The STARSTORE Blog...

BATMAN: ARTFX VINYL DARK KNIGHT FIGURE COMING!

DC Direct and Kotobukiya have teamed up once more to brings fans something incredible. Based on the brand new Batman DARK KNIGHT movie, starring Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, this high quality vinyl figure is set to become one of the finest batman themed pieces of memorabilia to be released in years. Everyone here has let out some form of unprintable exclamation upon seeing the images of this awesome piece of work. Click on the picture for a larger version!

Depicting the Dark Knight in a dramatic pose stood atop the Bat signal, this high quality vinyl figure is set to stand approximately 12 inches tall. The costume has been modelled closely on the version that appears in the new feature film, and captures the character at his most iconic. He will come supplied in a Dark Knight movie themed window-display box, which, judging by Kotobukiya’s track record, is going to be sturdy and look great.

Unfortunately the piece is going to be strictly limited to 1,000 units, so keep an eye out for their arrival! I love the fact that there’s going to be some fantastic high-end merchandise available around the new Batman movie. I’d worried for a while that the range would be largely limited to kiddie-friendly action figures, as with Batman Begins, which, aside from a few nice items was limited to figures that didn’t have much, if anything,  to do with the movie. There are still going to be a slew of scarily unrelated figures available, but it’s great to see the serious stuff is going to be available too. The Dark Knight has never looked better. How about a Joker one too please?

JUSTICE LEAGUE: MORTAL… in trouble already?

Well there hasn’t been a single frame shot yet, but already the Justice League movie is starting to show some signs of stalling. This is a shame, as a big budget superhero team movie is just what DC and Warner Bros needs to reclaim some of the genre that marvel are dominating right now. With the next Superman film struggling to get to the end of its first draft, and all the others seeming to languish in development hell, it is being left up to The Dark Knight to be DC’s sole movie entry of the year.

 

George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal, or as it is otherwise known, just Justice League Mortal (huh?!), has hit some trouble in Australia, where the action was going to be lensed. As the characters would be speaking with American accents and the film would be rather US-centric (and undoubtedly very patriotic), the Australian film board has not approved the film’s production on their soil, seeing it as something as an affront.

 

To be frank, I don’t get their thinking at all. Exhibit A would be, naturally, the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Shot in New Zealand, it was stacked full of people with regional British accents (to quote Bill Bailey, it sounded like a cider festival), and they didn’t complain to Peter Jackson did they? Perhaps this is partly down to public opinion on American patriotism in recent years. I don’t know, but it does smack of politics and not just an opinion on accents and theme.

 

It is a shame that politics have to enter the arena of superhero films. These films are supposed to bring us stories of heroes who want to do the right thing, positive messages that carry across even in the most antihero-based flicks. As George Miller himself has pointed out, the production of something as high-profile as a Justice League movie would bring in a hell of a lot of business for the country, not to mention creating a number of new jobs and raising the profile of Australian industry.

 

With a cast of barely known faces, trouble in preproduction and an unsure audience, there is a growing concern that the film is being put in jeopardy. We will watch this unfold with great interest, as all we really want is a fantastic Justice League movie. How about letting them get on with making it please?

INCREDIBLE HULK TRAILER... is it indeed Incredible?

HULK SMASH! Okay, utterances of superhero catchphrases all in caps aside, the new trailer for THE INCREDIBLE HULK has been released (in the US only, but it ain’t hard to find), and it does look as though this time out, the big green lug is in for a decent film. The last one wasn’t bad per se, but it certainly wasn’t what moviegoing audiences, or indeed diehard HULK fans, were after. Ang Lee’s exploration of Bruce Banner’s psyche and the raging Hulk was interesting, but it was light on thrills or pace. Now here comes the sort of sequel/sort of redux starring Ed Norton and Liv Tyler, and directed by Louis Leterrier.

The initial teaser recently that surfaced last week showed little in the way if Hulk action, limited as it was to Banner’s glowing green eyes, but this new full trailer gives us a first glimpse of the Hulk in action, not to mention the Abomination, who, in its human form, is played by Tim Roth. The tone of the trailer feels very much like Spider man 2, in how each shot is set up and the FX sequences are edited. Take a peek. It certainly fits in better with the other Marvel movies in terms of tone.

