For Bond, at least; Skyfall.

The trailer has just been released and I can’t stop watching; it is excellent.

Admittedly I am a huge fan of Craig’s Bond, arguably closest to the Bond of the books that there ever has been, but again he looks fantastic in Skyfall.

There is so much in this trailer that makes brings me to the edge of my seat. First and foremost: the imagery. Already this looks like quite possibly the most gorgeous Bond film to date. The colours, the composition; all of it just looks so visually sumptuous the teaser just compels you to watch it over and over and over.

Second up, the feel of the film. Alright the trailer above is only 90secs but still, I get a definite distinct feeling of difference between this and anything, of recent years at least, that’s been before. With Sam Mendes in the driving seat, I am unsurprised. Both American Beauty and Road to Perdition deal with the man-under-pressure (albeit varying degrees and kinds of pressure) situation with equally satisfying self-destructive aplomb and if Craig’s Bond is anything, he is self-destructive.

Several years ago, right after Die Another Day came out, I bought the full set of Bond movies (the one in the fancy metal case) and watched them all, one a night, over three weeks.

AND IT WAS AWESOME

Things I learned:

• George Lazenby is better than people remember (and got a bum deal after Connery)
• Roger Moore is my least favourite Bond (we’re lucky we made it back to today)
• Timothy Dalton was unfortunately ahead of his time (and more Bourne than Bond)
• Sean Connery should’ve quit earlier

And finally, the one thing that stands out is that, believe it or not, there is a single thread that flows throughout. They just connect somehow. Even though they feel different, from film to film, they are all interlock together. So what if Moonraker was brought forward (and taken out of the order of the canon) as a response to Star Wars, who cares if some of the jokes during the 70s were TERRIBLE; the films just work.

Pierce Brosnan did a superb job of reinvigorating the franchise (albeit later than originally planned) and now, Daniel Craig is here and his films are undeniably good. The darker, more vicious Quantum of Solace is a fave.

In closing: with the tonality of Craig and the emotive & visual depth of Mendes, the third of this generation’s Bond is set to be the best one yet.

Between now and then, do yourself a favour and read the books. Go and (re)discover Bond the way he was originally written. Then make your own mind up.

Whatley out.

Hmm… a double-post of trailers this week (not my usual thing, but) The Amazing Spider-Man just dropped its third and final trailer and well, take a look

I’m not frothing at the mouth half as much as I was when I first caught the original preview (I think it trailed in front of a Harry Potter or something) but still, it doesn’t look that bad.

Early previews give good promise too. It’s a big year for comic book films this year: Avengers is done (and is killing it), Dark Knight Rises is next, then The Amazing Spider-Man steps up.

What do you reck’?

Seeing it?

Via

Stop what you’re doing right now and watch this -

No, not a goal line score from their last match up, more an amazing discovery of a whole bunch of cutting room floor footage from Superman IV.

You’ve all seen Superman IV right? If you haven’t you’re not missing out on much; I touched upon it recently as being ‘by far and away the worst of Reeve’s tenure‘ – and I stand by that (it’s still good though).

If you have seen it, then you’ll recognise the chap on the right above as Nuclear Man, the brawn created by Supes’ arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor.

However, on a recent journey around the more geekier corners of the internet, I happened upon an amazing nugget of footage that I never knew existed. Apparently, the Nuclear Man we know and love recognise is actually Nuclear Man V2. Version 1 was originally in the film too, and Superman (as you’ll see very shortly) disposed of him easily – hence Lex Luthor going back around a second time and coming up with v2.

Thing is, v1 was eventually cut (I can’ think why) and we only ever knew of v2.

What the HELL am I talking about?

Watch for yourself -

Just when you thought Superman IV couldn’t get any worse, right?
I’m just… lost for words.

Via iO9, with extra info (and lols) via i-mockery.

To say I’m a little excited about The Dark Knight Rises would be an understatement. It is the end of the Nolan-universe era and it promises to be… something else.

I’m extremely, extremely lucky to have worked quite close to the film – especially around the 6min prologue released at the back end of last year. Even that was enough to work me up to a frenzy. Tom Hardy, one of my favourite actors, looks absolutely incredible as BANE.

This latest image says it all…

via Screenrant

90 days and counting. Bring it.

I’m all over this -

I hate the word ‘movie‘, but this site, MOVIEBARCODE, (that I found (and have been meaning to blog for) just over a year ago now), I can forgive for the staggeringly gorgeous work it produces.

This, from The Matrix, for example:

The premise is simple, but Flowing Data describes it best -

Choice of color in a movie can say a lot about what’s going on in a scene. It sets the mood, changes the tone, indicates a change in point of view, so on and so forth, which is why moviebarcode is so fun to click through. The concept is simple. Take every frame in a movie and compress it into a sliver, and put them next to each other. Voilá. Movie barcode.

Seriously, as a film lover this site is a veritable treasure trove of thematic insight. Plucking a few favourites from the extensive site index, you can really see how this works both as art and as a window into how directors use shade and colour to help bring their overall vision to life.

Hero

The Lion King

If you’re as enamoured as I am with these images then you’ll be pleased to know that prints are available and, if the film you’re looking isn’t available, Mr Reid has published a handy ‘how to’ guide too.

Enjoy.

Launching June 8th

Via

I’m loving pretty much everything I’m reading about Prometheus so far, this one-sheet/poster/ship detail is good, but for some reason – in this instance at least – I expected a little more detail.

What do you think?

Update: more.

Eric Bana
Edward Norton
Mark Ruffalo

Image via Screenrant

I love the look of the new Hulk in the upcoming Avengers film. The third* modern take on the character and I think we’re finally getting him to a decent place…

Good work.

*the two previous films were good, but Hulk was too green and Incredible was too veiny.

In Slovenia last week, one of my hosts, Aljosa Bagola (a cooler cat I never did meet), caught wind that I was a Batman fan and promptly pulled this image up on his iPhone.

Heath Ledger, as Joker, kick-flipping over Christian Bale on the set of The Dark Knight.

So. Freaking. Cool.

Enjoy it for a moment. Look at it over and over again. Then scroll down.

-

-

-

-

It’s a fake.

But – like you – for a few moments, before I got ’round to blogging it at least, I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.