I’m going out to the theater in a few hours to see The Avengers: Age of Ultron, and I just now discovered this promo that reveals a lot of the details of the movie. There are some big surprises!
Paul Lynde as Loki is simply an inspired casting choice. The special effects were impressive, too.
My biggest worry is that the preview shows too much — I kind of feel like now, no matter what, the actual movie is going to be a bit of a let down.
Oh dear glod. Those horrible made-for-tv movies. Especially the Captain America one.
Growing up a comic book fan, I never could get into the Incredible Hulk tv show because it was so wildly different than the comic book.
The less said about Thor the better…
(and I won’t even mention the abominable Spider-Man tv movies from way back when…::shudder::)
I had forgotten about Captain America’s silly plastic shield. And the motorbike. And the van that he kept jumping the motorcycle out of, as if he had just ramped it through a dummy van. (Took me clear out of the show every damn time. (So many times.))
I did like how the New York city traffic was just ignoring all the explosions.
My body is ready.
Promos like that keep me playing solitaire on this already-paid-for-keyboard.
I remember seeing a few episodes of the Hulk TV show when I was a little kid and we went to visit my grandmother on the other side of the country. Fear the six-year-old’s nerd rage at seeing the Hulk portrayed as being vulnerable to bullets!
Speaking of Ultron, Comic Book Resources has a rundown of some of the most popular stories involving the genocidal A.I.
I thought it was Age of Bon Bon?
Holy crap did that Captain America suck. They might have gotten away with it pre-Star Wars, but even 8 year old me thought it was super lame.
KISS meets the Phantom of the Park was awesome though*. I have it on VHS in a box somewhere.
*And even better when I was in my 20’s and really high.
That thing
works just as well if you are
Stop sneering at the technological and social failures of the past and recognise that
we would not be here if they didn’t do what they did.
chigau @8:
The filmmakers could have done better than they did with the technology they had at hand if they had better respect for the source material (and no, I don’t mean they needed to be slavishly devoted to the source, ala the Watchmen film).
Tony!
My comment #8 was a generic whinge at the complaints of cheesiness in special effects (not just in this thread)
I am old.
I remember the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dykstraflex.
…
I’m really not aware of current comic-to-movie (Watchmen) issues but if you’re up for a screamingfrothingrant about LotR movies, I’m game.
*with hugs*
I keep forgetting that I’m about the only person on the planet who adores the LotR and Hobbit films (and yes, I’ve read the books, and yes, I’ve read basically everything Tolkien put out about Middle Earth, and yes, I am aware of the changes and differences and even understand why they get so much hate and have even been known to concede that it’s mostly deserved… but I still love them).
As for these terrible comic book movies… just…
And don’t get me started on the 60’s Batman. Maybe I’m just dark, but I want my Batman dark and gritty, not campy with bad puns and shark repellent.
I think that’s why I adored Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Begins, and The Dark Knight.
Batman Forever was forgettable.
The Dark Knight Rises really had a lot of potential it failed to live up to. It could have been so damn good. So good, if only certain things had changed…
And I know there was one more… with George Clooney… but we shall not speak of that again.
Anyways…
If the ’70s Avengers are a letdown, there’s always The Wiivengers.
Reminder: Saturday May 2 is Free Comic Book Day if you live in the US! Find participating bookstores here.
Exoman!
Powered by ultraviolet radiation, so he only comes out at night. His one weakness, the limited air supply in his suit — and also the fact that he had to push big rocker switches on his wrist to do things like walk forward or turn right or left…or villains smart enough to walk quickly away from him or climb stairs…
Live action Superheroes ALWAYS suck on TV and almost always suck in the movies. Not just in the 1970s
I say this having just binge-watched Daredevil on Netflix; where decent production values and some excellent performances, and smart writing, didn’t quite maneuver the project out of the Valley of Stupid.
There is on 1970s Marvel project I would watch again, though. No irony. No guilty pleasure. The 1977 Dr. Strange movie-of-the-week holds up pretty well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFCL0eCjnsA#t=13
Benedict Cumberpatch is going to suck so hard as Dr. Strange that we will forget how hard he sucked as Khan
If you claim to not like campy Batman but to like Returns, I just don’t see it. All Burton was doing was serving up a different flavor of shark repellent. Batman ’66 is an intentional comedy, and a fairly accurate portrayal of the comics of the time. There’s room for humor in Batman. We can have JLU and The Brave and the Bold.
I did like that *SPOILER ALERT* they’d they cast Hawkeye from MASH as Hawkeye.
…or was the film an Avengers Mash Mash up?
…and British posters may wish to note that Star Wars Day is officially a Bank Holiday this year.
@9 One aspect I think was that the people who were making these shows were more familiar with the (often terrible) comics of the 50s and early 60s than the comics of the 70s. Also, I don’t know how you could do a low budget 70s-technology Thor. It’s just too epic.
I remember that the producers of “The Incredible Hulk” who thought they would get a similar audience to “The Fugitive” were surprised at how young their audience was. Nobody likes the idea of temper tantrums as a super-power more than preschoolers.
Wait. Is that the Avengers beating the crap out of the Kiss!?
That’s the Holy Grail of trash.
