First Looks, Second Thoughts: Logan, Colossal, Power Rangers

This week saw the release of new trailers for Logan, Colossal, and Power Rangers! Here’s what we thought of them!

Colossal

I’ve been hearing rumors about this film, and to be honest, it sounded like this could be either cute or horrible. Anne Hathaway isn’t an actress that I have a lot of faith in, but I’m not in her demographic. She was hot in The Dark Knight Rises, but that film was garbage and everyone involved came away tainted (in my eyes – though my man-crush on Tom Hardy meant he took the least damage).  She was wasted and annoying in Interstellar, but to be honest, everyone was wasted and annoying in that piece of crap. So Hathaway in the lead isn’t an automatic sale for me.

But I do love me some kaiju.

And I love me some creative storytelling.

To be honest, this looks cute and could easily be horrible. But the trailer emphasizes the clever aspects and that might be enough to get my butt in a seat. I have no idea if the premise is workable or if that even matters in the long run. At the same time, I know the supporting cast is solid. Jason Sudeikis and Tim Blake Nelson are comedy gold and I’ve liked everything I’ve seen Dan Stevens in so far, which means that even if Hathaway can’t keep me interested, I should get some laughs from the rest of the cast.

Plus, I like the monster design. That’s actually an important part of a kaiju film, so I’m hoping that writer/director Nacho Vigalondo will be paying attention to that side of the film as much as the character bits.  And with a resume like Vigalondo’s that’s a pretty safe bet. Timecrimes is one of the best time travel films I’ve ever seen and Extraterrestrial is solid from start to finish. His pieces in The ABCs of Death and V/H/S: Viral were highlights of both films.

So what I mean to say is, I’m in. Let’s see what Colossal is all about!

— Paul Brian McCoy

Vigalondo Returns!

Of all the films spurning jealousy in my heart because my friend Bob saw it at Fantastic Fest 2016 and I did not—there is Colossal. Due out in April 2017, this giant monster movie—kaiju for the purists—stars Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens and one of my favorites Tim Blake Nelson (discover Cherish (2002)).

But wait. I’m not done. You also get Time Crimes (2007) director Nacho Vigalondo, and if you don’t think he can do dark comedy check out his short film “7:35 de la Mañana.” Need more reason to see this? “Parallel Monsters” from VHS: Viral (2014)—and though I can’t account for these, I am curious— Extraterrestrial (Extraterrestre 2011) and Open Window (2014) with one-day-might-be-horror-icon Elijah Wood.

Gone are the days when a Blazing Saddles (1974) destroys the genre it parodies. We witnessed superhero parodies in The Tick TV series (1994-1997), Mystery Men (1999), the James Gunn-directed Super (2010), and the shamefully underrated Minoriteam (2005-2006) long before the current trend of superhero movies, and now we have Colossal right in what we can only hope is at least the middle of a kaiju superstorm. Now, Colossal could be a—what’s the word, large, big, huge. I can’t think of a better synonym—it could be huge failure, but it’s getting my first weekend theater money based on Hathaway, Nelson, Vigalondo and this trailer.

— Fred L. Taulbee Jr.

Logan

Stop what you are doing right now and watch the all new second trailer for Logan, go ahead I’ll wait…

Wow! Am I wrong or does that look beyond exciting and just a shade longer than a month away?! We have confirmation of the long-rumored X-23 (Dafne Keen), who in the comic books is a clone of Wolverine. The trailer wastes no time in showing this little girl go from zero to berserker mode in milliseconds, and she gets far more attention this time around. The brief scene where she emerges from a dilapidated building and walks slowly towards her would-be captors and two claws slowly emerge from her bloody hands gave me chills.

While we know that this black ops like group needs this little girl for whatever reason, we still know very little about Logan. Narcos star Boyd Holbrook may be in charge of the metal-armed mercenaries, but the trailer gives a blink-and-miss-it appearance of presumed head bad guy Richard E. Grant.

The trailer establishes a level of scope which is going to pay off greatly. The world isn’t at stake here, there won’t be any beams of doom in the sky; it’s going to be a relatively intimate story, one that I couldn’t be more excited for. This is something comic book movies have been needing for a while now. The other factor for IMMENSE excitement, and as childish as it may seem, is the promise of “R” rated action. For a trailer we see a good amount of blood, sprayed not only by our title character, but this little girl. When we finally see this movie bright and early that March morning, I have no doubts these scenes will pay off. It’s something we haven’t seen in an X-Men movie and will undoubtedly produce a visceral reaction that promises to enhance not only the story but the movie watching experience.

— Raul Reyes

Power Rangers

Did anyone but me see the 2013 Japanese live-action Gatchaman movie? It was a gritty, realistic reimagining of the classic anime series (you may remember it as G-Force – and no, not the one with the gerbils). It looked pretty cool, had awesome costumes, some decent CG, and stayed pretty true to the spirit of the original source material, right down to their gender-flipping nemesis, Zoltar.

When all was said and done, it was okay. Kind of fun, kind of boring, kind of forgettable. But the one thing it had going for it was that it knew what it wanted to be. It was a goddamn live-action Gatchaman adventure.

Which, in a roundabout way, brings us to Power Rangers.

This movie doesn’t look too bad. Even the first trailer didn’t really look bad. It just looked like a complete rip-off of Chronicle (which, given the drama involved with actually having had Max Landis submit a screenplay, which the producers rejected as unsuitable, was unfortunate). It looked too serious to be a Power Rangers movie. And I’m not knocking Power Rangers. I never watched it growing up, but I have an appreciation for the show. But dark and gritty, it was not.

After watching the new trailer, which gives us great looks at the costumes, the Zords, the monsters, Rita Repulsa (Elizabeth Banks), Zordon (Bryan Cranston), and a shot of Alpha 5 that I didn’t blindly hate, I’m more confused than anything else. This looks like a Power Rangers movie. It looks very similar in tone and approach to the Gatchaman film mentioned earlier, and I kind of like it. There’s still a disconnect from the dark and creepy bits and the massive karate fights in broad daylight between costume heroes and bulky monsters, but I’m more inclined to give this movie a pass now.

I have no doubt it will be bad, but it looks like it might be the fun sort of bad that could be worth a look. Hopefully, I won’t forget I’d even seen it after a few months, like I did with Gatchaman.

— Paul Brian McCoy