Op-ed: Give 'Terminator: Genesis' A Chance

I'm not sure how many daily visitors to this site are or once were 'Terminator fans', but if any are like myself, you still hold out hope that one day Hollywood will get a non-James Cameron entry in the franchise right.

As you are probably aware, a new Terminator film - entitled Terminator: Genesis - is set for release next year on the long 4th of July weekend.

It's being termed a reboot of the series that will be set against the events of the original 1984 classic.  Arnold Schwarzenegger will be back (though his official capacity as yet to be announced) along with Games of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke playing a young Sarah Connor and Jason Clarke (no relation) playing her son, a futuristic John Connor.  Alan Taylor (who has quite a lot of quality directorial experience in TV) will direct the film.  His most recent effort was last year's Thor: The Dark World.

Just this week though - after a long, drawn out search - it was announced Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard, Jack Reacher) would be playing Kyle Reese, the role made famous by Michael Biehn in the original.  Many fans (already on the fence about how to feel about this new film) were quick to throw their cautious optimism out the window, including myself.  

Courtney may be a nice guy in real life and take his career as an actor seriously, but the guy looks nothing like how we imagine the character of Kyle Reese to be.  Boyd Holbrook - the other final contender for the part - was thought of as a much more ideal fit, having not only the physical similarities to the aforementioned Biehn, but also thought of as a more talented actor.

With that said though (and having a few days to let the news sink in), I sort of realized:  give the film a chance.

Not every fan outrage over a casting decision has been warranted (see Michael Keaton as Batman), and for all we know, maybe Courtney WAS the better choice.  Reportedly, Holbrook did indeed test TWICE for the past and still didn't get it.  The filmmakers obviously didn't feel he was the best fit even after that and decided to go with Courtney instead.  Maybe he really showed them something in his audition that gave him the leg up for the role.

Not to mention too, it's not exactly like the cast and crew announced for this project are necessarily bad.

The director, Taylor, has worked on some great dramatic television shows such as The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, and Mad Men.  He also is seemingly not a 'yes man' in Hollywood, reportedly having butted heads with Marvel about how to cut Thor: The Dark World.  Both Emilia and Jason Clarke, mind you, aren't exactly slums when it comes to acting either.  The former has been nominated for an Emmy and the latter has done solid work in films like Zero Dark Thirty and Lawless.

I guess what I'm saying is, don't let one so called 'poor' casting choice be your odometer for the quality of this movie when not a single piece of footage has even been shot yet.

Who knows, the might end up being a pretty damn good film.  I mean, did anyone think Dawn of the Planet of the Apes would be as good as it was?

Give it a chance, that's all I'm saying.

No, Seriously, SPACE JAM 2 Moving Ahead With LeBron James

 

In a Deadline Exclusive that's sure to make headlines, it appears to the sequel to the 1996 pinnacle of human film-making, Space Jam, which won the Oscar for Best Motion Picture Ever Made at the 69th Annual Academy Awards, is moving ahead with Miami Heat star LeBron James attached to star.

Charlie Ebersol, who already has a good relationship with the NFL through his NFL Characters Unite series on USA Network, is about ready to do the same with the NBA. He has been brought on to the produce the picture through his production company, The Company, from a script by his brother Willie Ebersol. The latter won an Emmy for the London Olympics. This is his first screenplay.

Space Jam was a blend of live-action and animation featuring Warner Brother's Looney Tunes characters, who we haven't seen on the big-screen in a feature length film since 2003's Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

The original starred then Chicago Bulls star and current NBA Legend Michael Jordan, as well as a slew of other notable names from the NBA.

This comes just on the heels of another bit of sequel news from Warner Brothers, announcing The LEGO Movie follow-up will hit theaters in 2017.

LEGO MOVIE Sequel Gets Release Date

The LEGO Movie that charmed the pants off critics and fans alike and is reaching the $200 million mark world-wide finally has it's sequel dated, and you can expect to hum "Everything Is Awesome" again on May 26, 2017.

