BEFORE MIDNIGHT, RUSH, PACIFIC RIM & THE HOUSE OF HADES

It's been ages since I got to indulge myself in three new movies in the space of seven days, each completely different to the other, in addition to chalking down the latest and penultimate adventure in Rick Riordan's The Heroes of Olympus series. But I'm short of time to go into each of these in full depth at the moment, so I'll just briefly go through them and perhaps individually go into detail at another time.

First off... FILMS:

1) Before Midnight

2) Rush

3) Pacific Rim

BEFORE MIDNIGHT:

I'm not a guy who enjoys romantic movies that much. Most of them are schmaltzy works of garbage over-saturated with pop songs and populated with actors and actresses who look as if they walked off a modelling runway. I sort of blame these films for the increased divorce rates around the world for creating false notions about romance and relationships. Sure, there are a few films now and then that get it right but it's quite, quite rare and Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy is one such exception. 

The history behind these three films is as interesting as what goes on in the story. Each movie was made nine years apart- Before Sunrise in 1995, Before Sunset in 2004 and now, Before Midnight in 2013. The same time lapses within the trilogy, where we catch up with the protagonists first when they're 23, then when they're 32 and lately when they're 41, capturing them in three different moments in life, each offering a different perspective on love, romance and life. It doesn't hurt that all three films are the rare golden trilogy (on Rotten Tomatoes, they hold scores of 100%, 95% and 98% respectively).

As of now, Before Midnight is my favourite film of 2013. It's brilliant, it's gut-wrenching and it's a jarring reminder of how even the best relationships can get worn down by the realities of day-to-day life. It's also probably the film in the trilogy where both young and older audiences will connect with best. More on Before Midnight at another time.

OSCAR POTENTIAL: Before Sunset received a nomination for Adapted Screenplay, so chances for Before Midnight are good. The other categories are doubtful- Julie Delpy might have a shot at Best Actress but given the predictions already for Best Actor, Ethan Hawke might not be so lucky. Best Picture and Best Director also cannot be entirely ruled out (given Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris earned nominations for Best Picture, Director, Art Direction and Screenplay, winning the latter).

 

RUSH:

Ron Howard made one of the best films set in space (at least, probably until Alfonso Cuarón made Gravity) in Apollo 13 before striking Oscar gold with A Beautiful Mind. After that, his most successful films- commercially, at least- were the adaptations of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. Finally, with this year's Rush, he's returned more or less to the kind of films that made him initially famous.

Think of it as "Fast and Furious" in real-life with a more sensible story and bolstered by some truly great performances by Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda. Brühl, in particular, is commendable but Hemsworth also delivers. The story, in particular, was approved by the real Niki Lauda for its authenticity and even though Formula 1 fans know the outcome of that final race in '76, it doesn't stop Rush from being any less thrilling- indeed, it doesn't have the bells-and-balls and glossing over historical facts that many biographical films usually do, inclining closer towards the realism of Apollo 13. It's a reminder that it isn't the end result that's fun but the journey in getting there.

OSCAR POTENTIAL: Difficult to say. Might get nominated for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Daniel Brühl at least as well as spots in the technical categories. Best Director for Ron Howard is 50-50 and depends if there will be any slots available for him.

PACIFIC RIM:

When Guillermo del Toro makes a movie, you are guaranteed to have a great time. When he combines brilliant storytelling with iconic visuals, you end up with films like Pan's Labyrinth. When he's working from other people's scripts, you get Blade II (the best of the trilogy, in my personal opinion). At other times, you get the Hellboy films and this year, Pacific Rim. 

It might not sport the intelligent themes of his superior films but Pacific Rim is still a good deal of rollicking fun, where giant robots fighting monsters is actually fun instead of an incoherent mess like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon, not to mention being bolstered by the calibre of Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi and others. On top of that, the visuals are simply eye-catching and splendid.

