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The Proposal

With summer blockbusters such as Harry Potter, Transformers, Public Enemies all coming out, I had promised my wife that I would take her to the movie she wanted….which was the Proposal.

I have to admit, when I was going, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this film, but I ended up going to just enjoy, and laughed from the beginning it started till the time it ended.
The movie is about Margaret Tate played by Sandra Bullock, who is a book publisher editor and chief. Everyone fears her and despises her. Her assistant is Andrew Paxton played by Ryan Reynolds. He basically plays her personal bitch. Were he does everything she needs, and is maintained there by her threatening of being thrown out with nothing.
Bullock has a meeting up at her bosses’ offices, were she finds out since she broke an immigration law, that she is being deported to Canada, were she was born UNLESS she has some other opportunity which ironically her assistant walks in as queue and she lied telling them that they are going to be married!
So the next major portion of the movie ends up at his family’s estate in Alaska, conning his family that they were engaged and the excitement only starts to increase from then!
Naturally this film is predicable for the remaining of the film, but with chemistry between Bullock and Reynolds, it worth my while to watch. Betty White plays his Grandma who was turning 90 years old. She added some spice to the film as well. You will get to see more of Oscar from the Office then you will want to see, but Oscar Nunez who plays Ramone did a great job playing a Pastor, a Stripper, a Store manager, and a waiter.
What didn’t work in this film is the whole immigration part. I am sorry, but the US Government doesn’t work that fast as they did in this film…trust me. Anyways, the timing of the film didn’t work for me. They flew from New York to a remote part of Alaska on a Friday, and returned to New York by Monday? That didn’t make any sense why they cut it so short.
All in all, the film was fun, the witty humor and chemistry of Bullock and Reynolds was definitely worth my time with my wife to see this film. I am sure it will be part of our movie collection, and I wouldn’t mind.
For all those men out there who owes your wife a movie out, take the opportunity to see this one, and it will be a win, win situation.

Random News of the Week (June 6, 2009 - May 14, 2009)

Del Toro talked THE HOBBIT this week in some more detail. G4 has this interesting excerpt: the film will take some liberties with sub-plot material that is briefly discussed in the book. Most notably among this, is Gandalf's departure from Bilbo and the Dwarves to confer with The White Council in Dol Guldur on dealing with an entity called the Necromancer (which later turns out to be Sauron himself.) We've always suspected this based on some statements, but this time, the intention to document Gandalf's quest (which is not covered greatly in the book) was articulated clearly. Smaug the Dragon, del Toro revealed that after eight whole months of design work, they have only just “cracked the basic engineering.” It is anticipated that another six or seven months of application will be needed before the great flying, fire-breathing, gold smuggler will be in any kind of presentable form.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER THE MOVIE producers have sent a message to Joss Whedon, asking him to direct. His response was, “I think that's something better left untouched by me,” he tells Entertainment Weekly. “So I wish them luck.” An EW poll reveals that 3% of respondants would see a Whedon-free “Buffy.” Ouch.

There was a lot of talk this week about who would direct the Robert Rodriguez produced PREDATORS film. Early word came out for Neil Marshall (THE DESCENT, DOOMSDAY) but we heard later in the week that is a front runner of many up for the helm.

After losing Ratner, the CONAN film has been afloat for a while now. New word is that Marcus Nispel (remake of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, remake of FRIDAY THE 13TH) is now locked to direct the CONAN remake. Nispel said he will blend his childhood imaginings of the character with the influence of the famous Conan illustrations by Frank Frazetta, and the influence of such viscerally violent period films as Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto."

This is so hilarious. Word is out that the GI JOE: RISE OF COBRA film test-screened so bad for audiences, that the director has been fired. There was a message post which claimed that a test screening of the upcoming action film scored the worst marks in the studio's history. As a result Paramount exec Brad Weston had the film's director Stephen Sommers (THE MUMMY, VAN HELSING) fired and locked out of the editing room. Stuart Baird, a renowned "fixer" editor was brought it to try to see if it could be made releasable, while producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura was told "his services were no longer needed on the film either". When word of the firing started to get around, Sommers "was summoned back to the editing room but only to save appearances, Baird is still editing the movie with studio input." All I can say is that the trailer looked beyond ridiculous and I could see it being this kind of epic bad.

In regards to the balancing of LONE RANGER and a PIRATES CARRIBEAN 4, Jerry Bruckheimer said this week. "It's a great franchise for them and for us, too. We love the character and Johnny was really excited about coming back to Captain Jack. He certainly is interested in Tonto, but Disney's priority is to get 'Pirates' made first. You never know what's going to happen, but they would like it.”

