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Man, He was a Super Hero
The superheroes in a superhero movie aren’t always in front of the camera.
Masters of the Universe, released in 1987, is one of the best superhero movies ever made. This despite having to deal with many enormous challenges. The story follows He-Man and his solider friends as they to find and, in the process, prevent Skeletor and his army of villains from getting their hands on the all-powerful Cosmic Key as they search and destroy suburban Los Angeles. The movie is a perfect encapsulation of the cinematic magic of the ’80s that combined eye-catching practical effects and flashy CGI. As the expression goes, the film is pound-for-pound (or frame-for-frame) a classic that defines the eternal battle of good vs. evil.
And, as the short documentary below reveals, there was an epic battle just to make and finish this cult classic.
True story.
Courteney Cox undeniably stole the movie. The casting director should get another thank you, nearly 20 years later. Similar to Richard Donner’s Superman films with Christopher Reeve, critiques focusing on the slightly unrealistic visual effects are irrelevant. The technological challenges and related growing pains are, as a matter of fact, more endearing with each passing year and viewing. The story, characters and settings more than make up for any shortcomings.
Box office records and critical acclaim be damned: Masters of the Universe knew what it was and was proud of it.
That alone deserves a shout-out on “Throwback Thursday.”
He-Man still has the power!
Cinema’s First Steps
“Je veux vous montrer quelque chose…”
(“I want to show you something…”)
This could have been said by the Lumière brothers (Louis and Auguste), who were pioneers in motion pictures in Lyon, France. Long before IMAX, 3-D and superheroes galore, cinema was born out of, to put it in a disappointingly anticlimactic way, walking out of a factory.
That was it. No exaggeration.
Still, despite the pedestrian nature of this cleverly titled documentary, “Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory” or “Exiting the Factory,” seeing the inception of cinema with the first projected film is a wonderful reminder of how far movies we enjoy today have improved and innovated through the decades. There’s a beginning to everything and, as a movie fan, the following video is quite exciting because this film underscores how the world was forever changed in ways the workers walking from their job and the Lumière brothers never could’ve imagined.
On March 22, 1895, cinema visually framed the world.
French factory workers literally opened the doors of cinema.
Getting the Boulder Rolling (Again)
It’s official: Indiana Jones has tenure with his movie-going fans.
“Steven Spielberg will direct Harrison Ford in the untitled fifth installment in the classic action-adventure franchise, which will open July 19, 2019, Disney announced Tuesday.”
—, The Hollywood Reporter
Nostalgia adds another win in its ever-expansive cinematic column.
Indiana Jones will theatrically throw his hat back into the ring (or cave) and return to the adventure-seeking professor genre to challenge his 21st century rival, Robert Langdon (Inferno arrives in theaters this fall). While rumors of Indy’s next movie has been gently swirling for some time (including a possible successor?), the opportunity for bringing Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall back together clearly proved too good to pass up.
The success of an older, yet still very capable, Han Solo in the 2015 indie sleeper The Force Awakens surely tipped the scales for the actor and director alike to crack the whip fire the gun once more.
Obviously, virtually zero details are known about Indy’s high-five to the franchise’s fans. The only one certainty about this future blockbuster appears to be its release date (3/4 past films premiered in May and one on June 1st).
Three years out, the options for Indy V are officially being weighed by Disney.
Hopefully, in equal, simultaneous fashion.
The Fire Still Burns
Saying or writing the word, “Benghazi” stirs up raw emotions more than two and a half years later.
The September 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya left four Americans dead, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Multiple warnings had been issued in the months prior, clearly requesting the need for increased security measures to be put in place. The requests were ignored. Libya is located in the one of the most volatile regions in the world, after all. Sadly, the worst fears were realized when a premeditated strike by terrorists with heavy weaponry was used against the U.S. compound that became filled with the enemy running wild, bullet holes, destruction and raging fire.
The aftermath was devastating to watch on the news. It was September 11th…again.
The rest is a bit of a mystery, due to the purposeful misleading of the Obama administration in efforts to escape culpability. This includes then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shielding emails during critical months that year relating to Libya, as well as her reprehensible reply in congressional testimony, “…what difference does it make?”
However, Michael Bay’s newest explosion-filled trailer for his movie (sans CGI robots) 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi does not include the political aspects of this controversial tragedy. The film is based on the book of a similar name by respected writer Mitchell Zuckoff. 13 Hours aims to give a Zero Dark Thirty-like account of real-time events involving American special forces and their attempt to save American lives.
Like Chris Pratt, John Krasinski is another NBC sitcom star looking to show fans his military credentials with his character’s SEAL training, deep concentration and manly beard. Here is the aforementioned trailer, released today.
13 Hours arrives in movie theaters on January 15, 2016. With this trailer, we’re beginning to see (and not just hear) about what really happened in Benghazi based on gritty, heart-pounding first-hand accounts.
One thing is for certain: Michael Bay’s movie will be explosive.
Jimmy's Daily Planet 