"Beauty and the Beast (2017)" Trailer Reaction

It's been great to see Disney returning to some of their animated classics over the last few years, albeit to varying degrees of success. For example, last year's Cinderella being very well received by audiences and getting largely positive reviews from critics while other movies such as Maleficent had a far more mixed response. Now, in continuing this trend, Disney has decided to produce a live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast, the first and one of the only films to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. So far, announcements made regarding the production have only bene met with positive reactions, and with a star-studded cast (check out the pictures below to see who everyone is playing), there's a chance that this could turn out to be Disney's best live-action retelling yet. The first teaser trailer has now arrived and given me much reason to doubt the movie yet. Then again, it doesn't really show much in the first place.

Yeah, there really isn't too much to see here. OK, admittedly it's a teaser trailer so the purpose of it is to inform casual moviegoers about the film and to start building excitement around it. That shouldn't be too hard because what's on show here is a love letter to fans of the original and Disney fans in general. The music in particular is on point here. The use of the original movie's opening theme is enough to get lovers of the animation excited immediately before the short hint at Beauty and the Beast at the very end of the trailer. The movie has bene confirmed to be a musical and the score is being composed by Alan Menken, who some might recognise as the same composer responsible for the 1991 classic. He won the Best Original Score Oscar for that movie, and it looks like he is recreating the same magic for this new take on the tale.

Emma Watson plays Belle while Dan Stevens plays the Prince/Beast. Luke Evans plays the villainous Gaston with Josh Gad playing his sidekick, Le Fou

I also have to say, the cinematography and set design on show here is incredible. Beast's Castle from the outside looks fantastic and the glimpses we get at the different rooms of the castle are picture perfect replicas of the animated movie. The designer of the ballroom set should be especially applauded for his contribution. That brings me quite nicely to the editing of the trailer. The before and after effect of the different rooms is excellent and is likely taken from the opening act of the movie, with the icicles of the chandeliers and the cobwebs of the castle growing after the Prince becomes the Beast. While all of these technical aspects should be commended, the trailer unfortunately did nothing to end my main worry for the movie: the effects. This is a movie about walking and talking clocks, wardrobes, teapots, candelabras, and a massive Beast. This will have to look extremely good and realistic for Disney to justify this movie being live-action. However, as we saw in "The Jungle Book," Disney do have and are willing to use the money necessary to put these effects into action, so I have faith that this movie will look every bit as good as it needs to.

Ewan McGregor plays Lumière, Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Plumette, Emma Thompson portrays Mrs. Potts, and Sir Ian McKellen plays Cogsworth

The only cast member that we see in this trailer is Emma Watson as Belle in an obscured close-up. However, we hear another 2 characters towards the end of the trailer: Ewan McGregor as the candelabra Lumière and Ian McKellen as the clock Cogsworth. When the cast list was announced for this movie, my initial reaction was extremely positive. Everybody in this movie seems perfectly cast. This trailer did little to change my opinions on these 3 cast members. Ian McKellen seems to have nailed the cynical nature of Cogsworth and I'm sure Emma Watson will be great although she is not shown a lot in this trailer. The same applies for Ewan McGregor, who definitely has the charm required to play Lumière. Hopefully his French accent won't sound so strange by the release of the full movie though.

Kevin Kline plays Belle's father Maurice, Audra McDonald plays Garderobe, Hattie Morahan plays the Enchantress and Adrian Schiller plays Monsieur D'Arque

Overall, this is a very small but encouraging first look at this movie. Director Bill Condon seems to have nailed the atmosphere, music and cinematography, at least in this trailer. However, I do think that we need to see more of the cast and the visual effects work to settle some of the understandable concerns that I for this production. This teaser trailer has succeeded in it's main job, however, and made me excited to see more of this movie and only confirmed that Disney know exactly what they are doing with their live-action slate of movies.

Beauty and the Beast is releasing on March 17th, 2017.

Starring Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Josh Gad, Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline, and Stanley Tucci

New Power Rangers Movie Costumes Revealed!

I've talked time and time again about reboots in Hollywood, and how they can be both good and bad. For example, the trailer for The Magnificent Seven reboot looks pretty good. Fantastic, on the other hand, is complete and utter garbage that you should avoid at all costs. Clearly this practice can produce both good and bad results. So when a new Power Rangers movie was announced with a 2017 release date, I was skeptical to say the least. When they announced that they would be sticking with the original character names, fans (yes, believe it or not there are some adult Power Ranger fans) were given some hope for this movie. However, some recent pictures of the costumes featured in the movie have suggested that this is going to be quite different from the old show. Now, the new costumes for the Rangers have been revealed, and there is no spandex to be seen. Check out the new, more...anatomically correct costumes below.

