Saturday, August 8th, 2009

With the upcoming release of Neill Blomkamp and producer Peter Jackson's science fiction film District 9 upon us, there has been a lot of talk of the origins of the film, as the movie came to fruition during the development of a big screen adaptation of the XBox game, Halo (More on what happened from Halo to District 9 tomorrow). Of course, I don't think any fan of the genre is terribly upset that the development hell of the immensely popular video game adaptation spawned what looks to be an incredible work; however, it has sparked a good bit of conversation on if we'll ever actually see Master Chief grace the big screen. I have always been a Nintendo enthusiast, using Sony as a dirty, artistically beautiful mistress, leaving no room for the ring of death gamble, so an adaptation of the game isn't moistening my pants exactly. Yet, when it was announced that Jackson would be behind the film, it caught my attention, and now, the new rumor, via IESB, is that Steven Spielberg will be taking the reigns as producer of the film after falling in love with Stuart Beattie's screenplay treatment. Will this spark the interest of the broad cinephile spectrum again? I am also curious to find out if hardcore fans of the game are stoked about this. I mean, really, how could they not at least be slightly excited. Given, I would take Jackson over Spielberg, but we're not exactly talking about a Uwe Boll here. As a note, I realize the picture is of Spielberg holding the Nintendo Wii game, Boom Blox Bash Party, in which he actually developed. It would have been more relevant to show him holding a copy of Halo, or at the very least BioShock, which the aforementioned article brings up as proof that Spielberg is a bit of a gamer. So, in short, Google Image failed me.

Aside from Halo, there is really no other cinema news worth repeating, so I thought I'd take this time of empty space to share a few articles I was reading about John Hughes before I decided to look up the day's happenings. First, ABC News has an article counting down the top five musical moments of the late director's films. Paste Magazine counts down the top ten films written by the very underrated Hughes, the list being topped by The Breakfast Club. The true testament to how influential and awesome Hughes was, is that as much of a staple as The Breakfast Club is, that spot is almost debatable. Finally, here is the ghetto scene from National Lampoon's Vacation, which was written by Hughes. In fact, it was the short story this film was based upon, Vacation '58, that kick started his career at National Lampoon Magazine. Enjoy, and once again, rest in peace.


P.S., ToyRocket has a decent sale. I find it relevant enough to this blog, as plenty of film merchandise and collectables a splayed across the sale.

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Last year, Universal Pictures hit big with the Abba musical Momma Mia!, setting records over in the United Kingdom, and raking in a decent amount stateside as well, and almost inevitably opened the flood gates for Hollywood to begin a musical craze to try to capitalize on the film's earnings. So no surprise that Universal, via RiskyBusinessBlog, announced that there is a remake of the 1970's funky controversial look at the Biblical life of Jesus and Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. I don't really see a remake of this cashing in nearly as much as Momma Mia! did. Can you imagine the religious groups already? In a post-The Passion of the Christ world even? There is so many people now just looking for a reason to be angry or offended at a film such as this. Yet, there is one good thing. It is rumored that Marc Webb, the man behind the wonderfully reviewed film (500) Days of Summer, may be helming the project. I have yet to see his latest effort that stars Zooey Deschanel, but if the trailer and reviews are worth anything to go on, a quirky re-imagining of this may actually be an entertaining idea. Probably not a popular one, but entertaining nonetheless.

In more remake news, Variety reports that a remake of the 1935 swashbuckling classic Captain Blood may be re-worked into the fabric of un-needed films. I do enjoy Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, but I would have to agree that a film that is nearing its 75th anniversary may be remade without a terrible argument, no matter how great it was during the original release. However, it isn't the fact that the film is being remade that bothers me, it is the direction of the story in which the new film will take. The directors, Michael and Peter Spierig, of the upcoming Daybreakers film, and writer John Brownlow is switching the tale from the high seas to outer space. Here's hoping that Daybreakers fails, and this goes straight to Syfy.

MovieWeb had an interview with Eric Bana, in which the actor reveals that he will not return as Captain Nero, the Romulan villain of the latest Star Trek film, in the sequel. If there is much to say bad about J.J. Abrams' adaptation, it is that the villainous time-travelling Romulans wasn't strong enough, speaking of course in terms of Ricardo Montalban as Khan. Not that Bana was bad, but I'm not too crushed of the grand possibilities that could come from the next film.

As you can clearly tell, it is a very, very slow news Saturday. So, if you're like me, and none of the aforementioned news bits keeps your interest alive long enough to go and have a fight on message boards across the web, you can entertain yourself by going over the San Diego Comic Con exclusives on ToyRocket. A few from Star Wars, as well as an Indiana Jones fertility idol from Mighty Muggs, some G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra stuff and a figure from Coraline make it all relevant enough to put on this blog.