MOVIE REVIEW: Prometheus

So it's finally here. Prometheus is in cinemas, but letting a ton of fans down hard. I'd hoped they were wrong and just had their expectations too high, but I must admit that I had a small amount of trepidation all along. I didn't want to admit to it, but could the power of Alien be replicated in today's industry? Could Ridley Scott recapture that magic, or at least deliver a quality film?

Sadly, the answer is no on all counts. Prometheus is a beautiful moron of a film, squandering gorgeous production values on an ambitious but dimwitted and undisciplined screenplay. A few elements entice, but beyond that, it's a failure.

That's my spoiler-free assessment, but to discuss why the film doesn't work, I need to get spoilery. The full, ruin-the-movie-for-you review is under the cut if you've seen the film or don't care about a plot that will likely piss you off.

Revisiting The Avengers

I didn't review The Avengers the first time I saw it for reasons that escape me, but having now seen it a second time I find there's still plenty to say. My second viewing not only held up but confirmed the film's strengths for me, whereas some blockbusters resolutely do not (Avatar, for instance). Much has been said about what Joss Whedon achieved with this film, and it's largely correct. It's not a film that touches your soul, and I don't even think it's going to be a touchstone film for future budding filmmakers like Star Wars or Raiders. Instead, what's so impressive is that it exemplifies exactly what blockbuster filmmaking should always be, but so rarely is. If we have to pay around $20 per 3D ticket for a film, we deserve quality escapism like this.

Opining on the Star Trek sequel villain rumour

Don't worry, all spoilers are under the cut. The rumour may turn out to be bogus, but I can understand why you'd want to be careful. I wish I didn't know this, but I stumbled across it and cursed the sky. Now I might as well muse on it.

Analysis is perhaps premature, but there's a ring of truth to this that warrants discussion. Regardless, the instinctive reaction to this rumour from Trek fans and observers is telling in the assumptions it provokes.

So don't click through if you want to remain unspoiled for now.

Revolution: the next intriguing genre show to quite possibly disappoint you

That's the kind of cynical, kneejerk comment that gets Hollywood types mad at fickle fan commentators, I know. To unequivocally assume that a forthcoming show will suck would be grossly unfair, I know, but so many genre shows have promised the world and delivered sheer monotony over the last few years. Caution is not only warranted, it's mandatory. Yet being a genre TV buff, I can't help but be intrigued by each SF-ish new pilot that gets greenlit to series. What if it sneaks up on us just as Lost and Battlestar Galactica did?

The first to raise that question this year is Revolution, created by Supernatural's Eric Kripke and produced by serial show developer JJ Abrams with a pilot directed by Iron Man's Jon Favreau. It's the first NBC drama to earn a series order, and the premise is timely and has potential: it's set in a post-apocalyptic America where all energy has ceased to exist, which means no cars or any other form of technology. I assume that 'energy' is a lazy shorthand for a more specific phenomenon, because all energy disappearing would presumably cause the universe to end rather than just force middle-class people to wash their clothes by hand.

Hollywood to Joss Whedon: "Shut up and take my money!"

At least, that's what he can likely expect to hear over the next week from powerful studio types. The Avengers has exceeded all expectations and looks set to beat Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 all-time US opening weekend record of $169 million. And not by just a few million. The current estimate is $185 million, and it was $175 earlier today, so Deadline reports that even $200 million is possible. The Avengers being the first to reach that milestone is fitting after Spider-Man was the first to crack $100 million ten years ago this weekend.

Disney's marketing juggernaut and the groundwork laid by the previous Marvel Studios films naturally played a huge part in the initial success of The Avengers, but Whedon deserves a lot of the credit too. By delivering a smart, crowd-pleasing, immensely satisfying film, he garnered near unanimous critical praise. Strong word-of-mouth could also circle the globe due to the early release of the film in nearly every international territory, so American fans were no doubt ready to gnaw their own arm off to get to the movie. If The Avengers was awful, it would still have made a bucket, but not this much.

