snow.

At one point in the movie, Evelyn is chained to a concrete floor in a North Korean dungeon while a rubber hose is charmingly stuck into her mouth and gasoline is poured in. That's at the beginning of the film. I'm not going to tell you what she survives later. She plays a spy for the CIA — but now I'm giving away too many details. Important supporting roles are played by Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor. The movie has been directed by Phillip Noyce, an Australian whose work ranges from Tom Clancy thrillers to the great and angry drama "Rabbit-Proof Fence." Here he performs as a master craftsman, aided by the cinematography of Robert Elswit and the editing of Stuart Baird and John Gilroy.

The movie has a great many chase scenes, and faithful readers will know that these, in general, have lost their novelty for me. But a good chase scene is a good chase scene. It demands some sense of spatial coherence, no matter how impossible; some continuity of movement, no matter how devised by stuntwork and effects, and genuine interest for the audience.

It's in that area that Angelina Jolie really delivers. She brings the conviction to her role that such a movie requires. She throws herself into it with animal energy. Somehow, improbably, she doesn't come off as a superhero (although her immunity suggests one), but as a brave and determined fighter. How does she look? She looks beautiful by default, and there's a scene in an office where she looks back over her shoulder to talk with Schreiber and you think, oh, my. But neither Jolie nor Noyce overplays her beauty, and she gets gritty and bloody and desperate, and we get involved.

Although “Salt" finds an ingenious way to overcome history and resurrect the Russians as movie villains, neither that nor any other elements of the plot demand analysis. It's all a hook to hang a thriller on. It's exhilarating to see a genre picture done really well.

Overall, Salt is a kick-ass movie. The script was well written and directed. There was never a dull moment. What I liked most is that the storyline was original...it was not a copy-cat of any other movie out there that I know of. Wonderful acting by the three major characters, I'm rating this one a FULL PRICE!!! And that's th bottom line, cause Wolfman said so!!!

From the first scene and for a while afterward, Predators lures in an unsuspecting audience and keeps it on edge. But what starts with so much promise and intrigue devolves into a more predictable cat- and-mouse game. The fascination wears off as the initial premise never becomes fleshed out and plot holes loom larger than the monstrous mayhem. Billed as a new chapter in the Predator series that began in 1987, this fifth installment blends the commando scenario with sci-fi elements from the first film, which starred the now-governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. A character here even alludes to the first adventure, in which a team of soldiers on a mission in Central America was hunted by an alien force.

This time, a mysterious excursion involving a group of elite warriors seems primed to go in unexpected and mesmerizing directions from the minute the members land, parachuted into a lush jungle with no idea where they are or why they were dropped there. They quickly determine that they're being hunted but don't know who is pursuing them or why. Adrien Brody emerges as the unofficial leader of the pack, a mercenary with an intuitive grasp of the situation. "This place is a game preserve, and we're the game," he tells his cohorts. Alice Braga plays an Army sniper uniquely familiar with jungle fighting. She is the only one of the crew who does any soul-searching to figure out why this particular group was chosen as prey. The rest of the corps are trained soldiers of varying stripes: One is a surly convict wanted by the FBI (Walton Goggins), another is a drug gang enforcer (Danny Trejo), and the least likely member is a mild-mannered doctor (Topher Grace). Grace and Brody deliver some of the funniest dialogue.

Laurence Fishburne ( The most serious Brotha in Hollywood ) plays a recluse who has escaped the clutches of the predators physically, if not mentally. When the group attempts to escape, they reach a critical precipice. The sight of a pair of large planets looming in the horizon is breathtaking, and we're right there with them, disoriented and in awe. The special effects that allow the creatures to appear and disappear are deftly rendered. Their unique ability to home in on their prey is also cleverly portrayed. This version is still better than any other Predator sequel. But it could have been so much better, settling for forced surprises that may come out of nowhere but don't seem to go anywhere.

For myself, I just returned from watching 'Predators', and I'm very happy with the film. For years now all Robert Rodriguez would make were these crappy kids movies, and I started losing hope in seeing his real genuis shine through his films anymore (Tim Burton I'm looking at you too now). You can imagine how excited I was when I saw the trailers to 'Predators', and thought "At last! A movie Robert can sink his teeth into!" He has another movie coming out called 'Machete' which reminds me of his 'El Mariachi' films, but I digress. What makes 'Predators' a great film isn't so much the plot, which is simplistic, but the character development and interaction. All of these people were 'chosen' for a reason (which comes apparent), and their knowledge in military tactics as well as their honest reactions to the their predicament is refreshing. While Laurence Fishburn and the rest of the cast did outstanding jobs in their roles, I must give extra props to both Adrien Brody and Topher Grace. These two actors have run the risk of being typecast to portray a certain type of character, and with 'Predators', both actors strive dilligently (and succeed) in breaking their respective barriers and expectations we as viewers have put them in.

