Frickin' Eh Movie News 3.23.08: Easter Edition
Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 03.23.2008
Hugh Jackman, a Terminator cast addition, Street Fighter, and more, all filled with chocolaty goodness!
Happy Easter everyone! Which means a long weekend for me, made even longer by my lack of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I should really be doing some sort of work, but I'm not, and oh well. I did finally finish reading our next book for English, All the King's Men. The book isn't horrible, although it's quite dry in a lot of places. I've been saving the movie adaptation until I finished the book, but now that I'm home for Easter - and in the middle of nowhere - I have no way of getting the movie until I'm back in the city. Hopefully it's decent. But enough about that. On to the news . . .
Yelchin Becomes Reese
Anton Yelchin (upcoming Star Trek, Charlie Bartlett) is in negotiations to star as post-apocalyptic warrior Kyle Reese in director McG's new Terminator movie, says The Hollywood Reporter.
With production scheduled to start in early May, Paul Haggis also has been in talks about coming on board to work on the script.
Yelchin will play a teen version of Reese, the man who fathered world savior John Connor in the original "Terminator" film.
Christian Bale will play John Connor in the film, produced by the Halcyon Co. and set for a Warner Bros. release on May 22, 2009.
Reese, one of the children who survived a machine-driven nuclear holocaust, befriends Marcus (Sam Worthington), an early edition of the Terminator cyborg played in previous films by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In McG's film, the character is a young version of the one played by Michael Biehn, who traveled back in time in the original to impregnate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and father the world's future savior.
The film picks up with their son (Bale), now in his 30s, fighting desperately to save a decimated civilization against machines that have taken control.
Halcyon's Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson are producing with Moritz Borman. David Campbell Wilson, John Brancato and Michael Ferris wrote the screenplay. Principal photography is set to begin in early May.
And once again, this movie becomes better and better the more we hear about it. Yelchin's got a lot of momentum going with his role in Star Trek, and this will be his second big one, if it works out, of course. I am really pumped for this one!
More Get on the Side of Truth
Ricky Gervais has revealed on his Blog for This Side of the Truth that John Hodgman ("The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"), Tina Fey ("30 Rock," "Saturday Night Live"), Christopher Guest (Best in Show) and Jeffrey Tambor (Hellboy II: The Golden Army, "Arrested Development") have joined the cast of his new comedy at Warner Bros. Pictures.
They join the previously announced Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K. and Gervais in the cast.
The film is set in a contemporary world where no one has ever lied. Gervais will play a performer who tells the first lie and harnesses its power for personal gain.
Gervais and Matt Robinson wrote the script.
This is a very interesting mix, considering most of them are television stars more than movie stars. It's also a very quirky idea for a movie that could be really funny, or really corny and stupid. I know Tambor is incredibly talented and I've been really impressed with Tina Fey on 30 Rock, so I'm hoping this goes the funny route.
Four Accept Proposal
Malin Akerman (Watchmen), Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson and Aasif Mandvi have joined the cast of Touchstone's romantic comedy The Proposal.
Disney is distributing the film that stars Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. Anne Fletcher directs from a script by Peter Chiarelli. The story centers on a publishing executive (Bullock) who forces her assistant (Reynolds) to marry her so she can avoid deportation to Canada.
Mandeville's David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing; Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are executive producing.
Production is scheduled to begin this month.
First off, very insulted that they want to avoid deportation to Canada. Come on, that's an improvement of life. But besides the obvious jabs at Canada that will litter the movie, I am not convinced this is going to be anything more than a run-of-the-mill, annoying romantic comedy. I think Reynolds is a good actor, but none of the new additions really stand out, and I've been disappointed with Bullock of late. Plus, Anne Fletcher directed Step Up. You could say I have my doubts about this one.
Brody and Simmons Have Interest in Jennifer's Body
Adam Brody and J.K. Simmons have joined the cast of Jennifer's Body, Diablo Cody and Jason Reitman's follow-up collaboration to Juno, says The Hollywood Reporter.
Karyn Kusama is directing Fox Atomic's dark comedy/horror film starring Amanda Seyfried and Megan Fox.
Cody's script centers on Jennifer (Fox), a cheerleader possessed by a demon who starts feeding off the boys in a Minnesota farming town. Her bookish best friend (Seyfried) must take drastic measures to protect the town.
Brody will play Nikolai, a hot lead singer of an up-and-coming rock band with a penchant for evil. Simmons will play Mr. Wroblewski, a high school science teacher.
Brody worked with Reitman in Thank You for Smoking. The actor is attached to play the Flash in Warner Bros.' Justice League Mortal.
Simmons appeared in Thank You for Smoking and Juno.
I find it interesting that their follow-up collaboration to Juno is not even close to Juno. But maybe they can do it twice, who knows? Even with a slightly preposterous demon story. Brody and Simmons are both huge boosts to the film, so let's see where it goes from here.
Street Fighters!
Capcom Co., Ltd. today confirmed the main cast for its live-action Street Fighter movie based on the popular video game series.
The story revolves around Chun-Li, who will be portrayed by actress Kristen Kreuk ("Smallville"). Michael Clark Duncan plays Balrog, Neal McDonough is M. Bison, Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas is Vega, Chris Klein plays Charlie Nash, and Rick Yune is the mystical Gen.
