Sci- Fi Bonanza! Plus Awesome Django Unchained TV spots

Two bits of sci-fi news today for you lovely people today. Firstly, Ridley Scott’s Forever War has got a writer. Dante Harper, who is yet to have a screen play actually delivered onto the big screen, has been announced to help translate the classic sci-fi novel into moving pictures. Untested as he is (although note the releases that will come out soon, on IMDB)I trust RS to deliver on all things sci-fi, especially one that has been at the back of his mind for a looong time. If this isn’t magnificent I’ll eat my hat.

The other bit of news is that the plot synopsis for Star Trek Into Darkness has been released. Official bumbf says: “When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis.

“With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.” Which all sounds rather marvellous I think.

Now you fine individuals, two cracking Django Unchained TV spots here and here.  

Wikileaks and Scary Aliens

The word is out that Laura Linney is in talks with DreamWorks about their, as yet untitled, Wikileaks project. There is nothing I like to see more than British actors doing important, mainstream films, so the idea of Benedict Cumberbatch, James McAvoy and LL featuring in a project about one of the most important  issues of the last 5 years is really bloody cool.

There is also this trailer, for the film Dark Skies. Which is a horror movie with aliens. I am, basically, fine with aliens, so this might be one horror movie that I actually watch, rather than scrabbling for the off button on the remote when its ad comes on TV…

Men in Tights and Weird Scots News

First up: Zack Snyder has been making cryptic comments that it will be his version of Superman that will appear in a 2015 Justice League film. He said, "I don’t know how Justice League is going to be handled. Honestly, I don’t. But ‘The Man of Steel’ exists, and Superman is in it. I don’t know how you’d move forward without acknowledging that," in a recent interview with The New York Post.  This is on top of confirmation that there will be at least another two Superman films in the current series. It would be pretty odd to have two representations of Superman running concurrently. So I guess this is pretty good confirmation that the Supes we will see in JLA 2015 will be Henry Cavill. I’ll keep you posted.

The other superhero news is a bit of clarification on the tone of Iron Man 3 will be darker, but not as dark as the Dark Knight. Think Mocha, not Espresso. Producer Kevin Feige said, in The West Australian, “It’s not a serious movie, but we do seriously dig into exploring more of Tony”. Which doesn’t make things entirely clear, but it sounds pretty interesting. Bring on 2014.

Finally, Fox Searchlight has secured the rights to a Susan Boyle biopic. Don’t really care about this but it gave me an opportunity for a funny picture. Tune in next time for some more hard hitting journalism and deep analysis. 

Slow News Sunday!

Wow, really not much to say today. This footage arrived on the web of the filming of Terry Gilliham’s The Zero Theorem. From what I can see the aesthetic looks pretty cool. And the plot looks interesting. So yeah, keep an eye out I guess. I’ll bring you something more interesting tomorrow. Cub Scout Promise.

Here is a funny picture of some cats...

Nemesis and TMNT News.

Before we get onto more trivial stuff I want to say RIP Larry Hagman, you will be missed.

Twitter, oh great font of some knowledge, we shall never again doubt your ability to provide semi reliable news. This week’s possible truth is that there is an adaptation of Mark Millar’s Nemesis. Having read the Wikipedia article on Nemesis, and having read some of Millar’s other stuff, I can confirm that this is 

something to get pretty excited about. If it’s anything like the recent adaptation of Kick Ass it will be fricken sweet.  Anyway the tweety business can be found here, at the moment it all seems legit. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Other than that, Corey Feldman has said he has been “in communication” with Michael Bay, about reprising his role as Donatello in an upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. Which I guess is good for fans of the original TV show. That said, given that Bay has a history of bending popular franchises over a table, I’m finding it pretty difficult to get excited about this. I think I speak for everyone of a certain generation when I say “Mike, please don’t take a dump on our childhood… again”. That is all. 

Late to the Party Reviews: Ted

The big problem with Ted is that the jokes don’t stretch far enough. While the main joke, that there is a womanising, dope smoking, sweary teddy bear running around, might last for a half an hour TV episode, in a film it gets really old really quickly. That’s not to say that it isn’t funny, it’s about a million times funnier that a lot of films that come out, it’s just that it isn’t as funny as it could be. It’s like too little jam spread over one massive crumpet.

