I’m not going to pull any punches here. It’s been sad watching the career of Al Pacino the last few years. It’s been like watching a once great boxing champion… maybe one of the greatest of all times… hang on too long and getting his face beat to a pulp in just about every fight he takes now.
Righteous Kill
S1mone
The Recruit
88 Minutes
Two For The Money
These aren’t just bad movies… he was bad in them. The one bright shining ray of hope from him in the last 10 years was his BRILLIANT performance in the 2004 version of The Merchant of Venice where he played Shylock the Jew. No seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him better.
Word is now coming out that Pacino is taking on the historic character of Napoleon in the upcoming film “Betsy and the Emperor. The good folks over at MovieWeb give us this:
In a story from The Hollywood Reporter, Al Pacino will be playing Napoleon in the adaptation of Staton Rabin’s children’s book “Betsy and the Emperor.” GC Corp. picked up rights to the project that had been originally owned by the Bob Yari Co. John Curran (The Painted Veil) will direct the movie from a screenplay by Brian Edgar. Production on the film will begin in late autumn.
Considering how well he did the last time he was handed a legendary character (Skylock), I’m anxious to see how Pacino steps up to this one. The old champ may get beat a lot… but I still root for him when he gets in the ring.
Gore Verbinski, the director of the Pirates of he Caribbean movies has decided to move on from the franchise. He won’t be directing Pirates 4. The good folks over at ComingSoon give us this:
Variety is reporting that director Gore Verbinski, whose main claim to fame came from directing Disney’s blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean” action-adventure trilogy to gross $2.6 billion worldwide, has decided that three pirate movies is enough. He’s informed Disney and producer Jerry Buckheimer that he won’t be directing the fourth installment, which is currently scheduled to start shooting in 2010.
This is surprising to me, but I suppose shouldn’t be shocking. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies have declined in quality with each movie to the point that the 3rd one was completely unwatchable to me… which is a shame because I absolutely love the first one.
Verbinski is gearing up to do one of the only video game movies that I think actually may have enough solid narrative story behind it to actually make a good film… BioShock. Admittedly I haven’t played the game, but I’ve watched a couple of my buddies play it for hours and I was really impressed with how much depth there was to it.
It’ll be interesting to see how the flavor of the Pirates franchise changes without its director.
To some it may not be a big deal, but there is NOTHING in the movie industry or movie going experience that annoys me to the point of blind furious rage more than the issue of commercials that play in the theaters before a movie starts. The only thing that comes close to being as annoying are people who try to defend it. Movie Blog regulars will know that I go off on this topic about once a year… but this week I had one of the worst experiences of my life with it and just had to rant my face off and get it off my chest. Enjoy.
Thanks for checking out our Fast and Furious review.
I won’t beat around the bush here. I absolutely despise all the fast and the furious movies right from the first one. The first film was nothing but a blatant and criminal rip off of Point Break. The plot and each successive story point were all directly stolen from the much superior movie and offered no apologies for it. Each one just got worse and worse from there.
When Vin Diesel showed his face at the end of Tokyo Drift (the third installment of the franchise) we all knew that a 4th Fast and Furious film was going to be on it’s way. That, and the fact that everything else Vin Diesel has tried to do over the last 5 years has bombed on a Pauley Shore scale and he had to return to his popular roles to regain significance).
So I forced myself to go and see fast and Furious so I could give my thoughts on it here. Ummmm… crap… I hate myself a little bit for saying this… but… wow… I actually kinda enjoyed it. Let the apocalypse begin.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis or Fast and Furious reads something like this: “Heading back to the streets where it all began, two men rejoin two women to blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert. When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto reignites his feud with agent Brian O’Connor. But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmaneuver him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what’s possible behind the wheel.”
THE GOOD
Look, this whole review is going to be pretty short because the strengths and weakness are fairly simple and straight forward… like the movie itself.
THE ACTION IS AMAZING. This film, far more than any others in the franchise, has some truly awesome and exciting action sequences (all revolving around car chases and races for the most part). This film knows what people are here to see… and they just deliver it in spades. The movie just go go go go gos from the start right to the finish and I’m not ashamed to admit that it kept me entertained pretty much the whole way through. People seeing any Vin “I have the emotional range of a turnip” Diesel movie is not there expecting Shakespeare.
The party and “lifestyle” scenes were all well orchestrated giving a large feel to the film and lots of hot booty to look at (I swear there is as much camera time spent on various women’s asses as there is meaningful dialog).
THE BAD
Absolutely everything else. Let’s start with Diesel… even though he is HUGE in this movie (not kidding… I’ve never seen him look bigger or more physically intimidating), the guy is a total tool when it comes to acting. Every time he speaks a line in the movie I would wish some stranger would kick me in the balls… because it would hurt less. Paul Walker was only marginally less miserable… as were all the bad guys, supporting characters… it was just dreadful.
Ha… don’t even get me started on the story.
OVERALL
In every way, shape and form Fast and Furious is a poor movie… EXCEPT in the area of heart pounding action. Fortunately for the movie… that’s the most important ingredient for a film like this, and it delivered it in spades… enough so that despite the fact that it is so bad in so many ways… I actually have to say I enjoyed watching it overall and that it entertained me. NEVER thought I’d ever say that about a Fast and Furious movie… EVER. Overall I give Fast and Furious a 6 out of 10.
In the months leading up to the release of Adventureland, I’ve never understood why the marketing machine wasn’t putting a lot more emphasis on the fact that Greg Mottola (also directed Superbad) had written and directed it, or that Twilight superstar Kristen Stewart was one of the primary leads… especially since we’re still in the middle of the massive Twilight hype and that the DVD just came out a little while ago. To be honest, the trailers themselves haven’t looked all that interesting… or funny… so they needed to play on something to get people interested right?
I mean hell… at least play up Ryan Reynolds being in it or something. Because as it stood, you could feel that there weren’t a lot of people interested in seeing this film with the original marketing strategy. As it turns out I was right because on it’s opening weekend Adventureland made an abysmal $6 million dollars. Nice.