Sure that seems pretty far away; but it doesn't seem like WB likes to rush anything.

The sequel, announced the week the film released on Feb 7, will be written by Jared Stern who had his hand in Wreck it Ralph and BOLT before writing Mr. Popper's Penguins as well as Michelle Morgan (Girl Most Likely, Middle of Nowhere).

No stars have been confirmed to return; but expect Pratt, Banks, and Arnett to make a come-back for sure, as well as Alison Brie.
Of course, when you have the infinite world of Lego to build from (literally) anything is possible, so who knows who you'll see.
I have a feeling the stars will be lining up to try and get a role in this.

Edward Norton to Produce, Write, Direct and Star in Passion Project 'Motherless Brooklyn'

Many seem to forget the 'overnight sensation' that was Edward Norton almost 20 years ago.

He went from being a complete unknown to getting an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actor in his first-ever acting role in Primal Fear at the age of 27.

Just two years later he scored another Oscar nomination, this time as Best Actor for the modern classic, American History X.

The legend goes that all the big offers he got for movies like The People vs. Larry Flynt, Rounders, and Fight Club were all based off of his audition tape for Primal Fear.  It was THAT DAMN GOOD.

In recent years though, Norton's mainly fallen off the map, with his last notable role being 2012's The Bourne Legacy as the main antagonist.

Today however, comes word that Norton has finally secured full-financing and the greenlight for a project he's been working on for the past 15 years, Motherless Brooklyn.

The actor penned the adaptation of the Jonathan Lethem novel of the same name, which will change settings from modern day in New York to 1954.  Norton will direct and star as Lionel Essrog, a secluded private detective afflicted with Tourette's syndrome, whose trying to solve the murder of his only friend and mentor.  

The actor will produce as well along with director Brett Ratner and his production company RatPac Entertainment.

This sounds like a great role for Norton and huge stepping stone in his career which will hopefully get him back to the Oscar limelight.

Production his scheduled to begin at the end of this year.

Source:  Deadline

New GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Poster and Videos Scream "Please"

In an effort to get name-recognition out of a cast of D-List super-heroes, Marvel Studios has unveiled a new poster (with literally everything they've done taking up the top half) as well as a "Meet the Characters" set of videos for Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Drax, Star Lord, and Groot.

The trailer for Marvel's intergalactic thriller premiered on the Jimmy Kimmel show Tuesday night to diversive reactions on Twitter and Youtube; but general praise from the "fanboy" community.

An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits—Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon, Groot, a tree-like humanoid, the deadly and enigmatic Gamora and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand—with the galaxy's fate in the balance.

The film stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Benicio Del Toro, Karen Gillian, and Lee Pace and is directed by James Gunn.

Guardians of the Galaxy makes it's way into theaters August 1, 2014.

Vin Diesel Shows Concept Art; Promises Update On THE LAST WITCH HUNTER

Vin Diesel sure likes to post about meetings he's had.
Well the FAST & FURIOUS and RIDDICK star has updated his Official Facebook with a look at his upcoming fantasy action film, The Last Witch Hunter.

The film, announced back in 2010 with Timur Bekmambetov (WANTED) set to direct has since found a new crew, with Breck Eisner (SAHARA, The Crazies), son of legendary cartoonist and writer Will Eisner, now at the helm off of a script from Cory Goodman (PRIEST).

I will fill you all in later… but this meeting went well.

The plot is said to follow an immortal witch-hunter (Diesel) as he and a reformed witch track a coven of witches bent on unleashing dark magic onto the Earth in modern-day New York City.
The concept art and images shown in Diesel's pic indicate though, that we will perhaps see The Witch Hunter on a quest through the dark ages till now, which would definitely mean more than a generic NYC setting.

The art looks beautiful, and with Diesel attatched you already know he'll put the maximum ammount of will-power and care into the film to please his fans and general audiences alike.

