Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Regardless of her acting talent, which frankly has yet to be proven (look to Jennifer’s Body for that) you’ve got to love Megan Fox. On screen some comes across like the ultimate fembot, glammed- and dolled-up almost beyond the point of humanity. She’s a pouting, posing, running machine, especially in the hands of Michael Bay. But in interviews she’s reliably awesome, because she evidently thinks she’s hot enough to say any damn thing in the world. And, for right now, that might be true. Cue a bunch of slightly trash-talking comments about Bay and Transformers 2, which has led to a head-shaking, condescending response from Bay. What better way to start the weekend? Read More »
Yet another rusty nail has been driven into my hopes and dreams the coffin of a potential Brian Singer Superman Returns sequel. Talking to Omelete during a Scott Pilgrim set visit, Brandon Routh has admitted that his multi-movie contract with Warners Superman franchise has lapsed. Their original story is in Portuguese, but my IT-abetted attempt at a translation will follow after the break… with a little bonus ‘good news’ about Routh’s upcoming picture Dead of Night.
Movie Deadpool To Break Fourth Wall, Talk To The Audience
Posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
Ryan Reynolds has told Empire that he’s insistent on Deadpool’s habit of breaking of the fourth wall to carry over from the comics to the big screen. That means, in effect, that Deadpool/Wade Wilson will sometimes address the audience directly, as with Ferris Bueller, say, or the character of Paul in Funny Games. Other forms of metahumour have cropped up in the Deadpool comics, with him occasionally making explicit reference to his being a Marvel comics character. I’ll give you a handful of examples after the break.
Green Hornet Moves To July, Jennifer’s Body Gets Rated Bloody R
Posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Columbia Pictures has moved Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet back two weeks from June 25th 2010 to July 9th 2010. According to ERC, the move was made to make room for the studio’s Dennis Dugan-directed comedy Grown Ups, which was moved from March 12th to June 25th. But with The Twilight Saga’s Eclipse scheduled to hit theaters on June 30th, I’m surprised that Columbia would want either of their films near the tween vampire romance sequel.
And since it was revealed that Megan Fox wouldn’t appear naked in the filmed topless scene in the Diablo Cody-scripted horror film Jennifer’s Body, fans have been speculating that 20th Century Fox was aiming for a PG-13 rating. I read the initial draft of the screenplay, and I’m not sure that story could be told in PG-13. But fear not, the MPAA has finally spoken. The film is officially rated R for “sexuality, bloody violence, language and brief drug use.” Nope, you’re still not going to see Megan Fox topless, but at least we’ll be getting a bloody r-rated horror film. [Bloody-disgusting]
Exclusive: Kick-Ass Footage To Premiere at Comic-Con; New Photo Revealed
Posted on Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
San Diego Comic-Con International will be announcing the full panel line up for this year’s convention next week, but we’re able to reveal that the first footage from Matthew Vaughn’s big screen adaptation of Kick-Ass will premiere at the convention. The panel will take place on Thursday, July 23 towards the end of the day. Vaughn will be in attendance, along with some of the film’s cast members (to be announced later). This is the biggest non-studio produced comic book movie of all time, and I can’t wait to see some of the footage.
As a bit of a tease, Vaughn has provided us with this exclusive never-before-seen photo from Kick-Ass, which features Chloe Moretz as Mindy Macready aka the ruthless 11-year-old vigilante named Hit Girl.
With characters that included a titular, homeless-footed superhero with a fan for teeth and a pot-bellied, psycho-analyzing mass-rapist in a tiki mask, MTV’s The Maxx definitely has its fans. The cartoon—an adaptation of the feted and trippy Image comic book by Sam Kieth—originally aired in ‘95 and remains officially unavailable on DVD. This week, MTV posted six full episodes for free streaming, and they are a great refresher and/or requisite viewing if you dig slightly-adulterated, “offbeat” animation.
