Tag Archives: DC Entertainment

Back to the Past with Wonder Woman 1984 and the Future of the DCEU

7 Jan

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) - IMDbBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

On HBO Max and limited theatre screenings.

Wonder Woman is a heroine for all ages, and Gal Gadot is embracing the character lock, stock and barrel. In the comics, she represents the independent woman. The first film gave us hints of where she came from, and this sequel continues down a similar path.

The prologue is set back in the island paradise of Themyscira and teaches the very young Diana Prince (Lilly Aspell) an important virtue–you can’t take shortcuts to get ahead. Perhaps including being careful in what you wish for should be added too. The rest of the film attempts to explore the latter in Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), a business executive with less than stellar credentials. He wants a high life. The fact someone loved him enough, and they had a son suggests he was truly happy once. But he’s a single parent, and I’m curious why he isn’t with his kid more. The picture isn’t complete. Just why he is interested in ancient artifacts is not made clear either.

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Top Five Comic Book Films to Look Out For in 2019

4 Jan

Avengers Endgame poster.jpgBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Not every Marvel, DC and Dark Horse movie makes this list, so instead of ten, I will pare down the list down to the essential five must see. Yes, Avengers: Endgame is on the list and enough is being said about how it will change the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Lineups will no doubt change and I’m expecting a shift to the West Coast Avengers. It has to happen.

Also, my heart is with Ron Perlman and Guillermo del Toro‘s version of Hellboy. I will give this new version a chance, but it’s tough to let go. It’s not so much the Right Hand of Doom has quite the grip on me, but rather, I wanted to see a finale to this product. It will never see fruition like the Russian made Night Watch series never got its third film.

On this list of must-sees are:

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Aquaman, A Textbook Case of A Hero’s Journey …

22 Dec

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

* Spoiler Alert

‘Tis the season to enjoy being Aquaman. Jason Momoa is clearly having fun in the role, and his charm sells this latest DC Extended Universe product. Zack Snyder has executive producer credit and James Wan is directing. This Fast and Furious director sticks to what he knows best and translates the screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall into glorious sequences straight out of Lord of the Rings, Clash of the Titans (no surprise here, when considering David’s past work), Blade Runner and Indiana Jones.

Of the latter, it was too short and I wished for more. The visual treat of the underwater sequences is certainly overwhelming and lives up to recreating Neo Atlantis perfectly. I hoped for a more classically nuanced work (in reference to Plato’s Timaeus) and while not out of place, the archeological moments were not too much of a letdown. Balancing the origin of a superhero story with the big tease of them in the Sahara must have been tough.

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Takes on the Trailers unveiled during NYCC

7 Oct

Image result for new york comic conBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

On the West Coast, the San Diego Comic Convention offers trailers of the must-see movies and television series of the 2018 and 2019 season. Add a few more months into the mix, the New York Comic Convention is the East Coast show to pay attention to. The new Hellboy movie trailer dropped at this event, and the studio has yet to release on YouTube. Reports reveal the fact this work is more of a horror flick than the light-hearted del Toro version. Even the tease to X-Men: Dark Phoenix was shown, and based on what I have read, the set up pays homage to her comic book origins before spinning in a different direction.

In those trailers that are currently online, I am most particularly excited for the following:

 

If this extended Aquaman trailer indicates anything, this film will put the DC Cinematic Universe back on track. It has the feel of 300 meets Lord of the Rings. When dealing with Atlantis, the joke is not with how star Jason Momoa got his start (he became popular in Stargate’s imagining of this sunken city), but rather in how he can become the next king. The digital set pieces look very impressive, and on a proper IMAX screen, this movie will no doubt deliver.

 

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Batman Ninja invades Home Video! DVD Review

27 May

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Before fans of Batman’s animated products can ask, Batman Ninja is not an Elseworlds product. That’s Gotham by Gaslight. With this direct to video product, Gorilla Grodd made a time displacement machine which went awry. It sent everyone back in time. Depending on how close the heroes and villains were to the epicentre, they were thrown to all the way to Japan despite the fact the battle took place in Gotham, at Arkham Asylum, somewhere along the Western side of North America.

Bats arrives two years later in a village and learns Penguin, Poison Ivy, Deathstroke and Joker established themselves as feudal lords. Each reign over a territory and are fighting amongst themselves to determine who shall rule. This change in history may well stick—where are the Legends of Tomorrow when you need them?

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