So off I go to see Adventureland. Was it as bad as the $6 million results suggest? No… actually it’s a pretty endearing movie… but unfortunately it’s also pretty boring.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Adventureland reads something like this: “Inspired by writer/director Greg Mottola’s own true-life job-from-hell experience, Adventureland stars The Education of Charlie Banks’ Jesse Eisenberg as an uptight recent college graduate who discovers that he’ll have to get a degrading minimum-wage job at a local amusement park instead of spending his summer drinking German beer, visiting world-class museums, and flirting with cute French girls. It’s the summer of 1987, and James Brennan (Eisenberg) has just graduated college. James is all set to embark on his dream tour of Europe when his parents (Wendie Malick and Jack Gilpin) suddenly announce that they won’t be able to subsidize the trip. Now the only things James has to look forward to this summer are sugar-fueled children, belligerent dads, and an endless parade of giant stuffed animals. When James strikes up a relationship with captivating co-worker Em (Kristen Stewart), however, he finally starts to loosen up. Suddenly, the worst summer ever doesn’t seem quite so bad.”
THE GOOD
Although the film is set in 1987, the issues and challenges feel very contemporary. A young man whose dreams have to be put on hold due to financial hardship faced by his family and resorts to working in a job he (and everyone else) deems beneath him in order to save money for graduate school. The film deals with this and the charcters involved in a very real and raw way and was, in my opinion, the strongest element of the film.
I don’t hide that I’m a Ryan Reynolds fan. I’ve become more and more impressed with his acting chops over the years and in Adventureland he’s handed a challenging character to play. The older married guy having affairs with younger women… yet is a “good” guy, a guy you feel bad for instead of angry at for some reason. I don’t think there are a lot of actors who could have effectively pulled this character off as the director intended as well as Reynolds did… delivering what I think is the most interesting and complex character of the movie.
The film has an interesting (not fantastic) sense of nostalgia to it. Those summers we all had, working crappy jobs, speculating about the future, dreaming of escaping the town/situations we were in some day, trying to score with the girls we worked with and counting how many hook ups happened over the summer. The movie does a good job of transporting us back to those times and the feelings and sensations that come along with it.
THE BAD
This is a boring movie. This is also a comedy without many laughs. I think I chuckled twice during the whole movie. The nostalgia is great to have. The social/economic/coming of age issues the film deals with are great to have… but a comedy has to make you laugh and entertain you, and for the most part this movie simply doesn’t deliver… nor does the story have any sense of pace to it. The movie just lingers without any sense of passage of time. Suddenly a character says “we’ve been doing this for a month” and I’m like “What? A month has passed?” because nothing in the narrative itself even remotely suggested it… then they just announce to you that the summer is over. Without this sense of time or pacing, you never get engaged in how the relationship are supposed to be developing or moving forward at all… thus much of the effectiveness of the movie is neutered before it’s even given a chance to conceptualize for the audience.
I’m really starting to hate when a comedy movie keeps going back to the same joke over and over and over and over again. In Adventureland I lost count of how many times they went back to the “punched in the balls” joke. Had to have been at least 5 or 6 times they did the exact same gag. Ha ha ha… yes… I get it… that guy punching the other guy in the balls is supposed to be funny. Can we please move on to something else now?
The whole movie it felt like the lead, Jesse Eisenberg, felt like he was just doing a Michael Cera imitation (who the director worked with in Superbad and I get the feeling he really wanted in this role) and it gets very annoying after a little while… at least for me.
Kristen Stewart did not impress me. Her character, Em, had a lot of potential to it… but her portrayal just felt bland to me and without much soul.
OVERALL
Adventureland is a good movie… that I simply found impossible to enjoy or be entertained by at all. Slow, paceless, boring and worst of all not funny. Some great subjects and nuances are captured in this movie… but it just flat out fails to entertain. I can understand why some other people would like or even love this film… I really can… but for me I just couldn’t wait for the credits to roll so I could leave. Overall I give Adventureland a 4 out of 10.
Thanks for checking out our Monsters vs Aliens review.
It’s not a big secret that I’m not the biggest fan of CGI animated movies that aren’t created by Pixar (the single best movie production company in the business if you ask me… and not just animated movies either). But last year had a couple of very pleasant surprises. First of all there was Kung Fu Panda which was a LOT more entertaining than I thought it would be… and then there was Bolt, which in my opinion was the most underrated movie of the year. Two non-Pixar animated films that were good in the same year… who would have thought?
So along comes Monsters vs Aliens. This is a movie that’s been getting a lot of online buzz for almost a year now. A catchy title will do that I guess. So did it deserve any of the modest hype is was getting? Well… actually…. yeah. It kinda did.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Monsters vs Aliens reads something like this: “On her wedding day, Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is hit by a meteorite infused with Quantonium, a rare and powerful element that causes her to grow to an enormous size. Targeted by the government as a monster, Susan is captured and imprisoned at a secret facility where other such oddities are being held, including Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), a mad scientist who accidentally transformed himself into a roach-human hybrid, B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), a gelatinous, brainless mass brought to life in an experiment gone wrong, The Missing Link (Will Arnett), a Creature-from-the-Black-Lagoon-like lizard man, and the skyscraper-sized mutant larvae Insectosaurus. When deranged alien overlord Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson) arrives on Earth to obtain the precious Quantonium and conquer the world, President Hathaway (Stephen Colbert) offers the monsters their freedom in exchange for defeating the evil mastermind and his legion of robots and clones.”
THE GOOD
One of the things that CGI animated films have still not really mastered is the art of making an action sequence actually look and feel exciting. Oh from time to time a movie will pull it off, but not often. With Monsters vs Aliens however, they seem to be able to strike the right note. Everything from the chases to the fights, the actions sequences (there’s more action than I thought there would be too) are a lot of fun and legitimately had me leaning in my seat.
This is a funny movie. Not an outright hilarious movie… but pretty funny. Frankly, I’m getting sick and tired of hearing Seth Rogan’s voice in seemingly every other animated film or character out there… but as the blob like creature named B.O.B. his voice was the perfect fit which added to the humor of the situations. As a matter of fact, almost all the characters worked on a comedic level.
There are a lot of tributes in this movie to the old school monster films of ages past which all worked for me. I’m not sure about how well they worked on the average 9 year old siting in the audience… but for me and the other adults in the cinema it was gold.
THE BAD
Since I’m not a parent, nor brought any kids with me to the theater, I’m not sure why this next part bothered me so much, but it did. There is a scene in the movie (possible MINOR spoiler) that shows two young people “parked” in the woods. The only thing is, there’s a bit of a gender role reversal going on with you young woman trying to get the young man to “put out” and the young man doesn’t want to. Ha ha… it’s a cute idea… but for a kids movie?!?!?! The girl in the scene was also being pretty aggressive in trying to get the guy to fool around. This whole thing just sat wrong with me. There were tons of little kids in there, and the movie seemed to deal with it in a very un-kid like manner. I could see some parents uncomfortable with the scene. It wasn’t needed in the movie at all and I wish it wasn’t there.
