(786) 318-5200

Film News

Is Zach Braff Selling Out Kickstarter?

Dude, I am not famous enough to be a sell-out
Dude, I am not famous enough to be a sell-out

Zach Braff was once an up and coming indie filmaker, who directed and starred in 2004’s hit that nobody saw coming, Garden State. Every studio shark in LA turned down that script, and were it not for a lone angel investor (who happened to be an overzealous Scrubs fan), it would still be  in Hollywood purgatory.

 Ten years later, Braff is looking to finance a “sequel in tone” titled Wish I was Here. This time, Scrubs is a nationally and internationally syndicated show, his bank account is loaded, and he’s got a name that gets invited to all the right parties. Funding should be easier to accrue this time around, right? So why is he on Kickstarter, a crowd-funding platform resourced by starving artists with t-shirts to offer, who operate out of garages and basements, and use hockey sticks for boom poles?  The short answer would be because it only took him two days to reach his goal of two million dollars. But we can’t end it there, not when the internet makes it so easy to criticize.

 Critics, like Emmy-award winning screenwriter Ken Levine, have opened the floodgates of hate,  accusing Braff of typical Hollywood exploitation. Levine writes on his blog.

“The idea – and it’s a great one – is that Kickstarter allows filmmakers who otherwise would have NO access to Hollywood and NO access to serious investors to scrounge up enough money to make their movies. Zach Braff has contacts. Zach Braff has a name. Zach Braff has a track record. Zach Braff has residuals.  He can get in a room with money people. He is represented by a major talent agency. But the poor schmoe in Mobile, Alabama or Walla Walla, Washington has none of those advantages. ”

 

Braff plays some lockdown defense against his critics (here) and (here). He points out that if it were about making money, he’d go back to doing television, where he made millions.

 

“This isn’t a money-making endeavor … Making a tiny art film is not where people go to make money. This is a passion project,” he says. “I’m making this movie for you and, ostensibly, with you. You’re coming along on the ride, you’re going to be a little GoPro camera on my shoulder experiencing how an independent movie is made … I owe [the fans] everything.”

 

Levine  fails to recognize that Braff isn’t holding anyone at gunpoint here. Just because he’s a celebrity with a Kickstarter campaign doesn’t mean people lose their autonomy to CHOOSE where they donate their money. These people want what he’s selling. In fact, Braff (who has over a million followers on Twitter) attracted over eighteen thousand first-time investors to Kickstarter. Many will stick around, peruse through other campaigns, and donate accordingly, so in essence, Braff’s celebrity endorsement will trickle down to the more obscure artists and entrepreneurs.

He’ also putting an “ass-ton” of his own money into the project, so the Kickstarter funds would only supplement the film’s budget. It’s not fair to ostracize him for doing what every other entrepreneur does: find ways to avoid spending his own money. Even billionaires get other rich people to fund their projects.

Braff also points out that his “fame” doesn’t necessarily translate to easy funding, particularly because his tenure on Scrubs, doesn’t get factored into the algorithms investors use to predict overseas success. In fact, he’s still at the mercy of the same barriers that confronted him years ago, and then some (such as the time that his “star” bailed on him because his wife didn’t want him working in the summer). Accepting money from the usual suspects would require him to make casting and plot sacrifices that could undermine his vision.  Isn’t it worth celebrating that, in an age of remakes and recycled narrative formulas, there are still people in Hollywood who genuinely want to tell the best story they can without compromising their artistic integrity to the hand that feeds?

Who is anyone to impose limits on what crowd funding should be? Kickstarter’s own mission welcomes projects “big and small.” It’s an organic, pliable platform. Saying it should be reserved for the pauper is no different than saying only rich people should play golf.

Music Video for Erika Jayne and Flo-Rida Features 838hp Raptor GTR

M3 Studios was recently the location used to shoot Erika Janye and Flo-Rida’s new music video for “Get It Tonight”. The music video was shot by famed Norwegian director Ray Kay. Who has worked with the likes of Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Jessie J, Beyoncé Knowles, Steven Tyler, Adam Lambert, Backstreet Boys, and a slew of other top music artist.

