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Russell Crowe Casting Rumors Near Fatal

Damon Houx — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:22:38 +0000

Remember when we told you that Russell Crowe had at least three projects that he was being considered for? Yeah, that was last week, so now there’s a new Crowe rumor. Vulture says he’s being courted for Jaume Collet-Serra‘s Harker, which is being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. They also say that Crowe is out for Robocop.

Harker would be a revamping of the Dracula mythology, with Jonathan Harker – usually shown as the weak man who first comes to visit Count Dracula to sell him land – now is being redrawn as a detective hunting vampires. The last time Crowe got involved in a rewrite of a famous legend it was Robin Hood, which then stripped everything interesting about their original concept (that the Sheriff of Nottingham was actually Robin Hood in disguise) and was reduced to being a reboot/prequel.

Of course, what’s most interesting about all of these rumors is that Crowe isn’t seen as a great draw and hasn’t been for a while and yet now he’s getting A list projects virtually thrown at him. Crowe is one of our best actors, so it’s not that it’s a bad thing, it just doesn’t seem motivated by recent great work or being an audience favorite.

What upcoming project would you like to see Crowe attached to next?

George Lucas Now Insisting Han Never Shot First In ‘Star Wars’; The Internet’s Collective Head Explodes

traviswoods — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:40:22 +0000

Let’s be honest—just about all of the nips, tucks, tweaks, and changes that George Lucas has made to the original Star Wars trilogy over the past 15 or years hasn’t exactly endeared the man to Star Wars die hards. And the scene that has become the metaphor for how Lucas’ revisions fundamentally change/ worsen the tone of the films is when Han Solo goes from shooting the bounty hunter Greedo first and without warning to simply shooting Greedo in self defense. But now, Lucas says Star Wars fans are “confused,” and that Han never shot first, despite the original film showing him, well, shoot first.

It was a classic scene in the original film, setting Han up as a morally ambiguous character in need of redemption. Thanks to Lucas’ tweaks, however, the character of Han is made a rough-around-the-edges hero from the get-go, which is far less interesting. But in a recent interview, Lucas points out that the millions upon millions of people who saw the original version of Star Wars are “confused,” and that Han never shot first:

The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.

So there you have it, internet and Star Wars fans. You were obviously wrong from the beginning, and Lucas is just doing you a favor and making things more clear for you.

So I Guess Jar Jar Binks Was Solely Designed To Point Out The Dangers Of Racial Stereotypes, Right George?

Source: The AV Club

Trailer: Steve Carrell And Keira Knightley Shine In The Apocalyptic ‘Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World’

traviswoods — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:25:52 +0000

I you were given the news that in just three weeks, a plotline straight out of Armageddon and/or Deep Impact was hurtling from deep space on a collision course with Earth, and that all life would be eradicated in just 21 days, what would you do? Loot, cry, watch TV, go back to work, party for three weeks straight? It’s a question that’s humorously answered in the trailer for quirky road movie/ romantic comedy, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, in which Steve Carrell and Keira Knightly go on a road trip to find their respective loved ones before the apocalypse.

Check out the new trailer, as it’s far more charming than any rom-com has a right to be:

Not bad, eh? With names like Carrell, Adam Brody, Rob Corddry, Gillian Jacobs (Community), and Patton Oswalt attached, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World has a killer comedic cast married to what looks to be a rather clever spin on the tired “a meteor is coming to wipe out all life on earth” storyline.

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World was written and directed by Lorene Scafaria (the writer behind Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) and hits theaters on June 22.

What do you think of the trailer?

Source: /Film

Pack Up For Wet Hot American Summer 2

Damon Houx — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:29:08 +0000

If you could assemble a cast that includes Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Christopher Meloni, and Joe Lo Truglio, you’d have an A-list comedy on your hands these days, and that may be what you get if they make Wet Hot American Summer 2, the long-proposed sequel to 2000′s cult comedy. Co-writer and star of the original Michael Showalter said it’s definitely happening and everyone is on board.

Showalter said so on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live last night, and said so with great authority. This is after the recent live table reading of the original film’s script that took place at San Francisco’s Sketchfest. The cast for Wet Hot American Summer also included Janeane Garofolo, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Ian Black, A.D. Miles, Ken Marino, Molly Shannon, Judah Friedlander and Marguerite Moreau, many of whom were at the recent reading.

