Random News of the Week (May 12 - 18, 2008)

In SPIDER-MAN 4 news, according to cinematical, in the last few weeks, James Vanderbilt (ZODIAC) has turned in a working draft of SPIDERMAN 4 to the studio. His story arc has encompassed two films, making SPIDERMAN 5 shootable at the same time. The studio saw dollar signs and is in the process of reworking his deal to snatch up the story arc. They should just STOP. 3 sucked. Sam Raimi, PLEASE avoid this. Do something new and creative.

Matthew McConaughey has a spec script that just got acquired this week by Anchor. It’s called SURFER DUDE and tells the tale of a soul-searching surfer who is experiencing an existential crisis. McConaughey stars as Steve Addington who finishes a world surf tour and returns to his hometown of Malibu. At first, it's a great reunion but reality quickly sets in. This sounds dumb to me but right up his alley. What I’d really like to see is him reprise his REIGN OF FIRE character! 

Blizzard announced BlizzCon 2008. Same place, same type of lineup. I don’t think they received my open letter to them. Tickets are still $100 bucks. Probably have StarCraft II demos. Maybe you will actually be able to play a Death Knight this time. What a joke…

Society hit a low point this week when it was announced that a new film called CEREAL HEROES will be produced. It revolves around cartoon cereal box-mascots who are mistakenly brought to life when a plan to replace the world's fallen superheroes with characters from comic books goes awry. They soon find themselves on the run in an unfamiliar world that only they can save from destruction. Possible mascots include Tony the Tiger, Lucky, etc. etc. etc.

Cronenberg (HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, EASTERN PROMISES) is in running to direct TIMECRIMES. The original Spanish-language film Los Cronocrimenes is a noirish thriller about a man who travels back in time half an hour to prevent a serious crime.

DiCaprio has been picked to play Ian Flemming in a new biopic on the life of the famous writer of the James Bond character. The latest version of the screenplay begins on the eve of Fleming's Jamaica wedding in 1952, just before his first Bond novel, "Casino Royale," was published. It then flashes back to Fleming's years as a Reuters journalist stationed in Moscow and then a Commander of Naval Intelligence (MI6 code name "17F") during World War II who devised innovative spying plots. Fleming later drew from his own life in creating James Bond.

The POINT BREAK sequel is in full motion now. The plot description was released this week. When Billy Dalton, military special ops and star surfer, is disqualified from the pro-surfing tour, he takes off for the coast of Bali looking for the perfect wave. While there he’s recruited by a private security force who are trying to find a gang known as The Bush Administration, surfing outlaws and modern day pirates who work like “The Ex-Presidents,” a bank robbing crew from Malibu twenty years ago. The new film will take place 20 years after the disappearance of one of the criminal surfers (Patrick Swayze). Both the original and sequel are written by W. Peter Iliff. Plot details and possible character reprises have not been disclosed, but the film will shoot in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

George Clooney will star in a new movie called MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS. It is based on Jon Ronson's book about the US Army's First Earth Battalion, which were supposed to have paranormal powers.

The sequel to MADAGASCAR, MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA is going IMAX.

Michael Moore (BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE) is prepping a sequel to FAHRENHEIT 9/11.

Scorsese will direct a biopic of Frank Sinatra for Universal Pictures. While Sinatra did socialize with crime figures, in this film he'll be shown as innocent of any true involvement with the Mafia or other gangsters.

Brad Pitt is being linked to play the titular character in the upcoming movie based on Marvel Comics THOR. I don’t believe it.

John Singleton is looking at Bruce Willis for the role of Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith for the upcoming big screen version of A-TEAM.

A GOOSEBUMPS movie is in the works. They are fast tracking it. It’s likely they will cast unknown child actors and then pepper the film with well-known actors in supporting roles.

Montreal band The Arcade Fire will score Richard Kelly's upcoming sci-fi thriller THE BOX. Sweet!

Despite being mostly a prequel to the original series, J.J. Abrams' upcoming STAR TREK film starts off in the post-STAR TREK: NEMESIS time frame.

Tommy Lee Jones will adapt, direct, produce and star in a $30 million film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's posthumously published 1970 novel "Islands in the Stream". It centers on the various life stages of a reclusive male painter named Thomas Hudson before, during and after World War II after he moves to the Bahamas.

Viva Pinato 2 (XBOX 360) has been delayed.

Beast has been confirmed to be in the MAGNETO movie that is in pre-production. It’s scripted by David Goyer.

Tyrese Gibson is looking to be the likely new BA in the upcoming A-TEAM movie. He says that a mohawk is not out of the question, but otherwise he's excited to bring BA into the 21st century, so don't expect a ton of bling around his neck.

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Silentkid Reviews Untraceable

Add another really dumb movie to the pile of dumb movies I’ve seen this year. This one is called Untraceable. It stars Diane Lane and it’s really dumb. The plot is dumb, the acting is dumb, the writing is dumb, the quote on the cover of the DVD box proclaiming it to be “the Silence of the Lambs of the internet age” is dumb, the guy who made the quote is a dumbass and deserves to be fired from his dumb job, and I’m dumb for having watched it.

Diane Lane plays an FBI computer forensic expert. She spends a lot of time busting 13 year-olds for pirating DVD’s and music. This movie is an 88-minute version of those anti-piracy commercials. There is a dumb scene where a kid gets busted for stealing credit card information from people who torrent his pirated media. He uses some sort of Backdoor Trojan approach that doesn’t involve a butthole and a condom. Hey all you stupid people who use torrent sites, don’t you know that all your personal information is getting ripped off just because you’re too cheap and lazy to buy the actual crappy DVD version of Beowulf that you are stealing or borrowing or whatever you call it? The FBI is watching you and people like Diane Lane and her retarded assistants will find you and fine your ass or put you in jail because we all know how much our jails need to be populated with pre-pubescent teenage boys.

The dumb plot of the movie (other than the anti-piracy part) involves a killer who kidnaps people and kills them using intricate devices like heat lamps and acid baths and heparin IV injections and posts video of them struggling and suffering and dying on the internet. The more people that log on to the site to watch the torture, the faster the victim dies. It’s all live, with people commenting on what they’re seeing, typing things like omg, lol, fry dude fry, this is teh suk, u pwnd him, etc. The website is called killwithme.com. The front page features an image of a skull wearing child-molester glasses. Kill With Me is written in red over a black background. Black + red = evil. You are an accomplice to the murder if you log on to the site just as you’re an accomplice to dumbness if you watch this movie. I thought the killer would turn out to be one of the FBI assistants but it wasn’t. I’m dumb. It was just some random kid with a retarded back-story that gave him motive.