Adrien can be gruff; Topher can be intimidating and they have really avoided in being pigeonholed. Finally, the love that oozes from this movie like a gash from a katana blade, Robert Rodriguez has clearly done his homework and despite what certain critics have erronously dubbed a 'remake', 'Predators' is clearly a good old fashioned sequel! One that is done well and one that makes sense. I always leer with suspicion when I hear a director or actor or writer say when they don't bother delving into the source material of a franchise, but Robert, decided to remind the world why we loved the Predator movies in the first place while working his magic that we're all so fond of. This movie isn't hokey like the "Alien vs. Predator" movies (vs. battles as movies never pan out), and the terror is amplified by a set number of Predator aliens as opposed to a swarm and again, that just makes sense. I don't know why certain directors feel more creatures will somehow amplify the terror when it actually nulls it. Overall, while 'Predators' isn't a perfect film (then again, show me one that is), it's a really great film that is a lot of fun, and just cool as hell. My rating for this is a very high MATINEE!!! And that's the Bottom Line, cause Wolfman Said So!!!

THE A-TEAM

"The A-Team" was a successful NBC television show that ran from 1983-1987, enthralling kids with explosions, sprays of gunfire, slapstick, and a celebratory display of heroic teamwork. The show was undeniably primitive, but triumphantly charismatic, held together by diverse, exciting thespian efforts from George Peppard, Dirk Benedict, Dwight Schultz, and the one and only Mr. T. Now there's a big screen adaptation from director Joe Carnahan, who takes recognized elements of the franchise and inflates his own twisted balloon animal of a picture, laying the violence and militaristic camaraderie on thick to bring an iconic '80s action show into the decidedly more cynical year of 2010.

Bound together by their Army Ranger discipline, John "Hannibal" Smith (Liam Neeson), "Faceman" Peck (Bradley Cooper), Bosco "B.A." Baracus (Quinton "Rampage" Jackson), and "Howling Mad" Murdock (Sharlto Copley, "District 9") are facing the end of the Iraq War, tempted by an offer from C.I.A. provocateur Lynch (Patrick Wilson) to retrieve a set of counterfeit plates held in the heart of Baghdad. When the team is betrayed by an unknown source, they're stripped of rank, dishonorably discharged, and sent to prison. Again prompted by Lynch to reclaim the plates, Hannibal masterminds four prison escapes to reunite the team, while Department of Defense lackey, and Peck's former flame, Capt. Carissa Sosa (Jessica Biel) attempts to track their movement. On the hunt for revenge and a chance to clear their names, the A-Team finds the situation more corrupted than previously imagined, kicking off a series of schemes and shootouts while trying to outwit the enemy. I thought this was a good movie. I'd describe it as 80% action, 15% comedy and 5% romance. I thought the action scenes were entertaining and often humorous. One in particular actually surprised me, which is pretty rare. I appreciated that there was not a lot of gratuitous gore. I liked how the director spliced the planning of their missions with the missions actually taking place. I was a bit surprised that the character of BA was not more of a colorful character, but perhaps my memory of Mr. T is a bit exaggerated. I thought the other actors gave good performances. FYI - there are 2 additional -very brief- scenes if you stay clear to the end of the credits. They were humorous, but I'd have liked to see more.

Speaking of which, after a preview screening, Mr T, the 58-year-old actor who played BA Baracus in the TV series, said: "People die in the film and there's plenty of sex, but when we did it, no one got hurt and it was all played for fun and family entertainment. These seem to be elements nobody is interested in anymore." Now I can respect his opinion because he's a great role model for kids, he also said: "It was too graphic for me. I've no doubt it will do big business at the box office but it's nothing like the show we turned out every week." on that note, opinions vary!

Overall, from the opening sequence till the very end of the movie, the A-team is jam packed full of action adventure. I thought this movie did an excellant job respecting the origonal TV show. The A-team is amped up, and very comfortable at its new big screen home. Go see it, it's awesome, and I'm gonna give this one a FULL PRICE rating!!! And that's the bottom line, Fool, cause Wolfman said so!!!