The film will be made in conjunction with Hyde Park Films, and will be distributed by 20th Century Fox for a scheduled 2009 worldwide release.
The Street Fighter movie is only one of many projects Capcom has planned to celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Street Fighter." Summer 2008 will see the Japanese arcade release of the much-anticipated "Street Fighter IV."
"Street Fighter" was first released in 1987 to critical acclaim for its innovative features. This was followed up in 1991 with the smash hit "Street Fighter II," which broke records by being available in 500 thousand arcade cabinets and selling over 25 million units on home systems. These records cemented "Street Fighter's" reputation as one of the most popular fighting game series of all time, and ensured that the fighting genre would become a staple of the gaming world.
Moon Bloodgood, Edmund Chen, Cheng Pei Pei and Josie Ho also star.
This is still a huge question mark for me, because this could easily – very, very easily – be a massive bomb just like their last attempt, or they could really pull it together. Or can they? The cast is looking alright so far. Well, outside of "Taboo", although you can't deny he has the look of Vega. I don't know some of the characters because the only Street Fighter I ever played was the second one. I like how they mention how popular the games have been, but never get around to mentioning the first movie. Ah, well, must be an oversight.
Jackman Drives
Neil Marshall has signed with Universal to direct action-thriller Drive, an adaptation of the James Sallis novel. Hugh Jackman is attached to play a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway car driver in heists.
Variety says Hossein Amini wrote the script, and Marc Platt is producing with Jackman and his Seed Productions partner John Palermo.
In the book, the stuntman's already-exciting existence gets jolted when he discovers that a contract has been put out on his life.
"Hoss is a fantastic writer, and he's written three amazing car chases in the film," Marshall told the trade. "He's turned them into dramatic scenes as opposed to the usual crash, bang, wallop. I would like to be shooting it this summer."
The deal marks the second recent pact for Marshall at Universal after signing to write and direct Sacrilege, a horror story set in the Old West, at Universal-based Rogue Pictures, where Marshall wrote and directed Doomsday.
Hugh Jackman hasn't been in enough movies lately. I always thought he was a really good actor, and he really needs to get out there more. Luckily this appears to be changing. This sounds like a pretty cool idea for a movie, and you can bet there will be some awesome chase scenes in this one. Marshall hasn't really done much before, so his direction in this movie is kind of up in the air, but I'm still looking forward to it.
Jackman and McGregor Deceive
20th Century Fox has revealed the new trailer for Deception, the thriller starring Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Maggie Q, Natasha Henstridge and Rachael Taylor. In the film, opening April 25, an accountant (McGregor) is introduced to a mysterious sex club known as The List by his lawyer friend (Jackman). But in this new world, he soon becomes the prime suspect in a woman's disappearance and a multi-million dollar heist.
I was uncertain of this from the description (a sex club?) but this looks awesome from the trailer. McGregor and Jackman are two of my favourite actors, and this looks like it's done perfectly in every way. Luckily I found a copy on YouTube in time, so you can watch it instead of the stupid MSN version I previously found. Enjoy, and go see this movie when it comes out!
The A-Team Arrives June 12, 2009
20th Century Fox has scheduled The A-Team, to be directed by John Singleton, for release on June 12, 2009.
The adaptation of the 1980s TV series was written by partners Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma).
The action-adventure will bring to the big screen the exploits of John "Hannibal" Smith and his team of former special forces soldiers, who have been set up for a crime they didn't commit.
Casting hasn't been announced.
The only other movie scheduled for the same date is Paramount's Eddie Murphy comedy Nowhereland.
Not much to say about this at this point, considering we don't even know the cast. Singleton has a few good ones under his belt, but the story and cast – at least initially – is going to have more to do with the success of this one. I don't think they have to worry about Nowhereland either. Stay tuned for this one.
Rapid-Fire: Striking Distance (1993, starring Bruce Willis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Farina)
This came after a couple days of watching just about any movie that came up on AMC or Peachtree TV (I have no idea what Peachtree TV, by the way, or where it is centred, but it shows decent movies) after six, so this week I present a less-than-stellar AMC showing:
This movie sticks with that good ol' nineties action movie style that you've seen so many times. Willis plays the damaged cop who gets dragged back in, there's the lovely female thrown in there to mix things up, explosions and shooting, you get the picture. There is nothing special here. There's a strong family angle, but it does little to boost the movie in any way whatsoever.
No one throws any curveballs in the acting, either. Bruce Willis is just like he always is, Parker is nothing special, and the others are all mediocre at best. Brion James throws those crazy eyes around every once in a while, and John Mahoney is a treat for the whole ten minutes of screen time he gets, but that's about it.
Other than that, as I've said, it's run of the mill, what you'd expect. The end wasn't horribly obvious, which was nice, but by the time it gets there, you've pretty well lost interest. A lot of the movie takes place on the water, so instead of car chases you get boat chases! The tiny attempt to stay fresh fails. Watch this only if you love Bruce Willis, action flicks from the nineties, or you have nothing better to do at eight thirty at night and you really don't want to read your English novel.
Closing Time . . .
Well, this time around it may actually be spring for good, and that is exciting news. Of course, now that I say that, we'll probably get another dumping of snow. I hope you all had a good Easter break, and see you next week!