Susan’s fiancee Derek (voiced by Paul Rudd) was a waste. He was just annoying. And I don’t just mean in the way that the film MEANT for him to be annoying. The entire little side plot of Susan yearning for her jerk of a fiancee back added little to nothing to the movie… provided little to none of the laughs… and as previously mentioned, was just annoying to watch.
OVERALL
Monsters vs Aliens is an entertaining little films with some likable and cute characters, some good laughs and surprisingly exciting action. Some questionable content, and a couple of annoying characters aren’t enough to ruin any enjoyment you should get from this film. Overall I give Aliens vs Monsters a 7 out of 10.
When news broke ages ago that they were going to to a reboot/re-start/re-imagining of A Nightmare On Elm Street there were a lot of people up in arms over the fact that it was confirmed that Robert Englund wasn’t going to be returning as Freddy. Oh I can understand why some folks resist the idea of seeing anyone other than Englund wearing the bladed gloves… but it’s a remake. How can you make it a remake while sticking with the same cast?
One thing is for certain… whoever they end up getting to replace Englund will have a HUGE task in front of them. Luckily it appears they have indeed found someone who is up to the monumental task. Oscar nominated actor Jackie Earle Haley (most recently seen in Watchmen as Rorschach) is your new Freddy, and I have no hesitation telling you I think this is a magnificent move!
First of all, Haley is an exceptional talent, and you never go wrong recruiting talent. He’s also got that sot of twisted and evil swagger and look that I think Nightmare purists will accept as a new Freddy. There is simply no angle to this story that I see any negatives on. Brilliant choice!
Now, we can debate the merits of them even doing a Nightmare on Elmstreet remake in the first place… but that’s a totally different issue. I think MOST of us can agree that IF you’re going to do a new Nightmare movie and you’re going to get a new actor as Freddy… then Haley is a pretty damn good choice. (via ShockTillYouDrop)
Hey there guys. Remember me? I’m the one who supposedly runs things around The Movie Blog, but you’d never know that from how absent I’ve been the last couple of months (thank goodness Rodney has been here to keep the ship afloat). I promise… I will be getting back to it full time very soon.
As any regulars know, the reason I’ve been invisible around here is because I’ve been working on my own little movie called “The Anniversary” (the IMDB page can be seen here). We’ve pretty much been working on it around the clock since we finished shooting just over a month ago. The movie is not finished yet… but we’re close enough that we want to have a little test screening of it to see how it plays and if we need to make any significant changes before we lock it down.
Yes yes yes… the professional way is to do these little test screenings in secret… but we’ve already established I’m not close to professional haven’t we?
So here’s the deal. This Friday (March 27th) We’re going to have a test screening in Hamilton Ontario (near Toronto) and you’re more than welcome to attend if you’d like. I know the location automatically excludes 99.999% of Movie Blog readers from being able to consider coming even if you wanted too… but that’s where we’re doing it.
Space is limited, so if you’re interested in coming, go to the Facebook page for the event, and register yourself as “attending”. Both myself, and Manolis Zontanos (one of the stars of the movie) will be in attendance to take any questions after the screening… and to ask some questions of the audience as well.
Hope to see a couple of you there.
About the Cast:
Other notables in the film are:
Erin Cummings (star if the upcoming STARZ Network series “Spartacus” and the Kevin Sorbo film “Bitch Slap”)
Julia Voth (Co- star of Bitch Slap and the Justin Timberlake produced reality show “The Phone”)
Gavin Grazer (Brother of Oscar Winning Hollywood super producer Brian Grazer. Gavin also directed the 2003 Woody Harrelson, John Cleese and Alicia Silverstone movie “Scortched”. Gavin has also appeared in films like “Frost/Nixon”, “Cinderella Man” “American Gangster”, and “Friday Night Lights”).
Dan Callahan (Dan wrote last summer’s feature comedy “College” and has appeared in such films as Spider-Man 2 & 3, Pathology, Midnight Meat Train and Untraceable).
Please note this will be an “R” rated film with strong language and brief nudity.
Thanks for checking out our I Love You Man review. If you’d like to watch the video version of our I Love You Man review you can see it at the bottom of the written review.
I’ve been a huge Paul Rudd fan for years now. We’ve all recognized him forever from a thousand different things. Josh on Clueless or Phoebe’s boyfriend Mike on Friends. But the moment I finally recognized his comedic genius was in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy where he played news reporter Brian Fantana. Oh yes my friends… Sex Panther, 60% of the time it works, every time.
Jason Segel is another story. When I saw him in Knocked Up, I recognized him from a few episodes of CSI, but neither his role in that, nor in Knocked Up impressed me at all. To be honest I sorta thought he was dead weight in an otherwise pretty satisfying comedy. I was shocked when I found out he was getting a leading role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. But, as we all know, he knocked that one completely out of the park.
So put these two together in a movie called “I Love You, Man”, and I’m instantly interested. The trailers for the movie haven’t been very good, so I haven’t known what to expect. Did it turn out ok? Yes… yes it did.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for I Love You Man looks something like this: “In I Love You, Man, a comedy from John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, co-writer of Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers, Zoolander), Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd, Knocked Up The 40 Year Old Virgin) is a successful real estate agent who, upon getting engaged to the woman of his dreams, Zooey, (The Offices Rashida Jones), discovers, to his dismay and chagrin, that he has no male friend close enough to serve as his Best Man. Peter immediately sets out to rectify the situation, embarking on a series of bizarre and awkward man-dates, before meeting Sydney Fife (Jason Segel, Forgetting Sarah Marshall), a charming, opinionated man with whom he instantly bonds. But the closer the two men get, the more Peters relationship with Zooey suffers, ultimately forcing him to choose between his fiancée and his new found bro, in a story that comically explores what it truly means to be a friend.”
THE GOOD
I don’t often talk about the supporting cast in comedies, but this one was fantastic. Andy Samberg plays Rudd’s gay younger brother and his comedic timing is fantastic. The always awesome J.K. Simmons as Rudd’s dad, Jaime Pressly, Iron Man director Jon Favreau, Rashida Jones (from The Office), Sarah Burns (this is the first thing I’ve seen her in, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing her again), Lou Ferrigno (yes, The Hulk)… the list really does go on and on. A lot of comedies fail at providing strong supporting casts… but his one was every bit as funny as the leads in the film… and that’s saying something.