OSCAR POTENTIAL: Virtually nil when it comes to the top awards. It has a chance at the technical categories, however, and might be a likely candidate for Visual Effects.

And now... BOOKS.

THE HOUSE OF HADES:

Have you ever felt like walking up to the people behind the dismal Percy Jackson films and hitting them with a sledgehammer while screaming, "DO YOU IDIOTS HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT A POTENTIAL GOLDMINE THESE BOOKS ARE?!". I mean, with nine books and one more on the way, it could easily beat out the Harry Potter films if done right. Instead, they gave us a generic Young Adult fare with a terrible botched adaption where, for some inexplicable reason, they thought the action-packed story of the book was inferior to the stupider ideas they chose instead for the films. 

The House of Hades is, by far, the most action-packed story yet. It was also a radical departure from the formula of the stories being driven by a prophecy while being narrated by all seven characters for the first time- this one was really the Avengers version of the Percy Jackson universe. 

* SPOILERS FOLLOW *

At the end of the Mark of Athena, Percy and Annabeth fell into the depths of Tartarus (basically, the worse version of Hell) and must now make their way across the treacherous landscape to the Doors of Death where they've arranged to meet their friends to shut off the doors once and for all. Of course, they've also got to contend with every single monster they've ever faced in the past who are out for their blood.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Argo II's crew must face equal treacherous foes out to stop them from reaching the House of Hades and in the process, make life-altering decisions which will affect the rest of their quest. 

I keep saying it with each book but the House of Hades is by far one of the superior books though it isn't without a few stumbling blocks here and there. What gives it the edge this time is Rick Riordan's treatment of the characters- they may be demigods, gods, Titans and Giants but never have the cast been more human than in The House of Hades. Secrets are revealed, familiar faces make an appearance and for the first time, EVERYONE has a huge personal stake in surviving their dangerous mission. Probably the most touching is Leo Valdez's story where he finally has a person worth returning to and it affects his character drastically by the book's end. Somehow, out of the new cast, Leo is possibly the most three-dimensional and fun but that's most likely because he fills up the humourous shoes Percy left behind when he disappeared for a while. 

All in all, it's been a great week.

Cheers!   

Justice League Movie: Why The Delay?

The "DC Comics Better Than Marvel/Marvel Better Than DC Comics" has raged endlessly for decades. Personally, as a fan of both, my stand on that issue is: they both have their good and bad points. End of story.

The highpoint of each brand, however, is when their individual characters team up: in DC, it’s the Justice League and with Marvel, it’s The Avengers. 

Of course, there are more teams (Teen Titans, Guardians of the Galaxy) but… you know what I’m talking about.

Marvel has already got the ball rolling with their highly successful film, The Avengers, with a sequel on the horizon for 2015, in spite of the fact that the team’s lineup consists of what would be considered “B-Team” characters (let’s be honest: Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Fantastic Four are more popular than Captain America, Thor and Iron Man).

Justice League, on the other hand, found success in the animated TV show Justice League prior to animated films like Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox and Justice League: Doom. Most people, even if they’ve never picked up a comic book, are confused about Green Lantern being a white guy because their knowledge of the green-ringed dude is that of John Stewart. 

There was also a Justice League film in the works in 2009 with Mad Max director, George Miller, at the helm before it got cancelled. A film was rumoured in the works at the beginning of 2013 by Will Beal of Gangster Squad fame before it was chucked aside over reports that the script was "terrible". The latest now is that with the success of the Superman reboot, Man of Steel, a Justice League movie is slowly on the way a la the Marvel route.

Question is: why has it taken DC so long to get about it? A JLA movie is practically a goldmine.         

The matter is, if the Avengers movie was a dream come true for fans, a Justice League movie is Nirvana.  I’m not speaking as a DC Comics fan but that of someone who is a fan of both camps. 

First and foremost, DC's JLA line-up is killer.

