Frickin' Eh Movie News 08.29.08: Tivo-ing Paradise Edition

Posted by Matthew Motiuk on 08.29.2008

Toy Story 3 voices, the future of Riddick, the Fast and Furious trailer, potential MasterMinds, a look ahead at the new television season, and more on this replacement edition!



Alright, greetings and salutations, this is not Al Norton, as you may have figured out. Since he isn't present this week, I will be providing you with your 411 fix. So welcome to the Frickin' Eh Movie News, and I'm your host, Matthew Motiuk.

Due to a very boring, although somewhat still hectic week, I have nothing particularly interesting to inform you of, so let's move straight on into the news:


Benson & Keaton Returning to Toy Story 3

While promoting The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning (on DVD August 26), Jodi Benson, who has voiced Ariel since 1989's hit feature, revealed that she is returning as the voice of Barbie in Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 3 and will be joined by Michael Keaton as the voice of Ken, reports IESB.net.

Keaton worked with Pixar previously voicing Chick Hicks in 2006's Cars. Benson played Tour Guide Barbie and Barbie on Backpack for Toy Story 2.

The duo join voice cast members Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger and Ned Beatty. The third installment is scheduled for a June 18, 2010 release.

Well, I suppose if they're going to go ahead with this anyway, they might as well do it right and get the originals back. I remember Toy Story being a pretty fun kid's movie. Well, the first one, I don't remember the second one being nearly as good. The smaller characters, though, were the best part, so not skipping over the details is helping this one out already.


Bell Leading Astro Boy

Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, "Heroes," "Veronica Mars") will voice the leading female voice in Warner Bros.' CG-animated Astro Boy, coming to theaters next year.

She joins a voice cast that includes Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy and Freddie Highmore.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Imagi Studios' Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him.

I still think this is going to be cheesy as hell, but they've got a good start to the voice cast, I have to admit. Maybe this will be less cheesy than I originally thought. I don't know, though. Astro Boy as a movie may not work as they're planning. We'll just have to see.


Vin Diesel Sees a Future for Riddick

Although The Chronicles of Riddick only made $115.8 million worldwide in 2004, compared to its $105 million budget, Vin Diesel tells MTV he still thinks the two sequels planned a long time ago will happen at some point:

"David Twowy right now is writing the scripts. The only question is whether we take a page from the 'Lord of the Rings' guys and try to shoot the two chapters at the same time. There are two more in mind," he said of Riddick, the Furyan warrior first introduced in the 2000 film "Pitch Black." "'The Chronicles of Riddick' was presented as a three part trilogy that would answer 'Pitch Black' in the same way that 'Lord of the Rings' answered 'The Hobbit.'"

You can click here to read what else Diesel said about the franchise.

Twohy's next project is the action-thriller A Perfect Getaway, which is in post-production. Diesel's Babylon A.D. comes out this Friday and Fast & Furious hits theaters next summer.

Riddick was a fun movie, I think it deserves the trilogy treatment. I'm not entirely sure where they're going to take it, but with the right handling – and according to Vin Diesel, it's all about the proper handling – it could be even better than the first. Its poor reception was probably undeserved, and hopefully if this does go ahead, people actually watch it and give it a chance.


Fast & Furious Trailer

The first trailer for Universal's Fast & Furious which debuted in theaters this weekend with Death Race is now online! Opening June 5, 2009, the new installment reunites Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster as they blast muscle, tuner and exotic cars across Los Angeles and floor through the Mexican desert in the high-octane action-thriller.

When a crime brings them back to L.A., fugitive ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) reignites his feud with agent Brian O'Conner (Walker). But as they are forced to confront a shared enemy, Dom and Brian must give in to an uncertain new trust if they hope to outmanuever him. And from convoy heists to precision tunnel crawls across international lines, two men will find the best way to get revenge: push the limits of what's possible behind the wheel.

Alright, this doesn't look horrible, so I'm going to say already that they've succeeded. The goal here was just to do something better than Tokyo Drift, and the trailer has already done that. Bringing the original cast back and going back to their roots (somewhat) was the right move, and this could definitely revitalize the series. I'll see this when it comes out. For now, check out the trailer; the second half is way better than the first, by the way.