The other major beef I have with the film is that a lot of the humour is aimed pretty low. Whilst that other MacFarlene project, Family Guy, often mixes up the crude with quite sophisticated (not entirely sure that’s the right way to describe it, but anyway…) jokes, Ted seems like it’s been pitched much lower. I don’t know whether this is just because McFarlene had an off day, or whether it was a conscious decision to give the film a broader appeal. Whatever the reason, it’s a real shame, if I wanted to watch something at this level I would go and see Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay for the tenth time.   

Again though, it’s not that the film isn’t funny, it’s just that it feels like it could have been a lot funnier. And that’s pretty damning in a comedy film. The one thing that I will say in its favour is that the fight scenes are all really good. This is one of the things that I have always found odd about MacFarlene, how the hell does he manage to choreograph such awesome fights? Anybody who has seen the Peter Griffin vs Giant Chicken fights will know what I mean. I mean, it wasn’t enough to change my ultimate opinion of the film, but it was still nice to see.  

So there you go then, a pretty funny film, with some good fights, but which is basically a bit disappointing. Watch it if you like Seth MacFarlene anyway, but don’t expect it to change your life.

Watch if you like: Family Guy

If you like this then watch: Harold and Kumar 

Fun Friday Trailer Time

This looks funny, way funnier the 21 and Over. British comedy FTW!

This looks cool. Kinda makes me want to watch the first one. Korean girl vs. weird fish monster, who will win? The video also has a cool bit showing before and after CGI at the end, which is awesome if you are into that sort of thing.

And this looks way better than I previously thought. Looks like it might be a genuinely good retelling of an old fairy story, without being shit.

SEALS and Supes!

Millennium films, well known for The Expendables, have bought a high concept script, titled "High Value Target",  by Spencer Cohen, well known for not much, about a US Special Ops team (actually not SEALS, but the picture wouldn’t have worked otherwise) shooting some Somali pirates.  Kind of like Pirates of the Caribbean, only with more geo-politics, and fewer zombies. It’ll be shot in a found footage style, which is soooo original… I mean seriously, The Blair Witch Project was 12 years ago, get over it. Anyway, I think that the subject matter needs to be treated pretty sensitively, otherwise the whole thing will end up being in terrible taste, and probably rubbish. Let’s hope it’s not.    

Other than that, Zack Snyder has confirmed that the first trailer for Man of Steel (i.e. the Superman film, not a biopic of Stalin, which would also be pretty cool I guess) will premier before The Hobbit. Which is fan-bloody-tastic. I was already massively excited to see Bilbo et al. and this is just the icing on the nerdy cake. Awesome news. 

Late to the Party Reviews: Prometheus

Back in 1979 Ridley Scott directed a film called Alien. It was bloody awesome. In 2012 he directed the prequel, called Prometheus. Is it as good as the original? No. Is it still very good? Yes. Here’s why.

Firstly, the sense of pacing is good. You might fondly remember how very little happens in Alien for half of the movie, in a good way. Prometheus is pretty much the same, the enjoyment is in the wait. It’s a pretty bold director who holds of action for so long, but it works and really builds the tension.

That said, no amount of clever pacing could save the film if the acting was rubbish. Luckily Fassbender has managed to avoid dropping into his “Oirish” accent. No repeats of X-men: First Class here! (seriously, kinda breaks the realism when Magneto starts sounding like an extra in Father Ted). Other than that Idris Elba is reliably good, although he isn’t on Stringer Bell form (The Wire, watch it) and that bloke from Pete vs Life is also, surprisingly, good. Although, why do they give them all weird American accents? Do they think that we won’t believe that Chas from Elephant and Castle can fly a space ship? Especially when there are other Brits who get to keep their voices. Odd, very odd.

Anyway, the other thing that really sets the film apart is the way that it looks. The style is very similar to the original Alien, and it has that cool H R Giger vibe running through it as well.  The action scenes are also very pretty in a way that it is not immediately easy to put your finger on. It’s a tasty morsel for the eyes, in addition to everything else.

