Hi impact terror appears to be in store this May with Star Trek Into Darkness and Paramount bowed its teaser trailer with a menacing voice warning of vengeance in these “final moments of peace,” and it will be Captain Kirk to the rescue, of course. The first full trailer will debut next week. ENTV description: The first official teaser trailer for Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013). After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Alice Eve, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin. Watch the video on YouTube
The Hobbit doesn’t make you heave, according to Warner Bros. The studio behind the first film in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy is batting down reports that the the high-frame rate of the picture caused nausea and dizziness for some fans who saw early screenings of the picture in New Zealand. Here’s the statement that the studio released on the matter: “We have been screening the full-length HFR 3D presentation of THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY extensively and feedback has been extremely positive, with none of thousands who have seen the film projected in this format expressing any of the issues described by two anonymous sources in media reports. We share the filmmakers’ belief that by offering filmgoers the additional choice of HFR 3D, alongside traditional viewing formats, they have an opportunity to be part of a groundbreaking advancement in the moviegoing experience and we look forward to having audiences everywhere share in this new way of storytelling.” Warner is reacting to reports by the New Zealand Herald and ABC News that some moviegoers found the film’s frame-rate hard to stomach. The Down Under publication cited “some viewers” who said the “filming technique made them nauseous and dizzy, with some even complaining of migraines.” ABC News quoted a Hobbit fan who tweeted: “You have to hold your stomach down and let your eyes pop at first to adjust.” Jackson’s decision to shoot the movie at 48 frames-per-second — twice the rate of most films — has also prompted complaints that high-definition result requires the moviegoer to process too much visual information. The New Zealander does have one Hollywood heavyweight in his corner. James Cameron predicted that Jackson’s decision to shoot The Hobbit at 48 frames per second would do for high-definition filmmaking what his Avatar did for 3D movies. “We charged out ahead on 3D with Avatar , now Peter’s doing it with The Hobbit . It takes that kind of bold move to make change.” RELATED STORIES: ‘Hobbit’ Fans Complain Of Dizziness & Nausea ‘The Hobbit’ At 48 FPS: A High Frame Rate Fiasco? ‘The Hobbit’ 3-D Early Review: Back Again, But Not Quite There [ New Zealand Herald , ABC News ] Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
If you lived through Watchmen ‘s troubled journey to the screen, Zack Snyder ‘s Man of Steel doesn’t exactly make one feel like leaping the nearest tall building. Watchmen is the platonic ideal of missing the forest for the trees, and as for his work overall, there’s only so many times you can see slow-motion downward-punching before you start to wonder if his characters are suffering from undiagnosed strokes. That Man of Steel is being exec produced by Chris Nolan should be a point in its favor, but after The Dark Knight Rises , in which we’re expected to believe the same government that secretly assassinated Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan can’t handle an ostentatious blowhard taking over an American city, I can’t help but fear for the grim, poorly plotted future in store for Superman. Man of Steel ‘s marketing hasn’t helped. The first teaser came off like the last five minutes of every episode of The Incredible Hulk *, the only thing missing being sad piano music to really nail down the emo superhero mood, and the posters have been as dull as Lex Luthor’s scalp after a busy day plotting world conquest. But hang on, look, up in the sky! It’s a new poster, and it’s actually interesting . Superman, handcuffed and flanked by soldiers, appears on his way to the big house, and for the first time I’m suddenly intrigued by this thing. Why the hell is Superman willingly submitting? (Obviously, he’d have to be volunteering for incarceration, unless the film uses something like the Inhibitor concept from Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming’s Powers .) Lex Luthor isn’t Man of Steel ‘s villain, but this conjures up the ‘Public Enemies’ arc from the Superman/Batman comic series. That storyline had newly-elected President Lex Luthor frame Superman and Batman for plotting the destruction of earth, and while Superman wasn’t jailed, he was chased around the world by law enforcement and deputized supervillains. Could we be seeing something like that play out here? Perhaps the actions of Man of Steel villain General Zod freak people out enough that Superman, having the same powers, is labeled a public menace and arrested. It would make sense for the big blue boy scout to set a good example by complying with the law. Whatever happens, at least we know it’s not just going to be a lot of super-moping. Unless of course he and Lois Lane break up over a completely solvable misunderstanding and Superman copes by making an iPod playlist of John William’s greatest movie scores. * I’ll admit Henry Cavill would make an awesome Bill Bixby . RELATED ARTICLES: Christopher Nolan Talks Batman Trilogy, Heath Ledger & ‘Man Of Steel’ Get A Peek At Superman in First Man of Steel Teasers: My Two Dads Ross Lincoln is a LA-based freelance writer from Oklahoma with an unhealthy obsession with comics, movies, video games, ancient history, Gore Vidal, and wine. Follow him on Twitter at @rossalincoln .