Rumor has it that Fox is demanding that Ridley Scott direct an ALIEN prequel. This is probably due to the massive Internet backlash last week when fans heard that a commercial and music video director had been hired instead and Ridley was only going to produce with his brother.

With all of the delays on the Y: THE LAST MAN film version, Shia Lebouf said this week that he is officially out. He said he may be too old for the character and that it is too much like his TRANSFORMERS character any way and he does not want to be type-cast.

A few tidbits of what the setting could be for TERMINATOR 5 were leaked this week. Supposedly, the sequel to Terminator: Salvation, will be set in London in the year 2011, with a time-travelling John Connor.

Liam Neeson may be up for the part of Hannibal in the Joe Carnahan directed A-TEAM. Also, Bradley Cooper (THE HANGOVER) may also be back up for the role of “Face”. The story keeps the premise of the classic 80's series but will take a more serious tone with the story of four war vets wrongly convicted of armed robbery escape from a military prison to become mercenaries helping the impoverished.

Terminator Salvation

I know, I know, the critics have all locked arms in unison around the world to bemoan the film, warn us of how terrible it is, and do their best to give us a witty remark about director McG's name. But I'm here to tell you that regardless of what you may have heard, this film is really not that bad. That isn't to say it is good but in comparison to TERMINATOR 3, this is a masterpiece.

Let me first say that I hate TERMINATOR 3. It takes the worst parts of the previous films and puts them into such a formulaic plot that it falls under its own weight. There is no sense of danger. Again, the film succeeds in making us hate John Connor and wonder why Reese would ever follow this idiot. On top of that, the girl terminator seems much less powerful than the liquid metal guy, not to mention that she gets creamed every time she meets up with Arnold. If this comes on TV on a weekend, I can't even bare to watch.

So when you look at it from this perspective and maybe go into the film knowing it isn't a modern sci-fi classic, you will probably be saying the same thing as me "this isn't that bad, in fact, it is kind of a fun one time summer action movie." Honestly, a lot of this is probably just the general hatred for McG as a director that rubbed on most of the reviews of this film. It really is about average.

What worked:

Although you could say the action scenes are more set up and filmed like a video game cinematic, than film, they are still exciting for the most part and well staged. Most of the time, the effects look passable if not pretty solid (certainly, no where near as bad as the WOLVERINE effects problems).

The guy they found to play Reese, is really solid and believable. This is important because it ties it back to the first film, and I felt like the script didn't do a bad job of showing why Reese would be so loyal to Connor and be willing to basically die to go back in time (one way trip).

Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright is solid. He's up and coming and I can see why Bale talks so highly of him. He's believable and holds a lot of the weaker parts of the plot together.

What didn't work:

Believe it or not, (I know this is sacrilege to some), Christian Bale was not that good. He was of course, intense and professional, and did his best but his Connor is boring. I would say 90% of the problem here is with the script which gives barely a shell and terrible dialog for him to work from. But at the same time, I almost felt like his heart wasn't in this. Maybe he realized this film was not turning out the way he had hoped and got a bit down about it?

The script is really poor. Lots of plot holes and the dialog is cringe inducing almost every time the characters speak. That's probably why the ENTIRE film is action, almost non-stop, to cover up the dialogue.

Overall, this is much better than the 3rd and in the hands of the right director, a future sequel could be pretty good with the set up they've done here but it ain't doing to well at the box office so this may be the last we see of TERMINATOR for a long time.

Up

41/2 Stars

Pixar has definitely raised the bar when it comes to feature length films. How does the new movie Up measure to WALLE, Incredibles, Ratatouille, Toy Story, Finding Nemo and more? The new movie Up, not only measures up, they bring it to a different type of audience as well.

What I like about Pixar films is that they put the realism into their stories. They put in real life experiences that happen regardless of the character. In the film Up, the movie is about a man named Carl Fredricksen and started meeting a girl named Ellie at an abandon house, that they instantly start a club by admiring a life hero named Charles Muntz.
We see Carl and Ellie grow up, get married, and go through life with their challenges. I actually saw a guy who I would never thought that would tear up, emotional. It is a masterpiece of cinematography and storytelling.
You finally get to present day, were you see him old, and everything in his life is about to expire. Do to some circumstances ends up making a wish come true for his late wife, and quickly had the one thing he knew best inflate balloons, and took his house to South America.
An innocent boy scout that is trying to earn his last badge by helping a senior citizen was under Carl’s his porch looking for a creature that Carl told him to get him off his property. Fortunately the boy ends up on the house as its floating through the sky heading to South America.
You find that in his journey, he finds the value of adventure and life. The rest you should see, it is quite fun and inspirational.
This is a great movie for grandparents to take their children to see. This movie is made for senior citizens, and giving them the understanding that there is a lot more to do then wait to die. There is too much to do that just sit around and go to the grave.
This movie is for all to see. It has its moments of laughter, and moments that you just have to say “WTH?” That’s what I like about Pixar. They have officially made a name for themselves, and Up lives up to the expectations.

