Frickin' Eh Movie News 10.21.09: Green Lantern Edition

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 10.21.2009

Two bits of Green Lantern news including a possible villain, updates on Star Trek 2 and the next X-Men, some information on the next Wolverine movie, a few Thor rumors, Will Ferrell goes indie, and more!

Midterms this week. One is over with already, which was absolutely terrible. I was the first one finished, with one minute left in the class; it was just brutal. It doesn't help that no one knows what's actually going on in the class, either. The next one should be better, it's mostly writing, and it's history. And those are the only midterms I have, too. Then it's just reading for the rest of the term. Let's get right into the news, though . . .


The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine

So last weekend saw Where the Wild Things Are crown the box office with $32.5 million. Law Abiding Citizen took second place with $21.3 million. Paranormal Activity rose from fourth to third, making another $20.2 million as it spreads. Couples Retreat fell from first to fourth, taking in $17.9 million more. The Stepfather opened at fifth with $12.3 million. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs fell from third to sixth, Zombieland tripped up from second to seventh, the Toy Story double-feature fell from fifth to eighth, and Surrogates slid from sixth to ninth. Rounding out the top ten was The Invention of Lying, falling from seventh and making $1.9 million in its third week.

Want something fresh to see this weekend? Your first choice would be Amelia, the story of the doomed pilot Amelia Earhart, as portrayed by Hilary Swank. Should be no surprises in the story, but maybe a new light will shine on the story. Astro Boy also opens, starring the voice work of Nicolas Cage and Kristen Bell. Cheesy, but if you're a fan, then hopefully this will live up to expectations. The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D also opens, another rerelease of an older movie in 3D, but this one should really benefit from the upgrade. Saw VI, yet another in the oft-ridiculed series, opens just in time for the Halloween season as well, and we'll see if the series can hold up after six installments. Finally, The Vampire's Assistant. I have a feeling this will be a teen take on the harder side of vampiric lore, but I don't see if being more than a one-time Halloween stop. So those are your choices for this weekend. The notable limited release, if you're in the area of those releases, is Antichrist, a movie I've covered here briefly before, starring Willem Dafoe.


Craven Picks a New Title for 25/8

When Wes Craven's latest fright flick arrives in theaters in 2010, it won't be called 25/8, a moniker it has held since the director began production. Instead, it is now entitled "My Soul to Take."

Craven broke the news via his Twitter account this morning. ShockTillYouDrop.com says that while the title was once apropos for the film, the term "25/8" is no longer used in the story so it wouldn't really make sense to call it that. Craven adds "25/8" has always been a working title.

Max Thierot, Denzel Whitaker and Shareeka Epps star in what is Craven's first film that he has written and directed since New Nightmare in the '90s. Thierot plays "Bug," a young man who is possibly being terrorized by his serial killer father sixteen years after his supposed death.

That's probably for the best, 25/8 is a fairly cryptic title, and while it's different, this one probably works a bit better. It's been a long time for Craven to come up with something completely his own, hopefully it doesn't disappoint.


Possible Director for The Tourist

Variety is reporting that Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) is the frontrunner to direct The Tourist, starring Sam Worthington and Angelina Jolie.

The trade says that Spyglass is aiming for a 2011 release for the thriller. Production is expected to start in February.

In the remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer, an American tourist (Worthington) finds his life in danger when a female Interpol agent (Jolie) uses him as a dupe to flush out an elusive criminal with whom she once had an affair.

Spyglass is producing in partnership with StudioCanal, with Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman producing. Julian Fellowes wrote a script that was rewritten by Christopher McQuarrie.

I don't think this is going to throw anyone into a fit of excitement about this movie, but then again, very few directors have that effect on people. Florian here does have The Lives of Others under his belt which has a good reputation, so this should be in fine hands. It looks like Jolie is there to stay, too. Should be a good showing by all, I think.


More (and Random) Thor Cast Rumours

The superhero movie rumors continue this weekend with word from Ain't It Cool News that actor Matthias Schweighöfer (Valkyrie) told the German edition of GQ magazine that he's in the running for a role in director Kenneth Branagh's Thor and that Jude Law and Robert De Niro have also joined the cast.

If true, the trio would be joining Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, Samuel L. Jackson and Stellan Skarsgard in the comic book adaptation scheduled for a release on May 20, 2011.

