Trailer Tuesday: The Spirit

-


Speak of the devil... er... Spirit. Yeah, it was only last week that I commented on this comic book adaptation, written and directed by Frank Miller, based on the classic Will Eisner comic series.

Honestly, watching this teaser trailer, my initial opinion hasn't changed much. The Spirit film clearly isn't as gritty or intense as Miller's 300 and Sin City film adaptations - this is understandable, considering Eisner's groundbreaking hybrid source material, which supposedly mixed crime drama, film noir, lighthearted adventure, mystery, horror, comedy and romance. (I say "supposedly" because I'm largely unfamiliar with The Spirit series).

Anyway, returning to the trailer, the film makers clearly aren't doing much to distance themselves from the hyper-stylisation of Sin City and 300 - which is a bit concerning if they don't want to be seen as derivative. There's the black, white and red colour pallet of Sin City; the swirling cloaks, the stark urban environment, the grim voice-over. There's even the 300-style font and character leap towards the camera lens... So, I dunno. I'm still going to wait and see about this one. I just really hope Frank Miller isn't a one trick pony when it comes to movie making.

The Spirit is due out in January next year - the release date period most often used by studios when they're unsure about how audiences will respond to their more "unusual / quirky" offerings.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Weekend report-back: beach, board games and books

-
Image
So I'm back in the office after a 4 day weekend. And I'm trying not to remind myself that it's almost 3 months until the next public holiday. Bah! Anyway, pop culture didn't play too massive a part in my mini-break. There was braai -ing (expected on National Braai Day), the baking of pretzels in celebration of Oktoberfest ( even if we weren't in Munich this year ), working on the next Girlz 'N' Games comic , and a family lunch to celebrate my mother and cousin's birthdays. A hefty chunk of the weekend however was spent at one of my favourite holiday destinations: the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. We were celebrating a friend's birthday at his family's holiday flat in Southbroom. So there was much chilling and eating and games playing, as well as kite flying, dolphin spotting and swallowing of saltwater as I flailed around in the choppy, chilly surf. We even managed to find Emo Shell! Anyway, film viewing was neglected this weekend, with the excepti
Read more

Movies today, SA!

-
Image
Despite the fact that 5 new films open in South Africa today, not a single one is worthy of an extended Pick of the Week description. If you haven't seen it yet (like me), go and watch Disney-Pixar's Up instead. If you can't get past a deeply ingrained "grown-up" prejudice against animated films, what about seeking out the Johnny Depp-Christian Bale gangster movie Public Enemies ? Hell, you could even go and watch District 9 again. Just stay away from the mediocrity released this weekend. Yeesh. I Hate Valentine's Day - Nia Vardalos reteams with her My Big Fat Greek Wedding love interest John Corbett for this romantic comedy in which a carefree florist lives by a "5 dates only" rule so a relationship never develops and she never gets hurt. A charming restaurateur, however, forces her to re-evaluate her unusual approach to dating. 17% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes . Karate Kallie - A South African comedy about Kallie, a fat teenager, who is mercilessly
Read more