When Showalter offers no hesitations, it suggests that this has been in the works for a while, and that they have some form of financing. Director David Wain has a new film coming out shortly called Wanderlust (with Rudd), and if that does good business, surely WHAS 2 will be next on deck. The first film was barely released by the now-defunct USA Pictures, and found an audience on home video. It’s hilarious, and well worth checking out.

You smell like a burger, I don’t like you any more?

Box Office Predictions: How Did February Get So Competitive?

Damon Houx — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:18:17 +0000

Last weekend, we saw two new picture do much more business than expected on a Super Bowl weekend. This weekend we’re looking at four pictures that could all do over $20 Million. Safe House, The Vow, The Phantom Menace 3-D, and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island all have name players, and target audience appeal. Who wins? Take a look…

The reissue of The Phantom Menace brings out a sense of nostalgia for the simpler times of 1999. The economy was good, the internet was growing, there had been no terrorist attack on New York, and we didn’t know how bad the Prequel trilogy could get. I remember watching the film – which had been parsed a little before it hit theaters so things like Jar-Jar Binks or Midichlorians were not surprising – and finding it mostly pleasant. I guess my main feeling was that though it wasn’t a great story, it felt like Star Wars, and it didn’t mess anything up too bad. It was the later films that I couldn’t stand, partly because important things (like characters falling in love, or choosing to be on the side of evil) were done so poorly. Others had much more violent reactions to the film either positive or negative, positions still debated today. That said, the world has cooled on these films, their cultural touchstone status has more to do with obligation and our new blockbuster culture. When people quote the original trilogy, it’s usually out of affection, when people quote the prequel trilogy, it’s usually as a goof. The internet has pockets of hard core fans of the six film series, but they are now in the position Star Trek fans were in when that franchise became geek-only culture.

George Lucas has made it clear, he’s selling this reissue to the children, so it’ll be interesting to see how the people who experienced this first react. As such, if there is a surprise this weekend, it’ll be this.

Safe House is Denzel Washington doing a thriller. These films tend to open to $20 Million or so. It co-stars Ryan Reynolds. He’s negligible. Word isn’t good but that doesn’t matter, a base audience is a base audience and there’s nothing else out that is going to appeal from these new films. Which means the film should do the numbers of an Unstoppable or a Book of Eli -somewhere between $20 – $30 Million. This should be on the lower side of that spectrum, but still respectable.

I doubt anyone who wants to see Safe House is going to see The Vow, except the most dedicated of film fans. Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams star in the only romance picture out before Valentine’s Day. That should be enough to get it to the number one spot. I don’t think audiences have warmed to Tatum as much as studios would like at this point, but it seems they’re going to have to at the rate he makes movies. Arguably, McAdams was close to generating a fanbase a couple years back, but then she didn’t do anything for three years. it was a curious decision that may have hurt her branding, but may have kept her sane. It’s possible people will turn up for this in the hopes of getting that The Notebook feeling and timing is everything. Timing should help the picture get over $25 Million

Journey 2 might get some boost from Dwayne Johnson. The first film surprisingly made over $100 at the box office. Brendan Fraser deigned not to appear in this one, though it’s likely Johnson signed on for this before Fast Five, which was his first huge hit in a good long while. Or, that is to say, they probably got him for cheap. This is something of an obligatory sequel, and reviews have skewed negative, but the spots sell the film well enough that it should at least open.

The crazy thing is that means that four films should or could do around $20 Million this weekend, with two new pictures last weekend also doing $20. If they all hit the top six should do over $100 Million, which – for what’s supposed to be cinema’s quiet season – is striking.

So let’s make some magic:

The Vow – $27.3 Million
Safe House – $22.7 Million
Star Wars 4 (or Star Wars 1) – $22.5 Million
Journey 2 – $13.9 Million
Chronicle – $11 Million

The Vow could go higher, it’s been doing well in tracking and advanced ticket sales. Then again, so could Journey or Star Wars – it all depends on the younger kids who are harder to track.

What’s your favorite Star Wars memory?