Watching The Maxx kabob an endless wave of his primary adversary, an otherworldly critter species called The Isz, never gets old. But it’s the episodes’ stream-of-consciousness editing and alternating narration, which borders on an open-mic bohemian poetry night, that sticks with you. We’ve included the first episode after the jump, but episode three (cow-udder shaving cream) and episode five (Beavis cameo, teenagey writer pains) are personal faves.
According to an unnamed source who spilled to Nuke The Fridge, Jessica Biel is currently negotiating a role in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. If true, and let’s pretend for a moment that it is, this would seem to simultaneously stomp on the rumour that Natalie Portman was up for the female lead and those never ending Jessica Biel Wonderwoman stories (though stomping on those is rather like stomping on mist and just about as necessary). Who would she play? There’s a handful of options but other information on the film would seem to suggest it isn’t Nurse Jane Foster.
Watchmen’s Maximum Movie Mode Could Be The Best Blu-Ray Special Feature Yet
Posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
One of my many complaints about Blu-Ray is that the movie studios have yet to embrace the format and create some cool extra features using the new technology. Disney has done it right in the past. The visual commentary of the Pixar discs is amazing. Today I came across this video preview from the Watchmen Director’s Cut Blu-Ray which shows the Maxium Movie Mode, and I have to say — this might be the coolest Blu-ray feature yet.
Director Zack Snyder actually comes on screen and hosts an incredibly indepth look at the film, complete with behind the scenes footage, comic to film comparisons, history timelines, trivia, and much more. From this clip alone, it appears like it could be the best Blu-Ray feature I’ve seen thus far, offering a lot more than the usual audio or visual commentary tracks. Now if Warner Bros would quit producing those worthless Blu-ray mini-books, and instead start creating more special features like this for their future releases… Watch a video preview after the jump.
Lawsuit Won’t Slow Down Spielberg’s Oldboy Remake
Posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
When it was first announced that Steven Spielberg and Will Smith were developing an American remake of Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy with the screenwriter of Poseidon, fans freaked out. It was later revealed that the remake wasn’t a remake at all, but an American adaptation of the original Japanese manga by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya, which Park’s film was based on. Even though the book and the movie deviate from one another, fans were still not pleased. A couple weeks back we told you that Japanese publisher Futabasga was suing the Korean film production company Show East over the rights to remake the story in Hollywood. But apparently the project is still proceeding despite the legal battle.
Warner Bros has officially announced the panels they will be presenting at the 2009 SAn Diego Comic-Con International. Films include The Final Destination, Where The Wild Things Are, The Book Of Eli, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Box, Jonah Hex, Sherlock Holmes, and Shorts. Full information after the jump.
No One Wants To Own Up To Racism In Transformers
Posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Given how many people worked on the creative angle of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I’m amazed and not a little bit shocked that the movie hit screens with two of the most offensive, stereotypically black characters I’ve seen in a studio film since Mickey Rooney donned buck teeth to play a Japanese character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (Granted I’m also a bit amazed that I didn’t even talk about these characters in my review, which is a major oversight; I’d already talked about them so much offline and in various emails that I completely passed over the subject.)
The characters in question are Skids and Mudflap, who after an initial appearance as a ratty old ice cream truck are upgraded to be green and orange Chevys. More to the point, both characters speak with voices that sound like urban black stereotypes, have big ears and buck teeth and proclaim that they ‘don’t do much readin’‘. Skids even has a gold tooth. How did these characters make it through months of development, meetings and rendering to appear on screens this week? Read More »
Zack Snyder Watch: Watchmen Director’s Cut, Sucker Punch and 300 Follow-Up
Posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Zack Snyder did promotion yesterday for the Blu-Ray release of Watchmen, and quite a few small tidbits of news came out of his various interviews. He talked about the theatrical release of the Watchmen Director’s Cut, which will hit four theatres, the future of his next film Sucker Punch, a possible follow-up to 300 and more. Read More »
