movies

Fan-Made Doctor Strange Credits Sequence

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Alex Silver (of This Is Productions) made a charmingly comic-like Doctor Strange credits sequence that’s definitely worth seeing:

Doctor Strange Title Sequence from This Is Productions on Vimeo.

Found via Collider.

The actual dose of the Doctor is still a ways away – according to IMDB, the release date is November 04, 2016. I know next to nothing about the character nor the work of screenwriter Jon Spaihts or director Scott Derrickson, but I’ve enjoyed the work of confirmed actors Benedict Cumberbatch plus Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mads Mikkelsen (in negotiations). It remains to be seen how the movie will tie to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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Hugh Jackman to Play Odysseus?

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Hugh Jackman might play the eponymous protagonist in the forthcoming Odyssey movie.

Twitter Hugh Jackman

According to The Wrap,

“[…] Jackman doesn’t have a deal in place yet but has had multiple conversations with the filmmaking team about playing Odysseus, the hero of the film who embarks on a long voyage home following the conclusion of the Trojan War.”

I rather like Jackman’s work, and it also turns out he has actual Greek ancestry which is nice. (Too bad that Chris Sarandon, who also is of Greek issue, is too old now; he’d make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts Odysseus.)

Image: Hugh Jackman on Twitter

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Ant-Man’s Unanswered Question

Erik

We finally got around to seeing Ant-Man a couple of days ago. I know that movie is so last month and everybody’s moved on to other things, but I have a few thoughts to share. There will be spoilers, just in case you’re even later than me in getting around to this movie.

150820Ant-manI liked Ant-Man. I put it in the middling range of the Marvel moves along with the first and third Iron Man films. It kept me entertained on a hot summer day, it held together a lot better than the noble failure that was Avengers 2, and it didn’t insult me like last summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The jokes landed, the characters were interesting, and the story was fun. My strongest impression of the movie, though, is that it kept asking and conspicuously failing to answer one question: Why is Hope not putting on the suit?

The central plot of the movie is the heist to steal and destroy the Yellowjacket weapon prototype before evil corporate genius Darren Cross can unleash it on the world. Inventor Hank Pym recruits good-hearted cat burglar Scott Lang to don the Ant-Man super-shrinking-and-insect-mind-control tech to get the job done, even though Hank’s daughter Hope van Dyne is obviously a better choice. She already knows about the technology and how to use it. She has access to the facility that is the target of the heist. She is smart, cool-headed, and tough. Why do they need Scott?

The movie half-heartedly offers a few possible answers, but it seems to be aware that none of them really holds up.

Because Scott is such an awesomely inventive cat burglar

Eh. The script does the bare minimum job of showing us Scott thinking on his feet. It’s okay, but it’s hardly persuasive. In any case, the Yellowjacket heist is already planned out; not much on-feet thinking required. At best, Scott could be useful on the coms Leverage-style to advise Hope in case of surprises. We really don’t see any of that vaunted inventiveness at play in the heist.

Because Hope needs to stick with Cross during the heist

Apparently not, because she really doesn’t do anything important during the heist besides help a wounded Hank get out of the building. Her presence with Cross doesn’t seem to make any contribution to pulling the heist off.

Because her father is afraid for her safety if she uses the Ant-suit

That’s fine. He can worry. We all worry about the people we care about. Pepper Potts worries about Tony Stark. Laura Barton worries about Clint. That’s not a reason for them not to suit up and get the job done when it matters.

Because she gets to be Wasp in the next movie

Great! Why couldn’t she be Wasp in this movie? “It’s about damn time,” she says as she eyes the Wasp suit at the end of the film. It was about damn time at the start of the film, too.

I give Ant-Man credit for at least tacitly acknowledging that none of these reasons stands up. We need more good female superheroes (and villains, for that matter) on our screens and there’s no good reason why we don’t have them already. I take Ant-Man as an admission from Marvel that they recognize the problem, and that’s a step towards fixing it. Whether they are willing to take the next step of actually giving us the female characters we’ve been waiting for is another unanswered question.

Image: Comic-Con Ant-Man Poster via Wikimedia

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Crowdfunding Campaign to Build Minas Tirith for Real

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Turns out a group of people in Great Britain is hankering after a real Minas Tirith so much that they started an Indiegogo campaign to fund the building effort:

“We are a team of Tolkien fans who are passionate about creating a beautiful, inspirational and fully-functioning replica of Peter Jackson’s depiction of Minas Tirith, as seen in his Lord of the Rings films.