Random News of the Week (May 25, 2009 - May 31, 2009)

Jon Favreau had a few words about IRON MAN 2 this week. Favreau hints that the Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle) character could be decked out as War Machine sooner than you may think - "Rhodesy is definitely stepping up in this film. Let me put it this way: Tony's not the only person with technology in the film." Mickey Rourke went on to say, “It's been really brutal, because my Iron Man suit weighs 23lb. It's sort of a half-suit, with half my skin showing, with lots of Russian tattoos, because [Whiplash is just] out of a Russian-zone prison."

Chevy Chase is coming out of semi-retirement to play Hot Tub repairman for Cusak’s comedy HOT TUB TIME MACHINE. Chase will play the repairman who may have something to do with the ability for Cusak’s hot tub to be able to send him in time. The story follows a bunch of unsatisfied guys, including John Cusack and Rob Corddry, who get thrown back to their younger days in 1987 via their Jacuzzi.

In what appears to be the worst news in recent memory and virtually guarantees a disaster of a film, Ridley Scott and Tony Scott will be producing (Ridley will not be directing) a prequel to ALIEN. The idea is to return to the formula of the first film (one alien, one ship) and the film could be a non-Ripley involved film set before the events on the Nostromo to avoid both continuity problems. Here’s where it all breaks down… They are going with music video director Carl Erik Rinsch! WTH!

Great news! Paul W.S. Anderson is officially off of the CASTLEVANIA film adaptation. His contract has expired and he is moving on.

Al Pacino is in talks to play the title role of Jack “dr. death” Kevorkian in a biopic about his struggle to build and promote his assisted suicide machine. Kevorkian, also known as Dr. Death, assisted in more than 150 cases of suicide and had beaten the state court system in Michigan numerous times, but was finally convicted after he willingly sent a videotape of himself euthanizing a terminally ill man to "60 Minutes." He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 and is serving his sentence in a maximum-security prison in Michigan.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN and CRYSTAL SKULL screenwriter Jeff Nathanson has been hired to pen Summit Entertainment's THE SECRET LIFE OF HOUDINI.

The vampire villain Morbius has previously been rumored for the fourth SPIDER-MAN film and this week when asked about it, Sam Raimi gave a rather knowing and coy response in a video interview. This would be right up Raimi’s alley.

Random News of the Week (May 11, 2009 - May 24, 2009)

In what is the best news of the past couple of months, MAD MAX 4 is on its way courtesy of George Miller. AICN had the scoop this week. Apparently - George Miller has already had the various vehicles built for years now - as they were built for the doomed FURY ROAD shoot - which was shelved while George explored JUSTICE LEAGUE possibilities. That said, the cars are out of mothballs and being prepped and tuned for the upcoming shoot. There will be a new MAX as this isn't an Ethan Embry story. There's also word on a MAD MAX Playstation 3 game that we'll be getting prior to the movie.

Bradley Cooper (YES MAN) is going to play GREEN LANTERN as previously reported. Now, it looks like he will also play Face in the new A-TEAM movie! This guy is on a roll. He hasn’t done much that the mainstream would know well but both castings seem pretty solid to me).

Chris Hemsworth (aka Jim Kirk’s father in the latest STAR TREK) is on board to play THOR in Kenneth Branah’s adaptation for 2010. Now that they have Thor locked down, the rest of the cast should be put together soon.

A remake of the ridiculous but fun CLIFFHANGER is really close to a reality. According to producer Neal Moritz, “A big-budget international action-adventure thriller set in a big mountain milieu, the makeover of Renny Harlin's 1993 pic will center on a group of young climbers. Just as they rebooted 'Star Trek,' we're going to do the same with 'Cliffhanger,' " said Moritz, who will produce. Unlike the original, where Italy stood in for the Colorado Rockies, the new redo looks set to feature multiple cliff-face locations.”

Now that Ratner is officially out of the running for CONAN, James McTeigue (V IS FOR VENDETTA) may be helming the film from here on. McTeigue is best known for his assistant director work on all of the MATRIX films.

Angels & Demons

When you have one of the best directors in cinema history and one of the best actors as well, and you give them a second chance from a prior flop of a film with a better storyline, you would think that they could pull it off. Ron Howard & Tom Hanks gave more of a disappointment than George Lucas & Harrison Ford did in the 4th Indy flick in new release of Angels & Demons.