That’s not to say the film is perfect. It’s burdened by some huge expectations that it doesn’t quite live up too (how could it, given how fricken cool Alien is), some of the plot points don’t make a huge amount of sense, and  there are lots of questions that are left unanswered, which, to some, might seem like a pretty cynical set up for a sequel. Overall though, this is a cracking movie and, as far as I‘m concerned, well worth a watch.    

Watch if you like: Alien

If you liked this watch: Moon

Rush Hour Rumours and Trailer Time

First up is Rush hour 4: Chris Tucker has confirmed that he and Jackie Chan are “…trying to get something going…” on the project. Given that this is still massively early days there aren’t really any details knocking about, so no word on whether Brett Ratner would return. That’s pretty much that all there is at the moment. Having never really been into the Rush Hour films I don’t know how I feel about this but who knows, maybe it’ll be good?

Other than that there are these trailers:

This is cool, more World War Z is always appreciated. Although I am massively not loving Pitt’s six year old girl hair cut teamed with creepy beard, WTF?    

As with all comedy trailers its pretty hard to tell if this will actually be any good, let’s hope it more The Hangover than The Hangover II eh?

P.s MLK biopic seems to be getting wheels, if you’re into that sort of thing check this out.  

More Star wars Not News!

In keeping with what is becoming a rather tedious routine, yet another person has ruled themselves out of the running for directorship of Episode VII. This week’s not director is Brad Bird, well known for not directing such classics as Ben-Hur, Apocalypse Now, and that video of a cat getting tickled, who has stated categorically, on Twitter, that he would NOT be sitting in the big chair. So that’s that then.

Nah nah nah another one bites the dust…

Heat Trailer Looks Cool

This. Thought the film was going to look rubbish, having watched this I'm pretty bloody excited.

Saturday Bits

Two big things for you today.

Firstly this trailer. Looks incredible doesn't it? I mean just look at that cast: Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg (he is so good in The Social Network), Michael Caine, to name but a few. Not only that but the action looks cool to, future magic and bank heists are both cool but you get something special when you put them together. Like cheese and toast. It's set for a summer release next year.

Secondly there is this new Hobbit TV spot. The more I see the more I can't wait to actually get to watch this film. I bloody love Martin Freeman. Seriously. Like, too much. Anyway, they seem to have got the balance between the humor of the book and the epicness of the story, so that's good. 

Other than that, Pacific Rim and Gravity have been announced in Imax format. So that's good if you need your sci-fi huge, and in an extra D.   

Because I couldn't find a suitable picture to match the post, here is one of Boba Fett fighting Deadpool. 

  

Late to the Party Reviews: Looper

Do you love films about time travel? Does Terminator get you hot under the collar? Does Hot Tub Time Machine make you feel weak at the knees? If so, you know you should probably go watch Looper. If not, let me tell why you should anyway.

Firstly, the acting is pretty great, particularly from Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who has really been going from strength to strength in the past few years. There are also commendable performances from Jeff Daniels and the child actor, who's name doesn't matter until we are sure he isn't going to become a burnt-out coke fiend.

The setting is also pretty cool. Think 1930’s retro-futurism meets post-apocalyptic dystopia, with a healthy dose of gangster movies mixed in. It’s an interesting look, and it feels pretty appropriate in a film about time travel jiggery pokery. There are also some cool effects and techniques employed and some rather lovely cinematography. The film is, overall, pretty hot.    

Finally, and I reckon most importantly, the writing is top-notch. There are a couple of classic self-referential comments made about how complicated the subject matter can be, and universally the dialogue is punchy and witty.

In fact, the weakest part of film is actually the time travelling stuff. It doesn’t seem to really engage in the intellectual problem as, say, the Spanish horror film Timecrimes (watch that too). The ending was the weakest part of the film, and is a total cliché of the genre.

This is a film that has pretty broad appeal. It is not so convoluted as to put off the casual, but probably has enough meat to keep the hard-core happy. Go and see it, you will probably like it.

Watch if you like: The Terminator films (the good ones)

If you like this you might also like: Timecrimes  

Videogames Galore!

