Monday is here, the weekend is gone, and the news is flowing again. What did you guys get up to this weekend? Share your stories after the news...
Matthew Vaughn On Superhero Movies
Matthew Vaughn, director of the upcoming X-Men: First Class, has explained why he jumped on board First Class after filming Kick-Ass. It's an interesting explanation, and it really does ring true with the recent trend for spandex wearing men and women.
"I've always wanted to do a big-budget superhero film and I think we've kind of crossed the Rubicon with superhero films. I think [the opportunity to do one], it's only going to be there two or three more times.
"Then, the genre is going to be dead for a while because the audience has just been pummeled too much."
I can't help but agree. With Captain America, Thor, X-men: First Class, The Green Lantern, Thor, and many more in development or soon to come out, the market is going to be flooded with superheroes.
I think the major problem is the lack of quality in some of the previous releases...Marvel desperately need to get their hands back on the licenses for their products, otherwise the audiences are going to get confused when Hugh jackman doesn't turn up in The Avengers as Wolverine, or wondering why films like Daredevil and Spiderman can't do crossovers whilst Iron Man and The Hulk can...
It's certainly something that needs to be sorted out quickly, before the audience looses interest and the market becomes confusing.
You can read more of the interview HERE.
Some More Non-News On Cloverfield 2
So...I'm pretty sure this has been said before, but by a different guy...I think, infact, that I blogged this a couple days back. Either way, here it is again from a different dude:
"It really isn't the moment for [the sequel] to go any further than it has, but it continues to be a priority for both of us.
"J.J. is very immersed in putting together 'Super 8.' He's in pre-production and really, really passionately getting that together. And I'm passionately finishing 'Let Me In.'"
The interview comes courtesy of MTV.
Quantum Leap Movie?
I'm a pretty big Quantum Leap fan. It's cheesy Science Fiction at its best, with great actors and great storylines. So it's with mixed feelings that I spread the word that a Quantum Leap movie is supposedly in the works.
At the Quantum Leap Retrospective Panel at Comic Con this year, Scott Bakula was quoted as saying:
“The good news is that Don is working on the film script and has a big time Hollywood producer who wants to do it. It’s about time.”
He admitted that he won't be starring in the film, but with any luck “Dean and I will have a part in it somehow.”
Which feels like a massive shame to me. They're still able bodied...and could really pass it off as the same characters, just older. Sam could still be leaping, acting as the guardian angel to so many people, and Al could be helping him with an updated Ziggy.
It could pave the way for a new cast of characters, brining in more leapers and restarting the leaping programme...it could even spawn a new TV series...that'd probably be cancelled after the first season because of declining viewer ratings...
Ah well. More over at Blastr.com.
The Lizard As Spiderman's New Villain?
It would appear so...the original trilogy of films by Raimi was said to be building up to the inclusion of The Lizard as an antagonist, but the cancellation of that series and the loss of Raimi means that it all has to start again.
With the new reboot on the way, it'd appear that Sony are on the lookout for someone to play as The Lizard...and they seem to want Christoph Waltz. But this is all still filed under RUMOUR for the time being.
I'll keep my eyes and ears open, but you can head over to HERE for more on the story.
Avatar
Two pieces of Avatar "news" coming my way today.
The first piece is that the Extended Edition of Avatar is now getting an extra 9 minutes of footage, not just 7, and these added scenes will be more than just boring office clips...apparently we'll be seeing more of the Forst, an extended sex scene, and little bits to show off the struggle between the Na'vi and the RDA.
You can find out some more from James Cameron himself at JoBlo HERE.
The second piece is news about Avatar 2 and 3, though I could have sworn this piece of news was quite old...Cameron has revealed that Avatar 2 and 3 will be filmed back-to-back, though the screenplay will not be written until the studios have greenlit the project.
You can find out more from Total Film HERE.
Nemesis
Nemesis is a comic series created by Mark Millar, the guy behind Kick Ass and many others. In Nemesis, readers are confronted with a character that...well, imagine a caped version of The Joker.