I was excited to see Angels & Demons, because the story is about a revenge story of the Illuminati which is a secret group of scientist who were persecuted by the Catholic Church. The current day Pope had unexpectedly died, and since they don’t do an autopsy of the Popes body, they started going through the tradition of naming the new Pope of the church. The illuminati announce a threat on the church, which they were going to blow up the Vatican with Antimatter bomb.

The Vatican calls in Robert Langdon, who is played by Tom Hanks to solve this mystery because he had written a book about the Illuminati and he can help them crack the case.

The assistant to the Pope who holds all the keys of catholic authority in the process of a new Pope are announced is named Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca played by Ewan McGregor. He was coordinating everything that search for the bomb and the 4 cardinals who were kidnapped by this secret organization.

Basically it was a difficult movie to watch. If I hadn’t read the book before hand, I probably would have been lost from the beginning. It is hard to watch a fast pace movie that takes pauses for Tom Hanks character could try to explain what is going on. It just didn’t work. In fact it was stupid.

There were many things that they could’ve done to make it work, but it felt like you needed to read the book to understand the movie. The problem with that route is that the whole point of watching a movie is to follow along and enjoy the story telling without having to read the book it came from.

Since they didn’t explain the majority of the background, it was funny to see how a guy who made the Catholic church to shame in the Davinci Code, would look for him specifically, as if he was the only guy in the world who understands great adversary. There were too many holes, and not enough explanation.

By the time we got to the ending, it reminded me of what the late Sydney Pollack said about movie making “It is so hard to make a good movie, because there are so many variables involved.” Unfortunately this movie had to many variables to make it any good.

If you liked this film I recommend:

Davinci Code
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Star Trek (2009)

All you need to know is that this is the 2nd best film in STAR TREK history coming just behind STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. This is also the best film I've seen this year (so far). I guess I would count myself as a "trekie/treker". I watched the original series in syndication as a kid, then as a teenager, although skeptical at first, I grew to love THE NEXT GENERATION (TNG).

But I also have certain quality standards so when DEEP SPACE NINE and VOYAGER hit the scene, I gave them a shot but they just could not capture my imagination. Both seemed to spend endless amounts of time in cerebral negotiations with ambassadors from all over the galaxy who tended to be very uninteresting characters and the big climax of the show was that someone ended up agreeing with someone else. TNG was guilty of this sometimes too but have some really strong writing that brought action and intrigue into the process.

I am a huge fan of STAR TREK II, III, and IV. I can't even sit through V. I really liked VI. GENERATIONS was boring to me. FIRST CONTACT is the best of the TNG crew and a really solid film. INSURRECTION is a disaster. I though NEMESIS was pretty good when I first saw it but now I get really bored of watching it when it comes on TV.

So I guess this is all to say that I was ready for a "reboot" and thanks to JJ Abrams, I got one!

What worked:

Karl Urban as Dr McCoy was GENIUS. He has been hit or miss for me in the past. After PATHFINDER, I feared the worst but he owns this role and frankly, is one of my favorite parts of the movie.

I was really worried about Chris Pine as Kirk. How do you capture James Kirk without impersonating some of the cheesier parts of Bill Shatners role? Bottom line, I'm sold. He gets this pitch perfect right which is no small work of art to complete. The film could have lived or died on this.

Quinto as Spock Prime is really solid. There a few times where it feels like he plays Spock more like a know it all but overall, this was a important role and he gets it right.

Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Pike is awesome here. He is a solid weight of someone with a bit more age than the really young crew. And really brings some weight to the film.

The special effects look amazing. Not just for Star Trek but in general. Unlike WOLVERINE, this film really got its money worth on the effects costs.

I think it was right to bring Leonard Nimoy into this film. He does a lot to anchor things and keep some touch-point back to the original series and continuity.

The cast hits so many right notes that it erases any negatives I had along the way. What is achieved here is so amazing to me that it demands to be seen twice just to appreciate how right they go things.

What didn't work:

I like Eric Bana a lot. He is pretty good here but frankly, his villain just doesn't do it for me. A miner? His motivation is explained in 1 minute of film, does not come off as convincing, and frankly, the timeline doesn't make a whole lot of sense with some of the things he does. Again, typical of Trek, the film has trouble overcoming lame villains.

Simon Pegg as Scotty... Let me just say that I went back and watched season 1 of the original series and Scotty was dead serious. I thought the comedy was funny (minus the ridiculous stuck the a pipe routine) but I really wish they hadn't played Scotty for laughs. I love Pegg and it was the writing but it just didn't work quite right. Too jokey for my taste.

