San Diego Comic-Con 2017 Movie Trailers

It's that time of year again as movie, television studios, celebrities, cosplayers and fans alike descend upon San Diego, California for the annual spectacle, San Diego Comic-Con. The event is when upcoming movies and new seasons of television shows debut any recently shot footage, future projects are announced, and fans lose their minds.

This year has been no different. While away at Rehobeth Beach in Delaware, there has been a plethora of new trailers for upcoming movies and shows that I watch (Stranger Things 2 will be amazing!). So for those who couldn't attend the event or seen the trailers, I'm going to present them all on this post for my readers to enjoy!

 Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Boasting an amazing cast, including returning stars Taron Egerton, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong, this sequel finds the British spy service devastated by the destruction of their headquarters. The remaining members journey to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US, known as the Statesman. These two elite secret organizations must band together in order to defeat a common enemy. New cast members include Halle Berry, Channing Tatum, Jeff Bridges, and Julianne Moore as the new villain. This movie looks as action packed as the first and guarantees to keep audiences entertained as the first surprise hit did.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle comes to theaters on September 22.

 Ready Player One

Cinematic legend Steven Spielberg directs this adaptation of Ernest Cline's pop culture novel. When the creator of a popular virtual reality utopia known as the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg. An average teenager named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) solves the first clue, sparking excitement and hope back to the hunt, and throwing him into a world of people willing to kill for the information he has and changing his life forever. It's welcoming to have Spielberg return to the sci-fi world and this fits his earlier works.

Ready Player One is expected in March 30, 2018.

Bright

When it comes to Netflix movies, they can be hits or misses like other mainstream films. Over time, A-list actors have joined onto projects bought by the streaming service. This film is Netflix's first $100 million dollar film, bringing Will Smith into a magical urban fantasy. Set in a world where mystical creatures live side by side with humans. A human cop (Will Smith) is forced to work with an Orc to find a weapon everyone is prepared to kill for. Directed by David Ayer, this urban fantasy is a combination of Lord of the Rings and Ayer's previous film, End of Watch. It might be best to go in with some level expectations, but Netflix has proven to put out hits before (Check out To The Bone).

Bright will be on Netflix in December.

Thor: Ragnarok

Phase Three of the MCU has been off to a great start and, as we march towards Marvel Studios' 10th anniversary and next year's Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel presented the third solo film for an original Avenger. The first trailer did a proper set-up, but this trailer does that and more. After losing his hammer and imprisoned on the other side of the universe, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) must team up with his former ally, The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), in order to prevent the Goddess of Death, Hela (Cate Blanchett) from destroying his home and the Asgardian Civilization. It was great to see more of Hela, Hulk, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. The colors are brightest as they've ever been for a Marvel film. While I think this movie might feel too similar to Guardians of the Galaxy, it could provide a bridge to next year's ensemble superhero epic.

Thor: Ragnarok blasts into theaters on November 3.

Justice League

Aquaman. The Flash. Cyborg. Wonder Woman. Batman. Say what you will about the DC Comics film universe; this ensemble film brings some of the most well known heroes of all time. This trailer is definitely more action packed as we see the league in action and working together, some of them learning courage (like the Flash). We also get a first glimpse at Steppenwolf, the film's main villain. As the great evil comes to the Earth, Batman (Ben Affleck) assembles the four single heroes to face this great enemy. By the end of the trailer, we also see that the League will get some help.

We get a lot at the different players from DC lore: Commissioner Gordon (J.K Simmons), Alfred (Jeremy Irons), and the return of Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) as we go return to Diana's home island. In the trailer, we also hear Steppenwolf mention the very powerful guardians known as the Lanterns (could we see a Green Lantern in this film?). After the success of Wonder Woman earlier this year, I'm going into this film with more hope.

Justice League comes to theaters on November 17.

Well, which one are you excited for? Personally, Thor still looks like the best out of them all. Let me know in the comments.

'Spider-Man: Homecoming' joins the list as one of Marvel Studios best films

Hello, everyone and Welcome to my 200th post!

I'm back again with another review and I'm hoping this will be one that my readers will enjoy. If you have read any of my past reviews, you all know that I have a soft spot for the ever popular superhero genre. Even if the movie is terrible (here's looking at you, Batman v Superman), I'll still give it a chance. When it comes to the costumed heroes, I have a soft spot for Marvel's comic book characters; one of my favorites is the New York wall-crawler, Spider-Man. Unfortunately, the web-slinger's cinematic history has been a little rocky with five movies and one reboot. Now that Sony decided to play ball with Marvel Studios, the second reboot reunites Spider-Man with a larger universe of heroes that have been around for nearly a decade in cinema. And the result is nothing short of Amazing.

After the events of the Avengers' internal conflict in Civil War, we find Peter Parker (Tom Holland) returning to Midtown High School to attempt and balance his life as high school sophomore and his street-level hero alter-ego.

The story expands from this small premise as we begin eight years ago in the aftermath of the Battle of New York (It's really been that long?!). A salvage team led by Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) is picking up the remaining alien technology left in the city, but their operation is stopped by Tony Stark's joint venture with the U.S. Government called the D.O.D.C., or the Department of Damage Control. It's safe to say this didn't make Mr. Toomes and his crew happy and they won't forget this. Catching up to the modern day and watching Peter being a complete teenager by filming his adventures on his phone, including the airport battle from Civil War, was hilarious. Once his "test run" was complete and Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) dropped off Peter back at home, promising to call for the next mission, Peter was back to his normal life. But once you've had a taste of the danger and action, it's hard to go back to what you know.

