New 'Man of Steel' Toys Hit NYC's Time To Play 2013 Showcase

Last week in NewYork City I had the opportunity to stop by the Time To Play 2013 Spring Showcase,  which offered sneak peeks for the exciting toys we can look forward to seeing in the second half of the year. It goes without saying the upcoming Man of Steel had a major presence, with various tie-in's on the way from Lego, Mattel and JAKKS Pacific. 

To start off the tour, JAKKS Pacific had on display an impressive and massive Superman action figure that stands 31" tall based on Henry Cavill's likeness with the updated costume design seen in the movie. The figure also features seven points of articulation and a fabric cape.

Lego has Man of Steel figures and play sets on the way, including the Black Zero Escape set featuring Superman, General Zod in his full Kryptonian battle armor and Lois Lane.

Mattel's sinister black Kryptonian tripod ship from the Battle For Metropolis play set suggests that General Zod has heavy artillery at his disposal for the invasion of Earth.

Figures from the Mattel's Quick Shot line.

Superman's Strike Ship from the Mattel's Flight Speeders line.

From Mattel's Movie Master line are action figures based on Henry Cavill's Superman, Russell Crowe's Jor-El and Michael Shannon's General Zod. These 6' figures also made Time To Play's 2013 Summer Playlist.

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Film Review - THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE ★★☆☆☆

If there is one trick that The Incredible Burt Wonderstone can't pull out from its hat, and that is a timely redemption of its title character into a likable fellow for whom we've stop caring about. Steve Carell plays an out of touch Las Vegas strip magician whose star has faded over the years. Burt Wonderstone has the luxury of being surrounded by funnier and more interesting characters, but ultimately spends too much screen time just being an incredible jerk.

As the film opens, the young and future Incredible Wonderstone is an awkward bullied little boy who finds focus and purpose in his life when he and his buddy Anton discover the joys of sleight of hand via a home magic set and VHS instructional video based on the stage act of the legendary Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin).

Flash forward decades later, Wonderstone is a master of illusion, performing to sold out audiences at Bally's in bare chested sequin outfits and an over blown-out bulletproof bouffant along with his sidekick Anton (Steve Buscemi). What has also happened over time is Burt's transformation into a narcissistic self-made celebrity who gifts groupies he's bedded with souvenir autographed pictures the next morning and fires on-stage assistants in the middle of a live show.

But over time, edgy street showmanship has finally caught up The Incredible Burt and Anton, who before their very eyes see their audience dwindle when attention switches to self mutilation performance acts like Steve Gray (Jim Carrey). While Wonderstone is still adamant about taking the stage in flamboyant outfits to the tune of the Steve Miller Band's "Abracadabra," and doing the same uninspired show over and over again, Gray while in front of his guerrilla DV camera crew will hold his urine for days or grab a pillow and camp out overnight while sleeping on hot coals. Gray's inspiration from the likes of David Blaine and Criss Angel are not exactly subtle, but neither of those real life illusionists nearly have the brilliant physical comedy aptitude of Jim Carrey, who takes to this role with ease and thankfully runs with it with reckless abandon.

So begins the battle for supremacy (and a lucrative contract) between the old school and new school of magic. Burt finds himself not only unemployed and friendless, but in the apprenticeship of his now retirement home stricken idol, Rance Halloway. You would think the Bruce Almighty re-teaming of Carell and Carrey would bring real comedy magic to the big screen, but the biggest laughs mainly come courtesy of Carrey's signature physical skills. Wonderstone himself has too slow a transition to becoming a relatable character, maintaining his big on-stage voice even when he's not performing, tossing his life long friendship with Anton aside without a thought, and constantly calls his loyal assistant Nicole instead of her real name Jane (played by a given very little to do Olivia Wilde).

As far as actually being a funny character, Wonderstone is sorely underwritten. Where your Ron Burgundy is an obnoxious sexist ass, he is still a funny character with memorable antics and catchphrases to take home and repeat. There are few opportunities for Carell to knock it out of the ballpark, and most of the big laughs come from Carrey, Arkin and the supporting players like Wilde, Jay Mohr and Gillian Jacobs.

Olivia Wilde and Steve Buscemi are left in sideline purgatory here. Wilde is given little to do outside of the role of obligatory assistant and reluctant love interest. Buscemi's Anton Marvelton is mostly used an on object of abuse for Wonderstone's ego. And while Carrey lights up every one of his scenes, he is sorely missed when not on screen.

