On X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Tales of Future Past

9 Jun

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Writer-Director Simon Kinberg redeemed himself from his involvement in the lamented X-Men: The Last Stand, the third chapter of the saga about mutants just looking for a place to belong in modern human society. This subtext has been running throughout the films and it’s been explored in the past films to varying degrees of success.

His film, The Dark Phoenix, gets a treatment that is not too out there and it works without having to resort to sending the mutants to the moon.

When I have seen all the movies to date and followed the saga of the Phoenix up till the mid-90s (Excalibur, Series one), I had specific expectations in mind. While Kinberg’s work lightly touches upon a few things coming full circle, I suspect The New Mutants will have to provide some answers about the human and mutant relationship before Marvel Entertainment rewrites the mutant chapter for Phase Five of their narrative plan.

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Wanting some Famous Monsters Ack-ives? Get ’em While They’re Hot!

7 Jun

Available to purchase direct from publisher

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Very few magazines are considered collectible. To have magazines like Cinefex helped define my love for films. Sadly, those early issues are well-read and falling apart. There’s no denying I wish anthology collections exist so I can keep the originals safely stored and another to read to death.

Thankfully Fantastic Monsters of Filmland’s Ack-Ives is a from-the-archive series which has me smiling broader than Showa era Gojira on America’s love affair with the King of Monsters! The first volume is on all things Godzilla from both sides of the Pacific. It is worth picking up when I do not want to put any further wear to my early magazines. I am not surprised the super early issues are highly sought after by collectors. They tracked what was popular for the time when it was still in publication (1958 to 1983) and later revived ’93. They are some of Forrest J. Ackerman‘s finest work.

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On Godzilla, Ghidorah and the Monsterverse

7 Jun

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Spoiler Alert

The epic showdown I’ve been craving since Legendary Pictures acquired the license to play with Godzilla is here! In part two of maybe a trilogy, the world of monsters mankind lives in is filled with hidden agendas and a fear for the future. Our time on Earth may well come to an end. The Titans, monsters capable of mass destruction, will reclaim their territory. Can we live side by side in a symbiotic relationship, as Dr. Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) hopes? Or as TOHO Studio’s animated take suggests, will civilization regress to simpler times?

No real continuity exists between these two studio’s works. Legendary’s version is limited. Only a handful of films can be made before the terms of the contract expire. With a bigger budget, fans can see a massively CGI driven apocalyptic take of monsters ravaging each other and the world. Practical effects can only go so far, and motion capture can do a lot more these days. As this sequel takes place five years later, the Monarch organization is ready for the inevitable. In what they know and have uncovered since–humanity better be afraid!

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Van Isle Convention, June 9th! at Sidney by the Sea

5 Jun

The third annual Van Isle Comic Convention is taking place June 9th and it promises to continue in the tradition of focusing on industry talents than star power.

Headliner Nick Kondo of Sony Picture’s ImageWorks will be present to talk about Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and perhaps hint at what’s next. Celebrity power is creeping in slowly; Two former Power Rangers (Blake Foster, Turbo, and Michael Sowell, Timeforce) are going to talk about their time in their role as Blue Power Ranger. No martial arts demonstrations from them are scheduled as most fans know those sequences were put in from original Japanese footage. This franchise’s staying power has made stars out of many and they delight in meeting fans.

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