Category: Comics

Hey Everyone,

Paul here…

Last week was the annual Cinema-Con event. Movie studios give presentations to all of the major movie theater chains from around the country, to promote the major films they have coming out for the year. The studios want the theater owners to get excited about their biggest films to get them on as many screens as possible. Most of the presentations of trailers, scenes from a film, appearances from directors and stars. But occasionally studios will show films in their entirety at the event, often months before the movie’s premiere. Studios only do this if the have a tremendous amount of confidence in the film they’re showing. A recent example was when Paramount screened Top Gun: Maverick at Cinema-Con, a film that would go on to become one of the biggest commercial and critical hits of the last few years. In some circles (Quentin Tarantino, for one), Top Gun: Maverick was even credited as having a large roll in reviving the movie theater industry. So when news comes out that a studio is planning to screen one of their movies at Cinema-Con, it’s a pretty big deal. So when Warner Bros. announced that they’d be screening The Flash at Cinema-Con, it got the attention of a lot of people.

To say The Flash solo movie has had a bumpy road to the big screen would be an understatement. With an original release date of March 2018, behind the scenes drama plagued the films development, causing the film’s release date repeatedly pushed back. From the jump, Warner Bros completely lacked any real plan or vision for their DC films beyond a vague attempt to duplicate the success of The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Multiple directors were attached to the movie only to subsequently leave the project. Even when the movie was finally completed, The Flash was dragged. Greatinto another massive shit storm with Ezra Miller’s very public break down last year.

Despite all of it’s problems, the buzz surrounding the movie itself was extremely positive. James Gunn was on record saying The Flash was one of the best comic book movies he’d ever seen (considering that he’d recently become the head of DC Studios, most people took that statement with a grain of salt). Miraculously however, it look like Gunn may be proven right after all. Since it was screened at Cinema-Con, the consensus among those that have seen The Flash, is extremely positive. The general reception seems to be that the movie is excellent. In spite of it’s production problems, this movie has some big things going for it.

The return of Michael Keaton’s Batman, is a huge draw for audience. And people who love comic book, movies, and people who just love movies in general will both be excited about his return to this classic character. Keaton’s Batman is the wildcard. Out of all the actors who played The Caped Crusader, no one has portrayed Bruce’s rage and mental instability, quite as well as Michael Keaton. Getting a look at how that guy, that character has evolved over the last 30 years is really fucking interesting.

The film also has some very talented people behind the scenes. Such as director Andy Muschietti, the filmmaker behind the fantastic IT movies (a director who has apparently knocked this one out of the park, too). Early word is that it’s total blast, the performances are great, and there are quite a few surprises.

I’ve been looking forward to The Flash for quite awhile, so I was very happy to hear that the final product sounds like it’s gonna be something pretty special. Check out the new trailer right here.

It’s sort of funny and ironic that Michael Keaton’s Batman is much older than the last time we saw him play The Dark Knight on the big screen, yet he’s far more agile and physically formidable than he was 30 years ago. Comic book movies were still a joke before 1989’s Batman. Superhero films weren’t all that common when he first played Batman in the original Tim Burton movies. The Batman suit was a giant, uncomfortable, thick piece of rubber, so much so that the actors and stunt men could barely move in it. Looking back on those Batman films, you’ll notice, whenever Batman hast to look to the left, or to the right, he can’t actually turn his head. He had to turn his entire torso, because he couldn’t move his head., which looks really weird. That was just a result of the filmmaking imitations of the time. So it will be really cool and exciting to see a Michael Keaton Batman that is actually physically formidable.

Here’s the official synopsis: Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past, but his attempt to save his family creates a world without super heroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future.

The Flash hits theaters on June 16, 2023

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