The first trailer for Roland Emmerich’s White House Down was a bit of a somber affair, not really matching the more light-hearted tone of the screenplay that I read a while back. But this new trailer definitely gives more of an indication of the feel of what I had read. It also features more of stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx and plenty of action and explosions.

White House Down hits theaters June 28.

We are less than two weeks away from Marvel Studios’s Iron Man 3 flying into theaters and the studio is already starting to get us excited for their next superhero film Thor: The Dark World. The studio has released the first trailer for the film and it showcases plenty of action, some development in the relationship between Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) as well as featuring the return of fan favorite villain Loki (Tom Hiddleston).

Thor: The Dark World is set for a November 8th release and will also feature Christopher Eccleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins.

When the first teaser for The Man of Steel trailer hit, it caused many a fan to squeal in delight, and almost as many, if not more, to sneer in disgust over what the film appears to have gotten wrong. Are the squealers cheering before they have a right too? Are the sneerers jumping the gun with their negativity before getting a full picture? The answer to both is yes.

But now we have the first full trailer for the film to give fans more to squeal and sneer about. We have a clearer picture of what the movie entails. Which side do we fall into? Let’s dissect the trailer and find out.

It appears that if Krypton is to be destroyed, it won’t be due to its core exploding, but rather through a global conflict on an epic scale. Of course, due to the sheer amount of Kryptonians that we know are going to be in the film,  I get the feeling that Krypton does not get destroyed.

This hearkens back to a controversial J.J. Abrams script that was making the rounds before Superman Returns where Kal-El was sent to Earth by Jor-El to keep him safe from Kryptonian warlords so he could come back to save Krypton( brought to mind by the “our hopes and dreams travel with you ” line from the trailer). Not only did Superman have to face off against a number of Kryptonian enemies, even Lex Luthor was revealed to be a Kryptonian.

Now, having a living, breathing Krypton does have some advantages. It gives Supes a load of villains just as powerful as he is to go up against. But it also strips away the “Last Son of Krypton” part of the character’s mythos. And since there appears to be a lot of the mythos stripped away, you wonder at what point this will stop being a Superman film and become just a generic superhero story.

Not saying this is true, just speculation on this part of the trailer. But having the studio hand down the maxim to use the elements of a script from the guy who successfully rebooted the Star Trek franchise and was tapped to reboot the Star Wars franchise is all too plausible.

I call this screen cap, “what hath Avatar wrought.”

So this is how the exile from Krypton will be portrayed in this version. I hope there is a reason other than “it looks cool” why baby Kal-El had to be levitated into the rocket ship. Because if it isn’t, then it might come down to a matter of style over substance in the filmmaking. And that seldom ever results in a good movie.

The “He’ll be an outcast. They’ll kill him. /No he’ll be a god to them” reminds me of the John Byrne reboot of the origin in the comics. Byrne’s Krypton was a highly advanced, yet cold and sterile world. When the comic book Lara is showed a representation of Earth (in the form of a shirtless farmhand toiling in the soil) she is repulsed. Jor-El comforts her by saying Kal-El will be strong enough to rule them. Not a word for word copy, but close enough for my first sqee moment of the trailer.

We’ve seen these images before. But the two scenes now are used to establish what will be Superman’s internal conflict. Will he try to hide what he is to pass off as normal, or will he live up to his potential to save people?

Another big part of the Superman mythos is the reveal of his true origins to him by his adoptive parents, the Kents. This is how it is portrayed in this film.

And for as wrong as Jonathan Kent suggesting that Clark let the bus full of school kids die was in the teaser, this scene here is a 180 in the opposite direction. “Can I go back to pretending to be your son?/ You are my son.” Absolutely perfect. Great delivery by Costner too. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love this scene.

Superman in what appears to be the Fortress of Solitude. Glad to see that the voice over shows that the Kents will still play a positive role in turning Clark into the man he is.

And here is our first introduction to Lois Lane, who appears to be following a trail of super deeds done by Clark. It’s an interesting take on the Lois and Clark/Superman dynamic, but raises two red flags with me. One, is the urban legend of an indestructible strongman the story a major metropolitan newspaper like the Daily Planet should be pursuing? Isn’t that more the milieu of the National Enquirer and the Weekly World News? And two, if this film is supposed to be open to the idea that other super humans exist, would this be a news story at all? “Oh, there’s a guy in Alaska who saved some fishermen from a fire with out getting burned? Well, there’s a guy in California who has a ring that allows him to make green race cars with his mind. Big deal.”