Untraceable also attempts to address other complex issues such as what it’s like to be a single, working mother. Diane Lane’s character has a daughter who she constantly has to leave with her mother when the shit hits the fan. This happens a lot. Tons of shit. She has to read her daughter bedtime stories after long hours at work to make up for it. The shit inconveniently hits the fan during the daughter’s roller-rink birthday party and mother and daughter shoot Diane some discouraging looks when she leaves. I’d have bolted first chance I got cause that party looked lame. Roller-skating sucks. There’s also the issue of the single mother still getting over the death of her recently deceased husband while being attracted to a cop. No relationship develops. This is a red herring. The cop has small balls.

Watch for the awesome OnStar advertisement at the beginning of the movie. It’s so out of place that you know they’re going to use that product in some clever way later on in the movie. Thanks GM.

Untraceable makes Feardotcom look like The Net.

Updated to add: My friend posted a blog the other day about Morse Code and the effect it would have on certain popular songs. This movie uses Morse Code in a creative way as well. While one of the characters is being tortured, he's trying to communicate with the FBI by blinking out messages in Morse Code. One of the FBI dudes says something like, "I think his right eye is the dots and his left is the dashes." Amazing.

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Enchanted

Have you ever seen a movie, saw a play, or read a book were the idea of the story sounds interesting, it is being developed by a reputable force, and when you see or read it, you thought, this is the worst thing I have seen in a long time? This was Enchanted for me. I think this movie broke the camels back with me. This movie was one of the worse movies I have seen in a long time. I cannot believe how badly and half hearted this Disney movie is.

This movie had a great idea, of mixing the worlds of animation and “our world,” but that was about the only thing good about this movie. The script was horrible, stealing ideas from other Disney movies, and didn’t do a good job of it. The lack of originality and nonsense was the core of it. Don’t get me wrong, you can do parodies of other fairytales, because the movie “Hoodwinked” did a great job of that. This wasn’t even that. It was as if they told the actors hear is the plot, there isn’t a script, and adlib.

What this movie is all about is a Princess Giselle (played by Amy Adams) falls in love with Prince Edward (played by James Marsden), when they first meet. They were going to wed “happily ever after,” when the step mother of Prince Edward pushes Princess Giselle through a magic fountain portal to non else but New York City!!!

Now Princess Giselle is stuck in the real world as a brainless half wit that cannot figure out why she is no longer a cartoon and is convinced that she wasn’t pushed into that fountain, she fell…? Then she meets Patrick Dempsey’s character who tries to convince the Princess that love sucks, you cannot trust any one, and her falling in love with Prince Edward is a fake sense of love and that will never work. (Sounds like Patrick Dempsey played a better wicked Stepmother).

Through all in all, she sings some songs that who knew that everyone in New York is standing around ready to sing that song from a Princess from another world, yet that the night before everyone wouldn’t give her the time of day….and the response from Dempsey when the music started “I haven’t heard this song before, is it new?”

I must admit that Amy Adams did a good job with the role as the Princess. That is about it. This movie just got cheesier and less logical each minute it continues. The finally just made me laugh that Susan Sarandon’s character, the wicked step mother turns herself into a dragon to climb the top of a skyscraper that has no were to go, but cannot fly? What was the point of turning into a dragon without flames or wings? Again, the script was to blame on that.

All in all, this movie was a disgrace for Disney, and hopefully there will be a better one to take its place.

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Emeral City Comic-Con 2008

We were at Emeral City Comic-Con in Seattle, Washington, USA this past weekend. It's rumored to be the 2nd biggest comic book convention behind San Diego Comic-Con International. It was packed and quite large as this is the first year it was held at the Seattle Convention Center. This show is a lot different than San Diego. For instance, this is THE SHOW for comic books. Whereas, pop culture and the film industry have virtually overtaken traditional comic book trading at San Diego, Emeral City is all about comic books. There was maybe one booth for movie oriented things. Everyone there was a comic-book vendor and they were all “talking shop”. Here are some of the highlights & a lot bunch of pictures:

The local chapter of the Storm Trooper Brigade had a booth and there were people in Storm Trooper costumes all over the place. They even had a dude in a Darth Vader costume that looked totally authenticate who was giving them orders. The kids were very excited to get a picture with some of the storm troopers.

Some of the cast of WHO WANTS TO BE A SUPERHERO was in attendance with Fat Momma being the biggest star of the group. They were signing autographs but there wasn’t much of a line. Defuser & Ms. Limelight were also there.

Wil Wheaton was signing and talking with fans. He actually had quite the line-up so he’s won someone over out there.

We were actually excited to go and meet Adam Baldwin (of FIREFLY fame) but he turned out to be unable to attend at the last second. In his place, of all people to bring in, they had Daniel Logan (young version of Boba Fett in Star Wars episodes 1 & 2). You remember him. He’s the kid that laughed when his “dad” was trying to kill a younger version of Obiwan. Painful. Seems like a nice guy in real life though. I blame Lucas of course for most of that disaster.

Jamie Bamber’s (Apollo on the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) plane was late on Saturday so he didn’t arrive until afternoon but the line was pretty long to see him. Lots of BG fans out there.

There were some GREAT deals on comics at the show. Most of the merchandise stuff was over-priced but a couple of booths had graphic novels at 50% off for the day so I picked up a few that I’ve been meaning to buy but never wanted to pay full price.

Overall, if you just want the comic book purest show, then Emerald City is the one to go to. If you want to know what movies, video games, and toys are coming out in the next year (with a few comic book vendors in between), then San Diego is the show to go to.

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Random News of the Week (May 4 - 11, 2008)

One of the bigger announcements this week was about the movie version of BIOSHOCK. You’ll never guess who signed on…Gore Verbinski (THE RING, PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN, MOUSEHUNT). He will produce and direct a script that is being written by John Logan (THE AVIATOR, SWEENY TODD). Verbinski said “Rapture's art deco design and visually arresting characters, such as the mechanical Big Daddys who protect genetically mutated girls called Little Sisters, particularly inspired me to see the game as a film.” Take-Two, who designed the game is working on a sequel to be released in 2009 (most likely before the film comes out).

A feature film of MACGYVER is in development at the planning stages according to the creator Lee David Zlotoff. He owns the rights to the film and has full creative control.

According to director Adam McKay who directed ANCHORMAN, a sequel is in the works. “We're dying to do it. Unless we can't get the cast together, which is always kind of a tricky thing. But, I think, with that cast we're all friends, so yeah, we want to do it.” He’s looking for the sequel to be his next film after the current projects are finished up.

Millennium Films has acquired the rights to the BUCK ROGERS franchise. There was an earlier rumor that Frank Miller was involved and possibily talking about directing but that was shot down by Millennium.

A sequel to DANCES WITH WOLVES is being planned based on the book THE HOLY ROAD but Kevin Costner has confirmed this week that he will NOT be involved in reprising his character of John Dunbar. Director Simon Wincer (THE PHANTOM, LONESOME DOVE) is trying to get Viggo Mortenson as the lead instead.

