Arnold Schwarzenegger Talks 'Terminator: Genesis'

Out promoting his new film, Sabotage, Arnold Schwarzenegger obviously took time to chime in on the upcoming Terminator: Genesis, which will mark his 4th time (5th if you count his CGI'ed face in Terminator Salvation) playing the famous 'cybernetic organism'.

It's almost astonishing to think the original film came out 30 years ago this October, but here we are with the legendary action star still going strong and committed to staying as the face of the franchise.

*This interview was conducted by the great folks over at Collider so I just wanted to give them the proper acknowledgement and thanks before posting anything.*

Schwarzenegger on why he decided to return to the franchise:

I think that it’s just so wild to have a franchise that has been around for that long, and then after 30 years, to get asked again to be the only character in a movie that is the same character is unheard of, in movie history.  You always switch out, like with James Bond and Batman.  They have new characters there.  But, not here.  That, to me, is an extraordinary situation and a great opportunity.  Of course, I was honored when I was asked to come back and play the character with Sarah Connor.  It was the same when Universal called and said, “We want to do the sequel to Twins.”  That’s 25 years later, after it came out.  And 34 or 35 years later, after doing Conan, they’ve come back and said that they want me to play Conan.  Not to be one of the villains in Conan, like the usually do, but to play Conan.  

It’s great because I’ve stayed in physical shape, and they see me in different movies and on social media and with all the stuff that I do.  I’m still on the cover of the muscle magazines.  So, they say, “We can still have this guy fight with a sword for 10 hours a day, do horseback riding, and all of these things.  We can have him star in Conan.”  It’s really unusual.  That’s never, ever happened, that I’m aware of, in the history of these kinds of things, where you can lead a franchise like that and be the star, at this age.  That just shows you that, if you have the attitude of a young person and you work like a young person and you keep your body in shape, and if you believe that you can do it, then you can actually make other people also believe that you can do it.

On if the film will keep its current title and what fans can expect from this new entry:

I don’t know what the final title is going to be.  As you can see with Sabotage, when I read the script, it was called Ten.  You never know.  Today, studios switch titles because everything has been tested.  They’ll give an audience five titles, and then they’ll pick one.  ButTerminator is going to have the exact same feel.  The way it reads, it has the same feel of Terminator 2.  It’s big.  There’s hardcore action and it has some really great visual effects in there, but not over the top.  It’s not a Thor type of movie, even though it’s the same director.  It has good special effects, but just enough to say, “Wow, where did that come from?  How did they do that?”

Besides the fact that it seems this new film is going for a style similar to T2 along with wanting to keep the action practical (like Thor: The Dark World), it's great to hear a guy like Schwarzenegger speak so confident about his abilities even at his age.  I strongly believe this guy is going to prove a lot of people wrong (like he's been doing his whole life).

Source:  Collider (thanks again guys) 

Video-Games to Film and Why They Aren't All Shit.

 

When you think "video-game to movie adaptions", it's easy to dismiss them as "terrible", given the bad rep that Uwe Boll has bestowed on works like Bloodrayne, Far Cry, and Dungeon Siege.
You might also associate "bad video-game films" to Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil  franchise, which would be incorrect. 
I've never done an opinion piece; but in honor of this weekend's video-game adaption Need for Speed , I feel it's time to clear the air on video-game adaptions and why you shouldn't judge them just by their umbrella genre.

The same logic applies to video-game films as applies to comic-book movies.
Not every comic-book movie is a Catwoman or a X-Men Origins: Wolverine the same way that not every video-game film is a In The Name of The King or Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
I'll go on to explore the best and most effective video-game films, and why shouldn't be dismissed based off of the genre adaption bias.

First up, would be Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil, While this multi-thousand dollar franchise has 5 entries with one more planned to finish out the series, I'll only cover the first film, as it's sequels spin into their own world, where as you could argue the 2002 film into the game's mythology.

Resident Evil is, first and foremost, a film about the Capcom survival horror franchise of the same name; but for those with a closer eye, there is a lot to be found in Resident Evil; which applies to Anderson's entire filmography as "B-Movie shlock" on the surface, but elevated with such care and depth that it becomes an engaging story in it's own right.
Resident Evil is, under the surface, a clever modernization of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, with the striking imagery of the "looking glass", as well as the Red Queen's kingdom, with Alice forever chasing the white rabbit that holds the G-Virus, a cure to the viral weaponry that Umbrella has been making.