And if The Avengers doesn't experience a significant drop in its second weekend, that in particular will be down to Whedon. Consequently, he will have executives beating down his door with an offer for every major project they have in development or a chance to make one of his own. He delivered a film that people are telling their friends they loved and that also warrants re-watchability, and that's an asset to any major movie campaign. Tempting as it is to say that Hollywood doesn't care if a movie's good, a good movie combined with savvy marketing is more fruitful than just savvy marketing.

If The Avengers breaks a second record and becomes the first film to score over $100 million in its second weekend--which, if it does pass $200 million this weekend, will only require it to drop less than 50%, which is entirely feasible--then Whedon will be the hottest of properties.

And that's just the domestic box office. The total international take so far is $575 million, only around $40 million shy of what Iron Man 2--the top Marvel Studios grosser to date--earned internationally in its entire run. Any concern that audiences might be tiring of superhero films or the Marvel Studios characters has been soundly trounced.

I'm eager to see it a second time myself, not because the plot was hard to follow or the film is rich with hidden meaning, but because it's packed with so much detail and so many witty lines that I couldn't possibly pick everything up the first time. And The Avengers is the rare film that works better with a crowd. When I saw it, Whedon had the audience in the palm of his hand. It was thrilling to be a part of and I'd like to do that again.

He's already alluded in new interviews to what he might do next, and he's staying decidedly low-key. His personally-financed, out-of-the-blue contemporary production of Much Ado About Nothing, starring numerous Whedon alumni, is in post-production. A Dr Horrible sequel is in the planning stages. A long-gestating web series with Warren Ellis called Wastelanders--reportedly a darker and more intense project than is typical of Whedon--is back in his sights now that Avengers is done. He has avoided mentioning bringing any passion projects to fruition with his new cachet, except to say that he would rather pursue his own characters after working for two years in Marvel's sandbox.

No problem though - he could still snag a huge budget if he wants to. He could take the Christopher Nolan route and make a non-franchise pet project in between superhero installments (Whedon will surely be asked back for an Avengers sequel, but then Marvel can be unpredictable in retaining their talent). Nolan's Dark Knight success got Inception made, so how might Whedon capitalise? The notion of him focusing solely on small web projects seems far-fetched, but then I'd applaud an unconventional response to immense financial success.

Whichever medium he chooses for his next major project, the key factor is that Whedon is in a far more privileged position than he was following the underperformance of Serenity and the cancellation of Dollhouse. He can lay the foundation here for the rest of his career, and he's not going to let that opportunity slip by. Watching how one of pop culture's most distinctive talents chooses to take advantage of it will be fascinating.

Oh, and pity Tim Burton's Dark Shadows next weekend. Especially if it subverts all expectations and is actually decent. And suddenly The Dark Knight Rises is looking a teensy bit like an underdog, shockingly enough...

Reviewing Kids on the Slope and discovering anime on Crunchyroll

My last venture into streaming anime didn't go so well, when the underwhelming Un-Go left me questioning how much anime was out there for someone like me. By that I mean: a picky anime fan who needs a certain degree of ambition or poignancy for a show to hook me. Several I've seen over the last year or two have had the right ingredients but never cohered. They felt lazy. While I was initially thrilled by the numerous legal streaming options available locally through Madman and Siren, the reality was that very little of it appealed to me.

But watching the first episode of Kids on the Slope on Crunchyroll has invigorated my optimism about the medium, particularly because I had no idea that the site could make so many major shows available outside of the US. It's quite the goldmine.

Can (and should) Netflix save dead TV shows?

Ever since Netflix won the bidding war for new episodes of Arrested Development, the online streaming giant has become a beacon of hope for TV fans left mourning cherished shows. This was compounded when Netflix was widely reported to be considering whether to pick up Fox's family dinosaur drama Terra Nova and ABC's found-footage mystery The River following their likely cancellation earlier this year. Even though those deals didn't eventuate, they suggest that Arrested wasn't a one-off. Perhaps Netflix may change the game by continuing to rescue shows that broadcast networks no longer deemed profitable, even years after they ended.

The excitement is understandable, because when American shows get cancelled, they invariably stay that way. British channels will happily bring back shows years or decades after canning them, but in the US, dead means dead unless you're an animated sitcom. Networks are generally too prideful to reverse their decisions or to eat the scraps of their rivals unless they happen to be owned by the same company that produces the show (hence the rescue of Scrubs and Medium).