Jez Butterworth (who?) has been confirmed to be writing the adaptation of Asteroids, yes, that Asteroids. Not being at all aware of what he has done in the past, I’m not sure how I feel about this. The film could go one of two ways - either it could be a cool, interesting, adaptation (I absolutely love the original game, it takes a massive dump on Pong) or it could be bland rubbish. If Rihanna gets cast in a lead role I will lose all my faith in humanity, just sayin'.  

In other news, director Scott Derrickson, fresh from Sinister’s  successes, will be sitting in the big chair for the adaptation of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Deus Ex is a great series, and the latest installment is no different, I hope its treated in a sensitive and respectful manner. If we get a rerun of what happened with Doom (brilliant games, terrible films) and Resident Evil (average games, appalling films) I’m going to spend at least a fortnight crying myself to sleep.  

Weekend Watches: Human traffic, Pineapple Express, The Matrix

Friday Night is for Going Out – Human Traffic

Documenting the lead up and the fallout of an epic night out in Cardiff, you need to watch this if you are planning a “Big One” tonight. E.D, insane club owners, and Howard Marks all feature in this homage to 90’s club hedonism. The weekend has landed!

Hung-over Saturday – Pineapple Express

If my experience is anything to go by, hung over people are pretty similar to stonners: they both like food, something funny to watch and are unlikely to do anything vaguely physical with any degree of competence. This Saturday order a Pizza, pop on this this stonner action comedy (trust me, like a reggae reggae pizza, the combo, unexpectedly, works) and do not operate any heavy machinery.

Lazy Sunday – The Matrix

I watched this film again the other day and I remembered how bloody marvellous it is. If you haven’t seen this splicing of philosophy and classic 90’s action, fix that. If you have, treat yourself to a rewatch, you’ll thank yourself.   

P.S Under no circumstances watch the Matrix sequels, they are massive smelly turds.  

Trailers for Wednesday!

Looks... interesting, but weird 
Looks... like it might be good, despite twilight
Looks... awful
That's all folks!

Kit Harrington to be Involved in Lava Based Extravaganza

Kit Harrington aka “the best looking bastard north ofWinterfell” is to star as a slave in Roman Polanski’s upcoming Pompeii flick. Love Kit Harrington and love Polanski (well his films at least) so this is pretty good news.

 All we know so far is that the plot will involve Kit being a slave, doing some slave type stuff – lusting after his bosses’  daughter, getting whipped, you know the drill – and then, presumably, a big mountain blows up because, you know, it would be a bit pointless having a film set in Roman Pompeii otherwise…  Anyway, I think we’re all looking forward to find out some more details soon. I’ll keep you posted.

New Man of Steel to be “Serious”

The upcoming pants-and-cape-a-thon will, it has been revealed, take the series in a darker, more realistic direction. Well, as realistic as a film about an alien who hovers about, occasionally fighting bald men, can be.

In an interview with the LA Times Director Zack Snyder said “it’s a more serious version of Superman. It’s not like a heart attack. We took the mythology seriously. We take him as a character seriously. I believe the movie would appeal to anyone. I think that you’re going to see a Superman you’ve never seen before.”

This is such bullshit. Just because this is a comic book adaptation doesn’t mean that it has to be grittier than a salt and gravel sandwich. Not everything has to try and be Watchmen, mostly because that film/comic is close to being the best thing ever, and especially not Superman as it’s about as far away from “dark” as it is possible to be. I am just really worried that we might end up with will be  this:

Which, whilst unintentionally hilarious, is massively crap.  

Warm Bodies Looks Funny

More zombie related goodness here. Cant wait for this to come out next February, I have so much love for Nicholas Hoult.

Skyfall is Massive, Lego Film Looks Cool, and Some Actual News About Episode VII

Skyfall has officially grossed more at the US box office than any other Bond film ever. Having grossed $87.8 million since opening in the States alone, and over $500 million worldwide, one thing is clear - people really bloody love this movie. I reckon it is already on track to being one of the great Bond films of all time.

Funny man Will Ferrell and awesome man Liam Neeson are set to star in the new Lego film. They join Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Morgan Freeman and Nick Offerman in the increasingly sweet looking cast. The film is about a mistaken identity leading to unintended, and presumably hilarious, series of events. Pretty standard plot, but I can imagine some funny, block related, antics involved. I really love the recent Lego video games, so hopefully this will be as good as them. 

