Here's where I get confused: If you knew a pair of people like the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher in the new feature-length sitcom pilot What Happens in Vegas, you'd probably hate them. Undoubtedly, in real life, you'd want to punch / mock / immediately walk away from people so outrageously stupid, selfish, and insufferable. So here's my question: Why would you actually PAY for the experience of meeting two such woeful and worthless people? It's not like there's much upside for you...
Pre-packaged movie star detritus of the most inane order, What Happens in Vegas offers an I Love Lucy premise, an Odd Couple leading duo, and a Three's Company screenplay. (I mean, like, season five Three's Company, when you could spot the flaccid punch-lines the split-second the set-up is delivered.) It's not like I went in gunning for the flick, because I happen to think that A) Ashton Kutcher is a fairly funny guy, B) Cameron Diaz is still (often) a generally appealing movie star, and C) "high concept" comedy can sometimes make for one colorful and energetic night at the cinema -- but I've been to writing seminars that offer more humor, creativity, and cleverness than what's on display here. And trust me, writing seminars have none of those things.
Admit it, we have all thought that the one thingX-Men Origins: Wolverine needed was another character. I mean, there's no possible way Wolverine could carry the entire movie by himself; what we needed were some mutants to share the load. Right?
Well, the most surprising addition yet has been made. According to Superhero Hype, there are reports that Cyclops has joined the roster. No, he won't be played by James Marsden, but an Australian actor named Tim Pocock. The news comes via an Australian agency, who confirmed that said actor was indeed cast as the young Scott Summers.
Now how the heck the two will meet is impossible for me to fathom. I imagine this will just be a cameo, a young Scott brushes past Wolverine at a train station or bus stop. Knowing how these origin stories go, there will probably be some wink-nudge storyline where Wolverine snubs Cyclops somehow, leading to the instant dislike that springs up when the two meet again as adults. Or he will rescue the young Summers, thus making their prickly relationship something to be regretted. (How Summers will not remember is a mystery -- he wasn't brainwashed by Weapon X.)
Sigh. I keep on defending you, Hugh Jackman, assuring everyone you've got a handle on the character, but you're making it so hard for me! Why couldn't you have just mindlessly fought bears in the Canadian snow, wearing nothing but computer circuitry?!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the entire pantheon of Marvel superheroes, hits theatres May 1st, 2009. Filming finished last week, so ostensibly they can't add any more characters ... can they?
Luckily somebody over at the production blog for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li has finally taken the hint and done away with the MySpace-style writing (I'm not sure how much more of that I could have taken). At least now it's way less annoying to catch up on the latest updates for the video game adaptation. First up is a picture of the newest addition to the story, Det. Maya Sunee, a half-Thai detective in Bangkok's Gangland Homicide division (played by Moon Bloodgood). For dedicated SF fans, the name is not going to ring any bells because Maya is a new character created just for the film. But that is not all; fans now have the chance to submit questions to be answered by cast and crew.
Legend focuses on the story of one of SF's favorite characters, Chun Li. It's the classic revenge tale about her search for her mentor's murderers. Smallville's Kristen Kreuk stars as Chun Li and Robin Shou plays her Tai-Chi master. Even though the story has been modernized slightly, some of Street Fighter's main baddies (including Bison, as played by Neil McDonough, Balrog, as played by Michael Clarke Duncan, and Vega still get to make an appearance. And as an added bonus, the site also gives a glimpse at the storyboard for a fight between Chun-Li and Vega.
Andrzej Bartkowiak is still shooting on location in Bangkok, so there is plenty of time for more updates in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li will arrive in theaters in 2009.
Despite having one of the worst reputations in Hollywood, it would appear that things are starting to look up for M. Night Shyamalan. You can check out the latest trailer Shyamalan's The Happening above, and it already has me sold on the apocalyptic thriller. Even though I was relatively impressed with the first trailer, this one has definitely amped up the creep factor (caused some serious heebie-jeebies when I saw it in front of Iron Man last weekend).
Mark Wahlberg stars as a meek and mild high school science teacher who lands smack dab in the middle of an end of days scenario. And might I add that it will be nice to see Wahlberg play something other than his usual tough guy role -- I mean, it's been too long since he's really had to act. Zooey Deschanel co-stars as his estranged wife and the criminally underused John Leguizamo, Spencer Breslin (brother to Abigail) and Ashlyn Sanchez play fellow survivors.
The Happening is scheduled for release on Friday June 13th, which will put the thriller in direct competition with The Incredible Hulk for opening weekend supremacy. Between the critics who call Shyamalan a one-trick pony, and the bad buzz for the big green guy, it's going to be a tough call for audiences. I know which film I'm going to see first -- how about you?
Hugh Jackman has been doing lots of press junkets for Deception -- and funnily enough, only Australia seems to be hearing about that film, whereas America is only letting him talk about X-Men Origins: Wolverine again and again. That has to be a bit of a bummer.