But Netflix apparently has no such reservations. They're even willing to take meetings about picking up poorly reviewed shows that hardly have a groundswell of viewer support. There was no palpable desire to bring back Terra Nova or The River, yet Netflix still considered doing so. If even they were candidates, what else might be?

Because their entire TV catalogue comprises old material from broadcast and cable networks, there's no sense in Netflix being precious about picking up where networks left off. While they are also producing original shows (House of Cards, Lilyhammer, Hemlock Grove) that invite comparisons with those on pay cable, Netflix could find a valuable niche in rescuing shows whose existing episodes have done well for them. They could circumvent the perception that they are buying reheated leftovers because they are merely buying more of an acquired product that has proven to be a worthwhile investment.

Trailer Watch: The Dark Knight Rises, Tron Uprising

A viral campaign that sent fans into the streets tracking down clues has led to the early unveiling of the third and final trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, and it's pretty glorious.

That Nolan can credibly offer such a grand, spine-tingling trailer for a superhero flick is a testament to how The Dark Knight changed our perception of what the genre was capable of. Some may watch this and find it pretentious and high-falutin', and I can't entirely dispute that, especially with a final gag that significantly undermines the mythic tone. But whatever your stance on superhero films, you must admit it's refreshing that big-budget blockbusters that are intelligent, operatic, and stirring can still squeeze through the Hollywood sausage factory on occasion. This is a beautiful and evocative trailer.

Fox says Prometheus will not be compromised for a lower rating

Is Twentieth Century Fox actually starting to care about the quality and ambition of its movies? First Matthew Vaughn is allowed to make a period X-Men movie with a strong script and an excellent cast. Then Rise of the Planet of the Apes is allowed to be a sophisticated and worthy film rather than a shameless prequel. And now Prometheus will be rated R if it has to be, despite the increased revenue that a PG-13 rating would bring.

FINISHING SCHOOL: Luther Series 1

In which I muse on a wide variety of DVDs from my absurd personal backlog as I complete them.

Once The Wire finally became a critical hit in the UK late in its run, the local TV industry snapping up its British stars Dominic West and Idris Elba for local work was inevitable. West has since starred in several BBC productions including the recent The Hour, and Elba has his own cop show, Luther.

Cop shows need a twist or a distinctive aesthetic to rise above formula after decades of precedent, and Luther opts for the former. Elba plays Detective Chief Inspector John Luther, a livewire, angry police officer willing to bend the rules to get the bad guy. He also has a contentious relationship with his ex-wife (Indira Varma). So far, so Vic Mackey.

The twist comes in the alliance Luther forms with a sociopathic killer whose guilt he knows of but can't prove. He knows he should have nothing to do with her, but keeps returning to her for a weird form of solace. Meanwhile, she makes her power known to his ex-wife and her boyfriend, playing with them out of an unexpected loyalty and devotion to Luther.

Threading through the stand-alone episodes, this storyline gives Luther some thematic meat. His connection to her occasionally feels contrived - he tells her it has to stop one time too many - but this more intimate take on police corruption is more refreshing than yet more evidence-planting and death threats.

Nonetheless, for the first few episodes Elba seems wasted because the material typically doesn't rise to the high standard he sets. The script is also too in love with the Luther character, with the supporting characters seemingly there only to discuss how entrancingly volatile he is. Before long, you get sick of hearing his name. A great cast is also poorly served, with Steven Mackintosh and Saskia Reeves saddled with background detective roles and Paul McGann merely the bland Ex-Wife's New Man.

The last two episodes then subvert that entirely. The characters themselves become the case, and certain members of the cast become crucial and are given much more to play. The preceding episodes could have established their interiority so the shift wasn't so blunt, but the acting is so strong it almost doesn't matter. The events that precipitate this thrilling storyline aren't novel, but the twist discussed earlier again gives it some juice.