Paul Rudd is a comedic leading man and I’m so happy he’s finally getting some attention as such. Ever since 40 Year Old Virgin you could tell he had what it takes to carry a film, but he seemed stuck in supporting roles (nothing wrong with supporting roles… he’s amazing at them). Rudd takes this opportunity and really runs with it. He looked very comfortable in the first chair and allowed his natural charm to really shine, which in my opinion is the main strength of I Love You Man.
I say this all the time… but the main responsibility of a comedy is to make the audience laugh, and I Love You Man clearly takes that responsibility very seriously, because there are a hell of a lot of laughs in this movie with a terrific mixture of physical and smart comedy all mixed into one big ball of hilarity. No, it’s not the funniest film I’ve seen all year, but it’s damn entertaining and hit the majority of it’s comedic notes.
I appreciated the attempt to look at the nature of male relationships and how they fit with the men/women relationships us guys have in our lives. I don’t think it handled the issue nearly as well as say… Clerks 2 does… but I still think it’s a topic almost NO movies really look at or try to tackle, and I appreciated the fact that this film at least took a stab at it.
THE BAD
As great as Paul Rudd is in this film, there was a decision made that began to irritate me more and more as the movie progressed. As you know from the trailers, Rudd’s character has never really had many male friends, and he’s a bit socially awkward with them. The problem is that (and I won’t give any spoilers away here… but you’ll see what I mean when you watch the movie) they establish that Rudd is socially awkward around male friends… then they repeat it to us… and then they repeat it again… then again… then again… then again… by the 45 minute mark I wanted to gouge my eyes out every time they went back to that well. It was funny the first 3 times they did it… then it hurt the following 20 times. Easily the biggest drawback of the movie for me.
Although I firmly stand by the idea that laughs are the most important element of a comedy, it’s nice when the story of the film flows well too. This is the element that separates I Love You Man from truly upper echelon comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall or 40 Year Old Virgin. The story of the film just didn’t “flow” for me. Instead of feeling like the driving narrative, the story just felt like a lose container for the jokes and gags to be stuffed into. There’s nothing wrong with that if the laughs works… but you need it to turn a good comedy into a special comedy. I Love You Man was lacking in this area.
Like Rudd’s socially awkward gags, I Love You Man went back to the Lou Ferrigno jokes WAAAAYYYY too often. Yes, it was funny the first time… yes it was funny the second time… but the dozen times after that made me want to yawn. It was just far too much.
OVERALL
There are a few significant flaws with I Love You Man. A modestly weak story. Returning to running gags throughout the film far too many times and perhaps a bit of a lame ending. But all that being said, this is a funny funny movie with some solid performances by both the lead and supporting cast members that delivers a very entertaining night at the movies (which at the end of the day is the most important thing). Yeah, it could have been better… but for my admission it’s very well worth it. Solid comedy. Overall I give I Love You Man a 7 out of 10.
You can see the video version of our I Love You Man Reveiw here:
Sadly it happens all the time. We hear about a movie that sounds great and we can’t wait to see it. We watch the trailers and it looks better and better. For whatever reason the film looks good to us. Maybe it’s because of the cast. Maybe it’s because of the story. Maybe it’s because if the director. Maybe it’s because the visuals look good… or maybe because it just does. Then we go see it… and it just sucks.
What’s worse, is that sometimes we see a terrible film and our disappointment is amplified by the knowledge that it COULD have been a great film. There were elements in it that were strong… and if the film just built itself around those strong elements, perhaps it could have turned out 100x better than it did.
Then we think that if they did a sequel… not a reboot… and focused on those strong elements, we might end up getting the kind of movie we were hoping for when we first went in to watch the first one.
I remember the first time I really thought about that was after seeing the first Underworld movie. I was not “thrilled” with the movie at all… but there were a few things there that made me want to see another Underworld film. Untapped potential that I thought a sequel could explore. Underworld had a great mythology behind it. A fantastic back story about the Lycans and the Vampires. It had a beautiful and dark style to it… and my goodness who didn’t like seeing Kate Beckinsale in that tight black leather outfit?!?! No, I didn’t really love the first Underworld movie… yet I still wanted to see a sequel. Too bad the sequel turned out to be 5x worse than the original.
As I thought about this the other day, I started compiling a list in my head about other bad films that had certain potential left unrealized. Waste of time movies that had seeds of greatness in them that PERHAPS if given another shot in the form of a sequel… could produce something special.
So now for your consideration I present to you my list of 15 terrible movies that deserve a shot at a sequel:
#1 - JUMPER Ok I admit that the fact that I was an extra in this movie added to my anticipation, but this film had a lot going for it as a starting point. A Sci-Fi movie about people born with the power to teleport anywhere in the world at any time known as “jumpers” who have been hunted down through the centuries by a group of normal mortals who call themselves “Paladins”. How freaking cool does that sound?!?!
Add on top of that Samuel Jackson as the main bad buy, the website giving some cool background to the history of the Paladins and why they hunt Jumpers and some wonderful visual effects… you’ve got the making of a great movie right? RIGHT?!?!?! Wrong. This crap wasted all it’s time on a stupid and weak love story and gave absolutely ZERO time exploring the history and mythology of the Jumpers or the Paladins. All the things that COULD have made this movie cool were left out completely. I’d love to see a sequel to this with the focus on the right stuff.
#2 - SWORDFISH Just look at this damn cast! John Travolta (before he because a joke again), Huge Jackman, Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Sam Shepard and Vinnie Jones. A high tech heist style of movie with the promise of “Speed” type action hot on the heals of Jackman becoming an international star due to being Wolverine… this flick should have knocked it out of the park.
Sadly though, the movie spends most of it’s time struggling through it’s piss poor dialog and meaningless side plots and only giving us tastes of the type of intensity and action a movie like this one COULD have provided to us.
The thing that gives me hope for a sequel is that the premise and characters (the ones left alive anyway) still hold that potential to build on the strong points in the first film. I’d be in line to see a Swordfish 2. It may suck again… but I’d be there.
#3 - K-PAX Seeing two certifiably GREAT actors in the same movie is always a good reason to be excited about seeing it. Throw in something of a sci-fi mystery with it and you COULD be in for something special. K-Pax was such a movie that offered all of that. Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey in a movie about a mysterious man who ends up in a Psych ward who claims to be from a far away galaxy. The doctors obviously don’t believe him, but they don’t really know who he is, or how he knows so much about astrophysics.