Finally, Little MissSunshine scribe Michael Arndt is set to write the new Star Wars. That film was good so, hopefully, that means that this film won’t suck harder than an easy dyson. We’ll have to wait and see…  

More Star Wars Not News

I’ve felt a bit left out by not wildly speculating about what the new Star Wars film might or might not have in it, or who might or might not be involved. So here goes: I reckon it will be a gritty political drama about the Ewoks. It will just be them sitting about in their Ewok parliament discussing complex, tree based, zoning issues. There will be no action, but lots of long, thoughtful soliloquies about the nature of humanity (or Ewokity). It will star Will Smith as every singly character (including extras) and feature cameos from Karl Rove and George W. Bush. I will be super peeved if it isn’t exactly how I just described.

In other news:  ZackSnyder, QuentinTarantino and Steven Spielberg are all confirmed not to direct. See what I mean about not news?

Please God Let Star Wars Episode 7 be This

This.

3D 4EVA!

Quick round up of some 3D news from the last few days. First of the bat is that the new Superman flick, Man of Steel, will be released in the format. I can imagine this would work pretty well with the big ol‘ Kryptonian flying about, kind of like Avatar, but with fewer pterodactyl lookalikes and more capes-and-pants combos.

Secondly there is this picture:

Awesome, just awesome. Not being old enough to remember seeing this on the big screen last time round I am super psyched. I bloody love dinosaurs. 

Finally, we have the news that (following the tragic death of Tony Scott) the actually finished Top-Gun 3D won’t be released any time soon. Not being a huge fan of the film I can’t say I am massively disappointed, but I feel for all those who were hoping to see their favourite homoerotic aviation fest in an extra dimension. Bad luck guys, maybe next time eh?

     

First Look World War Z

This. Made of awesome.

Fancy a Cornetto? Asks Dancing Zombie

Rumours are spreading on the interwebs that the final installment of the Blood and Ice Cream trilogy will include dancing zombies, apparently. Cryptic, or at least pretty ambiguous, tweets from actors Thomas Matthews and Courtney Cornfield suggest that Edgar Wright is returning to familiar, undead, territory, mixed with some tasty shapes.

I loved both the other films in the series, and rumours like this just get me more intrigued. Wright is super funny and talent (as, of course, are Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). I can’t wait until next year.

Side Effects Looks Awesome

Watch this. Film’s out next march, I’m excited as balls.

Wreck-It Ralf Smashes US Box Office

The animated story of a video game villain who dreams of being a hero has made an estimated $49.1 over the weekend. It looks cool and I love John C Reilly, so I can’t wait to see it. US viewers are giving it rave reviews, which makes it pretty frustrating it isn’t being released until mid-February next year in the UK. I mean seriously, why the wait? Do they need to translate it? Add in all the missing Us in the subtitles? Until then this trailer will have to do I suppose. 

Del Toro to Direct New DC Team-Up Movie

Guillermo del Toro has announced that he hopes to sit in the director’s chair for a big DC team up. DT has cautiously given the project title as Heaven Sent, meaning it won’t be a justice league movie, and it’ll feature a collection of the more supernatural and monstrous characters from the DC canon.  

While I think del Torro is super cool and that this movie will probably be totally boss, (the line-up includes Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, The Spectre, Deadman and Phantom Stranger), I’m a little bit peeved that I’m still waiting for that JL because, let’s be honest here, aren’t we all? But, like I said, I have much love for the crazy Spaniard and, if he pulls this off, it should be totes amazeballs. Let’s hope this doesn’t go the way of his Hobbit adaptation… 

Is Air New Zealand the Best Airline Ever?

Peep dis shiz.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters Red Band Trailer

This looks so awesome.

Jamie Foxx to (Maybe) Play Electro in New Spidey

Reports from Variety and cryptic tweets suggest that the multi award winning actor will don some, rather fetching, green tights as the super villain in the follow up to this year’s web-fest. It’s all rumour and intrigue at the moment, but, if true, this is cracking news. Foxx is a bloody marvellous actor and would be an awesome addition to the movie. Bring on 2014.