Because the show eschewed a distinctive aesthetic, the almost operatic emotions on display in these final episodes can be jarring and may seem woefully overblown. But Luther has gradually revealed itself to be more theatrical than televisual, with Shakespearean flaws and tropes sending characters spiralling as unpicked threads rapidly unravel. If you watch Luther on these terms and don't hold it to account for its lack of 'realism', you'll have a grand time with it.

Like Sherlock, it also sets up a pretty damn good cliffhanger that makes me rue that I just missed the first episode of series 2 on ABC iView. Luther isn't the rich, complex work we might expect for Elba after The Wire, but what could ever live up to the standard set by that show? Also easy to forget is that despite Elba's naturally grand presence, his Wire character Stringer Bell was stoic and contained, not like Luther at all. So Elba is in fact stretching - he just plays an angry, explosive guy exceptionally well, and he makes Luther a pretty absorbing few hours even if it's not revolutionary.

Evaluating Supernatural, a show that could be so much more

SPOILERS for Supernatural up to and including season 5, episode 10, 'Abandon All Hope'

I've just finished episode 10 of the fifth season of Supernatural, and I've rarely felt so conflicted about a show I've been watching long-term. The demon-hunting, Christian mythology-drenched drama exceeded my initial expectations and has occasionally flirted with greatness, egging me on to persevere. But each episode is inescapably littered with missed opportunities, and so the show fails to resonate nearly as much as it could. Plus, the misogyny and macho posturing have become distressingly obnoxious.

So instead of debating an episode's strengths and shortcomings every single time, I've decided to finally get my ideas down and articulate why I like Supernatural enough to stick with it (for now) and why exactly it continues to let me down.

FINISHING SCHOOL: Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law Season 1

In which I muse on a wide variety of DVDs from my absurd personal backlog as I complete them.

This was one of those acquisitions where after watching the first few episodes, I wondered what the hell I was thinking. I had rented this season of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law years ago, watched some of the episodes and raved about them, then was given my own copy as a gift some time later.

I happily threw in the first disc, but was shocked to discover they felt utterly flat. Was I over-caffeinated when I last saw these or something? My memories were hazy, so I couldn't tell if I'd seen these particular episodes before. But their aimless, witless surrealism turned me off and I put the show on the backburner for a while.

Harvey Birdman was one of Cartoon Network's early Adult Swim shows. Like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, it resurrected some forgotten Hanna Barbera animated superheroes from the 1960s and placed them in a mundane setting ripe for neurosis and absurdity. Space Ghost became a talk show host, and Birdman (of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio!) became Harvey Birdman, a hapless attorney whose one-time villains have become fellow attorneys, judges, or washed-up evildoers trying to reclaim past, inane glories.

The show is a melting pot for legal show satire, energetic surrealism, one-off jokes that don't fit anywhere else (at one point Harvey's sidekick Peanut is jackhammering in the office for no reason, says "we've hit bedrock!" and Barney Rubble pops out of the hole). What I liked about the show when I first saw it was the breakneck pace of the gags, but the pace wasn't to disguise their flatness. Already funny, the jokes became hysterical when thrown at us with such frenzied gusto. Recurring jokes in one episode would reappear in a subsequent one with no warning or explanation, just because it's funny. The passage of time would be vandalised to make a repetitious joke work. Harvey Birdman had a precise rhythm and relentless drive that was surprisingly endearing.

But the early episodes feature less of this. The pace is still there, but much of the humour falls flat. The voice work is solid from the start, with Gary Cole as Harvey and Stephen Colbert as his boss, eyepatch-wearing lothario Phil Ken Sebben. Michael McKean and the perennially amusing John Michael Higgins recur as judges and lawyers, and everyone's clearly having a lot of fun. But the early material they're given has no resonance: it's just people saying weird stuff and doing stupid shit again and again.

I finally gave the show another try, and in the two-parter that closes disc one, which sees Harvey framed for mangling a rival's sidekick dog in a photocopier and sent to prison, the various elements of the show finally click. Pitching that frenetic pace effectively obviously took some practice, and as I started watching disc two I realised I'd seen these episodes. These were the ones that made such an impression. I clearly put the second disc in the player by accident all those years ago...