The music video features the high end super-charged $700,000 Raptor  GTR a beast of a machine. This new 2012 Mosler RaptorGTR  features an 838hp 7.0L forged V8 twinturbo powerplant accelerating only 2580lbs. Its fast, very fast, and extremely sleek looking, a jet on wheels really. Our friend Marvin Williams over at Big M Entertianment snapped these incredible pictures, visit his company site for additional pictures of this street rocket.

Of course we will bring you the music video as soon as its released, by the sets, director, talent, and two days it took to film, it should be hot.

M3 STUDIOS – home to some of the biggest in-studio film productions in the music industry.

– @HollywoodHenry

 

M3 Studios Tapped to Provide Production Expertise for “El Capo 2” While Shooting in South Florida

MIAMI – Nov. 26, 2012: Spanish-language network MundoFox is currently airing new episodes of the successful drama “El Capo 2”. “El Capo 2” will run weekdays at 9:00 p.m. EST/8:00 p.m. CST. “El Capo” is one of the biggest Spanish language series to come out of Colombia, with 2.2 million likes on its Facebook page as well as a rating of 7.1 out of 10 on the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). It is also the most expensive, costing 18 billion Colombian pesos (10 million USD) to produce. “El Capo” is the story of Pedro Pablo Jaramillo, a man who becomes one of Colombia’s most notorious drug traffickers. It’s only after he’s discovered by the law that everything starts coming apart, which is where “El Capo 2” picks up.

“El Capo 2” starts with Jaramillo traveling to Miami to do two things: escape the detective who is chasing him, and break his wife and daughter out of prison. The geographical move in the TV show translated to a geographical move for production as well: after a whirlwind of schedule changes due to upcoming hurricanes, producer Lyonel Montells, almost singlehandedly brought production of “El Capo 2” to Miami for 15 consecutive days of shooting wile working with Plural Entertainment and M3 Studios. The production took place on land with car chases, crashes and gun shootouts, on the air with helicopters landing in the middle of downtown Miami, and at sea with fleets of over 15 vessels. M3 Studios handled all the logistics of vessels, stunt vehicles and coordinations, weapons & ammunition, special effects, security and even location scouting and casting. Even the Head of M3 Studios, Raul Rodriguez, was put back in action as Stuntman, Gun Wrangler, FX, Stunt and safety coordinator for the duration of the Miami shoot.

To get a behind the scenes look at the scenes shot in Miami, visit M3 Studios website at http://www.M3StudiosMiami.com, the blog section will have an in-depth look at “El Capo 2” shooting in Miami, along side crew list who’s roles we would like to acknowledge for their contribution in making “EL Capo’s” Miami based production a success for Fox Telecolombia. Action sequences included multiple machine gun shootouts throughout the city of Miami. A daring car crash where a bus sidelined a police transport unit in the streets of Downtown Miami. This scene was filmed just three blocks from the real Federal Courthouse. Viewers can see this on episode 54.

The production took talent and crew to shoot at the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, No Name Harbor at Bill Baggs State Park, Marine Stadium, Rickenbacker Causeway, Palm Island, the streets of midtown and downtown Miami, Bayside Marketplace, Bayfront Park and even the streets of Allapatah.

M3 Studios has been in the film business for nearly 10 years, with 7 soundstages and studios available for use. M3 also has 60,000 square feet of flex-space that can be used for any production need as well as a full network of personnel available. Contact us to receive a tour or quote for your next project.

Dissecting The Iron Man 3 Trailer

Does The Suit Make The Man or Does The Man Make The Suit?

 

The new Iron Man 3 Trailer has been revealed to all but the most secluded humans holed up in barren, 4g –dead zones and wifi cold spots. Speculation was already inflating among fans, as this is the first post-Avengers escapade for Marvel, and the first for Tony Stark since the less than stellar Iron Man 2, which many people took for a hundred million dollar commercial for The Avengers.  The trailer’s release has only permeated that supply of imaginative wonder as it gets dissected frame by frame for potential clues to the story’s premise and direction.

We’re fans at heart; hence, we’re no different. Read our observations below.

The Iron Man Rises?

Before we begin, we understand that there are a million, non-linear ideas taken out of context that can go into a trailer. Often, these previews isolate tones, themes, and emotions targeted at a specific audience, which may be a far cry from the final product. How many of us remember thinking In Bruges was going to be a lighthearted comedy?

But there is no mistaking the new dark tones present in the third arch of the Iron Man franchise. It starts with a battered Tony Stark laying submissively in a frozen wasteland, and the rest of the trailer is a progression of ass kicking at his expense. It’s a polar shuffle from the marking strategies of the previous films, which used tracks from ACDC and Robert Downey Jr.’s one-liners to lure us into the seats with promises of fun and humor. It’s almost like they hired Christopher Nolan to direct it. Like The Dark Knight Rises, this installment will be the darkness before a dawn, though we can still expect Downy Jr. to be in full court jester mode since one of the more endearing qualities of the franchise is his tenacity to laugh at his own insane circumstances.

There are other similarities with Nolan’s Batman trilogy, the first of which being that Batman and Iron man are essentially inter-dimensional doppelgangers of each other, with both being emotionally unstable billionaires- with daddy issues- who use their fortunes to fund their vendettas.

Like TDKR, the villain is inspired from the first film, with Batman resurrecting The League of Shadows and Iron Man doing battle with his deadliest foe, The Mandarin, who was first alluded to in the first film with the inclusion of a terrorist group known as The Ten Rings. The baddies themselves are both international terrorists, with distinguishably questionable voices (Ben Kingsley sounds like he’s narrating a Charles Dickens novel), who employ methods of attrition as a strategy to slowly break down their opponents.  Bane crushed batman’s back and used his weapons and vehicles against him while the Iron Man trailer reveals that The Mandarin will blow up Stark’s home and sabotage the technology to manipulate his suit. Which brings us to our next critical observation…

War Machines

 Iron Man 3 looks to continue paving a journey to define what it is to be a hero, the seeds of which were planted by Captain America in The Avengers when he implied that Tony Stark was just an egomaniac in a suit.

“Take away the suit, and what are you?” He asks.

Of course Tony rose to the occasion by sacrificing himself for the sake of New York, and it appears that IM3 will continue developing that theme by stripping him of his toys and pushing his limits as a man.

We see shots of various suits of armors self destructing in sequence, and several (somewhat erotic) clips of the Iron Man suit attacking Tony and Pepper. There’s no doubt that director, Shane Black, knew the kind of response such imagery would generate. One can’t help but notice sci-fi elements from classics like Bladerunner and Isaac Asimov novels.

I'm Sorry. I think we're moving a little too fast

 

This game of man vs. machine will be escalated by Tony Stark’s voluntary fusion with nano technology. The inclusion of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), and a shot of Tony  commanding pieces of his armor via telekinesis, all but guarantee that portions of the “Extremis” storyline from the comics will be at play. Expect Tony to gain the ability to manipulate technology – from cellphones to satellites – through the sheer will of his mind.

With over six months to go, many of these thoughts can be accused of moving prematurely, but where’s the fun in waiting to find out?

Why Burn Notice Needs to Finish in Miami

We Need a Place to Crash for the Night. Any Takers?

 

Political commissions should come with their own laugh tracks, because it’s always hilarious when elected officials attempt to make “business” decisions. Burn Notice, The USA network’s ratings darling about Michael Westen, a former CIA operative who’s been ‘burned’ and left to rot in a South Florida purgatory, is on the verge of losing the old Coconut Grove Convention Center that it’s called home since 2006. The producers are now scrambling to find a new set for the show’s seventh season, which might lead them to abandon the city altogether. Miami Commission Chairman, Marc Sarnoff, is spearheading the eviction campaign to make room for a new waterfront park.

As Michael Bay demonstrated, the entertainment industry can do wonders for our city. Burn Notice has generated over a hundred million dollars for our local economy during its six year run, in addition to the 240 thousand it pays annually to rent the convention center. The production’s energy needs are met locally; they hire local crews and extras, and the supplies needed to construct, blow-up and rebuild their sets are purchased from local retailers. Think about that intricate chain of commerce. It affects a lot of folks in this town. Disrupting it would cause a deficit that won’t be refilled by building another park in Coconut Grove.

Additionally, the financial numbers don’t account for the fact that Michael Westen’s weekly exploits bring our city to the national stage every week. Unlike CSI: Miami – which was mostly shot in LA- and Showtime’s, Dexter, – which left for LA after one season because of the outrageous cost of hurricane insurance – Burn Notice is actually filmed on location. Many of Miami’s scenic views, local treasures, and cultural landmarks make it into the production, bringing an authenticity to the character of our city that hasn’t been seen on screen since the days of Miami Vice.

Miami is a powerhouse of productions, but its potential is still incubating; we don’t have the clout to defiantly piss off Hollywood. Remember: there’s nothing on film that can’t be built in a sound stage in New Mexico.

Mr. Sarnoff produced his own line of theater – but didn’t exactly inspire hope for a compromise – by telling producer Terry Miller to not  “get up at the mic because I’m not going to entertain a discussion. You simply need to see me,” during a meeting at city hall.

We have to ask: What would Michael Westen say?

When attempting to present your city as a promiscuous Mecca for the entertainment industry, it’s imperative that you  not evict a nationally syndicated, critically revered show that flushes your economy with money, especially if said show pays rent to broadcast a forty-five minute weekly advertisement featuring your city. You also don’t want to demolish the very building that makes the stream of income possible. It’s imperative that you not replace that building with a park that won’t generate an ounce of revenue and become nothing more than a parade ground dog poop. Igniting these lapses of judgment into action can result in volatile fallout between you and the very hands you’re trying to eat from. 

 Television is fickle and transient. Shows die all the time for a variety of reasons: the public loses interest, ratings drop, and we all move on. Burn Notice will not run like The Simpsons, unless we’re willing to watch Michael Weston cash his social security checks and shoot from a Hoveround. The show has a limited number of seasons left int the tank . It is asinine to boot the production while its still fertile with great PR and economic subsidies.

Coconut Grove is already drowning in parks; Peacock and Kennedy Park are both within a mile of the convention center. Can’t the residents survive another year or two without another one?

Miami is sexy. It’s an international Dreamweaver that penetrates global imaginations with its free flowing auras of vice, beauty, and sunshine. But this incident could leave a dark bruise that could deter future productions from casting us.

You don’t mess with the film industry. They’ll flip you the bird, pack up and leave for a brothel of suitors begging for their presence with incentives and tax breaks. And if they need Miami for a scene or two, they’ll just build it on a sound stage in New Mexico. We can’t risk being black-balled by Hollywood.

If Burn Notice can’t stay in Coconut Grove, then it is imperative that the show be allowed to finish its run within the community that nurtured its success. At M3 studios, we’re waiting with open arms and a production house that’s camera ready.

 

M3 Staff

Press Release: M3 Studios, Proposes A Solution To Burn Notice’s 7th & Final Season’s Dilemma with Coconut Grove Convention Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

M3 STUDIOS, MULTI-MEDIA STUDIOS, PROPOSES A SOLUTION TO BURN NOTICE’S 7TH AND FINAL SEASON’S DILEMMA, IN THE HOPES OF MAINTAINING THE SHOW’S PRODUCTION IN SOUTH FLORIDA

M3 Studio’s filming infrastructure is a viable alternative to TVM’s current difficulties of shooting in South Florida

You’ve all seen it.  Roommate relationships ending the aggressive way:  clothes and expensive equipment flying out the window, pulverized soon after on the pavement below.  I’m sure Burn Notice, the veteran USA jam-packed action thriller, might wish there was a better solution to its similar living arrangement conflict with Coconut Grove, than experiencing this scene for the neighborhood to see.  Unfortunately for Burn Notice though, it doesn’t have the option of couple’s therapy like in USA’s freshman drama Common Law when dealing with the commissioners.  Lucky for TVM productions, M3 Studio’s has a solution.  We’re looking for a roommate and we see some good chemistry between us.  And trust us, we know how to treat our fellow cohabiters; M3 never opens a door with a sock on the doorknob, never leaves dirty dishes, always calls before having company, and never makes you build your own offices overnight (like some people have had to do.)  Interested in us, Burn Notice? Cause we sure are in you.

So what makes M3 your best relocation option?  While Marc Sarnoff, Coconut Grove Commissioner, suggested the drama be relocated to the upcoming Miami Entertainment Complex, is just a warehouse with the bare essentials, Fox Entertainment Studio’s Head of Production Robert Lemchen disagrees.  Lemchen said in response: “The cost of moving the show to another facility would be around $1 million,” so high because of moving costs associated with electrical wiring installation and a significant amount of necessary upgrades.  Though there will still be a cost to rebuild some of its sets, M3 Studios is a professional film facility already electrically wired, air-conditioned and ready to house television and film productions of Burn Notice’s stature.

M3 studios is a one-stop-shop, located 15 minutes from anywhere in Miami, a 122,000 sq. ft. facility that includes seven fully-equipped sound stages and studios, 60,000 square feet of flex-type space, easily transformable into production offices, standing sets, rehearsal space.  There are also four on-site parking lots that can be used as backlots for Burn Notice’s production.  M3 Studio’s is a fully air-conditioned, soundproofed, sound- conditioned 7-soundstage facility with lightning grids throughout, built in jails, interrogation rooms, un-used raw spaces, elephant doors to all stages, dressing rooms, make-up rooms, green rooms, full support areas, & plenty of backlots. We also have below-the-line capabilities, a convenient on-site transportation/limousine service and an in-house photographic studio with a large CYC wall, passenger elevators with freight elevator.  Plus, all amenities are strategically placed to provide one place to shoot, produce, edit, and master the production.

Don’t believe that a fully functioning studio infrastructure already exists in Miami? Just talk to some of our current roommates: Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit Productions, Univision’s Al File de La Ley, Telemundo’s Relaciones Peligrosas & MTV’s newest series.

Oh, and Burn Notice, feel free to come tour the house anytime you’d like;  M3 is located at 4000 NW 36th Ave Miami Fl, 33142 and we can’t wait to meet you. A beautiful friendship awaits.

 

The Technology Behind the Hobbit and Middle Earth

Bilbo Baggins reviews the colossal budget of his own adventure

 

It’s been eleven years since our first journey through Middle Earth, where Peter Jackson invested our hearts into the destiny of one tiny hobbit facing insurmountable odds against the forces of evil.

Our faith was rewarded with a triple crown of cinematic achievement as the Lord of the Rings trilogy killed it in every way a movie can be judged: Financially (2.97 billion world wide earnings), critically (17 Academy Awards including ‘best picture’), and sensually. It created a world of wonder and awe the likes of which had never been experienced on film.

Essentially, these films embodied all the reasons we attend midnight premiers, and we’re all better off for them.

Simply creating these films was a monumental technical achievement. Andrew Lesnie’s cinematography turned New Zealand into Middle Earth by painting each location with a spectral pallet that ranged from aesthetically elegant to viscerally haunting. The visual effects were groundbreaking, peaking during the claustrophobic battle at Helm’s Deep where thousands of Uruk-Hai charged at a pitifully outnumbered army of men clawing to survive. They also took one long leap in creating computer-generated characters with vitality, specifically the spiritually mangled creature, Gollum, whose lust for the ring gave Andy Serkis the type of sandbox every actor dreams of to bring that pain to life.

The best part of it all, in case you’ve really been living in Middle Earth the last few years, is that we get to go again. We’re all fidgeting with anticipation for the trilogy’s prequel, The Hobbit, to hit theaters in 2013.

Thankfully, Peter Jackson has maintained a video blog documenting plenty of behind the scenes content to keep fans engaged. Besides providing some great nerd porn, the videos give some fascinating insight into the technical aspects of the film, which are once again, setting the bar. We’ll go over a few of them.

http://youtu.be/2CtQGtwxTAc

 

Video 7 takes us on a tour through Stone Street Studios in Miramar, New Zealand, the headquarters of the whole production.  Here we see an enormous back lot they use, which doubles as a green screen. Notice the drapes they use above the lot to block out the sun.

At the 9:00 mark, they showoff their wireless, waterproof, shockproof, “surface rig” that sends a direct feed to the director’s chair while capturing underwater images. It looks like they’re using it to film a scene on a river.

The Hobbit will be broken up into two simultaneously filmed movies, both of which will be shot in 3-D. That’s right: They’re not just going to process 2-D images. The 3-D won’t be a cheap gimmick used to squeeze a few extra bucks from the audience. It’ll actually be integral to the story telling. Mirkwood Forest is already supposed to have some hallucinogenic elements to it, so just imagine how trippy it’ll feel to have its trees reach out for you.

The films will be shot using the Red Epic 3D cameras. The production has 48 of them (spare no expense). Because the lenses are so big, they have to use two for each shot to create the ocular effect that our eyes naturally produce.

They are going to double the frame rate of traditional film by shooting at 48fps, to put that in perspective, our eyes see at 60fps, so that screen in the cinema is going to feel like someone carved a rectangular hole in the wall and created a window into Middle Earth.

Peter Jackson did not want the 3D process to compromise his shooting style, which includes a variety of mobile shots. They developed a series of less cumbersome rigs to stay nimble and make the audience feel as if “the same filmmakers went back to Middle Earth to tell a new story.”

Another interesting note is that the Red Epic cameras tend to desaturated colors, so whole sets had to be painted like acid trips. The makeup and costume departments had to make their adjustments as well as a result. Some of the flesh tones on the actors are purposely exaggerated for that reason.

The Red Epic cameras operate at a 5K resolution. That’s downright magical when you consider that 4K technology is considered the next step in HD technology, and that’s already four times the resolution as the 1080p blue ray player currently in your living room.

That’s right folks: Quality will not be an issue: Here’s hoping they serve some midnight pints as we wait in line wearing our beards and chainmail.

3 Reasons to Worry About The Justice League Movie

Can DC's All- Stars Harness the Box Office Magic of The Avengers?

 

It’s been twelve years since the first X-Men film baked a cinematic pie of live action superheros, and if the financial numbers are any indication, the movie going public has yet to get sick of stuffing their faces.

The Avengers is now the third and fourth highest grossing film in the domestic and international markets respectively, while the The Amazing Spiderman – a reboot whose predecessor is less than six years old – exceeded expectations with 340 million dollars in its first six days (made more impressive by the fact that it debuted on a Tuesday). Tickets for the midnight of showing of The Dark Knight Rises have been on sale for a month, and there are still two weeks remaining before it premiers!

Clearly, we love vigilantes and spandex ( the verdict is still out on the order), and our voracious appetites are far from satisfied.

That billion dollar pie pie is still hot and fresh as it sits on the window waiting for Warner Brothers to cut a slice with their own all-star team of superheroes: The Justice League. There is already a script in the works, and the net is buzzing with speculation on everything from plot to casting.  Summer of 2014 would be the earliest logical date for release, but before we get that far, there are a few lingering issues that might prevent the movie from mimicking the colossal success of its Marvel doppelganger.

 

Rebooting the Reboots:

Ed Norton’s Hulk proved that audiences are willing to give second chances when it exonerated itself for the garbage that was Ang Lee’s version; however, with the exception of the Batman Franchise, DC has released some serious duds: The Green Lantern and that super-emo reel of castration otherwise known as Superman Returns. They’re going to have to redeem their individual failures before combining those volatile elements into a cohesive unit.

Spiderman is one of the more popular heroes on the planet, so it’s no surprise that we were willing to go for another round before we had enough time to digest the Sam Raimi installments. Could the same be said for a figure with less mainstream clout like Green Lantern? We’ll have to wait and see if a more beloved hero, Superman, can recapture some of that momentum next year with Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel first.

Christian Bale’s run as the  Dark Knight has become canon as far as many fans are concerned. How is Warner Bros going to negate the inevitable distraction of having the public second guess whomever becomes the new Batman? They’re going to have to restructure the character, AGAIN, to fit their vision because  Chris Nolan’s is completely self centered and grounded in reality; it won’t translate into the more fantasy focused world the Justice League demands.

Additionally, while no one knows for sure what the final roster will look like for the film, it’s safe to say that The JLA would benefit from several stand alone flicks for their other members, which leads to the next predicament.

The Shared Universe Conundrum:

The Avengers owes much of its success to a plethora of reasons, chief among them being the concept of a shared universe. All of the movies were interconnected and often referenced each other with cameos and Easter Eggs.

