Monday, August 31st, 2009

I have always said that sometimes The Walt Disney Company gets more bad press than they deserve. Sure, they are the most shrewd of all Hollywood businesspeople, as well as being known on the blogsphere for being wildly hypocritical in most of their judgments, not to mention being branded as racists from Dumbo to The Princess and the Frog. Yet, they continue to pump out great films such as WALL-E and this year's Up alongside Pixar, and no matter how overpriced, continues to generate the one place on earth that lives up to the affectionate term of "magical", the Walt Disney World Resort. However, when I turned on the ol' computer today, I read that the big conglomerate mouse had finally gone too far, they had bought Marvel Comics. We have a plethora of questions that arise from this $4 billion deal that occurred this morning, including what will happen to the movie properties and plans that Marvel Entertainment had lined up for the upcoming years, culminating in a collaborative Avengers adaptation? Does this spell the end for the chance to see a quality Wolverine film, based on the works of Frank Miller and Chris Claremont? When will we face an inevitable Disney/Marvel crossover? A better question, will Pixar dabble in the newly acquired 5,000 Marvel characters? Even away from the relevancy of this movie blog, what about the comics? Disney television deals? Universal Studios Islands of Adventure's fate has my inner traveler nervous. Will Disney destroy Marvel? Will characters like Frank Castle/The Punisher be re-worked to become family-friendly to fit the Disney brand? Will Stan Lee still be a huge influence in the Marvel offices? What will the folks affiliated with Marvel say about the merger?

I suppose most of these questions will be answered in the next few days that follow, but right now the media shit storm is in full swing, and MTV has posted an article about what we supposedly know about the deal thus far. You can also check out the official press release at Marvel's official site, and I have yet to find, but I've read that somewhere on there, you can actually listen to CEO Isaac Perlmutter's conference call. Also, a link to the first place I read the story, BBC News. And don't forget to check out what the non-movie crowd is saying, via the comment section on Geekologie. Also, not missing a beat, don't miss Cinematical's weekly article Girls on Film, where Monika Bartyzel compares the classic Disney princesses and Marvel's top heroines. There is also an article on the site by Jeffrey M. Anderson, featuring lots of rather cheesy jokes that in all actuality touches on the fears of all geeks the world over at the moment. And for one final link to the story, the picture comes courtesy of coverage at Kotaku.

So, with the future of comic books-to -silver screen in jeopardy for a cinephile, what could possibly make the news day worse? How about a franchise that doesn't know when to quit? How about three?

First, Variety reports that even after Halloween II was just able to climb to the number three spot at the box office this weekend, the franchise may be continuing, sans current director Rob Zombie. The Weinsteins have apparently got a yet-to-be-named filmmaker on tap to take the franchise in a different direction, and a different dimension... or what's becoming a very cliché gimmick in 3-D.

Also from Variety, it was announced today that Nu Image and Millennium Films greenlit a fifth film in the Rambo franchise. Sweet Jesus, that is just a terrible idea.

Finally, just when you thought you couldn't take anymore, The Hollywood Reporter declares that Peter Craig is writing a new screenplay for a third Bad Boys for Columbia Pictures. We are yet to find out if Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith or Martin Lawrence will return. Also, would it even really matter?

Finally, if you haven't lost all your hope in the wonderful world of cinema, The Final Destination took the top spot at the box office this weekend, topping the second week of Inglourious Basterds by a little over $8 million, not even to mention $27 million over Big Fan. Try not to kill yourselves before tomorrow.

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

I've yet to see Halloween II yet, and even though I still plan to do so, most of my class and work conversations today somehow drifted off to how awful Rob Zombie's latest in the franchise reboot actually is. The good thing however, is that the release has given us reasons to talk about classic horror cinema, like John Carpenter's original flick. In fact, the picture in the corner there of Jamie Lee Curtis is part of a gallery on Rotten Tomatoes of their favorite pictures of movie scream queens, which covers everyone from Faye Wray of the original 1933 version of King Kong to Scout Taylor-Compton, the actress that took over the role of Laurie Strode in Zombie's version of the Halloween franchise, originally portrayed by Curtis, as evidenced above. Worth a look on a slow news day.

Continuing on the topic of Rob Zombie, when he announced yesterday that a possible re-make of the 1958 horror flick The Blob could be in the works, he must have loosened the ground for Joel Silver not to care to upset a few horror fanatics by announcing today, via Collider, that he plans on remaking the 1982 comic-to-film adaptation of Swamp Thing, originally directed by Wes Craven. This is a case that to me, is exactly like yesterday's statement concerning The Blob. Sure, special effects could update the film, but really, the only reason people even remember the mostly bad Swamp Thing is the kitsch factor and that should be left alone. Also, if you read the article, it sounds more like Silver is concerned with capitalizing on the medium of 3-D instead of searching for a film that would actually work well with the gimmick. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon with the first property he can find, maybe he should focus on a finding a project that works on its own. I would jump aboard this though if it got a decent enough writer that would follow Alan Moore's work with the comics, but if anybody's ever read what Silver said his version of Watchmen would have been like, I seriously doubt we could see the representation of the un-commercial work of Moore make the big-screen horror/3-D market.