The science is a disaster, especially by Trek standards here. Black holes that a ship can outrun. Why have the red stuff in a huge blob if one drop can create a black hole? The timeline doesn't fit into the original canon as you may be lead to believe by some fans. It is just really a big disappointment because the writing is so strong in other places. They couldn't be bothered to run this past a BS meter before putting it to film? I mean a few simple changes to some explanations and it would have been WAY more solid.

All in all, it's a great film with a lot of fun. The best testament to its worth is that I want to see it at least 1 or 2 more times. I can't say that for most films.

Random News of the Week (April 27, 2009 - May 10, 2009)

Possible sequel details are out on what could be the storyline for a TERMINATOR 5 if this one does well. According to McG, "John Connor is going to travel back in time and he's going to have to galvanize the militaries of the world for an impending Skynet invasion. They've figured out time travel to the degree where they can send more than one naked entity. So you're going to have hunter killers and transports and harvesters and everything arriving in our time and Connor fighting back with conventional military warfare, which I think is going to be fucking awesome. I also think he's going to meet a scientist that's going to look a lot like present-day Robert Patrick [who famously played the T-1000 in Terminator 2], talking about stem-cell research and how we can all live as idealized, younger versions of ourselves."

A few more details about Robert Downey Jr's upcoming SHERLOCK HOLMES are out. It looks like they are going the adventure route on things. "We are trying to make a fun adventure movie," he says. "My favorites are the Bond films. Raiders of the Lost Ark. I want to make a movie like that."

Keanu Reeves is set to star in a retelling of the Robert Stevenson's book THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE for Universal.

Thank the maker, Brett Ratner is officially off of the upcoming CONAN film. I like Ratner but this just wasn't right for him.

After the box office opening last week of WOLVERINE, the studio has already put a green light on work for a sequel starring Jackman as well. The only good news here folks is that they have another shot at getting this right. Jackman has mentioned he hopes to use the Japanese storyline which is his favorite.

Chris Nolan is bringing back his villain from BATMAN BEGINS to be a key player in his next film INCEPTION. Ken Watanabe joins the cast with Michael Caine and Leo DiCaprio. Christian Bale also mentioned a 3rd BATMAN film this week. He said, "Its got to be the right story. You can't make something like The Dark Knight and then come out with something disappointing. I would like it if people say, 'You'll never make a good third movie.' I say, 'OK, let's make a third movie in that case, let's prove them wrong."

Ridley Scott is toying with the idea of doing an ALIEN prequel. Rothman says, "If you can get the originator to do it that would be the greatest thing, so I've got my fingers crossed."

WALLSTREET 2 is full speed ahead and Shia LeBeouf looks to be on board along with Gordan Gekko and the gang. I predict this will either A) never happen or B) be a disaster.

Ardman is planning 2 pictures. PIRATES! will be a stop-motion film. The story follows a group of pirates who journey to London, meet Charles Darwin and a talking chimp named Mister Bobo, and an enemy looking to wipe them out. Peter Lord and Jeff Newitt will co-direct. The other film is entitled ARTHUR CHRISTMAS and be CG. It will tackle the question of how Santa delivers all his presents in one night.

A sequel to 30 DAYS OF NIGHT will go direct to video. Niles and Ben Ketai worked on the script which has been submitted and will be based on the comic sequel "Dark Days". The story of that had Stella Olemaun (Melissa George in the first film) moves to Los Angeles and purposely attracts the vampire community in order to take revenge on what the Alaskan vampires did to her husband Eben. The original never broke 100 million at the B.O.

"When asked about what he wants to do next, Robert Downey Jr. says that he's very impressed with Sylvester Stallone's script for the Edgar Allen Poe biopic. This could be awesome!!!

Review: X-MEN Origins: Wolverine

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE comes on the heels of a stellar year (in fact the greatest year) of comic book based films in history. 2008 brought us THE DARK KNIGHT and IRON MAN. In some ways, it showed us how high a comic book film could aim. WOLVERINE is the first of the big films this year (I put WATCHMEN in its own category separate from the typical comic book formula). The strange thing is that it appears Marvel and Fox did not see IRON MAN or THE DARK KNIGHT or at least they didn’t understand them.

I liked X-MEN. I loved X-MEN 2. I was indifferent to X-MEN 3 but after later viewings started to realize how truly forgettable it is. It remains a huge missed opportunity and actually, the script ain’t bad. It is the directing that suffers here and I am even somewhat of an apologist for Ratner. The film was just not his “wheelhouse”. I absolutely hate DAREDEVIL. THE PUNISHER has two good scenes in an otherwise terrible film. The FANTASTIC FOUR 1 & 2 just don’t do it. They aren’t even fun to watch more than once. So by my count, Marvel doesn’t have a great track record. I am not going to talk about SUPERMAN or BATMAN because they are DC properties and I count them differently.