Really? Robert De Niro and Jude Law? These are just strange additions; I don't see them fitting into the fold of the movie very well at all. Maybe Jude Law, and that's in the right role; De Niro, however, I just don't see. I'll definitely be waiting for more news on this one, and hopefully the actual roles will be made public soon if it's true.


Jackie Earle Haley Vying for Green Lantern Villain

Ain't It Cool News is reporting an interesting rumor that Jackie Earle Haley, who played Rorschach Watchmen and stars as Freddy Krueger in the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street, is the frontrunner to play Green Lantern villain Sinestro.

Not only that, but the site says that Superman may make a cameo appearance as well!

In case you're not familiar with the character, you can read all about Sinestro here.

Green Lantern, to be directed by Martin Campbell and starring Ryan Reynolds, is targeting a June 17, 2011 release date.

Haley showed everyone he's got plenty of acting chops through his very impressive role in Watchmen (he was one of the few consistently pleasing parts) and he's on his way to carve out his own fame through the reimagination of Freddy Krueger. He'd be a good foil to Ryan Reynolds, too. I think he would be a good fit in this one. A cameo by Superman, though, seems a little too tacky, unless it's in the vein of something like how Marvel is tying together all their movies with brief clips after the credits.


A Little Bit of X-Men News

Empire magazine recently got a chance to talk to "X-Men" franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who shared some great bits about Wolverine 2, X-Men: First Class, Deadpool and Magneto. Here's a clip on the Wolverine sequel:

"That's the furthest along of all the X-Men projects on the boil. It's actually the story we wanted to use for the first Wolverine film, but [Fox head honcho] Tom Rothman preferred to set the character up with an origin story first. This movie will really focus on the relationship between Wolverine and Mariko, the daughter of a Japanese crime lord, and what happens to him in Japan. We're very fortunate to have a story mostly outlined for us [from the comic book arc co-written by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller]. And we wanted an A+ writer, so we want to Chris McQuarrie (Valkyrie, The Usual Suspects). He came in and has tightened the story and got really immersed in the whole thing - he's in Japan in his head!"

A mildly interesting revelation into the new Wolverine series. I'm kind of glad they left the Japan story for now, I don't think it would have worked as well if you didn't actually have an origin story; after all, one of the big questions of the movies is why he doesn't remember anything and how he becomes Wolverine. As I've often said, I'm a big fan of the X-Men series and hopefully all of these work out for them, and hopefully they're not stretching themselves too thin.


Will Ferrell Joining Everything Must Go

Will Ferrell is set to star in the independent film Everything Must Go, which will be the feature directorial debut of commercials director Dan Rush, says Variety.

Ferrell will play a guy who loses his job and gets locked out of the house by his wife. She deposits his belongings on the front lawn, and he spends the next four days trying to sell his possessions.

Rush wrote the script, based on a Raymond Carver short story. Filming will start in March on the film that will cost under $10 million.

Wow, that's going to be a movie? Really? Then again, Will Ferrell should be a perfect fit for a movie with so little substance. Okay, I'll lay off the jabs . . . this should be a big boost for Rush, with such a big star joining such a modest movie. He'll have to step up and really deliver something good, and by the looks of it, that might be a challenge. We'll see in the end, though.


Green Lantern on the Move

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Warner Bros. Pictures is pulling the production of director Martin Campbell's comic book adaptation Green Lantern out of Australia.

The studio said that "the current global economic situation, including fluctuations in currency valuation and overall costs. We have also had to reassess film projects in other countries as well."

"After working closely with our partners at the NSW Film and Television Office (Screen NSW) and examining every scenario, we have decided to move the production of 'Green Lantern.' We are extremely grateful for the assistance we have received from the NSW Government, Fox Studios and the NSW filmmaking community," the statement said.

The Green Lantern production is expected to move to either Mexico or Canada.

Starring Ryan Reynolds, the film is scheduled for a release on June 17, 2011.

Australia is definitely a nice place to film, very scenic and all that . . . but I wouldn't imagine it would be a very cost-effective place to film, I've heard it's fairly expensive to live there, and for a movie that's going to have a big budget to start with, you'd assume they would have thought to tighten the belt in places like this before hand. Mexico and Canada are much closer to home, too; obviously I'm rooting for Canada, but as long as this works out and gets made, I'll be happy.


