By Hal Hickey

I have to admit, when I saw the initial material around Suicide Squad – The Movie, I was sceptical. It looked as though DC Comics/ Warner Bros might be serving us a zany stinker. Instead, they served us a big banana. Diseased looking on the outside but decadently delicious, once you peal back the cover.

Here is the official trailer for Suicide Squad, still pretty zany but wickedly delicious!

Coming August 2016

By Hal Hickey

On Thursday night at 10pm, I attended opening night in a packed theatre to witness a movie I thought would never be made, Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens.

After Episode III, George Lucas declared he would never make the last three episodes in the storyline as the life commitment to do so, was just too much. After my somewhat disappointment with Episodes I, II and III, I thought that was the end of this storied franchise. The first three episodes in the Star Wars timeline, while beautiful to look at, were saddled with corny dialogue, mediocre acting and a weak storyline. They never matched the pure thrill of the first three episodes, IV, V and VI, which still hold up today in every way imaginable.

Thankfully we had great stories over the years in the comic books, novels and action figures to imagine with and keep the Star Wars universe alive.

But then the news that Disney had set George Lucas up in his retirement by purchasing Lucasfilm and all of it’s properties, including Star Wars, the most popular movie franchise of all time. All of a sudden episodes VII, VIII and IX were on…Wow!

So, sitting in a sold out theatre last night, 3D glasses in hand, while 20 minutes of advertisements played, I realized how fortunate I am that I was going to watch a seventh movie in the Star Wars franchise, each one in it’s opening week.

I have seen episodes IV, V and VI at least 20 times each and tolerated Episodes I, II and III a couple of times. Now with the promise of JJ Abrams to take us back to the franchise roots, I waited. The movie begins as every other Star Wars movie and then…

Something seems eerily familiar…No, not the original cast which was to come at various times in the movie, but that first set, the theme, that feeling of something gone before…I shook it off. The feeling came back shortly after,  and again, and again. I didn’t know what was happening. Meanwhile this new story was unfolding before me, with building tension, strangely familiar, but not, simultaneously. It was riveting, tense and exhausting all at the same time. The sold out audience seemed not to breathe but for sparely scattered moments of cheeky and clever dialogue that allowed us collectively, to momentarily catch our breath.

The seemingly familiar nagged at my subconscious while the story, acting and dialogue sucked me in completely. The whole movie seemed like it lasted a mere 25 minutes instead of the 2 hours and 16 minutes runtime. When it ended, I sat back in my seat exhausted and silent while the credits rolled by. I pondered, what did I just experience? It was at once exciting, new, tragic, sad and exhilarating all at the same time, but the feeling of sameness crept back in.

This morning I woke up and it hit me. Genius!! JJ Abrams paid homage to all six of the previous Star Wars movies by capturing the mood and key scenes from each, all interwoven in a new story. I haven’t been able to shake the memory of the experience all day. What a treat and gift for all Star Wars fans. Thank you!

We’ve had Marvel Comics Civil War, now we have Captain America Civil War the movie. Get ready for some intensity!

Coming 5-6-2016

With Comicon, we are always treated to something new. We have a new Star Wars teaser.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to watch this and NOT become just a bit misty-eyed…

Enjoy!

We have been waiting 9 years for a new Star Wars Movie. While some would way we’ve been waiting 31 years (since the release of Return of The Jedi), the myth of Star Wars continued on, albeit struggling, through Episodes I-III.

We have had plenty of Star Wars comics and action figures to help us through this time and plenty of good ones too. But now, like me, and others that lived through the early Star Wars years, will watch this first official teaser and be left with a goofy grin and shivers running up and down your spine.

Have a look and savor and tell me you aren’t grinning or shivering just a little bit!

Marvel Comics has dug deep into their vault pulling on not a second, nor even third tier character, The Ant-Man to carry a major motion picture. There is some star power here with Michael Douglas playing Henry (Hank) Pym, the original Ant-Man. The second Ant-Man in comic book form is Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, who plays our current movie Ant-Man.

While certainly a risky move, why not? No one has really done the “miniature character” really well in films, with the exception of “Honey I Shrunk The Kids (the first one)”. Guess who was the real star of that film…well the ants of course.

Ant-Man has never been a strong enough character to carry his own comic book series. Hank Pym first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27 in 1962 and later became the Ant-Man in Tales Top Astonish #35 (1962). Ant-Man shared the title with various one-off stories, then teamed up with the Wasp. Having run out of miniature stories, Hank Pym suddenly changed from being Ant-Man and became The Giant-Man beginning with Tales To Astonish #49. Giant-Man and The Wasp continued to team up in the comic title until issue #69. So even Hank Pym as Giant-Man lasted 21 issues, compared to the Ant-Man’s run of 15 issues. The next longest run of an Ant-Man title was a 12 issue series “The Irredeemable Ant-Man“, beginning in 2006.

So let’s hope Marvel can pull it off. The kids may love this film, A potential sleeper. Enjoy the trailer and the film when it’s released on July 17th!

Here we go! From the Avengers comic book, Ultron emerges as the latest foe to battle Earth’s mightiest heroes, Marvel universe that is. Slated for a May 1st theatrical release

Marvel Studios almost outscooped themselves as they announce a deal with Sony Pictures to pave the way for Spider-Man to appear in Avengers 3!

But, lets get back to the trailer on this $250,000,000.00 movie. This is officially a teaser, revealing little other than the uneasy “alliance” between member of the Avengers. Hold onto your hats, It is pretty intense!

Marvel Comics/Studios has reached deep inside it’s vault of super-heroes and pulled out a 4th tier character, the Ant-Man for a movie release on July 17th, 2015.

The Ant-Man has never succeeded in his own title except for a 12 issue series “The Irredeemable Ant-Man in 2006. Hank Pym first appeared as the Ant-Man in 1962 in Tales To Astonish #35. The Ant-Man has mainly appeared as a supporting character in several Marvel team comics.

So here we go with the riskiest move by Marvel Studios to date. Will this be the super-hero movie to crash at the box office? Have a look at the first trailer.

Whoa-ho!

I remember the first teaser to Star Wars Episode IV when it was aired on TV a week before the movie was released. It made me say “Whoa…what was that?”

So here we are now some 35 years later and the scenes of a new movie still send shivers of anticipation up and down my spine! With JJ Abrams at the helm, expectations are high, not as high as it was for Episode I but considerably higher than those for Episodes II and III.

We are just over one year from it’s release. Enjoy the trailer. The special effects have noticeably kicked up a notch or two!

When the original movie Star Wars, episode IV “A New Hope” was released in 1977, computer generated graphics (CGI) had not reached prime time to be included in the making of feature films. The original move and the two follow-ups, episode V “The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 and episode VI “Return of the Jedi” were filmed using detailed models constructed specifically for the movies.

These “miniatures” were filmed with cameras with complete movement giving the scenes a realistic feel. Some of the CGI used in the three prequels (episodes I, II, III), while spectacular at the time 1999-2005, occasionally failed to give the realistic impression of size, detail, varying levels of filth and damage.

Below is a gallery of images of some of those beloved models that fueled so many memories: Continue reading →