Comic-Con Trailer for JUSTICE LEAGUE

With Suicide Squad opening in just over a week and anticipation higher than ever I certainly expected Warner Bros. to drop a Wonder Woman trailer at this years San Diego Comic-Con, but never did I expect a full trailer for next November's Justice League. Sure, Wonder Woman doesn't hit theaters until next June, but would the studio really miss the opportunity of putting the trailer for their next DC film in front of the one that is tracking to make more than a $125 million opening weekend? Of course not. All of this to say that not only were we given a wonderfully fitting Wonder Woman trailer, but director Zack Snyder also flew in to deliver some footage from his upcoming Justice League movie that has been officially released online by WB. There is something to be said for the course of action the WB is taking as they began releasing trailers online almost immediately after premiering them at Comic-Con last year, but that is for another time. What we have right now is a first look at footage from a movie that is currently still in production and doesn't come out for over a year. It is the first look at a movie that was planned and being prepared for long before the backlash to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and it is a film that has clearly had a new light shined on it due to those reactions. If you read any of the set visits from a month or so ago where Snyder and the studio invited several online journalists to the set of Justice League to check out their process so far you undoubtedly noticed that both Snyder and the studio were on a mission to not only convince those that disliked BvS that they were fixing a lot of their complaints in Justice League, but to also get a more positive narrative going around the DC cinematic universe as early as possible. With the release of this first look at Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne assembling his team including Jason Momoa's Aquaman, Ezra Miller's Flash, and Ray Fisher's Cyborg as well as the already established Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) it only stands to reinforce that Snyder and the studio are now moving on to change the narrative with the fans as well and this tease couldn't do a better job of getting me excited as its clear that while the film might have more of a spunkier tone it will still look like an epic Snyder film which is what these heroes and gods deserve. Though Henry Cavill's Superman is absent from the trailer the newly released image of the Justice League (see below) indeed confirms (as if there were any doubt) that Superman will be back in some capacity for Justice Laague Part 1 which hits theaters on November 17th, 2017. J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe, and Amber Heard also star.

First Trailer for WONDER WOMAN Starring Gal Gadot

At its panel today Warner Bros. not only gathered its directors for all future DC films that are currently in development (including Ben Affleck, James Wan, and Rick Famuyiwa), but it also unveiled the very first trailer for Wonder Woman during at Comic-Con 2016. Directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster), the film sees Gal Gadot reprising her role as the titular warrior that first debuted in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While that aforementioned film wasn't a unanimous winner most agreed that Gadot's Wonder Woman was one of the highlights. In her first solo feature ever Jenkins has been paired with writers Geoff Johns and Allan Heinberg, with a story by Heinberg and Zack Snyder, and to be completely honest this first look at the film is gorgeous and looks to balance the tone of darkness inherent to the DC universe with plenty of fun asides and fun characters-including American pilot Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). This film, which is set before the events of BvS, tells the origin story of Diana Prince. Set in the midst of World War I, Prince’s sheltered island paradise life is upended when Pine's Trevor crash lands and tells of the conflict happening in the outside world, spurning Diana into action. With what we see in the trailer it is easy to take away that the film will look gorgeous thanks to Matthew Jensen's cinematography while the actions scenes look exhilerating and intense while the chemistry between Gadot and Pine seems to be on point with Pine providing a fine and funny foil for the out of her element Wonder Woman. It's a tall order for both Jenkis and Gadot to fill in that this is the characters first solo feature on the big screen, but if what we've seen today is any indication there seems no reason to worry. Wonder Woman also stars Connie Nielsen, Robin Wright, David Thewlis, Danny Huston, Elena Anaya, Ewen Bremner, Saïd Taghmaoui, and opens on June 2nd, 2017.

STAR TREK BEYOND Review

Having never been a Star Trek fan it is difficult to gauge where the new series of films lands when it comes to understanding how much it draws on what made the original series and other features so endearing and loved by so many. With Star Trek Beyond, the third film in the re-booted series and the first not directed by J.J. Abrams, it finally feels like (to an outsider, at least) that this new set of films has found its footing. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous two Abrams films they have very much been in the vein of attempting to re-establish the brand and telling the origin of what became the legendary crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise on the Gene Roddenberry series that ran for eighty episodes beginning in 1966. This was all necessary, of course, though Into Darkness certainly could have come more into its own rather than once again feeling like an assembling of parts, but as an introduction to this world and these characters the 2009 version is almost flawless save for some third act story elements that cause the film to trip at the finish line. In saying that this third film has found its footing is to say that it finally feels these characters know who they are and are more assured in their roles (both in the actors playing them and the characters themselves). Much of this has come from being almost three years into a five year mission thus giving us our first glimpse of this newly assembled band of actors in these iconic roles in the midst of actually exploring uncharted areas of the galaxy. It seems, at least from my non-seasoned perspective, that Star Trek Beyond is the film Star Trek fans have likely been waiting on since the credits rolled on that 2009 re-introduction. Written by Simon Pegg and his writing partner Doug Jung (who has at the same time both a minor and major role in the film) and directed by Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift all the way through Fast & Furious 6) Star Trek Beyond is full throttle entertainment from beginning to end, packing in a contained and straightforward action narrative into an evenly paced two hours with interesting character dynamics abounding and even some slight philosophical meanderings to wonder about in the process. In essence, Star Trek Beyond does an exemplary job of compiling every facet a movie such as this should contain and executes them without question or hesitation-the only downfall to this being there isn't anything necessarily unexpected about what we receive. It's hard to fault a film for accomplishing the job it sets out to do and Beyond fills its sci-fi action/adventure quota with ease, but this lack of anything fresh or unique to make it stand apart or on its own is also what keeps it from being anything more than your solid summer blockbuster.

Teaser Trailer for xXx: RETURN OF XANDER CAGE Starring Vin Diesel

Confession time: I've never seen 2005's xXx: State of the Union. Do I need to? Because I really don't care to and yet, part of me is excited to see Vin Diesel return to the role he originated in 2002 in the wake of the original The Fast and the Furious' success. Diesel was all kinds of set to be the next big action star after he completely dominated that 2001 street racing Rob Cohen movie and no doubt secured the paycheck for Chronicles of Riddick soon after, but was also the guy who would churn out another Rob Cohen picture before deciding not to return for 2 Fast 2 Furious in '03. While we may have been upset with Mr. Diesel at the time for letting his new found BFF Brian go off to Miami alone and reunite with Tyrese it would all work out in the end. Deciding to make xXx rather than a second Fast & Furious film is certainly proving helpful now as the actor is having his cake and eating it too. Not only is he secured by at least three more F&F films, but he is now bringing back those one-off's that he also didn't commit to sequels to (see the aforementioned State of the Union) in order to fill in the paycheck gaps between F&F films. I don't want to sound too negative as the actor is part of the insanely solid cast of the much anticipated Ang Lee film, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, that will surely be an Oscar contender this fall, but was there really any need for another entry into what will be a fifteen year old property by the time this new movie arrives in theaters? No, but like I said-I'm not as opposed as I might have been once upon a time. The original xXx was a fine enough action flick that capitalized on the cheesy guilty pleasures of the genre at that point in time and while I don't remember much of the movie something in me hopes this new film will play in that same tone of not being overly self-aware or serious, but rather just a good time in the moment that we won't remember a few hours later. xXx: Return of Xander Cage also stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ruby Rose, Nina Dobrev, Toni Collette, Donnie Yen, Tony Jaa, Deepika Padukone, Rory McCann, and opens on January 20th, 2017.

On DVD & Blu-Ray: July 19, 2016