MTV Movies caught up with him, and he was more than happy to talk about donning the claws again. "It feels different. But I don't think its going be night and day."
Then he gave one of those quotes that I always hold out as proof that he knows what he is doing. "We are dealing with a character who is probably one of the darker comic book characters ever created. The movie has a lot of fun elements, but there are layers of pain and darkness to this character. Tonally, I would put it more in the Batman Begins sort of realm. That's sort of where we're headed." He's seen Batman Begins! Between this and his ongoing graphic novel grabs, I think the man is a bonafide geek.
Right on the heels of the delayed release date for Dragonball, Slashfilm has managed to score an early look at the teaser poster for the feature film, courtesy of blurry photos from a fan. Maybe it is because I am not all that familiar with the intricacies of Dragonball (beyond their awesome hairstyles), but this poster isn't exactly piquing my curiosity to find out -- and isn't that the whole point of a teaser?
Dragonball was written and directed by James Wong (Final Destination), and stars Justin Chatwin as Goku; a young man put on a quest to retrieve seven "mystical Dragonballs." James Marsters (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) plays Goku's nemesis Piccolo, who is also trying to get his hands on the orbs. Other classic Dragonball characters making an appearance in the film are Bulma (played by Emmy Rossum) and Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat). So can anyone tell me what exactly these Dragonballs are supposed to be? Because every time I have to read a line like "Goku searches for Dragonballs," I giggle like a 12 year old girl (call me immature if you must).
You can't really blame Fox for delaying the release date for the flick. Dragonball might be a favorite among fans of anime, but it definitely doesn't have the same audience reach as titles like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Tropic Thunder. Now that there is plenty of time before Dragonball hits theaters, I just hope that Fox can come up with some more exciting marketing materials. Dragonball is due to arrive in theaters on April 8th, 2009.
Wow, this does not look like a photo from The X-Files. This looks like a photo from a movie like The Lake House. (Which, if only lit a bit darker, could have been an episode of The X-Files, now that I think about it.) It will probably drive all the Mulder and Scully "Shippers" crazy. I confess to being one back in the day (though not really enough of one to use that cheesy term), but the picture still doesn't do anything for me. But it is nice to know they felt the flame alive all these years. The photo comes by way of IESB.net, who was sent it from a mysterious source. No one knows where it came from, but it appears to be a legit scene as there's a near identical picture from DVD Forum that includes Chris Carter. The X-Files: I Want to Believeopens July 25th.
Mike Judge made a lot of friends and Fox made a lot of enemies when Judge's last live-action feature, Idiocracy, was dumped into a couple of theaters (it made a whopping $438,000) and then ushered to DVD. Those who saw it (myself among them) raved, making the movie a minor cult hit, but it certainly got a lot less exposure than anything from the creator of Office Space should have.
Judge will attempt to remedy that with his next movie, which will be called Extract, and which its distributor (Miramax) will hopefully actually distribute. Jason Bateman, rightly adored by everyone, is attached to star. Variety, which broke the story, provides only a very cryptic plot description: "Extract explores what it's like to be the boss when everything seems to be shifting around you." No word on what the protagonist is the boss of or exactly what is shifting around him.
What can I say? It's hard to be anything less than enthusiastic about something in which both Judge and Bateman are prominently involved, even if I did miss the boat on Office Space when it first came out. I do hope that Bateman will still have time for that Arrested Development movie we've been sort-of promised. The thought of that actually happening makes me cry happy tears.
Deception, starring Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor, is being sold as an "erotic thriller." Any experienced cinemagoer knows that this phrase, which promises two things, usually indicates a film that will fail to deliver either. American studio films either tiptoe around sex or stomp on it with clown shoes, and the modern thriller often relies on activities that are not, and cannot ever be, thrilling -- electronic funds transfers, typing, mouse-clicking. Deception, directed by Marcel Lanegger from a script by Mark Bomback, begins as Ewan McGregor's lonely auditor Jonathan McQuarry labors late into the night in a huge conference room, vast windows looking out over the lights of the city. Shut in, walled-away, cut-off, Jonathan is worse than miserable; he's invisible. But then Hugh Jackman's brash, blunt Wyatt Bose waltzes in, makes some small talk, sparks up a joint. It's not what Jonathan's used to. Then again, he hates what he's used to.
While doing the publicity rounds for Deception, Hugh Jackman talked a bit about X-Men Origins: Wolverine to The Herald Sun, specifically praising his young costar, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and his director, Gavin Hood. (The subject of his muttonchops comes up too -- apparently, they aren't popular in his private life. And here I was hoping Jackman could bring them into fashion.)
That talk of McPhee being replaced with Troye Sivan must have been false, or we're seeing two young Logans which is entirely probable. Jackman is full of praise for the young actor he handpicked to play his younger self. "He's one of those kids who's fearless. I hope he doesn't read this article because yes, there is pressure on him because of who he's playing and the expectations of fans. I was lucky to be completely ignorant of fans' expectations and the whole world before X-Men came out. I just hope he doesn't read too much or go on the internet because he naturally has the goods I know the fans will love."
