Google alerts is a free and easy way of keeping track of topics without having to search your favourite sites every hour for the latest news. I set up my Google Alerts to notify of news regarding three things of interest to me. They are:

•          Marvel films 2014
•          Ninja turtles film 2014
•          Christopher Nolan

My first alert regarding ‘Marvel films 2014’ will warn me about films based on Marvel comics which are coming out this year. Google alerts sends a notification to my gmail alerting me of the latest news regarding Marvel’s four big blockbusters including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Guardians of the Galaxy. As excited as I am to see these four films it was actually the topic of my second alert which caught my attention this morning.

Since I was a child I have loved the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’. I watched the late 80s – early 90s cartoon religiously.

I also saw all three live action films at the movies and still find myself watching them for a laugh nearly every year.

I listed this topic as my second alert because news regarding the new film had been minimal. However this morning my Google alert for ‘Ninja Turtles film 2014’ gave me an email directing me to the latest trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZZ0PnDZdZk 

I have to say I am pretty excited for the film after seeing this footage. Although the reaction online has been quite polarising, I am happy with what I saw. I believe the studios have gone in the right direction with Michael Bay as producer. He brought another 80s classic cartoon, Transformers back into today’s pop culture and for all those films flaws, they have made a ton of money and are enjoyable popcorn films. The trailer for the 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, introduces a new origin story for the turtles. As William Fichtner’s narration suggests that he and April O’Niel’s father were responsible in creating the mutants. The trailers aesthetic is similar to Bay’s Transformers films, with lots of quick cuts of action unfolding and rare glimpses of the turtles. It shows a city under attack and a new larger scale unseen in previous Turtle films. The trailer ends with a reveal of Leonardo and Michaelangelo as he tells April that “It’s just a mask, see?” as he takes off his orange head band naïve to what she’s really afraid of. This shows that they are keeping Michaelangelo’s trademark humour and innocence.

Overall I think a new look and new direction for the Turtles is what’s needed to bring them back into today’s pop culture. The last time we saw the turtles in cinemas in TMNT (2007), the studio decided to disregard the live action element of the earlier films and have them in an animated film. Although the animation allowed the characters to have a more fluid sense of action the film flopped. The only way to bring them back was through mixing CGI with live action. A concept that was too advanced for the early 90s puppet/animatronic featured films. I think that this new film will reintroduce the turtles to today’s audiences who love Transformers and Marvel’s superhero blockbusters. The time is right for the turtles to return to the big screen with Nickelodeon having a hit animated TV show on at the moment. I think this film could be a hit and hopefully we can see the Turtles back in action for years to come.