Sunday, December 7, 2014

Weekend Movie News 12-5-14 to 12-7-14

        Hello ladies and gentlemen, here is some movie news with some of my thoughts and opinions (which will be in BOLD print). So without further ado...


(NOTE: All of these stories come from comingsoon.net)


        Although he was confirmed for the director’s chair this past summer, Bob Orci will no longer direct the upcoming, still unofficially titled, Star Trek 3 (or 13, depending on your personal understanding of temporal dynamics). What’s more, Deadline brings word that, among the potential replacements on Paramount Pictures’ short list, is none other than Shaun of the Dead and The World’s End helmer Edgar Wright! There’s no word yet on the reason for Orci’s departure and it is still believed that the film will move forward with the same screenplay, scripted by Orci, Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne. Although a release date has not been specified, it is widely believed that the plan is for the film to hit theaters in 2016, as the year marks the 50th anniversary of the “Star Trek” franchise. Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana and John Cho are all expected to reprise their roles as the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. Plot details have not yet been revealed, although Orci stated earlier this year that his plan was to set the action in deep space, unlike the relatively Earth-centric J.J. Abrams films.

        I'm actually not surprised by this news. I mean don't get me wrong Orci knows the franchise after writing the scripts for the first two new star Trek films, but this would've been his directorial debut and giving someone who has never directed before this big of a franchise is a very risky decision so i'm not surprised by the decision and we'll just have to wait and see what really went on. As for the Edgar Wright rumor I absolutely think it is a great decision if they go that route. I've always wanted to see Wright do a true sci-fi and if he;s the man for the job then I;m perfectly fine with it. 



        Fans excited to see more of Josh Brolin’s take on Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are likely to get a huge thrill out of his performance as Detective Christian “Bigfoot” Bjornsen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s stylish Thomas Pynchon adaptation Inherent Vice. After all, Brolin’s Bigfoot offers an imposing, antagonist authoritarian with a penchant for abusing his power and who is simultaneously imbued with darkly comic sensibilities. There’s more than a little crossover there with the character traits of Marvel’s Mad Titan. ComingSoon.net today caught up with Brolin at the Los Angeles press junket for Inherent Vice. There, the star dropped a few details about Thanos and how he came to sign on for the role.“I love the idea of Thanos,” says Brolin. “…Ultimately, it’s Thanos against everyone. Why wouldn’t you do that?”

        Brolin also cited a certain Marvel Studios Co-President (and two-time “Marvel One-Shot” director) as the man responsible for getting him to sign on.“Thanos came along because of my good friend Louis D’Esposito,” Brolin continues. “…He and I used to train together. We did ‘Hollow Man’ together. He called me up and started talking about this thing. It was nice because I could intimately talk to him about it. What I liked. What I didn’t like about the whole idea of it… It was really exciting because of the possibilities that it could be come. Not as an idea or as a blockbuster, but just as something different. It’s a character mentality.” Although not completely confirmed, it’s looking quite likely that Thanos’ next big screen appearance will be in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2 before he takes on “everyone” in the two-film Avengers: Infinity War, hitting theaters May 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019. Inherent Vice, meanwhile, opens in theaters in a limited release December 12 with plans to expand everywhere January 9, 2015.

        I really love these comments. I like when actors are really excited about doing a role and that they want to the best job possible with the role. I thought the casting of Josh Brolin was a great choice and I'm excited to see him in future Marvel films. 



        Production has officially wrapped on Marvel Studios’ “Phase Two” finale, director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man. Scheduled for a big screen release on July 17, 2015, Ant-Man stars Paul Rudd (This is 40) as Scott Lang, Michael Douglas (The Game) as Hank Pym and Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) as Hope Van Dyne. In the film, Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, Land must go up against seemingly insurmountable obstacles to pull off a heist that will save the world. Also starring Judy Greer (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Bobby Cannavale (Chef), Michael Pena (End of Watch), Martin Donovan (Insomnia), Wood Harris (Remember the Titans), John Slattery (“Mad Men”), Corey Stoll (This is Where I Leave You), Gregg Turkington (The Comedy), Abby Ryder Fortson (“Togetherness”), David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight) and T.I. (Takers), Ant-Man features a script by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari and Adam McKay.

