Disqus - Latest Comments for DestyNova

Re: STAR WARS 9, INDIANA JONES 5, FROZEN 2, And THE LION KING 2.0 Get Release Dates

Michael Stat — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 17:40:03 -0000

Why do you think Lucasfilm is moving Episode 9 from December to May?

There's no Avatar movie coming out in 2019 anymore (Avatar 2 just moved to Dec. 2020).

What's their logic in this, you think?

Re: Seth Rogen And Billy Eichner To Probably Sing “Hakuna Matata” In THE LION KING

Michael Stat — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 17:34:46 -0000

Yes, Irons as Scar is a must. Even if he has to get help hitting the high notes in Be Prepared, like before.

Re: Jennifer Connelly Joins Robert Rodriguez’s ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Michael Stat — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 10:11:04 -0000

I absolutely second reading the original 9 volume manga series.

It's one of my favorite works of sci-fi period, across all mediums.

The world, in which being a cyborg is a normal, everyday thing, and the rich elite live in a floating sky city over a place called the Scrapyard surrounded by Mad Max style deserts, is so fun and creative.

Fun characters, fun story, and surprisingly philosophical in a non-annoying way and filled with heart at the same time.

Re: Jennifer Connelly Joins Robert Rodriguez’s ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL

Michael Stat — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 09:54:22 -0000

Scott, the original 9 book Battle Angel manga series (made in the 90s) is incredible, and that has a far higher profile and is far more respected than the short anime that they made out of it.

It's his love of the original manga that
made James Cameron buy the rights in the 90s.

So if you ever decide to give Battle Angel a shot (which Indefinitely think you should - it's an incredibly built sci-fi world with a gripping story, deep characters, and avoids just about all negative manga cliches), I say definitely start with the manga.

Don't even bother watching the anime: the manga is amazing and infinitely better.

Re: A Lot Of Familiar Faces Show Up In New STAR WARS REBELS Trailer

Michael Stat — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 19:14:13 -0000

I kind of think that a final Darth Maul / Obi Wan confrontation would be best reserved for a potential OB1 spinoff "Star Wars Story".

Or maybe they should continue relegating spider-legs-Maul to tv shows since he was a bad idea (caving to fanboy desires) in the first place?

Nah, give me Maul vs OB1 2.0 with Ray Park and Ewan McGregor!

Re: Seriously, What The Hell Is Going On With This PASSENGERS Trailer?

Michael Stat — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 11:13:40 -0000

The backlash started when many of the top comments on the first two main trailers noticed that they gave away practically the entire movie.

And it all just looks flat and done before.

But mostly the backlash is because people feel like they've seen the whole movie already.

Re: Everyone Relax, SUICIDE SQUAD Is Officially A PG-13 Movie

Michael Stat — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 21:57:28 -0000

It's weird that X-Men Apocalypse seems to be the dawn of a new rule: you can show stabbing and blood spurts in a PG-13 movie, but only if they are two separate shots.

Re: The James Cameron Produced Robert Rodriguez Directed ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL has found its star!!!

Michael Stat — Mon, 30 May 2016 16:44:54 -0000

He's going to have to show he can make an epic, technically complex movie with an actual large crew and ( I hope ) 200+ million budget. So far the best RR movies have been either low-budget, or shot almost page-by-page from the comic.

Alita is just on a whole different level of size and scope and complexity that honestly Ridriguez hasn't come close to tackling yet.

Re: The James Cameron Produced Robert Rodriguez Directed ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL has found its star!!!

Michael Stat — Mon, 30 May 2016 16:40:45 -0000

I hope Rodriguez tells us in his own words why he chose to make this movie...so far there's been no official word from him, Cameron, or FOX since the official announcement.

As of now I'm worried because Cameron was envisioning "Alita" to be as technically complex as Avatar, with just as big a budget. I hope Cameron co-directs, or that Rodriguez is a really fast learner. As of now I'm worried Fox will slash the budget on this so much that it doesn't come close to Cameron's original vision.

Re: Rosa Salazar To Sala-Star In BATTLE ANGEL ALITA

Michael Stat — Fri, 27 May 2016 21:24:00 -0000

When Ava got the full skin I lost a bit of my suspension of disbelief despite AVA with her mesh robot body being pretty much the best CG I've ever seen. The way the skin melded together with that white light resulting in Alicia Vikander didn't convince me...I guess what I'm saying is that I hope Alita retains some of her cyborg-ness to the viewer when fully covered up to the neck. In the manga she has indented seams, lines, bumps, dents, and silver lines on her cheeks and under her eyes.

