Hello, everyone! It’s One Of Us’ weekly article series, “The Weekly Wrap-Up.” Covering everything from film announcements to comic books, “The Weekly Wrap-Up” ensures that the biggest stories of the week are analyzed and discussed by our team of writers. This week we cover the first trailer for Point Break, the reveal of Andy Serkis’ character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the internet’s favorite new short-film, Kung Fury.
Point Break Trailer
Directed by Ericson Core (Invincible) and written by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium), Point Break is a remake of the 1991 film of the same name and follows a young/naive/stupid FBI agent who infiltrates a group of extreme sports athletes suspected of planning and carrying out impossible corporate heists.
So the internet pretty much freaked out when this trailer premiered online, with many people loudly complaining that Core’s gritty remake of the cheesy Kathryn Bigelow directed Point Break is yet another attempt by Hollywood to try and cash-in on a recognizable name. Though having not seen the original film, I can see where most people are coming from. It’s obvious that this trailer wants to come off as sleek and new, with its blue/gray color palette, ominous score and complete lack of humor. It’s the type of trailer that we’ve seen before, and is eerily familiar of other recent remakes of classic 80s and 90s action movies like Robocop and Total Recall. Though the fact that the film is coming out within in the same timeframe of Star Wars: The Force Awaken, I’m betting Warner Bros. doesn’t have an overabundance of confidence in their remake of Point Break.
Point Break will fly, fall and surf into theatres December 25, 2015.
Andy Serkis’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens Character Revealed
In an interview on Star Wars.com, award-winning photographer Annie Leibovitz has revealed the first image of Andy Serkis in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Though wearing a motion capture suit, it has been confirmed that Serkis is playing Supreme Leader Snoke. Other than his name and the fact that he will be a CGI character, little else is known about Snoke. When Serkis was first cast in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, many speculated that he would be playing a performance capture character, having done so before in critically-acclaimed franchises like The Lord of the Rings and The Planet of the Apes.
Some have guessed that Snoke is actually Darth Plagueis, the supposedly long-dead Sith Master of Emperor Palpatine. Based on the first teaser-trailer, in which Serkis provided the narration for, it’s not unreasonable to guess that Serkis will play a villain, possibly the leader of The First Order. Outside of the rumors and speculation, what’s been so funny about this reveal is the online fervor over the name. Apparently, the name “Snoke” is much, much sillier than names like Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Obi-Wan-Kenobi and Lando Calrissian.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit theatres December 18, 2015.
Kung Fury Premieres Online
Everyone is talking about Kung Fury, and for good reason. The movie features psychotic arcade-robots, laser spewing dinosaurs, Nazis, voluptuous Vikings, Norse gods, mutants, Hasselhoff-9000 and a super kung fu-cop called Kung Fury, all wrapped up in an 80s style action packed adventure. Originally starting out as a Kickstarter project, Kung Fury is the creation of Swedish-filmmaker David Sandberg, who wrote, directed and stars in the short-film. After making three times its original stretch-goal on Kickstarter, the movie was able to increase its running time and complete its special effects.
As someone who is a sucker for cheesy action, science-fiction and horror films, it was hard for me not to fall in love with Kung Fury after the first few minutes. With a synthetic score that would make John Carpenter weep with joy and visual effects that give the film the appearance of a worn VHS tape playing on a VCR, the film is a love letter to 80s cinema. Spoiling too much of the film’s “plot” and jokes would be a severe disservice to those who have not yet seen it. Stop whatever you’re doing right now and watch the short as soon as possible, and be sure to check out the film’s music video, “True Survivor,” starring David Hasselhoff.
