Fantastic Four Review
The Plot
When a group of young scientists teleport to an alternate universe, they each return with fantastic powers. Struggling to come to terms with their dramatic transformations, they need to learn to harness their newfound abilities to save our world.
The Good
The previous Fantastic Four films delivered fans unashamedly colourful and camp comic book adaptations, met with mixed reactions by fans and critics alike. This new reboot of Marvel’s first family perhaps predictably opts to go down a darker route, both visually and in tone. It’s an interesting move that at least initially works to add a slight edge to the Fantastic Four.
At the same time the film introduces a new generation of noticeably younger heroes with the combined talents of Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, and Jamie Bell. Likewise Toby Kebbel (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) takes on the role of Marvel’s most ominously named villain Victor Von Doom. It’s a promising crop of fresh faced stars that have each already proved themselves more than capable.
The Bad
Cynics feared that this hastily announced reboot was merely a rushed effort to ensure that Fox didn’t lose the valuable creative rights for the characters back to Marvel studios. Choosing an impressive cast and promising Chronicle director Josh Trank reassured fans that the studio did actually have serious plans. Unfortunately those best laid plans sadly failed to deliver entertaining results.
For the supposedly ambitious opening of a rebooted franchise, Fantastic Four is incredibly simplistic. It adds surprisingly little to a well know origin story and delivers CGI effects which are more drab but oddly often no more convincing than those of the often mocked 2005 film and its sequel.
Toby Kebbel is given no time at all to create a memorable nemesis. The film squanders one of the most iconic comic book villains, by offering mere hints at an intriguing but unexplored back story and vague explanations in place of real motivations. Likewise after slowly introducing our heroes and their fantastic gifts, the film gives them little chance to interact before a frantic final act that conveniently throws them instantly together as an oddly unconvincing team.
Ironically the one thing the previous Fantastic Four films arguably got right was the amusingly dysfunctional chemistry amongst the super powered family. The lack of humour, tension and heart in this new version becomes increasingly obvious as the film progresses and starts to sadly make many of the same mistakes as its much criticized predecessor.
After an overly long time spent barely developing the characters, setting up a sullen tone and introducing the main villain, the final act feels awkwardly rushed and unoriginal. The threat barely feels threatening to the main characters let alone the rest of the planet, while what little plot there is feels far too neatly tied up. Leaving any hopes of an improved sequel even less likely.
The Ugly Truth
Fantastic Four tries to offer a darker take on the familiar franchise but proves thoroughly disappointing despite combining an undeniably talented cast with a promising director. The only positive thing to be said is that at least there’s little danger of the promising stars being tied down by unnecessary sequels.
Review by Johnny Ellis
Steve Jobs To Close London Film Festival 2015
The 59th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express is delighted to announce that this year’s Closing Night film will be Steve Jobs.
Working from Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography, Steve Jobs is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to create a revealing portrait of the man at its epicentre and stars Michael Fassbender in the title role, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Katherine Waterston. Boyle, Fassbender and Winslet will attend the Closing Night Gala, which marks the film’s European Premiere, on Sunday October 18 at the Odeon Leicester Square. Steve Jobs is the third film directed by Boyle to close the BFI London Film Festival, following Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and 127 Hours (2010).
Spanning a period of 14 years between 1984 and 1998 the story is built around three seminal product launches — of the Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT ‘Cube’ in 1988 and the iMac in 1998 — and it uses this innovative structure to create a cross-hatched portrait of Jobs’ life and to tell the story of the new mass-market technologies that have revolutionised how we communicate with one another.
BFI London Film Festival Director Clare Stewart says:
“We are thrilled to announce that Steve Jobs will be this year’s BFI London Film Festival Closing Night gala. Danny Boyle has created an exhilarating and audacious film starring Michael Fassbender as the complex, charismatic digital pioneer.”
The full Festival programme will be revealed on Tue 1 Sept. BFI Patrons’ special booking service opens Tue 8 Sept, with BFI Champions’ extra priority on Wed 9 Sept and BFI Members’ priority booking on Thu 10 Sept. Tickets go on public sale on Thu 17 Sept.
The 59th BFI London Film Festival takes place 7 – 18 October at venues across London.
Nightmare On Elm Street To Be Rebooted Again
Following a poorly received reboot attempt in 2010, New Line is determined to have yet another go at reviving the iconic Nightmare on Elm Street horror franchise. The most recent film saw Jackie Earle Haley replacing original star Robert Englund as claw handed monster Freddy Krueger. It’s unclear yet who would be expected to terrorize audiences in the new film.
David Leslie Johnson is attached to write the script for the new version, facing the difficult challenge of finding a way to somehow ’re-imagine’ the franchise after nine films. The 2010 reboot made considerable changes to backstory of Freddy, but as with most of the film it failed to find much favour with long time fans of the franchise.
David Leslie Johnson is rapidly becoming a popular choice for breathing new and hopefully lucrative life into familiar series. He’s also just been attached to trying to revive Dungeons & Dragons on the big screen, 15 years after the disastrous first effort to bring the popular 80s board game onto the big screen.
Till then check an interviews with Robert Englund below:
Colin Farrell Joins Harry Potter Spin Off
Colin Farrell is set to join Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller and Eddie Redmayne in the cast of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter pre-quel Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them.
Oscar winning star Redmayne is playing lead Newt Scamander, on a quest to document the magical creatures known to the world’s secret community of Witches and Wizards. Farrell will reportedly play a character called Graves, one of the wizards which Scamander encounters on his travels.
J.K. Rowling is personally adapting the screenplay which will allow Warner Bros to make another billion dollars from movie tickets and wand sales.
Zach Galligan Talks Gremlins 3 Sequel
Talking to Red Carpet News at the Showmasters London Film and Comic Con 2015, Gremlins star Zach Galligan gave his enthusiastic reaction to the increasing likelihood of a third Gremlins film.
Writer Chris Columbus has been hinting that a planned new Gremlins film would possibly feature returning characters as opposed to being merely a modern remake of the first film. Zach Galligan who played human hero Billy Peltzer in the fist two films thinks that opens the door for a full on sequel and a Gremlins 3 and he has some pretty interesting ideas about what kind of film it could be.
Galligan suggests that the new Gremlins film he would want to see would be an all out action film, taking inspiration from some of the previous films most memorable scenes. Like exploding a Gremlin filled movie theatre , using the Peltzer family sword to decapitate another and the chainsaw wielding finale in the first film.
Galligan’s most interesting suggestion is that the Gremlins might have an additional metamorphosis. So that having already turned from cuddly Mogwai into vicious Gremlins, the mischievous movie monsters would turn into something even more deadly that audiences haven’t seen yet. It’s a fun idea and would provide an obvious opportunity to showcase the vast improvement in special effects since the last sequel.
Galligan also points to the recent success of Jurrasic World as an example of how the beloved franchise could be successfully updated whilst building respectfully on the legacy of the previous two cult classics.
Check out the interview clip below and see our other videos from much more coverage of this year’s LFCC.