Frickin' Eh Movie News 9.08.10: Alien Edition

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 09.08.2010

News on whether the Halo movie is still in the works, Natalie Portman starring in Gravity, Tery Gilliam's Don Quixote falling apart, Judge Dredd updates and more!

My vacation is over with university starting this week. It wasn't completely wasted. I got to spend some time on the farm before my ridiculous new work/school schedule, which was nice. I went down almost to Calgary to see the Bass Pro Fishing shop with my buddy, which was quite an experience – despite the fact that this one is supposedly a quarter of the size of the ones in the States. Now it's almost back to the grind. So let's jump into the news:


The Mid-Week Box Office Time Machine

In a bit of a surprise twist ending, it looks as if The American ruled the box office last weekend with $16.4 million. Machete came in a close second with $14 million. Takers fell from the top to third with $13.5 million. The Last Exorcism fell two spots to fourth with $8.8 million. Going the Distance opened in fifth with $8.6 million. The Expendables fell from third to sixth, The Other Guys fell from fifth to seventh, and Eat Pray Love fell from fourth to eighth. Inception fell back down from seventh to ninth, and Nanny McPhee Returns rounded out the top ten, falling from eighth with $4.7 million.

The challengers this week: Resident Evil: Afterlife. The fourth installment in the series, starring Milla Jovovich and Ali Larter, this time in 3D, looks like it will be fresh enough to keep audiences interested, while still staying true to the roots. Personally, I'm worried about the 3D – it looks cheesy from the trailers and if they try to force it on the movie too much, I think it'll detract from the overall experience. The only other wide opener is The Virginity Hit - basically four guys, a camera, and their idea to film their buddy trying to lose his virginity. It sounds about as stupid as it probably is. Of other interest is the limited release of I'm Still Here, the documentary of Joaquin Phoenix's fall from actor to rapper. So take your pick - Resident Evil is the easy winner.


Portman to Star in Gravity?

A little over a week ago, it was reported that Angelina Jolie had passed a second time on the lead female role in Alfonso Cuaron's planned 3D space survival thriller Gravity, which already had attached Robert Downey Jr. cast in a supporting role. Despite recent rumors of Rachel Weisz being offered the part after other potential candidates like Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson were nixed, word now comes from The Hollywood Reporter that Natalie Portman has been offered the part, having earned buzz out of Venice and Telluride for her performance in Darren Aronofsky's thriller Black Swan.

With a reported budget of $80 million, the film focuses on a female astronaut sent out to fix the Hubble telescope who is the sole survivor left stranded after space junk hits her transport, so she must fight her way back to earth. Cuaron clearly needed a strong dramatic actress who could also be considered a box office draw in order to justify the budget.

Portman still has to read the script and make her decision but she is currently the director's first choice, and whomever ends up in the role, Gravity is slated to start filming in England at the end of January.

The article goes on to say that director Terrence Malick wants Portman to star in his Jerry Lee Lewis project, being produced with Brad Pitt, while screenwriter Tom Stoppard is also writing something for Portman. It's hard to think that an actress whose early career included George Lucas' "Star Wars" prequels may be attaining another level in that career, but with early buzz that Portman may receive her second Oscar nomination for Black Swan, she's clearly in demand right now.

Well, this is good news for Portman and her fans alike. I figured Black Swan might raise her profile if Aronofsky crafted it properly, but I never expected this much, particularly the number of movies mentioned at the end. In terms of Gravity in particular, she seems like a very good choice – she's dramatic, can played scared very well, but is also pretty tough. She seems perfect for the role – better than Angelina Jolie would have been, I personally think. Hopefully she takes it.


Gilliam's Don Quixote Falling Apart

Variety says that Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote has experienced more than the "hiccup" reported in August.

"The financing collapsed about a month and a half ago," Gilliam said Saturday at the Deauville American Film Festival. "I shouldn't be here. The plan was to be shooting 'Quixote' right now."

He added that he wants to still make the movie.

"Robert Duval is Quixote, Ewan McGregor is also there, and we are looking for new financing right now," he said.

