Sony Making a Venom Spin-off

In other news, I could care less.

Yeah, I never thought I'd ever say that. But let's face it- not only did Spider-man 3 systematically rape my childhood but it pretty much ruined this amazingly awesome character. I haven't been able to think of Venom and not cringe a little or hurt some inside because of that film. The emotional damage that that film has done to me is deep and, to be honest, I'm still not sure if I'm completely healed (though I will say that The Dark Knight has significantly helped the healing process). I think I was depressed about a month after that film came out. Watching it in a crowded theater with a big group of my friends was like making a big speech in front of the whole school and then having your pants and underwear fall down in the middle of it and they all (including the girl you've secretly had a crush on for years) burst into non-stop laughter. 

God, how could they screw up so bad? Ugh...

This spin-off doesn't even make sense considering they killed Eddie Brock / Venom at the end of Spider-man 3 anyway (and if that's a spoiler to you then you should be thanking me for keeping you further away from that disgraceful film). I guess they're going for a re-imagining or something. Whatever. I don't care. I guess it can't be any worse that what we've already got.

From what I've heard, Topher Grace will not be cast again as Brock (to be honest, he wasn't that bad... he was just too small) so maybe Venom will be as huge as he always has been in our minds and hearts. There is also doubt to whether Spider-man will be in the film so I kind of don't see what the point of making it is. It really sucks guys- I can't believe they screwed up one of the best comic book story-lines up like that (and in such an awful way). We'll never get to see Venom / Spider-man on the big screen the right way ever because of that film. Well... maybe we will... some day. 

Maybe one day... somewhere... a director will make The Dark Knight of Spider-man films. Hey, it could happen. I mean, I gotta hope, right? I gotta have some dreams. 

Anyways, when it comes down to it, I'll probably end up seeing this Venom spin-off. Why? Because I'm a fanboy loser, that's why. And oh yeah: We are Venom!

*Also: I had my last day at work today so expect me back full time here at YDKS Movies and in prime form.*

Source: /Film

Robocop Rated R?

The new non-sequel remake/rebuilding/reimagining of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 classic, Robocop may be closer to the original than originally thought.

In an exclusive interview with MTV News, producer Mike Medavoy discussed the rating of Darren Aronofsky's 2010 slated (hope to be classic) revamp of the series:

Well I was involved with the original ‘Robocop,’ and it was an R, and the likelihood is that this will be an R. It’s likely to be an R unless the director cuts back on some of it.”

Aronofsky? Cut Back? Thankfully that won't happen!

Medavoy, also debunked the rumors of Robocop using the 3-D gimmick saying, "I don’t think that’s even come up."



Source: MTV via Joblo

Ok, Tony Jaa is Back...

Just kidding!

So yesterday, right after, and I mean right after, I had finished posting that Tony Jaa had disappeared into the depths of the jungle because of directorial stress, I wandered over to IGN for my everything-nerd fix for the day, and found this:

Last night, Tony Jaa appeared on a TV talk show to explain why he disappeared from the Ong-Bak 2 set back in June. Apparently Jaa even broke down when talking about missing money he was suppose to receive on his producer's good promises. Jaa went onto explain that he had not abandoned the picture, and was just "focusing on the artistic angle of the film."

Jaa is currently in talks with the producers to patch things up, and get the ball rolling so the movie can still make its scheduled release in Thailand on December 5.

Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom Trailer

First of all, if you don't know who Rian Johnson is, then shame on you. Because then you have either A, never watched Brick, or B, never taken the time to check out the people that are responsible for the movie your watching. Either way you are the lametard for the day.

Brick was released in 2006 as Rian Johnson's directorial debut. It is a smart, edgy detective story revolving around drugs and high school kids. And although the word "noir" was never used on set during the filming, it is precisely that. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars, as his character goes on a mind bending trip into an unknown world that is responsible for the death of the girl he loves. Brick's wit, characterization, and darkness in tune with Johnson's rich visual style, have brought a freshness to the cliched "high school" movie scene.

Needless to say, I was excited about Johnson's sophomore effort, The Brothers Bloom. That is, until I saw the trailer.

The Brothers Bloom follows the Bloom Brothers, the best con men in the world, Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, as they set out to perform one last heist. Their target is the eccentric Rachel Weisz who is the heiress to a massive fortune. Apparently comedy (and probably disappointment if you're me) ensues.

Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, and even Mark Ruffalo. But the trailer has just totally diluted any interest I had. The slapstick is head-in-hands stupid, and the premise of yet another heist film does not satisfy my excessive imagination. Check out the trailer below.

The buzz after this trailer's debut has been fairly positive, and frankly I don't understand it. Am I missing something? Even so, I will most likely still see this one. It is set for release on October 24, 2008.

Raimi Teases Evil Dead 4 Again

Over the past few years, Sam Raimi has always stated that he's interested in making an Evil Dead 4 but it never even comes close to actually happening. Well, at the Comic-Con this past weekend, Raimi was present to promote his new horror film Drag Me To Hell (which I had hopes for at first but everything I've heard about it seems to be pointing to it being a complete piece of a crap... after all, he did cast Justin Long) and he dropped the little tidbit below:

“I love working with Bruce Campbell… He’s super willing to do anything to make it right. He’s a very funny guy, but mostly he’s got this quality where he will physically do anything to get the shot done right, so I would love to work with Bruce again because I’d love to test those limits.

I’d love to make another Evil Dead picture. And actually that’s in the wheelhouse. I’d like to work on it with my brother Ivan [Raimi] when he comes up next week.”

This movie will never get made. Mark my words. I don't care how many times Raimi says that he's interested in making it or that he loves working with Bruce Campbell- he will never make this movie. Honestly, I don't even think that we need another Evil Dead movie but I certainly wouldn't turn one down... that is, if Raimi is back on his A-game. Let's face it, he's been sucking pretty hard since Spider-man 3 came out. Like I stated above, Drag Me to Hell doesn't look to be much better (did I mention Ellen Page dropped out of the production because she was unhappy with the final draft of the script?). I would probably see an Evil Dead remake happening before this does... in fact, not too long ago, it was supposed to happen.