A DONNIE DARKO sequel is on its way and it’s your worst nightmare. 1) There’s no need for a sequel. 2) (this is the worst news of all) Richard Kelly has nothing to do with it. Instead , the sequel will be called S. DARKO and will follow Donnie’s baby sister. Set seven years after the first film, little sister Samantha Darko and her best friend Corey are now eighteen and on a roadtrip to Los Angeles when they are plagued by bizarre visions. Daviegh Chase will reprise her role as Donnie's younger sister. Chris Fisher (NIGHTSTALKER) will direct. It will be made for about $10 million. None of the other original cast will be involved.

Warner Bros. is working on a sci-fi action film called THE DITCH. It’s about a prison for the worst of criminals on Jupiter. The film focuses on a prison guard whose family is taken hostage and he is forced to free the prison's most notorious terrorist who is on death row.

In DARK KNIGHT news, Aaron Eckhart talked about his Two-Face role in a bit more detail this week. According to Eckhart, “There are fans on the Internet who have done artist's versions of what they think it will look like, and I can tell you this: They're thinking small; Chris Nolan is going way farther than people think. I can tell you that, basically, when you look at Two-Face, you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid." I’ve attached a picture from the net which is rumored to be the actual Two-Face. I wonder if this is worse or right in line based on Eckhart’s statements above.


In terribly bad news this week, TERMINATOR 4 has gone the way of Die Hard 4. It was confirmed this week that it will be PG-13. Considering that this will be one of the most violent and brutal films because it is set right in the middle of the battle with the machines, this is very bad news indeed.

Grand Theft Auto IV’s numbers were released this week and it absolutely shattered every previous video game launch record including Halo 2. Within the first day, it has garned over $500 million and moved 3.6 millon copies. Not that I was surprised at the big launch, I just had no idea it was going to be “that big”. I wonder if this is a commentary on our society? 1 in 20 Americans now has that game in their homes. (…and we wonder why the rest of the world hates us…)

HANCOCK is turning out to be racier than was thought. According to directory PETER BERG (THE RUNDOWN, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, THE KINGDOM), the film has been submitted 2x to the ratings board both coming back with an R rating. They are trying for a PG-13. Berg says that the film "remained surprisingly sexual, violent and true in spirit to an original script". Vincent Ngo's early draft, first floated around studios a decade ago, was considered "brilliant, but unfilmable.”

SPEED RACER looks to be bombing at the box office this weekend (yes!!!). IRON MAN is still going strong adding another $50 million to its take which has already totalled over $250 million worldwide in the first 9 days. SPEED RACER had generally poor reviews with many critics saying it would be put on the “worst of” lists for the year. It looks to be coming in about $20 million for the weekend which is all the more insulting considering that Ashton Kutcher & Cameron Diaz’s lame romantic comedy WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS has about $20 million also.

With the success of IRON MAN, Marvel detailed their plans for future Marvel studios films this week. IRON MAN 2 is scheduled for 2010. THOR is set to release in 2010 also. THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA will come in 2011. THE AVENGERS (which Favreau is rumored to be involved with) is scheduled for 2011 also. WOLVERINE is still on track for next May. ANT-MAN and SUB-MARINER are still in development with no release dates yet. Matthew McConaughey is rumored to be the front runner for Marvel's early 2011 superhero project THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA. (I can’t see how that fits at all).

An actor’s strike looks imminent. Contract details were not worked out this week. Things are looking bleak.

Despite the severed relationship, Cruise is in talks with Paramount to star in a fourth film of the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise.

THE SPIRIT has been moved up 3 weeks to January 16th, 2009. A highly successful presentation at the recent New York Comic-Con apparently led to the decision to move up the film.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman (SAW II, SAW IV) has officially been asked to direct the remake to Hellraiser, filling the shoes of the French filmmakers Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (who left the project a few weeks ago). Bousman still denies that he will have anything to do with the return of Pinhead, despite the Weinstein's strong desire to get him onboard.

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Silentkid Reviews I Know Who Killed Me

I gave a Lindsay Lohan movie 3 stars. I did. I don't know what that means. I've watched so many terrible movies lately that I have no concept of measure-of-quality ratings anymore. 3 stars probably means I was entertained, nothing more. 2 stars could mean I was not entertained (or something else entirely, not sure). If you want to see why I was entertained, read on.

I Think I Know Who Might’ve Killed Me If I Hadn’t Been So Stoned is a movie about a serial killer and Lindsay Lohan. I'm going to make a bunch of funny Lindsay-Lohan-is-so-screwed-up jokes in this review. Those are hilarious. She’s a drug addict. Get it? LOL! Sometimes she shows off her vag in public. Ha Ha Ha, no panties. Did you hear that Lindsay is in rehab again? Ho Ho Haw Haw Har-de-Har. What a skank. She should be named Lindsay Ho-han. Giggle, giggle. Look…I don’t give a bastard’s beanbag about an actor’s personal life. I don’t. They get drunk, they say stupid shit, they fart in a club, they show a nipple, big deal. I don’t care that Tom Cruise believes in Scientology and I don’t care that Katherine Heigl is a Mormon. I watch movies because they are sometimes entertaining. The real-life personality problems of Hollywood stars don’t entertain me (unless a real-life Michelle Monaghan wants to come to my house and entertain me personally).

I Know Who Killed Me is Chris Siverston’s (The Lost) attempt at directing an entire film about the colors blue and red. That’s all you need to know about it. The symbolism of the colors. Their meaning. The psychology of pigmentation. This shit is getting deep, so put on your wading boots. We’re going to catch us some Redside Shiners and some Bluegills. Red is hot and sexy and pole-dances; blue is calm and cool and plays the piano. Red is trailer-trash; blue is affluent and cultured. Blue is first place; red is second. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Red Lindsay and Blue Lindsay and a killer with blue, nitrile gloves (he must be allergic to latex) and some blue roses and some red blood and some severed appendages. Fingers falling off. Have you figured out who killed her yet? Oh, I didn’t list the suspects: naïve boyfriend, sexy gardener, creepy piano teacher, concerned father, banal biology teacher. It doesn’t really matter. The whole point of the movie is trying to figure out how Lindsay can know who killed her if she’s already dead.

I kind of liked this movie. The acting is pretty crappy and the writing is mediocre but the direction is interesting and unique, at times. The plot twist is stupid and I didn’t care what happened to any of the characters. Yet, I was entertained. I laughed a lot. I like Lindsay Lohan’s freckles. This movie should have been released direct-to-video or direct-to-cable or as part of that After Dark Horrorfest thing. But I guess since Captivity got a theatrical release, this deserved one too. I’m looking forward to the DTV sequel starring Tara Reid and Edward Norton (who will be unfairly relegated to the DTV industry after Hulk 2 fails).

In conclusion, I’m bewildered by the trend of having actresses act as strippers in movies where they never actually strip (i.e. Jessica Alba in Sin City and Natalie Portman in Closer). What does that say about our society? Do we live in a red and blue world with no shades of purple? Is it too much to ask for some basic honesty in storytelling?