I don’t know what context this scene is in, but I think it could quite possibly be the most inventive use of Superman’s powers on screen to date.

The Christ metaphor from the Donner films is still in effect, I see. The narration in scene the above screen caps are taken is almost word for word from the original films.

And we have some action. I’ve seen online where some people think this is a version of DC Comics’ Starro. I say no for a variety of reasons, most notably, it would take a lot of screen time to introduce the character into the narrative in a way that matches up with the tone of the film. Probably just a producer who has a Octopus fixation to match Jon Peters spider fixation.

More action!

Another clue that Krypton hasn’t been destroyed, Zod and a battalion of Kryptonians arrive in a big honkin’ spaceship. First order of business: threaten Jonathan Kent (Which also leads us to believe that they were tracking Kal-El/Clark’s ship to where it landed on Earth).

The Kryptonian invasion does explain why Superman is at odds with the military.

Gee, Zod certainly likes to threaten Superman’s father figures, doesn’t he (assuming he is speaking to Jor-El in the screencap above)? And Michael Shannon does like to chew scenery, doesn’t he?

Another of Superman’s powers on display?

Are these meteors hitting the Earth, or Kryptonians engaging in an orgy of destruction?

Also note the LexCorp building in the background. It seems, like in The Amazing Spider-Man, the hero’s main nemesis will make his presence felt only through corporate signage.

Again, I have to say that I am impressed by the way the Kryptonian power set is portrayed in the film. As above, where a missile hits a Kryptonian soldier and he barely flinches. And also…

…Superman’s super-speed! It is only a brief snippet, but it one of Supes’ powers that hasn’t really been portrayed well on screen.

I might have said this on the site before, but Superman willingly handing himself over to the military is great characterization. It establishes that while Superman could establish his will over the human race, but chooses not to. Love it.

Well, that certainly looks ominous.

Some Kryptonian armor.

This scene is both good and bad to me. I love “It stands for hope.” But the “How about Super— SQWARK!/Excuse me” just comes off as a clumsy attempt at humor. I’m glad to see that the film will not be as relentlessly bleak as its color palette makes it out to be, but still…

The trailer does end on a high note, however. Punch, fly after the punchee, and punch them again? That’s just cool. Again, the way they portray Superman’s powers in the trailer give me hope that at least part of the film will rock.

It stands for hope. Which is what the trailer stands for too. It’s stands for the hope that things Nolan, Snyder and company got right make up for what appears to obvious missteps that appear in the movie.

A new full length trailer for Warner Brothers’ Man Of Steel has just premiered over at IWillFindHim. I don’t want to give too much away, you’re better off just letting the whole thing wash over you. There is some footage from the teasers we’ve already seen, but there’s plenty of new stuff in here as well. And I think that those who have been a bit critical about not seeing some big time superhoric action will be pleased by what is shown here.

Ninety years ago today,Harold Lloyd’s classic silent comedy Safety Last opened to rave reviews and boffo box office business. Later this summer, the Criterion Collection will be releasing a new remastering of the film on DVD and blu-ray. But prior to that, Janus Films will be touring the film around the country this spring. The trailer for their rerelease is below and you can find dates for where the film will be showing here.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you’re in for a real treat as Lloyd pulls off a number of stunts that will leave you both laughing and gasping. Lloyd didn’t call his films “thrill comedies” for nothing. It is easy to how he was a major influence on Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan.

And if you have seen the film before, you haven’t seen it presented this cleanly. Besides, it’s always more fun to see a comedy with a large group of people.

Now, Murderer’s Row might be great soccer players. But you’d want to see them play baseball. You’d be disappointed otherwise. That’s the feeling I get after watching The Wolverine trailers (both the domestic one and the longer international one, both are posted below).

Not many comic books could survive the transition to the big screen unchanged, but Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s 1982 Wolverine miniseries could. There is no glaring contradiction to the film continuity in the story, and, for a while, it looked like we might just be getting the most faithful X-Men adaptation to date.

Gone is Logan meeting Mariko first (now he meets her father Shingen first–back in WWII!), no shocking revelation about Yukio’s loyalties (she’s revealed as working for Shingen from the very first frame she’s in), and what’s added is a mopey, mourning Wolverine who is losing his powers. Yay.

Granted, it does look better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but if the film was nothing but Hugh Jackman sitting in a La-Z Boy and eating Pringles, it would still be better than that film.

The Wolverine opens July 26, 2013.

