The Trouble With Trailers

The purpose of movie trailers is to entice the general public in to see your movie. It should grab the attention of the viewer and make them interested in learning more, in discovering the full story and, ultimately, giving you their cash in ticket prices or sales.

It should not reveal, or appear to reveal the entire story. The trailer for The Martian contains a scene from the climax of the book. Now, admittedly, maybe it's only obvious to me because I had read the book, but still. The trailer for Terminator: Genisys has a major reveal! I was warned in advance, and loved the twist when I saw it in theatres. But, as Honest Trailers point out, that's nothing new for the Terminator franchise. Only watch this if you've seen both T2 and Genisys.

As a matter of fact, as a viewer, I've learned to stop watching trailers once I'm hooked. I only watched that first trailer for The Martian, and I really enjoyed it, despite having previously read the superior novel. As mentioned, Genisys was a really great experience in the cinema, a lot of fun, even if it was only an okay movie, but mostly because I hadn't seen the trailers.

Once I've decided to see a movie, I'm pretty much done with trailers. It sometimes take more than one, but more often than not, the first real trailer is enough to get my attention. I've only seen that first, "Chewie, we're home" trailer for the Force Awakens and avoided screenshots, additional footage and any or all talk about it. I'm looking forward to seeing this on a big, big screen, with the best quality surround sound. I'm going to enjoy going in almost completely unspoiled and coming out, hopefully, with a smile on my face.

But I'm not nearly as excited for the Force as I am for a Civil War. This. Just this.

Done. Completely, utterly done. No more trailers, no behind the scenes, no photos from the set, and definitely no "exclusive footage". I'm already excited. I don't need any more.

Roll on May, 2016!

Fan Expo Vancouver: Year One

Last weekend my wonderful wife and I attended the first day of the inaugural Fan Expo Vancouver in sunny Downtown Vancouver! Every word in that sentence is true, even the "sunny" bit. It was a beautiful day, not too hot for those of us in costume, but more importantly, not raining.

For a "Year One" event, the organizers did a fantastic job lining up some incredible guests. Claire was thrilled to be able to say "hello" to Marina Sirtis, the actress that played Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as voicing Matriarch Benezia in the first Mass Effect game. I got to chat to one of Star Trek's supreme beings, Q, in his form of actor John de Lancie, possibly my favourite Star Trek... erm... antagonist? Enemy or villain sounds too strong. Mostly he ended up just being hilarious and annoying. I also said "Hi" to Aaron Douglas, who, had I known in advance that I'd get to meet him, I would have asked to sign my BattleStar Galactica: The Board Game piece*! I missed out getting to meet David Hayter and Jennifer Hale (I even had my steel case copy of Mass Effect 3 in my bag) due to a hungry, hungry tummy, and I regret not saying "hello" to Michael Dorn (who you can currently catch in the latest season of Castle, folks!**) when I had the chance.

Most of the guests I was interested in meeting had a table covered in glossy, high quality images on sale that they would sign for you. This usually ranged from $20 to $30. Unfortunately, what with the whole "between work permits" thing that we're on right now, we couldn't afford to buy any, so we didn't really get any autographs. We felt a little embarrassed talking to some of the celebrities, knowing that we wouldn't be buying their merchandise, but we made sure not to take up much of their time. There's always next year.

The Fan Expo once again also gave me the opportunity to show off the amazing gift my amazing wife and amazing friends bestowed upon me, and dress up in costume as The Rocketeer! This is the second time I've had the joy of appearing as my number one all-time favourite movie hero, the first being back in August of last year at PAX Prime. I never did get around to uploading photos of that event, so I'll see about rectifying that soon.

I was delighted at how many people of all ages recognised the costume, and spent all day getting stopped for photos. Once Claire and I had decided to head out for food, it took us over 30 minutes to cross the main floor, as I couldn't move ten feet without getting stopped. Of course, I loved it, and delighted in letting people hold and even try on the helmet. It's great to be able to make someone's dream come true, and there were a lot of Rocketeer fans at the Fan Expo, but only one Rocketeer. Actually, there were two, but I'll get to that in another post.

The first Fan Expo Vancouver was, as far as this convention attendee is concerned, a roaring success. I have no doubt it will be back, bigger and better, next year, and I'll be there.