Marvel has a creative problem and that is their 3 most famous properties— Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four— reside with Sony Pictures and 20^th Century Fox respectively. In the comics, the former two play a major role in the team. In the films, legal problems prevent it from being so even though the Oscorp Tower from The Amazing Spider-Man was initially scheduled to make an appearance in the New York skyline of The Avengers but it had already been rendered in the Visual Effects before both parties reached a decision. With the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, Fox is keen to create their own shared universe between the mutants and FF, DOFP being a sort of reboot button to everything (that’s not how their talk about it but it’s obvious). Whether there will be a day when Fox, Sony and Marvel Studios agree to share their cinematic universes is all up in the air but I guarantee you, the day that happens, then The Avengers will become REALLY popular. Because everyone— and I mean, everyone— would be extremely thrilled to see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine clash with Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man compared to an alien invasion. 

DC does not have such a problem. They are free to select their line-up and fans will be certain to get favourites like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash sharing the same screen without worrying about any legal issues. That’s why we’re getting a Batman-Superman team-up in 2015 and we won’t get a Wolverine vs. Spider-Man film anytime soon. 

DC’s lineup is one for the ages. Marvel’s lineup is equally impressive albeit in the comics.

Secondly, epic stories.

 

The Avengers had one god— two, counting Loki. The rest were a man in a suit of armour, a super soldier from another era, a man with anger issues and two spies.

The Justice League is basically full of gods— it’s like a bunch of Thor clones coming together. Superman’s abilities speak for themselves. Wonder Woman is an Amazonian and can go toe-to-toe with Superman without impunity. Aquaman controls the oceans. Flash is the fastest being alive. Green Lantern can construct anything he imagines with his ring. Cyborg can hack into all the computers in the world. And Batman, with no superpowers, is the smartest tactician of the team.

Alien invasions can’t be on the scale of the Chitauri because Superman neutralised a similar and far more dangerous threat in Man of Steel by himself. Whatever threat brings these gods together has to be an extremely massive one like that in The New 52’s formation: Darkseid’s invasion. Once that’s established, it’s easier to tear them apart because of their massive-sized egos and because of how much significance their actions can have (think Mark Waid’s Tower of Babel or even the threat of David Graves in the New 52 which led to Hal Jordan’s resignation from the team). 

The latter is a storyline seemingly to be explored in the sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, but come on— seeing Superman’s, Batman’s and Wonder Woman’s friendships being torn apart is more impacting than Iron Man, Captain America and Thor disagreeing with each other (note: if Iron Man and Hulk become distant, I’d be hurt because that was the best part about the Avengers).

Thirdly, it’s the Justice League.

In terms of popularity, the Justice League has always been more famous than the Avengers, thanks to the excellent animated series from Bruce W. Timm and Paul Dini whose previous credits include the brilliant Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series— even if only Supes and Bats have had a successful career on the big screen. Iron Man is famous now thanks to Robert Downey Jr. but before the films, the character of Tony Stark was nowhere near the level of Spider-Man, Daredevil, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.

DC Comics needs to emulate Marvel’s formula to generate success— not just in having solo films leading to a team up but by firstly, having a strong focused producer like Kevin Feige and secondly, hiring a creative architect like Marvel has with Joss Whedon and Fox with Mark Millar. DC Comics seem to be doing that by handing those reins to Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer… which doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence given their pretty underwhelming and critically divisive resumes (Man of Steel is a great example).

With a new Superman already established in the form of Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck signed on as the new Batman and Glee actor Grant Gustin chosen to play Barry Allen a.k.a The Flash in the second season of Arrow, the question on everyone’s mind is: are all these pieces coming together to form a Justice League movie? Using cross-platform of television and film to establish the heroes is a novel approach, one originally considered by Ron Howard for his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.   

It remains to be seen but DC Comics seriously needs to be shaken out of its stupor or at least have the incompetent people kicked out for having taken so long to get a DC Cinematic Universe underway.