Bloody Disgusting has the film's synopsis:

“Five hundred years ago, war raged between humankind and witches, vicious supernatural creatures intent on unleashing the Black Death upon the world. Armies of witch hunters battled the unnatural enemy across the globe, including Kaulder (Vin Diesel), a valiant warrior who managed to slay an all-powerful Queen Witch, decimating her followers in the process. In the moments before her death, the Queen exacted her revenge by cursing Kaulder with immortality, forever separating him from his beloved wife and daughter in the afterlife. Kaulder has spent centuries hunting down rogue witches, all the while yearning for his long-lost loved ones.

Today, he is the only one of his kind–the last witch hunter. With the help of Father Dolan, a Catholic priest, and a mystical arsenal hidden beneath New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he continues to pursue the renegades and outlaws who endanger humanity. Chief among their adversaries is Belial, a powerful rebel witch who Kaulder believes has found a way to restore the Queen Witch to power and reignite her campaign to destroy the human world.

With the help of Chloe, a goodhearted young witch, Kaulder sets out to stop Belial before he can set his plan in motion, but allies in unexpected places keep the evil witch one step ahead in a cunning cat-and-mouse pursuit that will determine the survival of the human race.”

You're Looking At Your FANTASTIC FOUR (Probably)

It appears deals are being made, THR reports, for the young and hip cast of the reboot for Marvel's "First Family" in the FANTASTIC FOUR film being released next summer.

Michael B. Jordan (Friday Night Lights, CHRONICLE) has long been rumored for the role of Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch, with House of Cards star Kate Mara as Susan Storm (Mara appeared briefly in Iron Man 2), Miles Teller (FOOTLOOSE, The Spectacular Now) as Dr. Reed Richards, and Jamie Bell (JUMPER, King Kong) as Ben Grimm aka The Thing.

Josh Trank (CHRONICLE) will be helming the reboot, which is said to be based off of Marvel's Ultimate Fantastic Four, which launched in the early 2000s as part of Marvel's drive to re-vitalize their iconic characters in a contemporary setting with a clean slate and younger faces with re-done (and better) back-stories.

Sources tell THR that the studio is making deals with Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell to star in the project that reboots the Marvel superheroes. Josh Trank is directing.

Fantastic Four was the very first comic produced by the Marvel Comics’ 1960s golden age and featured a brilliant scientist, his pilot best friend, his girlfriend and her brother -- all of whom are turned into heroes: Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Invisible Girl and the Human Torch. They fought aliens and monsters, but their arch-foe was Dr. Doom, a one-time roommate of the scientist.

None of these are really "confirmed" but at this point they're probably it.
Still no word on the film's plot, or bad-guy, but the most recent batch of rumors suggested by THR indicate a possible gender-bend for the group's arch nemesis, Dr. Doom:

Dr. Doom is said to be the villain of the reboot (the character appeared in Fox’s two previous movies and was played by Julian McMahon). The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision is hearing that the studio is likely to go for a big name and isn’t ruling out switching genders for the role.

The Wrap, who broke the news about Bell's casting as Grimm also noted:

Bell’s name has never been mentioned in connection with the coveted superhero role, though it certainly makes sense as he has experience with motion-capture performances, having starred in Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin.” However, there is no official deal in place for Bell yet.

As for Teller, The Wrap also reported that starring in FANTASTIC FOUR might be tricky due to scheduling conflicts with the DIVERGENT sequel.
Stay tuned for more as a confirmed cast list is expected soon.

FANTASTIC FOUR is set to release June 19, 2015.
The previous films, released in 2005 and 2007, starred Ioan Grufford, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Julian McMahon.

Terrifying New Poster for GODZILLA

Cortesy of Yahoo Movies comes, perhaps, the best poster Legendary/WB have ever done.

Despite the "generic" back to the camera pose that the King of Monsters is sporting, the orange and black color design as well as the strikingly "old-fashioned" minimalist design on display here portrays Godzilla as not only a horrific force of devastation; but as a literal giant which goes perfectly with what we've heard before, that this will be Godzilla at his largest.

A nice little tough are the HALO jumpers from the film's trailer descending into the devestated city below.