Awesomest Maximus Cast

The Hollywood Reporter says National Lampoon is moving forward with its next in-house production, National Lampoon's The Legend of Awesomest Maximus, a spoof of sword-and-sandal flicks such as Gladiator, 300 and Troy.

"Mad TV's" Will Sasso will lead a cast that includes Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines), Ian Ziering ("Beverly Hills, 90210"), Sophie Monk (Date Movie), Tony Cox (Bad Santa) and Rip Torn (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story).

The script was written by Jason Burinescu, and Revenge of the Nerds helmer Jeff Kanew will direct.

Dan Farah and Burinescu are also producing. Sasso and Dale Rosenbloom are executive producers.

Oh boy, another spoof movie. Despite National Lampoon's name having a bit more history and perhaps a bit more respect than other spoof movies, most notably the cleverly titled line of movies which simply put "Movie" after what they're about, I expect this will perform just about as well as those utterly unimpressive other spoofs. I think everyone has seen enough of these already. Despite a cast that has a few strong actors, and a director who has made a name for himself, I expect this to be just another one of those movies.


Nolan Helming a Third Batman?

While the internet is going crazy with casting rumors that aren't true for Christopher Nolan's possible third Batman movie, the director himself is on vacation as The Dark Knight approaches $500 million domestically.

The Hollywood Reporter has published an interesting article about the film's marketing and the deaths of both Heath Ledger and Conway Wickliffe before the film's release. The piece ends with a bit on the third installment.

And Warners and Legendary are both interested in doing a third in the series, but all involved say it will be up to Nolan to come to them with a story and a plan.

"There are a lot of us who emotionally would love to do it," Roven says. "But it's really Chris' call. Chris is the kind of filmmaker who just doesn't think about the next movie before he has completely finished the movie he is working on."

For now, Nolan is taking a well-earned vacation.

Says Roven, "When he comes back, we will see how he feels."

We will be waiting patiently...

This is your bit of non-news for the day, although it does give you a nice look at how normal Nolan is in a place as crazy as Hollywood. This is a big part of why this new line of Batman movies is succeeding; Nolan is not only a brilliant director, but he's very level and normal, not thinking about the big picture. He focuses in on making The Dark Knight amazing, then he starts working on the next. Hopefully he does return. I'm fairly certain he will, at least for a third. Past that, it's anyone's guess, but I'm assuming a third is pretty well guaranteed with Nolan at the helm, and thank goodness for that.


Downey Jr. and Fey MasterMinds?

Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) and Tina Fey ("30 Rock") are in negotiations to voice characters in DreamWorks Animation's MasterMind, scheduled for a November 5, 2010 release.

Produced by Ben Stiller's production company, Red Hour Films, the film is a satirical send-up of the superhero genre, built around the story of a super villain who must find a new motivation after accidentally killing his archrival, Uberman, in the opening scene of the movie.

MasterMind is based on a script from Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons and will be directed by Gary Trousdale.

Hmm, interesting choices. Not Robert Downey Jr. really, since he's already got a superhero under his name and he fits the role, but Tina Fey is a bit of a surprise. It would be nice to see her in more, though, so I'm all for it. The movie itself still sounds fairly interesting and different. Hopefully it is actually satirical and witty and doesn't just end up being somewhat cheap and cheesy.


Looking Ahead: Labour Day ‘08

Alright, since this is a Friday column, let's take a look at what's opening this weekend. First off, debuting on Wednesday was Traitor starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce. Leaning heavily on terrorism and war, it's got much more of a Bourne look to it than anything else, and it looks damn good. Pearce and Cheadle together are a great team; unfortunately, the audience will likely skip this for the more mass-appeal movies of the weekend, I'm afraid. Second on the docket, College, which is just another movie about college. It's going to be nothing special, just sex, drug, and alcohol jokes, but it'll still rake in some money from the audience that likes that sort of mindless fun. Next, Disaster Movie, the latest creatively titled spoof that I classified earlier when discussing National Lampoon. This one looks just as dumb as every other recent spoof, and I would definitely avoid this, but somehow it will still make enough money to let someone make another ridiculous movie. Finally, Babylon A.D., Vin Diesel's return to grace. While the trailer looks awesome, I'm unsure of how the movie itself will fare. It will probably do well at the box office this weekend, but I have that feeling that the best moments are in the trailer and the rest is going to be a little too heavy for a Vin Diesel movie. Hopefully I'm wrong, though. So that's it for this weekend's box office. My pics: Traitor or Babylon A.D., take your pick.


