San Diego Comic-Con is only a few days away, but already we have new photos from some of the most anticipated movies of this year that will no doubt be making big splashes at SDCC. These movies will all have panels there (for anyone going, the times of the panels are included below) so expect to see even more information trickle down to us through the next week or so. For now look at what the new photos have to offer (thanks to Entertainment Weekly and Total Film for getting these great images and the times the panels are showing at the con).
All posts by Adam Parker-Edmondston
Aaron Eckhart Showcases the New Look of a Classic Monster in ‘I, Frankenstein’
As you have no doubt read from the title this new take on the Frankenstein story has an actor who is well versed in playing duality, having played Two Face in The Dark Knight. Yes, Aaron Eckhart is the latest in a long line of actors to play this iconic role. Below is the official synopsis of the movie (via Bloody Disgusting).
[box_light]Set in a dystopic present where vigilant gargoyles and ferocious demons rage in a battle for ultimate power, Victor Frankenstein’s creation Adam (Aaron Eckhart) finds himself caught in the middle as both sides race to discover the secret to his immortality. From the creators of the hit supernatural saga, Underworld, comes the action thriller I, Frankenstein, written for the screen and directed by Stuart Beattie based on the graphic novel “I, Frankenstein” by Kevin Grevioux, and brought to life by a cast that includes Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney, Socratis Otto, Mahesh Jadu, Caitlin Stasey and Aden Young as Victor Frankenstein.[/box_light]
If the line “From the creators of the hit supernatural saga, Underworld…” doesn’t give you an idea of the tone of this movie, then you should probably go watch Underworld. Gone is the gothic tale penned by Mary Shelley and enter something which sounds suspiciously like Van Helsing. Hopefully it will be able to make a better attempt at giving a fresh spin on this tale than the above mentioned film did (which was a fun popcorn flick but hardly mind blowing). Here is the latest photo of Aaron as Adam the creature (via Bloody Disgusting again).
Gone is the lumbering creature made famous by Boris Karloff and enter a guy with a few stitch scars. This looks more like a fighter from a post apocalypse movie than the Frankenstein creature I remember from my youth. This would be fine if it was a design faithful to the book but just looking at the front cover of the comic you can see that Adam looks completely different. The comic book actually looks a lot more interesting.
Maybe I am being too harsh on this movie, but the Underworld style of film-making, with its obsession with weapons and slow-mo and flowing jackets, has run its course. Hopefully we will see something new here, but as little else is known about the film we have to hope it has some originality to it. What with Max Landis working on his own Frankenstein film (click here for more information on Daniel Radcliffe as Igor), maybe Frankenstein’s creation may become the new Vampire and Zombie for the horror genre.
This film has some stiff competition with films dating back to 1931, and with acting heavy weights like Robert De Niro, Christopher Lee and Benedict Cumberbatch all playing this monster made of other men’s flesh, Aaron has a lot to live up to. At least we know he can act the part, if the script will do him justice. Graphic novel creator Kevin Grevioux is on board so hopefully his vision will shine through even if his designs did not. The film is scheduled to be released on January 24th, 2014, so expect more information on this film to come. Below is the film’s artwork which does feel like a mix between Van Helsing and Underworld.
Maybe I was right to be worried.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The TV Series?
As if Alan Moore’s work has not been butchered enough by the motion picture industry, it looks like Fox is going to have a go at one of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s crowning works. Yes, they want to make a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen TV series. Now maybe I am been a bit harsh on the adaptations of Moore’s work. While Watchmen was pretty good (but not without its flaws) and V for Vendetta certainly had its moments, none of these films have ever come close to the raw emotion and amazement you get from reading the source material. Moore himself is very aware of this, having distanced himself quite publicly from every adaptation so far. Fox’s plans for the book are as follows:
[quote]“A drama series based on Alan Moore’s critically and commercially successful graphic novel series about a group of Victorian-age literary characters, including Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, who team up to fight a common enemy.” 
[/quote]
Not really much to go on at this stage, but what Fox really needs to do is take a good hard look at the abomination that was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie starring Sean Connery, and do the exact opposite from that. Turning Moore and O’Neill’s work into an action epic took away most of the wit and charm of the book and dumbed it down for a movie going audience that could have coped with its dark edge. If you take it as a below average popcorn movie it can be quite the enjoyable guilty pleasure, but when you remember what source material this film actually came from it takes all of the joy away from repeat viewings.
Fox already has a team in place with the show runner for Kings, Heroes, and The River; Michael Green taking on multiple roles as writer/executive producer/showrunner, and Erwin Stoff (The Matrix) producing (per Collider).
Could the books work as a TV series is the main thing we have to ask ourselves here? There is a wealth of material from the books, and numerous storylines branching out throughout history, so it could be good if Fox followed this template and had each season follow the various incarnations of the League as they live through the different decades. The television format has proved it can successfully adapt great stuff like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, though less so on network television. If structured correctly though, I think there is potential here but that’s a big IF.