So who knows. I guess it'd be nice to have this actually come together. But, personally, I'm just too tired by this point of having my favorite movie franchises completely ruined by lame sequels (Indiana Jones, Spider-man, X-Men). So, if this film does happen, I hope that that is not the case. Even if it is, I'm sure it will be great to see Bruce Campbell back in action, spouting ridiculous one-liners and welding his chainsaw arm around. 

Source: Filmdrunk

Where is Tony Jaa?

Last month I posted the promo reel for Tony Jaa's first directorial effort, Ong-Bak 2. When the promo reel was first shown at Cannes, the buzz was heavy as Jaa (who does all of his own stunts) made climbing and running across a herd of elephants look easy. Now it seems that Tony Jaa has simply gone missing.

Over at JoBlo, they are reporting that Tony Jaa has left in the middle of production. Apparently, Jaa was having trouble with the budget and schedule of the movie and has since "gone to meditate in the jungle." Prachya Pinkaew, who directed Jaa in Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior and The Protector has since taken up the reigns and has offered his services to edit the existing footage, and direct more scenes if need be.

The film was supposed to be released in Thailand in December.

I am extremely disappointed, and hope that Tony Jaa uses his Wolf Trumping Rope Dart to find his way back!

Speech of the Week #1

Hey guys, welcome to a new column here on YDKS Movies entitled Speech of the Week! For now on, every Monday I will post a new scene from a movie that features a speech of some sort being given. After all, there are a lot of famous scenes in film where characters give an influential speech of some sort. Then again, there are also a lot of scenes where characters give a speech and it just comes off cheesy and lame. In this section, you will see both kinds. That's right, people, I'm giving you the good and bad of film speeches all wrapped up in one great big package. I hope you all enjoy.

This column was partly inspired by the speech and story I am about to give you. The other day, my good friend Zach Osborn (pictured above) came over to my house. We were talking about how great the midnight show of The Dark Knight was when he told me about his first ever midnight show: Independence Day. He said that his father took him (against his mother's will) and it was the greatest theater experience of his life. He said that he was in tears as Bill Pullman gave his inspiration speech before the world unites to do battle with the alien invaders. In fact, the speech inspired Zach so much that he downloaded it off the internet and began listening to it on the bus ride to Quiz Bowl competitions. Eventually, he began to turn his teammates on to the speech and soon they all began to recite the speech on the bus before competitions.

So this Speech of the Week is for Zach. Although I don't think Independence Day is the greatest movie ever by any means (though I thought it was awesome when I was 10), Zach's story behind this speech makes it a necessary post. The guy still swears that Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are the greatest onscreen duo in film history. I'll let you all decided. Enjoy Pullman's speech below and be sure to check in next Monday for another Speech of the Week.

And here's a full transcript of the speech for good measure:

“Good morning. Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world, and you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. Mankind, that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences any more. We will be united in our common interest.  Perhaps it’s fate that today is the 4th of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation. We’re fighting for our right to live, to exist…and should we win the day, the 4th of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared in one voice, ‘We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on, we’re going to survive.’ Today we celebrate our independence day!”

Buy The Spaced DVD Immediately

I've been wanted to watch Spaced for quite a while now. Last year, I finally got to watch two episodes of it on TV Links but, for some reason, I never watched any more. Well, in case you missed it, the entire series was released on a great 3-Disc DVD set last week for about $39.99. 

In case you are not familiar with the show, it was created by director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) and actors Simon Pegg (also of Shaun of the Dead fame) and Jessica Stevenson. It centers around two young twenty-somethings named Tim and Daisy (Pegg and Stevenson) who pose as a couple in order to rent out a two bedroom flat. The show revolves around the two living together and all the strange people they encounter in the flat such as Brian the artist and Marsha the alcoholic landlady. Nick Frost (who was also featured in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz) also stars as Tim's best friend Mike, who is in the army. The show was created before Wright and Pegg hit it big with Shaun of the Dead and features a lot of their trademark humor and creativity. It also features a lot of clever film references and homages to movies such as The Shining, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, The Evil Dead, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, American Werewolf in London, Taxi Driver (my favorite reference because it was so subtle), and many more.

Although I really enjoyed the first series of the show, I absolutely fell in love with the second series. Austin and I started watching it last night around 8 and ended up watching the entire thing in one sitting. It was one of the funniest things that I've ever sat through. I also liked how touching it got towards the end of the series. Everything about it was just perfect. In fact, I can't wait to re-watch it again soon.

It's really hard to not like this show. It's more clever than most series that I've seen and is funnier than any show on American television right now (well... not as funny as The Office, but it tends to come close at times). By the end, you really come to love all the characters that inhabit the show and are pretty sad to see it all come to an end. As for me, my favorite character was Brian. That scene in the first episode where he describes the type of art he creates still kills me every time I see it.

In the end, there was no way that I couldn't love a show that devotes an entire episode to Tim sitting in the flat and playing Resident Evil 2 on his Playstation (an episode that marks the ground work for Shaun of the Dead).

If the show isn't enough for you, the DVD set is incredible. It has tons of Deleted Scenes, Raw footage, a feature length retrospective documentary on the show, a Q and A feature, and commentaries on every episode with special guest commentators such as Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Matt Stone, Patton Oswald, Diablo Cody, and more.

So get out there and buy this show. It deserves a place on your DVD shelf. In case my words of praise have no convinced you, below I have included a video from Episode 5 from Series 2. When I saw this scene last night, I just couldn't stop laughing. There's another scene that is similar to this one at the end of this episode but I decided to not include it. After all, you gotta have something to look forward to when you watch it. Enjoy. 

Wolverine Comic-Con Trailer Leaked

We're having a lot of leaked trailers hit the web lately. Last night, it was the teaser for Oliver Stone's W. and today it's the Comic-Con trailer for next May's Wolverine. The trailer is in two parts and is filmed from the crowd but, unlike the leaked Tron 2 trailer, it is in pretty good viewing quality. Plus, it's just really fun to listen to the awesome crow reaction- it's intense. It's not as cheesy as I originally heard it was but there are some moments that look kind of lame (for example, what's up with the black cowboy?). However, for the most part, it looks like a lot of fun. Mostly, I just wanna see Gambit throw his purple glowing cards at people. Check it out below. Do it quick though, Marvel will probably have it taken down soon.

