Review: Disney's 'Big Hero 6'

It's been said many times, and even mocked by Saturday Night Live, that Marvel can basically turn anything into a box office smash. The top-grossing movie of the year is Guardians of the Galaxy, for chrissakes, based on a comic book practically nobody read and less had heard of.  When Marvel and Disney essentially merged, it brought on a new challenge in territory that had yet to be conquered: animation. Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated feature based on a Marvel property, and it's both the strangest choice and the perfect one. Blending super-powered heroics with kid-friendly action and an ethnically-diverse cast, Big Hero 6 has something for everybody to love.

Big Hero 6 is based on a super obscure manga-influenced miniseries from years ago; so obscure it makes the Guardians of the Galaxy look like the X-men. While Disney has made some significant changes in the transition to the screen, honoring its Japanese roots certainly hasn't been lost. Shedding the typical Disney homogenization and honoring a merger of many different cultures, it's safe to say this is one of the best looking Disney animated films ever made, certainly unlike anything in their vast catalog of classics. Set in San Fransokyo, a futuristic combination of San Francisco and Tokyo, a gorgeous blend of new and old world charms, the story centers on robotics genius Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) and his equally brainy older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney). Orphaned at a young age, the two now live with their eager aunt (Maya Rudolph), using their intellect in very different ways. While Tadashi studies at a prestigious university, Hiro builds robots and earns money fighting them in underground tournaments. Sensing his little bro may be on the wrong path, Tadashi brings him to the school where Hiro is blown away by the awesome stuff being built by the other geeks: the spunky racer Go-Go (Jamie Chung) Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr) the laser enthusiast; Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) is a chemistry expert; and Fred (TJ Miller) is basically Shaggy minus his Scooby-Doo companion.

The character that is sure to become a phenomenon in his own right is the lovable, cherubic Baymax (Scott Adsit). Basically a giant stuffed balloon robot, Baymax is pretty much impossible to resist. Designed by Tadashi as a nurse robot, Baymax is clumsy, lumbering, and helpful to a fault. When tragedy strikes the university and Tadashi is killed, he becomes an outlet for Hiro's grief and a willing companion. Somebody out there caused the explosion that got Tadashi killed, it’s up to Hiro, Baymax, and his newly souped-up nerd pals to uncover the truth.  Basically, Big Hero 6 is a classic superhero origin story, one alive with energy, humor, and even a few dark turns. It actually works best as Hiro and his pals are hanging out, joking, and using their intellect to design their wondrous powers, and it's so much fun that we almost forget there's a bad guy out there to be caught.

While there are plenty of laughs to be found, mostly through the constantly-bumbling Baymax, there's also a serious journey of self-discovery that Hiro must endure. Learning to cope with loss, making new friends, and using his genius for good are all lessons Hiro must learn, but there are plenty more that the story merely touches upon. In fact there are too many messages the screenplay wants to get across, throwing them at us a mile a minute. It's a distraction from what we truly want to see more of and that's the relationship between Hiro and Baymax. Threatening for a while to become a pet/master situation, Baymax's ever-present connection to Tadashi becomes an emotional touchstone, one that never fades away through the robot's silly antics. As a healing robot it's his programming to help Hiro through his brother's death, but in a way he becomes a surrogate sibling. Its touching stuff, some of the most emotional Disney has ever dared in a film geared at young audiences. I dare you not to shed a tear when Baymax asks if Hiro is satisfied with his care.

Directed by Don Hall, who gave us the excellent Winnie the Pooh a couple of years ago, and Chris Williams (Bolt), Big Hero 6 looks amazing. A merging of Eastern and Western influences, San Fransokyo is both fascinating and a little bit scary, with new wondrous discoveries to be made around every corner. When Baymax gets his new winged battle armor, he and Hiro embark on a soaring test flight that actually surpasses anything we saw in How to Train Your Dragon. Unfortunately, his new armor also signals a turn away from the character work that was so enjoyable and an emphasis on standard superhero action. There's nothing technically wrong with any of it, but nor is it especially inspired. We just really want to watch Baymax try to squeeze his fat body in and out of tight spaces, or patch up holes with duct tape, or learn how to fist bump. Can we get more of that please? No seriously, can we get more of Big Hero 6? There's so much to adore here that a sequel is an absolute must.  It's another big victory for Disney and Marvel, and to think this is just scratching the surface of their potential. Yes, Big Hero 6, I am more than satisfied with my care.