Cinematical has an interview up with Patton Oswalt. If there is anybody that actually reads my blog, you may recall that I've been saying from what I've seen, I am very much hoping for an Oscar caliber performance from Oswalt in Big Fan, which debuted yesterday. Do I think it will happen, not a shot in hell, but I'm still very much a supporter of this film even though it came nowhere near me and once again, I will probably have to wait for the DVD release before I can enjoy it. The directorial debut of Robert D. Siegel looks great though, and if you are like me and awaiting your chance to see this, the interview should tide you over for a bit.

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Before Frank Darabont directed the seminal classic The Shawshank Redemption, he was known to some cinema-lovers as one of the scribes on the failed remake of the bizarre horror flick, The Blob. After reading a Variety article that Rob Zombie, director of Halloween II, opening today actually, was working on a script treatment for another remake of the Steve McQueen starring 1958 original version to start production after his music tour this winter, the Darabont connection was the most positive comment I could think of, for a director that I generally enjoy. I loved watching the Zombie hosted TCM Underground, so I know the director himself has decent taste. His original films, The Devil's Rejects for example, work as exploitative throwback homages to the films he enjoyed in a different era. Yet, when he took on John Carpenter's excellent Halloween, a film I still consider to be one of the scariest ever made despite the passage of time, I couldn't see how he expected to top it, and if that wasn't his goal, why even soil the name of the fantastic slasher? But the most unsettling part about the read beyond the link is not that Zombie may potentially destroy the kitschy 50's horror movie, but that they quote the White Zombie front man as saying that his "intention is not to have a big red blobby thing". Maybe next, he can ruin Tod Browning's Freaks, you know, without the freaks... Ridiculous.

A film that I've not heard very much about is Agora, set to be released this December, starring Rachel Wiesz and directed by Alejandro Amenabar. The film is the supposed true story retelling of the life of Hypatia of Alexandria. My personal opinion thus far coincides with a good user review I saw on the film's IMDb page, pretty much insinuating that Weisz looks incredible in a film that she is too good for. Still, I will probably give this thing a chance, provided my mind hasn't completed imploded, seeing that this film will follow Avatar.


I was a bit turned off when I heard rumors a while back about a Heathers remake. Variety this morning pretty much confirms that it will no longer happen, although it is in the worst way possible, via the announcement that Fox is pursuing the property to be re-worked as a series... being penned by Sex and the City's Jenny Bicks. I mean sure, maybe it is unfair to judge by the screenwriter's other work, seeing that Daniel Waters, the original scribe of the 1989 Michael Lehmann film, went on the next year to write one of the worst movies of all time, the Andrew Dice Clay disaster, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Still, it gives an insomniac movie blogger something to bitch about.

I mentioned up there that Halloween II comes out today. Of course, this is the most commercial release of the week, and something I actually intend on seeing. Zombie's version of Halloween I actually thought would have been great if it was a film of itself, but operating within the shadow of Carpenter's great movie, just didn't have enough strength to live up to the original. I still think Zombie's second part in the series has a tall order in matching up to Carpenter's sequel effort, which was panned by about half of the critics. I have watched every Halloween film though, and can't wait to see if Zombie can prove my preconceptions wrong. This is still not my most anticipated film of the week though. That prestige belongs to Robert D. Seigel's directorial debut in the Patton Oswalt starring dramedy Big Fan. The trailer to the film looked absolutely excellent, and I have already blogged on how I hope Oswalt's performance matches what the trailer teases, as he could be considered for an everyman choice at the Academy Awards. Also this week, we have another sports movie, The Open Road, starring the interesting combination of Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges that if, for nothing else, would be worth watching just for that pairing. And finally, The Final Destination gets a wide release this week, ruining any credibility to the 3-D medium that all the Avatar hype has installed this past week.

Notice I mentioned Avatar twice? Well, it's getting to the point where I can foresee being required to mention James Cameron's upcoming effort daily on this blog. Today's piece of choice, via Cinematical, a video of Hitler's disliking the hype, in the much used clip of Bruno Ganz' brilliant Downfall performance. It may be sad that Ganz' pitch-perfect acting skills will be more remembered as an Internet meme than the masterful performance that it was, but you can't help but be entertained.