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Before I get into this article, let me preface it by saying I love watching Disney movies. That includes the ones they themselves make but also ones made by Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar, etc. That being said, they have their issues.

The new Han Solo film has become yet another example of Disney and its subsidiaries being unable to work with a director. In this case, multiple directors. As most probably know by now, the original directors of the upcoming Han Solo film have been fired and replaced by Ron Howard. This new director is a great one and I’m sure his character-focused repertoire of film-making is a great fit for the film. That being said, it’s yet another situation where Disney just seemingly couldn’t handle a filmmaker’s individuality and creative approach.

When I look at most movie series, I can easily rank the films in order of quality and preference. However, Disney films are something that I and many others are struggling to do so with. That’s because each film Disney puts out is basically the same movie with a different skin. That isn’t to say their movies are bad, in fact I enjoy seeing each and every one of them. However, where individuality and creativity are concerned, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between them besides on the surface.

This is because Disney and its subsidiaries (Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios for example) churn out films like the world is going to end soon. As such, they have this factory-made lack of authenticity to them that, while still good, can rarely be great nor horrible. Due to this approach, Disney struggles with allowing the talented filmmakers that they hire to express themselves and, rather, seem to be looking for yes men.

Han Solo is only the most recent example of this. Sticking to Star Wars, Rogue One had to have extensive reshoots because Lucasfilm and Disney weren’t happy with Gareth Edwards’ original approach. While the original gritty war movie approach that Edwards wanted kind of stayed, the end result was a strange mess. Rogue One was still enjoyable and had great scenes but it ended up having a disorienting and choppy beginning with random moments added in as nothing more than fan service.

Going back to The Force Awakens, Michael Arndt, the writer for Toy Story 3, was originally involved and then ended up leaving, supposedly, for other commitments. His original ideas had a greater focus on the children of the original trilogy’s cast and actually gave Luke Skywalker something to do. Despite how good Episode VII became, it had the potential to be great with Arndt’s ideas involved.

Moving away from Star Wars, Disney has this issue with Marvel movies as well. Edgar Wright was originally supposed to direct Ant-Man but after years of it being delayed and some creative differences, he was replaced with Peyton Reed. Ant-Man turned out just like Rogue One and The Force Awakens: enjoyable but felt copy-pasted, filled to the brim with fan service, and was largely forgettable.

Finally, we have Joss Whedon. Renowned for his work on TV shows like Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Disney and Marvel made a great call having him direct The Avengers. However, he has gone on record to say that he didn’t really want to direct a movie about Loki, but rather Ultron. When the second film came around, he finally got to work on his dream project but in every single interview about the project he came across as tired, bitter, and defeated. Age of Ultron, just like Ant-Man, The Force Awakens, and Rogue One after it, suffered the same issues. He then dropped from the director’s chair for Infinity War and moved to DC and Warner Bros. Now he’s working for Marvel’s biggest rival helping finish Justice League in Zack Snyder’s absence and directing Batgirl.

I’m sure all of Disney’s upcoming movies, Han Solo included, will be just fine. However, unless they start allowing themselves to take risks and do something different, people are going to start getting sick of their movies. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is vast and wide but when Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, and Iron Man all have the same basic plot it’s time to branch out. As for Lucasfilm, the shock and awe of having a new Star Wars film every year has already worn off on most filmgoers. They’re never going to have the same hype Episode VII did unless they differentiate from the other films in the series.

What do you think? Comment your thoughts down below.

I spend most of my days working towards my Writing and Rhetoric degree at the University of Central Florida, but I spend a lot of my down time keeping up to date on the best TV, movies, and video games the industry has to offer. Here I put all of that extended time to use discussing each of them in-depth.

Gaming

Orlando Bloom and David Harbour Share the Gran Turismo movie’s first trailer

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Well, this movie has certainly come together quickly, just like the automobiles the franchise is centered around. In truth, Gran Turismo adaptation directed by Neil Blomkamp has already wrapped up filming and is in post-production ahead of its global theatrical release on August 11, 2023. Do you want to see a brief teaser? To view the trailer, click above.

Orlando Bloom and David Harbour provide some comments in this 60-second clip, which also includes a few brief film snippets. In essence, this is based on the real-life experiences of Jann Mardenborough, who won the 2011 GT Academy competition and later found success as a racing car driver.

In the few photos that were displayed, the cinematography seemed amazing, therefore it is obvious that this would look stunning on a large screen. During Sony’s CES press conference, Blomkamp briefly discussed how he is employing the company’s cutting-edge cameras to not only get stunning close-ups from within the car’s cockpit but also to imitate some of the game’s angles, as shown in the trailer.

 

 

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Geek Culture

“An imposing, spectacular, supersized movie,” according to the review of Avatar: The Way of Water

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James Cameron was king of the bigger, better, and more contentious sequel blockbuster before he was crowned King of the World. Avatar: The Way of Water comes near enough to retain that reputation, even if his eagerly anticipated return to Pandora can’t rival Aliens or T2 for targeted tanker-weight efficiency. And it certainly knocks the flying fish off of Piranha II.