 Rating: 4 out of 5

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Check Out Baymax's Tragic Origin in New Trailer for Disney's 'Big Hero 6'

Disney is going to be pulling at your heartstrings later this year with Big Hero 6, the animated film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team. Most of the trailers we've seen for it up to this point have focuses on the mix of action and comedy, highlighting the bond between between boy genius Hiro Hamada and his inflatable robot pal, Baymax. But now we get a look at why Hiro feels such a connection with Baymax and it may have you shedding a few tears.

Presented as a team of nerds, Big Hero 6 consists of Hiro, Baymax, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, and Gogo Tomago who come together to defend the futuristic city of San Fransokyo from a kabuki-masked villain. It's our first real look at the entire team in action, but the focus is squarely on the clumsy Baymax who Disney clearly see big merchandising dollars in. The Baymax action figures were flying off the shelves at Comic-Con earlier this year.

Genesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell, Damon Wayans Jr., Jamie Chung, Alan Tudyk, T.J. Miller, Maya Rudolph, Ryan Potter, and Scott Adsit lend their voices to Big Hero 6, which opens on November 7th.


Big Hero 6 - Trailer #2 [VO|HD] by addictomovie

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Review: 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' Starring Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Eva Green

Just how good of a year was 2005 for comic book movies? You basically had two groundbreaking films that turned the entire genre on its side opening within two months of each other: Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Robert Rodriguez's Sin City. Nobody disputes the impact of Nolan's trilogy but it can be argued Sin City, with its sleazy cast of hard-edged film noir archetypes and visuals literally popping from the pages of Frank Miller's graphic novel, was more immediately impressive. Copycats followed and Rodriguez's use of CGI technology became the new standard for by which all such films were measured. There just weren't any more Sin City flicks, at least not right away. Nine years later, after much teasing by Rodriguez, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is finally here and it offers sexier femme fatales, more angry antiheroes, more blood and nudity. And while that may be enough to satisfy the most hardcore fans others may feel like the long wait was barely worth it.

The genius of Sin City and its pair of adaptations, co-directed by Rodriguez and Miller, is that it resembles the nasty criminal underworld of Batman comics with the hyper-stylization of superheroes. It's a place where a crazed behemoth like Marv (Mickey Rourke) can get shot a dozen times and come back to pluck a guy's eye out, grumbling one-liners the whole way. Rodriguez doesn't so much as recreate the familiar film noir elements; dark shadows, cigarette smoke, vigilantes and manipulative vixens; he glorifies them while indulging in the comical violence he's always been such a fan of. In this case, the maddeningly over-the-top violence more closely resembles that of Rodriguez's Machete Kills, which couldn't be less of a film noir than Spy Kids was.

Rodriguez's computer generated backgrounds, which blew our minds nine years ago, no longer have that element of surprise but they are still breathtaking to behold. Shattered glass and spraying blood glisten in the eye-popping starkness of this black and white world, occasionally lit up by flashes of color. Usually these brief moments of vibrancy are reserved for the ladies, who are either arm candy or scheming she-devils. Like the first film, a series of loosely-connected short stories ripped from the comics comprise the bulk of the material, with a couple of new tales that introduce a new character and expand on another. The crisscrossing chronology allows for some dead characters to be seen once again, like Marv and his demented search for answers in "Just Another Saturday Night". In that one, Marv, whose head has never been screwed on too tight, cracks heads while trying to figure out why he killed a bunch of guys. A thread from the first film is followed-up on in "Nancy's Last Dance", in which the saintly (for Sin City anyway) strip club dancer Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) goes nuts after the death of her savior, John Hartigan (Bruce Willis), and seeks revenge on the politically-connected Roark clan of psychos.

Because so much of Sin City: A Dame to Kill For remains unchanged from before, both in terms of tone and visual flourish, it's the new additions to the cast who are the greatest blast to spend time with. The centerpiece story “A Dame to Kill For" features the dangerously gorgeous Eva Green in various states of undress. No other actress so perfectly embodies the classic femme fatale as Green, who plays Ava Lord in a twisted tale that explains how street hero Dwight (now played by Josh Brolin) came to need that new face he had in the first film. Dwight's always had a soft spot for the ladies and Lord exploits that by calling on him for help against the torturous Manute (Dennis Haysbert) and her abusive billionaire husband. She and Dwight share a troubled romantic past and he can't resist her cries for help or her sexual advances. Of course she's not being totally honest about her situation, and when Dwight enlists Marv (who appears in practically every story) to take down Lord once and for all its bloody and kinky in all the ways we love about Sin City. Green slinks and slithers like a snake with her piercing eyes and Rodriguez lavishes us with every gratuitous shot of her shimmering body. He's as smitten with her as the many men who fall under Lord's spell, which includes Christopher Meloni as a married cop who haplessly carries out her orders. She's everything the title suggests and more.

