As I’ve done with past epic movie trailers, here is the 3rd set of original screengrabs from the final trailer #3 for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS! Vol. 3: The Rest Of the Best.
Check Out Vol. 1: The New Kids on the Block HERE!
Or, Vol. 2: Old School Ships: New Combat… And A Classic Face!
Now for the new stuff! The Rest of the Best.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits Movie Screens on December 18th!
As I’ve done with past epic movie trailers, here is the 2nd set of original screengrabs from the final trailer #3 for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS! Vol. 2: Old School Ships: New Combat… And A Classic Face!
Check Out Vol. 1: The New Kids on the Block, First!
Now for the new stuff.
Just watch it! Bask in it’s glory! As Han Solo says, the stories were true!
Wow! From the swelling musical themes of the original movies, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS does feel a lot like the original trilogy, but there are definite J.J. Star Trek inspirations from the visual tweak on Lightspeed to the game-changing look at X-Wing dogfights, and some aliens in between. It totally has a J.J. Abrams look. But that ain’t bad at all!
And questions are answered! Kylo Ren does in fact take fashion device from Darth Vader as he seems to be obsessed with him. Finn is instead a former Stormtrooper way out of his league, not simply wearing the suit as a disguise a la the OG Star Wars. There’s ALL the original cast, finally… except for Luke who remains simply a hand. Plus, Lightsabers work in the rain!
And did we see Han Solo die in that that trailer? Look again, but I think it’s there around 1:45 mark! Is Rey crying over her father’s body?!?! (Through which I also surmise she is the spawn of Solo…).
Questions will be answered December 18th, 2015. Good luck getting tickets.
Check Out Original Screen Grabs Now!
Vol. 1: The New Kids on the Block.
It’s here! The final poster for J.J. Abram’s trip to a galaxy far, far away has hit the internet by storm! The Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster even includes the 1st image of some fan favorites from the classic trilogy!
Waste no time and take a gander. Then we’ll talk about what you see!
First off, who’s missing?
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) of course! Luke is now the classic character most shrouded in mystery as the poster does offer our first look at Carrie Fisher as Leia (Solo?)! Why won’t they show us anymore than Luke’s metal “Winter Soldier” arm?
Front and center are the three new, younger cast members that will likely drive the movie forward (a character’s size on a poster can be very telling of their importance…), Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as the lightsaber weilding/possible Stormtrooper Finn, and the Darth Vader inspired Kylo Ren played by Adam Driver.
Below that, the whole gang’s here from classic droids C-3PO & R2-D2 to the brand new rolly polly B-88. Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia, and Chewbacca share a small space next to the droids, as does Oscar Isaac’s hot-shot X-Wing Pilot Poe Dameron. There’s even a new, mysterious alien hanging with the old crew; an alien whose importance was never hinted at in any of the promotional material… including the toys!
You’ve got your baddies on the very bottom; a legion of Stormtroopers led by Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie). No sign of Domhnall Gleeson who we’ve already seen as General Hux in promotional images, and Andy Serkis’ CGI “New Order” (formally “The Empire”) Supreme Leader Snoke remains just as mysterious as Luke Skywalker’s face.
It’s hard to miss the classic X-Wings. Tie-Fighters, and, of course, the Millennium Falcon, but what is more interesting is the Death Star looking ship in the top right corner behind Finn. That isn’t a starship, or a small moon, it’s an Arctic planet, turned into the “Starkiller” base/weapon capable of wiping out a star system. (Fun fact: in early scripts Luke Skywalker was Luke Starkiller…)
Death Star 5.0!
It needs to be mention, though the poster does recall Star Wars posters past, it is not drawn by the incomparable Drew Struzan.
With a trailer dropping tomorrow on ESPN during Monday Night Football, things are about to get really Star Warsy up in here!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits US screens on December 18th!
I went through the entire trailer for the upcoming videogame Star Wars: Battlefront and captured a Galaxy of original screen grabs for you! Enjoy!
Good God, ya’ll! We’ve got a plethera of “teaser” trailers today, but of all today’s goodness, the 2nd trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens takes the cake!
Let’s watch it before I spoil it.
Boom! A crashed Star Destroyer and X-Wing? Check!
Melted Vader helmet? Check!
Luke’s lineage, including perhaps a child of Leia? R2-D2 and Luke’s now fully metallic fake hand? Check for both.
Who’s that in charge of that battalion of Storm Troopers? Who runs The Empire Now?
Who’s the Sith looking fellow in the mask? His name is Kylo Ren, but who is the man, behind the mask?
And who is this incredibly important looking Storm Trooper?
Further Empire development since we last saw them… thirty years ago.
And why are Han Solo and Chewbacca finally home? Is it a homecoming on the Millennium Falcon, because that sure looks like her interior.
“Fast ship? You’ve never heard of the Millenium Falcon? It’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs.”