Where the film could have (or should have) gone with with a mile a minute punchline driven script or skew towards a comedy version of The Prestige and allow itself to become more brilliant as it goes on, baffling the audience as dueling master magicians best each other in a round by round battle of wits, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone instead sorely underplays its potential with a paint by numbers story of a fallen character who needs to be set straight.

Where the key to magic is misdirection, it is the unfortunate achilles heel of this film where you need to focus elsewhere to find the too few and in-between big laughs, and its Carell's Wonderstone who distracts you from Carrey's Gray. Where it has an edgy meanness to it, its not towards the right characters, and when it finally has heart and soul, behind all the smoke and mirrors there is little magic left to have you care about the has-been title character who needs a comeback the most.

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone opens on March 15th.

REVIEW RATING: ★★☆☆☆
Directed By: Don Scardino
Starring: Steve Carell, Jim Carrey, Steve Buscemi, Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, James Gandolfini
Studio: Warner Bros.
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 101 minutes

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NEW YORK COMIC CON 2012 INTERVIEW: Kevin Smith Trusts Zack Snyder With Wife's Life, Child's Life and 'Man of Steel'

The first full length trailer to Man of Steel is a little over a week away, debuting on the big screen with The Hobbit on December 14th. At New York Comic Con, I had the opportunity to participate in a round table interview with writer/director/producer/actor/and fan boy icon Kevin Smith to talk up his hit show Comic Book Men, which just wrapped up its second season on AMC last Sunday.

As always, Smith was laid back, chatty, good natured and fun, and held nothing back while chatting up us online reporters. I have had several audiences with him over the years through Access Hollywood, including New York City press junket interviews for Dogma and Jersey Girl, and it's refreshing to see he has not changed. At NYCC, he had a lot to say about a lot of things, some directly related to his show, and some not.

Knowing his history with Warner Bros. regarding the aborted Tim Burton big screen reboot of Superman that was to star Nicholas Cage (yep), for which Smith wrote a discarded early draft for (check out the video below for his version of the ordeal), I snuck in the very last question before our slot was up to inquire about what his thoughts were on the Zack Snyder's upcoming Man of Steel starring Henry Cavill. As of this writing, all we have seen is the artsy teaser trailer, scant official images and a slew of paparazzi shots from the film set.

But here is Smith's reaction, prediction, hopes, and advice regarding Warners choice of Snyder to take the reigns of the world's most iconic superhero (and although broken up into sections here, this was a single answer to my final question).

"I trust Zack Snyder with my wife’s life and my child’s life if I had to. He’s a talented individual who knows how to tell a story."

"I saw the first teaser for the movie and I thought I was watching a fucking Irish Spring commercial. But then all of a sudden I said ‘Oh I see what you’re going for here.’"

"I trust him man. I think he’s amazing. He’s the dude like just how you know Marvel has Joss (Whedon) now and stuff. DC should just put a harness around Zack Snyder and be like ‘Do every one of these big books. Every one of the DC books.'"

"I think he did a great job with Watchmen. I think he did a great job (I know its not a DC book), with 300. I think he’ll do a great job with Superman. I think obviously DC’s New 52 loosened us all up about what Superman is, because Grant Morrison has redefined it a few times at this point, but even most recently with the new books."

"You won't have so many people now going 'Where’s that Dick Donner Superman??” you know? A lot of our generation, that’s what we were looking for. We thought we wanted it on the last movie and that’s what Bryan Singer gave us. And when he gave us exactly what we all thought we wanted, a lot of people bitched or yawned, or something like that."

"So it’s nice to see Zack coming in with a shakeup take that isn't the same fucking story we've seen in film. I trust that he knows what he’s doing and that it will be really fucking cool. And I’m not even a Superman guy. Like when it comes to those characters, he’s not way up on my list. But he's a icon, I am a DC guy and I hope they do him well 'cause that means we get one step closer to doing Justice League."

"Like if I’m DC right now and Warner Bros., I’m stealing every idea from Marvel films. I’m not even being fucking shy about it. I'm being like 'Oh, that’s how you make a billion dollars or more? Fuck it, lets go!" Just steal their plan. It’s a great plan. You start making your movies separately, bring ‘em all together in a fucking team movie, go back out to separates, come back in to the team movie."

"Hopefully they pick up on it soon. There’s no such thing as like ‘Can't steal a good idea.' Shit that’s what this country, half the world, is founded on: Take a good idea, make it just a little bit like your own. Let them do that, DC and Warner. If they ape the Marvel model, I know every fan boy in this room will be happy, and I think the box office will be a lot happier too."