It sure sounds like the odds of Gilliam actually making this movie (ever) are slim to none. With all the trouble he's had in the past, and now this latest round, even after all the initial optimism, I'd say this one is just not meant to be made. Who knows, maybe he will gather the funding somehow . . . but with his luck, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up anytime soon. I've never really been drawn in by Gilliam's idea for this story anyway, so the idea of it not being made doesn't particularly upset me. But you never know.


More News on Dredd

IM Global has posted more info on the new Judge Dredd film to be titled Dredd:

DREDD takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot - if necessary. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring DREDD to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's revered comic strip.

It was announced on Friday that Olivia Thirlby will play Judge Cassandra Anderson, a psychically powered rookie Judge who teams with Judge Dredd for training.

This sounds like good news for the future of this movie. First off, it looks like they're actually going to turn this into a dark noir movie with a serious tone, and Urban is the right man for that job. Thirlby is an interesting choice – I think she's a good choice and will put a very interesting angle on this movie, but she doesn't have a lot of experience in the genre. The changed name will separate it slightly from the last movie attempt and show that it's going down to basics. I'm looking forward to what they can put together.


Halo Still in the Works

In an article talking about the popular "Halo" franchise, Variety published quotes from Franchise Development Director Frank O'Connor about whether we'll ever see a Halo movie. The trade says that Microsoft is still developing scripts by Alex Garland, Stuart Beattie, D.B. Weiss and Josh Olson as potential blueprints.

"We're still interested in making an excellent 'Halo' movie," O'Connor said. "We've created an awful lot of documentation and materials to support a feature film. We have a good idea of what kind of story we want to tell, but won't move on it until there's a great reason to do it. We're in no particular hurry."

The film would likely be a standalone story and not "a verbatim retelling of the game," O'Connor added.

Microsoft is also "intently watching" the TV landscape as a potential outlet for a "Halo" series.

The next game in the franchise, "Halo Reach," hits stores on September 14.

This is another one of those projects that, if they ever actually put something together, I will be extremely surprised. It's been going on so long that, when they finally actually get a movie or a TV show going, no one will really care. Being based on a video game will probably help them in the long run, but honestly, this is just getting drawn out too long. And a TV show, something in the vein of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, may get some interest, but will it really be that successful?


Hardy Starring in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

The Daily Mail reports that filming is about to start in London for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the adaptation of John Le Carre's seminal cold war best-seller to be directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One in). The article mentions that Inception star Tom Hardy will now play Ricky Tarr, who was going to be played by Michael Fassbender. Fassbender had to drop out because he just started filming X-Men: First Class.

Gary Oldman is starring as George Smiley, the spy charged with unearthing a mole who has embedded himself in the highest echelons of the secret service. Also joining Oldman will be Ciaran Hinds, Jared Harris, Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch as British operatives.

The script for the thriller was written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan.

Give me the choice between Fassbender or Hardy in a movie, and I'll pick Tom Hardy every time. He's a skilled actor who can fit in a lot of different roles, and his starring role in this will make it that much better. Throw in Gary Oldman, too, and I'm actually quite looking forward to this now. So long as Alfredson doesn't make this too artsy, I'm very much looking forward to it.


Neeson Replacing Cooper in The Grey

Liam Neeson looks likely to take on the lead in The Grey, says a report at Heat Vision.

The film, to be helmed by Joe Carnahan and written by Carnahan and Ian Jeffers, was originally announced with Bradley Cooper in the starring role of an oil driller who leads a group of Alaskan plane crash survivors against a pack of wolves. Neeson is now in talks to replace Cooper in the Scott Free production.

Neeson most recently appeared in The A-Team, also directed by Carnahan.

Interesting that Carnahan's two choices for the star are two of his stars in The A-Team. I guess he likes dealing with people he knows he can trust and rely on. Both are excellent choices, although exchanging one for the other is quite a big change, from age to acting style. Personally, I still prefer Neeson and it's good to see him in the role, although the movie sounds kind of run-of-the-mill. Hopefully Carnahan and Neeson can put together something worthwhile, though.


Shyamalan Using Unbreakable Story for Night Chronicles

With Devil, the first film in M. Night Shyamalan's "Night Chronicles," hitting theaters on September 17, the filmmaker revealed to MTV that we'll see the story he was going to use for Unbreakable 2 in the third movie in the film series.

