Tuesday, September 27, 2016

9-26-16 Movie News

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)


        Paramount Pictures announced today that it, in association with Fabrica de Cine and Ai Films, will open Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated latest feature film, Silence, in limited release on December 23. Silence will then receive a wide release in January 2017. Scorsese, who worked closely with Fabrica de Cine’s Gaston Pavlovich on the making of the film, wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York), based on the book Silence by Shusaku Endo. The film is produced by Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff (The Wolf of Wall Street), along with Randall Emmett (Lone Survivor), Barbara Defina (Goodfellas), Vittorio Cecchi Gori (Il Postino), Irwin Winkler (Creed). Producer Gaston Pavlovich’s company Fabrica de Cine also provided the lead financing for Silence, alongside Executive Producer Dale A. Brown of Sharpsword Films. Silence stars Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Social Network), Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Girls), Liam Neeson (Taken), Tadanobu Asano (Thor), Issey Ogata (The Sun), Ciaran Hinds (Bleed For This), Yosuke Kubozuka (Go), and Yoshi Oida (The Pillow Book). The December 23 release date will see Silence opening opposite another Liam Neeson film. Juan Antonio Bayona’s A Monster Calls is set for a limited release that same day. Also starring Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Toby Kebbell, and Sigourney Weaver, A Monster Calls gets a wide release on January 6, 2017. The December release also has Silence arriving just two days after Sony Pictures‘s sci-fi drama Passengers, 20th Century Fox‘s video game adaptation Assassin’s Creed and Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s animated musical Sing. Opening on a limited release December 12 is Peter Berg’s true Boston Marathon bombing tale Patriot’s Day and Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, Julieta. Two days later, on December 25, we’re also getting Gold (starring Matthew McConaughey) and the 20th Century Fox comedy Why Him? (starring James Franco and Bryan Cranston).

        This is great news to hear. Martin Scorsese is one of my filmmaking idols and I can honestly say that there is not a single bad film in is repertoire of films. I honestly think that this is going to be one of best films and even an instant masterpiece. It's got an absolutely talented cast that might be one of the best assembled with the likes of Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson and Adam Driver. This film is going to be a massive Oscar contender and it helps that it coming out around Christmas time to stay fresh in the mind of Oscar voters. 



        Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia (via Suicide Squadcast/Comic Book), Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes let slip a timetable for the highly-anticipated solo Batman film starring Ben Affleck, saying: “Ben announced a Batman movie [that] he’s going to direct, star, write for – I think it’s a year and a half out.” What remains unclear about this is if Bewkes is referring to a production start date for the film as being “a year and a half out” or the film’s release date. Eighteen months from now is close to March 16, 2018, which was the release date believed to be set for The Flash, to be followed by Aquaman on July 27, 2018. Warner Bros. does have two release dates set for Untitled DC movies on both October 5, 2018 and November 1, 2019, either of which could belong to solo Batman movie, though in order to hit either release date production would need to begin at least a year prior to its debut. However, Affleck has previously stated he doesn’t want to begin production on the film until the script, which he co-wrote alongside DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns, was in proper shape. It stands to reason that production isn’t that far out as casting has already begun with the recent confirmation that Joe Manganiello would play the assassin Deathstroke in the film. For the time being though, and like The Batman himself, it remains a mystery. 

        I honestly don't believe this news. I think 2 years is more realistic idea than a year and a half simply because it is going to give both Affleck and Johns more time to perfect the script and at this point if you are Warner Bros., then this would be another change to the schedule after you've already made two or three. You just can't keep shuffling around project just becasue you feel like it, you have to make a plan and stick with it in order to get fans excited for a certain film at a certain time rather than them waiting six months later than expected. I have some really high hopes for this film and with Affleck behind the camera, I have no doubt this will be DC's best film. 



        Filming for Michael Bay’s new Transformers movie continues in London, England, and now star Mark Wahlberg has spoken about it to his fans in a new Facebook video where he confirms that Transformers: The Last Knight will feature not just the return of the Dinobots but also Mini-Dinobots! “It’s a cool new story,” Wahlberg said. “It’s kind of like a man on the run. Sir Anthony Hopkins is also in the film, got a cool new cast and cool new robots, some cool new villains and some cool new Dinobots. I think you guys are gonna really go crazy for the mini Dinobots.” A Paramount Pictures film, Transformers: The Last Knight is confirmed to also include the return of Transformers: Age of Extinction star Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Josh Duhamel as Lieutenant Colonel Lennox, Tyrese Gibson as Robert Epps, Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce, as well as a new role for Isabela Moner (100 Things to Do Before High School, Growing Up Fisher) as the film’s female lead, Izabella. Jerrod Carmichael, Laura Haddock and Santiago Cabrera also have roles, as Liam Carrigan (Once Upon a Time), who plays King Arthur. A few of the titular robots in disguise have also been confirmed to return, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Drift, Hound, Crosshairs, Hot Rod, and Sqweeks for the Autobots, with Megatron, Barricade, and Onslaught for the Decepticons. Michael Bay returns to the director’s chair for the film, which is written by Iron Man scribes Art Marcum & Matt Holloway and Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down). Ian Bryce, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto will produce the sequel. Transformers: The Last Knight will open in theaters on June 23, 2017. Plans for the franchise already include a Bumblebee spin-off film to be released June 8, 2018 and the sixth Transformers movie set to debut June 28, 2019.