Sadly, the movie just sort of trudges along at a snails pace without ever really developing the story or giving very revealing revelations. It feels like it’s the same 20 minutes repeated several times.
The film ends (warning: this is a spoiler for those of you who haven’t seen it) with Spacey just disappearing and the mystery of if he was indeed an alien or just an unbalanced human being still lingering. I loved the ending… and I’d love to see a sequel picking up that story and going from there. Could be amazing… or awful. I’d like to see how it would play out.
#4 - REIGN OF FIRE Do any of you need more that this short description to get you pumped up: “In the modern world, an ancient sleeping breed of Dragon is awakened and it then proceeds to wipe out most of the civilized world leaving the few survivors to battle the monsters in the new post apocalyptic world for their very existence” FUCK YEAH!!!!
The cast was just about as solid as you could get it too. Matthew McConaughey plays a cool as hell military character who is beyond bad ass, and Christian Bale is the leader of a small colony of human survivors who gets caught up in the McConaughey’s war with the Dragons. Sweet! Or at least it should have been.
The movie ends with (spoiler) the humans killing off the only Male dragon, ensuring that eventually the species will become extinct since they can’t breed anymore. But there are still LOTS of Dragons out there… and even though there are no males left… like they said in Jurassic Park… Nature finds a way! Make this movie and focus more on the bad ass action that SHOULD have been in the first one and you’ll have a classic killer flick. Maybe.
#5 - SHOWTIME Showtime is a little bit different of a film on this list. You see… unlike a lot of the other films here, this one NEVER looked good. Nothing about it looked appealing at all. Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy in a copy comedy??? No thanks.
Sure enough the movie ends up being a total waste of time. But there was one unexpected positive point in it. The on screen comedic chemistry between Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy was surprisingly good. More than good… it was charming and had a charisma all its own. The interactions between the two main characters were by far the most entertaining points of the movie… and had it just focused more on that, the film may have ended up a lot better than it did.
Make another Showtime, focus more time on these two characters interacting, and I think you’ll have a fine entertaining movie. Maybe.
#6 - THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN I can’t even being to tell you how pumped I was for this movie. Hands down the most interesting mix of “hero” characters ever brought together for a comic style flick. Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Dorian Gray, The Invisible Man, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Tom Sawyer… and the bad guy ends up being (spoiler) none other than Professor Moriarty, the arch nemesis of the great Sherlock Holmes. All lead by Sean Conery as Quatermain… how wicked does that sound? I’ll tell you how much… and big old ass lot!
Unfortunately they did just about everything wrong with this movie. I thought the casting was good… the idea for a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was excellent… but the wrote a terrible story that wasted all that great potential.
I highly doubt we’ll ever see Dean Conery as the action adventure lead again… but man I’d love to see them take another crack at this one with the existing cast.
#7 - TROY I can’t even put into words how disappointed I was with this potentially epic film. The cast was absolutely second to none (aside from the mannequin known as Orlando Bloom). It held the promise of a big sweeping sort of “Ben Hur” epic with massive battles, honor, glory and some killer performances. Yeah well that never happened now did it?
Ok, I acknowledge there are several HUGE obstacles to making a sequel to this one. Not the least of which is the death of just about all the major characters except for that lamp post Bloom. Still… a sequel in that world that breaks into more fiction with a triumphant return to Troy would be pretty killer… with or without Pitt. Ok probably not… but I still think there is potential there.
#8 - VAN HELSING A movie with Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale (again dressed in tight black leather) portraying a legendary hunter of evil who much combat Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and the werewolf all at the same time? How on earth could something this awesome be messed up?
Well, they found a way to mess it up and turn it into one of the worst films of 2004. But come on… Jackman as Van Helsing fighting mythological monsters and demons with a hot as hell Beckinsale at his side could STILL be one hell of a ride. Do another one… only this time get anyone other than Stephen Somers to direct it, get a half decent story that doesn’t try to think too hard and just give us tons of popcorn fun. The movies don’t always have to be rocket science. I’d certainly give Van Helsing another shot.
#9 - SKY CAPTIAN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW Aside from the fact that there were some big impressive names in this movie (Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, etc…), this was a very interesting project. Most of the entire film was shot on Green Screen and done with a very cool visual style that gave it a very great feel… and who doesn’t want to see a movie about giant robots mysteriously attacking major cities… and the one guy who can fight them is a dude in a 1950’s fighter plane! Totally bubble gum… but pretty cool sounding if you ask me.
Well the film failed miserably… but all those things I mentioned above still carry a lot of potential in my opinion. Maybe this time spend pay some more attention to the Jolie character and that amazing battle ship of hers. Some more fights and maybe this time fight aliens! Well… whatever they do, if they did it again I’d give it a shot.
#10 - SKY HIGH Yes I know that we’ve been getting bludgeoned over the head with Superhero and Harry Potter type movies for a few years now… but Sky High looked like it had a lot more potential than many of them.
First of all, you’ve got Kurt Russell as a legendary superhero known as “The Commander”. Is any other reason really needed past that? Bruce Campbell as a superpowered gym teacher. Lynda Carter as the principle of a secret high school for young superheroes… and honestly a pretty good little bunch of kid characters (I especially liked the Warren Peace character played by Steven Strait). The film ended up being terrible… but I think there was enough potential in there to revisit it and take another crack at it.
#11 - NACHO LIBRE Sometimes even just the concept of a movie is hilarious… and it doesn’t get much better than the idea of Jack Black as a masked super wrestler in Mexico known as Nacho Libre. How on earth could this thing miss right?
Well… it did miss… by a lot. Just flat out no laughs as you quickly got the impression that they never thought they needed to actually write anything funny after coming up with that amazing concept. But even though the film failed on just about every single level, the concept is still sound and holds the potential for hilarity IMO. Get Black back in the tights again and take another shot at it… just… you know… make it funny this time.
#12 - ERAGON Eragon is one of those films that did nothing right. No really… aside from a few decent visuals, I can’t think of one single redeemable thing about this train wreck of a movie. So why bother putting it on this list?
Because even though it was terrible beyond description, the mythology and story behind the film is still solid. Come on… Dragons fighting armies… wizards… a big bad John Malkovich riding his own evil dragon going off to destroy his enemies? I mean… the movie did end with a huge open window to a sequel. Do it… only do it remotely right this time and I think you still have the potential for a winner.
