How Much Is Too Much?
Posted by movieguyjon
I try to hold off on seeing trailers as long as possible. There are a few reasons for this, but the biggest reason is that they tend to spoil too much of the film for me. It used to be that I could ignore the spoilerific content and still have a good time when I eventually saw the movie, but nothing on screen would ever truly surprise or thrill me. Never was this more glaring to me than when I watched the trailer for the Iron Man sequel coming out in May.
A movie trailer has a lot to do in the minute or two that it has in front of your eyes. It has to give you some sort of idea of the story and what the main plot is going to be while at the same time showing off just enough whiz-bang to get you into the seat. In short, trailers need to excite you. This is the rule with action, comedy, sci fi and comic book films and there are absolutely no exceptions. If Spider-man were to face the camera and talk about how awesome his new movie is going to be, would you actually go? No. You want to see the webhead dodge traffic while swinging from his white, gooey vines in pursuit of Doctor Octopus who has taken the effervescent Mary Jane Watson captive. It's these money shots that are going to get you into the film.
And it's these money shots that are making movies less fun. Back to Iron Man 2. We see War Machine in full outfit fighting side by side with Iron Man. There's one scene that will no longer impress me. There's another shot at the end of the trailer where Iron Man essentially reveals his portable Iron Man suit and steps into it on the race track. It's an impressive shot, and now completely old hat.
What's left, now that the creators have shot their load? Is there going to be something even more awesome in the film than what I've seen in the trailers? It's hard to imagine that since what I saw was already really damn cool. I hate to say it, but the chances of me going to see the movie in the theaters has dropped from 100% to about 60%. I think I might be able to wait for the DVD..
Trailer Watch
Posted by movieguyjon
I thought I would brighten your hump day by showing off a few trailers for films coming out this week. We've got a Matt Damon goes to war movie, a forgettable Robert Pattinson movie, and a movie about an exploding girl. I may just have to see that last one. Anyway, here you go, in no particular order.
Broken Bells Isn’t As Broken As You’d Think
Posted by movieguyjon
I'm going to admit off the bat that I don't have a lot of experience when it comes to Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse. The closest I've come to anything with his mark on it would have to be Gnarls Barkley and the second Gorillaz album, which still holds up for me all these years later. Well, today is the release date for his collaboration with The Shins' James Mercer, titled Broken Bells. As with the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach, NPR had a preview up all of last week for fans to sample. I gave this one a rather ridiculous amount of play since I'm a rabid fan of The Shins.
My thoughts? It's solid.
I read through a few early reviews and the general consensus on them is that the album is "meh" or just for the Zach Braff brand of hipster. Their problems with the album, however, are what I like about it. The album is simple, and Mercer proves that he can still work his vocal wonders while evolving his musical styling at the same time. There are moments here and there where the album gets a little slow, and that's really the only place where I agree with most of the reviewers out there.
If you like either of these two artists and what they do, you'll want to pick up this album
Plastic Beach is Some Kind Of Nature
Posted by movieguyjon
Today marks the release of Plastic Beach, the third album by virtual band Gorillaz. If you're up to date on your music news, you'll know that NPR has had a preview of the entire album up on it's site to give fans an early listen. After about a dozen or so listens, I thought I would share some kind of review for you. Short version: It's good and you need to go buy it right away.
Slightly less short version: If you're expecting the same kind of album as Demon Days or their self-titled debut, you might be a little disappointed. There are less standalone singles here than in previous albums. The trade off, though, is that the album feels more connected and flows way better. From first to the last track, it's an entire experience. Granted, nothing quite to the extent of Girl Talk's Feed The Animals, but it gets close and you will find yourself going through the entire album more than once without realizing how many tracks have passed.
I have a little bias in this review as I've enjoyed Damon Albarn's band since the beginning and could tell I would enjoy this new album immediately after listening to Stylo when it was leaked awhile back. And the singles on this track are difficult to get out of your head, from the frenetic "Superfast Jellyfish" to the somber "On Melancholy Hill." It's a finely crafted album and I heartily recommend you get it at your earliest convenience.
Need more proof? Check out the music video for Stylo below!
Reacting To The Oscars (A Live Blog)
Posted by movieguyjon
The Oscars are here again, and I thought I would do a rough "live blog" about my thoughts as the winners are announced this year. Since I haven't seen quite as many of the films nominated as I would have liked this year, my commentary will probably come off as humorous. I mean, how can I bitch and complain about movies that I haven't seen winning awards I could care less about, right? Haha, well, this IS TCC and we're all about "that little extra kick!" Anyway, keep checking back to this post for my reactions to this year's Academy Awards! That is, if you care.
Note for time zones behind mine: Spoiler Alert.
Okay, starting with the red carpet shit.
I'm also over at Row Three doing their live blogging event. Come in and say hi!
A Big TCC Update
Posted by movieguyjon
A lot has happened here at TCC so let's get right to it. Due to the costs of hosting the podcast episodes and the insane schedules of the hosts, Technicolor Commentary is discontinuing as a podcast. We're still going to meet up every month and do commentary for films you love and hate, but it's going to all be via ustream and we're going to be lessening the focus on the brand of "TCC." What that means a part from this is that we'll no longer be using the twitter account or posting articles to the site. We'll be using our own individual twitter accounts to get the meeting times to all of you. The facebook page will stay, so you can keep up to speed with what movies we're watching and hang with us, but it probably won't be more active than that.
It's been fun doing this as a podcast, but like I said, the constraints of getting everyone together, editing the episode, and paying for the episodes to be hosted have just become too much for us to handle. We hope to see you around the internets!
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Welcome Back TCC
Posted by movieguyjon
Let's compare TCC to Doctor Who for just a moment here. Whenever the great Doctor dies, he goes through a regeneration and becomes a completely different actor. That's pretty much what's happening here. We're transforming from a podcast/blog to a blog. What this means is that things are going to be changing throughout this week. The design will be completely different and the types of posts you're going to see here will be changing as well. The biggest difference is that we're no longer limited to film in our scope. Now, we'll be writing on a variety of topics such as television, anime, and web video(i.e. Legend of Neil, The Guild, and future web series).
I hope you rejoin us in the coming days for a new and improved Technicolor Commentary! Allonsi!