Posted on Friday, May 24th, 2013 by Angie Han
It’s more or less impossible to reboot a massively popular franchise for the big screen without drawing the ire of a few fans, but one major criticsm plaguing Star Trek Into Darkness in recent days has nothing to do with J.J. Abrams‘ Klingon redesign or use of parallel timelines. Midway through the film, there’s a brief scene in which the character Carol Marcus (Alice Eve) strips down to her underwear for no apparent reason. Some fans called filmmakers out for being sexist, and so far writer Damon Lindelof has stepped up to offer his apologies.
The minor controversy was fresh in my mind when I went to go see Fast & Furious 6, which, as you’d expect, outdoes Star Trek Into Darkness‘ tiny sliver of cheesecake on every level. All of the female stars of Fast & Furious 6 are conventionally attractive to begin with, and none shy away from wearing form-fitting outfits or showing off a bit of cleavage. Additionally, scantily clad female extras are used in several sequences as little more than set decoration. And yet I walked away from Fast & Furious 6 thinking that director Justin Lin and his crew could teach the Star Trek team a thing or two about portraying female characters on screen.
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Posted on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 by Angie Han
By now, you’ve probably heard about the controversy over Star Trek Into Darkness‘ infamous Carol Marcus underwear scene. The moment has attracted enough criticism that writer Damon Lindelof has apologized for it on Twitter. Now director J.J. Abrams has stepped up to offer his own take on the matter.
Disgruntled fans looking for an apology will be disappointed by Abrams’ response; while the filmmaker admits that the scene he didn’t “quite edit the scene in the right way,” he falls short of actually saying he’s sorry. He does, however, attempt to even the score by offering a peek at a deleted scene featuring Benedict Cumberbatch‘s character in the shower. Hit the jump to watch it.
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When the subjects are good, no amount of time is sufficient to do an interview. That goes double when you’re speaking with two producers of one of the summer’s closely scrutinized films: Star Trek Into Darkness. Preparing to speak to producer Bryan Burk and producer/co-writer Damon Lindelof, I prepared two dozen questions for a ten-minute interview. I asked three.
Thankfully, the answers were illuminating. Mainly, we talked about the process that the pair went through to decide on the film’s villain, along with director J.J. Abrams and co-writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The pros and cons of the choice; how Star Trek: The Next Generation influenced that decision; and how the reveal changed the selling of the movie all came up. Finally, I asked Burk would repeat that process for his next film, Star Wars Episode VII. Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 by Angie Han
The cast list for Transformers 4 is continuing to grow as the project nears production. Resident Evil: Retribution actress Li Bingbing has just become the first Chinese star to join the Chinese co-production, while a search for extras gets underway in Texas.
And thanks to all of that movement, we now have a little more information on some of the roles that have already been cast, including those played by Mark Wahlberg and Kelsey Grammer. Hit the jump for the latest updates on the film.
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Stardate December 10, 2012. A group of journalists are invited to Bad Robot in Santa Monica, CA to learn a little bit more about J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek Into Darkness. At this time everyone was still unclear who, exactly, Benedict Cumberbatch was playing in the film. Rumors about his character were relentless. To cut the question off at the pass, Abrams himself led everyone into a screening room to show some footage. He explained this was footage no one would see again for several months, we shouldn’t tell anyone we saw it, but it would clear some things up.
With Star Trek Into Darkness now in theaters, it’s time to talk about that footage because what we saw and what’s now playing are very, very different. This change exemplifies not only the lengths Abrams went to preserve the theatrical film experience, but it opens up the discussion for exactly why secrecy was so important. Read More »
Briefly: Good news for anyone anticipating Jason Reitman‘s latest film, Labor Day. Paramount has enough confidence in it to give the film a date primed for awards consideration. Labor Day will be released Christmas Day, expand on January 10 then go wide January 31.
Labor Day Gattlin Griffith as a young boy whose life is turned upside down when his single mother (Kate Winslet) aids an escaped convict (Josh Brolin). Reitman adapted the screenplay from a Joyce Maynard novel and it co-stars Tobey Maguire, J.K. Simmons and James Van Der Beek. [Deadline]
Posted on Saturday, May 18th, 2013 by Angie Han
Director Adam McKay promised “a murderers’ row of day players” for Anchorman: The Legend Continues, and based on the casting so far it definitely looks like he’s gonna deliver. But the faces we’re really excited to see are those of the core Channel 4 news team, and the new trailer offers a peek at just that.
There’s no new footage to be found here, but there are enough laughs to whet your appetite for comedy. Against a flashy backdrop just like the one from the last trailer, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), Champ Kind (David Koechner), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell) step up to say hello. And stay classy. And, uh, happy Easter. Check it out after the jump.
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It’s in theaters now, and all the secrets are out in the open. Star Trek Into Darkness, the second Trek film from J.J. Abrams, has been locked (mostly) in the producer/director’s “mystery box” for over a year. For hardcore fans, at least, the secrecy around the precise nature of the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch has been a big part of the marketing allure, but the energy Abrams and his cast brought to their first outing on the Enterprise has been enough to make a huge audience curious about their encore.
And in the end, the irony is that, while there was a type of secret to preserve with respect to the character, in the end he plays a weird role in the plot. (There’s a certain kinship to Iron Man 3 in that respect.)
Abrams has said that he wanted to make Star Trek for people who aren’t Star Trek fans, and in that respect he might have succeeded. Into Darkness has a few well-executed setpieces, and loads of the same winning cast presence that made the first Abrams Trek a success. But does it work? Does the film’s wide divergence from many well-established Trek characteristics fly, and does it even really matter who Cumberbatch is playing? Weigh in below, where full spoilers are in force. Read More »