#13 - SNAKES ON A PLANE No single movie in history has been driven by online buzz and marketing like Snakes On A Plane. It pretty much targeted nothing but the online world for it’s marketing and made next to no money (but to be fair… it would have done much worse if there wasn’t so much online buzz about the movie). Throw Samuel L Jackson on a plane with a thousand snakes and you’ve got the makings of cinematic history I tell you. Too bad they just served up cinematic crap for the most part.
Over the top can be fun and hilarious… when done right. Snakes did most of it wrong and the movie was quickly forgotten. I say do another one… this time even more ludicrous. Scorpions on a Boat. Wolves on a Train. Piranahs on a Cruise Ship. Something… anything. Get Sam back in there… only like John McClane, he’s been through something like this before. Get some solid comedy writers in there with some Die Hard style action and I think you can have a winner.
#14 - DEATH PROOF If I had a list of the top 10 movies that left me the most disapointed walking out of a theater… this Grindhouse flick would be on it without a doubt. I fully expected to love Death Proof and it ended up being a complete waste of time. Instead of giving us glorious Kurt Russell going around killing people with his car… we spend 80% of the movie listening to 2 seperate groups of 4 girls sitting around talking about nothing. Wheee… what fun.
Do this film again. I know that (Spoiler) the ending of Death Proof SUGGESTS that the girls kill Russell… but we don’t actually see that happen. Do another one where Stuntman Mike survives his ordeal and then goes off stalking the women who nearly killed him… only this time he targets a bunch of other women first to get his game back. Fuck this movie could be awesome.
#15 - LADY IN THE WATER I, along with most of the world, had already started losing my faith in the mighty ShamHammer… but Lady in the Water looked just fantastic. It even made my “Top 5 most anticipated films of the year” list I did a while back. Wow… what a shit soufflé that turned out to be. Easily the worst film of the year.
But here’s the thing. The basic idea behind the movie was great. The world that exists along side our world that Shammy tried to paint for us actually holds a lot of potential for great storytelling… you know… if a good story was there. You couldn’t really ask for a better cast. So yeah… as bad as it was, I’d actually give a Lady In The Water 2 a chance. As long as it wasn’t directed by ShammHammer that is.
So there you have it folks. 15 terrible films that deserve a sequel. I’m sure there are much more that I’m not thinking of. What films did you hate but thought had enough potential to warrant another one?
I didn’t HATE the first Fantastic Four movie. No, I didn’t like it all that much, but it had it’s moments. The second Fantastic Four movie was just dreadful garbage. Absolutely nothing positive or redeeming about that one… but still it made ok money.
There were a couple of good casting decisions in the franchise (Chris Evans was pretty good and so was Chiklis), but those were offset by some terrible ones too (not the least of which was Jessica Alba as the Invisible woman). When the last film was received so poorly I had major doubts we’d even see another Fantastic Four movie again. Well… it looks like we are. But with a totally different cast and crew.
Yup, looks like the studio is going to reboot Fantastic Four. Our good friends over at IESB give us this:
Fantastic Four over at 20th Century Fox is gearing up for a reboot.
With Daredevil already getting the once over and Planet of the Apes also in the running for a new start with a prequel in the works Fantastic Four is joining the reboot gang. The two films previously released never really caught on with the fans and the studio is reportedly looking to completely retool, recast and recrew the franchise. This means no Tim Story, no Iaon, no Julian (thank the maker, he never sat well with me as Dr. Doom), no Chris, no Chiklis and no Jessica.
The word is that they want to go more towards Iron Man and Dark Knight by making the new Fantastic Four a little less Saturday Morning Cartoonish.
Now, some will say that it’s too early for a reboot… and I would have agreed with you two years ago, but the recent Hulk reboot proved you can do an early reboot and still make it work… and work really well too.
I’ve always thought there was a lot of potential with a fantastic four franchise and I still do. They just need to cast it better, give us some actual… you know… action (the big fight sequence in the last movie was between the Fantastic Four and a Ferris Wheel. Yes, you read that right. The big fight involving the whole Fantastic Four Team was then they has to combat the evil forces of a falling Ferris Wheel. Go team! The film was called “Rise of the Silver Surfer” and yet the Surfer has just a little more screen time in the movie than I did.
For now I’ll say I’m interested in this news. A lot will depend on who they get to direct it.
To be fair to Michael Bay… he did warn us over a year ago that he would purposefully leak fake information about Transformers 2 in order to keep everyone guessing and blur what rumors and “leaks” are true and which ones aren’t. As an online film fan I hate that… but I’ve got to admit it was probably the most brilliant thing he could do.
One of the things he said early on was that Megatron was NOT going to be back in Transformers 2. I think most of us suspected this was one of those “fake” pieces of news since, how can you have a Transformers movie without Megatron in some way, shape or form?
From Bay’s site, “Okay cat is out of the bag. Megatron is back —- but you will only get to see him from the long lost past. We go way back in time as this movie explains the mythology of the Primes. He is not a tank like everyone suggests, but an alien vehicle. But sadly he does not has much screen time. Michael”
This is like A-Rod having to admit he did roids after getting caught. But here’s the thing… even though Bay has admitted Megatron will be back, I don’t think he’s telling the truth about how much Megs will be in the movie. I suspect he’ll have a much larger role than what Bay is letting on right now. What do you think?
There are many beautiful things about Slumdog Millionaire… such a great movie and in my opinion totally deserving of Best Picture (I mean… since Wall-E wasn’t nominated). But today I came across a story that has me more than a little disgusted.
Instead of trying to paraphrase what I read… I’ll just let you read it. Monika over at Cinematical tells us the following:
When we think of child actors, it’s easy to think of rich, overly indulgent scenarios like the one Don McKellar outlined in Childstar. But that’s not always the case — especially for the tykes of Slumdog Millionaire. It only lost two of its ten Oscar nominations, but for the young Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubiana Ali, post-Slumdog life isn’t coming up roses.
On the heel of news that the kids were getting trust funds and school funding, The Telegraph reports that they are reeling after their whirlwind taste of luxury life at the Oscars. Azhar has been suffering from a 103 temperature and vomiting since returning home, a condition which isn’t helped by the fact that he doesn’t have a physical home to rest in (although neighbors are trying to build a metal structure for the kid to rest in out of the sun). Meanwhile, Rubina still wears the now-stained gown she wore to the Oscars, wishing to live in America and sleep in “a proper bed and live where the air does not smell of poo.”
