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.

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

We have basically seen the new poster for Avatar pictured here already, as the same still of the Zoe Saldana's computer generated character Neytiri was all over the Internet's coverage of the San Diego Comic Con. The only new thing about this to me is the title of the film is there, with a note telling us that James Cameron did, in fact, direct Titanic. So why really post this when it's nothing new? I feel that outside of bloggers and mildly hardcore cinephiles, not enough people care about Avatar, or can distinguish the title from M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender when you mention it in conversation. Not that my unread blog is going to alert the world about what many think will be a milestone in science fiction and computer graphics, but rather that I want to blog more about this film, yet I know nothing about it other than the bit of information of Moviefone, IMDb or Wikipedia.

Variety reports that Hugh Jackman has been cast as the wonderfully eccentric P.T. Barnum in Fox's upcoming "contemporary musical", The Greatest Showman on Earth, to be scripted by Jenny Bicks of Sex and the City fame. A musical biopic of Barnum sounds intriguing to me, as I have always been fascinated with the man, and a musical spin on what I'm sure will be a rather bizarre life story could just be weird enough to truly stand out. The article also mentions that Anne Hathaway is in talks to star opposite Jackman. This thing could possibly have potential, but like so many interesting projects, should we expect this to crash and burn? Especially with the scribe of Sex and the City?

The Hollywood Reporter announced today that Watchmen's Sally Jupiter, Carla Gugino, will team up with Zack Snyder once again in his upcoming film Sucker Punch in a supporting role.

Finally, you can't really go to any movie blog this week without hitting an overload of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, so it is kind of hard to ignore. Today, on Stephen Sommer's official site, we see some concept art for the character Destro, confirming him to keep the metal head he was known for in the cartoon and toy line. Also, in a preview to an interview with Sommers on Cinematical, the web site announces that Sommers is hopeful he will be able to put a sequel into development. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a sequel, because the movie will kill at the box office, despite if the film is a complete train wreck or not. Also, I am personally shocked that the film currently holds a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have to admit that I actually somewhat enjoy Sommers. It doesn't matter that The Mummy and Van Helsing had awful plots, or that they were critically bashed, they were the epitome of a summer popcorn movie, being flashy, fast-paced, high energy, and entertaining enough to make us forget all the stupidities of the plot. However, I cannot see myself leaving G.I. Joe happy, with 1) the super suits and 2) the incredibly high chance that Kid Rock's "American Bad Ass" will pop up somewhere in the film.