Resident Evil fans like to delude themselves into thinking the game franchise is a pinnacle of artistry and depth, and that Anderson "ruined" the games; when in-fact Anderson builds not only a literary adaption out of it; but also creates one of the most popular and recognizable female action-protagonists since Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton with Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez. 
The film retains the first game's horror and mystery, with Anderon's mastery of the lense, from the claustrophobic and metiphorical cooridors of The HIVE to the "time limit final-boss" of the Licker/Rain battle on the train before The HIVE closes.

Resident Evil is smart, well written, and extrenley well directed; adding an interesting layer that is not really found in the games themselves; along with a nerve-rattling and terrifying score from Marilyn Manson, and is not to be dismissed or mocked when discussing video-game to film adaptions.

Next up is Hitman, the 2007 adaption of the IO Interactive game series, which turns out to be not only and engaging political thriller; but a fantastically fun action movie in it's own right. 
While the film is currently being rebooted as Agent 47, the original starred Timothy Olyphant and Olga Kurylenko, as sort of an un-traditional love-story, which humanizes "Agent 47", something fans of the game hated' but worked in a cinematic sense.

Hitman wound up as a better James Bond film than Skyfall became, with globe-trotting, beautiful action sequences, and an interesting (if cliched) plot of "agent getting betrayed by his people". 

If one would complain about the film, they wouldn't note that the film takes the franchise and not only adapts it to a workable film; but makes it a worthy entry to franchise itself (much better than  Absolution did, I might add).

Hitman incorporates some moving religious imagery; but also makes the somehwat goofy plot something that the audience can connect with. A solid action movie and a fun-time no matter when it is seen, this adaption is key to understanding that video-games, an interactive medium, need some cinematic liberties taken with it that end up working out well in the long run.

Silent Hill is up next, and is perhaps the holy grail of  pretentious video-game fanbases. The film takes the heavily Japanese franchise and adapts it into an adventure/haunted house thrill ride that nerfs the games expanding mythology into an "American Ghost Town" story with top-notch production values and a heavy ending that leaves the viewer as distressed as the player.
The sequel, Silent Hill: Revelations 3D, does this well also; but wasn't as critically acclaimed or financially successful, despite an intense trip of occult imagery and some fantastic cinematography and creature designs.

Silent Hill might not bring the deeply rooted psychological horror of the video-games; but it brings the hyper sexual imagery into a film of a mother's quest to save her daughter and then into an un-traditional love story of denying destiny into two very well done films. 

 

Disney's Prince of Persia adapts the classic Ubisoft game franchise into a traditional summer block-buster that offers family-friendly entertainment with an injection of sword and sandals 70's movie flare, with Jake Gyllenhaal playing the titular Prince racing against Sand Assassins hired by Ben Kinglsey all while trying to save a gorgeous princess played by Quantum of Solace and Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters star Gemma Arterton.

Right off the bat, Prince of Persia is a classic Disney film, in the same vein that John Carter and Pirates of the Carribbean are. We have two leads with great chemistry, coupled with the melodramatic yet convincing trials of Prince Dastan (Gyllenhaal). As fans of the game are quick to judge, the film never introduces monsters or the needlessly edgy elements present later in the series; opting for a traditional block-buster that Mike Newell brilliantly brings to the screen, coupled with the compelling fantasy script and some breath-taking imagery by cinematographer Jogn Seale. The film takes good care of the costumes and action as seen in the games, with the same break-neck action that players experienced in the highly grossing franchise.

While the film sadly didn't span any sequels, Prince of Persia earns a spot as not only a great film in it's own rights; but also a brilliant way of bringing the classic franchise to a wider audience. While video-games have an advantage if having the player experience firstly (through his own hand) the actions and emotions of a character; the film delivers that as Dastan is attatched to the audience, and his clamctic battle against Ben Kinglsey's character is an emotional and structural climax of intense degree. 