The piece, which includes a lot of heart-breaking words from the children, points out how challenging it is for these kids to see and experience the absolute opposite of their lives, only to return to it and feel forgotten. So far, there have been no flats for the families to move to, and reports say that Azhar has even been beaten for wanting to sleep rather than talk to a journalist offering his family money.
First of all, many of you know that I often take the studio’s side when it comes to money disputes between actors and studios. Often an actor will agree to do a movie for a certain amount of money, and then if the movie does HUGE business at the boxoffice they want a bigger piece of the pie (funny how they never offer to give some of their money back if the movie bombs and the producers lose money…. but that a debate for another time). My position has always basically been: If you agree to do a movie for a certain amount, then do it for a certain amount since you didn’t risk anything and don’t stand to lose anything if it fails, you don’t deserve to reap the rewards if it succeeds.
Now remember, we’re often talking about MILLIONS of dollars here. The situation usually involves an actor who made, for example, $2 million, and now wants $5 million or something like that. Maybe made $300,000 and now wants a million. That’s a totally different situation than what we’re talking about here.
The producers of the film aren’t suddenly responsible for these kids just because they used them in a movie. But come on… you didn’t just use them in your movie… you plucked them out of their environment, dressed them up in little suits and dresses and paraded them around Hollywood to increase the “cute” image of your film and get more attention for yourselves. For fuck’s sake, no one is suggesting giving them a million dollars… but how about just making sure they’ve got a place to live and consistently something to eat? I know you’re going to have to spend a lot of money to keep those 8 Oscars you won polished up and shinny… but maybe you can dig deep and help out those kids who help you get the Oscars and attention and millions at the box office in the first place.
Thanks for checking out our Watchmen Review. For years, Watchmen has been the one graphic novel that most comic book fans have been waiting for with insane anticipation. Very few other graphic novel properties held as much potential to be a classic movie… and yet at the same time no other graphic novel seemed to hold as many challenges.
The big question that I, and many other had about Watchmen was: “Could a faithful adaptation work on screen as well as it does on the printed page”? The fear was that a literal translation from page to screen would be too slow and heavy for the average film fan… while at the same time a fear that too much of a departure from the novel would dilute Watchmen into just another shallow comic book superhero film. So with much anticipation and much apprehension I went in to see Watchmen. Did it live up to it’s massive potential or fall into snares of the unique challenges it faced? In my opinion, it lived up to, and exceeded its already impressive potential. For me, Watchmen is the best movie of 2009 so far.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Watchmen looks something like this: “Watchmen” is set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the “Doomsday Clock” - which charts the USA’s tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight. When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future. Their mission is to watch over humanity… but who is watching the Watchmen?”
THE GOOD
Where do I begin? Let’s start with the action. For those of you who have read the graphic novel, you know that Watchmen is not your typical superhero comic book. It’s not filled from cover to cover with big action sequences… yet somehow director Zach Snyder was able to find that delicate balance of inserting very impressive action / combat sequences without taking away from the real identity of the film by making it look or feel like an action movie. Each and every fight / action sequence was masterfully put together. Exciting, beautifully choreographed and shot in such a way that we the audience got to clearly see each second of the action. I’ll tell you right now that while I won’t say Watchmen is either better or worse than the recent Christopher Nolan batman movies… the action sequences (especially the fights) are far superior than anything The Dark Knight offered (aside from maybe the armored truck chase scene).
A theme that went extremely unappreciated in Superman Returns was also used in Watchmen with just as much if not more effectiveness. How does someone with god like power stay connected with the human race? Not just with the others they live with, but with their own humanity as well? As a result of a tragic accident (isn’t that how all superheros get their powers?), Dr. Manhattan finds himself in that situation. We see him over time losing more and more of his humanity and his interest in the human race as a whole. Still barley holding on to his intellectual belief that he SHOULD help humanity, but increasingly letting his actual emotional connection slip away. He still thinks he SHOULD care… but he increasingly doesn’t. In this way Dr. Manhattan, for me, is the most fascinating character in the film whose own moral dilemma stands in a juxtaposition to the self inflicted crisis the human race finds itself in. For me, Dr. Manhattan’s observations of the sinking world sets the context for the entire story of the film and it was executed beautifully.
If Dr. Manhattan is the most fascinating character in the film, Rorschach is flat out the most cool. I admit I was not thrilled with the casting of Jackie Earle Haley at first. He’s a wonderful actor, but I didn’t buy him for a minute as Rorschach… that is until I saw him actually playing the roll. Now I think it was one of the best castings I’ve seen this year. Without the god like powers of Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach is no less complex of a character. His very loose grip on sanity is grounded in his desire to enforce justice… mostly manifested by a bloodthirsty drive to punish the wicked. Even his old comrades in the Watchmen keep their distance from him now and see him as dangerous, but as we explore the history and past of Rorschach we start to understand what made him snap, losing his connection with humanity. Dr. Manhattan is losing his as a result of his god like power and his lack of common ground with humanity… while Rorschach is losing his as a result of his increased disgust with the state of humanity. Brilliantly played out.
Creating an alternative world within the real world and real history is no small task, filled with the potential to be cheesy. Thankfully, Snyder found a way to make it interesting and remarkably believable. Sure… Richard Nixon was elected for a third term as president… and the audience didn’t blink. This world was gritty, real and filled with the authentic fears and tension of the cold war which were pivotal to making the story work.
At it’s heart, Watchmen is a mystery film. Who is killing off the heroes? What is the bigger conspiracy and what is its goals? The movie is pushed along by these questions which also sets the framework for the rest of the story to exist within. On this level it works extremely well. Since I read the graphic novel I already knew the answers to those questions… and somehow the movie got me just as caught up in the pursuit of the answers as other people who had no idea. Brilliant!
Throughout the film the movie raises larger moral questions. The standard black and white textures of comic book films (which is often perfect for comic book films) is replaced by endless shades of grey. Where does justice stop and vengeance begin? To what extent do the ends justify the means? How great does the “greater good” have to be in order to warrant unspeakable actions? Does humanity even deserve to be saved? These are huge questions that Watchmen resists the urge to give quick trite answers too. Each character comes to their own conclusions and beliefs.