Whilst not entirely original in its premise, it's still an interesting concept and one worth following. So, it's with great pleasure that I pass along the news that Tony Scott is set to direct the movie adaptation.
“The man who shot Maverick in Top Gun, Bruce in the Last Boy Scout, yelled action for Will Smith in Enemy of the State, directed Denzel in Man on Fire (one of the finest revenge movies ever made), had Tarantino rework Hackman’s dialogue in Crimson Tide and gave me Deneuve’s naughtiest performance in The Hunger is directing our movie.
“Oh, AND he did True Romance, for my money the best of all the Tarantino flicks. Tony Scott: I can’t even pretend to be cool about this.”
More information can be found HERE.
I'm.mortal.
Cillian Murphy has some experience with Science Fiction films...he's appeared in both 28 Days Later and Sunshine, along with playing Scarecrow in Batman Begins (and a brief appearance in The Dark Knight), and now he's set to play another interesting role in original title "I'm.mortal".
If you can't tell from the title, the film focuses on a world where Immortality is now an option. If you have the money.
Cillian's character is an officer in a group called the "Timekeepers." I have no idea what it is these guys do, but I assume they'll be tracking down the main character, Will.
Will starts off poor, but he gets some money...and is then accused of murder.
It's an interesting idea, though I think I would have prefered to hear that Cillian had been given the lead role...rather than the rumoured Justin Timberlake...
Read more HERE.
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So I watched Avatar over the weekend...didn't really think much of it. It looked pretty (though, in all honesty, it probably only looks fantastic on the big screen), but the storyline was ultimately bland, predictable, and mostly uninteresting.
The only bits that really interest me are the Science...which isn't explored, so I'll probably pick up The Science Of Avatar and find that more entertaining.
Cameron clearly put a lot of effort into realising the world he created, but he didn't focus on the storyline or script...which was a shame, because I realise that the film COULD have been great...instead it was just mediocre/average/Ok.
Also, did anybody else notice how heavily Anti-Atheist the film was?
Interestingly enough I just finished watching Avatar for the first time myself.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the "bland, predictable, and mostly uninteresting" bit.
But I disagree with "clearly put a lot of effort into realizing the world he created". The story was basically Pocahontas/Dances with Wolves/FernGully.
As far as making the world of Pandora, that was a lot of effort on the technical and creative side of team. Basically all he had to say was "do this". The technology was already there and available, he just happened to have enough monetary backing to go forward with it.
And I'm interested in this "Science of Avatar", because honestly I felt like they took science and shoved a cork up its ass. Seriously, if they had the technology to make it to another planet, I'm sure they'd have enough technology to either A) synthesize whatever material/mineral it was they wanted or B) gather it in such a way that the Na'vi didn't even know they were there (for example, put them in some type of hibernation, and when they woke up the Na'vi would make up some story to explain the lapse of time).
Also, the planet/trees whatever syncing up to any living creature? Sounds more like fantasy, but perhaps I'd believe it if Pandora was some type of experiment from some ancient race of super-tech peoples. Now, there were some philosophical undertones there, for example "what does it mean to be 'me'?", in the case where the tree allows Jake to transfer himself over to his avatar Na'vi body; but this was completely looked over, as if it was just some magic trick (I personally wouldn't say that the new Jake in Na'vi form would be 'him' per say, just another biological entity that happens to have all of his memories).
It was more like they were dismissing science, and supplementing it with mystical forces.
I could keep going on, but I don't have all day. lol. :)
BTW, I try and read all of your blogs here, I just don't comment. Keep it up :)
When I say he clearly ut a lot of effort into creating the world, I mean the amount of detail involved.
ReplyDeleteDid you notice that all the coffee mugs had the logo of the RDA on them? And the pencils, badges, signs, etc, etc.
Whilst it's all fairly easy to do, Cameron made sure that the world was entirely his...