This has got something to do with an old man who ties a load of balloons to his house, to stop it being demolished, and flies it to South America.
Discuss in the forum.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
G.I. Joe may be a Trilogy?
So I was over at the folks place with the family today ready to go to the Port Sunlight Village Festival. We had a good day. The sun was shining, we bumped into the Dude and his family (Hi to The Dude), my son went crazy on the various stalls and rides and it was all rather pleasant.Just before leaving the folks I had a read of the supplements in the Mail on Sunday. There was a big article about Sienna Miller's lovelife. However, the interesting bit was that it mentioned she was optioned for 2 more movies following the G.I. Joe movie (starring Dennis Quaid amongst others) where she plays the Baroness. I wasn't aware it was going to be a trilogy, but looks as if it just may be. Can anyone confirm this?
Terminator Salvation at Comic Con
As I am stuck in good old Blighty I am not able to make it to the Comic Con. Hence the second hand info, but it's all good info. I had big doubts about this one, but they all seem to want to make the movie as good as they can, plus the Bale effect may make it even bigger.
AICN have some info about the movie.
"The Director, McG comes out to a stage already dominated by the above T-600 and paraded out names to appease the audience. He talked about speaking with James Cameron, Arnold Schwarzenegger and the writer is Jonathan Nolan who co-wrote The Dark Knight. Then he said Stan Winston’s designs are all over the movie."
Slash Film where also at the conference.
"At both the panel and the press conference, McG removed any doubts that he was under pressure to deliver a PG-13 rating for the film. Referring to the studio executives for this film, McG explained “I’ve been given their blessing to make the picture…and if it’s a rated R picture, then that’s that.” He elaborated that he’s not against the idea of a PG-13 rating, but that the ultimate rating will depend completely upon what the final vision for the film is."
Some more snippets:
- Takes place 10 years before the t-800 model, seeing the state of the war before what we’ve seen in the T2 future war sequence.
- “We’re making a gritty and real terminator. It’s not for pansies. We’re making the terminator, you know?” Sam Worthington
- Skynet robots we will see are called Harvesters, transporters, hydrobots. Supposedly designed like Scott’s and Cameron’s Aliens universe.
- Will Schwarzenegger be back? McG dances around it, saying that the T-800 definitely is part of the mythology, but won’t say any more.
- They’re approaching it like Nolan approached BATMAN BEGINS.
- T-600 is the robot on the stage in the photo above
- Do we get to see what Skynet looks like? Yep. Studied Chernobyl for post-apocalyptic world.
- Film will be dedicated to Stan Winston.
- John Rosengrant was brought up, from Stan Winston Studios to talk about the machinery. McG’s analogy was the first Mac you bought was huge and had 2 megs of memory and today Macbook Air can control the world. The T-600s are bulky, huge, weathered… 7 feet tall. Soviet tank is the inspiration.
- Moon’s a pilot, Sam is Marcus and Moon takes Sam to an outpost led by John Connor. Moon and Sam are romantic interests.
- Bryce is Kate Connor. “What attracted you to this picture other than you get to make out with Bale?”- McG
- Common: “I’m just glad to be here, honestly. Every time I see the trailer and the clips I’m like, ‘I’m in the Terminator! I can’t believe it!’ We rollin’, man. ” – Common
-Film Treatment Will Be Silver to the Extreme - The movie was filmed with color stock but will be treated with as much silver as a typical black and white film, about 3x as much as normal. This gives the film an ethereal quality that suggests something is visually “off.” McG explained that he took some inspiration for the film from Children of Men, and based on what I’ve seen so far (which is extremely limited), this sounds quite plausible.
- The film will end on a cliffhanger - McG confirmed that the film will end on a cliffhanger at the Salvation press conference.
-2018, and the Kyle Reese Backstory Explained - The film will take place in 2018, the first Terminator movie set exclusively post-Judgment Day. It will have aspects of war films, as the humans unite to battle Skynet (which will also be featured). A lot of attention will be given to the T-600s, less advanced versions of the T-800 (the terminator model that Arnold played in the first three films). Given the complex, interweaving, and conflicting timelines in the collective Terminator films and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, McG has opted not to adhere too strictly to the mythology established in these works, but has worked on maintaining the vision of the first films, Cameron’s in particular.