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Random News of the Week (April 22 - May 3, 2008)

With IRON MAN’s success this weekend, there is already talk of a sequel. Paramount will greenlight a sequel for early May 2010. Adding to that, Robert Downey Jr's personal trainer for the film is about to start training with Downey again and will have him "ready to wear the suit again in just 5 months". What’s interesting is that HULK and PUNISHER don’t look to have near the quality of IRON MAN. The only other release for Marvel in the next year is WOLVERINE which might actually work well also (it’s a bit dark but from what we’ve seen so far, it looks interesting).

David Silverman (SIMPSONS MOVIE, Co-Director MONSTERS INC, tons of SIMPSONS episodes) is doing a new movie for Disney called THE PET. The story centers on an every day guy who becomes the pet of a group of aliens.

Jason Bateman will star in EXTRACT, the new comedy from Mike Judge (OFFICE SPACE) for Ternion Productions and Miramax Films. The story is written by Judge, and explores what it's like to be the boss when everything seems to be shifting around you. I actually liked IDIOCRACY. It was lame in too many parts but it had its charms. Maybe it was just that Mike had built up so much good will on OFFICE SPACE, that I was pre-conditioned to anything else. Let’s hope this is a true return to form.

Blizzard has acquired the domain: Diablo3.com. Of course, they claim this has nothing to do with a new game they “might” be making. It was just for “other reasons” that they acquired the domain and they said they “do this sort of thing all the time”. It seems it’s obvious to everyone but Blizzard’s press department that they are building Diablo 3.

Possible news this week that a new XBOX 360 will be available in Septemeber with full Blu-Ray support. So maybe that whole theory about how Microsoft was going to abandon their disc formats and just go digital download only is probably not happening anytime soon. I think MS was smart to not bundle a drive until they saw who won the format wars. That being said, just we wanted, another confusing XBOX model/SKU!

Brandon Routh talked about the upcoming SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL sequel. He said, "I expect that we'll be working early next year. I know that Bryan [Singer] has pretty much finished out "Valkyrie" and is back in the states and is zeroing in on the story that he wants to tell. Once that arrives it's going to move pretty quickly. I think that's going to be a central part of the sequel, getting a good villain that we can actually have physical altercations with. Certainly also, I'd like more humor from Clark or just more of Clark and Jimmy. A little bit more of Lois and Clark, how we used to see them, a bit more of buddies." In reference to all the talk about a SUPERMAN vs. BATMAN movie, "I know that people want to see it and maybe there's a story that could be told that way that makes sense to me. So I won't put it out anymore. I won't say no anymore." Everything sounds good here except more of Clark and Jimmy. Huh?

Crytek has been released as a PC-only game and sales have been disasterous. Even with great reviews, sales have been below 1 million units. A BIG part of this is piracy. Piracy on PC is rampant. In a recent interview with PC Play, Crytek President Cevat Yerli blamed rampant piracy in revealing that future games from the studio would no longer be PC exclusives. Instead, they are going to start working on console only games (another PC publisher bites the dust) and I can’t even blame them because if they can’t make money, what’s the point of sticking with PC?

All the news last week was about Del Toro and THE HOBBIT. We’ve got a few more details coming in this week also. Prep on "The Hobbit" will kick off this Summer, including the 'reforestation' of The Shire sets to look as much like they did in 'Rings' as possible. He's already in contact with Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, Howard Shore, John Howe, Gino Acevedo, and Richard Taylor in regards to the film to "ensure that whatever we do we keep continuity with the other films". In regards to effects, "what I would like to avoid is the recreation of the natural environments in CG, I don't like doing that. The movie is essentially a journey movie. I think you need to use locations as much as possible." In regards to the 2nd film, "This second film is not a 'tag on', it's not 'filler', it's an integral part of telling the story of those 50 years of history lost in the narrative. There will be certain things that we will see from the first movie but from a different point of view, but it will feel like a volume, in the five volumes of the entire story."

Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER, HOSTEL) is almost finished on a script for a “family-safe” sci-fi action film. He says, "This will be my first big-budget, PG-13, mass-destruction movie. I went total chaos and pandemonium. I feel like I pushed the violence in R movies about as far as I can push it. I feel like I'm bled out. I wanna switch it up. Everyone I know has been saying 'When are you gonna do a movie my kids can see?' And finally, I'm gonna make a movie that 13-year-old kids can see.” I’ve always felt like Roth had greatness in him so it’s good to see him get off the torture porn nonesense and do something completely new. He could be great.

Infogrames has aqcuired Atari for $11 million in a merger deal this week. (Who would have ever thought it would come to this? 11 million? Ouch!).

News about WOLVERINE came out this week by way of Hugh Jackman. “Tonally, I would put it more in the 'Batman Begins' sort of realm. That's sort of where we're headed. 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.”

In Karl Urban (DOOM, LORD OF THE RINGS) news (what happened to this guy?), he will lead the cast of the $25 million 3D action movie called RELENTLESS. It’s the story of four extreme sports professionals who survive a plane crash in the Amazon jungle, and must use all their survival instincts as they are hunted by a group of homicidal natives.

GTA 4 was released this week. Check out this police story this week on a person who stole a copy of the game: “Dennis Richard Fiel, 27, of San Diego, is suspected of attempting to steal more than one copy of GTA4 from a local Gamestop. Fiel reportedly pepper-sprayed one of the clerks, grabbed the games from behind the counter, and fled in a white Toyota pickup truck, said police. He was followed by helicopters and eventually surrendered to police at his parent's Suzuya Japanese BBQ restaurant, where he kicked and spat at police officers. He now faces felony robbery charges for the attempted theft. The games were recovered from his truck, and nobody was injured.” Needless to say, some people take the game more seriously than others…

Jon Favreau says his small cameo in IRON MAN as Stark's chauffeur will be expanded on - "Well, that character returns in the Iron Man sequel and has a thing with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow's character). I'm not joking either."

A sequel to the fabulous low budget film THE DESCENT is now a “go”. Unfortunately, Neil Marshall will NOT be back for this one. Based on a script by James Watkins (MY LITTLE EYE), the $10 million sequel will shoot more than eight weeks on location in Scotland and at London's Ealing Studios. Editor Jon Harris will make his directorial debut on the flick.

Ending a 6+ year exit from acting in film, Mel Gibson has just signed to star in EDGE OF DARKNESS, an adaptation of the 1985 BBC mini-series. Martin Campbell (GOLDEN EYE, CASINO ROYALE) will direct the film version from a script by William Monahan (THE DEPARTED). Gibson will play a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. He plunges into the case and uncovers systemic corruption that led to his daughter's death.

Peter Jackson's THE LOVELY BONES ceased filming this week due to a rift between Jackson and his art director over the best way to depict Heaven. Jackson must be argumentative or controlling or something because these types of issues keep coming up on the films he makes.

INDIANA JONES has been rated PG-13 for 'adventure violence and scary images', whilst THE DARK KNIGHT has also been rated PG-13 for 'intense sequences of violence and menace'.

