New Age of Ultron Trailer and Other Musings

The new trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron dropped today. If you’re one of those people that don’t watch trailers because of spoilers, I suggest you don’t read this post because SPOILERS.

I have to say, it was a little underwhelming. I think the first trailer was the strongest one so far and the clip of Ultron kind of hovering looked like it still needs more post-production work. The end of the trailer, however, was the absolute best part. It gives us our first look at Vision. Well, his eyes anyway.

I love the slow build they’re giving us with Vision. There’s minimal details out there about him and his creation. They could have blown their wad in the first trailer, but they’re playing the long-con. Marvel know he’s the most anticipated character in the film, and they’re keeping it that way.

The 100

*SPOILERS*

I haven’t talked about The 100 on here yet. I think now is a good time. I started watching it on Netflix only because I was bored. I had some reservations because I thought it was going to be another teen heartthrob drama like Gossip Girl or The OC. I was wrong. I was so, so very wrong and that has made me happy. They’ve made such a vast post-apocalyptic world with interesting factions of characters that I can’t help but watch. I look forward to it more than I look forward to Arrow each week. I don’t know what I’m going to do until season 3. Probably watch other TV shows.

What I really want to touch on is the kiss that happened in the last episode between Clarke and Lexa.

Clarke, played by Eliza Taylor, has essentially become the leader of the former space-fairing people from The Arc. She’s been the driving force of the show that has always pushed for peace over war between Earth’s inhabitants. While other characters have been kind of inconsistent in their personalities, Clarke has been steady. I’m a little iffy on her development as a character, though, because she doesn’t seem to have really changed since the first season. I’ll probably have a different opinion after going back and re-watching season 1.

A relationship between Clarke and the leader of the grounders, Lexa (played by Alycia Debnam Carey), has been in development for a while. It had even been hinted that Lexa was a lesbian in a prior episode. Meanwhile, we’ve only really seen Clarke deal with feelings for Finn, despite there being teases of her and Bellamy sharing a connection. I swear this show isn’t just another teen drama! Lexa and Clarke’s connection culminated last week with a kiss that the audience has been anticipating for a long time. And better than the kiss, in my opinion, was the response Clarke gave afterward.

She said, “I’m not ready to be with anyone.” Which is fitting since she’s probably still getting over what happened to Finn. But she didn’t try to say she wasn’t a lesbian or “not into that kind of thing” or anything else from some pervy fourteen year old’s mind. It didn’t feel forced or like a stunt to get ratings. It was an honest response from someone that has a transcended view of sexuality. I love that. We don’t get a lot of that in network television.

I’d also like to take this chance to talk about Bellamy, portrayed by Bob Morley, who is someone I strongly disliked at the beginning of the series. He was the guy that was trying to be a bad person for the sake of being a bad person. It wasn’t just his character that I didn’t like, but the writing for his character. It was lazy. Or it at least seemed that way. Somewhere in the first season he started to grow on me because his character made a total 180. He was still making poor choices at times, but that was him being human. Now at the end of season 2 he has a pivotal role that could cost him his life. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.

If you’re not watching this show, start. You won’t be sorry. Part one of the second season finale is tonight!

Fantastic 4 Teaser

Finally, we have it. Something to ease all our minds. A little taste of the tone and feel this new comic book movie will have to clear our pallet. I must say, it’s a lot better looking than I expected. Sure, it doesn’t show us too much in the way of plot, but I was expecting a lot worse. Every little bit of news that had been released about this rebooted Fantastic 4 movie didn’t look like it was going to be any better than the first two films.

The director, Josh Trank, decided to make the Fantastic 4 a low-tech movie. He decided to go with a more grounded team than what fans have read. Anyone that’s a fan of the comics knows that they’re a pretty fantastic team, and they’re anything but low-tech and grounded. Then there was the casting of Michael B. Jordan (that “B” is important because it’d be a completely different actor otherwise) in the role of Johnny storm. That didn’t please a pretty vocal group of fans. I personally don’t see the big deal. Changing his skin color doesn’t change the character. And let’s be honest, us white people can afford to take a seat on the bench for a while. I digress.

I think one of the biggest faults from the multitude of rumors that circulated was the one about Doctor Doom. Or should I say, Victor Domashev. A blogger that uses the handle, Doom. This one upset me the most because I want a great sorcerer onscreen, fighting the Fantastic 4. Not some angry blogger that gets his powers the same way as the team he’s fighting. It might be better than what I’m imagining in my head.

I wasn’t happy with most of what I was hearing about the movie either. I didn’t like Chronicle, which Trank wrote and directed, so that didn’t give me much hope from the start. However, seeing this trailer, my hopes have been rekindled.

I’m still skeptical, but I’m actually willing to give Fant4stic a shot. I might actually be able to separate my love for the source material from the film and just enjoy it. I know that’s difficult for a lot of fans. We invest so much time and love into reading the comics that we don’t want to see them tarnished on the big screen. At the very least, I might be able to walk out of the theater and say, “That was a good movie. Not a good Fantastic 4 movie, but a good movie.”

And, can we not with the number for a letter?

So what did you all think of the trailer? Let me know.