Furthermore, we’ll see how Kyle Reese developed as a young man. We will find out the genesis of some of Reese’s best lines, and also find out that “some of the best moves that Kyle Reese has learned, he’s learned from machines.”
Discuss in the forum.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
TR2N Footage from Comic Con
This is the footage mentioned in the Tron 2 article from the other day. It was taken way back in the room so the quality is not too good. However, you get to see the light cycles, Jeff Bridges and it all looks splendid.
UPDATE: Found the footage again
UPDATE: Found the footage again
Underworld - Rise of the Lycans
Here are some photos from the Underworld prequel Rise of the Lycans. Kate Beckinsale isn't in it but Rhona Mitra plays the part of Sonja who is a Lycan Death Dealer. Bill Nighy will be returning. It is set in the Dark Ages hence the armour. It will be directed by Patrick Tatopoulos.
Friday, 25 July 2008
Punisher: War Zone footage from Comic Con 08
IGN have the footage from the 2008 Comic Con for the new Punisher movie. It escaped onto You Tube a few hours ago so here it is. Be warned it is a tad violent so make sure the younglings are away from the computer when you look at it. What do you think? Is the movie going to be good or bad? Anyone want to do a review on the Thomas Jane Punisher movie?
Discuss in the forum.
Discuss in the forum.
Red Sonja - Poster
Here's a look at Rose McGowan as Red Sonja. It's from the folks at MTV so may well be taken down from here before the day is out. It's certainly a striking image.
Some more news on ths Red Sonja movie from the 2008 Comic Con. Robert Rodriguez won't be directing it due to contract problems with the Weinsteins. However, he'll probably have quite a bit of say in the matter as the director is going to be Douglas Aarnioko who was first assistant Director on a load of Rodriguez movies. The film will be shot on location but also with green screen work as they did on Sin City and 300. The mix of the two is in order to give the whole thing a different feel to the other fantasy type movies.
As for the action in the movie, Rose McGowan went on to say that it would be similar to the opening chase scene in Casino Royale with lots of free running type stunts but with swords and barbarians. This last bit interests me as it would be a marked difference to the previous Red Sonja and Conan movies.
This project originally sounded a bit naff to me, but I'm starting to get a tingly good feeling about it. How about you?
Discuss in the forum.
Aronofsky definitely doing Robocop
Hollywood Reporter have confirmed that Darren Aronofsky will be helming the fourth Robocop movie. David Self, scriptwriter for Road to Perdition, will be writing the screenplay.The movie is going to be set in Detroit again, 20 years after the suspension of the Robocop program.
Discuss in the forum.
Tron 2 - Jeff Bridges to return
This is great news as I love the original Tron movie. From Slash Film
"There have been a number of rumblings in the film news world about another Tron film being released by Disney, including word that it would be in 3D, and even that Jeff Bridges was going to be hearing a pitch about a sequel. No actual information had been confirmed though.
Until now.
Courtesy of the folks at Disney, Comic Con got a surprise look at a scene from the film. The teaser starts off with the camera panning through a strange stylized landscape. At this point, nobody knew what we were watching, so only silence filled the hall. And then, two blue/yellow suit-wearing motorcyclists burst into frame, engaged in a frenzy of a race. Audiences erupted in applause.
The race continues to grow heated between the two players until the yellow guy finds a way to swerve in front of the blue, leaving his yellow race trail behind him. The blue guy smashes into it and causes sort of an electric ripple, launching him over the edge of the track. He grabs on a ledge, just barely holding on.
We then see a bearded Jeff Bridges in his house, sitting calmly with his legs crossed.
