MOV063: “How about at hot cup of freedom?”

In this 63rd reel of COL Movies, the boys head back to 2007 to check out the film adaptation of the off-broadway revue, “Naked Boys Singing!” After seeing more than enough full frontal nudity, they head to the theater to find out if “Captain America: The First Avenger” lives up to the hype. From there, they head to the moon with the “who the hell knows if it will actually ever be released” horror flick, “Apollo 18”. They also talk about JJ Abrams’ upcoming projects, provide updates on ”Oz, The Great and Powerful” and “Superman”, as well as discuss…hold your breath…”Machete” sequels? Really? Welcome to COL Movies…now how about a hot cup of freedom?

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News:

  • JJ Abrams is working on Star Trek 2? Most definitely, but don’t count on it being released in June 2012
  • Abrams has returned from his post-Super 8 vacation and is committed to directing Star Trek 2, so committed that he’s working with writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to shape up the script
  • G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation has been moved to its release spot of June 29, 2012
  • Star Trek 2, no official release date set now, but don’t expect it before Dec 2012 or Summer 2013
  • Full synopsis for “Oz, The Great and Powerful” released
  • “Oz The Great and Powerful” imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved character, the Wizard of Oz. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.
  • Never Before seen Superman Returns Opening now online
  • 5 Minute sequence cost an estimated 10 Million
  • Shows Superman in a crystalline spaceship exploring the remains of Krypton

  • Machete sequels revealed at SDCC
  • Machete Kills
  • Machete Kills again! …. in space!
  • “Both ‘Machete’ sequels have been greenlit,” says Rodriguez, though he added that the first one is currently the only one guaranteed to have a full-length film involved. The third will exist (for the time being) only in trailer form.
  • Rodriguez promises that it will include space babes and a lightsaber style weapon.

The Past: Naked Boys Singing!
Rotten Tomatoes: 64% Fresh, 53% Audience

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Directors: Robert Schrock, Troy Christian

Starring: Andrew Blake Ames, Jason Currie and Marlene Fisher

Trivia:

  • Adaptation of a 1998 off-broadway play of the same name.

Talking Points:

  • What did ya think?
  • Debate over off-broadway versus movie version
  • Where are the bears?

What We’ve Learned:

  • I’m a perky little porn star.
  • I beat my meat.

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Being a theatre person, the nudity didn’t do anything for me, it was just part of the act. I do enjoy myself a revue but not sure it’s for everything due to the gay themes and nudity.
Ray: I prefer my musicals to have a more cohesive narrative, I realize this is a revue, which I’ve never really been fond of. The nudity is somewhat amusing at first, but once that has worn off, the rest of it doesn’t hold my attention.
Steve: The songs are catchy and cute. The nudity didn’t do a whole lot for me the first time I saw this…and wasn’t a whole lot different the second time around. It is unique and would be fun to watch other people’s reactions though!

Intermission: Flickchart

The Present:Captain America: The First Avenger
Rotten Tomatoes: 76% Fresh, 84% Audience

Director: Joe Johnston

Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones

Trivia:

