Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • Planetary #6: Where There's Blood Instead of Snow

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      October 21, 2014
      Columns, The Full Run
    Recent
    • Revisiting the Witchblade/Fathom/Tomb Raider Crossover

      Daniel Gehen
      February 8, 2021
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • Exclusive Marvel Preview: "Ms. Marvel" #6

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      April 21, 2016
      Marvel Comics, Previews
    Recent
    • 3.0

      Review: X-MEN LEGENDS #1 Delivers A Dose of Nostalgia

      Daniel Gehen
      February 22, 2021
    • 4.5

      DCeased: Dead Planet #7 Presents a Hopeful Future (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      January 22, 2021
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • 4.5

      Jughead #1 Review: The True Genius of Jughead

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      October 5, 2015
      Archie Comics, Indie, Reviews
    Recent
    • 4.0

      Review: Beast Wars #2 another chance to change the past

      Stephen Cook
      March 3, 2021
    • 4.5

      Review: THE LAST RONIN #2 Hurts So Good

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • TIME BEFORE TIME—A HIGH STAKES TIME TRAVEL SCIENCE FICTION SERIES SET TO LAUNCH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 3.0

      Chaos War: Ares #1

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      December 10, 2010
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Singles Going Steady – Vowels, Who Needs Them?

      Daniel Gehen
      March 8, 2021
    • 3.0

      Review: X-MEN LEGENDS #1 Delivers A Dose of Nostalgia

      Daniel Gehen
      February 22, 2021
    • 4.5

      Review: THE LAST RONIN #2 Hurts So Good

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Chip Kidd: Pretty Amazing

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      August 8, 2011
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Miss Fury: Sensational Sundays 1944-1949

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      August 28, 2011
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • VISITOR is the Quintessential “SPIRIT” Story

      Daniel Gehen
      March 26, 2021
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Comics Bulletin Exclusive Preview From Marvel - All-New Invaders #12

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      November 20, 2014
      News, Previews
    Recent
    • TIME BEFORE TIME—A HIGH STAKES TIME TRAVEL SCIENCE FICTION SERIES SET TO LAUNCH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 19, 2021
    • Image Comics and TMP Announces SPAWN’S UNIVERSE

      Daniel Gehen
      February 18, 2021
    • SAVAGE DRAGON IS A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH THIS MAY

      Daniel Gehen
      February 17, 2021
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • 5.0

      Review: "Snowden" by Ted Rall

      John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
      November 17, 2015
      Books, Indie, Reviews, Small Press
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Collecting Profile: 1990 Marvel Universe Trading Cards
  • Collecting Profile: Red Sonja
  • Collecting Profile: Dr. Doom
  • VISITOR is the Quintessential “SPIRIT” Story
  • Collecting Profile: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Columns

Summer Super-Hero and Sci-Fi Movies – May 2015

John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
April 25, 2015
Columns, Shot for Shot
Scarlett Johansson Black Widow Avengers Age of Ultron

Black Widow returns in Avengers: Age of Ultron

 

Let’s get rolling once again with big glossy summer movies!

May – the start of the summer movie season! Anyone old enough remember when May wasn’t considered part of the summer movie slate? Yeah, it used to be summer started in June. You know, like when the actual summer solstice happened, coinciding with the astrological calendar and the alignment of the Earth to the sun and all that.

Forget all that jazz, that way of thinking is so last century. Hollywood has decided to make their own decisions as to when ‘summer’ will begin! Heck, why wait all the way until June when they learned movie fans will go see big-budget popcorn movies earlier. They’ve even begun rolling out their big movies in April!

But since I’m hesitant to expand my definition of ‘summer movies’ into April (plus I don’t really care about a new Fast & Furious movie), let’s just begin with May and the movie almost every human is anxious to see. The start of the summer movie season will begin with what most movie fans would predict will be the biggest, most popular movie of the year. Here, comes Marvel again….

May 1, 2015

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers Age of Ultron cast Marvel

The Marvel machine shows no sign of slowing down and this sequel to The Avengers will probably steamroll over everything for at least the month.

All our heroes are back, along with some new characters. Plus, throw in a deadly robotic villain who looks like he’ll be causing some massive epic destruction onto the world who sounds like James Spader. Fortunately, the Marvel world has the Avengers who are the only ones who can possibly stop him.

There has been so much written and speculated about this movie for so long – and there’s sure to be plenty more talk as Marvel’s phase three begins to take shape, that there’s little point in me trying to add anything to it all. Let’s leave it at – I’m as excited as everyone else to see this and am hoping it won’t disappoint.

May 8, 2015

Maggie

Arnold Schwarzenegger Maggie zombie movie

It seems impossible to stop all these zombie outbreaks from happening and filmmakers wanting to tell stories about them. This time a midwestern girl (Abigal Breslin) gets infected and is on the path of becoming a full-fledged zombie and all the while her father (Arnold Schwarzenegger) tries to protect her from scared folks who want to put her down.

This certainly looks to be a change of pace for Arnold. Had this been twenty-five years ago it probably would have been much more action oriented with him busting zombie heads and causing lots and lots of explosions. But that doesn’t seem to be the route this movie is going to take and looks to be counting on Arnold to give a performance – at least that’s the way the ads are making things sound.

Will Arnold fans like this older, more peaceful Arnold? I’m betting not really. He’ll probably get some credit for trying to change things up, but I doubt many fans will be running to the theater for this. Fans are probably more anxious to see that new Terminator movie. Plus, the zombie thing has reached such an overdone breaking point that unless it’s a real interesting take on it people might not feel too compelled to go check this out. Maybe it will be a worthwhile rental.