Natalie Portman Signs Up for a Terrence Malick Double Feature

Damon Houx — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:35:04 +0000

Though Natalie Portman kept it busy last year with roles in No Strings Attached, Your Highness and Thor (all coming off of her Oscar win for Black Swan), she recently had a baby and took time off for motherhood. But today, Deadline announced that Portman is not only going back to work, she’ll be appearing in two movies: Knight of the Cups and Lawless. Both to be directed by Terrence Malick.

From 1978 to 1997, Terrence Malick left cinema, and though there were often reports that he was working on one thing or the other, for nearly twenty years he left the world with two movies, both arguably masterpieces (Days of Heaven and Badlands). He also cemented his reputation as an eccentric genius. But he returned in 1997 with The Thin Red Line, and came back again with 2005′s The New World. Since then he’s made Tree of Life, and has at least two films in various states of post-production, and is now on to a double feature. Which means that in the last three years he’ll have made more movies than he did in the first thirty five years of his career.

In Knight of the Cups, Portman will join Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Isabel Lucas, while in Lawless she’ll be playing against Ryan Gosling, Bale, Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Haley Bennett. The nice thing about being hailed as a genius in your lifetime is that you can have dream casts – the amount of talent on display is staggering. These films start shooting this summer (though it’s possible that Malick has already done some filming), and both are targeted for 2013 releases.

What do you think spurred Malick’s newly found productivity?

Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy Teaser Trailer

Damon Houx — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:13:10 +0000

Jeremy Renner stars in the spin-off/reboot of the Bourne franchise The Bourne Legacy, and now we’re getting a look at how director Tony Gilroy is handling the reset button in the film’s first trailer. With that title it means that Matt Damon‘s Jason Bourne is going to hover over the film – though it’s hard to say for how long of the running time. Check out the teaser…

They brought back Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, David Strathairn and Albert Finney from the last couple movies, and upped their game by adding Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton into the mix, with up and comer Oscar Isaac also joining the ranks. You’re going to be seeing a lot of Isaac soon. Currently a chameleon, he appeared in Sucker Punch and Drive, and is the lead in the latest Coen Brothers movie.

I like the teaser, though I wonder how long we’re going to have to spend watching the franchise get rebooted. The trailer tells us that Renner’s character is a lot like Bourne but better. The problem is that every single film in the franchise pointed out that Bourne wasn’t the only super awesome agent, so I don’t know how long you have to explain that. As long as the action delivers and we don’t have to spend an hour being told all the same things over again, we’re on board. The film opens August 3, and here’s the poster art:

What do you want out of a Matt Damon-free Bourne movie?

New International ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’ Trailer Shows Things Going Boom A Lot

traviswoods — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:50:27 +0000

Well, another day, another G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer that shows things exploding, people running while seemingly coated in Crisco to replicate sweat, people shooting at various things, some sword fights on a mountain, and Bruce Willis shows up, shoots people, and smirks for a little bit. Oh, and The Rock glares at things and occasionally does that eyebrow cocking thing. Exciting?

Also, you see the White House being taken over by the Cobras, along with the new casting additions of Bruce Willis, The Rock, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson, RZA, and D.J. Cotrona. The returning cast features Channing Tatum, Ray Park, Lee Byung-hun, Arnold Vosloo and Jonathan Pryce. Check it out:

It looks like pretty generic modern action movie stuff (Look, a famous national landmark! Look, slow motion shots that speed up and then slow back down! Look, things repeatedly exploding! Look, a cameo by an action megastar!), but hey, one can’t exactly expect much from a film that’s a sequel to a movie that is based on a Hasbro action figure line and 1980s cartoon series, right? Oh well, G.I. Joe: Retaliation opens on June 29, and is directed by Jon Chu.

Is knowing truly half the battle?

Source: /Film

After 120 Years Of Cinema, Jaden Smith’s ‘Karate Kid 2′ Is Finally Being Made

traviswoods — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:40:18 +0000

Ever since inventor Louis Le Prince shot Roundhay Garden Scene, the earliest known film, at 12 frames per second for just over two seconds, humankind as a whole has often dreamed of what the fullest expression of cinema’s potential could possibly be. And finally, over 120 years later, we finally have the climax of that potential, as the long-awaiting unnecessary sequel to a celebrity’s son’s vanity project remake of a 1980s high school karate movie is finally being made.