Update: As expected, the trailer has been taken down. At least we have the picture of Wolverine fighting a bear up top.

Second Update: Found another video of the teaser here. It will probably be taken down soon like the last one. 

Oliver Stone's W. Trailer Leaked- Watch it Quick

Oliver Stone has never been the one for subtlety. In fact, the guy directs with the lightness of a sledgehammer. Still, despite his in-your-face attitude and his controversial use of taking a creative license with history, I can't help but always enjoy the man's films. He just know how to put images together and almost always makes incredibly fascinating and entertaining films about the history of the United States. Sure, I know that he likes to blend the facts and that most of what I am watching probably isn't true... but I don't care. I just enjoy watching it. I just see it as another form of entertainment is all. 

So, when it was announced that Stone was directing a biopic of controversial and extremely unpopular President George W. Bush, everyone knew what to expect- a very biased and mostly negative view of our president. After viewing just a few minutes of this teaser trailer, you will find that just to be the case- we see George W. (Josh Brolin in a nearly unrecognizable role) getting plastered, dancing with girls on a bar, going to prison, and even crashing his car in a drunken stupor with what looks to be a joint in his hand. Despite Stone's basis and the fact that Bush hating is pretty old by this point, the film looks very intriguing and entertaining to me, much like the rest of Stone's films. 

Who else is looking forward to some crazy hyper editing and possible assassination cover-up plots? I know am I.

Check at the leaked teaser trailer here. Do it quick though- it will probably be pulled off soon.

Update: As expected, the trailer has been taken down.

The Dark Knight Does it Again!

According to the weekend estimates over at Box Office Mojo, The Dark Knight has swooped in and sky-hooked a massive 2nd weekend total of $75.6 million. That puts The Dark Knight's total domestic gross at $314 million in 10 days, making it the fastest to reach the $300 million mark and taking the title away from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest which did it in 16 days. The Dark Knight now also holds the record for highest grossing 2nd weekend ousting Shrek 2's record of $72.17 million!

As The Dark Knight eyes the fastest to $400 million, I can't help but hope that it will go all the way and take the All-Time Gross record away from Titanic. Wesley mentioned in an earlier post, that what makes The Dark Knight's accomplishments so amazing and special, is that we actually now have a deserving movie holding all of the records. What better way is there to end the run than by taking away the title from the least deserving movie of them all? Titanic's domestic gross sits at a little over $600 million, while its total worldwide gross is complete at an untouchable $1.8 billion.

We can only hope for the best as The Dark Knight's worldwide gross currently rests at $440 million with still plenty of room to grow.

Wesley's Lost Boys: The Tribe Review

You see that poster above? Does anything about it spell out "good movie" to you? Yeah, me neither. 

I once again went into my new releases box at Movie Gallery this past Friday looking for this gem. I had seen the commercial for it the night before and was in the mood for an awful movie.

Let's just say that it did not disappoint.

Lost Boys: The Tribe is an absolutely terrible film that works an unnecessary semi-remake / sequel of the original cult classic that came out in the 1980's. It takes the creative style, good music, engaging story-telling, and solid cast (minus Corey Feldman, who not surprisingly is the only cast member from the first film to return to this crap fest- that is if you don't count what's after the credits... we'll get to that later) and throws it all out the window for more foul language, excessive gore, and loads of nudity. 

That's the first thing I noticed- the foul language. In the first few minutes of the film, it felt like at least fifty f-bombs were dropped. What was the point? It just all felt forced and added nothing to the movie. I'm all about going for the R-rating (especially lately in regards to a Robocop sequel and Terminator Salvation) but this all felt like it was put in to somehow to try to make this movie cooler. Well, it doesn't work. In fact, it just makes even more laughable and awful. The original Lost Boys had little-to-no foul language, a reasonable amount of gore, and no nudity at all. It was a fun movie that was effective and classy. Lost Boys: The Tribe has none of that class: it feels like a half-assed exploitation film starring people that look like they should be in The O.C. instead of this kind of film. The gore in this movie was ridiculous and it was all filmed in a strange fast motion, shaky manner (i.e. unoriginal) that I guess was supposed to be shocking and hard-hitting. Instead, it just felt out of place and strange. And what was with all the nudity? Again, if it serves the movie, then I'm fine with it. However, after a while, I felt like I was watching one of the American Pie films or even a porno. 

Speaking of American Pie, that was another thing- the main male human lead was played by the same guy that played Stifler's brother one of those straight-to-DVD (*cough* STD *cough*) sequels to American Pie. I never saw that movie but, having seen the previews for it, I recognized the kid pretty fast. I guess he gets a lot of work on the STD market. Once I realized who he was, it was all that I could think about and, thus, I couldn't take anything he said or did seriously. He's just one of those Stifler kids.

The cast for this film was terrible. One of the great things about the original Lost Boys was that it had a pretty solid cast, especially in the case of Kiefer Sutherland as bad guy David. Well, this time they manage to get Kiefer's half-brother Angus Sutherland to be the bad guy and guess what? He doesn't have the acting abilities, presence, look, or ink of talent that Kiefer had. The guy is just embarrassing and has no intimidation factor once so ever. Autumn Reeser plays our female lead struggling with first-time vampirism and, while she's nice to look at, there isn't much to say about her acting abilities (though I wouldn't say that she was awful by any means). The rest of the vampires in the film are absolutely character-less. Seriously, I could not tell you one of their names or anything special about them. They were all just assholes that cursed a lot and ate people. There was nothing to make you identify with them or really even care that they were there. But to me, the most unforgivable casting decision on this film was getting make-up legend / horror icon Tom Savini to make an appearance and then just completely wasting him. Savini shows up in the first five minutes of the film and is quickly disposed of by our lame, jerk-off surfer dude vampires. What's up with that? Tom Savini is absolutely awesome and you treat him like this? He should have been the head vampire instead. Now that's a Lost Boys movie that I would have liked to see.

