The first trailer for the upcoming movie Dora and the Lost City of Gold is here. The live-action film is based on the hugely popular animated Nickelodeon show Dora the Explorer, and stars Transformers: The Last Knight's Isabela Moner as the intrepid teenage adventurer.
The trailer reveals that it is a jungle-set adventure that takes its influence from properties such as Tomb Raider, Jumanji, and the Indiana Jones series. Dora is a girl from a small village who is sent to a city high school by her adventurer parents. Of course, she soon finds herself on a dangerous expedition to find the mysterious City of Gold, alongside familiar characters such as her cousin Diego and faithful monkey pal Boots. Check it out below.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold also stars Michael Peña (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) as Dora's mom and dad, and Jeff Wahlberg as Diego. Danny Trejo (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn) provides the voice of Boots, while Moner's Sicario 2 co-star Benicio Del Toro voices the evil fox Swiper. We're yet to see Swiper, so expect him to appear in a subsequent trailer. We yet don't know if Dora's map and backpack can also talk, as they do in the TV show.
The movie is directed by James Bobin, who is best known for movies such as The Muppets and Alice Through The Looking Glass, plus the musical TV comedy Flight of the Conchords. It releases on August 2. You can also check out the first poster, which was released earlier this week.
Dora the Explorer ran on Nickelodeon from 2000 to 2014 for 14 seasons and 172 episodes, and spawned the spin-off shows Dora and Friends: Into the City and Go, Diego, Go.
Today during Day 2 of the Final Fantasy Fan Event in Tokyo, Square Enix announced a brand-new arrangement album featuring songs from Final Fantasy XIV Online.
The album is titled Journeys, and it goes on sale June 10 this year for $39 USD. "We're pleased to announce our third band and piano arrangement album," Square Enix said.
The disc also comes with in-game footage alongside the music; there are 18 tracks in all. Some are performed by Final Fantasy veteran Susan Colloway, while there are also "extra bonus tracks."
The piano arrangement was performed by Keiko, while the band performance was done by the band The Primals. Those who pick up "first-run" copes of the album will get in-game extras.
A movie version of the Japanese TV show "Dad of Light," which tells the story of a father and son who rebuild their relationship thanks to Final Fantasy XIV, is in the works for Japan.
We're pleased to announce a movie version of "Dad of Light" will be coming to theatres in Japan! #FFXIVpic.twitter.com/8GqBhS5YuT
Announced at Day 2 of the Final Fantasy Fan Festival here in Tokyo, the movie is coming to Japanese theatres, but there is no word on if it'll be distributed internationally.
The show premiered in April 2017, and it's available now on American Netflix if you're interested in checking out the well-received drama. The story was inspired by real-life events.
The actor who played the father, Ren Osugi, passed away in February 2018. In the movie, he's being played by actor Kotaro Yoshida. More to come...
Disclosure: Square Enix paid for GameSpot's flight to Tokyo and accomodation.
The next character for Final Fantasy fighting game Final Fantasy Dissidia NT has been announced. Revealed at the Final Fantasy Fan Festival in Tokyo today, the character Zenos from Final Fantasy XIV is coming to the PlayStation 4 and PC fighting game starting later this month.
Zenos will be available first for Final Fantasy Dissidia in Japanese arcades starting March 26, while the character is coming to the PlayStation 4 and Steam editions on April 11. People attending the Fan Fest this weekend in Tokyo can have a first crack at playing Zenos.
Zenos is the main antagonist from Final Fantasy XIV: Online's expansion, Stormblood.
More to come...
Disclosure: Square Enix paid for GameSpot's flight to Tokyo and accomodation.
Today at Day 2 of the Final Fantasy Fan Festival in Tokyo, Square Enix made a series of announcements about Final Fantasy XIV Online, including the start-date for the game's crossover event with Final Fantasy XV.
The crossover event, which was announced previously, is called A Nocturne For Heroes, and it begins April 16. This news was confirmed during a behind-the-scenes "Letter From the Producer" event featuring producer Naoki Yoshida. The event brings a number of Final Fantasy XV gear and items to FFXIV, including the game's first-ever four-player mount. You guessed it, the mount is the Regalia, which is the car the main characters drive in FFXV. The other items include FFXV-themed gear and a hairstyle from the game.
The #FFXV collaboration event, A Nocturne for Heroes, begins on Tuesday, April 16! #FFXIV
In other news, Square Enix confirmed that Final Fantasy XIV patch 4.56, which is called "A Requiem for Heroes Part 2," will launch very soon--it's due out Tuesday, March 26. Coming after that is Patch 4.57, which adds the new World Visit system, and it's launching on April 23.
You can see a full schedule of important dates in the graphic below, which covers all the big proceedings leading up to the release of Shadowbringers on July 2 (or June 28 with Early Access):
Yoshida and main scenario writer/world lore creator Banri Oda answered a series of fan questions during the panel covering a range of topics. You can re-watch the panel here on Twitch.
Fan Fest Day 1 yesterday brought a lot of big news as well, including the next race for Shadowbringers, a new raid, more screenshots, and a fresh trailer--get all the details here.
Keep checking back with GameSpot for more from Fan Fest today and Monday, including a gallery of some of the best cosplay we've seen. Disclosure: Square Enix paid for GameSpot's flight to Tokyo and accomodations.
One of the big announcements that Apple could make during its reveal event on Monday is a new video game service. According to Bloomberg, Apple is creating a "premium games subscription" service for the App Store. Unlike the recently announced Google Stadia, or PlayStation Now and Microsoft's xCloud, Apple's service is not cloud-based.