Tivo Paradise: A New Year

Alright, since this week I'm replacing what is usually a television column, let's change gears and throw in some television stuff. I'm not much of a television watcher, but I've got my select few shows that I watch, and since we're coming up into September quick here, and most shows start in September, let's take a look at what I'm looking forward to this year.

First, 30 Rock, my favourite show at the moment. It's simply a brilliant show with fantastic acting, and I can't wait for new episodes. The final episode of the last season ended brilliantly, and where it's going to go from there, I have absolutely no idea, but I want to find out. The second season exceeded the first season by leaps and bounds, and I'm really hoping it just keeps getting better from here, with more guest stars, more ridiculous hilarity, and more Jack Donaghy. Unfortunately, we have to wait until the end of October to get more.

Second, How I Met Your Mother, set to start the new season on September 22. While this show probably had the best first season of any show I have ever seen, and the second season was still strong, the third season started off good and then took a head-first plunge right into the ground halfway through. It was unbelievable and quite sad (and difficult) to watch. With the finale patching up a few of the problems with the second half of the third season, they have to fix the dynamic of the show to get it back to where it used to be. The third season started giving each character an episode, and the single-character focus failed badly. The greatness of the show is the interaction and diversity of all the characters, and when you isolate them, you lose that. I don't have high hopes that this show will recover its glory, but maybe in time it can still be decent.

Next is Scrubs, without a start date announced, and now taking residence at ABC. I assume they will follow the last few years and start really late in the season, but you never know, ABC might start changing things. Don't expect the show itself to change, though, with almost everything else remaining the same. Dr. Kelso is going to be tough to replace, he was one of my favourite characters in the last few seasons. Friends star Courteney Cox is set to guest star as the chief of medicine, but no other new additions or changes have been announced. Look for this to be the last real season of Scrubs, though, as Judy Reyes, Zach Braff, and Bill Lawrence all want out once they end it on their terms. Scrubs may continue, with different doctors, but it won't be the same.

Any true Canadian has to admit that Corner Gas is pretty well the only decent show ever made in Canada, so it would be wrong not to love it. While no date has been set for the start of the season, it will be the show's last, and only nineteen episodes are being produced. I was ready to write Corner Gas off last year after its less-than-stellar start, but I caught up with it later and it proved its worth again with some absolutely great episodes. Expect the show to go out smoothly and to leave everyone wishing it wasn't over.

The second-newest show on my watch list, and all thanks to Fact or Fiction by the way, is Pushing Daisies. It's an incredibly out of place show for me to watch, but its sense of humour mixed with emotion is absolutely brilliant, and I love it. Coming back October 1, it should continue to be amazing. I'm a little worried about the show falling apart once it runs out of surprises, because the first season worked heavily off secrets and surprises, but for now, this should continue to be a great show to watch.

Finally, the newest show on my list, thanks to my girlfriend, is It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, coming back to us September 18. The show is incredibly coarse and rude - Seinfeld on crack I believe is the best description I've ever read – but it's hilarious and weird. My crash course in the show found it getting better and better as the show went on, so I expect this season to be even better than the last as they refine the show. It will be another short season, but since the show has apparently been guaranteed a number of seasons after this one, I'm not too worried.

So there you have it, the shows I'm looking forward to for the 2008/2009 television season. Hopefully you enjoyed my switch away from Rapid-Fire for a week.


Closing Time . . .

It's almost time to get back to university. I cannot believe four months of summer went by so fast. It's just unbelievable. In the winter term I believe I'm taking Film Studies, so that should be interesting, and maybe I'll be able to spice things up with some dry technical knowledge. Anyway, it's been a pleasure providing you your Friday movie news, and if you're interested in continuing to read my work, there's a handy little drop-down box just down there with my name on it, I believe. So until the next time you read my column . . .


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