Post Script: But that's not all, dear Reader! There are two very special guests I haven't mentioned here and want to talk about, but each deserves their own post, and so they shall get it. In both cases, it was a chance to meet someone I never thought I would ever have the chance to meet. In one of those cases it was the chance to fulfill a lifelong dream, in the other, the chance to say "Thank you". Coming soon!

*- Admittedly I'd have needed to know far in advance, as it's still back in Ireland with friends. 
**- "Who", or "Whom"?!? Usually I know, but this instance has me stumped.


Some more photos from the convention floor:

Some photos were more enjoyable to pose for than others...

It's Matt Wagner's Mage! It's like he stepped off the comic page into real life!

Two of the greatest pulp heroes, together at last! This guy was hilarious and great to meet.

I got some amazing and treasured photos with incredible people, but this is probably my favourite photo of the convention. I didn't know he was doing this, as my vision is severely restricted in that helmet. Hilarious!

I asked to get a photo with these guys, as Joe Johnson directed both The Rocketeer and the recent Captain America movie. Very cool.

This was an entirely homemade costume! It was beautiful! Fantastic job. He had the mask, but it was getting too stuffy to wear, which I could sympathize with.

Assembling The Greatest Avenger

This is going back a bit, but while we were in San Francisco on our Epic Holiday(TM) this summer, Claire, Karen and I discussed who should play Captain America on the way to the cinema one evening. Names got thrown around, and dream picks were made. Karen has the whole story over at her blog, so you should go read it there.

I bring it up again, as I spotted just now on a site called Major Spoilers that they have a poll running with the same question, and a number of very interesting choices! As the poll itself doesn't appear to have a dedicated page, and given time will most likely disappear from that link, here's a rundown on their choices:
From left to right:
Top Row: Adam Baldwin, Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Fred Savage, Hayden Christensen
Bottom Row: Leonardo Dicaprio, Matt Damon, Mike O'Hearn, Nathan Fillion, Thomas Jane

An interesting selection, and while there are a number there that we had mentioned in our conversation in San Francisco, such as Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Hayden Christensen, there are a few odd choices as well.

Nathan Fillion? Erm... no. Sorry. I love him to bits, but not as Captain America. I adore Mal in Firefly, he's fantastic in Slither and Captain Hammer in Dr. Horrible was, simply put, out of this world! But he's not Captain America.

Fred Savage!?! Seriously? The kid from the Princess Bride? Kevin Arnold from The Wonder Years? Ok, sure, he's gone on to do lots more, including directing, and has developed a successful and prolific career beyond his years as a child actor. He is fantastic, and I have great respect for him, but he's not Captain America.

Thomas Jane would be cool, but he's already the Punisher. Mike O'Hearn certainly looks the part. No need for clever costume design to artificially bulk up that chest. Channing Tatum would be great, except for the small fact that he's already playing essentially the exact same character, without the Super-Soldier serum or the block of Arctic ice. Tatum has been busy filming one of my most anticipated movies of next year, GI Joe: Rise of Cobra, where he will be the all America hero soldier, Conrad S. Hauser, codename: Duke. (Aw, dammit. While getting those links I just learned that the damned release date is August!! I have to wait all bloody summer!) So he's out.

And that doesn't leave us with very many others. Personally, I would love to see Matt Damon in the roll. Brad Pitt could do it as well, and would certainly draw in a crowd of non-comic readers. But I think my number one choice to play Captain America would be...

A relative nobody. A fresh face. A young actor, suited to the roll, with the skills needed for the part. Blond hair, blue eyes, six foot plus, just like the Captain, the perfect Aryan. He wouldn't break the budget when they want to get everyone together for the Avengers movie either. Perfect!

It's worked in the past. Who knew Hugh Jackman before X-Men? While he had done lots of other things before it, how many people knew Eric Banas name before The Hulk? Superman Returns may be far from perfect, but Brandon Routh was incredible in the roll. And now that I've mentioned Superman, what about Christopher Reeve, whose IMDB.com listing starts and ends with the Man of Steel (Ok, technically Superman is fifth into the start of his career, but hands up who has seen the other four?). Or Tom Welling as Clark Kent in Smallville?

Go on Marvel. Create another superstar. Surprise all the gossipers and rumour mills. Assemble an Avenger from an actor whose name no-one knows, and make him a name the world loves.

The greatest Avenger ever.