"I'm not going to say it begins with Zack Snyder, because I’m not gonna put the pressure on him for this Man of Steel flick, but he’d be my choice. Him, or I tell ya, fuck it Timur (Bekmambetov), the guy who did Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Give that guy a Justice League movie. Holy shit, just visually arresting. He knows fucking what to do with that camera. Brings you into the story right away. He did Wanted, so he already knows how to do a comic book movie with villains and heroes and shit."

"So I don’t know, thats what I’d like to see, and I know nobody asked."

"I look forward to Superman."

I hope we will all be looking forward to Superman in Man of Steel after the new trailer hits.

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Zack Snyder Hints At 'Justice League' Ties To 'Man of Steel'

Talking to the New York Post, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder did not deny that there may be something cooking in his Superman reboot as far planting the seeds for the big screen Justice League movie is concerned.

“I don’t know how Justice League is going to be handled. Honestly, I don’t,” Snyder said. “But The Man of Steel exists, and Superman is in it. I don’t know how you’d move forward without acknowledging that.”

When grilled further on whether Man of Steel would lay down the groundwork to setting up the DC Universe on the big screen, as in a possible post-credits surprise cameo (a staple that built Marvel's well paced lead into The Avengers), or even a simple reference to Gotham City, Snyder did not directly answer, but his pleading the Fifth had him acknowledging the actual answer would in fact be spoiler material.

“Um, how can I answer that?” he wonders. “I can’t really say anything to that, because that’s a big spoiler. I will say, yeah, they trust me to keep them on course.” And that fans, would be a perfectly deflected 'Yes.'

“We approach the film as a single endeavor,” he said of the obvious plans beyond Man of Steel. “There are a lot of gears that have to turn in the world of commerce and the world of the mythology we create to facilitate more adventures for this character. We’ll see what happens.”

Warner Bros. has a interesting path to take with building towards Justice League, which would presumably team up the big DC Trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman along with possible popular candidates like Green Lantern, Flash and Aquaman. WB just concluded its current run with Christian Bale as Batman with The Dark Knight Rises, so a new Caped Crusader will be on board from here on in. 2011's Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds was far from a hit with fans, critics or the box office. Moving forward from that film is up in the air, but including Reynolds would at least add a second familiar face to a team of rebooted big screen heroes. Wonder Woman has stalled over the years attempting to get to either the small screen and big screen, so her re-introduction will likely fall within Justice League.

The new big screen Superman, Henry Cavill, is signed on for three films, which is not uncommon for big potential franchises. Whether Justice League is a part of that deal remains to be seen, but looks like a sure bet he will headline it. Though even committing to three pics seems like a light load next to the contract Chris Evans signed with Marvel Studios to play Captain America, whose whopping nine picture deal was talked down to six, and that included appearing in The Avengers and its sequels. In addition, it is highly likely Ryan Reynolds also signed a multi-picture deal for Green Lantern, so whether WB holds him to that in regards to Justice League or not is another factor to weigh in on.

But whatever the exact plan may be, its is more likely than not that Warners will use Man of Steel as a springboard for the big screen DC Universe considering its the only live action project on the horizon set for release in the next two years.

Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill (Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-El), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Russell Crowe (Jor-El), Michael Shannon (General Zod) and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White), is set for theaters on June 14, 2013.

The highly anticipated first full-length trailer will be attached to The Hobbit, which bows on December 14th.

SOURCE: New York Post

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'Man of Steel' Teaser Trailers Hit The Web!

The official teaser trailer for the upcoming Man of Steel debuted with overwhelming enthusiasm from fans at Comic-Con last weekend. Warner Bros. has released that sneak peek at the Zack Snyder directed reboot of the Superman legend starring Henry Cavill. It is also currently running on the big screen with The Dark Knight Rises (also a WB film).

There are two versions of the trailer. Although each one is identical visually, completely different narration accompany the teasers. The Yahoo! Movies exclusive has a voice over from Kevin Costner, who plays Jonathan Kent, adopted Earth father of Clark Kent / Superman. The second version from MSN features Russell Crowe, who plays Jor-El, the Kryptonian father of Kal-El / Superman. Interesting to hear the different speeches regarding the destiny of Earth's greatest hero from his two fathers.

"In the pantheon of superheroes, Superman is the most recognized and revered character of all time. Clark Kent/Kal-El (Henry Cavill) is a young twenty-something journalist who feels alienated by powers beyond his imagination. Transported years ago to Earth from Krypton, a highly advanced, distant planet, Clark struggles with the ultimate question 'Why am I here?' Shaped by the values of his adoptive parents Martha (Lane) and Jonathan Kent (Costner), Clark discovers having extraordinary abilities means making difficult decisions. When the world is in dire need of stability, an even greater threat emerges. Clark must become a Man of Steel, to protect the people he loves and shine as the world's beacon of hope - Superman."