  • Jon Favreau was originally chosen by Marvel Studios to direct this film, but he chose to direct Iron Man. Nick Cassavetes, was also considered to direct this film, and had been set as a director for Iron Man in December 2004.
  • Despite being “The First Avenger”, it is the last solo Avenger film to be released before the team-up film, The Avengers.
  • According to producer Avi Arad: “The biggest opportunity with Captain America is as a man ‘out of time’, coming back today, looking at our world through the eyes of someone who thought the perfect world was small-town America. Sixty years go by, and who are we today? Are we better?”
  • Joe Johnston was chosen as the film’s director for his work on the period adventure films The Rocketeer and October Sky.
  • Louis Leterrier viewed some of the concept art for the film, and was impressed enough to offer his services, but Marvel Studios turned him down. However, his film The Incredible Hulk features a small appearance by Captain America: a deleted scene set in the Arctic features his body hidden in a slab of ice.
  • Screenwriter David Self, who wrote a draft of the script, claimed Captain America was his favorite childhood superhero: “My dad told me I could one day be Captain America.”
  • Sam Worthington and Will Smith were in early talks for the role of Captain America. Later on Garrett Hedlund, Channing Tatum, Scott Porter, Mike Vogel, Sebastian Stan, Chris Evans, Wilson Bethel, John Krasinski, Michael Cassidy, Chace Crawford and Jensen Ackles were on the final shortlist for the role. Kellan Lutz, Ryan Phillippe and Alexander Skarsgård carried out auditions, but ultimately the role went to Chris Evans.
  • Alice Eve and Keira Knightley were considered for the role of Peggy Carter. Emily Blunt turned down the role.
  • Tommy Lee Jones who plays Colonel Phillips in this film, also appeared as Two-Face/Harvey Dent in Batman Forever. Both Captain America and Batman faced off in the Marvel vs. DC crossover in 1996.
  • This is the fifth live-action adaptation of the superhero. The first was the serial Captain America; the second was the TV movie Captain America and its sequel Captain America II: Death Too Soon; and the fourth was the theatrical film Captain America.
  • Chris Evans was attracted to the role of Captain America by its character: “Even if it wasn’t a comic book. I think the story of Steve Rogers is great. He’s a great guy. Even if it was just a script about anybody, I would probably want to do it. It wasn’t necessarily about the comic itself. He’s a great character to play; he just happens to be a comic book character.”
  • Hugo Weaving based the Red Skull’s accent on renowned German filmmakers Werner Herzog and Klaus Maria Brandauer.
  • To prepare for her role as Peggy Carter, Hayley Atwell trained six days a week.
  • Originally cameo appearances were planned in the film for James Logan Howlett (Wolverine) and Erik Lensherr (Magneto), who were present during World War II (Logan was a soldier and Lensherr was a prisoner of war). These cameos were scrapped due to rights issues.
  • Chris Evans seventh comic book movie after the two Fantastic Four movies, TMNT (2007) Push (2009)The Losers, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
  • The final Paramount Pictures film produced with Marvel Studios. Disney bought the rights to The Avengers and Iron Man 3.
  • Chris Evans declined the role three times before accepting the part. After that, he had a meeting with the director and the producers who convinced him to take the role.
  • Originally cameo appearances were planned in the film for Namor the Sub-Mariner, the Prince of Atlantis, but this was scrapped.
  • Sebastian Stan was considered for the role of Captain America, but got the role of Bucky instead.
  • Hayley Atwell based her performance as Peggy Carter on Ginger Rogers: “She can do everything Captain America can do, but backwards and in high heels.”
  • To prepare for his role as Bucky, Sebastian Stan watched many World War II films/documentaries, and drew inspiration from Band of Brothers.
  • Stanley Tucci took the role of Dr. Erskine because the role enabled him to use a German accent, which he always wanted to do.
  • The film was originally meant to be a standalone film, but after Joss Whedon was hired to direct The Avengers he was given a copy of the film’s script and made a few rewrites to tie it in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “I just got to make some character connections. The structure of the thing was really tight and I loved it, but there were a couple of opportunities to find his voice a little bit – and some of the other characters – and make the connections so that you understood exactly why he wanted to be who he wanted to be. And progressing through the script to flesh it out a little bit.”
  • Joe Simon, who created the “Captain America” comic in 1941 (before Stan Lee revived it in 1964), was approached to make a cameo appearance in the film.
  • Joe Johnston, the director of “Captain America: The First Avenger”, also directed “The Rocketeer”. In The Rocketeer, the hero, Cliff Secord, finds a rocket pack created by Howard Hughes, thus becoming the Rocketeer. In Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America obtains his iconic shield from Howard Stark, a character closely based on Howard Hughes.
  • Contrary to popular belief, a body double was not used for Chris Evans for the scenes when he was skinny. The filmmakers had originally planned to hire a body double and superimpose Evans’ face onto the double’s body, but ultimately scrapped the idea since director Joe Johnston claimed that Evans moved in a unique way and that no body double could replicate his movements. Ultimately, the filmmakers utilized digital technology to “shrink” Evans down, essentially erasing portions of his physique, until they came up with what the filmmakers called “Skinny Steve”. Over 250 shots were filmed like this, and because the shrinking process left empty space in the background, many of the scenes had to filmed in front of a green screen so that they could superimpose the backgrounds back into the scene.
  • The Captain America comic book shown in the movies bears the cover of the actual Captain America #1 released in 1941.
  • Captain America’s special forces unit he assembles and leads is an amalgamation of the characters of Marvel Comics’ World War II period titles. These are the 1960s war title, “Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos” about an elite special forces infantry unit and the 1970s “The Invaders,” about a superhero team operating during the war under the command of Captain America. The contributions of the former title include most of the soldier characters, while the latter includes Captain America, Bucky and James Montgomery Falsworth, who appears in the comic book as the British superhero, Union Jack.
  • In the exhibition, there is a mannequin in a red jumpsuit under a glass dome. That is a reference to the android, the original Human Torch, the first superhero created by Timely Comics, which eventually became Marvel Comics.
  • The Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) searches for a powerful artifact, the Cosmic Cube. In Transformers, Weaving voiced the villain Megatron, who also searched for a similar cosmic cube-shaped relic (the AllSpark).
  • Samuel L. Jackson filmed a scene for this movie in New York City’s Time Square which serves as a scene that preludes The Avengers
  • Captain America from 1979