What I'm about to say might shock you ... ready? I still think M. Night Shyamalan is a pretty good director. Okay, so he may have gone off the rails with Lady in the Water, but everyone is allowed a few stinkers, right? Hopefully things will start to turn around for him with The Happening. JoBlo now has new stills from his M. Night's 'end of the world' drama, and for those of you who like to be surprised, don't worry, they're spoiler-free. In fact, most of them look like they came straight from the trailer.
Most of the details have been kept under lock and key, but we did get some spoilers back in August (read at your own risk). What we do know for sure is that the story centers on an estranged couple (Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) who band together to save their family during an environmental crisis (remember the news story about the disappearing bees?). That old chestnut even makes an appearance in the narrative. Joining Wahlberg and Deschanel in the cast are John Leguizamo and Spencer Breslin (star of The Shaggy Dog and brother to Abigail) as fellow survivors.
This one is likely to be less controversial than Brett Ratner's forthcoming take on The Incredible Shrinking Man, but it may still offend some Brian De Palma die-hards. Fox has commissioned a remake of The Fury, which was De Palma's follow-up to Carrie back in 1978. Based on a book by John Farris, the movie dealt with a telepathic teenager and nefarious government agents' attempts to use him for weapons experiments. Looking back, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Stephen King's Firestarter novel (if not the Drew Barrymore film), though that was published after The Fury was released.
Speaking as a De Palma fan, I'm not terribly offended by the prospect of a remake -- I think that The Fury is one of the man's less memorable films. (Case in point: I saw it less than two years ago, and I barely remember it.) The new movie will be written by newcomers Brian McGreevy and Lee Shipman, who got the job on the strength of an unproduced spec script. Let's hope this doesn't wind up being in the vein of the cheap-and-quick PG-13 horror we've been seeing a lot of lately.
As for De Palma, he's still licking his wounds after the beating that Redacted took, and reportedly mulling an Untouchables sequel.
I'll admit that I'm not loving the writing style on the blog for Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li . Believe me, it's not easy to wade through all those descriptions of 'sweet footage' and sign-offs like "I'm out like a sonic BOOM" to get to the news (and I'm not the only one who feels this way). But that is why I'm here; I go through it so you don't have to. The site has just posted the first photo of Robin Shou (who despite a long and illustrious film career in Asia is best known here as Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat) as Gen. Shou plays a Kung Fu master who is also the mentor to a scrappy little gal known as Chun-Li (played by Smallville's Kristen Kreuk).
Legend will be doing away with the story set up in the 1994 film, and instead, Chun-Li is getting her very own origin story. Early reports had the action revolving around Li out for revenge for the death of her master, and there was also talk that the script would be pitting her against Hong Kong gangsters. But don't worry, Bison and some of his cronies are still getting some screen time.
After so many headlines across the Internet screaming "New X-Files Photo!" and finding it to be the same broody shot of Mulder and Scully at a desk, it came as a real surprise to find an actual new photo. This comes by way of DVD Forum, who always seem to get their hands on tasty new images (check out a second image after the jump).
This photo is quite intriguing -- ShockTillYouDrop did a set visit where a religious element was mentioned, but with so much smoke and mirrors, it was difficult for them to take anything at face value. Unless Scully is working at a Catholic hospital (and that is a real possibility with her background), then the stained glass back there would back up such a storyline. And it fits with that new I Want to Believe title, doesn't it?
Additionally, our friends at XFilesNews share with us a brand new plot summary coming via the back cover blurb of the novel for the film. To avoid spoilers, we've posted it after the jump. Let us know what you think. Sounds creeeepy ...
You know that feeling you get when something looks so familiar but you just can't put your finger on it? Well, that's how I felt after I saw the latest poster release for Marcel Langenegger's, Deception (see to the right, and click to enlarge). After a furious search to try and figure out just what it was about the poster that was so familiar, I came up empty. Luckily, the sharp eyes over at the Ropes of Silicon boards noticed the poster was almost identical to The Prestige.
Ewan McGregor stars as Jonathan, a buttoned down accountant who is swept up in a mysterious sex club called 'The List'. Hugh Jackman plays his lawyer friend who leads Jonathan down the 'rabbit hole' involving a missing girl and a million dollar fraud. There aren't that many differences between this latest poster release and the previous release -- in fact, there are only a few minor differences. The most noticeable being that Jackman had a lot more real estate on the first poster than he does now. On the upside, we actually get to see McGregor's face this time around.
After watching the trailer, I'll admit that there is no way I would see this film if Jackman and McGregor were not starring (it just has a late night, skinemax vibe). Plus, the film bears a striking resemblance to the 1990 thriller Bad Influence (it even looks like McGregor borrowed James Spader's glasses). Deception is set for release on April 25th, and I can't help but wonder if Fox released this poster in hopes of drumming up some much-needed business.
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Full 'G.I. Joe' Cast Photos!