THE KARATE KID (2010)

If you've seen "The Karate Kid" (1984), the memories will come back during this 2010 remake. That's a compliment. The original story was durable enough to inspire three sequels, and now we have an entertaining version filmed mostly on location in China.

The original was one of its year's best movies. I will say this, there aren't many surprises, as it follows the 1984 version almost point by point. But here is a lovely and well-made film that stands on its own feet. The Chinese locations add visual interest, there are scenes of splendor in mountains and on the Great Wall, and the characters are once again engaging. The original film's greatest asset was the Oscar-nominated performance by Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi. Jackie Chan is so famous that it can come as no surprise here when his Mr. Han, a reclusive janitor, reveals a hidden talent for the martial arts. But Chan has never been a strutting, macho fighter onscreen; his charm comes from a self-kidding quality. Here he does a great job of cooling down his usual cheerfulness and keeping his cards hidden.

In the role of his young pupil, Jaden Smith, son of Will (The Fresh Prince) and Jada Pinkett Smith, has a natural screen presence. Dre Parker is calmer than the skittish kid played by Ralph Macchio, but so much smaller than his opponents that we can well believe his fear of a bully at school. And when that happens, we can forget obsessing about the 1984 film and enjoy this one. That was then, this is now. The story once again involves a kid being packed up by his divorced mom and forced to leave his hometown and friends and move far away — from Detroit to Beijing, this time. He hates it. Then a cute young violinist named Meiying (Han Wenwen) smiles at him, and life looks more promising — if it weren't for the school bully Cheng (Wang Zhenwei). This creature is so hateful and sadistic, it's hard to explain, until we meet his brutal kung fu coach, Master Li (Yu Rongguang Yu). The monstrous Li teaches a new form of child abuse: Kids beating up on each other. The story proceeds, as it must, with Dre slowly softening the heart of Mr. Han, who saves him from a beating by Cheng and agrees to teach him the secrets of Kung Fu. Training goes well, and Dre and Meiying make a pact to attend each other's big days: his Kung Fu Tournament, her Recital. There's the usual nonsense about her parents disapproving of him. Gee, why in the world would the parents of a world-class classical musician disapprove of a Kung Fu student from Detroit who doesn't speak Chinese?

Luckily for Dre and the movie, everyone in China who needs to speak English can do so, even the little monster Cheng. Many Americans not only have little interest in learning another language, they have little interest in reading subtitles of their own. We believe, as Mark Twain put it in The Innocents Abroad, that any foreigner can understand English if it is only spoken slowly enough and loudly enough. It goes without saying that the whole film leads up to a climactic Kung Fu Tournament, and that Dre is pitted against Cheng for the championship. The lineage of the film is distinguished; the 1984 version was directed by John Avildsen, director of "Rocky." This film's climax is unusually well-handled; the tension is constructed in a careful way, the characters are developed, and use of a scoreboard makes it seem orderly, not rushed. It's one of the better obligatory fight climaxes I've seen. Overall, This was a respectfully humble nod and ode to the 1984 original but again, a continuation which doesn’t humiliate the franchise. If anything, it actually restores the humor and the triumph that viewers enjoyed and supported in the first one. Now the fight scenes are brutal and unapologetic which only reaffirms the seriousness of Jaden/Dre’s situation rather than cheapens the believability.

The film gives the viewer a sense of sincerity and it complements the original without attempting to overshadow it or out class it. If you’re a parent and you grew up watching the 1984 version, then you won’t be disappointed, take your children and go see it, it’s worth it. Watch it with an open mind and don’t compare it to the original, let the movie dictate your opinion so take it as a stand alone film, rather than looking at this 2010 version as a remake, it’s clearly a continuation. And it almost brought tears to my eyes, I said "almost", this is definately a high FULL PRICE rating!!! And that's the bottom line cause Wolfman said so!!!

THE LAST AIRBENDER

The Last Airbender is, as M. Night Shyamalan movies go, pretty straightforward. It’s also, refreshingly, not as completely idiotic as most of his movies are. No aliens in stretchy unitards who can be vanquished by — surprise! — plain old tap water; no meek, modest 19th-century communities who are — surprise! — really just weirdo cults being kept away from 21st-century life. The Last Airbender, based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, is a fantasy-adventure aimed primarily at kids, set in a world where four tribal nations — Air, Water, Earth and Fire — just can’t get along, because a revered being known as the Avatar has skipped out on them some 100 years ago. Taking advantage of this international instability, the people of the Fire Nation have decided to bully the other guys into submission and thus take over the world. Oh where, oh where, could the Avatar be?