        This is great news to hear. After everything this film has went through this year it's finally great to see that filming is done and they are on to the next step. I fully expect a trailer to hit the web by the end of the year. I'm very anxious to see the film and I can't wait to see what Peyton Reed has done with the film. 



        Vulture managed to score a chat with producer Dan Lin (The LEGO Movie) wherein he confirms what all Stephen King fans have been hoping, i.e. that a big budget feature film based on the author’s 1986 novel IT will begin production next year with Cary Fukunaga (“True Detective”) at the helm. “The idea is to start official prep in March for a summer shoot,” said Lin. “Cary likes to develop things for a while, and we’ve been with this for about three or four years, so we’re super excited that he stayed with it. You guys are gonna be really excited.” As previously announced, the 1100-page tome is so epic that the plan is to adapt it into two movies, the first one in which an entity stalks seven children in Derry, Maine in the guise of a clown. The second feature would focus on the children as adults returning to Derry in order to rid the world of the creature once and for all, but Lin surprisingly states that Fukunaga is only signed on to direct the first part, and may only co-write the second. No stranger to lengthy storytelling (“True Detective” plays out like one eight-hour-long movie), one would think that for the sake of consistency New Line Cinema would sign Fukunaga to both films, but perhaps other projects have grabbed the filmmaker’s attention since becoming a hot commodity.

        “The book is so epic that we couldn’t tell it all in one movie and service the characters with enough depth,” explained Lin. There’s also no mention on if the late-1950s and mid-1980s time periods will remain intact or be shifted to a more modern approach with the kids growing up in the ’80s and returning to present-day Maine. We do know that King has given the project his seal of approval. “The most important thing is that Stephen King gave us his blessing,” said Lin. “We didn’t want to make this unless he felt it was the right way to go, and when we sent him the script, the response that Cary got back was, ‘Go with God, please! This is the version the studio should make.’ So that was really gratifying.” Fukunaga wrote the screenplay for Stephen King’s IT with Chase Palmer and David Kajganich, with Lin, David Katzenberg, Doug Davison and Seth Grahame-Smith serving as producers. The book was previously adapted by Tommy Lee Wallace as a two-part, three-hour event miniseries on ABC in 1990 starring Tim Curry as Pennywise the clown.

        This is great news to hear. I know a few people who are complaining that the studio should wait on announcing it being split into two films. I say that its great to announce that because it shows that you have faith in the project and plus the film needs to be split into two parts because as the article said the book has over 1000 pages. Look I am a huge fan of both the book and the miniseries and I cannot wait to see a modern telling of this great horror story. 



        Back in October, word broke that Sony Pictures is planning Hood, a “shared universe” take on the legendary folklore hero Robin Hood. Now it seems that Disney is gearing up for their own visit to Sherwood Forest as Deadline reports that the studio has acquired an original spec script from newcomer screenwriter Brandon Barker. Titled Nottingham & Hood, Barker’s take is likened to Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and the outlet suggests that early plans are to similarly spin the feature into a multi-film franchise. Disney is, of course, no stranger to the tale of Robin Hood. In 1973, Walt Disney Animation Studios released an animated feature film version of the story set in a world of anthropomorphic animals. The filmic history of the character goes back significantly further, however, nearly to the birth of cinema itself. Percy Stow’s “Robin and His Merry Men,” a 1908 silent short, is the first documented celluloid adaptation with dozens of additional versions following throughout the next century and beyond. Errol Flynn starred in Michael Curtiz’s 1938 Technicolor adaptation, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and, while his portrayal arguably remains the most famous, the likes of Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe and many more have done their best to split Flynn’s metaphorical arrow. The Picture Company’s Alex Heineman and Andrew Rona are attached to produce Nottingham & Hood with Foster Driver and Tendo Negenda overseeing for Disney.

        This is a great idea. Robin Hood is one of the most known fictional figures in the world and making a shared universe is a great idea. Now granted the last live-action Robin Hood film that hit theaters (Robin Hood directed by Ridley Scott) didn't do well and it had a lot of problems. Now Disney has had success with the character and it's not a big deal to back to the well one more time. 

        So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, which of these stories peaked your interest or was there another story that interested you? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.

                                                                                                                                         Jonah Sparks

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