Detailed character descriptions are online from Clint Eastwood's GRAN TORINO and confirm our earlier report that this is NOT "Dirty Harry 6". I had reported that this was the case but it looks like it was all just a rumor.

A 35mm copy of THE DARK KNIGHT trailer was given by raffle to a random person in each city that had a screening. The hope was that someone would digitise the footage so we wouldn't have to wait til Sunday for a good quality copy. Someone tried and discovered that the prints have been 'defaced' by the Joker.

Tom Cruise has been in talks with Paramount over a fourth installment to the MISSION IMPOSSIBLE franchise. Cruise’s UA has also tapped longtime “24” writer-producers Joel Surnow and Michael Loceff to write a contemporary spy thriller for the big screen.

Universal has optuioned RESURRECTION, the comic series from Marc Guggenheim. It begins where most other alien invasion movies end, centering on a group of survivors trying to take back control of the planet after an apocalyptic invasion. Hmmm…. Sounds familiar.

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The Golden Compass

There are a lot of multi fantasy movies out more then ever before. Possible because the movie industry has more advanced tools, like CGI to create some cool stuff. The Golden Compass didn’t hold anything back with the CGI anime, and it did keep my interest for the most part.

This movie is filled with an all-star cast, with Daniel Craig playing Lord Asriel, who rebels against the authoritative system, looking for “Dust” that is found the North end of there world that could show how to travel between parallel worlds. Nicole Kinman plays Mrs. Coulter a very dark, yet mysterious woman, who is apart of a deep organization that kidnaps children to perform experiments, which I don’t want to give a way….Dakota Blue Richards stars as young heroine Lyra, who tries to figure out why they are taking all the children, to find out what is Dust, and lead the rebellion, for freedom.

What I enjoyed was that in this world, there souls were separated in animals that go with there person where ever they go. The animals can talk with them, and they are part of them. If something hurts the animal, it hurts the person as well. I also like the concept of parallel universes being played, which shows hopefully in the next segments we can explore more of the universe. What I had a hard time, was some of the material was confusing or to complex. I felt like they tried to do too much in less than two hours. The bears were fun to watch. Especially the main bear, Iorek Byrnison (voice by Ian McKellen) who is an exiled drunken bear that lost his place on there throne, but gains his nobility with a great bear fight against the corrupted king that was in his place (which is another tangent in the movie).

I hope that when all the segments are released, that the movie will be more fulfilled with a better understanding the whole concept that they are trying to relay. I will admit I felt that it was mediocre. It doesn’t give me the drive to see it again. Like Lord of the Rings, or the recent Harry Potter films, I didn’t get that same “interest to see more” vibe. Who knows, I can’t judge the whole outcome since we haven’t seen all of the segments as one picture. A good example is Kill Bill. Though I loved the first one as is, there were many critics who didn’t like the first one till they say the 2nd part, then it became a masterpiece as a whole. So I am going to raise the bar of expectation, but who knows!

A warning, those who participated sending out that obnoxious email stating that this movie is promoting Atheism, and told many to band the film (which in most cases helps the movie, CD, or book have more success). Please beware of what you say, because the movie was no different than any other film that tries to freedom to choose and belief over being obligated and suppressed under dictator rule. If you believe that this movie teaches you that its wrong, than don’t see “V” for Vendetta, Pans Labyrinth, Braveheart, to even Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Even though this movie may not be as good quality as those mention, the message has the same point. I am not telling you to bend your beliefs, but don’t alter the mind of others of a movie you haven’t watched. It’s like the famous saying goes, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

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Random News of the Week (April 20 - 26, 2008)

By far, the biggest news this week was the announcement that Guillermo Del Toro (PANS LABRYNTH, HELLBOY, BLADE II) is officially directing THE HOBBIT and the 2nd film that bridges the gap between HOBBIT and LOTR’s. Of course, all filming will be done in New Zealand. It will be filmed over a 4 year period. Peter Jackson is executive producing both films. Filming begins in 2009 and release is set for 2010 and 2011 respectively with THE HOBBIT being the first film to be released. If you can’t get Peter Jackson, then I think Del Toro is the next best choice.

Speaking of BLADE… Wesley Snipes received his sentence this week for tax evasion. He got 3 years for not filing tax returns. He is to report to jail sometime next month. He still has a chance to appeal but it’s pretty obvious that he is screwed. So any hope of a new BLADE movie is out (good, because 3 was a disaster).

SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL is looking more like a reality at this point. Some news was released this week in a statement from the studio that the next movie would show Superman as more of “an angry god.” Of course, everyone was up in arms about this comment so there was a quick letter written that clarified the comments: “Superman isn't going to be evil or attack the Earth or do anything to harm people. That's not what "angry God" meant. [We] want the sequel to be a film where we actually see Superman unleash his full strength on a worthy adversary. …It's a crashing bore to sit through a Superman film where Superman can't throw a punch because there's no one around as strong as him. Expect supervillains actually worthy of Superman's power in the sequel. And expect some superpowered asskicking that we wouldn't have been able to see prior to today.” (This, of course, assumes that they get all the legal issues worked out with the original creators of Superman).

Ang Lee (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) is doing another gay-themed film called WOODSTOCK. It’s based on a novel set in the summer of 1969 about an in-the-closet artist helping his aging Old World Jewish parents run their ramshackle resort motel in the Catskill Mountains. Wow, sounds riveting. Is Ang Lee TRYING to marginalize himself into irrelevance or is this just an accidental side-effect?

Director Louis Leterrier confirms that Robert Downey Jr.'s "Iron Man" character Tony Stark will appear in "The Incredible Hulk". clip of Downey Jr. walking into a seedy bar and meeting General Ross (William Hurt) to talk about his "problem" was shown at New York Comic Con. Leterrier also indicated TV Hulk Lou Ferrigno will be doing the voice of the Hulk.

The stunt driver who was driving the Aston Martin in the new James Bond QUANTUM OF SOLICE film, crashed it into a lake this week! Then there were 2 other car crashes on the set this week alone so they have had to supsend filming temporarily to find out what is going on.

Michael Bay just has a way with words. Almost everything he says to the press becomes instantly quotable. “Sorry everyone, everything you are reading (other then we are shooting in Philly) is false. We are going to give so much disinformation on this film to confuse everyone.” Who knows if that news last week about the Constructicons is true or not?

If HELLBOY 2 does well, Del Toro is already planning a 3rd to finish off the trilogy. "The idea for me is to bring back the Nazis characters, but bring them back in a way they would operate now. Meaning, what public face would the Nazis have in 2009/2010? How rich would they be? How in charge could they be? It's not this group of freakies that hide in the sewers, but people that are incredibly rich."
Between THE HOBBIT and other projects Guillermo Del Toro plans to do another smaller movie in the vein of PANS LABRYNTH called SATURN AND THE END OF DAYS about a young boy watching the end of the world while walking back and forth from the supermarket. “It's about a kid named Saturn watching the Rapture and the Apocalypse while on the way back and forth from the grocery store. It's like, what would happen if the Apocalypse was viewed by you [while] doing errands. You go back and forth and nothing big happens except the entire world is being sucked into a vortex of fire".