Will it become a $2 billion club member as Cameron suggests it must? We’ll see, but it’s undeniably flawed yet full of flavor (to paraphrase Guillermo del Toro(opens in new tab)). “MOVIE-MOVIE” is a sometimes strange, always magnificent sensory hit with a thematic thrust that is pleasingly genuine with an undercurrent of soft feeling. Untangling some of the story lines might require numerous viewings and three more movies. But Cameron is the best person to make the case for going to the movies again and again.

Cameron doesn’t spend much time setting the scene because the majority of people have already been to Pandora. The first scene quickly parachutes into Pandora’s rainforest, where Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who have turned completely Na’vi, are now raising their growing family. They have three biological children: Tuktirey, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), and Lo’ak (Trinity Bliss). Then there are the adoptees: Spider (Jack Champion), a feral human orphan orphaned by war, and Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), a type of offspring of Grace’s avatar (from the original Avatar).

Jake feels that defending his family gives him meaning. The Sully family seeks safety among Pandora’s sea clans when the evil Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang) reappears in (completely explained) “Recombinant” avatar form seeking “payback” for his demise. Jake hovers firmly over his tearaway brood in this instance. But how long can they evade Quaritch’s new blue marines? And isn’t knowing how to manage risk an important learning curve?

While Cameron’s bare-bones setup showcases his pulp punch as a writer, it also demonstrates his astounding skill as a world-builder. This time, Cameron doesn’t give much opportunity to pause and take in Pandora’s plant life. The lush jungle suddenly seems inhabited and alive. However, the RDA (Resources Development Administration) has grander plans for Pandora, even though life on Earth is hardly sustainable at this point. Their base of operations is a small metropolis with cutting-edge technology like robotic spider “swarm assemblers” that can create structures in a matter of days. Cameron makes sure you can sense the destruction left behind when humanity arrive on Pandora.

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The Way of Water definitely has the WOW factor in terms of CG. Thirteen years later, Avatar’s spectacle-cinema upgrade has been surpassed. Hair and skin gleam; flames and dust particles transfix. The great revelation this time is the reef, which is home to the Metkayina clan, just as Avatar took time to introduce viewers to Pandora’s funky wonderland. The aquatic realm is vivid, sensual, and tranquil. The sense of weightlessness immersed in the waves reveals a new, sensitive grace in Cameron’s direction as the 3D visuals shimmer in time with Simon Franglen’s ringing score. He instills respect for the ocean in addition to entranced love because the waves are both seductive and hazardous. And the sensation of anguish is overwhelming when their residents are mistreated.

Cameron expertly balances thematic, narrative, emotional, and character strands while dazzles your eyes. Jake’s instinctive need to save his children creates danger as a thematic pattern; from the opening monologue on, Cameron treats the theme like a dorsal fin to cling to through stormy story waters. This is somewhat reminiscent of Finding Nemo.

Casting-wise, Saldana and Kate Winslet (as Ronal, the co-leader of the Metkayina tribe) are a little too much in the background, but Worthington shines as the former Na’vi trainee turned training-on-the-job father. Weaver bridges the age gap between actor and character by touchingly projecting Kiri’s feelings of exclusion and sulky eye-rolls through the mo-cap. Dalton, one of the fantastic young actors, gives bonding scenes with the whale-like Tulkun heart when they otherwise may have seemed a bit Free Willy. Additionally, Champion dispatches the Newt-like Spider, whose subplot expands on Cameron’s family-related ideas.

Although it’s unfortunate that his toxic spiel (“science pukes,” etc.) sounds familiar, the returning Lang adds explosive wrath. Cameron doesn’t spend any time brushing up on Avatar, but he occasionally uses well-known beats. The Sully clan’s water-training reworks Jake’s previous Na’vi training, while marine animals like the “ilus” are reimaginings of the “ikrans” from Avatar. When a character moans, “Can’t believe I’m tied up again,” you wonder if a little editing could have been advised. Cameron even repeats himself a little bit within the movie.

Another minor issue with the plot’s stop-start nature is how some characters’ difficulties seem to go away for long lengths of time. Cameron, though, harnesses prior career highs into a blast of full-bore, high-stakes extravaganza at the film’s climactic point to remind you who’s in charge. The Abyss’ strange wonder, Aliens’ kid danger, Titanic’s aquatic horror show, and T2’s technology are all there and have been enhanced for tension, action, and emotion. Some loose tale threads leave more questions than answers when the fire is out. However, there are three scheduled follow-ups. Even after three hours and more, Cameron’s return leaves you wanting more.

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Geek Culture

Here is the second advertisement for The Last of Us on HBO

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUke5mdoac0&ab_channel=SkyTV

A brand-new trailer for HBO’s live-action take on The Last of Us from PlayStation has just been released.

The program, which will debut on HBO Max on January 15, 2023, and on Sky in the UK the following day, will star Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as its main characters.

The Last of Us is the first TV show produced by PlayStation Productions, a division of Sony Interactive Entertainment created to create film and television adaptations of its own game franchises.

The first game’s events will be covered, and there may even be The Last of Us Part 2-related material, according to Craig Mazin, the creator of Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, vice president of Naughty Dog.

The show’s main protagonists, Joel and Ellie, will be portrayed by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey. Sarah, Joel’s daughter, is portrayed by Thandie Newton’s daughter Nico Parker (Dumbo), while Tommy, Joel’s brother, is portrayed by Gabriel Luna (Agents of Shield).

The Last of Us’ debut trailer was released by HBO in September.

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