And now we get to good ole' Cory Feldman. To me, Feldman was one of the worst parts of the original Lost Boys because of that lame deep voice that he would force himself to speak in to try to sound like a bad-a. It was just embarrassing. Well, not as embarrassing as an adult version of himself speaking in the same phoney voice. Say what you will about Bale's "Batman" voice but it's got nothing on the awfulness of Feldman's Edgar Frog voice. Still, with that said, I did actually really enjoy Feldman's presence in this film (and that's something I'd never thought I'd say). Despite the lame forced voice, Edgar Frog is a fun character and he begins a lot of humor and entertainment to the film. Plus, he has a bunch of extremely cheesy / awesome one-liners like "Who ordered the stake?" after he shows up with two stakes with intent to use them on some vampires and "Pop goes the wheezel" after blowing up a vampire's head with a shotgun blast. Yeah, they are all really bad but, deep down, I loved them. It is truly sad though that Feldman seemed to believe in this film so much (as is evident in his multiple blog posts) to the point of trying to get enough fan support to gain a theatrical release. There's no way this thing would have lasted in theaters. So much about it screams straight-to-DVD. I don't know what you were thinking, Corey. I don't know how you could have thought this was looking good. Poor guy.

You may be asking: what about this movie just screams straight-to-DVD? Well, I'll tell you. First off, the direction is completely sub-standard. I don't know who director P.J. Pesce is but there's nothing about the way he films that would make him any more different than the average straight-to-DVD director. The way he stages action is completely unengaging and strange. After watching the movie, I watched some of the special features on the DVD just because I was wondering how they could say good things about the film. One feature was dedicated to a really lame action sequence in the film where the vampires run from a police car on various "extreme" forms of transportation such as motorcycles and skateboards. While I appreciate some of the stunt work that was done, the way the scene is filmed is so uninteresting and awkward. He uses shaky takes a lot (why is this a style?) and, at times, randomly speeds the footage up. The execution (and the retarded set-up) of this scene is so unbelievably poorly done. I really didn't even understand why this sequence was taking place. It just felt so forced and unrealistic. I didn't buy it for one second. 

Other than the bad action sequences, the film also contains some truly bad "shooting day for night" sequences. In case you don't know what this means, sometimes filmmakers shoot night sequences during the day and then change the color of the sky to black in post-production. The lighting of these scenes is usually off a little bit but, if done properly, it can trick the audience. However, this is not the case in Lost Boys: The Tribe. The night sky that was transplanted in these scenes always looked really fake and painfully obvious. It was just bad. It really stood out during the night surfing sequences, especially at the beginning of the film. And what was up with putting in that giant moon? There's a lot of shots of a giant full moon in this film that is so unrealistically big that it seems like it's about to crash into the Earth. What were they thinking?

To go along with all these complaints, there were also a lot of plot holes and scenes of just general confusion in this film. For example, there's one scene in particular where the Stifler kid is in a car with the vampires and they decided to go surf at night. To this, the Stifler kid replies, "But there's no moon tonight. How will we be able to see?" Cut to a few minutes later and they're all surfing... with that giant freaking moon in the night sky! But he just said there was no moon... how did you guys miss that? They even went in so far as to put a giant fake moon in the sky. I just don't get it. Also, at one point in the movie, Feldman talks about making "Frog juice," which he drinks every morning when he wakes up and night when he goes to sleep. It contains raw eggs, garlic, and some form of alcohol (can't remember which one). He also has created a bola of garlic to throw at vampires. But wait a minute... I seem to remember a scene in the original Lost Boys when an attacking vampire tells Edgar Frog that garlic doesn't work! That's right, he told Feldman's character that garlic has no effect on vampires. Yet, despite this, he still drinks it and uses it as a weapon? I smell a plot hole. 

Lastly, a lot of scenes in this movie just don't make sense. Characters will meet characters that they obviously have had some type of history with and conflict ensues... but we never get an explanation of their history. The last thing I expected to be was confused during the viewing of this film. Constantly, Feldman refers to having lost a family member. Well, I guess he's referring to Allan Frog, his brother... but we never are given any explanation of this. Um, what happened to storytelling, guys? Way to leave me out here. After all, I tend to care more about the Frog brothers and characters from the first film than all these new stereotypical ones any way... yet, you keep that whole story-line vague and secret. Come on, what's wrong with you? And what's up with that scene during the credits with another character from the first film (I guess I'll leave it secret for spoiler reasons, though most people know about it before seeing the film)? I had no idea what they were talking about in this scene. And why was that certain character a vampire now? Please, someone, inform me of the reasoning behind all this. And another thing- what's up with those alternate endings? They have a scene between Feldman and the aforementioned character from the first film as well, though in a much different context, and a strange and somewhat lame cameo of Allan Frog. Did things have to be this confusing? Couldn't the movie just have been focused on these characters instead? 

Still, despite all this awfulness, I did enjoy this movie. After all, I rented the thing because I wanted to watch a bad movie. And that's what I got. I have to tell you- this movie was pretty hilarious to watch. Despite it being a worse movie, I actually enjoyed watching this more than I did watching Doomsday. It was just so bad that it was really funny. I couldn't stop laughing when lame redone version of "Cry Little Sister" by Aiden was played. It was just so laughably bad. I can't believe that they actually just re-enacted the sex scene from the first film with it playing, using the exact same lightly, cross fades, and direction. It was just so blatant that it was hysterical. It was a really fun time, I must admit. It would actually make a great group film if you're friends with people that love watching and making fun of bad films. It's perfect for that.

This movie really had nothing to say for itself. Everything about it was done before and insanely predictable. I'm still not sure why it was even made. After all the rumors of Lost Boys sequels (such as the ever popular Lost Girls), they settled on this uninspired piece of dung? Why? Bad acting, bad directing, bad music, bad effects, bad script... everything was just bad, bad, bad. This movie was so awful that it was actually one of the funniest movies that I've seen in quite a while. I never thought I'd ever say this in a sentence but, man, Joel Schumacher did a much better job. 