        This might be the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Look I was really excited to see the Dinobots in the last Transformers film and they were used a lot in the marketing campaign and then they only get 10 minutes of screen time. Now not only are they trying to mislead me again, they are trying to win me over with mini versions of the Dinobots. They just need to stop before the just completely ruin one of the greatest things Hasbro has ever created and I can honestly say I'm excited for this to be the last Michael Bay Transformers film. 



        While the upcoming Jurassic World 2 is set to begin production in Hawaii and London in February 2017, it looks as if one legacy cast member will not be returning: Sam Neill. The Hunt for the Wilderpeople actor -who recently revealed a role in Thor: Ragnarok– told Shortlist (vis Screen Rant) not to expect his Dr. Alan Grant to make any new trips into dino country. “I think the problem is that no one knows where Alan Grant is anymore,” Neill said, filling in his own backstory. “He’s retired from paleontology. He’s sick to death of dinosaurs and running. He’s not quite as fleet of foot as he was, and he’s now retired to Dayton, Ohio, and has a very successful accountancy business. I think that’s what’s happened to Alan. Either that or he’s dead. How do you recover from all of that stuff? I don’t think therapists are trained to deal with post-dino stuff. No. I don’t think you get over it. Accountancy would be one way.” Wether Neill, who reprised the role for 2001’s coldly-recieved Jurassic Park III, doesn’t want to return to the role or is playing coy is up to debate (his tone is pretty playful), but according to him he has not been approached by Universal. “The call hasn’t come,” Neill stated. “And no one can find Grant. He’s disappeared. Someone found his hat. His hat was floating on the Hudson river, but that was the last ever heard of him.” Neill’s original co-star Jeff Goldblum has said he’d be open to reprising his Ian Malcolm character from Jurassic Park and The Lost World, and fans would love to see Grant and Malcolm together onscreen again for the first time since 1993. Whether the filmmakers will give in to nostalgia or keep the series moving forward with the new characters they’ve established has yet to be seen. The Impossible and A Monster Calls director J.A. Bayona will direct the Jurassic World 2 from a script by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. Trevorrow decided to hand over the director’s chair for the sequel, opting to journey to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: Episode IX. He previously revealed the quote from the original Jurassic Park that inspired their idea for the sequel, which comes from Sam Neil’s Alan Grant: “Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?” Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will both reprise their roles for the film. Frank Marshall and Steven Spielberg will produce the film, which is set for release on June 22, 2018. 

        I'm not surprised by this news at all. I mean with the idea of Jurassic World, you are wanting a  fresh and new start that distances itself from the original while also using callbacks just for nostalgic purposes. While I would be excited to see both Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum or just one of them return, I think it's beneficial to the story that they don't unless they are small cameos. I like the direction the franchise is going and I think leaving out the old characters is a smart idea.



        After years of teasing that they wanted to make a sequel to MacGruber, star Will Forte and director Jorma Taccone have taken to Twitter to reveal that they have, in fact, just started writing MacGruber 2! The “MacGyver” parody was originally created by Taccone and Forte as interstitial segments for “Saturday Night Live,” until Taccone directed and Forte starred in the film version in 2010. Although the clueless soldier of fortune failed to make a mark at the box office, bombing out with a paltry $8.5 million, it has since become a cult favorite on DVD and cable. Although a screenplay is a good sign that things are finally moving forward, its no guarantee that MacGruber 2 will actually see the light of day. Perhaps the success or failure of CBS’s new “MacGyver” reboot series (which did well in its debut slot last Friday) could play a part in getting a new MacGruber adventure greenlit. Produced by Universal Pictures and Relativity Media, the original MacGruber co-starred Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe and Maya Rudolph. Forte currently stars in the hit FOX series “The Last Man on Earth,” and will play the central figure of comedy writer Doug Kenney in David Wain’s National Lampoon biopic A Futile and Stupid Gesture. Taccone’s last comedy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping came out in June and grossed $9.4 million.

        I'm really happy to hear this news. While MacGruber may not have been the best film in the world, it was still just absolutely funny in a stupid and fun way. It's one of the more succesful films to be based on an SNL skit and I like that the filmmakers were able to make fun of MacGyver and other spy films and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the second film will go with the character. 

        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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