Speaking of which, remember this is one half of the 2008 marvel movie crossover, in which one scene plays out in both the INCREDIBLE HULK and IRON MAN movies from different perspectives. Check out the new Hulk movie’s IMDB page and you’ll see a certain Robert Downey Junior playing a certain Tony Stark. Is this the first rumblings of an AVENGERS movie? I do hope so. How about a Captain America cameo? Or at least a shot of Spidey swinging through the city in the background somewhere. Yeah, we’re getting into ET in Star Wars territory there, but it would help gel the movie Marvel universe together into something coherent that can be exploited at a later date with crossover movies.

I’m really into the casting choices for this film. Eric Bana and Jennifer Connelly were great in the first Hulk movie, but I think in Ed Norton and Liv Tyler we have the makings of a very special onscreen partnership. From the look of the film from this trailer, it does look very promising. Here’s hoping that this time out they do the comics, the franchise, Marvel and their fans justice.

I do like the idea of a big Marvel universe in the movie realm. It brings up all manner of possibilities. Not just crossover hero movies, but secondary and tertiary characters from different franchises could pop up all over the place, enriching the mythos and cementing the Marvel Universe in film fans’ minds as something than can be explored and enjoyed on another level aside from the main crux of the action onscreen.

That aside, it does look as though we are in for a great HULK movie at last. I’m glad the studios gave the big green oaf another chance, as it does look as though it is going to pay off in style. There are decades of comics, TV shows, toys, merchandise and more to be true to. This summer is shaping up to be very interesting indeed.

Time for another SUPERHERO MOVIE ROUNDUP...

WATCHMEN MOVIE CAST PICS REVEALED

The biggest news this week in the world of comic book feature films is undoubtedly the unveiling of official character photos from the highly anticipated WATCHMEN movie from Zack Snyder. We’ve already seen Rorscharch a couple of times, but now we get to see a decent picture of him, along with the Comedian, Silk Spectre, Ozymandias and Night Owl. This is a momentous occasion indeed- fans have been waiting for these pictures ever since the movie was first greenlit.

How do they look? Rorscharch looks as badass as you would expect him to, but I still want to know if the mask will be moving constantly, as it does in the graphic novel. Ozymandias isn’t quite what I was expecting, but I’ll reserve judgement until I see him onscreen. Looks appropriate, though. Silk Spectre and Night Owl look fantastic. I’m really pleased with how this movie is turning out from what we’ve seen and heard so far. Granted, that isn’t much just yet, but I’m starting to get the feeling that this os going to turn out to be something very, very special.

You can check out these stunning pictures over at the official WATCHMEN movie website. I would be quite interested to hear what is going on regarding the lawsuit Fox filed against WB regarding this project. Has that been buried? I may well have to do some research into that. Oh, there’s also a cool official photostream over on Flickr.

HULK MOVIE TRAILER SOON?

Keep your eyes peeled for the first trailer from THE INCREDIBLE HULK soon. It is said to be attached to prints of 10,000BC and DOOMSDAY in the states, and will apparently be debuting sometime between March 7^th and March 14th. No word on when the trailer will show up in cinemas over here, but once it gets its US premier I’m guessing it will go live on the Marvel site at least, if not Apple’s trailer page. Failing that, there’s always Youtube. Hopefully we’ll see at least a little taste of action in the teaser, as Hulk fans are dying to see what the not-so-jolly-green-giant looks like this time out. Fair enough we’ve sent he figures and the blister pack art, but we want to see full motion footage of him tearing things to pieces. It was nice to see Ed Norton hulking out in Empire, but when do we get to see him going HULK SMASH? Hopefully this week!

WOLVERINE MOVIE LOCATION PICTURES POSTED

The tide of spy photos from the location shooting of X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE continues unabated, with this batch from Flynet showing Lieb with his Sabretooth nails and mutton chops present and correct. Facially he looks about right, and knowing him from other work he’s going to have some great chemistry with Hugh Jackman. Is the fella going to get a big blonde wig though? At least Tyler Mane had the, erm, mane…

Check out the latest batch of these photos beyond this here magical link, Bub.

IRON MAN MOVIE

Look, this trailer is brilliant. The film looks incredible, and Robert Downey Jr seems more and more perfect every time I watch it. This trailer is wowing all of us here at Starstore, and you all need to watch it. Try not to lick your monitors too much. I do like the way the story has been updated, without losing the integral ingredients of the Iron man character. It is also *very* nice to have a lead character as cocky as Tony Stark.