Writers Talk Star Trek

Star Trek was one of this year's biggest movies and left fans eagerly wanting more. Unfortunately, it looks like audiences will have to wait a few more years for the sequel to hit theaters.

At the 2009 Screenwriting Expo which is being held in downtown Los Angeles this year, ComingSoon.net asked Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the writers of Star Trek, if they could give us any updated info as to where the storyline will be going in the next film. While they're still very much in the beginning stages and couldn't give us many details, they did give a possible release date year.

"We're rereading some of our favorite 'Star Trek' novels now and watching the original series again. The honest answer is we don't know yet," Orci said. "We think it's going to be a 2012 release, but I'm not sure," he continued.

"Originally we thought we were going to have to have the script in by Christmas, but the release changed so certainly within the next eight months I'd say," Kurtzman told us.

We tried to find out where the two writers would like to see the story go and Orci said: "They're established now in the second movie and they're finally a crew so it will resemble what you see in terms of they are already who they are."

The pair have focused their attention towards feature films the last few years, but recently returned to TV to work on "Fringe" with their old friend J.J. Abrams, who they wrote for on "Alias." They admitted it was for partly selfish reasons.

"When J.J. said he wanted to create a show with me it's like 'Screw you buddy,'" Orci joked. "Also he had studio commitments to Warner Brothers and we wanted him to direct 'Star Trek.' We feared he wouldn't be able to do it if we didn't help fulfill those obligations so we did," he continued.

"We wanted him to be as focused on it as he could be on that so we're like, we'll absolutely help you. We would have done it anyway, but also it freed him up to do 'Star Trek.'"

2012 is a fair bit away, but that's to be expected; as much as the studio would love to rush out a sequel right away, these are huge movies to make, and if they want to live up to the reputation they've created, then they'd better be putting a lot of work and time into this. It's nice to hear them looking back to the original show and novels, hopefully they start gravitating toward the original series more. I think they're a little cocky if they think the characters are going to be set back to the old show already; they will be constantly changing and evolving the characters to their own purposes. Hopefully they handle this as well as the last one and take their time.


Rapid-Fire: The Silence of the Lambs (1991, starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn)

This is an instant classic, of course, a movie everyone knows, Oscar winner from 1992. And it's not hard to see why. This week I present:

This is a masterful movie, perfectly wrought in every way. The story is strong: hunting for a serial killer, an up-and-coming rookie (Foster) must enlist the help of a brilliant captive, the sinister Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist-turned-cannibal (played, of course, by Anthony Hopkins). It's a very psychological movie; the power of the mind, manipulation, kidnappers, but it's also got so many unanswered questions. The past of Dr. Lecter is never really delved into past what you really need to know, and it's fascinating to try and figure out why someone so brilliant ended up in the predicament he did. The interplay of the different characters and the race to catch a murderer push it all forward, too.

Jodie Foster's portrayal of Clarice Starling, FBI trainee unwittingly assigned to a serious case, is a great casting choice; she fits the role perfectly and handles it with ease, and at no point do you ever think anyone could have done better. Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford, her boss, is another good one; he has the age and experience, but there's also clearly a subliminal conflict going on. Anthony Heald as Dr. Chilton is one of the secondary villains, a guy you instantly dislike, and yet another example of perfect choice. Ted Levine (Buffalo Bill) picks up in the last half of the movie, and definitely fits the role they were looking for, but by the time he comes around you are so enamored with Lecter and Starling that his role is surprisingly small and unimpressive. Of course, the star of the show is Anthony Hopkins, who takes Hannibal Lecter and turns him into a masterpiece, a complex psychological character who you only skim the surface of in this movie, and the character has such unexplored depths that he is instantly the focus.

You can read this movie on many levels; in my first-year English class, my professor pointed out all the sexual readings of the movie, and as much as I hate to admit it, there are strong undertones in several places; how Starling is turned into an object, the sexual tension between characters, and all that. There are lots of things to pick up in the movie, and it's a fascinating movie whether you want to read into it or not.

If you've never seen this movie, you definitely should. This is one of those classics that everyone should see; it's got disturbing parts, and shocking parts, but it is just so brilliantly crafted that you owe it to yourself to see it.


Closing Time . . .

That's it for this week. I've been studying this weekend so I don't have much else to say. So until next week . . .


[All news, images, and other stuff from www.comingsoon.net, www.imdb.com, www.rottentomatoes.com and www.youtube.com.]