NEW TRAILER TIME!

1 - READY, PLAYER ONE

Now this is the big one for me, as it sometimes seems the world is split into people who have read Ernest Cline's phenomenal pop culture novel and people who need to read it. Set in the not too distant future, Ready, Player One paints a pciture of a pretty shitty society where the only real escape is the Oasis, a free virtual reality immersive experience. Our young hero, Wade, even goes to school there. There's a full review of the book elsewhere on this blog if you are interested.

What we have to accept is that this is a teaser trailer, and as such it is designed to make us go "wow". Well, I certainly went "wow", and maybe "gosh" as well, although I drew the line at "golly". The ball that we see is a perfect recreation of a key book scene, as are the "stacks" where Wade lives in the real world.  The race sequence, although not in the book, seems like it may replace sections where old videogames are played, which would be very dull on the big screen. At the end we get a crystal key, one of the objects of the hunt. In my eyes, this looks awesome, and as Cline is co scripting I'm not worried about the plot going too far off track. this may be the film Spielberg was born to direct, and it can't come soon enough.


2 - THOR- RAGNAROK

Okay, this new trailer fills in a few plot points, and gives us more of The Hulk. Thor is still a bit too surfer dude for my liking, but Chris Hemsworth won't let us down. Loki is back, and fighting for good, but if he doesn't double cross Thor at some point I'll be disappointed. It seems Asgard has been invaded by the Goddess of Death, and Thor and his merry chums have to save it. Hulk was turned into a gladiator somehow, and many a Marvel fan has squeed when they first saw his armour, a direct copy from the awesome Planet Hulk series. It all looks very exciting with the tongue in cheek humour that made the last Thor movie such an improvement on the first. Perhaps the most interesting development is the fact that Hulk can now speak proper sentences, so it seems that Banner is more comfortable with his mean green alter ego, and the two are sharing more than a physical space.

It all looks wonderfully colourful and action filled, like a big budget Flash Gordon, a fact accentuated by the shiny logo Marvel have gone for. Adding the Hulk seems to be the genius move that could elevate this into the most fun Marvel movie since Guardians... verily, it looketh fab.

3-JUSTICE LEAGUE

Now this one's got many DC fans peeing in their pants, and that's because it's full of great stuff that actually hints that Wonder Woman may not have been a one off. It's no accident that the trailer leads with the recent blockbuster star, and she immediately takes control of the screen. We get introduced to new guys Aquaman (who is now a total badass), Cyborg (it's metal, dude) and the Flash. It's quite blatant that poor old Flash is the main comedy element of the film, though Alfred gets a cracking line in the trailer. Marvel have consistently balanced action and humour better in their movies, and I don't hold high hopes for this being the DC movie to change the status quo. That said, it certainly looks like it could be a bloody good movie, and here's hoping that DC's heroes finally get the film they deserve.


4 - THE ORVILLE (TV)

After super beings and VR worlds, it's nice to have something that looks like it's solid, unadulterated Sci Fi silliness. The Orville is Fox's rival to the new Star Trek (yawn), taking more of a Galaxy Quest approach to space exploration. Headlined by Sewth Mcfarlane, the trailers released have been smart, funny and on the nose, genre wise. Whether it can stretch to a full season and stillbe funny remains to be seen, but McFarlane's pedigree is undenliable so here's hoping.