"I cannibalized the idea for the sequel to 'Unbreakable' for one of the 'Night Chronicles,'" revealed Shyamalan. "It was such a cool idea for a villain, and it was actually originally in the script for 'Unbreakable,' and it was too much. There were too many villains, so I pulled this villain out and was like, 'I'll make this the second flick.'"

Instead, Shyamalan used the villain and story for the film that will come after Twelve Strangers, which is expected to be the second movie in the "Night Chronicles."

Well, this is highly disappointing, considering how awesome Unbreakable was and how amazing it would be to see a second one. This "Night Chronicles" thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, and taking what was obviously a pretty good idea and putting it in this framework (producing but not directing) worries me ever so slightly.. This will probably get me watching the third film just to see what Shyamalan had in mind for Unbreakable. Unfortunately, this doesn't really bode well for seeing an Unbreakable sequel anytime in the near future.


Alien Hints Going Around

Ridley Scott offered a few specifics about his still-untitled Alien Prequel in an interview with The Independent.

"The film[s] will be really tough, really nasty," says Scott of the proposed two-part prequel, which he says will take place 30 years before the first film, "It's the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?"

Scott refers to the first film's Space Jockey, part of a mysterious race of giants that carried the alien egg as their cargo. A mystery in the first film, the creature's origins have not been explored in subsequent entries to the franchise.

Two prequel films are being prepped to shoot back-to-back in 3D. The original script comes from Jon Spaihts with Damon Lindelof currently doing touch-ups.

Interesting stuff for anyone who wants to see a truly enjoyable and worthy prequel to the famous series, and it looks like Ridley Scott is ready to deliver. Going back to the nitty-gritty basics, exploring elements never considered, and right down to the core basics – it's good to see he's willing to explore the right areas and not just rehash things with better special effects. There's also the rumour going around (supposedly untrue) that Gemma Arterton is being considered for the lead. Whether that fleshes out or not (although I hope it does), this is on the right track already.


Rapid-Fire: Out of Sight (1998, starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames)

I have no recollection of how I came across this movie, but I remember being intrigued immediately, so I tracked down a copy to see what exactly it was all about, having never heard of it before. So this week I present:

The movie, in short, is about a bank robber who falls in love with a federal marshal who he kidnaps during a jailbreak. Once separated, he needs to find her again. Simultaneously, a big job is being planned that he is part of, and it all kind of works together from there on out.

The surprising thing about this movie was that it actually got quite a bit better as it went along. While right from the start you know Clooney is going to be good (taking on a character similar to his character in Ocean's Eleven), Lopez is a bit hit-and-miss at the start, and during the first half of the movie, I was unconvinced that they were going to be able to bring the movie in an enjoyable direction. But as it went on, it continued to surprise me. This is not the standard misguided love or crime movie you might expect. There are twists and turns along the way, and it's exceptionally well done, even stylistically.

Clooney is great right off the bat, being his usual suave, smooth self. No questions there. Lopez gets more comfortable with her character as she goes, and actually becomes quite dynamic – because at the start, you are led to believe she's going to be quite predictable, but things change quickly. Rhames as Buddy is a good sidekick to Clooney. It gets a little ridiculous, constantly bringing up his sister, but I suppose it's probably a realistic reaction to how they portrayed that particular aspect in the movie. Steve Zahn plays Glenn Michaels, a particularly annoying and fidgety smaller character who is nonetheless still somewhat enjoyable. Don Cheadle plays Maurice Miller and does a great job as a pseudo-villain of the film, if you need to pin down someone as a villain. I also would never have guessed it was Cheadle, especially at the start, when his character is a particularly tough inmate. Most of the characters, from small to big, are enjoyable and fit well.

It's a funny thing, because this feels like one of those generic nineties crime movies, and yet, it sets itself apart. From a strong cast, an interesting story, and a couple good, gritty twists (particularly right at the end), this really turns into something different and worthwhile. Even Jennifer Lopez isn't bad – and believe me, that was probably the single most surprising part of the whole experience. I highly recommend giving this a try and seeing what you think.


Closing Time . . .

That's all for this week. There's not really much else to say. Soviet history and the history of Canadian sport are about to dominate my life once again, so we'll see how that goes. So until next week:


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