The prequel to the amazingly lifeless and boring DA VINCI CODE called ANGELS & DEMONS is on track with Tom Hanks reprising his role as Robert Langdon and it was just announced this week that Ewan McGregor is joining the cast as a powerful Vatican insider who assists Langdon.

Frank Miller announced that he wants to direct HARD BOILED himself as his next film. The screens from THE SPIRIT look bad folks. I know that everyone thinks Frank can do no wrong. But honestly, he had announced that he was going to do everything he could to make THE SPIRIT true to Eisner’s work. I’ve read the entire series of THE SPIRIT and I’m sorry, all Frank is doing is making the SPIRIT look like SIN CITY. SIN CITY is fun in its own right but THE SPIRIT is something else completely. I’m worried.

Wolfgang Peterson is no longer attached to ENDERS GAME as a director. He’s moved on to other projects. The studio is currently interviewing a ton of directors to find someone new to get the project off the ground.

Joel Silver says he's got scribes Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland working on a new WONDER WOMAN script. They had written a script for WONDER WOMAN last year set in World War II. But it won’t be used. They’ve come up with a completely new storyline and setting. They are really looking into a story involving Paradise Island and Wonder Woman’s background. As for who will direct? Silver did say that Andy Wachowski had an idea on how to open the Wonder Woman film but wouldn't comment further.

In DARK KNIGHT news, New York Comic Con this week got to see a new trailer and some details were revealed. Amongst the new footage are more details on The Joker's actions in the film, a lot of Harvey Dent's campaign along with the quote "You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain". Also what looks like half of Harvey's face being held to a gasoline-soaked floor.

Louis Leterrier, director of the upcoming THE INCREDIBLE HULK, has downplayed the very public rift between he and the studio over final cut - "Listen, when you have problems [on a film], you learn what to do. Everyone comes to an agreement where everyone agrees to say it was one thing or it was another thing. But [this controversy] is not a real thing, so I am saying one thing and [producer] Kevin [Feige] will say another thing, because it's a non-issue."

Producer Joel Silver claims that the Wachowskis already have story ideas for both a sequel to SPEED RACER and their upcoming project "Ninja Assassin".

Brendan Fraser has filmed a cameo appearance as Gung Ho in Stephen Sommer's G.I. JOE movie. The character gets to ride a "three wheeled motorcycle".

Uma Thurman says that Quentin Tarantino is currently working on a new anime sequence to be included in the long in development definitive DVD edition of KILL BILL. It's known that the scene will NOT revolve around her Bride character.

BACK TO THE FUTURE writer/producer Bob Gale confirms that Universal is working on a Blu-ray release of at least the first film in that series, going so far as to confirm he was involved in the re-mastering of the film in readiness for the release. YES!!!!

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Silentkid Reviews Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is the most recent movie from famed octogenarian filmmaker, Sidney Lumet. He’s directed some classics like Network and Dog Day Afternoon. He’s also directed a bunch of movies I haven’t seen, nor really care to see. I like to watch movies that have either the word devil (Oh, God! You Devil) or the word dead (House of the Dead) in their titles. This one has both.

BTDKYD (you’re supposed to abbreviate long movie titles with awkward acronyms) stars Ethan Hawk and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The play brothers (Hank and Andy) who have problems like heroin addiction, infidelity, spastic behavior, needing money, etc. Stuff we’ve seen before. Their dad (Albert Finney) is a grumpy old man who always favored Hank over Andy when they were growing up. This becomes an important plot element, along with the heroin addiction, infidelity, spastic behavior, lack of money, etc. A robbery goes wrong and it affects a lot of people, leading to much crying and yelling and death. This movie is okay--a watch-it-one-night-when-it's-free-on-cable-and-you-have-some-vicodin-handy type of film. I really like both lead actors, but feel they have been better in other films like Training Day and that movie where Hoffman huffs gasoline. Just kidding about the PSH one. He’s really good in Magnolia and The Big Lebowski and that new movie I haven’t seen where he plays a CIA guy opposite Tom Hanks. I probably won’t watch that movie because I hate Julia Roberts’ fake southern accent. It makes me sleepy. He's not as creepy as he is in Happiness but you do have to endure viewing his pasty ass during a doggy-style humping scene. I have a few questions about BTDKYDMFer (Spoiler Warning):

1. Does everybody own a handgun except me?

2. Why are Marisa Tomei’s breasts so perfect?

3. Do hospitals still use those sticky chest sensors to detect heart-rate? I thought they had all switched to that finger-clamp thingy.

4. Should I sleep with my brother’s wife?

5. Does smothering someone with a pillow really work?

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Once

It has been a while since I have last written. I am going to repent of that, and give my weekly reviews again. When I saw “Once” I have to admit that I had to sit down and watch it again, and it is the first time that I am happy about doing that. Normally when I watch a movie and simplistic interruptions that take me away, it normally shows me that I am not interested continuing to watch the movie. However, I saw the last part of the movie, I realize that I was an idiot for not paying attention and I had to restart the movie, and I never regretted it.

This movie reminded me not as a musical journey, but a musical romance. It reminded me of Harold and Maude, NOT for there romance, but the music provided by Cat Stevens, that really brought out the point of the movie. With Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova play a beautiful couple, whose creative love of music, made a wonderful musical relationship.

Hansard character is a man who plays on the street full time in Dublin Ireland, and fixes vacuums part time, find Irglova, who offers him to fix her vacuum, learns of her love for his music, and the piano, goes into a music store, and jams the famous song that won them the Oscar, “Falling Slowly,” which was one of my favorite parts of the movie.

This was a very low budget film, but the heart that you see in the film is priceless. If you don’t have time to watch the movie (which is only 128 minutes), definitely pickup or download the soundtrack, you will listen to it again and again.

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Silentkid Reviews Juno

Hey. I reviewed Juno. It's a movie about a pregnant teenage girl and a kid that runs track and the witty way in which teenagers interact in our hip society. You already know about it because there were a bunch of ads for it on myspace. People find a lot of joy in this movie. I find pain. I gave it one star because it won an academy award.

Ah…the “indie darling” film. The hip mainstream film for people who don’t like mainstream film. The character dramedy. The movie that depicts the real-life troubles of our disenchanted youth. Only it doesn’t. It tries to pass itself off as being “in touch” with reality. That’s its biggest failure. That’s my biggest complaint against it. It’s a façade. Take the sonogram scene…the interaction between the mom and the nosy technician. That dialogue never happens in normal, everyday life (go here to read it). That scene is as phony as the computer generated scorpion king in The Mummy Returns. Juno is no more relevant than Harold and Kumar Go To Wherever. The characters say things that are supposed to sound clever, but when the consonants, vowels, and syllables reach my ears and proceed to be processed by my brain, my brain tells my head to shake in embarrassment and directs my eyes to stare at the floor between my feet. Bad blog dialogue. I count the crumbs on the carpet. I look back up at the TV and I feel sorry for future generations. I feel sorry for their taste in music, if the music in this movie is any representation of what they listen to. It’s terribly cute, unbearably so. These songs are the pseudo-intellectual teenage girl anthems of the 2000’s.