Talking Points:

  • Wilhielm Screams
  • Chris Evans
  • Tommy Lee Jones
  • Bucky’s role in movie
  • Merge of old and new (past & present collision)
  • Where was the steampunk?
  • The Choice to foreshadow the ending
  • The stuff after the ending
  • Are we ready for The Avengers now?

What We Learned:

  • You don’t win a war with niceness, you win it with guts
  • A weak man knows the value of strength and compassion
  • The moment you know whats going on inside a woman’s head is the moment your goose is truly cooked

Trailer:

Recommendations:
Jeff: Another fun Superhero movie. I really need to see it again to give a full recommendation but I liked it.
Ray: So far, my favorite superhero movie of the summer, lets hope they keep the momentum going with the avengers
Steve: Enjoyed it. Can’t say it was amazing or anything like that, but I enjoyed it. I like the character of Captain America, but am looking forward to seeing how he may evolve with Avengers. He’s just too perfect.

The Future: Apollo 18

Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego

Starring: Names have not yet been released

Trivia:

  • Speculation around the plot involves a government coverup of the Apollo 18 mission after parasitic lifeforms on the Moon discovered the crew and began to attack them. Much of the back-story remains unknown; however, the movie posters in English indicate the Russian KGB role in Soviet lunar conspiracy and the Russian movie posters show inscriptions in English suggesting an American government cover up in lunar conspiracy.
  • In the trailer, an American astronaut finds a dead cosmonaut and a Soviet LK Lander on the lunar surface.
  • Apollo 18 is currently scheduled for release on September 2, 2011. Originally scheduled for March 2011, the film’s release date was moved five times during the year (including to April 2011, January 2012, August 2011, and September 2, 2011).
  • The film’s trailer was attached to Scream 4.

Talking Points:

Summary:

Decades-old found footage from NASA’s abandoned Apollo 18 mission, where two American astronauts were sent on a secret expedition, reveals the reason the U.S. has never returned to the moon.

Trailers:
Original Trailer:


Newer Trailer:

Excitement:
Jeff: This could be interesting. I’m sure we’ll be watching this, I think you should too.
Ray: Yep, I dig on creepy space flicks.. I’m there.
Steve: Has me interested because I love space movies and close quarter scares. Hoping I’ll get to see some good stuff on the eventual DVD release about why it was changed…hopefully a first cut.

Coming Attractions:

The Past

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The Present

The Future

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