Has everyone forgotten the really bad Avengers film?
chigau @10:
I had bibs made for those (one is never enough).
re NateHevens. He who hates straight, white, cis-gendered, able-bodied men (not really):
Nate, look over here at FOX on Mondays, a new gritty version of pre-Batman: a show called “Gotham”. I’m not exactly a “hate-fan”, definitely not a “fan fan”, more a “curious fan”. Interesting version of Batman’s origin. So wacky/gritty it’s fun to watch. More a villains and Gordon background than Bat, but the show is really batty, it’s fun.
re Dr Marcus Hill Ph.D. (arguing from his own authority)
I did not visit the link you included. I’ll assume that is the horrible film adaptation of the ORIGINAL Avengers (courtesy of BBC), with Diana Rigg as the misogynistically name “Emma Peel” character. I agree, forget the film, dig up the DVD’s of Emma. (Mrs. Peel, we’re needed)
The Marvel Avengers just ripped off the name from the BBC with no acknowledgement at all.
Yup, that’s the movie.
That was totally awesome! Even the music rocked! Now, I don’t have to go see the movie. Thank, PZ, you just saved me $15.00!
(Actually, I took my kids to see it last night and, although it wasn’t as good as the above trailer, it was enjoyable)
Dr Marcus Hill #20
I loved Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman in The Avengers. I think the problem was that it is a very detailed homage to the TV show. If you aren’t intimately familiar with the original, the movie makes no sense. Not a good way to make a hit movie, true, but I get a kick out of it every time I watch it.
Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur essentially is Loki.
Also, that “Iron Man” is actually Exo Man, a paraplegic scientist who invented a computer-controlled suit that allowed him to walk (and also throw bad guys across the room, of course). I really loved that pilot and was very disappointed it didn’t get picked up to be a series.
Don’t these studios supposedly pump out these awful, low budget adaptations of books and comics so they can maintain the rights? I recall some studio recently released a godawful Wheel of Time “pilot” as a friggin’ PAID ADVERTISEMENT because they were in the 11th hour on the film rights. Hilariously, I thought that was the explanation behind the god awfulness of that Atlas Shrugged adaptation but it was apparently just the source material. I guess the world is still awaiting the birth of the Objectivist Leni Riefenstahl…
addendum for @22:
Gotham is NOT a Batman TV show. No, it’s the story detailing the city Batman will operate in when he grows up, after witnessing the sheethole it is while growing up. Implying (strongly), what turned that innocent child into that sociopathic, masked, vigilante in adulthood. I can’t even continue calling it “gritty”, it’s really just “grimy”; but still interesting view of Batman’s childhood.
[spoiler alert (sorta): Alfred is not just a butler, much grittier.]
edmundog @ #15:
I have to disagree. It was Schumacher that took that movie series back to the 60’s campiness (“let’s kick some ice“).
Indeed it is. In fact, some of those episodes were ripped straight from the comics (I remember reading, though I don’t know how true it is, that for one of the episodes of the original series, they actually used one of the comics as the script… that is, though, apocryphal, so… you know… grain of salt and all that. And is that even possible, considering the differences between the two mediums?)
I should note that I also happen to not be a fan of the Batman comics from that era.
Say what you will about Frank Miller (and he is absolutely terrible), but The Dark Knight Returns and Year One are really my benchmarks for what Batman should be like. I also don’t care what anybody says… Affleck’s Batman looks absolutely insane. I’m so excited for his portrayal. Even if it is terrible, his suit may go down as the best Batsuit in live-action Batman history so far.
Depends on the humor. I’m fine with things like “wait’ll they get a load of me”, a disappearing pencil trick, “I’m telling them it was your idea”… even “nice coat” was good for what it was.
“Holy astringent plum-like Fruit, Batman!”… not so much.
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slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) @ #22:
I keep trying to get into that, and I can’t. It is interesting and I’m curious, but not enough to invest the time to watch it… I’d rather just read the synopses… :(
Also, what you said about Alfred in comment #28… Alfred has never been just a Butler (with the exception of the 90’s movies). Check out Knightfall… the back story on Alfred is insane. In fact, I kinda feel like Gotham has hit closest to who Alfred truly is then any other Batman adaption. (Also, Alfred is played by Sean Pertwee in Gotham, who just so happens to be the son of Jon Pertwee, the man who played the 3rd Doctor!)
(Incidentally… I would kill to see a live-action film adaption of Knightfall/Knightquest/KnightsEnd, with Azrael!Bat and all. I think it would be incredible if done right, and make up for TDKR [which really could have, and should have, been so much better].)
that trailer was magnificent!
Wow. I just loved that so much. Paul Lynde as Loki was too damn perfect as well. PZ & moarscienceplz are dead-on about that.
I’m sure I’ll have fun @ Age of Ultron when I get around to going (no way I’m going the first weekend or two), but I’m really not sure if I could have as much fun in a theater in two hours as I did on the couch during that trailer’s two minutes.
My local theater is pretty much sold out through the weekend, so I’ll just be doing my best to avoid (further) spoilers by sitting around catching up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and probably playing a lot of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I’ll head over and catch a noonish showing monday or tuesday. Maybe I’ll get lucky and get a theater to myself. Too bad we don’t have Ex Machina yet. I’d make it a double feature.
Just noticed that the links to the prevlous and next posts combine to form,
“Damn it! Don’t make me agree with Andrew Brown! I’d do anything for love (but I won’t do that).”
(C) PZ Meatloaf
Ok, I absolutely lost it at Hawkeye.
And I’m very pleased they went with the Reb Brown Captain America rather than the Matt Salinger one.
For PZ and anyone who agrees with this review: I recommend you all skip Deadpool 2016 and save your time and money for something else you’d prefer to spend them on instead.