Rob Zombie’s new horror trailer recently came out online, and anyone who thought that Halloween 2 was the nail in his cinematic coffin may be proved dead wrong when they see this…
Continue reading Rob Zombie’s Newest ‘Lords of Salem’ Trailer
All posts by Adam Parker-Edmondston
Star Wars Update! Spin-off Movies on the Way Alongside the New Trilogy!
Geek Exchange have confirmed that Disney has more plans for the Star Wars franchise and certainly more movies in the pipeline. We also now know who will write two of them. Lawrence Kasdan (Screen Writer on The Empire Strikes Back) and Simon Kinberg (Screen Writer on X-Men: Days of Future Past) were confirmed by Disney CEO Bob Iger. He had this to say about the two writers:
[box_light]“[Kasdan and Kinberg are] working on films derived from great Star Wars characters that are not part of the overall saga, so we still plan to make Star Wars VII, VIII and IX roughly over a six-year period of time starting in 2015. But there are going to be a few other films released in that period of time, too.”[/box_light]
So not only are Star Wars fans getting more of the continuing storyline of George Lucas’s epic saga, they are also going to be treated to more movies spinning off from Star Wars Mythology. Fantastic news to say the least and some even better news about the great talent behind these spin offs. Lawrence and Kasdan are established and clever writers and with Kasdan himself already a part of the Star Wars universe (with him working on Empire) we can expect great things. This format opens up a massive selection of characters that could be given their own stories.
While the movies lay dormant for quite some time after Return of the Jedi (until The Phantom Menace came onto our screens), the universe did not wait and expanded out into books, comics, with a huge amount of expanded stories that spanned through several era’s in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Stories concerning events set years before The Phantom Menace (The Old Republic, Tales of the Jedi), or during the original trilogy (Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, Shadows of the Empire), and the continuing story after the original trilogy which are sagas in their own right (Dark Empire, The Thrawn Trilogy). So while the expanded movies will be original stories, there really is no limit to where they can move forward from here. Especially with a few stand-alone pictures mixed in. Can you imagine a whole film with Yoda (rumored) or Mace Windu? That’s what this turn of events could offer us.
Shortly after this was released to the masses, Bob Iger came back again with even more exciting news. Collider shared that two confirmed stories would be about a young Han Solo (following the young rogue smuggler after Revenge of the Sith to his appearance in A New Hope) and the mightiest of all bounty hunters Boba Fett (probably between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, unless you go with the expanded universe version where HE SURVIVES) mixing it up with some other bounty hunter scum.
So what do we have here exactly? Well with these stories we could see a return of characters now dead in the franchise. Darth Vader could easily make an appearance again,as he hired Boba Fett and could have had dealings with Han Solo, whohas had trouble with the Empire before. And with Boba Fett involved you would think that Jabba the Hutt will pop up at some point as well as his old bounty hunter buddies like IG88. With Han Solo we could see him winning the Millennium Falcon or meeting up with his hairy buddy Chewbacca. There are lots and lots of possibilities here.
However, there are certain problems with this. Finding an actor to play a young Han Solo could be a problem. Those are some big boots to fill as every one remembers Harrison Ford as their Han Solo. Most people seemed to embrace Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan, so maybe it will not be an issue. As I mentioned before the comics and books about Star Wars have already expanded greatly on the adventures of certain characters and Boba Fett is one of the most talked about. He has had entire comic books written about his exploits so it will be interesting to see if any of these plot lines are taken for the movie. It seems that Boba Fett will not rise from the Sarlacc’s belly as he did in the comic books; just because of the fact his story takes place in between parts 4-6. Still, it would be great to see him jet off again in his own adventure.
Is it a good thing to do these spin-off movies at all? If Disney is spreading themselves to thin here, than will the spin-off movies be of a poor caliber compared to Episodes 7 – 9? Personally I think Star Wars content lends itself better to television format rather than other feature films. Television is better suited to character development. Certain new characters could be introduced to a fresh audience this way and established characters can be expanded on, giving older Star Wars fans something to get excited about. People could disagree with me here after the cheesy nature of The Star Wars Holiday Special, but television has moved on greatly since then and it has become a respected form of story telling in its own right. But at the end of the day it is still more Star Wars so as long as it does not turn out like The Phantom Menace (which I hate to say is still painful to watch even after its release in 1999 over ten years ago), then I think we can all agree it is an interesting time to be a Star Wars fan.
One finally note to this news which may be of interest. Yahoo has an interview with both Lawrence and Kasdan about how they feel taking on this established and beloved universe and some of their plans for it. Keep reading Grizzly Bomb for more information as it develops.
Spielberg Planning ‘Gremlins’ Return…
From reading the title of this piece, I am going to take a guess that you have had two responses to this news. One must be a response of absolute joy, because there is a chance Gizmo and co will be back on our screens. The rest of you may be thinking “In what form?” Well it is a valid question and one that you might not like the answer to.
Vulture have reported that Warner Brothers Pictures and Amblin Entertainment (Steven Spielberg’s company) are trying to get a reboot of the franchise off the ground. Apparently Spielberg has had this in mind for a while, but his budget estimates were considered too costly for anyone to take a chance on. The film is certainly not something that is 100 percent confirmed right now, but Vulture’s sources say that there is a good chance this could get the ‘go ahead’ soon.