That’s right, Karate Kid 2, starring Jaden Smith, is now happening.

Alphas creator Zak Penn will tackle the screenwriting duties, who earned such an illustrious position by being the scribe behind such luminous cinematic masterworks as Elektra, The Incredible Hulk, and X-Men: The Last Stand. So you know it’s gonna be good.

Not only is Jaden Smith expected to return in the titular role as the Kid who is of that which is Karate— Jackie Chan is expected to reprise his role from the first film, adding the quiet dignity and grace that is expected in a franchise-building remake of a series of 1980s sports movies starring Ralph Macchio.

What do you think of the Karate Kid 2 news? Are you beside yourself with anticipation?

Source: The AV Club

Get Ready for The River with a Preview

Damon Houx — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:27:01 +0000

ABC’s The River – which looks like an attempt to recapture the magic of Lost – premieres tonight, February 7. Though less a puzzle box (ala J.J. Abrams) and more of a jump scare-centric piece, Paranormal Activity‘s Oren Peli is the big name on the project as its creator. The show follows a family looking for their famous explorer father, and ends up on the Amazon looking for his lost vessel. Check out the preview featurette…

It looks like ABC spent some money on this one. Though it stars working actors with Bruce Greenwood the most notable – though I like Joe Anderson and thought he gave a good supporting performance in The Crazies – they shot it in Hawaii, and there’s been a lot of ads. As a show that seems to hinge on a concept, they want eyes on this tonight.

ABC should see a good showing for the pilot, but they’re going to have to keep people’s attention, and hopefully they’ve got a good hook. What they want is for this to be a water cooler show, something that people talk about (or to use the more modern parlance – twitter about) right out of the gate. IMDb lists seven episodes shot, so this is likely expensive enough that if it doesn’t work they’ll pull the plug quickly. Network television is going through one of its roughest patches as cable and streaming video have fundamentally changed how people watch TV, so they’ve got a reason to be nervous. We’ll see if the hits or misses shortly.

Bring back Community!

Harrison Ford Not Up For Blade Runner Sequel

Damon Houx — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:04:24 +0000

Though Harrison Ford may have made peace with he original Blade Runner, Alcon Entertainment (who’s producing the sequel) has made it clear that he’s not in talks to star in Ridley Scott‘s follow up and they have no interest in using his character. Word hit yesterday that Ford might be up for a role, but Deadline Hollywood contacted the producers who said no such thing would happen.

When Blade Runner came out in 1982, it was Harrison Ford’s first high-profile bomb. Up until that point he had appeared in three of the most successful films of all time (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark), and Blade Runner was considered a huge misstep. He followed it with Star Wars and Indy sequels, and then appeared in Witness.

Ford might have mellowed on the film since then (at least he appeared in the supplements of the massive five-disc Blade Runner DVD and Blu-ray), but this rumor always seemed unlikely. Of course with a film like this – which is in pre-production – there’s always going to be interesting rumors and news about the project. Likely the fate of the project will rest on the success or failure of Scott’s Prometheus, which comes out this summer.

What Harrison Ford project would you most like to see a sequel to?

Robert Rodriguez To Make ‘Machete Kills’ For Some Reason, Followed By ‘Machete 3′

traviswoods — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:27:55 +0000

Despite the fact that every year he announces about 477 planned reboots, remakes, sequels, and prequels that he never actually ends up making, Robert Rodriguez appears to actually be in talks and development to make a sequel to 2010 action film/ Grindhouse spinoff, Machete. The film will be called—wait for it—Machete Kills.

According to Rodriguez, “the fan response to the Machete character has been fanatical since his first appearance… Machete is truly a super hero and Machete Kills will be bigger and more ambitious than the first time.” So this is why we still haven’t seen a Sin City sequel?

Machete star Danny Trejo is apparently already in talks to return to the Machete “franchise,” while production is set to start in April. The sequel will find Machete being recruited by the United States government to lead a battle in the heart of Mexico to take out the head of a drug cartel “an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space.” Yes, it appears that part of the film may take place in space. Ok, Rodriquez, you win—I can’t stay mad with news like that. Also, Rodriquez has stated that this will the second entry in what is shaping up to be a Machete trilogy. Yay?

What do you think of the Machete news?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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