The film stars Henry Cavill (Clark Kent/Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Russell Crowe (Jor-El), Ayelet Zurer (Lara Lor-Van), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Antje Traue (Faora), Chris Meloni (Colonel Hardy), and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White).

In addition, the official website for the film has also gone live, www.ManOfSteel.com

Man of Steel is set to hit theaters and IMAX on June 14, 2013.

SOURCES: Yahoo! Movies, MSN

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No 'Justice League' Movie For Christopher Nolan

In an interview with the Associated Press, Christopher Nolan put to rest all notions that he wants or will have anything to do with Warner Bros. inevitable reboot of Batman, or the Justice League big screen adaptation currently being written.

"No, none at all," Nolan said. "We're finished with all we're doing with Batman. This is the end of our take on this character," he said.

WB will have to look elsewhere once The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20th and it comes to putting the Caped Crusader back on the big screen. Nolan is firm on hanging up the cape and cowl for good, and is adamant that he has completed the story he wanted to tell. The studio finds itself in a similar situation that Sony did when it came to re-booting the Spider-Man franchise, having a character that is a worldwide phenomenon and far too lucrative to keep off the big screen for too long.

"I've got no plans to do anything more, and certainly, no involvement with any Justice League project."

Although he is finished sharing his interpretation of Batman with moviegoers, Nolan is still intimately involved in the superhero business. There is the upcoming Man Of Steel, the new Superman film directed by Zack Snyder, starring Henry Cavill, which is set to hit theaters next year.

Nolan serves as executive producer on the reboot of DC Comics icon, and was responsible for the initial concept that starts ground up after plans for a direct sequel to 2006's Superman Returns starring Brandon Routh were scrapped. Like The Dark Knight for Batman, Man Of Steel promises to feature a grittier take on the Kryptonian hero's origins and adventures.

Though there has been some lingering clamor from fans that since the director/producer has involvement with two of the Justice League's marquee members, that he would be a natural choice to put his big screen Batman and Superman side-by-side with Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman in an Avengers-style all-star blockbuster for Warner Bros.

But it appears that Nolan is not keen on his current version of the Caped Crusader played by Christian Bale branching off into spin-offs, and it remains to be seen if the next Superman played by Cavill would be treated the same. One could also wonder if Ryan Reynolds would be offered, or is perhaps contractually obligated, to appear in a Justice League movie as Green Lantern following his turn as the Emerald Knight in last year's film.

"Batman will outlive us all, and our interpretation was ours. Obviously, we consider it definitive and kind of finished. The great thing about Batman is he lives on for future generations to reinterpret, and obviously, Warners will have to decide in the future what they're going to do with him," Nolan said.

"We've had our say on the character," he concluded.

And that is that.

The Dark Knight Rises is set for July 20th. Man Of Steel is set for June 14, 2013.

SOURCE: AP, Variety

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TRAILER: 'The Dark Knight Rises" (Final Trailer)

Though this is scheduled to run in previews on the big screen with Marvel's The Avengers this weekend, Warner Bros. gave fans a bit of a head start with an early online release of the third trailer to The Dark Knight Rises. 

The moody and methodically paced peek at Christopher Nolan's final chapter in his Batman trilogy paints a picture that is a far cry from your typical a summer blockbuster superhero film, which may surprise very few fans anyways (and is a complete 180 to the inescapable marketing blitz utilized in hyping up The Avengers in the past few months).

With only scant dialogue spoken by Bane (Tom Hardy), it remains unclear if his muffled voice has been made more audible since the IMAX teaser that debuted in December with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and confused many viewers. Judging by some selects snippets, we do get more insight into the film's storyline that will in some way mirror the Knightfall arc from the comic book where Bane not only uncovers Batman's secret identity, but inflicts serious bodily harm that keeps him out of commission for an extended period of time.

The film takes place eight years after The Dark Knight, and although in the comics Bane cripples Batman by snapping his spine over his knee, we will have to wait and see exactly how the masked villain sidelines the Caped Crusader in the film.

But with a shot of a shattered bat cowl, it is heavily hinted that Bruce Wayne is wounded, as he begs for death while held captive by Bane in an underground prison. Though it is now clearer that the title of the film is even more than suggestive regarding Batman's return as heroic character both physically and symbolically as Gotham's protector.

We also get some shots of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle in her Catwoman costume, glimpses of Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Gotham cop John Blake, and a teaser of what to expect from the newest vehicle in the Dark Knight's arsenal, a high flying ride known as The Bat. 

The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters on July 20th.

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