Lastly, we have 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. While fans, again, are quick to judge, the film grossed enough to justify a sequel; which sadly did not spawn another entry.

Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft is similar to the "classic" Tomb Raider games, made by Crystal Dynamics. She's pretty and bad-ass, and also quick to wise-crack. The film carries the original series sense of adventure; but also expands on the tale of Lara and her father (played by Jolie's real life father John Voight) in a touching and visually trippy climax.
The movie once again plays as a classic Hollywood adventure mystery; and has even some excellent parts from Ian Glenn ( Ser Jorah in Game of Thrones) and Daniel Craig (pre James Bond). It shares similarities with Prince of Persia; with globe-trotting action and a somewhat tongue in cheek attitude.

While the game franchise later got rebooted (as is the film franchise, apparently), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider stands as a pinnacle of early 2000's/Late 90's film-making, when not everything needed to be dark and gritty; but when things could still be fun. The movie stands as a near perfect adaption of the SPIRIT of the games, more than the games themselves, and upon re-watch still works for what it is.

Other notable works include 2009's Max Payne, while "shitting" on the Rockstar Games deeply rooted Nordic mythology, the movie works to it's own credit as a slow burning drama with some well directed action, as well as 2005's DOOM, a game that takes the gritty and straight-faced stupidity of the ID Games franchise and turns it into a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi horror film with one of the most mind-blowing sequences in big-budget films as well as one of the greatest lines ever spoke: "Semper Fi, mother-fucker."

Not all video-game films are good, sure; but it's stupid to dismiss them as juvenile cash-grabs.
The future looks bright for the genre as well, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached to ROBOTECH, as well as Sony looking to make CGI films from Sly Cooper and Ratchet and Clank as well as the muli-Game of the Year winning Shadow of the Colossus. Eidos and Square Enix are also hard at work on adoptions of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and HITMAN, as well as  Ubisoft looking to break into the business in a big way with Assassin's Creed starring Michael Fassbender.

What do you all think? Disagree? Have some favorites or not favorites that weren't mentioned? Sound off below. 

James "God" Cameron Shares Some AVATAR 2 Details

 

While AVATAR 2 is still 2 years away from it's December 2016 release, James Cameron gave some updates on what stages of pre-production the film is in.

 "We're still in the early stages. Right now we're developing the software. I'm writing the scripts. We're designing all the creatures and characters and the settings, and so on. So I'm not actually directing yet, but I'm doing all the other creative processes that lead up to that."

The sequel to 2009's record-breaking AVATAR, which went on to gross more than $2,782,275 billion dollars, will shoot consecutively with AVATAR 3 and the prequel, AVATAR 4 and Cameron went on to discuss the franchise's expanding characters and worlds:

"That's the great thing about 'Avatar. It's such a rich world, I can explore any theme or any idea that I want. Once you've got the characters that an audience loves, it's great to surprise them and make changes and turns that they don't expect. And you don't have to spend so much of the movie setting up all that stuff because the audience will remember from the previous film."

AVATAR 2 has already landed Stephen Lang (who suffered from a case of 'giant knife through the chest' in the first film) as well as Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington. 

As for what to expect visuall, Cameron intends to once again set the bar for visual brilliance:

"We're looking at high frame rate. I'm studying that. I haven't made a final decision yet, whether the entire film will be made at a high frame rate or only parts of it. You know we'll be shooting at a native resolution of probably 4K and so there should be a lot of true 4K theaters by then as well."

"It's going very well. I think it's going to be spectacular. The first film took almost four years to make. We expect to be able to accelerate the process quite a bit, because we've improved a lot of the software and the computer graphics tools, and we've been working very closely with Weta Digital down here in New Zealand developing a whole new suite of tools to speed up the process." 

AVATAR 2 hit theaters December 2016, ending a rather busy year for blockbusters. 

Bryan Singer Promises Mass Destruction in X-MEN: APOCALYPSE; Internet People Probably Getting Angry

 

In Total Film, Bryan Singer spoke about his upcoming highly anticipated X-Men: Days of Future Past, and then dropped a few hints on to what movie-goers should be expecting when X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters 2016.