There are other comic book series out there more deserving of a TV show than The League, which has already had its time in the sun Fables for example could be a great book for TV expansion. For the sanity of Alan Moore fans everywhere I certainly hope it will be better than the movie was…
Top Ten 1980’s Inspired Movie Posters
With the up and coming documentary about poster artist Drew Struzan coming to cinema screens soon, it seems that more and more people are interested in the movie poster as a valid and exciting part of the cinema going experience. Back in the 80s, poster art reigned supreme with some of the greatest examples becoming not only popular with fans, but iconic for film goers. Who can forget the posters for movies like Star Wars, The Goonies, Back to the Future, Big Trouble in Little China, and how these images bombarded our senses when we went to see a movie? It seems in the last few years that interest in the fine art of poster making has picked up again with some truly stunning pieces of art coming out for mainstream blockbusters. There has also been an interest in the 80s style of poster making. It has a very distinct quality with brass colors, fully loaded designs filling the screen with outlandish characters from the movie, or in some cases just posing down. Here are some eye catching examples, most of which are official alternative posters for mainstream films that have come out in the last few years.
So without further ado, let’s brace ourselves for neon lights and over the top action with ten of the best 80’s inspired posters…
10) Drive (2011)
Drive, with its thumping 80s soundtrack and gritty feel really caught the imagination of many cinema goers, and the original artwork for it is incredible. This early promotional piece gave us the cool factor that Ryan Gosling exuded in this film, but it also gives off a Miami Vice vibe with its bright, but not over powering, use of color and the sun back rising up from behind the cast.
9) Hobo with a Shotgun (2011)
The poster that really started the ball rolling with a return to the grindhouse style of artwork found in cinema houses and video shops back in the early 80s. Sure the Grindhouse movies by Tarantino and Rodriguez (which spawned this film) did a great job of bringing this particular style back to the masses, but it was this gritty poster art that really got a lot of viewers’ attention. This poster just makes you take notice, even with its muted color scheme, it still manages to elicit a response. Many 80s posters had guns shoved into the viewer’s face and this is following in that long tradition. Below is one of my favorite examples of this style from an actual 80s movie…
8 & 7) V/H/S and V/H/S/2
On first glance the poster for the great horror throwback V/H/S does not seem incredibly 80s, but when compared to the poster below for the 1982 William Shatner and Micheal Ironside horror thriller Visiting Hours, you can see they share a striking resemblance.
Now for V/H/S/2 they have gone over board with the poster art. There are tons of great promotional pieces out for this movie, but the key one was in the incredibly gory cover by ex-Walking Dead artist Tony Moore. It encapsulates the gory covers VHS stores used to use to grab viewers into to the store. It also bears a resemble to one of the most notorious horror covers of all time, the cult movie Cannibal Holocaust. Not an exact copy, but the style is very similar.
6) The Heat (2013)
Now the more popular and incredibly generic posters that have come out for this movie in cinemas recently has come under tons of controversy due to the abuse of Photoshop to enhance one of the co-stars features. This could have all been avoided if the advertising department had decided to go for the more action packed poster shown above. I had no interest in this movie up until I saw this poster that basically just told me that everything explodes in this film. Whether it does or not hardly matters because this is a great example of how to advertise a mainstream movie using poster art. Here is another great example of how the 80s action flick used to use this very same method of presentation.
5) Rewind This (2013)
We have mentioned Adjust Your Tracking on Grizzly Bomb before and also Plastic Movies Rewound, but we have never really looked at the other recent VHS related documentary Rewind This, and it gives me great pleasure to present it here. It covers a mix of those other two documentaries and will definitely be one to look out for VHS fans. The cover is amazing and it looks exactly how I remember the 80s movie art. Horror pictures especially always had a hand sticking out the front. Look at this one for example.
Another great retro poster though not based on any film is this one for Video Nasties which I just threw in here as a companion piece for Rewind This just because it look to good not to include it.
4) The Last Stand (2013)
The film may have been a bit of a damp squib in the action department, feeling like a cross between Knightrider and Jackass in places, it did give us this great late 70s-early 80s style action poster which seems to follow the motif we have seen for many action movies past and present, the bomb exploding! It’s a great way to grab an audience’s attention and certainly got me to watch the movie.
3) Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Now it is easy to put a poster about video games into this article because of how many of the classic (and not so classic) 80s sprites popped up within this heart-warming tale, but what really caught my attention was this great poster actually showcasing Wreck It Ralph as a real life computer game coming soon to your local arcade. It’s the attention to detail which I found fantastic, and it reminded me of my childhood and seeing similar poster advertisements in issue of Crash magazine.
