• X-Men: First Class News

    Timothy

    X-Men: First Class is shaping up with news being dropped left and right at this point. Producer Bryan Singer told Ain’t It Cool News a bunch of news on the film project:

    The movie will be set in the 1960s to coincide with the civil rights movement. It was a good decision, since it’d add more weight to the mutants’ struggle with fitting in with society. And, we will see how Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) and Charles Xavier met. This means we’ll see how their friendship develops, followed by how it diminishes once they realize they have opposing ideals towards humankind.

    The antagonists for the film will be the Hellfire Club; a group fronted as a secret society for the wealthy, but is actually a group influencing politics and economics for their own agenda. The group is led by the White Queen Emma Frost and the Black King Sebastian Shaw. (Sebastian will be played by Kevin Bacon.) It’ll be a nice contrast to Xavier’s ideals, but I’m admittedly a little disappointed that Kevin Bacon won’t be portraying Mr. Sinister.

    This time out, the costumes will lean more heavily towards the styles in the comics, which will be a welcome change for the X-Men franchise. The black leather was entirely too bland.

    There’s a lot of mixed feelings over the movie due to so many characters being thrown into the mix, but the pros outweigh the cons to me. Some promising actors are attached to the project, and the fact that the silver age comics will be an influence, along with it taking place in the 60s is a huge plus.

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Cinematical][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Wolverine Gets a Sequel

    Timothy

    A sequel for Wolverine is underway with two directors in mind: Robert Schwentke and David Slade. The story continues, this time with Logan in Japan. The latest draft of the script is written by Christopher McQuarrie. And, of course, Hugh Jackman is attached to the project.

    Logan’s origin is a long one due to his healing factor slowing his aging considerably, and in the comics, Japan is involved in his past. But do we really need a continuation on his origin after all the liberties the last film took? The only thing they essentially got right was Sabretooth’s personality. Ignoring the comic books, the film itself was mediocre. Not to mention the effects were laughable.

    I have a little hope that the second outing will be more respectful and true to the comics — Hugh Jackman is clearly passionate about playing Wolverine, and he loves his fans. Hopefully he’ll reel in the suits. It’d suck to end up with a similar fate like M. Night Shyamalan’s.

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Empire Online][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Spoof Films Losing Profit

    Timothy

    Hollywood Reporter recently wrote an article questioning if the spoof genre is losing profitability. It’s not a steep decline like M. Night Shyamalan’s reputation, but it is a decline nonetheless.

    Mel Brooks’ films had story-arcs with characters spoofing other movies. The comedy was well-written. There were references to other movies; poking fun at them, but done in a way that it’s funny to viewers regardless if it’s understood or not. And the actors had great comedic timing. There was a defined story.

    One of the problems is that spoof movies nowadays ignore a coherent storyline. For the past few years spoofs have relied heavily on outrageous, visual humor. The actors ham it up to the point of ridiculousness with a try-too-hard approach to get a laugh. There’s spoof-cameos of entertainers that ultimately do not add anything to the films. An actual plot with creative spoofs are replaced with, “Remember this character?” moments — or even spoofing other comedies.

    That’s the downfall for spoofs now; there’s hardly any creativity. Now, spoofs are merely throwing in actors who resemble others and doing something out of the ordinary for that particular character — and by doing something out of the ordinary, I mean something utterly ridiculous that doesn’t serve the story. At all. And each of these movies ultimately become dated and forgotten, while spoofs like Mel Brooks’ are still funny and are looked upon as classics.

  • Set Photos From Captain America: The First Avenger

    Timothy

    Set photos from Captain America: The First Avenger made its way online, and it’s making the anticipation grow for the film. What else is there to say? I’m very excited for the movie and I cannot wait to see Chris Evans’ portrayal of Captain America.

    More set photos can be viewed HERE.

  • Cowboys & Aliens Adaptation and Comic-Con Notes

    Timothy

    Actress Zoe Kazan told listeners on a radio show that her boyfriend, actor Paul Dano is having a great time on set for Cowboys & Aliens. Jon Favreau directs the adaptation starring Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig, with Sam Rockwell and Olivia Wilde.

    At Comic-Con, Jon Favreau shared days old footage with the audience to give a feel for what they’re going for — not to mention finally bringing Harrison Ford to Comic-Con — and in handcuffs nonetheless. It felt like a western aside from the futuristic technology wrapped around Daniel Craig’s wrist, but eventually a small, alien spacecraft attacks the town. The thing around Craig’s wrist turns out to be a weapon he uses to shoot down the spacecraft; with onlookers bewildered; one of them being Harrison Ford’s character who wants Craig’s dead.

    Luckily the technology we saw in the footage wasn’t steampunk like Will Smith’s Wild Wild West. It would’ve made it hard for the film to stand on its own. The effects leaned heavily towards practical rather then CG, which the audience ate up.

    From what we saw at Comic-Con, Cowboys & Aliens is shaping up nicely, and hearing cast members talking about what a blast it is on set shows that Favreau truly is growing as a director. It’s gonna be a fun ride.

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Movieline][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Star Wars Celebration Shows Off Life-Size TIE Interceptor

    Timothy

    The Star Wars Celebration V opened on August 12th in Orlando, Florida, and there was a full-scale Elite TIE Interceptor model there — I’m incredibly jealous and wish I was there to see it.

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Denver Post][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • Last Man Standing Adapted into a Film

    Timothy

    Daniel LuVisi’s sci-fi art book Last Man Standing: Killbook of a Bounty Hunter has been picked up by Paramount to adapt into a film. Despite it being an art book, it has a story that can easily be adapted to film — and a graphic novel which is also being planned.

    The premise deals with a bounty hunter named Gabriel who was genetically altered by a weapons contractor. He’s eventually framed and sent to prison, but he’s quick to escape and explore New Amerika.

    It made sense, especially since it was well received this year at Comic-Con. The story has a lot of potential, and Paramount intends to realize it. Stephan Lokotsch and Peter Levin Russell are set as the executive producers.

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Empire Online][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

  • New Judge Dredd Film Update

    Timothy

    I wrote about the new Judge Dredd film in the works, and the news making rounds is that actor Karl Urban (Star Trek) has been casted in the title role.

    Producer Andrew Macdonald said that their idea is to make a gritty, realistic, hard R-rated film that will do the comic book justice. Macdonald along with other producers are insistent on getting the tone right, which they felt the prior Judge Dredd movie didn’t do. And, unlike the prior film, this one will feature Judge Dredd with his helmet — which won’t be taken off.

    The film will be shot in Johannesburg with the same crew who filmed District 9, with Pete Travis directing. John Wagner — who is the main writer for the comic books — will be involved in every decision for the movie.

    The news for this second try at a Judge Dredd film adaptation has been increasingly good for fans of the comic books. As much as I enjoyed the original adaptation, this one has a lot of potential to become an excellent comic book film.

    [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Empire Online][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]