Lot’s here to process, so let’s take a moment to enjoy it all… especially the first appearance of Han Solo and Chewbacca after so many decades!
The force looks strong with this one!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… 2015 is going to be fucking ridiculous… when it comes to the year’s movie slate.
There’s a lot to gush about; new movies in classic franchises like ‘Jurassic World,’ ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ ‘Mad Max: Fury Road, ‘ ‘007: SPECTRE’ and ‘Terminator Genisys.’ Following Marvel’s most successful year, when it came to quality of movies, we have a sequel to 2012’s ‘The Avengers’ as well as the origin story of a new Avenger in ‘Ant-Man.’ Even 20th Century Fox is shilling a non-X-Men Marvel property in the form of their ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot.
But what looks the best? What are the 7 movies I really can’t wait to see (couldn’t narrow it down to 5…)? Can I put them in order?
Yes I can, other Nick. Yes I can.
7. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS
While several of the titles I used in my intro don’t make the list at all, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (formally ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’) gets the bottom spot.
Why?
We haven’t seen much footage at all, I work at the movie theater and have seen the trailer a dozen times in 3D and the final scene still makes me nauseous, and it’s so damn far away in comparison to most the titles on my list.
Plus… we’ve all played this ‘Star Wars’ anticipation game before and it backfired, horribly.
I’m actually a fan of the new lightsaber! And I know the trailer is supposed to showcase new characters in classic vehicles and uniforms (the stormtrooper armor), which were fun to see, but I want to see Han Solo, dammit!
6. ANT-MAN
Great trailer, but still a hard sell. The trailer jumps back and forth from a darker tone akin to that of ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier’ to the comedy stylings of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man (but still not ‘Guardians’ funny).
The trailer does look awesome; only those flying ant scenes seem questionable, even though it’s an image straight from the comics. I like the mostly serious tone of the trailer, anchored by a pretty great speech by Michael Douglas as Hank Pym.
What’s the most unique thing about ‘Ant-Man’ when compared to the other Avengers in the MCU? He’s the only every-man in the group of billionaire science genius, another scientist who turned himself green, an every-man who leaves that life behind when he gets a super-soldier serum, and a God.
Sure, Capt. did start an every-man, but even with the suit and powers of Ant-Man, Scott Lang seems grounded, even leaving his super-suit hanging in the shower.
Oh, and he has a daughter; a first for nearly any superhero franchise. The only exception I can think of is Sandman in ‘Spider-Man 3.’ A similar situation is going on here (and will hopefully go better) with criminal Lang stealing for his family and becoming the hero his daughter thinks he is. Ant-Man is not saving his world, he’s saving ours.
5. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 5
We haven’t seen any footage yet, but Tom Cruise’s new stunt is ko-ko-bananas, even in comparison to his scaling the tallest building in the world in the last installment, ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.’
3 out of the 4 films in this franchise have been better than good; theeeeeey’re GREAT!
While the first is the best, ‘Ghost Protocol’ was a very strong entry that revitalized the franchise and introduced us to team members Benji (Simon Pegg) and Brandt (Jeremy Renner). Joining them this time is Luthor (Ving Rhames) who has been on Ethan Hunt’s (Tom Cruise) task force every film except ‘Ghost Protocol.’
Only reservation is the director: Christopher McQuarrie. Though he wrote ‘Usual Suspects’ and last year’s ‘Edge of Tomorrow,’ he also directed ‘Jack Reacher’ which was a terrible Tom Cruise thriller.
4. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
Tom Hardy is Mad Max! The trailer is glorious! There’s more stunt-work than you can shake a stick at, something very rare in Hollywood. Boom!
Sure, there’s plenty of CGI as well, but most that exploding carnage is done the old fashioned way with stuntmen and actual pyrotechnics!
3. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
You would think this would be at the top of my list (I thought so! Especially after the first trailer…), but my excitement has waned and worry has found a foothold in my brain.
Let’s be honest here, ‘The Avengers’ is in my top 3 MCU movies (with ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and ‘Winter Soldier’) mainly because it was literally a game-changer. It was the first cross-pollination of superheroes, part of a shared universe, coming together after each carried their own franchises. Everyone else is still trying to pull this off, including DC Entertainment. The plot wasn’t that great, action scenes were few and far between, but the movie will always be remembered for bringing Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together.
‘Age of Ultron’ will need to step up its game to reach the quality of movies Marvel Studios put out in 2014. Likewise, it better be bigger and better, which it appears to be, but I hope that a great storyteller like Joss Whedon can avoid the movie from becoming a jumbled mess; cause there is A LOT going on between the two official trailers.
I also hope it’s good enough to avoid the fate of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ (which I personally love) where most people were disappointed by the film, mainly because it had to follow the incredibly beloved ‘Dark Knight.’
In James Spader I trust.
2. 007: SPECTRE
This may be blasphemy, but ‘Skyfall’ is my favorite Bond movie… ever. It was so fucking good, bringing in the best 007 baddie of all time (Javier Bardem), and shaking up the 007 universe a bit.
The writers and director, Sam Mendes, from ‘Skyfall’ return and the title promises the revival of the terrorist organization SPECTRE (formally ‘Quantum’ in the D. Craig movies), as classic to the franchise as Vesper Martinis, shaken, not stirred.
Better yet? The villain cast is unbelievable with Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer from ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’) as a henchman, the incomparable Christoph Waltz (whose villainy can only be matched by Javier Bardem), and my personal favorite, Andrew Scott whose portrayal of Moriarty on BBC’s ‘Sherlock’ is perhaps the greatest TV villain of all time.
1. JURASSIC WORLD
It’s just too damn nostalgic. While I’ve watched the ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ trailer a million times and have had enough, I can still watch the ‘Jurassic World’ trailer anywhere, anytime.
We’re back on Isla Nublar! The movie is sticking close to the original and ignoring the sequels! Chris Pratt gets to hunt a new hybrid-dinosaur! There are child siblings in peril! Velociraptors!
And those notes from John Williams’ classic score… magic. Lightning in a bottle, at least as far as we can tell from the trailer!
The Park is Open, Mother Fuckers!
Enjoy 2015! I’ll be see you… at the movies.
Wow! In the past month we have been blessed with trailers for ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ ‘Jurassic World,’ and NOW, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.!’
I honestly don’t know which movie to look forward to the most!
The new ‘Star Wars’ trailer has everything you’re looking for; fore-boarding narration (I could have sworn the opening voice-over was Benedict Cumberbatch)! New land-speeder from ‘A New Hope’ crossed with ‘Return of the Jedi’s speeder-bike! Cool new droids! A new kind of lightsaber in the hands of a possible villain on what also looks like a new planet! Stormtroopers old an new (that aren’t clones)! And the planet that started it all; Tatoonie !
Most importantly, we see the next evolution of Star Wars space-ship battles. The prequel trilogy was vastly short on fighter-ship on fighter-ship action, whereas this was the original trilogy’s bread and butter from the original Death Star run to the final… Death Star run.
J.J. Abrams and his team have revolutionized the look of classic ships flying, whether it be three X-Wings skimming across water (with a much more intense cockpit shot than we are used to), or an almost go-pro shot of the Millennium Falcon vs. classic Tie Fighters in an action scene with crazy awesome camera moves that looks unlike anything we have seen in a ‘Star Wars’ movie or even J.J.’s two ‘Star Trek’ films. It’s almost like the fluid camera that follows Spidey when he web-slings in ‘Amazing Spider-Man 2,’ which may have been a disappointing movie but had the most impressive web-slinging to date.
Watch the trailer now!
See! It looks like real ‘Star Wars.’ (Yet, we were all burned by ‘Phantom Menace’ which also had a great teaser.)
All it is missing is the classic team of Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Leia (Carrie Fisher), Luke (Mark Hamill), and Chewie (Peter Mayhew). And the droids! No R2-D2 or C3P-O in this trailer, yet they have been a big part of all the preceding films.
We’ll see all these old friends in the movie, but the trailer is smart to give us first glimpses of the new characters, as it seems they will be leading the show with the old cast serving as supporting actors.
That being said, maybe it is Luke in that snowy Forrest with that cross-joint lightsaber (you know… the joint from ‘Pineapple Express’). Either Luke has turned to the Dark Side, or it could be a completely different, new villain like Darth Maul. But in classic Abrams fashion… we really have no idea what is going on yet, in this scene or the rest of the trailer. All I know is it looks like classic ‘Star Wars’ made in the 21st century with ships we recognize; not the shock of the prequels with almost no familiar elements).
I also saw no CGI character that Andy Serkis may play. This is the teaser-trailer though, my friends. The movie is a year away so there will be many more trailers before December 2015.
The final interesting choice is one I noticed when the title logo was unveiled; the new film is not being called ‘Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens’ at this moment. Rather, Disney and Abrams seem to be avoiding putting the episode number in the title at all, thus far. This may get confusing with all the solo-movies coming out alongside the new trilogy, unless, perhaps, they are meant to blend together and the numbers no longer matter?
I do have faith in Abrams. I refer to him as the franchise savior as he has brought the ‘Mission: Impossible’ and ‘Star Trek’ back from the grave. I’ll let him have a get-out-of-jail-free card for the very disappointing, but still fun, ‘Super 8.’
Speaking of ‘Mission: Impossible’ we’ll have a fifth one of those December 2015 also; a movie promising a stunt that will make Dubai Tower look like breaking into Langley!
Time to get excited, geeks!
2015 is my childhood in a bottle, with new ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Star Wars,’ an epic comic-book film in the form of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’, and some more of the aforementioned ‘Mission: Impossible.’
The biggest year of geek is coming my friends. Make sure to pack an extra pair of undies.
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