2) The Expendables 2 (2012)
The Expendables posters have always been full of testosterone, but this cover really gives off that macho 80s action movie vibe, with its collage of armored killers ready for action. This cover looks so much like a 80s action flick that someone decided to create a VHS cover and 80s style trailer for it!
Shame the film did not deliver on the action goods but it does not take any power away from the extreme cover which is an amalgamation of several different types of 80s poster. [Ed. Note – I disagree. Obviously.]
1) Manborg (2011)
By far the best cover on this list is for retro film Manborg, which takes the best elements of 80s cheese and rolls them up into a tiny package for a new audience. The cover reminded me of so many other covers from the dawn of the video shop era. Just look at some of the VHS sleeves for The Eliminators and Rotor and you can see where this cover got its inspiration. Absolutely stunning.
That was just a small taste of what’s around at the moment and websites like Mondo and The Alamo Draft House are making superb posters like this all the time. It has never been such a great time to be a fan of poster art. Here is hoping we get more and more examples of this type of art popping up in the near future.
Curse of Chucky: First Trailer Hits the Internet, and It’s Creepy
Grizzly Bomb has had its eye on the new Childs Play film Curse of Chucky for quite some time, and finally we have news that the new trailer has come online. The movie is going straight to Blu-Ray and DVD on October 8th, but don’t let that stop you from checking this out because this short trailer makes Chucky scary again. You can see for yourself below…
The reinvention of the Chucky doll design from stitched up, comical mad man to a reworked design of the original dolls from the first Childs Play movie has been a big pay off because this tweaked design looks incredibly creepy in every scene it’s in. The moment the dolls eyes expand you know this is going to be a more chilling affair than some of the more recent comical movies in the series.
The scene with him tormenting a wheelchair bound woman are reminiscent of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the sense that they are both films feature tense scenes involving a victim stuck in a situation they could possibly avoid if only they were more mobile. It creates a real sense of foreboding.
The final scene in the trailer where Chucky stares up from behind his brow won this writer over. Chucky has suffered the same fate as Freddy did in the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and become a bit to comical for his own good, so it is great to see this newer, more sinister take on the character. The damage the doll takes seems a lot more natural in this new film with one scene seemingly to show Chucky with a black eye. This seems to give the doll a more human quality to it, a nice juxtaposition to the blank doll expression we see in other scenes in this trailer.
Here is hoping that the film lives up to the standard the trailer has now set. In only a minute and 14 seconds it has managed to give us a new lease of life for the Childs Play series which will hopefully bring fresh blood to the franchise and keep Chucky alive…or whatever he is.
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster – Drew Struzan Finally Gets Some Well Deserved Credit
Drew Struzan is a man at first glance you will probably not recognise. But as soon as his pencil hits paper he becomes instantly recognisable. This is the man that has been responsible for some of the greatest poster art seen in movies today. Newer fans will know his work on the Harry Potter movies while 80s fans will know him for his art on the time travel classic Back to the Future or the posters showing the wacky bunch from Police Academy. Most people will probably know him as the guy that gave us the iconic covers for some of George Lucas best work mainly Indiana Jones and the Star Wars movies. Looks like Drew is finally going to be in the spot light himself with this new documentary, Drew: The Man Behind the Poster the trailer of which has just hit YouTube and which you can watch below.
“He’s part of the movie going experience” is the key quote (among many in this trailer) that really sums up the joy of seeing Drew’s work. It is great to watch so many talented and interesting people in the film and entertainment industry gush over how incredible his art is and the most important thing to come out of this trailer is the fact that his work creates feelings among those that see it. The fun thing about this trailer is just that, the fun of it all. Drew seems to be a very laid back individual and being a master of his craft has not made him big headed about it. Another element which I cannot wait to see more of is how he actually creates these pieces.
The thing that I always liked about his artwork other than the fact it is incredibly detailed is that he is still going strong and representing a bygone era of film advertising where pretty much every film had some painted artwork to represent it. With most of today’s releases even getting the Photoshop treatment or a poorly devised photo shoot design it’s a refreshing change to still see Drew create these incredible pieces that capture the magic of cinema. This is the kind of thing that got my bum into a seat in the cinema and it attracted me to take VHS out in my youth. Drew is still one of the best artists of this style of artwork out there and it is great to see a documentary made on his work.
If you like what you have seen and cannot wait for this documentary to come out then why not check out his website HERE where tons of his work is up for sale or even splash out and buy his art book from HERE . If you are lucky enough to be at the San Diego Comic Con then you can see this documentary debut on July 19th. Otherwise you can wait until its official release on August 16th in New York and then other cinemas to follow (thanks to FIRST SHOWING for that information). Hopefully the documentary will live up to the fascinating trailer. This reviewer will certainly be keeping his fingers crossed for this to be the case.
Grizzly Bomb 