Back to the virtual world, we see the yellow guy standing over the blue. His visor lifts up, revealing Bridges underneath. The blue guy shouts, “This is just a game!” Bridges looks down, smiles, and pulls out a glowing yellow circular disc (fans will probably know the name of this thing). Looking at the camera, he swings the disc down violently and the title lights up on screen: Tr2n.
Stupid title aside, this clip was easily enough to highten my anticipation for this film. Not only is it just incredibly awesome to see Jeff Bridges go back to a character he played before he was a household name, but the way the graphics have been updated is slick without being unfaithful to the original. In a way, I’ve been convinced the sequel is no longer an unnecessary Hollywood cashgrab, because the contrast between the old and the new is very reminiscent of what recent generations have been experiencing with constantly updated video game graphics/technology.
Apparently, it will be about a year until any other footage for the film will be seen. Hopefully this means Disney is planning on having a full-on panel presentation next year."
Wolverine - Trailer Description
This from Slash Film
"In an entirely unprecedented move, Hugh Jackman burst onto the scene at Comic Con after having flown straight from Australia, with filming on Wolverine literally finishing up just this past week. He announced that he just had to reveal to the real fans (without whom he claims he “wouldn’t have a career”) what the movie would be like, offering up the first ever seen trailer/footage.
Naturally, this caused an onslaught of applause from audience members.
The trailer kicks off with Wolverine and Sabertooth in a prison cell. They get taken outside, strapped to posts, and shot to hell by a firing squad. “What did that feel like?” a man asks. Wolverine responds: “It tickled.”
Cut to a shot of Wolverine strutting cheesily to the camera as a truck explodes behind him. Marvel logo fades onscreen.
Then Major William Stryker announces himself to both Sabertooth and Wolverine, discussing the prospect of putting a special team together. Interspersed between this are shots of them running through the woods with full-fledged animal ferocity, being surrounded by a group of soldiers in a circle while amping up to kick some ass, and then the clincher, a shot of Deadpool posing for the camera with his two samurai swords.
Wolverine tells Sabertooth that this wasn’t the program he signed up for. We see him being hooked into place inside the adamantium-injecting machine and thrashing about in the water. He bursts out of it in a blaze of anger and roars at the camera, his claws bursting out of his hands while he does it. Bodies drop as Wolverine slashes in every direction.
A handful of cards are tossed toward the screen, and the camera pans to reveal none other than Gambit holding his electrically-enhanced staff.
More quick shots: a child Wolverine (?) screams with his claws burst out of his hands, Sabertooth lunges across the ground like an animal and attacks Wolverine in what looks like a small snippet of a much larger battle, Wolverine gets clobbered in a boxing ring by the massive Blob, Wolverine goes one-on-one with Gambit, and a mysterious girl begins to have electricity sparkle all throughout her body.
Before you can even begin to recognize all the quick shots of your favorite comic book characters, a final set of clips shows off a very cool-looking set piece with Wolverine facing off on his motorcycle against a truck, and eventually climaxes with him launching thirty feet in the air onto a helicopter.
The title shoots on screen: X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Finishing off the footage, Wolverine looks at Saberooth and quips, “I’m gonna cut your goddamn head off; see if that works.”
Out of the clips shown, there appears to be a lot going for and against this movie. Towards the beginning of the footage, the cheese factor was through the roof, feeling more on par with Ratner’s X-Men than Singer’s. Later on though, the mere presence of characters like Gambit and Deadpool immediately picked up the excitement factor several notches. What we got to see from the action sequences only furthered this excitement, confirming that even if the film doesn’t offer much in terms of emotional/dramatic tension or strong storytelling, it will at least amount to a whole lot of action-packed fun."
Thursday, 24 July 2008
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - Movie Review
Director: Rob CohenStarring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah
Running Time: 112 minutes
Score: 6/10
This review from Billy Bob
Surprisingly, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" isn't as bad as both its marketing and the long period without an installment suggested.
Despite a seven-year hiatus and the loss of one of its leads, the 'Mummy' franchise jumps right back into the action without many problems. It's willing to change up the story a bit, giving us a new Mummy character and setting as opposed to one featuring that Egyptian guy from the first two, but it also manages to retain all the things about the earlier films that made them popular - that is, a proper mix of action-adventure and a light-hearted tone.