THE BAD
I’ve got to say that I wasn’t impressed by Malin Akerman’s performance as Silk Specter II. As a matter of fact, I found that just about anytime she spoke it pulled me out of the film. The dialog was fine, the character itself was fine… the performance was not. I’m not saying Malin Akerman isn’t a fine actress (I haven’t seen her enough to give that opinion), but for whatever reason, she stood out as a high school play in the midst of a Shakespearean festival.
The film’s decision to use of a younger actress, Carla Gugino, to play the aged Silk Specter I was a terrible one. Oh she was great in the flashback scenes showing her when she was a superhero and young… but they should have just cast a different older actress to play the much older version. Not only did they not have her ACT old enough, she LOOKED terrible… she looked like a young woman in bad old woman make up. Much like Malin Akerman’s performance, it pulled me out of the movie whenever it was on screen.
I found the last 5 minutes of the film or so started to unravel a bit. I think the film did indeed need a little bit of an epilogue to it, but they didn’t do one very well and felt like it was just filling screen time as opposed to putting a book end on the story. But this is a minor point and thankfully it was pretty short.
OVERALL
Watchmen is a brilliant, wonderfully shot, wonderfully told and wonderfully experienced movie that skillfully navigated the potential pitfalls that a story like this one presents. Vibrant and complex characters, exciting and beautiful action sequences, an exceptional story with a compelling mystery and broader themes and questions rarely approached in “comic book” films. A few small slips here and there with some poor choices in terms of casting or endings doesn’t at all derail the Watchmen steam train. A terrific film. I can understand and see why certain other critics may not appreciate the film nearly as much as I’ve ended up appreciting it… but I disagree with them. Go see it… see it a couple of times to really catch everything going on. You’ll be glad you did.
Movie Blog reader Randal sent this to me earlier this afternoon. We’ve seen these little mashups of the Hitler clip before, but this one is over his dismay about the ending to Watchmen.
Warning: This could be considered a spoiler… so watch at your own risk:
I posted yesterday how good I think this new movie, Public Enemies” looks. Now the first full Public Enemies trailer has hit the web… and damn does it look sweet!!!
There’s no doubt that Danny Boyle is a very gifted filmmaker (although I thought Sunshine was a horrible and overrated film). He’s also very hot right now with a couple of Oscars just recently added to his trophy case for Slumdog Millionaire . He’s also British… so it’s not a surprise that there are whispers going around that Danny Boyle has been offered the chance to direct an upcoming James Bond film.
Now, before we get too excited, it has to be mentioned that this is coming from an ify source that is sometimes right and sometimes wrong.
Still, with that being said it is an interesting concept. The good folks over at Cinematical give us this:
Remember, this is shaky. The best The Sun can do is cite an anonymous source — and all this alleged source says is that Boyle has been offered the film, not that he’s accepted, or is even seriously considering it. It seems reasonable that the offer would be made, though. Obviously he’s in high demand after winning the Oscar last week, and at various times all sorts of directors, from Tarantino to Spielberg, have been rumored to be interested in making a Bond film. Furthermore, Boyle is British, which used to be a prerequisite for a Bond director but has not been enforced lately.
The question is, would he be a good fit? One of the things I like about Boyle is that he’s proven adept at an astonishing variety of genres, from horror to whimsy to sci-fi to whatever Slumdog was. I have no doubt he could make a full-bore espionage caper if he wanted to, and he could probably dig the franchise out of the Jason Bourne-copying rut it got stuck in with Quantum of Solace.
I’m not completely sure how I would feel about this if it’s true. Boyle is a brilliant director… but can he really do this kind of action flick? Who knows really, but it is an intriguing idea. So what do you think? Would you be up for Danny Boyle taking a shot at James Bond, or do you have another director in mind that you’d rather see take the helm?
You know what really sucks? When they make a “sequel” to a movie that has nothing to do with the original movie whatsoever, or very little to do with the original. How the fuck do they make a Road House 2 movie without Patrick Swayze? How on earth do you make Open Water 2 that has nothing in common with Open Water other than the fact that there’s water involved?
And most importantly… how the hell do you make a Point Break 2 without either Patrick Swayze or Keanu Reeves???
Well… I came across this little tid bit over at Coming Soon about the upcoming “movie” (I’m willing to put money up that this thing goes straight to on Demand or DVD)
Moviehole reports that Melbourne actor Damian Walshe-Howling will play the villain-a sea pirate named Dali-in the Jan de Bont-directed Point Break Indo. Walshe-Howling has appeared in Ned Kelly and series “Blue Heelers” and “Underbelly.” In the film, Dali and his team wear masks of “The Bush Administration” (George Bush, Colin Powell, Dick Cheney, etc.) as they strip boats for loot. Dali’s sister, Teela, ends up falling in love with Billy Dalton, an undercover Fed working in Dali’s gang, which complicates matters.
I think my next movie that I’m going to direct will be No Country For Old Men 2. Oh it won’t have Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones or Josh Brolin in it. It’ll be about a poker player in Vegas who loves to eat pork chops and is warned by his doctor that he has to slow down. That makes sense right?
Hey you know what’s funny? You know how Rob Zombie directed a remake of Halloween? And you know how just a few years earlier Zombie said a filmmaker who does a remake is an “asshole”? Well… he’s doubling up and doing the sequel now.
I’m not a fan of Rob Zombie as a director at all and I certainly didn’t like the first Halloween flick he did (the funny thing is, I really dig his music). So obviously I have about 0% anticiaption for his follow up, H2 (oh what a clever name). Anyway, the first pictures from H2 are now online over at the site of our good friends at ShockTillYouDrop. You can see them here.
Oh, and for those of you who forgot… here’s what Rob Zombie said about directors who make remakes…. just before he went and did a remake:
I feel it’s the worst thing any filmmaker can do. I actually got a call from my agent and they asked me if I wanted to be involved with the remake of Chain Saw. I said no fucking way! Those movies are perfect - you’re only going to make yourself look like an asshole by remaking them. Go remake something that’s a piece of shit and make it good. Like with my movie (House of 1000 Corpses) I have elements of Chain Saw in it because I love that movie so much, but I wouldn’t dare want to “remake” it. It’s like a band trying to be another band.
I’ve been looking forward to tonight for a long time. I’m off to finally see Watchmen! But even with all my anticipation, I’ve been a little nervous that the movie may try to stick TOO closely to the graphic novel (see my post from yesterday)
Well, despite starting off strong on Rottmatoes with a 90% after the first handful of reviews came in, it looks like Watchmen has dropped down to just a 68% as of this moment. Yikes! Ok, now I’m really nervous.