So I agree, an actress can and will play her, sometimes full CG based on performance and at other times CG enhanced...I'm just worried that they might just slap on some prosthetics and only use CG enhancement rarely and call it a day if they reduce the budget.

Re: Rosa Salazar To Sala-Star In BATTLE ANGEL ALITA

Michael Stat — Fri, 27 May 2016 19:00:12 -0000

Cameron's plan has been for a CG Alita since he started talking about this movie in about 2001.

I just hope the budget is still high enough to do this, since the character really has to be CG to be believable (switching bodies, battle damage leaving her in some instances with nothing left but half a head and exposed brain, tiny moving parts, seams, dents, etc.

Re: Exclusive: Rosa Salazar to Lead ‘Battle Angel Alita’

Michael Stat — Fri, 27 May 2016 16:06:38 -0000

She definitely looks a lot like Alita!

But I'm worried that Rodriguez may decide to not make Alita a CG character.

After over a decade of Cameron hyping up how big the scope of this movie would be and how Alita would be bleeding-edge CG, I'd be really worried if RR decides to not make Alita a performance-capture CG creation.

In the manga Alita constantly gets severely battle damaged, changes bodies completely every few volumes, and has all kinds of small moving mechanical parts ( or sometimes nanomachines that give her powers similar to the T-1000). There are frequently seams and dents on her head.

She's the definition of a character that has to be CG to be believable.

I also really want to hear from Rodriguez about why he wants to make this movie. It was such a huge labor of love for Cameron, and so far we haven't heard Rodriguez' motivations for teaming with Cameron other than for it to be an "educational experience".

Since 2002 or so "Alita" has been my most anticipated movie of all time. Please, please keep it as big and awe-inspiring as Cameron always planned!

Re: Hallelujah! Geoff Johns Is In Charge Of The DCEU

Michael Stat — Wed, 18 May 2016 22:13:30 -0000

How much is Geoff Johns at fault for the 2011 Green Lantern movie for being so godawful?

As a producer on that film, and reading about his association with it in all the pre-release hype, I had always thought of him as one of the top 3 creative forces on that train wreck, maybe even the top voice since Matin Campbell had just come off of directing the awesome Casino Royale.

Did I just get the wrong impression of how much power and control Johns had?

Re: Review: X-Men: Apocalypse should please fans, but its awfully familiar fare

Michael Stat — Mon, 09 May 2016 20:24:03 -0000

One thing I'm worried about: did they seriously nerf Apocalypse's powers as some rumors had suggested? I.E. I hope he at least still has his telekinesis and some type of matter manipulation, and not just the healing and mind control mentioned in the review.

Re: Check out the Alita short list for the Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron BATTLE ANGEL flick!

Michael Stat — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:23:26 -0000

Your first paragraph is why this was my most anticipated movie ever. Your second paragraph is what I fear Rodriguez will do (has RR even once said he even likes Battle Angel?)

Re: Battle Angel inches closer to picking its Alita for the James Cameron remake

Michael Stat — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:18:26 -0000

Rodriguez hasn't said anything to indicate that he's passionate about the character and story of Alita. Instead, from the announcement press release it seems he's merely viewing this as a chance to learn Cameron's tech.

Cameron was the one who bought the rights back in the mid-nineties. Cameron was the one who talked with infectious enthusiasm about Barttle Angel Alita in dozens of interviews for 15 years now. Cameron is the one who wore an Alita shirt on the set of Avatar.

This used to be my most anticipated movie of all time. Now I worry about it.

Is Alita even a CG character anymore? If not, that bodes very poorly.

Re: Check out the Alita short list for the Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron BATTLE ANGEL flick!

Michael Stat — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:11:09 -0000

I'm disappointed that none of the actresses are Asian. And it's annoying how Asians are so underrepresented in movies that we still refer to them as Asians, and not Japanese/Korean/Chinese/Thai/Cambodian/Laotian/Vetnamese etc, etc.

I've pretty much lost hope for this movie now. Rodriguez has showed no passion for it and doesn't have a hundredth the world-building, action, and emotional filmmaking chops as Cameron.

Please, Jim, come back and direct this yourself!!!

Re: Check out the Alita short list for the Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron BATTLE ANGEL flick!

Michael Stat — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 16:01:53 -0000

I haven't seen Rodriguez say anything to indicate that he loves the story / character of Battle Angel Alita. Cameron is clearly super-passionate about it as seen in dozens of interviews (and he wore an Alita shirt in one of the Avatar promo pics!), but so far it seems Rodriguez only wants to do it because it'll be "a learning experience" for various tech, or something like that.