Fair warning, it is expected that those who lived through Zack Snyder's biblical destruction of Metropolis and Smallville in Man of Steel might begin to enter the early stages of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder that they acquired from seeing CGI people in a fantasy action-movie being killed by an alien gravity machine last summer. 

We’re going to deal with the notion of ancient mutants – the fact they were born and existed thousands of years ago. But it’ll be a contemporary movie – well, it’ll take place in the ’80s…The ’80s is a period now – it’s hard for me to believe that!

So it appears X-Men: Apocalypse will continue from the "corrected" time-line established in X-Men: First Class and continued through Days of Future Past. Singer then went on about the film's spectacle:

Apocalypse will have more of the mass destruction that X-Men films, to date, have not relied upon. There’s definitely now a character and a story that allow room for that kind of spectacle… I don’t want to get too specific, but we’ll introduce familiar characters in a younger time. That’ll be fun to show the audience. I call these movies in-between-quels. It’s a mind-fuck sometimes in terms of where things fall in the timeline!

Now, this is interesting, as the X-Men films have, historically, been sort of "self-contained" as opposed to the big-budget spectacle recent adaptions like The Avengers and Man of Steel which featured intense city-wide battles.
The closest we've come until Days of Future Past was X-Men: The Last Stand's show-down with the Brooklyn Bridge and the Danger Room sequence showing a devastated world over-run by Sentinels.

Synger went on saying:

It all stems back to when I did [the first] X-Men,” he said. “You always want to know where a character’s going to go, what their future’s going be like. You can always sequelise. … As a director, you always need a backstory to give your actors. It may not be the right backstory, but it’s one you can give the actor to help them understand their character. These prequels are really exciting for me because they give me a chance to explore ideas I came up with more than a decade ago

The X-Men: Days of Future Past issue of Total Film is on news-stands now, and the film hits theaters this May.

Marc Webb Won't Do THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 4; No One Blames Him

 

If it wasn't apparent enough that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a soft reboot of 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man, sharing almost none of the previous film's tonality and elements besides it's cast, (500) Days of Summer director Marc Webb told The Daily Beast "cya" on The Amazing Spider-Man 4 but would like to remain on board in some aspects.

I’d like to be involved as a consultant, and I’ve already talked to these guys about it, but in terms of directing it, that will close out my tenure. I’ve had so much fun doing it, but after the third movie, it’ll be the time to find something else.

The Amazing Spider-Man 4 was recently locked in at a 2018 release, following the third film's 2016 outing. Sony has already stated that the Spider-Man universe would become sort of their Avengers, and given Spider-Man's extremely wide range of rogues, anti-heroes, dastardly villains, and old blind women with mystical psychic powers, it's hard to argue the potential there. 
Webb went on to comment on the universe:

 We’re building out a more complicated Spider-Man universe with characters that people haven’t seen in other Spider-Man movies—The Sinister Six, Venom, and more. We’d all love to overlap with other studios, but it’s beyond my pay grade.

Of course that last bit should satisfy some nerds "Potential Ways Marvel/Disney Could Work Out a Deal with Sony" thesis probably being typed up right now on some LiveJournal site.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 swings into theaters this May. 

Sienna Miller Joins Clint Eastwood's 'American Sniper' Opposite Bradley Cooper

After coming down to herself and Jaimie Alexander (Thor), Sienna Miller has landed the female lead in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper, staring Bradley Cooper.

The film - based on the true story of Chris Kyle, a now deceased Navy Seal who had the most confirmed sniper kills in U.S. military history - is set to start shooting next month.

Miller would play Kyle's wife, Tara, who's forced to raise his children alone as her husband's overseas fighting the enemy.

Eastwood had spent the last week deciding between the two actresses, but ultimately settled on Miller, whose seemingly on a hot streak of late with upcoming roles in both Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher and the Vince Vaughn comedy (probably another dud though) Business or Pleasure.

Cooper is also producing through his 22nd and Indiana production company with a release date eyed for next year.

Source:  The Wrap

RANGO Screenwriter Joins INCEPTION: HIGH SCHOOL EDITION With Miley Cyrus

 

Commin' in like a wrecking ball, RANGO screen-writer James Ward Byrkit has joined Paramount's WAKE which has been in the works for the studio since about 2010 with Miley Cyrus (MTV Video Music Awards 2013, Hannah Montanna: The Movie) attached to star as the lead.

