Because noone demanded it, the new Alien v. Predator trailer. Man, talk about running a quality franchise into the ground. As James Cameron noted when he heard about this lame Paul Anderson project, why don’t we get Freddy Krueger or the Wolfman up in here too? I know this was a Dark Horse comic, but that doesn’t mean it had to be a movie.
Category: Directors
What’s taters, precious?
Boil ’em, mash ’em, stick ’em in a stew…
Youth of the Nation.
Usual Suspects and X-Men director Bryan Singer moves from Logan’s claws to Logan’s Run, and they’re reverting to the book’s age limit of 21. Run, Haley Jo, run!
Gordon is Bleeding.
Batman Begins starts production in Iceland, with the final casting announcement of Gary Oldman as Sgt. (future Commissioner) Gordon. I really liked Aaron Eckhart for this role, but Oldman should be grand, provided he doesn’t go all Professional-crazy.
Trailers A-Plenty.
Emptying out the trailer bin today, we’ve got the new Prisoner of Azkaban teaser (not appreciably different than the last preview, but still looks better than the Chris Columbus movies), a second look at Tony Scott’s Man on Fire (Denzel + little girl + slo-mo explosions = ?), the new clip for The Punisher (Much better than the last one, but I still doubt I’ll see it), and a new TV spot for The Passion of the Hellboy (Nobody likes robot Nazis.)
The Fruits of the King.
On the day after PJ’s big cleanup, Disney announces that it has secured The Chronicles of Narnia, with Andrew Shrek Adamson directing. Meanwhile, Robert Rodriguez announces he’s doing The Princess of Mars, the first of the John Carter books.
Coronation!
Hail to the King, baby. RotK sweeps the Oscars, winning all 11 categories in which it was nominated. I must say, this is a much better showing than I anticipated, but it is in no way undeserved (Three words for the playa-haters: A Beautiful Mind — Fellowship deserved at least half the awards that that schmaltz-fest won two years ago. Besides, the most contested win this time around was probably Adapted Screenplay, and, even there, none of the other nominees had to straddle such an enormous divide between newbies and a rabidly devoted fan base.) Congrats and many thanks to PJ et al once again. And, in honor of the achievement, the official LotR site has posted the trilogy supertrailer (from the deluxe RotK soundtrack), which is definitely worth a look to get a sense of the sweep and majesty of the films taken together.
At any rate, the entertainment pundits seem to have been bored, but I thought it was just about a perfect evening. The only melancholy note was a brokenhearted-looking Bill Murray losing out to Sean Penn. Both were good, but Penn’s going to be up there every year, while Murray — unless Wes Anderson sets him up with a chewy Supporting Actor morsel sometime in the future — may never get a second chance.
Now, just think how many Oscars the RotK:EE might’ve won…
Down in the Water.
Good news for big-idea sci-fi fans…Apparently, Darren Aronofsky’s mysterious The Fountain is back from the dead, with Hugh Jackman replacing Brad Pitt. On the other end of the sci-fi scale, Charlize Theron is signed for a live-action Aeon Flux, which I could really see being Tomb Raider-terrible.
Gimli Sells Out.
“[Gollum] never hesitates to exploit a wedge issue, be it Frodo’s trust of Sam or the distribution of lembas bread, and is savage in combat until defeated, at which point he whines endlessly about how unfair it all is.” Salon ruminates on the current political applicability of Lord of the Rings, and notes how John Rhys-Davies, decrying the threat of Muslim civilization, is all the rage on the conservative circuit right now. Tsk, tsk, what would Sallah say?
The Ras Samurai.
Ok, so it looks like Liam Neeson isn’t Ras Al Ghul in the new Batman film: Instead, it’s Ken Watanabe of The Last Samurai (Solid casting.) Apparently, Neeson is Bruce Wayne’s mentor, Henri Ducard. Nope, never heard of him either.