I'm sorry, Corey- this movie was terrible.

2/10

YDKS Movies on Heroes and Dreams

Click to enlarge.

I just wanted you all to know that YDKS Movies now has a page on Heroes and Dreams.com. Heroes and Dreams is a local comic book store that Austin and I have been visiting a lot lately and they have been very supportive of the site, even giving us a plug on the Dark Knight Midnight Show Coverage the other week. By joining their site, we are joining a whole new network of interconnected fans of movies, comics, and everything else that is cool in this world. We're hoping that it will get us a stronger readership. Check out the page here. I haven't done much with it yet, but it's better than nothing.

To commemorate this occasion, Austin made the new piece of artwork that you see above. If you are a fan of comics, you will recognize it as an homage to the cover of Amazing Fantasy #15, which was the first comic book that Spider-man made an appearance in. If you have good eyes, you will be able to spot his clever placement of Heroes and Dreams's logo. I really like this piece. I like how Austin keeps incorporating that picture of me in that red hoody and how he keeps transforming the hoody into either: a) a Batmask or b) a Spider-man themed hood. And if you can't tell, yes that's a film reel logo on my chest instead of a Spider symbol. I also like how Austin even manipulated the "Also in this issue" text box. Pretty awesome stuff there. I'm sad that Jason had to be the villain in this piece but I guess he'll get over it. After all, he was front and center in that YDKS Theatrical Poster. 

Yeah, that's right Jason. It's my time to shine. 

I hope you guys like the new artwork and be sure to check out our Heroes and Dreams page.

Teaser Trailer For Pixar's "Up"

I don't really know anything about Up. But what I do know is that it is directed by Pete Docter, the man who gave us the classic, Monsters, Inc. Depending on the day, Monsters, Inc. ranks anywhere from 1st to 4th on my Pixar favorites list.

Here is Wikipedia's plot synopsis for Up:

Carl Fredricksen has spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But one day, Carl finds himself to be 78 years old and his life has seemingly passed him by, until he befriends a chubby 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. The two opposites match up for thrilling adventures as they encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains, and all the terrifying creatures that wait in the jungle.

I don't know about you, but that sounds like a good movie to me. Up is slated for a May 29, 2009 release. Below is the teaser available only on YouTube for now.

Wesley's Doomsday Review

I was going through our new release Fed-ex box at Movie Gallery earlier this week when I discovered British horror director Neil Marshall's new film Doomsday sitting in it. I remember being slightly intrigued about seeing Doomsday when it originally came out mostly due to the fact that Marshall directed it and I loved his last effort, The Descent. However, the previews for the film looked pretty silly and the reviews weren't much better. Because of this, I decided to not see the film.

However, since I get free rentals, I decided to give the movie a shot. I wish I hadn't.

Doomsday is pretty much a waste of time. I can't believe how bored, uninterested, and unengaged I was during my viewing of this film. There were a few times where I actually felt like getting up and just turning it off but, for some reason, I didn't do that (I've never not finished a movie, no matter how bad or boring it was). Much like my viewing of The Ruins, I felt as if I had gained absolutely nothing by watching this movie by the time it had ended (though I feel like I gained a lot more watching The Ruins after seeing this movie). I just don't know how Marshall could go from directing such a claustrophobic, intelligent, character-driven, and scary film like The Descent to directing such an awkward, uninspired, cult-film-wannabe like Doomsday.

I think that was my biggest problem with the movie: it just wanted to be a cult film so bad. What's even worse is it can't decide what kind of cult film it wants to be. It essentially just rips off a bunch cult films in its identity crisis: The Road Warrior (with it's ending), Escape From New York (with it's quarantine and erection of a large wall around a city), and even Dawn of the Dead (with the spreading of a deadly, zombie-like virus). The film goes in all these directions and does so awkwardly. If this wasn't enough, it even takes a strange breather and turns into a medieval castle-and-knights film at one point. Yeah, I wasn't expecting that at all. Surprisingly, this section of the film isn't too bad (mostly due to the presence of the always awesome Malcolm MacDowell) but, compared to the rest of the film, it feels awkward and out of place. Like I said, the movie is just trying too hard to be gritty, cool, and original. It wants to have a cult-like following like the aforementioned films that it rips off and, because of that, it fails at achieving a purpose. 

Unlike The Descent, Marshall has no handle on his action, story, or character via his direction. The action sequences are shaky and bland. They are about as typical as an action sequence out of any random Hollywood film and are even more as unengaging. As stated in the previous paragraph, the story line is all over the place and never really settles down. I could never really get into any of the directions that the film was taking because it never really spent enough time developing them. As for the characters, this was probably the biggest slap in the face. The Descent had some of the best character development that I've seen in a recent horror film. Each of the women portrayed seemed and felt very real and like very flawed human beings. Marshall throws all that kind of character development out the window in Doomsday. This movie had the character development equivalent of a Paul W. S. Anderson film. Yeah, it was that bad. I honestly couldn't describe any of the characters that were apart of the team to find the cure to the virus. Not one (other than Eden, the main girl, of course). Talk about sloppy and nonexistent character development. 

Did I mention that the movie turns into a blatant car advertisement towards the end? Well, it does. It's just embarrassing to witness it happen. Really, really embarrassing. And while we're on the ending of the film, what was up with that? No, I'm not talking about the blatant car commercial part, I'm talking about the final image. It just doesn't make any sense. Never would that character do that or join up with the cause that they did. It was just try to be a shocking surprise ending and it just had me shaking my head. I didn't buy it. 