In all honesty, I don't hate it. The more high-tech designs make sense for a modern reboot, and the 5 Rangers look like their suits have been designed by Iron Man. Let's face it, this lot wouldn't just be going up against people with swords. The aliens that they'll be taking on in this movie will more than likely be armed with some guns or futuristic laser weapon, so this more armoured design makes sense.

Everything else, however, is just a bit....wrong. Mainly with regards the female Rangers. The costume designers look to have been working hard on making these outfits as detailed as possible, especially in some areas the old kids show certainly didn't make a big deal of. And then there's the high heels. Who thought this was a good idea? After the criticisms the character of Claire in Jurassic World received last year, mainly due to how she spent the whole movie running around in high heels, I cannot imagine anyone who would have green lighted this idea, especially since it suggests that girls have to wear high heels while the guys get the trainers.

Overall, I am not sold on this movie yet. While the designs are interesting, we just don't know enough about the movie yet to make a sound judgement. Hopefully it'll be good, but some costumes aren't enough to convince me that this is a good idea

Power Rangers is releasing March 24th, 2017.

Starring Dacre Montgomery, Becky G, Ludi Lin, Naomi Scott, RC Cyler, David Denman, Anjali Jay, Elizabeth Banks

"Captain America: Civil War" Review

Marvel are arguably the most consistent movie studio working today. Constantly delivering great characters, often hilarious writing, and spectacular action, their movies have taken audiences on a couple of thrill rides a year since 2008. As the cast of the MCU (the Marvel Cinematic Universe) continued to grow, we soon saw the formation of the Avengers, who have now had 2 movies together. DC Comics, on the other hand, have only just begun and put Batman up against Superman. The only reasonable response? Put Captain America up against Iron Man, of course! Now, a month after Dawn of Justice, the MCU has erupted into Civil War. Is it better than Batman v Superman? Civil War is not only better than that movie, but it is one of the best superhero movies ever made and the best movie of this year so far.

One of the main reasons that Civil War works so well is because, as I just mentioned, Marvel have been building up the relationships and character dynamics in their movies for 8 years, since the release of the original Iron Man. We have seen Captain America and Iron Man clash over their ideologies and thoughts on how the Avengers should be run before. It makes sense in this universe for the government to be so distrustful of the team because of the number of international incidents that have taken place since Iron Man, and this is a point that is raised in the movie. With the groundwork already placed, the central conflict of Civil War is already far more believable than that of Batman v Superman. Not only that, but directors Joe and Anthony Russo have succeeded in making it very difficult for audiences to actually choose a side to root for. Rather than simply portraying Iron Man as the villain of the piece, the motivations of Stark to support the main government act to regulate the Avengers is backed up by a very powerful scene beforehand and the evidence of how much chaos the team has been involved in. Cap's side is equally developed, however, with his patriotism and talk of freedom throughout being strong enough to give Mel Gibson a run for his money.

The acting in the movie is on point, which is to be expected from Marvel at this point. It is impossible to imagine anyone other than Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. playing Captain America and Iron Man at this point. Evans is an excellent Steve Rogers and he gets plenty of chance to show his emotional range throughout the movie, empahasising how far his character has come from being the little guy who was beaten up in seemingly every Brooklyn alley. Downey Jr. has provided the MCU with much of its humour in his own solo outings and the team-up films. However, he gets to give a much more dramatic performance in this movie, with the character clearly feeling a great deal of guilt over the deaths the Avengers were involved in and his creation of one of their villains, Ultron. His performance as Tony Stark gives the audience a reason to support his cause rather than simply siding with Captain America because his name is in the title. 

The supporting cast also get plenty of time to shine, particularly Bucky (played once again by Sebastian Stan) and new players Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany). The latter characters get to see their relationship develop over the course of the action (a sure pleaser for any comic book fans), with the two helping each other through their different problems, with Vision struggling with his humanity while Scarlet Witch continues to grow far more powerful and unstable. Bucky, on the other hand, goes on a rough journey over the course of the movie. His relationship with Cap is very much one of the focus points of the movie, with the the character's past as the Winter Soldier clearly haunting him throughout the movie. Stan does a great job of  One more character I have to mention, although he doesn't get a lot of screen time, is Ant-Man. Paul Rudd has a great comedic presence in the movie and brings one of the movie's (many) jaw-dropping moments.