After watching WOLVERINE, it seems to me that Marvel is not good at hiring talent to match the property. Or maybe more accurately, Marvel’s films live or die by their director. Actually, I think Gavin Hood is a solid director. WOLVERINE seems to have more trouble in the script and character department than in the directing specifically. Whether this is directing or script, I’m not sure but I feel like the buck has to stop at Hood’s feet.

You can imagine a meeting with Hood and the screenwriters (David Benioff (THE KITE RUNNER) and Skip Woods (HITMAN)) to discuss the plot. I cringe at what might have been said. “Hey, we have to introduce at least 5 new mutants into this storyline.” Gavin would say, “But what about the continuity with the other films, I thought this was supposed to be set in the 1970’s for most of the film?” Then someone would say, “Awe, forget that. None of the fans probably even saw those other films so we can completely change the characters and ignore huge plot holes. We just have to have a lot of explosions and new mutants introduced.” You get the idea…

I really like Hugh Jackman. I think he’s a great guy and I want so much for him to be successful. The film is doing well at the Box Office this weekend coming in about $80 million which is about $18 million shy of IRON MAN’s debut last year on this weekend but still shows that the WOLVERINE name brings in the masses. Unfortunately, this will cause the “George Lucas Syndrome” of “hey, it makes money so it must be great!” It will teach the studio nothing. It will have a sharp drop off in business next week but it will have done its job and made its money.

Liev Shreibner (THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) is one of the few who really shines. His take on Sabertooth is really cool. He totally embraces the bad and brings a lot of charisma to the role. I’ve always liked Shreibner. He was a great casting choice. Jackman can be strong too but he has barely a one dimensional character written for him. There is just nothing there. He does the best he can with his snarls and growls and scrunched up faces but that’s the extent of it.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool is very good. He is a lot of fun and nails the character. Then they totally destroy what makes him cool (namely his attitude and dialog). It is so disappointing that the entire film starts to buckle under the weight.

Kevin Durand as the Blob actually works but is given nothing to work with as well and about 5 minutes of screen time. Gambit is one of the biggest disappointments. First of all, I’ve never understood the fan obsession with Gambit. He is one of the lamest characters in the X-MEN lore. Throwing things that can explode? What kind of mutation could cause that? It makes no sense. His Cajun accent is overblown. He just doesn’t interest me. That being said, if you are going to put him in the movie (because fans are demanding it) then at least be true to him. Instead we get Taylor Kitsch doing the worst accent since ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, trying to kill Wolverine and then becoming friends and then stepping out of the film as fast as he came in. Just like most of the mutants in this, there is no point except a few lines of dialog and a cameo or two.

Let me say one more thing about special effects. This is where the true indictment of Hood and his collaborators really shows. Many of the effects look barely animatic quality. I’m talking terrible here! They supposedly paid more than 100 million for these effects and honestly, films with half the budget look better. Fire this effects studio! Even people who don’t usually notice things like this could tell. It’s that bad. I’m sad to say there were scenes that were borderline laughable and not just because they were ridiculous, it was the effects!

I’m not a huge Wolverine fan in general. He’s an ok character and I was excited for the film but I have to have something beyond average. This barely meets that bar. Looks like Jon Favreau is going to have to carry Marvel’s water for now.

Random News of the Week (April 20, 2009 - April 26, 2009)

Robert Rodriguez has not been confirmed to be writing PREDATORS, a sequel / reboot to the classic PREDATOR series. What’s more, this film will completely ignore that travesty of AVP. He answered a few questions for AICN. He said, “Way back before I did Desperado, I had taken a writing assignment for a sequel to Predator. With a nod toward Cameron's ALIENS I decided to call it PREDATORS. I set it on a jungle-like Predator planet. It was just a writing assignment, so I didn't have to worry about budget constraints or how the movie would actually get made with the technology that existed back then, so I just wrote any cool thing I could come up with.” It will be rated R and he plans to write and produce. No plans to direct.

Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and John Ratzenberger recently watched a "complete story reel" with animatics, temp voices and music of the entire third TOY STORY. Hanks has already had three complete recording sessions for the film, and will probably have one more.

Peter Jackson talked a bit about the TINTIN progress. Speilberg is directing the first film and Jackson the second. "We’re kind of co-directing. I mean, we are co-doing it. Steven’s been on set with the actors for the last six weeks, and I was only there for a week. So he’s definitely directing the first in a way that I’m not" says Jackson.