As it turns out, he’s been hiding in sort of time warp, and two Water Nation kids, Katara (Nicola Peltz) and Sokka (Jackson Rathbone, who plays Jasper in the Twilight movies), serendipitously bring him back into the world. He’s a very worried-looking, very bald little kid named Aang (Noah Ringer); his anxiety-filled brow is decorated with a mysterious tattoo motif. Aang isn’t just the Avatar; he’s also the last airbender — in other words, he’s able to bend the air to his will, and although there used to be lots of Air Nation people who could do this sort of thing, the Fire Nation has done away with them all. Soon the Fire Nation will turn its aggression on the waterbenders (who can make water do bendy things; Katara is a waterbender) and the earthbenders (who are good at moving rocks around via telepathy).

The Fire Nation people need to capture Aang, lest he restore harmony to the world and squelch their superpower ambitions. And if, beyond that, you can follow the plot of The Last Airbender, you’re surely capable of bending some pretty heavy-duty baloney into submission yourself. Like so many movies these days, The Last Airbender relies largely on exposition: Characters are always making forthright declarations like “The Fire Nation is here, and they’ve brought their machines!” or “We must travel to the Northern Earth Kingdom!” Which is probably a good thing — otherwise characters would be popping up willy-nilly in various confusing locations, although they do plenty of that anyway.

Because of all that narrative hippity-hopping (Shyamalan himself wrote the script), The Last Airbender is exhausting to watch. What’s more, the movie is being shown in 3D in select theaters, and although some of the picture’s visual touches are quite lovely — there’s a kingdom built entirely of ice, and some nifty effects in which globes of water are made to float in the air — they don’t seem to be particularly enhanced by the technology (though those special glasses will, of course, add some padding to the ticket price).

It’s clear that Shyamalan’s ambition is to create a grand fantasy epic; at times the picture’s production design has an almost Middle Earth-y look. (The cinematographer here is Andrew Lesnie, who also shot the Lord of the Rings trilogy.) But oddly enough — or perhaps not oddly at all — the most impressive and entertaining aspects of the picture have less to do with spectacular effects than with human skill. The movie’s young star, Ringer, is a Taekwondo champ, and it’s fun to watch his hands slice through the air ever so gracefully, or execute kicks and jumps and pirouettes that defy gravity. So many action movies these days are devoid of real human action. At least Shyamalan understands that watching the human body move is one of the pleasures of moviegoing.

Of course, because this is an M. Night Shyamalan movie, the stink of pretension is high: There’s no doubt that these warring, troubled tribes are supposed to be metaphorical, revealing big truths about the messed-up world we actually live in. But some of the actors rise above the sillier-than-silly dialog: Aasif Mandvi (who played Mr. Aziz in Spider-Man 2, but who was even more wonderful in a smallish role in David Koepp’s superb romantic comedy Ghost Town) plays an amoral military commander; he walks a fine line between sending up the movie’s kiddie hokum and treating the material as seriously as if it were Shakespeare. And Dev Patel, of Slumdog Millionaire, shows up as the unfortunately named Prince Zuko. (Would you want to play a character whose name sounds like a sugar substitute?)

Still, The Last Airbender, for all its Shyamalan-style grandiosity, is completely harmless and inoffensive, and at the very least, Shyamalan appears to be having a little fun here. The movie’s finale comes not as a big surprise but as a turn we’re completely ready for. There’s something to be said for giving the audience what it needs, instead of what you think it wants. If you love the cartoon... it is made to imaged the cartoon... I mean in every aspect. Keep that in mind when you are watching the movie.. Other than that.. It was a great movie.. I think people are trying to make this film more then what it actually is.. This was a great cartoon to watch and it kept its originally in the movie. The reviews I'm reading are mostly from folks that disapprove of M. Knight's movie regardless of what it is. So go and see it for yourself.. and you be the judge. ONCE AGAIN.. I say.. keep in mind that this was a NICKELODEON CARTOON! I have to give this a very low MATINEE rating, and that's a bottom line cause Wolfman said so!!!


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