However, there are plenty of new characters as well, who are just as well written as the returning players. Daniel Brühl plays the true villain of the piece, Zemo (no comic book fans, he does not don the iconic purple mask and suit). While I cannot talk a great deal about him without jumping into spoiler territory, what I can say is that he is certainly one of Marvel's best developed villains and his motivations make sense, even if it does take a while for his endgame to be revealed. A character I can talk about is Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther. The true standout of the movie for me, this character is given an emotional backstory which makes him relevant to the story but also a distinct personality that sets him apart from his co-stars. An example of his no-nonsense nature comes during one of the action sequences where he swiftly shuts down a conversation in order to get back to business. I can't wake to see more of the Panther when his solo movie rolls around in February 2018. Now, let's talk about the big one, the show stopper, the announcement that caused fans around the world to rejoice: Spider-Man. Yes, the web slinger is back where he belongs at Marvel (after a deal was reached which would see Marvel and Sony sharing the rights to the character) and he is definitely the best iteration of the character ever to grace the big screen. Tom Holland is a perfect Peter Parker and Spider-Man, successfully conveying the different characters of both of Peter's personas: the nerdy teenager and the joking, confident Spidey. Something that is also done very well is the relationship the character has with Tony Stark. Both Downey Jr. and Holland are excellent during their scenes together, and it'll be interesting to tee how the relationship develops in next year's "Spider-Man: Homecoming."

One aspect of the movie that has been heavily advertised is the action sequences, and for good reason. In this outing, the heroes aren't just fighting mindless drones, like the Chitauri in The Avengers; they're at war with each other. There are plenty of great scenes in the movie, such as the tunnel chase between Captain America, Bucky and Black Panther, or the climatic action sequence. However,  none of these compare to the airport scene that is featured in every trailer and TV spot. Some early reviews praised this section of the movie as one of the best action sequences in the history of the superhero genre, and you might have thought that maybe some were exaggerating due to excitement. After actually seeing this 15 minute scene myself, I can say without a doubt that this is not only the best action beat of any superhero movie, but one of the best set pieces of all time. The choreography of every separate fight is brilliant, and every character is given a chance to shine, and the effects work is absolutely spectacular. Even Spider-Man's new costume, which some were skeptical about after it began making the rounds in the trailers, looks incredible when it is actually in action, and never brakes the immersion of the audience. Whether you go to superhero movies as a fan of the source material, for the action, or just because you liked the other movies, this sequence is sure to impress.

It's not just in the airport sequence that the technical work of the movie is on point, however. Throughout the movie, the cinematography of the movie is excellent, with the pacing and speed of the shots never being so fast that the audience cannot understand what is happening, as is the problem with some modern action scenes. The set and costume designs for the movie should also be commended, with everything the production team have created matching the tone of the rest of the MCU. Overall, I can think of very few problems with Civil War. If anything, the movie does feel long, with the conflict of the movie taking a long time to be properly set up. Many scenes in the movie do feel quite lengthy. Don't get me wrong, the movie does feel like like it has had the majority of it's fat trimmed in editing but, nonetheless, some of these scenes could probably have been cut down.

The length of a movie does not ruin it, however. The fact remains that, although Captain America: Civil War may feel slightly long at some points, it never has a dull moment and never fails to disappoint. Flipping the Marvel Universe on it's head, and full of spectacular performances and action, this movie is one of the best entries in the MCU and is one of the best superhero movies ever made. Marvel have set the standards for how a conflict should be built up across a long period of time. By building their character dynamics over 8 years, the audience is guaranteed to feel an emotional connection to the conflict, watching the heroes tear themselves apart and be forced into a fight neither of them want to be in. All film and TV writers, take notes.

Pros

• The conflict feels earned
• Great character moments
• Phenomenal action sequences
• Black Panther and Spider-Man
• Brilliant visuals
• Cinematography

Cons

• Maybe a tad long

Rating: 10/10

Release Date: 29th April, 2016

Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Don Cheadle, Chadwick Boseman, Tom Holland, Emily VanCamp, William Hurt, and Daniel Brühl.