Director David O. Russell (THREE KINGS) and Christian Bale are teaming up for THE FIGHTER. The drama follows boxer Irish Mickey Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and his unlikely path to become world lightweight champion. Bale plays Dicky Eklund, Mickey's half-brother and a talented fighter who once went the distance with Sugar Ray Leonard in a title fight but then turned to crime and landed in prison. Then he turned his life around and helped his underperforming brother find the spark for a remarkable run that led to the world title.

Dan Aykroyd talked about GHOSTBUSTERS 3 this week. “When we do the ‘Ghostbusters 3′ movie, hopefully, Sigourney will be in it. I know we’ll make that happen. But there will be a whole new generation that has to be trained, and that whole new generation will be led by an individual who you’ll all love when you meet him but I’m not going to tell you anything yet.”

It was confirmed this week that THE HOBBIT will now be spread over 2 films and will not cover the interim between it and LOTR as previously discussed. Now the film will divide the book in 2 parts to better capture the story. "We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie. The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy" added Jackson. Del Toro also adds that the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur will feature in the new film. "The Hobbit" films will be released in December 2011 and 2012.

Robert Downey Jr. talked about IRON MAN 2 this week. Downey says, “Day one I’m doing a Senate hearing where the government is saying the Iron Man tech needs to be turned over to the Senator and the Senator is Gary Shandling. And we had this fantastic day that was somehow this controlled chaos of a Senate hearing where I keep interrupting them and dah dah dah.” He goes on to say, “And I’ve never been in a sequel and it’s very daunting because I feel the expectation of the millions of people who watched it and enjoyed it and told me that it was a little different than your usual genre picture and that they expected us to not screw it up. So I actually have taken “Iron Man 2” probably more seriously than any movie I’ve ever done, which is appropriately ridiculous for Hollywood.”

The Spirit

The frequency of graphic novel films are becoming a common trend in the film business such as300, Sin City, Wanted, Watchmen, Xmen as so on. When Frank Miller makes a film, you expect some what of a higher quality of a film. When he made “The Spirit” it ended up being one of the cheesiest adaptations from beginning to end.

With the same film screen style as Sin City, the movie starts out with “The Spirit” romanticizing with the city that he loves and protects. You learn that he has “escaped” the jaws of death, and cannot die. Samuel L Jackson plays “Octopus” his arch nemesis, which is always reining havoc and is a mad scientist cloning his own army, and looking for the way to become immortal to reign even more…which he was already doing in the first place. The funny thing is that Octopus kicks the Spirits ass every time they are near each other. In fact the Spirit is what you call in the texting world a “DA” for the entire movie hopping from one building to the next trying to rid of the evil villains. No wonder the commissioner in the movie hated the Spirit. He is an idiot!

We learn that the Spirit is a womanizer since his “true love” played by Eva Mendez left him after horrible tragedy. She leaves to Europe and becomes one who is obsessed with diamonds and riches, whoever hates violence…yet she is only around violence throughout the whole movie. WHAT?

The whole movie felt like a joke. There was no suspense, no intensity in the movie nor any sympathy for anyone in the movie. It felt like the movie was almost a spoof of prior films. I mean, I could’ve watched a movie between Austin Powers and Blade 2, and would’ve gotten the same quality of movie. The only reason why I gave it a star was for Eva Mendez. That’s all I have to say… Mr. Jackson better do something about his acting and take some acting classes soon, or take some roles that are worth his while without his shouting the whole time, he is making one terrible movie after another and if they ever made a movie of Sam Jackson, Dave Chappelles impersonation of him on the Chapelle show is perfect. If you haven’t seen it, check it out on YouTube.

Was this movie rushed to be made? If it was, then we have our answers on why movies that can have potential shouldn’t be rushed or you get shit for quality. Hopefully Frank Miller will learn from this mistake.

Random News of the Week (April 12, 2009 - April 19, 2009)

Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER) plans to shoot his next 2 films back to back. He is making a big sci-fi epic film. He says "I don't want to give away the title yet, because I have to make sure I own it 100%, but it's going to be something that is really fun with lots of mass destruction. I wanted to do something along the lines of Transformers or Cloverfield that was a little more science fiction-based." He wants to spend the last week or 2 of the shoot schedule making the low budget version of his hilarious trailer in GRINDHOUSE called THANKSGIVING. "The plan is this: I want to do a huge budget movie, but tack on three weeks to the end of it and shoot Thanksgiving," he revealed. "I want to do an $80 million dollar movie, and then schedule three weeks at the end to quickly shoot a $5 million dollar movie."

Evan Spiliotopoulos, the writer of POOH’S HAFFALUMP MOVIE has been hired to write the sequel to WANTED. You heard that right.