So although I'd reassessed Harvey Birdman as cut from the same cloth as the other Adult Swim shows whose surrealism does nothing for me (Tim and Eric Awesome Show and Space Ghost), it turned out to be the genuinely funny, batshit crazy show I'd remembered. This is a highwire act of comedy, where the writers pump out as many jokes as they can at great speed before they reach the other side or fall, and the pressure to succeed harmonises the writing with the animation and acting at just the right frequency.

I may just get Volume 2 at some point, but I have way more DVDs in this impractically large and neglected collection to watch first. Look for more Finishing School entries soon.

Prometheus viral marketing begins with an ominous Guy Pearce

In hindsight, it makes a ton of sense that Ridley Scott's quasi-prequel to Alien, Prometheus, would produce viral marketing filling in the world that led us to the doomed voyage of the Nostromo in the 1979 original. But the appearance of a video speech by Guy Pearce yesterday was a lovely surprise because it foreshadows the fleshing-out of the corporate powermongering that led to the events of Alien.

The video ties into the TED conference, an actual annual event that's been held since 1984 bringing together notable figures from fields in Technology, Entertainment, and Design (hence the acronym) to talk about ideas and the future.

The three-minute video, directed by Ridley Scott's son Luke and conceived by Ridley Scott and writer Damon Lindelof, sees Pearce speaking to TED in 2023 in character as Peter Weyland, no doubt the founder of the Weyland-Yutani corporation that plagued Ripley in the Alien films. Sounding awfully British and ominous, Pearce hams it up enormously but in the grand, nuanced way that only the best actors can.

The speech is far more bombastic and hubristic than it ever would be in real-life, but it doesn't matter. It's a fun three-minutes that's shot terrifically well by Luke Scott, and the new Weyland Industries website promises more in a few days.

I won't say any more about what Weyland says and let you enjoy it for yourself at weylandindustries.com.

I'm hugely excited for Prometheus, because Scott is returning to SF for the first time since Blade Runner and he's gathered a superb cast (Pearce, Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba - bliss). The story of what led the Nostromo to the crashed ship in Alien always seemed to me like one worth telling, but like many I still have misgivings about yet another prequel and yet more panicked running by studios back to the warm arms of established franchises.

Indeed, what exactly will Scott and Lindelof find to say about the Alien universe that hasn't already been said, even if the xenomorphs themselves don't appear prominently (not that we even know for sure)? Will this just be a disposable SF story that can be slotted neatly before Alien? Or has Scott rediscovered the radical zeal that drove his early work and overcome his competent yet unambitious recent work?

I truly hope so, because a connection to an established franchise doesn't automatically make it reheated leftovers. Ron Moore's Battlestar Galactica proved that beyond measure. Tidbits like today's video suggest that Prometheus will offer some rich world-building, which is so often missing from big-budget SF cinema. Hopefully that translates into a film that resonates even half as well as Alien did and still does.

New Avengers trailer finally offers some resonance

The full and possibly final trailer for The Avengers is now available at Apple, and it promises a lot more than what we've been shown before. The effects footage now available to the editing team has helped a lot, finally giving us glimpses of what's causing all the random explosions. But now the characterisation and emotional stakes are apparent too.

Granted, glimpses of Black Widow and Thor looking distressed doesn't mean we're in for an emotional tour-de-force, but some nice beats coalesce and finally give us evidence that there will be more to The Avengers than a superhero team-up and fight scenes.

I didn't doubt this, because Joss Whedon is a character writer, and Marvel wouldn't have hired him if they just wanted action sequences and macho posturing. Nonetheless, it's nice to get some proof of this, with Steve Rogers feeling lost and he and Bruce Banner looking quite struck by each other (my memories of The Incredible Hulk have suddenly stirred and I realise I might know why, but don't want to blow a surprise). Banner's line "we're not a team, we're a time bomb" also corroborates why Whedon says he took the project: because the Avengers are a bunch of misfits who shouldn't function together at all, yet somehow do. A great deal of his past work has dealt with this theme, and Marvel was smart to recognise this and hire him.

Hopefully he can pull off the aesthetic scope the movie needs though, and that Marvel hasn't cheaped out on him. There's concern brewing online that we keep getting shown the New York battle and the fight between Cap and Thor, and that this may be all the noteworthy spectacle there is. I agree that if this is true, an Avengers movie needs more setpieces than that and an escalation beyond them. If these are indeed alien invaders, going off-planet or at least into orbit in the third act would fit the bill perfectly.