Deadline reports that the film, previously with Christopher London (Disturbia) attached, is based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Lisa McMann.

WAKE tells the story of Janie Hannagan who has the ability to involuntarily enter other people's dreams which leads her into the heart of a massive ring of drug-dealing and corruption within not only her high-school; but her small town's community.  

The novel is followed by two acclaimed sequels, Fade and Gone.

WB's PAN Get's Ready To Send Adeel Akhtar's Smee To Neverland

 

On the heels of casting Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) as Tiger Lilly, The Wrap is reporting that Joe Wright's PAN has found the Smee to Garrett Hedlund's (TRON: Legacy) Hook in Adeel Akhtar.

In keeping with the multi-racial Neverland that director Joe Wright envisions, “Four Lions” star Adeel Akhtar has been cast as Smee in Warner Bros.’ big-budget tentpole “Pan,” an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

Smee is notably Hook's right-hand man; and lends further to Wright and WB's "international" out-look on the casting for this big-budget adaption and pirate influenced take on J.M. Barrie's acclaimed tales.

The film also stars Hugh Jackman was notorious pirate Blackbeard, with the titular 'Pan' not cast as of yet; but given the speed on which casting is going, I'd expect that soon.

PAN releases in 3D July 17, 2015. 

Lupita Nyong’o Might Be Someone in STAR WARS EPISODE VII

 

Coming out of Camp Latino Review comes news that 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o could be up for a role in the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII or S7AR WARS if you swing that way.

The part Nyong’o has been reading for a is a major female role and doesn’t seem to be tied into the family lines from Episodes 4-6.

Calls were made to Lupita’s reps and they responded, “We’re not allowed to talk about that.”

From what I heard, Lupita might be going up for a a sith!

Earlier this week, Variety reported the short-list for the film's male leads, which are apparently down to Ed Speleers, John Boyega, Jesse Plemons, Matthew James Thomas, and Ray Fisher.

Adam Driver was confirmed earlier this month to play the film's villain.

JarJar Abrams S7AR WARS: Episode VII: Revenge of the Attack into Darkness will hit theaters December 18, 2015.  

Rooney Mara will be Native American Princess Tiger Lilly in WB's PAN; People Mad.

Just earlier this week Variety got the drop that Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) was cast in WB's upcoming take on the classic J.M. Barrie novels that spawned the wildly popular film Peter Pan  from Disney in 1953.

Mara will play Tiger Lilly, Native American princess on the island of Neverland, who is often depicted as a love interest to Peter Pan, long before Wendy Darling and the jealous Tinker Bell are in his life.

The film will be a new take on the classic story. It is set during World War II and follows an orphan named Peter who is kidnapped by pirates and brought to Neverland, where he discovers he’s destined to save the land from the pirate Blackbeard.

The world being created is multi-racial/international – and a very different character than previously imagined.

The studio took on an exhaustive search in finding the right girl to play Lily looking at other actresses such as Lupita Nyonog’o and “Blue is the Warmest Color” thesp Adele Exarchopoulos before going out to Mara for the role.

Obviously this is another "Johnny Depp as Tonto"-tier debate on some parts of the internet already; but as Variety noted this is a multi-racial and international depiction of Neverland.

It's also worth noting that Tiger Lilly, daughter of Chief Big Little Panther, is in-fact NOT a real Native American, and does not actually belong to a REAL LIFE Native American Tribe, and that the original "Peter Pan" stories take place on a fantasy magic island with fairies, mermaids, pirates, alligators with clocks in their stomachs, and eternally young children.

Of course, like Depp as Tonto in Disney's The Lone Ranger, the character of Tonto was never meant to potray all Comanche peoples, and Tonto was disowned by his own Comanche tribe; but given definite reason and purpose for his behavior, just as i'm sure Mara wasn't cast to potray all Native Americans that will ever live and have lived. 

PAN also stars Garett Hedlund as a young Captain Hook, with Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard and open catsing is still open for a 10-12 year old for Peter.

The film, directed by Joe Wright, will hit theaters July 17, 2015.