The best of the fresh material is Joseph Gordon-Levitt's "The Long Bad Night", in which the perfectly-suited actor plays Johnny, a cardsharp riding a hot streak and decides to see how far he can take it. With a hot dame (Julia Garner) by his side he decides to take on Sin City's most heinous villain, Senator Roarke (Powers Boothe) in a poker match and wins handily. Winning may have its privileges but not in Sin City, and Roarke makes Johnny's life a gruesome waking nightmare.

Sadly we don't get to see nearly enough of Rosario Dawson as Gale, leader of the Old Town prostitutes, while brief cameos by Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, and Stacy Keach mostly serve as "ah ha" moments rather than anything memorable. With all the CGI violence and sexy babes this is Rodriguez right in his element, but there's never any attempt to improve on what came before. Sin City was such a game-changer that it's disappointing Rodriguez doesn't try to break new ground with Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. He gives fans all the blood and guts they can handle and absolutely nothing more.

 Rating: 3 out of 5

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Trailer for William H. Macy's Directorial Debut 'Rudderless' with Billy Crudup, Selena Gomez, and Anton Yelchin

One of the movies I heard a great deal about at Sundance, some of it good and some bad, was William H. Macy's directorial debut, Rudderless. The film sounds a lot like John Carney's recent musical drama Begin Again, exploring music and its power to make our lives better even in the face of terrible hardship. And with a release date only a few weeks away the first trailer has been released and it looks those who heaped praise on it may have been right.

Macy has gathered a strong cast with Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Selena Gomez, Felicty Huffman, Laurence Fishburne, and Jamie Chung for the story of Sam (Crudup) a father struggling to deal with the death of his son. Turning to alcohol to cope with the pain, he finds a different coping mechanism when a box of his son's demo tapes is uncovered, revealing a gift for music Sam never knew he had. Learning to play the songs as a means of connecting with his child, Sam and another young man (Yelchin) form a rock band that becomes more popular than expected.

Rudderless hits VOD and theaters on October 17th.


Rudderless trailer 1 (2014) - Selena Gomez Movie (HD) by MovieTrailerz

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Jamie Chung is the Deadly Miho in New 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' Clip

Robert Rodriguez was able to lure back most of the original cast for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, but it was necessary to make a few changes. Dennis Haysbert has replaced the late Michael Clarke Duncan as the villainous Manute; Josh Brolin plays a pre-facial surgery version of Dwight; and Jamie Chung has taken over for Devon Aoki as the deadly Old Town assassin, Miho.

A new clip serves as reintroduction to the sadistic Miho, with heads getting lopped off at an alarming rate. Clearly, Rodriguez and Frank Miller haven't dialed down the nasty violence, and really it wouldn't be Sin City without it. Chung doesn't have the iciness Aoki brought to the role but she seems capable enough to play a silent killer.

There's still something about this film that isn't quite clicking with me and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it. Maybe it's that the visuals are exactly the same as they were eight years ago and it looks dated as a result. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.

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First TV Spot, New Trailer, and Full Voice Cast for Disney's 'Big Hero 6'

Although we've seen trailers and promos for Disney's animated Marvel Comics film, Big Hero 6, very little of the characters' voices have been heard. The only confirmed voice casting up until now had been TJ Miller (currently seen in Transformers: Age of Extinction), Maya Rudolph, and Jamie Chung (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), but now we have the full rundown along with a new trailer and TV spot for the superhero 'toon.

Teenaged martial artist Ryan Potter of Nickelodeon's Supah Ninjas will voice robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada; his robotic pal Baymax will be played by 30 Rock's Scott Adsit; Damon Wayans Jr. (New Girl) voices Wasabi No-Ginger; and Genesis Rodriguez (Casa De Mi Padre) is Honey Lemon. Miller is voicing Fred aka Fredzilla, Chung is Go Go Tomago, while Rudolph is Aunt Cass. Also coming aboard are James Cromwell, Firefly's Alan Tudyk, and Daniel Henney (Shanghai Calling)  in supporting roles.