But when it all comes together, the locations may not matter. An epic scope can be achieved on an earthbound weekly television show like Lost, for instance, so surely a big-budget film can do the same within New York. If the emotional and narrative stakes are high enough, and the characters are pushed to their limits, The Avengers may be the take-no-prisoners superhero epic we've been longing for.

What would confirm this is if we had some word that Marvel have been withholding a lot from the trailers so far. We've been told virtually nothing about Loki's army for instance, so what if the third act has similarly been kept entirely under wraps? That would be a refreshing change given movie marketing insists on showing all the major beats before you walk into the cinema, but the ubiquity of that means I shouldn't be so optimistic.

How wonderful though if The Avengers sucker-punched us with a truly epic story that we'd only been given a taste of. If you have enough compelling material for the marketing department in the rest of the film, why not surprise us and get word-of-mouth spreading ravenously about the surprises in store once the movie comes out? But then, that may be too obvious for a marketing team that insists on physically inaccurate photoshopped bodge-jobs like this (Captain America is five storeys tall!).

But no! I must stow my cynicism. It's hard with blockbuster movies these days, but a movie buff with nothing to look forward to is a sad movie buff indeed.

FINISHING SCHOOL: Eureka - Season One

In which I muse on a wide variety of DVDs from my absurd personal backlog as I complete them.

I think I wanted to try Eureka because it looked so damn pleasant, like a genre-tinged Northern Exposure. Although the scant reviews were hardly laudatory, I had a sense that it could be a sly and witty dramedy that others were writing off because of its light tone. I don't seek out shows that allow me to turn my brain off (at risk of sounding up myself), but I still sometimes crave a show that's just nice. And if it's a genre show, then all the better. There's also something enticing about discovering a show that critics are wrongly ignoring

Despite some clunky episodes midway through that made me nearly give up on the show, Eureka ended up fitting that bill nicely. The premise is twee, but ultimately not a deal breaker. A US marshall (Colin Ferguson) stumbles on a secret town of geniuses in Oregon dedicated to scientific research. Ferguson then spends each week investigating a scientific mishap that puts individuals or the entire town at risk, while a mythology gradually brews in the mysterious Section 5 of research powerhouse Global Dynamics.

If that was all there was to the show, it would be pretty forgettable. The cock-up of the week is usually the least interesting part of an episode. Fortunately, the writers realise later in the season that using the calamities to get the characters bouncing off each other is far more entertaining than trying to get us to care about yet another stuff-up by a guest star at Global Dynamics.

The character interplay is the pleasant surprise of Eureka, because genre shows often fail at genuinely witty banter that doesn't feel staged. Key to this is Colin Ferguson, who is immensely appealing as Sheriff Carter. He nails every aspect of the character, from loving but often-angry father to rebellious Zoe (Jordan Hinson) to average joe trying to keep up with the geniuses. He juggles a will-they-won't they with Salli Richardson-Whitfield's DoD agent Allison Blake with slapstick farce, often in the same episode. Ferguson has charisma to spare and is the best thing about Eureka, so it was a pleasure to hear he's moving to the big leagues with a Bill Lawrence sitcom pilot for Fox this year.

See, Eureka has ended, with only the fifth season yet to air. I persisted with the show wanting it to become the sweet and snappy diversion I'd hoped for, but midway through season one I put that down to wishful thinking and put off watching the rest.

Then the final episodes focused more on the character dynamics rather than trying to get us to keep caring about random guest stars, and it blossomed into the show I'd hoped it could be. Even the mythology is kinda cool. It's not in the same league as Pushing Daisies - perhaps the finest and sharpest TV bonbon of recent years - but I don't feel stupid for watching Eureka anymore. I just hope later seasons keep up the good work, because I want to enjoy four more seasons of this not particularly nutritious but deliciously satisfying treat.

Watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-ray at last

About a week ago I watched The Next Level, the Blu-ray sampler disc containing three episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation in HD. The level of my anticipation for this release cannot be underestimated, which is a little odd because I'm well aware that TNG is hardly the finest television show ever made. The technical and experiential leap forward that the disc offered was the true drawcard, the chance to see the cobwebs and dust blown off a cherished show to reveal what was always underneath but never before seen.

What's remarkable about this release--and the complete series Blu-ray release it heralds--is that CBS had to essentially re-edit the episodes from scratch in order to create a high-definition presentation. The Next Generation was shot on 35mm film (which inherently has an even higher resolution than the 1080p offered on Blu-ray), but then transferred to videotape to be edited to save time and money. Visual effects were also often created on film but then composited with the live-action film on videotape.

John Carter of Mars fans create the trailer Disney should have

I was clearly not alone in certain sentiments about Disney's marketing of John Carter. I stressed that they should be promoting both director Andrew Stanton's previous hits and, most importantly, the enormous influence Burroughs's stories have had on subsequent blockbusters.

Now, some savvy Barsoom fans have edited a new trailer from the official trailers and clips released so far, and it is a significant improvement over everything Disney has released to date.

How is that fans have created a more coherent, engaging, and promotionally competent trailer than Disney's own marketing department?!

And Disney has access to the entire movie and a hell of a lot more resources. These guys have just used the scraps of footage Disney have released. Disney marketing seriously needs to have a meeting to discuss how they can't achieve this kind of simple work.

The trailer is actually quite similar in some ways to what's been released, but most importantly it presents a straightforward narrative that audiences can grasp. It doesn't even do anything radical: this is just the basic trailer Disney should have been able to devise a hundred variants of.

The major distinctions are not being afraid of 1) naming Finding Nemo and Wall-E and 2) the age of the John Carter property. As fans have been screaming since it became clear Disney had little idea how to market this film, this trailer turns that age into a benefit with the line "the epic tale that inspired one hundred years of filmmaking". After all, it looks like a modern production in every other way, so why not tell us that we're now seeing the original - the straight dope. What if it's better than the diluted stuff that came after, we might wonder...

To deliberately encourage audiences to think a film is generic and bland for the trade-off that it will at least be recognisably generic and bland is symptomatic of the dismaying conservatism that dominates the Hollywood development process. Kudos to the John Carter Files for rejecting that and helping out a movie that needs all it can get.

[In fact, looking at their site they've got quite the grassroots campaign going. And Andrew Stanton tweeted his love for this trailer! Check out the John Carter Files.]

John Carter (formerly of Mars) may face a battle at the box office

Deadline is reporting that just-released figures tracking awareness of Disney's science fiction epic John Carter are 'shockingly soft', with one rival exec speculating that it could be the 'biggest write-off of all time'.

The release date is still three weeks away, and a marketing blitzkrieg could turn this around, assuming the prognosis is accurate. But the way Disney have marketed the film is clearly flawed, and speaks to the difficulties of adapting a classic property for a modern audience.

Trailer Watch

A look at an assortment of recent trailers with some musing about whether or not we should give a monkey's, including The Bourne Legacy, The Avengers, and The Amazing Spider-Man.

You'll find YouTube embeds below, and links to Apple Trailers if you want to download better quality versions.

FINISHING SCHOOL: The Larry Sanders Show - Season One

In which I muse on a wide variety of DVDs from my absurd personal backlog as I complete them.

OK, I'm cheating a little here because I still have five seasons of Shout Factory's tremendous Complete Series DVD box set to get through, but progress is progress...

The Larry Sanders Show was one of the most influential comedies of the 1990s, but has since become more of a cult favourite after being a critical sensation during its run. This is no doubt because the series was largely unavailable on DVD  until this set was released in 2010. Rights or legal issues that remain unclear prevented a release, but somehow Shout was able to overcome them.

Now that we have the chance to revisit the series (or in my case, revisit the first two seasons before heading into new territory), we can notice the striking similarities to many contemporary comedies from America, Britain, Australia, and beyond. Larry Sanders helped define a new kind of television comedy that owed more to the documentary than the sitcom, and showed us a skewed, unvarnished, but utterly plausible view of celebrity culture in Hollywood.