May 15, 2015

Mad Max: Fury Road

Tom Hardy Mad Max Fury Road

Director George Miller returns to his post-apocalyptic future (do we have any others to look forward to?) with plenty of open roads, souped up vehicles and scary bad guys. Traversing this desolate landscape is the return of the tortured hero by the name of Max, who’s just looking to find some peace after the murder of his wife and child.

Tom Hardy steps into Mel Gibson’s leather outfit. The trailers are showing a lot of high speed chases with added CGI excitement, but really it has left me feeling nothing about this movie. I’m feeling indifferent of what I’ve seen so far and this really doesn’t look that special and I don’t have high hopes for it.

So is this a reboot, a sequel or something completely different? I’ve heard the words ‘relaunch’, ‘revisit’, ‘retake’. It’s getting to be ‘RE’-diculous. I have no idea what anyone is talking about and really haven’t bothered with trying to get a clear answer to any of that.

Charlize Theron Mad Max Fury RoadA lot of the early comments about it from Miller and the studio seemed to contradict one another. It started to sound a bit like all that Prometheus (which also starred Charlize Theron) jargon where Ridley Scott was saying it was only taking place in the same Alien universe and wasn’t a prequel to any of those films. And then when we saw the movie it clearly was a prequel. So I’m guessing they’re just trying to keep things vague and no one wants to commit to defining this movie in any way. Just shoot the movie and we’ll figure that out later.

Maybe this one will be a more satisfying flick from an original director
returning to the franchise he created years later – it has to be better than Prometheus right?

May 22, 2015

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland movie sci-fi Disney

A teen girl discovers an extraordinary world outside our time and space and dimensions and reality and minds and whatever else you can come up with to explain this strange premise. I’m betting George Clooney will make sense of it all.

This is looking to be a pretty bizarre sounding movie. I’m not sure what to make of it. At first it looks like another big-budget Disney film that isn’t going to click with audiences – this years Lone Ranger. It also appears to be one of those sci-fi movies designed and hoped to be a hit (Enders Game, Tron Legacy and Disney’s John Carter) that never was. But then again this is directed by Brad Bird who has had a pretty darn good track record and a sci-fi movie that actually doesn’t envision a bleak, desolate future – that sounds like refreshing change of pace. On the other hand Damon Lindelof had a hand in the screenplay.

I’m predicting the movie may be entertaining, but it’s not going to be able to hold up against the other movies around this month. There’s the off chance it might get some good word of mouth mileage, but if I had to hedge my bet I’d say it will disappear relatively quickly.

Poltergeist

Poltergeist remake horror movie 2015

Not surprising there’s some new horror remakes this year. Well, here’s one that has escaped the ‘remake happy hands’ of Hollywood since 1982 – but now its time is up!

Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams now look like Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt as a married couple who move into a brand new home. It all looks promising until some evil forces begin to wreak havoc on them and their children, especially their young daughter who they want to play some serious interactive TV with.

It’s all the same complaints about this remake of a classic film that we’ve gone through countless times before. It’s banking on reusing the images from the original (the TV, the clown doll, the scary closet) and hoping it’s going to all work again. Will it? A lot of what made the original so memorable was the actors. Who can forget Zelda Rubinstein and her voice! Plus, with the track record of horror remakes and how they’ve come and gone leaving the original still as loved and respected as it was before and the remake just being an embarrassing footnote, it will probably be the same case here. Perhaps this new Poltergeist will do something new with the story, but judging from the trailers it simply looks like a play by play repeat with added special effects thrown in. Repeat and rinse.

May 29, 2015

San Andreas

San Andreas Dwayne Johnson Rock disaster earthquake

A massive earthquake hits California creating millions, upon millions of dollars worth of special effects destruction. Plenty of fun CGI-filled eyecandy for audiences, but to our main character Dwayne Johnson it’s no joke and he must navigate through this shaky state to rescue his daughter. Tons of disaster scenarios threaten his life while most likely a bunch of single named supporting pals will meet their demise when a building falls on them or they get swallowed up into the ground and stuff like that.

Let’s just call this Earthquake: The Rock. It used to be the famed disaster films of the 70’s would have a huge cast of characters we could follow around on their disaster ordeal. Now it’s just enough to have Johnson be the star and load the screen with a lot of effects.This looks like it’s this years Into The Storm or 2012, where all allure is seeing what Hollywood’s computer guys can whip up and how they’re going to go about destroying recognizable landmarks. This will probably do better than Into The Storm, but not be as huge as 2012 was.

 



To read more content by John, visit his blog.

Avengers: Age of UltronMad Max: Fury RoadMaggiePoltergeistSan AndreasTomorrowland

Share On:
Tweet
James Bond – One Moore
What We Said Then: Don’t Get Me Started: DK2: Why?

About The Author

<a href="https://comicsbulletin.com/byline/john-clark-of-haphazardstuff-com/" rel="tag">John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com</a>
John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com

John Clark is a lifelong movie fan who uses his writing and video editing talents as a creative outlet on various projects. Mainly specializing in movie review projects such as his Superhero and James Bond series of reviews, John also manages a blog containing written movie reviews, thoughts, observations and a wide range of topics that might pass through his mind at any given moment – hence his website name Haphazard Stuff.

Related Posts

  • Leading Questions: Comics v Movies: Dawn of Self-Deprecation

    Chase Magnett
    March 24, 2016
  • 5.0

    Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

    Adam Mondschein
    May 16, 2015

Latest Columns

  • Revisiting the Witchblade/Fathom/Tomb Raider Crossover

    Daniel Gehen
    February 8, 2021
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

    Daniel Gehen
    December 4, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

    Daniel Gehen
    October 30, 2020
  • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

    Daniel Gehen
    October 27, 2020
  • What Looks Good for the Week of 10/14/2020

    Daniel Gehen
    October 12, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders