Radar Blips - Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

The Year: 2002

The Players: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Sauruman, and less Jar-Jar Binks in the continuing adventures of George Lucas.

The Take: $302 million (The only Star Wars to not be #1 in the year of its release. AotC was #3 behind Spidey and Two Towers)

So the Clones Finally Attacked?: Not really. Actually, the title makes not sense as the clones were supposed to be the good guys and they didn't really attack anyone. A better title would be Counter Attack of the Clones.

Why You Should See It: Horrible, horrible dialogue (cringe inducing and painful) was sandwiched between some decent action. Andonce you get an hour and 30 some minutes in, the arena battle was pretty cool, especially the part with the three creatures. It was a nice tip of the hat to the Rancor pit monster in Jedi. It was a shame that so many Jedi were killed so easily, intercut with far too many C-3P0 puns (what a drag). The Yoda-Dooku fight was overrated, when did Yoda become Sonic the Hedgehog) but some of the I did enjoy the whole premise of the separatist movement being a ruse. People were so anti-separatist that they rallied around the soon to be dictator. That Palpatine is a clever guy. The Jango Fett vs OB1 fight was cool too, even if Baby Boba was very lame. Oh, and one last thing. Between the noisy traffic on Coruscant and the sonic mines being shot by Jango, this movie had noticeably great sound effects.

Star Trek is Officially Cooler Than Star Wars

Remember back in the good ol days when the Ewoks were the worst thing that ever happened to Star Wars. Then came Jar Jar, and now this. The Clone Wars Animated Movie has me baffled. First of all, if this story is really worth telling, then why not put it in the prequel trilogy. I doubt many people would have objected to more of the actual Clone Wars and less trade embargoes and pod racing. How is it that the whole Clone War, one of the most interesting references in the Original Trilogy to what the Prequels had in store, were just skipped over?

Now we are being served up a theatrical CG animated story of when Anakin had a Padawan with a burping frog? WTF? And this animation makes Hoodwinked look like a masterpiece and has no business, in 2008, showing up anywhere outside of a Tic Tac commercial. Is anyone over 3 excited about this? This preview makes me embarrassed to be a Star Wars fan and takes away all of my interest in the upcoming animated series. I would rather wear a Star Trek Data T-Shirt than be caught coming out of this movie, but I am sure Big GL will still make a billion or so off of it and the merchandise. Its a sad day for aspiring Jedi everywhere.

Disney Gets Back to Its Roots With a Frog (Trailer)

The first trailer for Disney's upcoming traditionally animated The Princess and The Frog is here. Could we be on the verge of the next Golden Age? After weathering Home on the Range and Chicken Little, I sure hope so.

Another Dose of the Pot

Potter 6 (of 8) is nearly upon us and we FINALLY have a real trailer. That tease attached to Batman was just insulting. Half Blood Prince was my favorite of the books, so I am hoping for a good adaptation, though I think many of the flashbacks may have been eliminated. In any case, I look forward to another round ***** kills ********* spoilers to ruin the ending for the uninitiated. But really, who doesnt know about that yet?

Radar Blips - Batman & Robin

The Year: 1997

The Players: George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell as Bats and Robs and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl with Ahnuld and Uma as villains and some rubber nipples.

The Take: $107 Million

Is this the one that added Robin to the mix? No, in spite of what the title may lead you to believe, Robin joined the dynamic duo in the previous film, Batman Forever. This one did add Batgirl though, and featured Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane. A better title for this movie may have been "Lets Ruin Batman vs Lots of Villains: The Movie + Robin and Batgirl Too."

Why you should see it: To appreciate how far we have come. When this film nearly ended Batfilms, I hated it, but now that Batman lives on, I am going to be honest and risk ridicule by saving that I kinda enjoy it. It is horrible, but its one of the best bad movie I have ever seen. Watching it is hilarious, especially with groups. Its hard to believe they were really trying to make a good movie. There are countless shots of Bat butts for no reason, far too many "ice" puns, bouncy plastic icicles, and even a cringe worthy American Express tie-in joke. Also, Alfred once again lets someone into the cave, this time Batgirl for whom he has already crafted a custom suit. Its crazy that this is the same character as was featured in the Burton and Nolan films. That is the great thing about Batman. He has been imagined in so many different ways and seeing some of the bad versions make the good versions seem all the more masterful. Sadly, these versions of Freeze, Ivy, and especially Bane (dumbed down to a very poor man's Hulk-like idiot) deserve to be redone sometime, though probably not in Nolan's current interpretation.

Wonder Woman and Wakanda Get Animated

Wonder Woman finally gets the spotlight in her upcoming animated feature. This looks like it has potential to be the best from DC since Superman Doomsday.


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Also coming soon is an animated take on The Black Panther in the style of John Romita Jr. This one certainly has a unique style. I am not sold on it yet, but it is cool to see things done a little unconventionally. And I may finally have to figure out what channel number is BET,

Brave and the Bold Trailer

I bet Plastic Man isn't a very good flavor of gum, even for a shark, or croc, or whatever that is.

Wolverine's Origin AGAIN!

The trailer for X-Men Origins: Wolverine was shown at Comic Con and now its here. Wasn't this tale already told in X2? And Wasn't Sabretooth in X-Men? And Wasn't it not this guy? I am all for more X-Men movies, and am looking forward to seeing Gambit, but will every X-Film feature Wolverine? Whats next? X-Men Origins: Magneto - featuring Wolverine? The footage looks OK. I am sure I will see it, but why not try and adapt Cable and Bishop next?

Pixar Knows Whats Up

Say what you want about Pixar, but they know what kinds of things will get kids excited about their movies, even if the movies aren't strictly for kids. Take this new trailer for example. The movie UP features an old dude traveling to South America in a house attached to hundreds of balloons. Oooooooooookay. Sounds strange and mildly lame. But my kids have already watched this balloon filled teaser a dozen times and my one year old kicks and screams with excitement at seeing those helium filled "balls." Once again Pixar has picked a central object to capture the kids imagination ala toys, bugs, monsters, fish, superheroes, cars, and robots (rats not so much, though Ratatouille was incredible). Here is to hoping that Up can stand proudly among Pixar's other masterpieces.

Hulk Kicks Thors Butt Too

Along with the (thus far) better promoted and (at least for me) more anticipated Hulk vs Wolverine battle on the upcoming Hulk VS DVD is a Hulk vs Thor smackdown, and the trailer is now here Thanks to IGN.com!

While Hulk vs Wolverine is what is going to sell the DVD, this one looks like it might also be worthwhile. I am happy to see that Marvel is going back to their promise of delivering material for older audiences. This fan service just may help people forgive them for Next Avengers - not that it will be bad, (though it may be) just that its not what they promised with this line of DVDs.

I thought a little reminder of the live action Hulk V Thor might also be appreciated. Enjoy.

TR2N Footage

Here is that Tron 2 footage I was talking about. Those light Cycles are awesome. Could this be Disney's next hit after Pirates?

Tron 2 TR2N Trailer Teaser Preview Full Screen from Tron Two on Vimeo.

X-Fails Due to a Dark and Stormy Knight

Dark Knight has unbelievably zipped up to the chart to 2nd place and is poised to claim number 1 by tomorrow, a spot it will be unlikely to lose this year. During its first 10 days it has set an incredible number of record including the highest cumulative total for each of those 10 days, highest opening weekend, highest 2nd weekend (dethroning Shrek 2) and fastest to $100, $200 and $300 million bucks. With #601 million, its doubtful that Titanic will be giving up its #1 all time position any time soon, but #2 Star Wars: a New Hope with $461 million is in real danger of being knocked down to #3.

X-Files opened, and no one cared to believe. It earned a paltry $10.2 million. Step Brothers did better with a modest $30 million.

Iron Man is still holding off Indy for number 2 and just may win that battle.

Hancock is about to overtake the Panda after just passing into the sweet $200's, but Wall-E now looks unlikely to catch that agile black and white bear. Still, Wall-E should have enough gas to surpass Ratatouille's low $200 number.

The Incredible Hulk is mere dollars ahead of '03s Hulk and doesn't have much more to give. Spin that how you will. Hulk has also kept his spot on my chart for one more week.

Next week is the Mummy, which looks like it could be another guilty pleasure.


Standings:


#1 Iron Man - $314,905,000
#2 The Dark Knight - $314,245,000
#3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $313,626,000
#4 Kung Fu Panda - $208,972,000
#5 Hancock - $206,371,000
#6 Wall-E - $195,235,000
#7 Sex and the City - $150,854,000
#8 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - $139,745,459
#9 The Incredible Hulk - $132,543,000