William Hurt joined the cast of ROBIN HOOD (formerly called NOTTINGHAM). He adds to the already great group of actors including Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett.

The Harold Ramis directed comedy YEAR ONE had initially been given an R rating and also lost an appeal to get the rating lowered. Ramis and producer Judd Apatow were forced to make some cuts to the film and this new cut was granted a PG-13 rating for "crude and sexual content throughout, brief strong language and comic violence.”

Supposedly filmmakers are trying to get Angelina Jolie to officially commit to playing the female lead" in regards to the role of Ava in the upcoming SIN CITY sequel. Jolie had talked to Rodriguez about the role as early as 2006, but now it seems that the film is finally gaining momentum.

Random News of the Week (April 6, 2009 - April 12, 2009)

Tom Cruise and John Travolta are in talks to do an update to the seminal classic BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID. Tom Cruise is hoping to produce. He would play Sundance while Travolta will play Cassidy, a role made famous by Paul Newman. Word is that Cruise has been wanting to make this film for years now and obtained Paul Newman’s blessing before he died.

Christian Bale is looking to join Mark Wahlberg in PRISONERS which Bryan Singer is eyeing as his next flick. script follows a small-town carpenter who butts heads with a young, brash detective in charge of the investigation of his missing six-year-old daughter and her friend. The father is a Bible-reading, deer-hunting survivalist. The cop, meanwhile, can't wait to get to the city. Feeling failed by the law, the father captures the man he believes responsible and begins to torture him in a desperate attempt to find out what he did with the girls, whom he's convinced are still alive.

George Lucas has a director and cast for his RED TAILS film. Rick McCallum (Lucas’ ultimate “yes” man) will be producing. Anthony Hemingway (BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) is directing. Cuba Gooding Jr is starring along with Terrence Howard, Bryan Cranston, and various others. Lucas says, “I’ve been wanting to do Red Tails for 20 years, and we’ve finally got the means to showcase the skill of the Tuskegee pilots,” said Lucas. “We’re working on techniques which will give us the first true look at the aerial dogfighting of the era. And our top-notch cast will really make this story special.” “I’m thrilled to have such a fantastic cast of actors and such a talented director to work with,” said McCallum. “The story of the Tuskegee Airmen represents a milestone in American history, and we’re all proud to be paying tribute to their heroic efforts. That cultural significance is not lost on anyone in this great young cast.”

"I think that’s still happening. I think they’re still going to do a limited run of it, or they’re still talking about it anyway" says Director Zack Snyder about the limited theatrical release in July of the 190-minute cut of WATCHMEN.

Michael Caine thinks that the next Batman film will likely not be until 2012.

Andrew Stanton’s JOHN CARTER OF MARS is apparently hoping to begin production next year. Adelaide is one of the locations Disney scouted for the shoot.

Richard Kelly talked in detail about his next film THE BOX. WB is releasing the film on October 30, 2009. The film takes place predominantly in Virginia, 1976. There are more than 300 visual effects shots, which required eight months of post-production. Arcade Fire recorded the soundtrack with over 90 minutes of music. This is my most personal film to date, and I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Rick Moranis may be up for GHOSTBUSTERS 3 (please!!!). According to Ramis, who cowrote and starred in the first two Ghostbusters, a third journey into the comedic supernatural is in the cards. And yes, the original cast will return: Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, and even the elusive Bill Murray. "Everybody said they'd do it," says Ramis. Moranis’ return to the role of accountant Louis Tully is big and exciting news. The SCTV vet hasn’t appeared in a movie since 1996’s “Big Bully.” A few other tidbits are out as well. The script won’t be finished earlier than summer. Ramis is not intending to direct but will be in it.

Emerald City Comic-Con 2009

Here's a quick look at some of the sights and sounds of Emerald City Comic-Con 2009. Some of the better photos we took (camera was not cooperating).

Emerald City Comic-Con is getting bigger and bigger every year. I wasn't really happy that it got stuff back on the South side of the Convention room because it was not nearly as convenient to get to but it is very expansive this year.

Master Chief enjoys a Subway Foot-Long from a distance. Darth Vader was having a Tuna 6 inch just behind the left column. Just sureal to see this kind of stuff.

The most unlikely pairing of comic/pop culture characters. Power Rangers and HellBoy together.

Absolute freak show. Don't ask.

My vote for favorite costume this year. Lobster Johnson from HellBoy.

What a great Spider-Man costume and a super nice guy.

This guy got front page in the Entertainment section of the Seattle Times.

Just patrolling the area. These were not the storm troopers I was looking for.

This guy was in the process of being assemilated by the Borg.

The wonder twins were just chilling out with Bat Girl.

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