Is this a good thing however? Most fans of the original movies are going to want to see Zach Galligan and Phoebe Cates reprise their roles, as well as strictly puppet Gremlins with no CGI. However reboots do tend to like to ditch the original casts (aside from a little cameo here and there) and go with younger actors, so they can cater their story to a younger, youthful market that has never seen the movies. Also I have horrific visions of a CGI Gizmo leaping out of our screens in poorly put together 3D, but this could just be me. This is also yet another remake in a cinematic sea already full to the brim with retreads and re-imaginings. What is wrong with having a good old-fashioned sequel?
Positives though include the fact that Spielberg seems passionate about this, and if he is involved in a producer role again, then that gives us older fan boys and girls hope that he can infuse this with the same magic he and Joe Dante did with the original. Maybe there is a place for Zach and Phoebe t0o, as the parents of a child that gets a Mogwai perhaps? If CGI is needed then hopefully it will be as good as movies like Ted, where the CGI was seamless. Very little is known for sure, so watch this space for more information when we get it.
Kaleb Lechowski Short Film ‘R’ha’ Is An Impressive Look at Aliens vs Robots
Uproxx has showcased a new and exciting short by a new 22-year-old German director called Kaleb Lechowski. Later this month he is arriving in Los Angeles and this little feature is a hell of a calling card for him. The plot involves a mainly one piece scene where an alien has become trapped by a robot interrogator who needs vital information from him. While watching this please take note that Kaleb made this entirely himself, with CGI over a seven month period.
After watching this the obvious parallels between The Terminator franchise have to be mentioned, but the robots themselves look a lot more like the robotic creatures from The Matrix trilogy. They have an organic fluidity to them that makes them fascinating to look at and quite terrifying. The alien looks very much like an oceanic creature with its smooth lines and gill like curvatures (even though we know their home world looks mostly land based). The plot has a hint of Star Wars to it as well; it unfolds like Darth Vader’s interrogation of Princess Leia in A New Hope.
The solo setting works incredibly well in helping to put the focus on the two leads. Also the way these two characters manage to grip us and keep our attention without actually having a lot of facial features is amazing. While watching this I was enthralled throughout. It is easy to see how this piece was going to end however, with the mechanical creature’s references to how inferior organic life can be, becoming something even crueller than its creators could ever be because of its lack of emotions or empathy. The short looks stunning and the voice acting by Dave Masterton really needs to be commended as it shapes these characters and helps to give them life. Hopefully this will not be the last time we hear from Kaleb, as this piece in six minutes has created a sense of tension and amazement a lot of movies fail to achieve at all.
The Return of the Hot Tub Time Machine?
Are you yearning for more time traveling tales, but found films like Looper a little bit too serious for your liking? Then you may be happy to hear that MGM (right back after almost suffering bankruptcy) have a sequel planned to their 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine. Hollywood Reporter had this to say about the proposed film.
[box_light]The company is in what insiders characterize as “exploratory talks” with Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke to reprise their roles for the follow-up. Corddry could end up being involved in fashioning a script with Steve Pink, the director of the original who is in talks to return to direct the sequel. John Cusack, who also starred in the original, is not involved at this point.[/box_light]
While not much to go on at the moment, we do know that almost all the creators and stars of the first movie will be involved, meaning that the sequel will still have that nice mix of tragedy, tears, comedy and vomit we all loved seeing before. A shame about John Cusack’s supposed lack of involvement, but it is incredibly early and there is plenty of time for things to change. We do not even know yet if any of the supporting cast will return like Chevy Chase’s quirky handyman character.
The main question that needs to be asked is “Do we need a sequel at all?” The film did make a profit at the box office, with 50 million dollars made on a 36M budget, so it certainly has its fans. But the film was very self contained as it is and you may be wondering where is the tale going to go from here? Well, I have some ideas. The script could pull a Back to the Future 2 on us and have the guys travel forward in time to check to see if their lives are still great or to help out their kids in the future and then they find out that something is amiss. Alternatively they could go back to the 80’s, because of their actions in the first film they could have changed the present so much that it is on the verge of collapse and needs to be set straight again. At this point it could be anything. Though I am still not convinced that a sequel is actually needed, it is not going to stop me going to the cinema if it comes about. The original was a nice, quirky comedy that mixed adult humor with a glamorized view of the ’80s we all wish were true and had a great cast of characters that harked back to the days of Animal House and Police Academy. You never know, they may even get to pop Motley Crue in the film again which is never a bad thing.
We’ll keep you updated as the story develops.
Animated ‘Axe Cop’ to Premiere July 27th!
Comic Alliance has released another animated gem. Back in November we told you about the upcoming Fox show starring Axe Cop, but since we’ve had no further news. That was until last week when the official broadcast date for the show was revealed to be July 27th. For those unaware of Axe Cop, he is the creation of Ethan Nicolle (artist) and his five-year old brother Malachai (writer), and it is quite a surreal trip. But instead of trying to explain the premise of the character why not look below at the new footage that has Axe Cop as the President.
For fans of the comic this clip must be a joy to behold. It has the same crazy energy and sense of fun that the comic book has, and now it has Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman – of Parks and Recreation fame) who is spot on. I have watched the previous Halloween clip a few times now to get a handle on the voice, which I was unsure about. But after seeing this clip, I am sure Ron is the right man for the job. The animation is also fantastic, looking like it flew straight off the comic book page.
Standout scenes have to be the cheeky cameos of Axe Cop’s dinosaur and Flute Cop as his security chief. Also the way Axe Cop slaps the money on the tramps head, and the entire scene involving blowing up the bad guys. This had me howling with laughter and that is perhaps the best part of the clip. It is a humor that can be appreciated by anyone who enjoys a silly laugh and because of this I can see this show doing well. July 27th seems a long way away so lets hope more footage is released of Axe Cops antics soon.
Grizzly Bomb 