Spoiler:
I’m glad that precocious Juno, at age 16, found her life’s true love. Go team.

I can’t believe this film was nominated for best picture. I’m astounded that it won an Oscar for Best Screenplay. The Graduate didn’t even win for Best Screenplay. Remember when all the internet movie critic snobs were up in arms about Crash’s Academy recognition. Crash kicks this movie’s ass all over the place and Crash is a terrible film. Thank you, Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody, for making me hate movies all over again. I can wait for your next project. Go to hell.

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Random News of the Week (April 13 - 19, 2008)

The WOLF MAN is in full production and things appear to be going well. Some pictures were released this week that looked fabulous with Benecio Del Toro in costume and Hugo Weaving looking cheery. Some of the set description included: filming was shot inside the Tithe Barn where huge blocks of ice and models of dead bodies where strewn across the floor and hanging by metal hooks. Dozens of extras dressed in Victorian clothes were also used in some of the exterior shots outside the barn.

Our old friend Brett Ratner is set to direct THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN starring Eddie Murphy. It is a comedic approach (wow, how novel) on the 1950’s book. The story follows a famous Las Vegas magician who is put under a spell that causes him to shrink. He must find a way to reverse the spell before he gets so small that he "disappears."

The writer of CHILDREN OF MEN is working on a remake of the spanish film TIMECRIMES. The story involves a noirish thriller about a man who travels back in time half an hour to prevent a serious crime.

The X-FILES 2 has been renamed as X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE. (lame, who doesn’t believe at this point?). Here’s the plot synopsis: When a group of women are abducted in the wintry hills of rural Virginia, the only clues to their disappearance are the grotesque human remains that begin to turn up in snow banks along the highway. With officials desperate for any lead, a disgraced priest’s questionable “visions” send local police on a wild goose chase and straight to a bizarre secret medical experiment that may or may not be connected to the women’s disappearance. It’s a case right out of The X-Files. But the FBI closed down its investigations into the paranormal years ago. And the best team for the job is ex-agents Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully, who have no desire to revisit their dark past. Still, the truth of these horrific crimes is out there somewhere...and it will take Mulder and Scully to find it. I really don’t have a lot of hope for this right now.

DreamWorks has optioned the rights and is planning a live-action feature adaptation of Platinum Studios' comic book ATLANTIS RISING. The book plot is about a series of seismic disturbances which force the world's militaries to investigate the deepest part of the oceans, where an underground civilization emerges to wage war with planet Earth.

INDIANA JONES 4 is clocking in at 140 minutes running time. (John Williams has confirmed that as well with his score saying “the film is about 7 reels at 20 minutes each”). That easily beats the longest running Indiana Jones which was Last Crusade with 127 minutes. DARK KNIGHT is set to be 165 to 170 minutes (nearly 3 hours) and word is that Nolan is not going to cut much. That easily beats BATMAN BEGINS which was 140 minutes. Here’s the interesting thing. When polled, audiences have not problem with the Batman length but are worried about the Indiana Jones length. What does this all mean? Well, we can thank Peter Jackson for either ruining or reviving the cinematic experience (depending on your point of view).

Finally! We have word that JUSTICE LEAGUE has been officially “shelved”. Which means that it’s not off, but that it isn’t on the fast track any more and probably will have a whole new cast, etc. This is a good thing because every day, it sounded more like a disaster.

M. Night’s adaptation of the popular U.S. cartoon Avatar: The Last AirBender now has a date. July 4, 2010. Also, he’s changed the title because of James Cameron’s AVATAR. The title will now be THE LAST AIRBENDER. It will be his follow-up to THE HAPPENING which comes out this year.

No suprises here. SUPER SMASH BROTHERS BRAWL (Wii) is the best selling game worldwide. 2.7 million sold already. I’ve played it. It’s a lot of fun. The controls are a bit wonky but you can use the old GameCube contoller. Also in the news, the PS3 didn’t outsell the Xbox 360 last month as was expected. It looks like the PS3’s SEVERE lack of titles is really hurting it as the Xbox 360 has 4 games in the top 10 (including one of the WORST games ever made for the XBOX, ARMY OF TWO). Of course, the Nintendo Wii outsold them both by almost 3 times.

Milla Jovovich will star in Gold Circle Films' thriller THE 4TH KIND. The thriller involves an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover-up. Jovovich plays a woman investigating the disappearances in the town.

Pixar and Warner Bros. Pictures are apparently looking into using the ruins of Pompeii for future movie sets. JOHN CARTER OF MARS anyone?

Speilberg optioned the rights to GHOST IN THE SHELL (the amazing anime movie/series) for a live action take with Dreamworks. Avi and Ari Arad are attached to produce and took the project around, where it found its way to Spielberg who urged it to be brought into the fold at Dreamworks. The plan is indeed to make it a 3D film, live action and Jamie Moss (STREET KINGS) is attached to script the adaptation. No word yet on a director.

The upcoming STAR TREK film will be PG-13, Steven Spielberg visited the set during shooting scenes on the Enterprise and helped JJ Abrams work out an action scene, and there'll be at least one Trek reference in the upcoming TRANSFORMERS 2.
Guillermo Del Toro can't talk about his connection to THE HOBBIT but things sound close to a done deal. He also covers the topics of film adaptations of BIOSHOCK and HALO.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 writer Ronald D. Moore has been optioned to write an untitled Sci-Fi Trilogy for United Artists and Tom Cruise. He’s also the man behind the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and the remake of THE THING screenplay.

Sigourney Weaver said that the last time Ridley Scott and I saw each other we talked about the possibility of another Alien. The character is still interesting and I'd love to work with Ridley again. But Fox has effectively killed it because of 'Alien vs. Predator.' Wait… We could have a new alien by Ridley Scott but instead, we are getting the trash that is AVP? It’s a MAD HOUSE!!!! MAD HOUSE!!!

Zach Snyder (DAWN OF THE DEAD, WATCHMEN, 300) next film will be the animated feature film "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" for Warner Bros. Pictures. Based on the series of children's books by Kathryn Lasky, the story is set in the Forest of Tyto, where Barn Owls live in peace until their kingdom is threatened by an evil that could destroy their home.