Peter keeps updating Stark and his "handler", Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), with his stopping small crimes and hoping for his next big mission to be officially considered an Avenger. While stopping bike thieves, helping old women across the street, and worrying about asking his crush, Liz (Laura Harrier), out to the homecoming dance, the threat of Adrian Toomes and his crew rears its head in Queens, NY. Using the technology they were able to salvage before being shut down, Toomes assumes the identity of the Vulture and uses his weapons for his own personal gain. Only one person can stop him...and he's not even really an Avenger.

Now, I had level expectations on how Marvel would treat one of their all-time great heroes, but had faith that they will revitalize the wall-crawler. Tom Holland once again brought heart and humor to the role of the wise-cracking hero. Holland embodied how a teenager is now: energetic, funny, girl troubles, and recording everything! He wants to be the heroes that he has looked up to for years such as Iron Man (Peter Parker does make a small cameo in Iron Man 2, in case you haven't heard) and the rest of the Avengers. Throughout the course of the movie and after one possible blunder that Tony had to bail him out of, Parker finally realized that he can be great in his own way: by standing up to the little guy. That's the essence of Spider-Man: he stands up for the little guy while the other heroes are off on their own adventures. This isn't to say that he won't like to team up with them, but he's his own hero and does just fine on his own. By the end of the movie, Peter finds out that he has proven himself a hero in his own way and Tom Holland is worthy of Spider-Man's mantle.

Michael Keaton's career resurgence has continued and is in full display during this movie. Unlike the other MCU villains, Toomes isn't driven by world domination or power. He's a "regular guy". While he's not completely villainous, there are points where you understand and might see his point. He has a very ground-level perspective that makes him relatable to the audience and Keaton's performance was a major boost to this film. Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark had the same charisma that we've come to love as he takes on the role of mentor to young Mr. Parker. He's not in the movie a lot and only appears when necessary, which is exactly what I wanted (I call it Rogue One's Darth Vader Treatment). And Zendaya's performance as the awkward but intellectual Michelle was great to watch, drawing comparisons from Ally Sheedy's character from The Breakfast Club. As far as the future role she will play, you'll just have to see the movie. :)

The film is not bogged down in franchise building. Once you know it's set up in the MCU (like we didn't know this already) and what section in the timeline, the film just goes from there. This film delivers a colorful, fun adventure that finds its place in the MCU. This second reboot of the Spider-Man movie franchise delivers in spades and is probably the best out of the previous five. So prepare for  Let's see how this web will grow inside Marvel's sprawling universe as we march towards next summer's ensemble movie, Avengers: Infinity War.

'Baby Driver' is straight Bananas!

If any of my readers have never seen an Edgar Wright-directed movie. you are truly missing out. From Shaun of the Dead to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Wright's films have always been filled with three-dimensional characters, comedy, and action to keep audiences entertained from beginning to end. Edgar has always had help with the writing of the films he has directed, but never ventured on his own with both writing and directing. Until his passion project came to life with Baby Driver.

As I stated in an earlier post of when I met Edgar Wright a few weeks ago at Awesome Con, I got the chance to watch the first five minutes of the film. I was hooked after those first five minutes of excitement and the rest of the film did not disappoint.

Baby Driver tells the story of Baby (Ansel Elgort), a getaway driver under the payroll of Atlanta crime boss, Doc (Kevin Spacey). Baby drives the car for Doc's team of thieves as they conduct heists all over the city, displaying an impressive skill set behind the wheel. But Baby has dreams of getting out of the life, which is heightened when he meets Debora (Lily James). When a high-profile robbery fails, Baby must use his driving skills to escape not only the police, but his former teammates in crime.

The basic plot is simple that audiences have seen it done many times: guy is in with some bad people, meets girl, wants to get out of said life, has to go through hell to do it. It's how that story is executed and how the characters go about it that make the difference. We also have to especially care about the characters. Edgar Wright completes this task by going into the backstory of Baby and his love for music, stemming from his mother. Kevin Spacey's crime boss fitted the veteran actor like a glove. The quiet boss didn't need to shout to display his power and influence, warning those what could happen if he is crossed. The other cast members all had great moments, specifically Jamie Foxx's hair-triggered Bats. He became the wild card of the heist team, not knowing what he would do and providing plenty of funny moments to balance out the chaos he caused. Jon Hamm's Buddy and Eiza Gonzalez's Darling were the Bonny and Clyde of the team, both of them shined in their roles as the violent couple. I can see why Jon Hamm stayed with this project as development came and went over the years.

The tagline of this movie was "All you need is one killer track". Baby Driver has a soundtrack of killer tracks to accompany this action-comedy flick. From Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Bellbottoms" in the opening minutes, Lily James singing Carla Thomas' "B-A-B-Y", classic Commodores song "Easy", and Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up", this soundtrack does not have a shortage of music. Baby doesn't have many lines in the first two acts of the film as most of his scenes have music playing as audiences get to hear what's coming through his iPod earbuds. This movie could be a borderline-musical because of this, but this adds to the charm and originality of the film. I'll definitely be downloading this soundtrack very soon!

Edgar Wright's directorial skill was amazing, panning the camera around during the chase scenes as Baby evaded police cars and each close call. Wright used very little CGI as we've come to expect with some of these action films, choosing to shoot this movie old school style and that helped with the originality. Word of mouth and fans of Wright's past works helped get this movie a solid audience when I went to go see it. This should be a sign for Hollywood; along with films like Get Out and Split, Baby Driver proves audiences will gather for an original movie that isn't based on previous films or part of a universe. I hold this film as one of the best of the summer and one of my top films so far this year.

Even if you have never seen a previous film directed by the English director, I would recommend that everyone go see Baby Driver!