Big Hero 6 opens November 7th. Check out the new TV spot, a Baymax promo, and some new images below.

Big Hero 6 Trailer #3 by itsartmag

Big Hero 6 - Spot TV #1 [VO|HD] by Team Lyricis


Big Hero 6 Official Viral Video - Meet Baymax! (2014) by Teaser-Trailer.com

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Crazy Sounds Good to Jessica Alba in First 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For' Clip

We're burning through the summer blockbusters pretty fast, and with only a handful left Robert Rodriguez's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is starting to get a little more attention. Dimension Films has released the first clip from the film, and it features the returning character of Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba), and apparently she's gone a little nutso since the death of her friend, Hartigan (Bruce Willis), the man who saved her life. And when Nancy goes nuts, she starts cutting things. Suffice it to say this will not be the same Nancy, all dolled up in cowgirl gear, that we saw before.  Along with it are a couple of new photos of Old Town's toughest ladies. Jamie Chung (taking over for Devon Aoki) as the deadly assassin Miho, and Rosario Dawson as her fearsome leader, Gail.

Co-Directed by Rodriguez and Frank Miller, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.

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Jamie Chung Voices 'Big Hero 6'; Eliza Dushku Joins 'Eloise'; Annabelle Wallis Boards 'Grimsby'

* Ex-Real Worlder Jamie Chung, who will be seen later this summer in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, will be lending her voice to Marvel's animated Big Hero 6. The Disney Animation film is based on the quirky Japanese superteam created by Scott Lobdel, and centers on robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada who, along with his powerful robot Baymax, joins an oddball team of heroes to defend the city of San Fransokyo. Chung joins the only other confirmed cast member, TJ Miller, who will be voicing Fredzilla. Big Hero 6 is set to open November 7th.

* Chace Crawford, Eliza Dushku, Brandon T. Jackson, and PJ Byrne will star in Eloise, a psychological thriller that marks the directorial debut by Academy Award-winning visual effects wiz, Robert Legato. They play four friends who break into the Eloise mental hospital "in hopes of finding a death certificate, which will provide Jacob (Crawford) with the rights to a sizable inheritance. While inside the asylum, the group not only finds that the institution houses a horrifying history but also the truth about their own tragic pasts." The script was written by Vatican Tapes scribe, Chris Borrelli. Filming begins next month at the infamous Eloise Insane Asylum, one of the largest in the world. [Deadline]

* With Mark Strong just coming aboard to play Sacha Baron Cohen's brother in Grimsby, the spy comedy now has a female lead in Annabelle Wallis. Cohen plays a British football hooligan who is forced to go on the run with his brother, a Black Ops super-spy. Wallis will play a love interest, of course. She'll also be seen, coincidentally, in The Conjuring spinoff titled Annabelle.

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New Looks at Eva Green, Bruce Willis, and More in 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

It's been a long wait to get back to the crime-filled, pulpy streets of Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's Sin City, but this summer that wait finally comes to an end. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For brings back much of the original cast while adding a few new faces, and the latest batch of photos give us a look at both. Eva Green stars as the titular "dame", Ava Lord, and clearly she's as beautiful as she is deadly. We also get a look at Dennis Haysbert as Manute, replacing the late Michael Clarke Duncan; Jamie Chung, taking over for Devon Aoki as Miho; and Josh Brolin standing in for Clive Owen as Dwight. Joseph Gordon-Levitt can be seen as a completely new character dreamed up for the film, while Jessica Alba, Powers Boothe, and Bruce Willis are all back in familiar roles.

Basically, Rodriguez seems to be giving fans more of what they dug before. Can't really argue with that approach. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.

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First Trailer for Robert Rodriguez's 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

Eight years ago when Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller took us to the crime-filled, noirish landscape of Sin City, the film's stylish black & white look was considered revolutionary, at least in the world of comic book movies. But now after all this time does it still hold the same mystique? That question begins to be answered with the release of the first trailer for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

Again based on Miller's pulpy graphic novels, with some fresh material thrown in there penned by William Monahan (The Departed), the film takes us back to the blood-soaked streets of Sin City populated by bizarre villains, femme fatales, and stoic antiheroes. The footage gives us our first official look at Eva Green as the titular dame, and she's leading a powerful cast consisting of Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, Josh Brolin, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Haysbert, Jamie Chung, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Julia Garner, Ray Liotta, Juno Temple, Jeremy Piven and Stacey Keach.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens August 22nd.