GODZILLA will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters) and stars Aaron Taylor Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Bryan Cranston and Sally Hawkins and makes it's way into theaters May 16.

"An epic rebirth to Toho's iconic Godzilla, this spectacular adventure, from Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, pits the world's most famous monster against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence."

Jai Courtney Will Be Your Kyle Reese in the TERMINATOR Reboot

Variety got the exclusive that A Good Day to Die Hard and Jack Reacher star Jai Courtney will indeed be playing the character Michael Biehn and Anton Yelchin have both portrayed, Kyle Reese, in the upcoming reboot of James "The Man" Cameron's 1980's science-fiction thriller TERMINATOR.

Previously cast in the film has been Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor (Daenerys Targaryen in HBO's Game of Thrones) and Jason Clarke as John Connor (no relation, Zero Dark Thirty, LAWLESS) with Arnold Schwarzenegger returning as the titular anti-hero/villian/whatever he'll be in this.

Alan Taylor, who previously worked with Emilia as a director on several episodes of Game of Thrones as well as recently directing Marvel's Thor: The Dark World, will be shooting off of a script from Laeta Kalogridis (AVATAR, Shutter Island) and  Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine 3D, Wes Craven's DRACULA).

No plot details have been available other than that it's part of a stand-alone trilogy; but a working title for the film seems to be "Genesis".

The latest entry in the franchise was Terminator Salvation in 2009.

Terminator will release July 1, 2015.

New Stills of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY; Trailer Tomorrow

 

Courtesy of USA Today who talked to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and star Chris Pratt about this summer's most ambitious outing for Marvel Studios we got three new images for the upcoming science-fiction/fantasy film based on the (not so wildly) popular Marvel comic-book series.

The stills look nice, and the new plot-details certainly set the film up to be a grand fantasy-adventure the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time, or ones that the audience didn't exactly like to, like 2012's John Carter. I especially love the still of the space-ship that looks like a Pandora-bird from AVATAR.

 

The movie teams five disparate personalities: Peter Quill (Pratt), aka Star-Lord, was taken from Earth as a 9-year-old, possesses a mysterious orb artifact and pilots the Milano, a muscle car of a spaceship. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is connected to Thanos, arguably the cosmos' biggest baddie. Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) is a muscular dude you don't want to upset. And then there are the aliens Rocket Raccoon and Groot (computer-generated characters voiced by Bradley Cooper andVin Diesel, respectively).

USA Today goes on about the films plot:

Their stories converge in the space prison Kyln. After the characters break out, they venture to Knowhere (the severed head of a celestial being that serves as a hangout for aliens) and visit the weird menagerie of the Collector (Benicio Del Toro). They also have to avoid two villains, Ronan (Lee Pace) and Nebula (Karen Gillan), who are in hot pursuit of Quill's orb, which has the power to destroy the galaxy.

Gunn then went into detail about the project, likening it to a band that suddenly goes main-stream; but re-assuring fans that beneath the glitz and glam of a main-stream Hollywood action film the key-point of the film will be it's diverse cast and their respective stories.

The director is aiming for a mix of drama, romance and humor. Heroic Quill, with his '80s references and stunted social graces, provides some of the comic relief.

"Being stuck in space with no accountability makes for a strange combination of youthful vibrancy and cluelessness in a childlike man," says Pratt, whose character has a Han Solo-esque rogue quality in the beginning.

"He does some things that most people wouldn't get away with. But part of his arc is being willing to essentially sacrifice himself for the greater good of other people."

If anything, Guardians of the Galaxy is a fresh diversion for fans of superhero movies, Pratt says. "They know what to expect at every turn. So that's why it's important now to do a comic-book movie that no one's ever seen before.''

 

Guardians of the Galaxy makes it's way into theaters August 1, 2014 and will be Marvel's last outing before 2015 both ends "Phase 2" with The Avengers: Age of Ultron and starts "Phase 3" with ANT-MAN.

The trailer for the film will air tomorrow night during Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC.