D Day

Avengers on Location

A shot taken on location with the new Avengers movie currently being shot by Joss Wheedon of Buffy fame. This scene shows Captain America battling extras suited up for what will eventually become aliens/humanoids via the magic of CGI.

Cap: A Hero for Our Times?

I came across an interesting article on Captain America in a recent post from the LA Times and after reading a friend's recent blog on heroes and their importance in our lives, thought it may be worth re-blogging. The LA Times have a site labelled "Hero Complex" and an entry from March has an article by Scottish comics writer Mark Millar:


“Actually America’s economic decline makes Captain America more attractive to people in a strange way,” said Millar, one of the top names writing for Marvel Comics and a creator who has watched his anti-heroes hit the Hollywood screen in the films “Wanted” and “Kick-Ass.”



“Like Superman, he was created in a difficult time to give the country a little hope and the U.S.A. could use some good news right now with a nice, straightforward hero making everyone feel a little better,” Millar said. “James Bond performed the same function for post-imperial Britain after World War II. We’d lost our empire, but here was a hero who represented the best of being British and made us feel good about ourselves. As Brazil, Russia, India and China threaten the American empire in these difficult times, it’s nice to have a hero out there kicking ass and wearing a flag we all feel comfortable with.”

The new Marvel film “Captain America: First Avenger” is set in the 1940s & war-torn Europe. Under the guiding hand of director Joe Johnston, the movie melds the boys-own spirit of “The Rocketeer” (directed by Johnston) and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Johnston was key art & concepts) with current expectations of masked-man moviemaking.


Burn brightly, Pete

Avengers Assemble

Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame has begun shooting The Avengers this week in the US with Cleveland standing in for New York City.  Police cars with NYPD logos whizzed by, extras were running down the street screaming as part of a battle scene, which was among the first to be shot in Cleveland. Whedon plans to shoot exterior sequences throughout the rest of the week  in downtown Cleveland. Images are now up on the web with live footage of the shooting caught on mobile phones. Basic looking images at first glance, but its good to see it under way and the film will give the aging JLA cartoons from DC comics a run for their money with this big budget effort.

I recently saw Captain America in the cinema here in Australia and there was a brief preview at the end of the film featuring some previous Marvel stars from recent films like Thor and Iron Man. Robert Downey Jnr had a nice line in the teaser  but I'm not sure if it was a teaser only or actually part of the upcoming Whedon film. It'll be interesting to see how the stories are reshaped and updated to explain the whereabouts of the Cosmic Cube which shifts through a few different story arcs. And the special effects bill for this feature will be amazing with the likes of the previous marvel characters plus newcomers like AntMan etc.


Burn Brightly, Pete

Captain America

Saw the Captain America movie last week - in fact I've been sitting through a spate of super-hero movies of late : Thor, Capt America, Green Lantern. I was surprised by Captain America and it was much better than I thought it would be. All the patriotic hype was there as would be expected and I expect we'll see a new SHIELD film come along before long with the new interest in spy movies and the possibility of terrorist cells in the US.

I would recommend Captain America - it has a similar feel to the Rocketeer and has that same Boy's Own escapism. My 24 year old daughter and 20 year old son both enjoyed it so it was good to know that it wasn't my nostalgic longing for the comics I read in the sixties that coloured my point of view. The movie was lovingly put together with great costume and casting, a reasonable storyline that adhered reasonably closely to the comics (except for Bucky's death) good sense of humour, obligatory guest spot by an aging Stan Lee (this may be his last) and some great song and dance routines (yes - I'm not kidding!).

So if you're looking for some escapism, give the Cap a go. The red,white and blue and big musical sounds of the forties might delight and surprise you too.... and make sure you stick around after the credits. My buddy and I and one other guy were the few in the know that Marvel films always have a teaser for their next production right at the end of the credits and the new avengers film is looking pretty good as well. Seems like super hero movies based on 60s comics are the flavour of the month right now in Holloywood.
Burn brightly, Peter.