Was there anything that I liked about the movie? There was one scene with the crazy immune freaks or whatever they were that was pretty effective. It was when they have Eden imprisoned and they throw a crazy rally of sorts. The stuff that they do during this rally was pretty crazy. Marshall's direction during this scene was particularly stylish and effective (especially with "Spellbound" by Siouxsie and the Banshees playing in the background). I also enjoyed Rhona Mitra as Eden for the most part. She was definitely very attractive (something Marshall milked every chance that he could- he even put that infamous butt close-up in the trailer) and that didn't hurt things. Still, I could help but think at times that she was basically like the poor woman's Kate Beckinsale at times. Well, to my surprise, I looked her up on IMDB a few minutes ago and she's actually going to be taking over Kate's role in what's sure to a straight-to-DVD Underworld 3. So I guess that just confirms what I was thinking as the movie played before me. Also, like I said before, it was nice to see Malcolm MacDowell in the movie but they definitely didn't do much with him and it felt like he was wasted for the most part. I also did have a little respect for Marshall's anti-Hollywood approach to violence- the guy just goes for it and, because of this, the movie is much grittier than most movies of this type that are coming out. Still, that couldn't save this movie from being anything other than a boring, rip off of other cult films.

As you can see, I didn't really care for Doomsday all too much. It tries too hard to be this outrageous cult phenomena and it fails pretty miserably in the process. The story and characterization is pretty much nonexistent. Because of this, the film is mostly a bore that feels like a chore to get through. When I rented the film, I wasn't hoping for a masterpiece but I was at least hoping to be entertained for two hours. That was not the case. I don't know Neil Marshall was thinking with this one. Here's hoping that his next effort is more in the vein of The Descent. 

Feel free to pass this one by when you see it on the shelves come next week. You're not going to miss anything.

3/10

Terminator Salvation Rated R?

Everyone is happy!

The guys over at Geeks Of Doom got to visit the Terminator Salvation panel today at Comic Con where McG unveiled a nice surprise for everyone.

According to McG, Warner Brothers has granted him blessing to make an R-rated movie. GD writes further:

This means that if when McG completes the movie [and] it ends up being an R-rated film, he has the go-ahead to release it that way without pressure to cut it down for a PG-13 rating. We just saw some footage from film and it looks amazing!

Things are looking up. Considering the teaser was gay, the fact that awesome footage is being show is a major plus. And if we get an R-rated T4, I may actually get a little excited about having to watch this.


Source: Geeks Of Doom

TR2N Teaser Online...Sort of!

The teaser is online, but in bootleg form on YouTube. From what can be seen through the sneaky gentleman's tilted camera, TR2N looks pretty awesome. It is also worth the watch for the audience reactions. The "oohs" and "ahhs" make me feel like I was there (along with having trouble holding my head up). Most notable are the "oohs" when Clu cuts off Blue and the great continuing crowd reaction when Jeff Bridges shows up on screen.

*Update* Disney has since removed the YouTube vid because of Copyright Infringement. However, if you are still desperate enough to want to know what happens in the teaser, the guys over at JoBlo have a geek-filled explanation!

Source: /Film

Blog-a-Thon: Cinexcellence

Our virtual friends over at Cinexcellence are hosting a Blog-A-Thon from now until mid August. Basically it is a community effort, in which anybody who is anybody watches a movie, preferably one they have been putting off viewing for a while, and writes a review. You can click the above banner more details about how to submit your reviews, and we will have a link in the sidebar for the duration of the Blog-A-Thon.

And if you don't want to have your name in cyberspace lights, at least check out Cinexcellence's great blog. He has some great info and news, including a fun, little known cameo in Steven Spielberg's Hook!

A Wrap-Up of the Latest Comic-Con News

There's a lot of news coming in about the San Diego Comic-Con (other than the news of crazy Twilighters ruining everyone's good times) so I figured that I would do a quick round-up of all of it for you all.

And here we go...

One of the biggest surprises of the Comic-Con so far has been the unveiling of a trailer for Wolverine by Hugh Jackman himself. Jackman even thanked the fans present at the panel for "giving him a career." He seems like a nice guy. Anyways, according to /Film's Adam Quigley, the trailer was full of geek-tastic images such as Wolverine and Sabertooth sharing a holding cell, shots of Deadpool (complete with ninja swords), Gambit (yes!) and The Blob. Basically, this sounds like a nerd's fantasy come true. Unfortunately, Mr. Quigley also said that most of the trailer came off in the cheesy kind of way. So, despite having a lot of fan favorites appear, this movie could still suck big time. I'm not sure that it could actually suck as much as X-Men: The Last Stand did... but hey, you never know. Here's hoping for the best... and we better have another beserker attack in this one... and Gambit better have a thick Cajun accent and throw glowing, purple cards. Seriously, that's all that character ever did. But, somehow, he was still awesome.

The Watchmen panel was also today and according to every site I've read it was pretty much awesome. Director Zack Synder and the entire cast were present and Synder unveiled a new extended trailer of the one that premiered in front of The Dark Knight last year. The trailer is supposed to be pretty awesome and has a lot more violence and gore than the last one did (which makes sense due to the fact that the Watchmen is an extremely violent graphic novel). Still, like the last trailer, it was mostly just flashy stuff and no dialogue or character pieces. All of this still makes me wary of Synder and his ability to make a strong, character driven film but, hopefully, he will prove me wrong. After reading all the Q & A of this panel, it at least seems his heart is in the right place. 

Eh, I'm just gripping. It will be good. Really, it will.

A new red band trailer for Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone was released at the Comic-Con today and it looks just as God awful as the last trailer did. The last Punisher film with Thomas Jane was pretty awful but this looks a thousand times worse. "Oh, Look! We have Punisher smash everyone's heads in with his bare hands! That makes our movie better!" No... no, it doesn't. I know this may confuse some of you as I was just arguing for keeping R-rated series R-rated but that doesn't mean that just having extreme violence is going to make your film a good one. Violence should be there to make a point, commentary or serve the purpose of the story in some manner. The way it is being used in this trailer just makes the movie look retarded. And what's up with that lighting scheme? Did someone borrow the cinematographer from Batman and Robin? 

I've read a lot of Director Lexi Alexander's blog posts about how this movie is going to kick ass and how it's going to be so violent that we can't handle it. I don't like her. She seems about as mature as a twelve year old boy. 