Instead, it will focus on iPhones and iPads and bundle together paid games from different developers that consumers can access for a monthly fee," Bloomberg reported.
One source said Apple will pay developers based on how much time users spend playing their title. The report goes on to claim that the service would only feature paid games, not free-to-play titles. The report also says the service may not be announced on Monday, but instead during its developer conference in June. That timing would be intriguing, as it's just before E3.
According to analyst Serkan Toto, this kind of package offering is already available in Japan. He also points out that, if free-to-play games are indeed excluded, then Nintendo's upcoming Mario Kart Tour wouldn't be eligible. As you may recall, Apple partnered with Nintendo in a big way to promote and release the free-to-play Mario game Super Mario Run.
Problem is: if the article is to be believed, F2P content is excluded. For Mario Kart Tour, both Nintendo and DeNA confirmed (not only one time) it will not be a paid game. Let's see.
— Dr. Serkan Toto (Kantan Games Inc.) (@serkantoto) March 23, 2019
An earlier report suggested the March 25 Apple news conference will include the formal reveal of Apple's plans for its own Netflix-style TV streaming service. All should become clear soon.
Shazam isn't the first DCEU movie that's enjoyable, but it's arguably the first one that's truly good. I recognize in retrospect that my positive take on 2017's Justice League put me in the minority, but even if you don't count that big team-up, the DC film universe has been steadily rising in quality, from the decent Wonder Woman to the goofy, fun Aquaman. Director David Sandberg's Shazam is the first movie in this shared cinematic universe with which I honestly have no major gripes--it's just a good movie, whether or not you're a fan of DC's often gritty, dark films, or have any idea who or what Shazam is. Shazam is a movie for everybody, and it's great.
Shazam is the story of Billy Batson, a troubled orphan with a heart of gold who's granted magic powers by an ancient wizard. By saying the word "Shazam," Billy (Asher Angel) can transform into a full grown adult (Zachary Levi) with the combined powers of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury. I won't spoil what those powers are, because several of the movie's best scenes are spent with Billy and his foster brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer) as they experiment to find out exactly what Shazam is capable of. Naturally, because it's 2019, this also involves the hero becoming a YouTube sensation, even as Freddy and Billy struggle to come up with a superhero name that sticks (highlights include "Zaptain America," "Captain Sparklefingers," and "Mr. Philadelphia," among many others).
There's been humor in DC movies before, including in Justice League (remember Aquaman sitting on Wonder Woman's lasso?) and Aquaman itself. But Shazam is the DCEU's first full-on comedy, and it's incredibly funny. A lot of the humor comes from Zach Levi's performance as a teenager who suddenly finds himself in an adult body. One of the first things he and Freddy do is buy beer--basically, they act exactly how you'd expect them to, and the movie doesn't shy away from what teenage boys would do in this situation. Comparisons to the 1988 Tom Hanks movie Big aren't just warranted, they're inevitable--but Shazam fully leans into it, making nods to the classic while carving its own path.
It takes a ton of inspiration from the comics, as well, and embraces its roots rather than trying to make everything grimly realistic. The wizard is a wizard, with flowing robes and tangled grey beard. It's silly, but the movie also has a 1980s Spielbergian adventure vibe--think Goonies, Labyrinth, or Neverending Story. It owns its campiness so confidently that the significant amount of Shazam mythology it occasionally info-dumps on you goes down fairly easily. It helps that Shazam is occasionally anchored by references to other DC superheroes in the live action universe, most notably Batman and Superman. Shazam definitely exists in the same space as the relative heavy hitters that have come before, but their presence in this world is handled in a natural way that doesn't feel shoehorned in.
The other thing anchoring Shazam's often cartoonish world is the diverse cast of characters, all of whom you'll come to love by the end. Billy winds up at a foster home--one in a succession of many--also inhabited by Freddy, as well as Darla (Faithe Herman), Pedro (Jovan Armand), Mary (Grace Fulton), and Eugene (Ian Chen). These foster siblings are fleshed out to various degrees, and by the end you'll be rooting for all of them--not to mention foster parents Rosa (Marta Milans) and Victor (Cooper Andrews), both of whom have some funny and touching moments. Shazam has a great message about family, while also being a dope superhero movie, striking an impressive balance.
Mark Strong plays Dr. Sivana, a classic Shazam villain and a great choice for the big screen. The movie very smartly begins with a cold open from Strong's perspective, injecting a small touch of empathy to what could otherwise have been a very black and white villain. He's a jerk, for sure, but throughout the movie you'll at least understand where he's coming from and why he is the way he is.
Shazam is insanely packed with references to DC comics, movies, and characters. But the movie seems to genuinely love not just its own source material, but all nerdy corners of pop culture. Eugene is introduced with a gaming headset semi-permanently stuck to his head, and the young character makes tons of video game references, all of which land--at one point he shows up for a fight armed with a PlayStation Move gun controller, and at another he makes a hilarious Watch Dogs joke. It's the kind of thing non-gamers might have to lean over and ask their friends about, but that attention to detail also makes the dialogue and characters ring true, and the gamers in the audience likely won't mind explaining.
Shazam is the first DC movie that seems genuinely confident in its world and tone, with no major missteps of which to speak. It's fun, heartfelt, funny, genuine, and surprising, while staying true to its origins and embracing what makes it great. It makes no attempts to be something other than what it is--a goofy, fun superhero coming-of-age story--and as a result it's a movie anyone can enjoy. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come in the DC extended universe.
No comments:
Post a Comment