Sin City A Dame To Kill For Trailer by Stuff We Like

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Lizzy Caplan Joins James Franco and Seth Rogen for 'The Interview'

Get read because you're going to be seeing a lot of Lizzy Caplan from now on, and I for one couldn't be happier. Coming off of last year's VOD smash comedy Bachelorette, Caplan has continued her climb up the Hollywood ladder with the successful debut of Showtime series, Masters of Sex, and now she's set to hook up with old pals Seth Rogen and James Franco for their latest pairing.

Caplan has snagged the female lead in The Interview, which marks the follow-up by This is the End writers/directors Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film has Rogen and Franco as a producer and talk show host who find themselves in the middle of an assassination plot against the North Korean leader. Caplan will take on the role of Agent Lacy, reuniting with the duo she starred in four episodes of Freaks and Geeks with years ago. She had a small appearance with Franco in Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, but she hasn't worked with Rogen since the very first episode of Judd Apatow's underrated series Undeclared back in 2001.

In addition, Randall Park (Veep) has landed the role of intended assassination victim Kim Jong-Un (what, no Ken Jeong??), while Jamie Chung (Sorority Row) may play a member of his team who falls in love with Rogen. So it looks like all of the pieces are coming together for The Interview to be ready by its release date on October 10th 2014.[Deadline/BleedingCool]

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Jamie Chung and Jamie King set for 'Sin City: A Dame to Kill For'

 
Now that Robert Rodriguez is all finished up with Machete Kills, he's moving from that right into the long-awaited Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.  Fans of 2005's Sin City have been craving the follow-up for years, and after enduring tons of delays and Rodriguez's constantly putting it on the backburner, production has now officially gotten underway today.

As expected, Rosario Dawson, Mickey Rourke, and Jessica Alba are expected to return, with Clive Owen presumed to be reprising his role as Dwight. As hinted at the in the first film, Dwight has undergone some radical facial surgery, so it's expected that someone else will play another version of Dwight. THR also notes the return of Jaime King as Goldie, the blond prostitute that Marve was obsessed with. She'll now play Goldie's twin sister, Wendy. Jamie Chung is the first official new cast member announced, replacing Devon Aoki as the sword-wielding assassin Miho.

There's still a lot of major casting yet to be completed, including for the all-important role of the sexy seductress Ava, which at one time they had hoped Angelina Jolie would take. There's also a newly created character named Johnny, a smooth gambler.

Rodriguez is again co-directing with Sin City creator Frank Miller, and while a number of storylines will again be incorporated, we do know that Just Another Saturday Night is one of the stories that will play a major part. Last we'd heard, the plan was for Sin City: A Dame to Kill For was being targeted for an October 4th 2013 release. 

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Trailer Time: Sucker Punch, directed by Zack Snyder

Hot chicks, giant samurai robots, space ships, martial arts....Sucker Punch has it all. Zack Snyder's female centric action adventure/fantasy could be my favorite movie ever and I haven't even seen it yet. I thought there wasn't going to be anything sexier than a machine gun wielding Helen Mirren, but that was until I saw a gun toting Abbie Cornish. I'm in love and there's not a thing anybody can do about it.

The first full trailer for the film has been released, and it's simply fantastic for all the reasons I mentioned above. Due out next March 25th, Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning(The Uninvited) as a mental patient who uses the power of her imagination to create a dreamscape that she and her friends(Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Jamie Chung, Vanessa Hudgens) must survive in order to escape. There's a spot reserved on my DVD shelf already.

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1st Look: Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch

I don't think I've said two words on this site about Sucker Punch, Zack Snyder's upcoming all-girl action/fantasy flick. That's unusual, since it's pretty much a film that seems as if it was made specifically for me. Big guns, hot chicks, and brutal over the top violence. Just the thought gives me a warm feeling all over, like I just came out of the cold to a cup of hot cocoa. Then again maybe that's just the heat in this stinkin' office.

Sucker Punch stars Emily Browning(The Uninvited) as Babydoll, a girl confined to a mental institution, where she begins to fantasize about making a violent escape. Jena Malone(Saved)Vanessa Hudgens(High School Musical), Abbie Cornish(Bright Star), Jamie Chung(Sorority Row), and Scott Glenn(Buffalo Soldiers) also star.

Check out the image below from Entertainment Weekly's Comic-Con special, featuring pretty much the entire cast. It already looks like a ton of deliciously bloody fun.

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