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Silentkid Reviews The Lost

I’ve been waiting a long time for The Lost to get a DVD release. I’m a huge fan of Jack Ketchum (if you didn’t glean that from my The Girl Next Door review) and The Lost is one of his great books. I remember reading about the film adaptation a couple of years ago on various websites. IMDB lists it as a 2005 release. It played a few festivals in 2006. I eagerly anticipated a theatrical release, but films like these are rarely released theatrically (I’m still waiting for Ed Lee’s Header). I was surprised to see it in the horror DVD section at a big, evil, corporate store. Obedient consumer that I am, I bought it. Thanks, Anchor Bay.

The Lost is directed by Chris Siverston (I Know Who Killed Me). It adheres closely to the plot of Ketchum’s excellent novel. It opens in a brutal fashion, introducing us to the complicated character of Ray Pye. Marc Senter plays this difficult character extremely well. You hate him, you laugh at him, you feel sorry for him, and then you hate him some more. Ray puts crushed beer cans in his boots to make him appear taller. His mom owns a motel where he works as a maintenance manager. He unclogs plugged toilets. Shitter’s full! He wears black eye-liner and draws a fake mole on his face. He is the emo posterboy, the My Chemical Romance devotee. He stares at himself in the mirror too much. He hits on every girl he comes in contact with. He treats his girlfriend like shit. He is a pathetic narcissist. Watch him snap.

I really enjoyed this film. At its heart, it’s a character drama. It focuses mostly on Ray Pye and his damaged psyche, but it also relates the stories of those affected by Ray’s decisions. It juggles a lot of characters, but they all find their place. Had I not read the book, I might have been confused a little cause I’m dumb like that. I really like the actors that portrayed the supporting cast. Michael “Buck” Bowen plays Detective Schilling with an obsessive’s intensity. Robin Sydney plays Ray’s unattainable attraction Katherine, a sort of femme fatale. She is alluring, mysterious, and sexy. Ray’s girlfriend Jennifer, an emotional wreck, is played admirably by Shay Astar.

Chris Silverston’s direction is interesting. Some scenes are shot in 8mm (Lucky McKee, director of May and The Woods, is credited for this) and interspliced with the regular footage. The drug scenes feature sped up footage and superimposed images to achieve a psychedelic effect. Some of the footage, especially the outdoor shots, looks raw and bleak like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Last House on the Left. One sex scene (there are a few) reminds me of A Clockwork Orange (the one that follows a trip to the record shop). Good, creative stuff.

This movie is unrelentingly violent, especially during the climax. It is eXtremely unsettling (notice the capital x I used, it’s that extreme). I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and that’s saying a lot, considering I had read the book and knew what to expect. It’s not for the squeamish. The violence in the movie, while graphic, is not gratuitous. It feels like the violence in Irreversible or Funny Games. To put it pretentiously, it teaches us a lesson about the ills and dangers of our image-first society. The final scene is abrupt and perfect. The credits roll over Red Red Meat’s There’s A Star Above The Manger Tonight: “Turn down the lighthouse low, let the lost keep staying lost.”

*Disclaimer: This is not a perfect film. It’s a low-budget film made by a young director. It has flaws. I didn’t choose to dwell on those in my review.

**Watch for Jack Ketchum’s cameo at the beginning of the movie; he’s the bartender.

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Random News of the Week (April 6 - 12, 2008)

In DARK KNIGHT news, there were reports of a scene in which The Joker hides inside and then emerges from a body bag in DARK KNIGHT upsetting test screening audiences and being potentially cut from the film. The producers say that scene is still in the film. Chris Nolan is honest when saying that he will not change what was intended with The Joker". I think nothing could be a bigger insult to Heath’s memory than changing his intended performance.

A new AUSTIN POWERS film is in the works (the 4th). It is going to star Gisele Bundchen (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA) as the female lead. I just watched half of the first AUSTIN POWERS the other night and I forgot how funny that one is. It really does hold up well years later unlike the 2nd and 3rd. I hope this can be a return to form.

Word is that Rose McGowan is still BARBARELLA and Rodriguz is still in charge of directing. Sets are supposedly 50% completed and the only thing holding things up now is the potential SAG strike in June.

There will be a DTV release of THE GRUDGE 3. Somewhere, a small Japanese child has just shed a tear.

"Juno" director Jason Reitman has revealed that he turned down an offer to direct the $150 million "Justice League" project for Warner Bros. Pictures.

The new "Star Trek" project has apparently been shooting scenes in Bakersfield, Iowa - famous for being Captain Kirk's home town.

James Cameron’s follow-up to AVATAR will be a 3-D drama with new technology he’s working on. I just watched THE ABYSS in HD this week. What a genius he was (hopefully still is). Nothing beats Michael Biehn’s performance as Coffey.

VALKYRIE is delayed yet again. Most think this is a bad sign as it is the 3rd time. But word is that the film is shaping up to be a hit so they moved it to a holiday timeslot to capitalize. I don’t know… the early trailer didn’t do it for me.

The band THE NATIONAL is working on a documentary called A SKIN, A NIGHT and follows their work as they recorded their second album. They are currently opening for REM on tour.

Word has leaked that THIEF 4 is in the works. This is great news. Let’s hope it is as innovative as DEADLY SHADOWS.

Microsoft is supposedly working on a new motion sensor based controller (like the Wii controller) they are code naming “Newton”.

Some early peaks at DARK KNIGHT came online this week. In a word…brillant! Here’s some of the comments: The cast is awesome, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman stealing scenes in which all are present. Maggie Gyllenhaal fantastic replacing Katie Holmes and Aaron Eckhart as a great surprise as the politician with a heart of gold whose personality changes after a horrible accident. Another surprise is Eric Roberts as the mobster he knows so well how to do. Christian Bale solid as ever, cool since Bruce Wayne is a rich playboy and Batman is the opposite. The film plays a lot with this duality, all the characters are complex, has ambiguities, very interesting and delicate.

Jake Gyllenhaal has reportedly been offered the role in the PRINCE OF PERSIA movie. I don’t know. That just doesn’t seem right to me. The rumor this week was that Orlando Bloom was up for it (which makes more sense to me) but as much as I like Jake…

Vin Diesel’s new sci-fi epic BABYLON A.D. is reported to have 2 different cuts. One for Europe that is 160 minutes and one for the U.S. at 90 minutes. Who knows if the film sucks or not but that is a lot of time to cut for us “MTV A.D.D. Americans”. This doesn’t look good.

Lastly, the soundtrack for the 4th INDIANA JONES came out this week. Some spoilers in the song titles. I’ll leave it up to you to decide what they mean:
1. Raiders March
2. Call of the Crystal
3. The Adventures of Mutt
4. Irina's Theme
5. The Snake Pit
6. The Spell of the Skull
7. A Whirl Through Academe
8. The Journey to Akator
9. "Return"
10. The Jungle Chase
11. Orellana's Cradle
12. Grave Robbers
13. Hidden Treasure and the City of Gold
14. Secret Doors and Scorpions
15. Oxley's Dilemma
16. Ants!
17. Temple Ruins and the Secret Revealed
18. The Departure
19. Finale

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