SUPERHERO MOVIE ROUNDUP

Its time to catch up with the chaos in movieland surrounding various forthcoming superhero feature films. There seems to be a slew of them on the way, despite some saying the genre is dying out. With high profile films like The Dark Knight and Watchmen on the way, as well as all the movies I’ll talk about today, it’s plain to see the superhero genre is going strong and attracting some very varied talent in front of and behind the cameras.

JUSTICE LEAGUE
George Miller’s forthcoming JUSTICE LEAGUE epic is apparently about to get off the starting blocks. Casting is all but complete, and now the WGA strike is over, the script is being polished up by Kieran and Michele Mulroney for shooting. The Warner Bros production, still mooted for a 2009 release (they’re cutting it a bit fine aren’t they?), was recently rumoured to be moving to Canada to be shot, but pre-production is currently taking place in Australia.

I’m getting curious about this movie. It could well turn out to be an utter train wreck. With little in the way of stars in its cast (For example, Batman is to be played by Armie Hammer Jr…who?!), it remains to be seen if the characters themselves have enough pulling power to get the audiences in. AICN have revealed that the Martian Manhunter is to be played by Hugh Keays-Byrne, who played Toecutter in the first MAD MAX movie. The cast gets weirder every day! This is definitely a project to keep an eye on.

WOLVERINE MOVIE UPDATE
Promo photos have started showing up online for the prequel movie X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE. Two have turned up, and they look, erm, pretty much like every other pic we’ve seen of Wolverine since Hugh Jackman was originally cast. With Gambit, Sabretooth, Deadpool and possibly even Electro in the movie, it isn’t sounding very much like an origin movie is it? It is starting to sound very crowded, and we all know what happens when you overcrowd a movie- you get X-Men: The Last Stand. We don’t want another X3 thanks, we want an asskicking WOLVERINE movie in which he spits cigar butts and calls people ‘Bub’ all the time while slashing them to ribbons.  Hugh looks fantastic though, having shaped up for the role again. With the story covering everything from his Weapon X origins to what leads to him being on the road at the start of the first X-men film, this is hopefully going to turn out okay.

Incidentally, the premise of X-MEN ORIGINS: MAGNETO sounds very cool indeed, and is going to be quite a harrowing thing to see onscreen in the context of a ‘superhero’ movie.

IRON MAN AND HULK TOY SITES ONLINE
Hasbro have opened up toy line websites for both the forthcoming IRON MAN movie and THE INCREDIBLE HULK. The figures are looking very nice indeed, in particular the figure of the Iron man MK3 armour, which I’m dying to get hold of myself.

GALACTUS IN SILVER SURFER MOVIE- FOR REAL THIS TIME!
Oh hell yes. Disappointed with the no-show of the proper Galactus in the second Fantastic Four movie? Fear not, the mooted SILVER SURFER prequel film, written by J. Michael Straczynski (Of TV’s Babylon 5 and Spider-Man comics fame, as well as much much more), it is said to feature our beloved planet eater in all of his purple armoured finery. Please excuse me while I let out a WOO HOO. The two Fantastic Four movies are something of a guilty pleasure of mine, but it would have made so much difference to the sequel if we’d seen a great big Jack Kirby-esque vision of Galactus in there.

The Wolverine movie- GAMBIT HAS BEEN CAST!

My colleagues Sam and Rich have already shouted their opinions across the counter regarding the just broken news of Taylor Kitsch being cast as Gambit in the X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE movie (hey FOX people, can't you think of an even clumsier title please? jeez...), but I can't comment yet- mainly because I have no idea who the guy is. Maybe he'll be perfect in the role. He's got past the casting agents and director, so he must be doing at least something right. Now, he was in the teen warlock B Movie THE COVENANT, so at least he's kind of familiar with making genre films involving CG and practical FX, but I'm yet to see if he can bring anything to the part other than a sculpted chin.

Here's his IMDB page.

Gambit has been a fan favourite character ever since he first arrived in the X-Men comics and the subsequent 1990s cartoons. With his sarcasm and constant flirting, it was the character more than his mutant abilities that made him such a star, even if his charged-up playing cards gimmick was cool. This Wolverine movie is a strange thing though- it is being billed as an origin film, and features a young Sabretooth, the Blob, Gambit and apparently Deadpool as well. There's a distinct risk that the thing could become too overcrowded, but I'm hoping for the best. What I would really like is for the title to be changed, as it just sounds like a TV movie with the current monicker, which, of course, will be repeated with X-Men Origins: Magneto.

Once we have some pics and maybe a scene or two to chew over, I might get excited. For now I'm sceptical.