And how about Ray Stevenson as the new Frank Castle? I don't buy him. I don't know why, but I just don't like the guy. The last Punisher was a terrible film but at least it had Thomas Jane doing a pretty good job as Frank Castle. It's a shame- I like Thomas Jane but he tends to be in nothing but pretty bad movies. 

At least John Travolta isn't the bad guy in this one. Thank God for that. Check out the head-explosion filled trailer above.

Some new images and posters of Rose McGowan in the Robert Rodriguez produced Red Sonja were also released at the Comic-Con. As you can see in the image above, they are pretty gorgeous and surreal pieces. I was surprised that Rodriguez was still involved in this film due to his break-up with McGowan a month or so ago. Oh well... at least he isn't directing it. In my opinion, this chick has really been holding the guy back in creative terms. After all, he hasn't done anything since Grindhouse but come close to remaking a bunch of old 1960's sci-fi films with McGowan to be in the lead role each time. Come on, Robert... give us Sin City 2, man. I'm drying here... 

Anyways, Douglas Aarnioko (Rodriguez' first assistant director on most of his projects) will been directing the film and will be using both green screen work and practical sets to create the film. One thing's for sure: the film will definitely look good. It's also rumored to have a very dark edge to it. I'm slightly interested but there's something about McGowan that bothers me. Maybe it's the fact that she's a home-wrecker. Yeah, that might be it...

A trailer was unveiled at the Wolfman panel today and I hear it was pretty incredible. Apparently, the trailer gave a look at Benicio Del Toro in full Wolfman make-up (done by the amazing Rick Baker of American Werewolf in London fame) and he looks awesome. The trailer was also full of werewolf mayhem as Benicio tore a lot of people up (complete with flying limbs and blood). I remember hearing that the screenplay by Andrew Walker (the man that wrote the screenplay of Seven) was extremely violent and this just confirms that. Still, I was slightly horrified to know that the creative team was still unsure if the film would be allowed to be rated R by Universal and that the werewolf transformation might be done by CGI rather than practical effects (you have Rick Baker aboard guys- use him! This man made werewolf transformations as real as they will ever get!). I'm also a little unsure of replacement director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III). I really wish Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) had stayed on this project... it really could have been something wild, creative and special under his directorial helm. 

Still, despite all this, I'm looking forward to this one. I love me some Wolfman!

There was also a surprise Tron 2 (or as they're calling it- Tr2n) trailer at the Disney panel the other day and it blew a lot of people away. Get this- it has better effects but is still retro and it has an old Jeff Bridges reprising his old role from the original film. Yeah, Jeff Bridges is back. Get excited. I've only seen the original Tron once on television but I remember throuoghly enjoying it. I'm all for this sequel. I'm sure it will be fun. That and I'm glad Bridges is involved.

Lastly, The Spirit panel was today and, from what I've read, it was pretty awful. The trailer that popped up last week (and was attached to my print of The Dark Knight) was shown along with some new clips that were equally unimpressive. I loved the teaser trailer for this film but that last trailer was just too strange / focused on women for my taste. I'm just not really sure where Miller's going with this film anymore. His focus seems very divided. Anyways, all the footage shown at the panel is supposed to be really cheesy and bad. The panel itself was also supposed to be pretty boring. 

Poor Frank Miller. I had high hopes for this one. I'm not going to lie to you- I'm still going to go see this movie. I'm just not very confident about the outcome of the film anymore. Still, I'll hope for the best. Frank, you know what you have to do about all this. Give us what we really want- give us Sin City 2! 

Well that's it for my latest Comic-Con news wrap up everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed it. I only wish that Jason and I could be there live to give you all this news live and in a more personal form than this report has been. Still, I tried to spice it up as well as I could. 

I try, folks. I try.

Sources: /Film , IGN, First Showing

Never Back Down DVD Quote Is Hilarious

This past Spring Break, my friends and I went to see Never Back Down as a joke. The previews of the film looked awful and I gotta admit: the film did not disappoint.  Man, this film was terrible. It was honestly one of the most cliche, ridiculous, and illogical things that I have ever seen. Seriously, if you have a good film taste and you want a good laugh, then check this thing out. It's so bad that it could easily be mistaken for a comedy.

 

Did I mention that the girl / love interest of the film is named Baja? You know, like the Baja Peninsula? I couldn't stop laughing... Is that supposed to be hip or something? Someone help me out here. And how about that part where the two guys are fighting and the one kid gets kicked hard in the abs and an X-ray of his insides is randomly overlaid on his body. Who really thought that was a good idea? How stylish of you mister MTV music video director. How stylish...

Anyways, I'm getting off-topic here. The main reason for this article is that I was working at Movie Gallery earlier today and I realized that this movie was in the new releases Fed-Ex box for next week. So I picked it out of the box and looked at the back of the cover.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

"It's a little Karate Kid, a smidge of Fight Club... a lot of the OC..."- Michael Philips, Chicago Tribune

Are you serious? Nothing in that quote makes the movie sound good. In fact, it just admits that it rips off other fighting films (which it does- it's basically the Karate Kid with pretty people and even more cliches) and it has a lot of similarity to a really bad television show. That's like saying, "It has a little bit of sugar, a tiny hint of cinnamon, and a lot of crap dumped on top." Absolutely nothing in this quote says, "Hey, this movie was pretty good!" 

In fact, I looked up Michael Philip's review on Rotten Tomatoes and, guess what? It was negative. Can you believe that? Couldn't they have at least picked a postive review to get a quote from. After all, there were (shocking) some (though not a lot by any means) to choose from. But no, they pick this vaguely bad quote from a negative review. Good job, marketing team. To be honest, this movie deserves a quote of this stature. It is indeed pretty fitting to the film.

The sad thing is that most people will come into the store next Tuesday and read the quote and see it as a positive thing. It just kills me... it really does. 

If you really don't believe me on this insane quote, you can see the thing yourself below.

So bad...