Brendan Fraser is back as Rick O'Connell, the Indiana Jones-inspired hero from the original films, and by this point, he really has his character down. In fact, I think he was much more comfortable here than he was in the original films, maybe because he has improved as an actor over the past seven years, or maybe because he doesn't try to make his character any more than it should be, and it's a refreshing thing to see. Returning to the role of Jonathan Carnahan, Rick's brother-in-law, John Hannah is just as strong a source of humor (and in reality, that's all that his character is supposed to bring to the table) as he was in the past.
Which leads us to the big third member of the party: Rick's wife, Evelyn. As you may know, Rachel Weisz was the actor who portrayed her in the old films, but because she was unwilling to make a third film, they had to replace her, something that often has awkward results in movie franchises. However, I must say that Mario Bello truly rose to the occasion, capturing a nearly identical voice to Weisz's, and playing the part like she isn't new to it at all. And when we first see her character, a clever joke about feeling 'like a completely different person' eases the change. There is nothing about this trio that I could find any real faults in, and this helped make the film very enjoyable.
Another bonus to waiting seven years in between installments in our digital age brings another advantage to the film: much better special effects and action sequences. And believe me: this film definitely capitalizes on this, as both a chase sequence in China early on in the film (sorta reminiscent of the Shangahi sequence in 'The Temple of Doom') as well as the final battle at the Great Wall blow away any action sequences you saw in the first two movies. So in terms of action, you'll definitely get your fair dose of awesome effects. They definitely put that reported $175 million to good use.
Sadly, everything else about this movie doesn't begin to compare to the returning stars and the action sequences (luckily, these two components make up much of the film). The Mummy in this movie is played by Jet Li, who isn't at all as cool as one might hope he'd be (he's basically Jet Li's usual martial arts master, with some occasional superpowers thrown into the mix). The film crafts his story so similarly to the background story in the first 'Mummy' movie that there's even a point where the dialogue overlaps ('Nobody is to touch her'). It was disappointingly obvious that his story existed purely to create conflict for the protagonists and to set up some awesome action moments.
But the disappointments don't end there. Joining Rick, Evelyn, and Jonathan on their quest to stop the Mummy are Rick and Evelyn's son, Alex (Luke Ford), and an immortal woman named Lin (Isabella Leong) whose job is to protect the contents of the very tomb that Alex inadvertently helped bring back to life. These two characters form a romance along the way, setting up some great moments for both Fraser and Bello as their son's curious parents. The only problem is that these two lovers are played by some very weak actors, especially Lin. Alex comes across as more of a playboy than an adventurer (which doesn't make sense when characters comment on how much he reminds them of his father), and every time Lin spoke, my friend and I had a bit of trouble holding back the laughs.
Another problem the film faces is that some of the time, things just don't make sense. I won't get into details, but there is a scene where Lin calls upon some yeti-esquire creatures to help them fight the Mummy (who conveniently come in handy later on in ways that she couldn't have foretold), Lin speaks of giving away her immortality for Alex's love even though they have known each other for a day or two, and the characters continue to think that simply shooting a mummy with a gun will destroy him, even though past experience has been evidence enough that there's no use.
So while on one end we have a film bringing back three very enjoyable characters and upgrading the action sequences to fit modern-day standards, we also have a movie with a boring general plot, weak supporting characters, and a few too many 'WTF' moments. However, this is mindless summer entertainment, and you ultimately have to forgive such problems to an extent, as long as it delivers on the right levels, which this film does. It's much better than 'The Mummy Returns,' and just as enjoyable as the original. Even though there are a lot of things I would have changed, I can't say I was expecting it to turn out as well as it did.
Discuss in the forum.
The Day the Earth Stood Still - Poster
I love the imagery in this poster. Seems rather old school and reminds me of something, but not sure what. Maybe Samurai Jack or something similar. The Day the Earth Stood Still
is still one of my all time favourites.
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