Nothing livens up a Saturday night like a new G.I. Joe: Retaliation TV spot!
There is no way to type that sentence without sounding like a sad geek. But I embrace my sad geekness. Check out the video here, or the embedded video below, screen caps coming later.
Toy Fair is over a week past, and some video interviews are still emerging from the floor of the Hasbro showroom. This time around, Cinema Blend talks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, and D.J. Cotrona.
You can check the video interviews at Cinema Blend, or look at the embedded videos below.
I gotta tell you, the highlight of my day over the past few days has been when Moviefone posts their latest interview. Mike Ryan has some nerd credibility and is asking all the right questions, though this time he puts a narrow focus on The Rock and Roadblock.
Many Joe fans have been curious as to whether or not they would pay homage to Roadblock’s rhyming talents in the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, and I even hypothosized that perhaps the Jay-Z line was one of those homages…and it sounds like that might have been right on the money:
“Roadblock in the Larry Hama comic book is a lot different than Roadblock in the cartoon who rhymed everything. Did you ever say, “I’m not doing this if I’m rhyming the entire movie.”
[Laughs] Well, there was no conversation that he should be rhyming the entire movie. But what was important was to pay homage to the character — in terms of his look, in terms of his culinary skills…Yes, he is a chef…
And in terms for his love and passion for poetry — but not necessarily rhyming. It’s my interpretation that he loved poetry. Look, we opened up the Super Bowl spot with him quoting Jay-Z — and that’s Roadblock’s interpretation of wonderful poetry. So there are a lot of components that we paid homage to. He was not rhyming for the entire movie. Nor does he give body massages…”
So not only does The Rock know his Roadblock history, but sounds like he’s a fan of the Fensler Films as well.
Another sticking point for the fandom post Toy Fair were the Arashikage tattoos that were visible on various toys throughout the showroom. Well, Mike Ryan read our minds and brought that up as well.
“Last thing, I noticed the Roadblock action figure has the Arashikage tattoo that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have. So Roadblock is a member now?
One of the cool things is our backstory — and we cover this in the film — that Roadblock trains with Snake Eyes and the Arashikage. So, he has that ability, which has yet to be seen — but we will see it.”
I will confirm that yes, during the Toy Fair presentation, Hasbro reps mentioned Roadblock’s training with Snake Eyes…but to become a full fledged member of the Arashikage? I don’t know about that one. We’ll see how that turns out. Once again, hit up Moviefone to read the full interview, lots of great stuff. More kudos to Mike Ryan for asking the good questions.
Keeping up the frenetic pace from yesterday, CinemaBlend has posted a pair of video interviews with G.I. Joe: Retaliation producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura and director Jon M Chu. In these interviews we learn that Storm Shadow has a much more of an excessive role in the film, and DiBonaventura emphasizes once again that Retaliation is not a reboot, but an evolution of the brand.
Lorenzo DiBonaventura
Jon M Chu
With the whirlwind day that yesterday was, I didn’t have time to properly process all of the things that were shown during the presentation or down in the show room. But I woke up very early this morning to dive back into the images from last night and try to wade through and choose my favorite pieces of this initial burst of G.I. Joe: Retaliation toys. I’m going to include stuff we’ve already seen, just based on some new information or new details that were revealed through pictures I’ve taken over the past 18 hours or so.
This will be a basic Top Ten list, and I’ll try to write some snippets from each figure, some of which might be stuff you guys haven’t heard yet that was revealed during Toy Fair. No promises, this is by the seat of my pants!
Click the Read the Rest of the Story link below for the details.