Once upon a time, back when I had the ability to be a full-time nerd, I would go to a website called firstshowing.net. It is a movie news website and is always up-do-date with the goings on in the movie world. I would check that site every-single-day (I'm fond of the "-" today <3) for any and all news about movies. Meryl Streep sneezed and won another Oscar? I knew about that weeks ago! They decided to make another Harry Potter film about that time he got locked in the janitors closet and did nothing but play with himself for 3 hours until Professor Expendable found him? Yeah, I knew about the green light AND Warner Brothers dropping the project to make Hangover 37.2.
That being said, I became an adult, got "a real job" and fell out of touch with movies. Instead of always being ahead of the curb (insert Joker reference here) I am one of the usual slobs finding out my movie and pop culture news via Facebook. I could go on a whole rant about the horrors of using Facebook as your primary news stop, but we will save that rant for another day. When I heard about the new Star Wars trailer or the announcement of a Suicide Squad movie, I felt more "Huh....That's a thing," than anything else. . . . and then came the fandom.
Within ten minutes of hearing about all of this, I already had friends of Facebook and twitter blowing up my feed with opinions. "The casting sucks!" "What the hell is up with the new light sabers!" "This trailer is just trying to make me excited!" There was so much negativity around franchises that should be exciting us. I was about to throw up my hands and ignore the internet until the Rotten Tomato Reviews came trickling in.
Then I paused and thought.
Once upon a time, having Suicide Squad made into movies would have been impossible. Now these type of franchises are popping up as fast as cereal mascots did in the 90s. We have seen great work and we have seen bad, so we tend to be skeptical when these announcements come about. I will admit ever since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles got a reboot I too started to fear the dread when it came to adaptations. So why am I not raging now? Although I've never read the comics, Harley Quinn is my favorite villain. The actress chosen to play her rings no bells in my mind. Shouldn't I be hunting down her every performance to see if she will live up to my expectations? Shouldn't I be writing her long emails explaining how she can properly play this beloved character? We will get back to answering those questions. First, let us talk about Star Wars: The Force Awakens
We were teased at the hopes of revisiting the nostalgia of the Star Wars universe when the prequels came out, only to be met with classic lines "Are you an angel?" or "Me-sa-piece-of-shitta". Our childhoods were attacked by disappointment and we swore to never let it happen again. In other words, I think the creators of the new Star Wars films were doomed no matter what they put in that teaser trailer. Fans were going to be ready for a fight. We refuse to be scrapped across the cheese grader belief Hollywood has that "if you adapt it, fans will come". However, after watching the trailer a few times, I knew what the makers were probably going for. Call it a sort of "Make the fans feels like its the old Stars Wars, but with lots of cool new shit too". Yes the rolling droid is silly, the new light saber raises a lot of tactical questions, and we really don't get any sense of the plot. We do however get some strong visuals of the worlds we are going to see, a snip it of a sinister figure, and a sense of fun coupled with the fact that the franchise has matured. The creators had to pack a lot of punch into not a lot of time, so cut them some slack if it wasn't the most epic thing you've ever seen in your life. It's a teaser trailer. It is meant to TEASE not give you the over all plot. It is supposed to leave you wondering so you will come back to see the full trailer. And yes, there are probably some who were so underwhelmed that they aren't going back. I don't think that's going to break the movie though. And I don't see this trailer as the first domino is a line of disappointment. I see it as the trunk of possibilities that will hopefully branch out. I am not going to totally freak out until I actually see the movie....or hear that Megan Fox is playing Princess Leia.
Now let us gather round and sum up where I'm going with all these babbles. I think ultimately what I'm trying to say is don't take snip-its too seriously. Yes, this is coming from a girl who is still boycotting TMNT after she heard some "fun facts" about the reboot, but that was a final nail in a coffin that Michael Bay had been building for quite sometime. Right now Suicide Squad seems to have some great performers attached like Will Smith and Oscar winner Jared Leto and Star Wars: The Force Awakens is being directed and produced by J.J. Abrams, who I feel is a solid Sci-fi director. Let's all for now just calm down, eat some sugar cookies, and be excited while we can. After all, it's only a matter of time before Michael Bay tries to turn My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic into a live action film staring Megan Fox as Princess Twilight Sparkle and Danny Devito as Spike. So be goddamn thankful for what you have!
Tootles.