Domestic

International

I have to admit that I am surprised that Columbia pushed the trailer out while the similarly-themed Olympus Has Fallen is still in theaters and doing good box office. Oddly enough, a number of writers have been describing Olympus Has Fallen as “Die Hard in the White House,” but having read the screenplays for both films, I can say that it is White House Down that owes far more to the seminal Bruce Willis action film than Olympus Has Fallen does. Emmerich even has star Channing Tatum in a wife-beater t-shirt like Willis’s! Watching the trailer below, though, I am a bit concerned that Emmerich may have darkened up the script’s tone, which was similar to Die Hard‘s.

White House Down hits theaters June 28.

It seems almost impossible to believe that we are less than two months away from seeing Iron Man 3 on the big screen. But it must be true because we get a much more revealing trailer for the film today.

While the new trailer doesn’t reveal much more about the plot, it does clarify plot points from the other trailers. The Mandarin is a full-fledged terrorist leader, Guy Pierce’s character seems to be a duplicitous scumbag, and it looks like Pepper Potts is in that machine against her will.

Oh, and all those armors that appeared in the toy line and released concept art? The armors that had the Internet buzzing about cameos from everyone from the Hulk to the Guardians of the Galaxy? They are an armored army for Tony to get his revenge. Personally, that might be even better.

See for yourself below. Iron Man 3 opens on May 3, 2013.

Well, we did and this is what we saw. And just in case you didn’t see the same things, let us point out what the ad told us.

The extended trailer begins with Tony Stark walking with purpose towards the camera.

He does his best David Caruso impersonation.

Then comes off with “That might be more of an extensive than extended look” Your milage on the pun may vary, but it serves its purpose. The earlier trailers were criticized for being almost too serious, at least in comparison to the earlier films. This bit  which I’d bet money doesn’t appear in the film, shows that there will be a humorous streak to the film as well.

Then we go into the extended trailer, which might give us more clues as to the plot. Of course, these are only guesses. Most likely, we will be wrong.

We once again see Iron Man landing in the snow, beaten and battered. But now we get to see what might have caused him to be in this condition…

…the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley)…

…clenches his fist…

…and things explode. The decor looks almost Middle Eastern or Asian, perhaps it is the Mandarin’s headquarters? Or maybe someplace else in his sphere of influence?

Whatever the location, it appears the explosion was done for a reason…

…to catch Tony in the blast. And it seems to have worked because…

He’s a bloody mess. We then revisit the attack on Tony’s mountainside home. And this also shows us something we might have missed before.

Here’s the attack.

Tony and Pepper might have had a second or two of a warning. Then boom.

See that woman on the left? Could that be Rebecca Hall as Dr. Maya Hansen? She is rumored to be part of a love triangle with Pepper for Tony’s affections and her presence here could make for a tense scene before an even more tense scene.

And what’s the deal with the bunny in the background?

If that was Hansen, it looks like she has a chance of escaping the attack unscathed. Not so likely for Pepper and Tony.

And definitely not for Tony’s armors.

Back to the snow scene. As the armor releases Tony…

He, in a voice over, speaks on apologies he has to make and apologizes for putting someone in harm’s way. Is he talking to…

…Happy Hogan, who is alive in this scene, if somewhat worse for wear…

…James Rhodes, definitively wearing the Iron Patriot armor, who looks grim…

…his paramour Pepper Potts, who once again seems to be in some sort of device and in pain (is the device causing the pain, or trying to fix it?)…

…or Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), whose role in the film, be it good or bad, is up for debate?

Tony vows to find out who did this…

…while the Mandarin brags that they’ll never see him coming.

One more clenched fist, this time pounded against a table, then on Air Force One…

…a hole explodes in the side of the plane, sucking people out.

Tony flies out of the hole to begin his rescue mission. Why was he on Air Force One? Is he being offered the position of Secretary of Defense by the president, a position he held in the comics? Was he there for some other reason? Could he have even caused the fuselage breach?

“How many in the air, Jarvis?” “Thirteen, sir.” “How many can I carry?” “Four.”

“Oooh, boy.”

We see that Air force One has suffered a further explosion and has disintegrated, removing that as an option to hold the passengers.

Tony and his fellow passengers attempt to form a human chain in the air. Will this allow him to save all thirteen? Hopefully so, but probably not.

Still no look at any of the footage shot on location in China and no hint if Radioactive Man will be in the film. No look at James Badge Dale’s character and if it will be Coldblood. But we do see that the Mandarin seems to definitely be behind Tony’s problems. More information should come before May 3rd, when all will be revealed.