“We all share a love of Tolkien’s work, and a desire to challenge the common perception of community and architecture. We believe that, in realising Minas Tirith, we could create not only the most remarkable tourist attraction on the planet, but also a wonderfully unique place to live and work.”

Realise Minas Tirith on Indiegogo.
Realise Minas Tirith on Indiegogo.

If the project sounds far-fetched to you, rest assured: the team knows it’s a long shot:

“Please only donate within your means, and in the knowledge that this project is a light-hearted venture with virtually no chance of succeeding. […] We make no claim on the image or name of Minas Tirith, and will happily cancel this project should any dispute arise over such.”

Two things come to mind: it’s a fascinating example of 1) how throwing money at something has become an established way to show public support for a project or person, and 2) how the Internet allows people to engage in collective daydreaming across the globe.

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Gatesmashing

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We’re all familiar with gatekeeping: when members of a fandom (or geekishness in general) try to exclude others for not being true fans or real geeks because they haven’t seen/read/played every obscure iteration of the franchise or don’t know every minute detail of the lore. “Oh, you haven’t seen the Holiday Special?” they sniff. “Well, you’re not really a Star Wars fan, then.” “You don’t know how many buttons were on the second Doctor’s costume? Begone, fake Whovian!”

If you’re fortunate enough to have never witnessed or experienced gatekeeping, here’s a few discussions (picked more or less at random) to give you an idea of what it is and why it sucks:

No One Can Deny You Entry to Geekdom, But Some Can Make It Really Hard to Get Through the Door First by Michi Trota on Geek Melange

The Psychology of the Fake Geek Girl: Why We’re Threatened by Falsified Fandom by Dr. Andrea Letamendi on The Mary Sue

A Creator’s Note to “Gatekeepers” by John Scalzi on Whatever

You see what I mean? Gatekeeping is wrong, hurtful, and no fun. And while it’s true that it can be done by anybody to anybody (I’m a straight man and I’ve had my fandom cred challenged by queer women half my age), it is a weapon frequently deployed by the privileged against the un-privileged, in whatever terms those categories may be defined.

Gatekeeping needs to stop. It’s time we all acknowledge that none of us has seen everything and none of us knows everything, even about the things we love the most. No one is any less of a geek or a fan because of the things they don’t know. All it means is there are still things for us to watch and read and play and find out about, and that’s awesome. Seriously, I feel so sorry for anyone who has nothing new left to learn or experience.

And so, I propose a new pastime: gatesmashing! Instead of obsessing over the things we have seen and read and played, let’s proclaim the things we haven’t. Tell us what you’ve never experienced, and tell us proudly. Not a comprehensive list, of course, but the first few things that come to mind.

I’ll go first.

I have never seen:

  • Rocky Horror Picture Show
  • Starship Troopers
  • The Dark Crystal
  • Any Doctor Who starring the first or fifth-through-eighth Doctors

I have never read anything by:

  • Neil Gaiman
  • Terry Pratchett
  • Ursula K. Le Guin

I have never played:

  • Skyrim
  • Minecraft
  • Dragon Age

And the fact that I haven’t doesn’t make me any less of a geek than anyone who has.

Here there be opinions!

Parody Movie Trailer: The Greenlighter

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This trailer for the imaginary superhero movie The Greenlighter by Above Average is definitely onto something:

Marvel’s First Female Superhero Movie: The Greenlighter by Above Average

Agreed – it shouldn’t be hard at all to write a superhero movie starring a woman. Except, you know, while you’re at it, have more than one. Mad Max: Fury Road did it just fine.

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Lionsgate to Adapt The Odyssey

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Flickr Robert The Odyssey of Homer Easton Press

The first great European adventure story, The Odyssey by Homer, is being adapted again to the big screen, this time by Lionsgate. So far the project includes director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson (of the Hunger Games movie adaptation fame), and writer Peter Craig (known for co-screenwriting The Town and Mockingjay Part 1 and Part 2). According to Deadline Hollywood, production is planned to begin early in 2016.

With the advances in visual effects technology, this adaptation will surely look grander and more epic than any preceding ones. I hope that the screenwriting will be great, too.

Image: The Odyssey of Homer – Easton Press edition by Robert on Flickr (Creative Commons license CC BY 2.0)

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