Everyone Hates Twilight Fans

So I've been reading 2008 Comic-Con coverage on a bunch of movie websites and every site I've been on has talked about how crazy / awful the fans of Twilight have been. Apparently, they all stormed Hall H for the Push / The Knowing / Twilight panel and things got a little out of hand. People got kicked out of their seats (such as Alex Billington from First Showing.net), there was a lot of overly enthusiastic screaming and yelling, and, at one point, a giant curtain even fell (though the reason for the fall has been undetermined- I just like to think these little losers were responsible). Every year I read about the San Diego Comic-Con, I hear about how bad the management and security for the event is and this year's Twilight fandom rush apparently makes this point even more obvious. 

Seriously, screw this movie. It looks so awful that it's not even funny. And these fans are even worse. Most of them even admit on comment sections on various movie sites that the film looks awful but they just want to see it because Robert Pattison is "gonna be the hottest vampire ever like oh my gosh!" Man, I hate teenage girls. I really do. I wouldn't be caught dead in this movie. I would rather watch Step 2: The Streets non-stop for a week straight. And that's saying a lot.

Jason says that we should boycott this film. I'm starting to agree with him. 

Source: First Showing, /Film

Darren Aronofsky Is Officially Directing Robocop Sequel / Reboot

Well guys, it's official. Jason posted a rumor about this a few weeks ago but it has now been confirmed by MGM: visionary director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) is officially directing a sequel / reboot of Robocop. At first, it was rumored that the film he was making was going to be a remake (boo!) but, apparently that is not the case. The film will instead take place 20 years after the Robocop program was shut down in the future. They also tend to be pointing at an R-rating (unlike the lame Robocop 3, which was Pg-13... poor Fred Dekker... it killed his career completely). 

I'm all for this idea. The idea of remaking a classic like Robocop absolutely horrified me (as most remakes do). However, with Aronofsky rumored to be attached, I was slightly okay with the idea. But now that the film is a sequel and reboot of the series, I'm one hundred percent behind it. Let's face it- Robocop is awesome. Robocop and Darren Aronofsky together is a kind of awesome that we've never seen before. Really, this could be something special. 

For thing is for sure- they definitely have to go with an R-rating. I know that I tend to say this a lot lately, but you cannot take an R-rated series and go the PG-13 route. It just doesn't work. Heck, just look at Robocop 3- that movie was a piece of garabage that had little resemblance to the original two films. That and the fact that they killed Lewis was unforgivable. I don't know what they were thinking... Seriously though, the original Robocop was one of the most violent movies of all time (and for a reason- it was trying to show the desensitizing effects of modern and media violence). In fact, the original cut was rated X (and you can find this version on DVD) and had to be cut down by director Paul Verhoeven to even get an R rating. 

Robocop is one of my favorite movies. It had a great story, some crazy symbolism (Verhoeven has been very vocal on how Murphy's murder was to meant echo the crucifixion of Jesus Christ), amazing action and effects, and even a classic score by Basil Poledouris. The film was raw and grittier than most films that have come out in the last ten years. Hopefully, Aronofsky can make a sequel that is just as classic and hard-hitting as the original film. After all, nobody ever wants to see Robocop flying around again (starts at 1:40; also this trailer tends to give away the entire film so you'll never have to see the awful thing). 

Source: /Film

A News Wrap Up For A Very Slow News Day...

I got nothing today, guys. Well... maybe not nothing... but it's close. Not much is going on today in the world of movies. This is most likely due to the fact that the San Diego Comic-Con is about to start up and everyone else in the world that runs a movie site is checking into a hotel at this moment. Since Jason and I do this site / blog for fun without pay, we will not be able to attend the San Diego Comic-Con. Still, we will cover the event's news the best we can (in other words, we'll read about it on other sites and then repost it here with own our brand of clever and witty banter- and we'll give credit to those sites, of course). However, I am working on getting money together so I can attend next year. After all, I've wanted to go to the thing for years now.

The some of the only interesting news I came upon today was some stills of Jason being posted from the latest Friday the 13th remake from Platinum Dunes. I gotta say- they are pretty lame. Jason's wardrobe is too hip and awkward as he wears a black jacket(what happened to the good ole' jump suit?) and it looks like he's sprouting some thick blonde hair behind his hockey mask. I disapprove. Still, I think this movie could be a pretty fun time at the theater- in that silly, overly gorey slasher flick kind of way. Nonetheless... Jason's looking kind of lame in these pictures. All the horror nerds on the net right now are flipping out over the new look and are tearing it to shreds. I'm too jaded by this point to really make much of a fuss. If you want to see the pictures, click here to see JoBlo's post. Be quick though- /Film was already forced to take the images down earlier today by the studio (which is the reason I'm not posting them here). I have posted above an earlier official still of Jason (from a great distance) that was posted earlier this week and has not been removed by the studio. Still, it doesn't show the detail of Jason that the new pictures do. One thing's for sure- this remake definitely has an abundance of fog. I'm cool with that I guess. 

Another interesting news piece that I came across today was the fact that The Dark Knight grossed an addition $24.5 million this Monday, making it the biggest non-holiday Monday gross of all-time. This film is breaking so many records that it is absolutely insane. I've said this once and I'll say it again- Chris Nolan has created a monster with this movie. And I'll say this again- it deserves every dollar it gets and then some. If you haven't seen this movie yet, you should be ashamed of yourself. Seriously, if you haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, stop reading our site. Really, I mean it. I don't like you anymore. And you don't have any friends. And your mother hates you... and your father was always secretly disappointed in you. 

Anyways, other than these little tid bits of news, there hasn't been much going on today. Because of that, I have been catching up on film watching. The other night I finally got around to watching Cujo (which was surprisingly close to the novel- except they wussed out on the downer ending) and today I watched the absolutely wonderful documentary Confessions of a Superhero. It's about performance actors that dress up like superheroes (specifically Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Hulk) and pose for pictures for tips on Hollywood Boulevard. It was a really strange yet very touching documentary that I wouldn't mind watching over again... a couple of times. I'll try to get a review of sorts up in the next day or so. It was truly something special. 

Anyways, that's about it for today. Hopefully tomorrow will hold some more interesting stories (especially with Comic-Con starting up). Right now, I'm about to kick back again and start watching Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light. I'll probably tell you what I think about the film later this week. 

Sources: Joblo, /Film