How can DC weave a smooth narrative if it spends a good chunk of  screen time visiting the origins of its characters? However, if they choose to ignore it, they risk releasing one-dimensional characterizations that won’t appeal to the large demographic of the audience that doesn’t digest comics. Marvel completely dodged this hurdle by giving each of its heroes the chance to shine individually before forcing them to share the screen. They created an extended narrative that invited the fans to participate in all the films, hence when it came time for the Avengers to assemble, they jumped right into the action without wasting a second on exposition. This strategy also helped balance the distribution of minutes as each of the respective origins, personalities, and idiosyncrasies of the their heroes had already been covered. Notice that the only character who had no previous development, Hawkeye, was the one who suffered most in terms of screen time and a stale performance.

DC is going to need more than two years to properly establish its characters before uniting them in a bedlam of glory.

Another problem revolves around matching the tones, colors, and overall feel of each individual film. The Marvel films legitimately felt like they existed in the same universe. The Batman universe is an after hours exercise in grime and decay where human morality is on life support and people bruise before they die. How will that balance with the well-lit, clean cut landscape of Superman’s Metropolis?

It’s a Popularity Contest:

With the exception, once again, of Nolan’s Batman Franchise, the one common denominator among the winners and losers of the superhero movies has been one name: Marvel. Their characters are  flawed, introspective, morally impressionable and easier to relate to. DC characters come from a wholesome era advocating for “truth, justice, and the American way.” We live in economically unstable, spiritually divided times where children are desensitize to violence  and pessimism is the new soda pop. It’s no surprise that the “anti-heroes” (which Marvel has more of) are more appealing to people.

People don’t want campy, overtly fantastical beyond belief, fairy tales. They want grit and personal conflicts of integrity, elements lacking from Marvel’s other outhouse, The Fantastic Four.

For DC, there is no strength in numbers. The Justice is league is a revolving door of members, many of whom are ambiguous to all but the biggest nerds. Elongated Man? The Wonder Twins? Blue Beatle? Even the more popular second banana members like Green Lantern, The Flash, and Wonder Woman don’t have the universal fan base of Marvel’s heroes.

The Villains aren’t excused either. The Flash’s main nemesis is Gorilla Grod. What is this, Planet of the Apes? You’d have to be crazy to cast anyone else as the Joker, and Lex Luthor has been hacked to death by Brian Singer (They’d have to create a new, more menacing and evil version). Those two are the most compelling villains DC has to offer, and neither of them pose much of a physical threat. Even Loki can hold his own against Captain America. They could insert Darkseid, who is one evil badass, but the after credits scene in The Avengers already hinted at Thanos being the villain for the next round, and they’re pretty similar. Additionally all he could offer is another “alien invasion” and that plot device, like the ensemble cast of spandex itself can be summed up in the following words: The Avengers Did it!

 

 

Michael Bay Takes A Permanent Vacation in Miami

You have two billion followers? That’s cute. I’ve grossed two trillion dollars. Talk to the hand.

Forgive us for being late to the party. Like many we were mesmerized by the transcendent display of athleticism of this year’s NBA finals.

Lebron James got a parade for bringing a championship to South Beach, but the king of the hardwood still trails the king of the box office.

It seems we can never run out of faces to stamp on our months. October is for Columbus, February for St. Valentine, December for a guy named Christ, and now June is for Bay. That’s right: The Miami – Dade County Commission has officially declared June, 5 Michael Bay Day in recognition of his financial and cultural contributions to the Magic City. They even gave him a fancy plaque.

Bay, one of the highest grossing directors in history, and the master of random explosions, drop-dead heroines,  and gaping plot holes, shot his first feature film here back in 1994. You may know it as Bad Boys, starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. It grossed over 140 million dollars while its sequel, Bad Boys II  (also shot in the 305), generated over 270. Both films pumped more than 60 million dollars into the local economy.

The South Florida resident is currently shooting a third film, Pain and Gain, in the city. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Ed Harris and is expected to pour an extra 25 million into Miami’s economy.

Talk about gratitude! It would be really cool if we were treated to an annual holographic South Beach showdown (Tupac style) between Optimus Prime and Megatron, with state-sized asteroids crashing into Biscayne Bay as a backdrop. But we will settle for continued exposure and recognition as a premier destination for the film industry.

Thanks, Michael!

Back To Top