And these 3 actresses don't inspire much confidence judging from their work...I was hoping for a total unknown, someone who'd treat the role with full gusto like Daisy Ridley did with Rey.

I still hope that Cameron changes his mind and decides to direct this. He's the one who was passionate enough to snap up the rights back in the 90s and has talked many times about his love for the character of Alita and her world, not Rodriguez.

Also, Alita was supposed to be a total CG character. Did that change? If Alita is no longer CG, then that indicates that the budget may not be sufficient to bring this movie to life.

Re: Robert Rodriguez Is Almost Ready To Cast His BATTLE ANGEL: ALITA

Michael Stat — Wed, 27 Apr 2016 15:51:46 -0000

This was my most anticipated movie *ever* back when Cameron was a sure-thing to direct it. Now it's looking like Rodriguez is doing it for all the wrong reasons, and his top casting choices look less than exciting. Also, Alita was supposed to be a CG character (Cameron mentioned in counties interviews). No mention of this now.

Re: There’s Already A BvS Deleted Scene Online

Michael Stat — Tue, 29 Mar 2016 17:18:42 -0000

Agreed: especially after seeing how Lex was just about to burn Martha Kent alive. Not to mention the multitudes of deaths from the Doomsday fight. Batman should have at least knocked him unconscious or something. It also would be more satisfying to much of the audience to see Lex get more of a comeuppance.

Re: Here's Why The Snoke Darth Plagueis Theories Are Probably Wrong

Michael Stat — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 18:12:17 -0000

I just want to point out that there's a good chance that even if in the early concept phases the writers didn't know Snoke's backstory or details about him; since then the Snoke = Plagueis theory is BY FAR the most popular (and desired to be true!!!) fan theory out there and that it's quite possibly they modified Snoke to be Plagueis soon after seeing the millions of Plagueis theories and questions in the lead-up to the release of EP. 7.

People who say the Plagueis fans are an "insignificant minority" of Star Wars fans are delusional and obviously haven't spent any time at all on any of the top 3 or 4 SW fan sites, or the Reddit subreddits. A Plagueis thread or more is ALWAYS on the front page.

Oh, and they don't even need to mention the name "Plagueis" once in his reveal. Just have him say that he trained The Emperor, and the casualy-ist casual will say, "oh, wow, this guy's powerful and means business!"

Re: Cameron's out, but another legendary geek-friendly director's taking up ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL!

Michael Stat — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 23:55:01 -0000

I just hope that Cameron already had some shots/scenes/sequences pre-vised that Rodriguez can just go ahead and shoot. There's no denying that Cameron raises the bar for pure spectacle every time he makes a new movie and I want ALITA to blow me to the back of the theatre.

I haven't watched every RR film (most notably I haven't seen any of the Spy Kids movies)...do you think RR has the imagination to make Alita feel as big as Cameron would make it? I've seen directors waste huge budgets making stuff that looks flat and feels clunky. Cameron is a master at staging and editing action and making it feel epic, even with a small budget as in T1.

I loved Sin City, but that movie is really small in scale and flat of course in terms of visuals. I just hope RR can delivery the huge sweeping epic the fans want while keeping the emotional core of the Battle Angel graphic novels.

Re: Cameron's out, but another legendary geek-friendly director's taking up ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL!

Michael Stat — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 22:15:13 -0000

From a purely visual perspective, I don't know if Rodriguez is capable of sci-fi imagery and action on the huge scale of something like Battle Angel. That's what worries me the most, along with RR's fast, cheap and campy directing style.

You all know Cameron would deliver something of such tremendous scope, and visuals of a caliber we've never seen before. RR, I worry, will make this movie fast and cheap.

Re: Andy Serkis is Supreme Leader Snoke in Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

Michael Stat — Thu, 28 May 2015 16:01:18 -0000

So, the question now:

Is Snoke actually a Sith Lord/Master? Like others here, I was hoping Serkis was playing a resurrected or soon-to-be-ressurected (think Sauron) Darth Plagueis.

Plagueis would be a great way of tying together all nine films: the opera scene in Ep3 where Palpatine tells Anakin the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise is great...I love the lore-building there. Plagueis' ability to create life and prevent death would add cool new dimension to the Star Wars universe too.

Re: It’s time for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in HFR 3D

Michael Stat — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 07:44:53 -0000

I noticed that too - much smoother transition this time.