Category Archives: Movie News & Opinions

Movie News & Opinions

Michael Bay’s Terrible New ‘Ninja Turtles’ Ideas

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First of all, how dare you? Soon after Michael Bay’s name was attached to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, he proved he was not to be trusted. The working title of the projected May 2014 film is Ninja Turtles. By omitting the Teenage and Mutant, Bay has opened up the floodgates to his outlandish, ill-received changes. Earlier this year, he revealed the turtles will no longer be mutants. Rather, they will be aliens. Though alien inhabitants became an integral part of the comic book series, making the turtles aliens will destroy one of the key factors that made them so special.

Dave Rapoza’s awesome take on the lineage…

Recently reported on IGN, several released script ideas have only fueled the flames of fury among true TMNT fanatics. Though the turtles are no longer teens, April O’neil and Casey Jones are, except they are exs. What? Why? I am assuming that means April will no longer be the beloved news reporter that connected the turtles to the world they felt distanced from. I can only imagine how obnoxious Jones would be as a teenager. Jones as a teenager makes me think of some disrespectful, loitering punks I forgot to punch outside of a local convenience store.

With this script, Bay would be removing two key factors that made the turtles relatable to their younger audience. The turtles we grew up with were mutated teenagers dejected from the world. That sounds like every insecure adolescent I have ever come in to contact with. So how else can Bay manipulate our beloved story line until it is unrecognizable? Did I tell you that Master Splinter is completely missing from the draft? Of course he is. What significance did he ever have anyway, right?

Just to make sure that this is a Bay specific story, he made some other minor tweaks. Shredder will no longer be Shredder. That would be ridiculous to call the villain Shredder. Instead, he will be Colonel Shreadder. Not different enough for you? Okay. To make sure this is a Bay creation all of its own the Foot Clan will be replaced with a Special Forces unit under Colonel Shreadder. You just can’t trust the military, can you?

I can see the trend here. Bay has flooded his films with big boom box office bait, and now he wants to prove he is capable of making something more significant. May I preface this next rant by saying, “You will never be Christopher Nolan.” Now to put it into context. Batman shall remain one of the greatest American heroes ever created. Though the comic book creation and a stint of the 1960s were the epitome of camp, the character has an appealing dark theme that is not only relevant to adults and children alike, but society as a whole. Nolan has completed an amazing trilogy using one of the greatest heroes ever created. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles however, shall always be considered camp. I lovingly refer to it as camp, but it is nothing more than marketable camp. You cannot honestly tell me that Robert Van Winkle jiggling around on stage while the turtles destroy some Foot Clan is ground breaking cinema. Due to an oddball concept of four cartoon turtles with ninja weapons and a story that closely emulates the Daredevil franchise, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created gold that I will forever enjoy. So keep your filthy hands off!

These egregious additions to the script are only a draft. If we’re lucky, they’ll never see the light of day. Cowabunga, dude!

Movie News & Opinions

What We Know About ‘Red 2’

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After the critical and box office smash that was 2010’s Red, fans of the original film are getting excited about the upcoming 2013 sequel, Red 2. Bringing back most of the original cast plus some excellent additions, the Red series is turning out to be a geriatric version of The Expendables, which is pretty geriatric on its own.

The sequel was announced in January of 2011, with the entire original cast settling negotiations by later that year. Since then, numerous actors have been signed on to the project including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lee Byung-hun, David Thewlis (Professor Lupin from the Harry Potter movies), and even Anthony Hopkins. Dean Parisot, who directed the brilliant Galaxy Quest but the so-so Fun With Dick and Jane, signed on to direct, which both increased and decreased the film’s potential simultaneously. If science proves to be true, that means absolutely no change was made to the film’s potential. Moving on.

As of right now, not much is known about the film except that the gang reunites to face new enemies in Europe. With that being said, I doubt the setting and plot of the film will play much of a factor into its level of adrenaline-fueled fun. I’ll admit, I was one of the people who was initially disappointed by Red when I first saw it in theaters back in 2010. Maybe the humongous age gap between me and the central characters played a part in it, but I can honestly say I walked out before Helen Mirren made it on-screen.

But after re-watching it, Red proved to be quality action cinema. The Expendables with a little more brain and about 50 collective years of age added to its cast. Red is a fun flick that will hopefully spawn a halfway decent sequel. I’m a huge Dean Parisot fan and I’m sure that, unlike Simon West’s directorial contribution to The Expendables 2, he’ll find a great way to either improve or reinvent the material of the original film, which rested mostly in the surprise that came from Helen Mirren shooting a .50 cal, among other things.

Sadly, Ernest Borgnine’s passing will prevent him from participating in the film, but I’m interested to see how the recent additions to the cast will play against the original members of the group. One thing that really relieved me was how the casting focused on talent as opposed to the biggest names in Hollywood. Ladies, I’m sorry to say that one of the Hemsworth bros will, in fact, not be participating in Red 2. As talented as they both are, Liam felt really out-of-place in Expendables 2, and he successfully out acted everyone in the cast except for Jason Statham.

Getting back on track, Red 2 is probably going to be a cool flick. Though somewhere deep down I hoped to see Richard Jenkins attached to this somehow. Anything that guy touches turns to old, I mean, gold. Thinking about it, wouldn’t it be funny if the cast of Red and the cast of The Expendables 2 teamed up for one giant movie. It’d be almost too much for one screen to handle. Then again, Bruce Willis would literally have to play Frank Moses and Mr. Church in the same movie. Double the Willis, double the disdain for humanity. I can see it now.

Check out the first Red 2 poster below:

Movie News & Opinions

Avengers 2: Possibly Featuring Vision and Ant-Man?

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We all know what’s slated for Phase 2 of the Marvel movie plan. The ambitious three year plan will culminate in The Avengers 2, which is due to melt your eyeballs on May 1st, 2015. One of the big questions though is what characters will be introduced in the sequels (Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2) and the new flicks in the fold (Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man) that might be involved in the Avengers sequel. Right now we’re going to concentrate on two of the heroes that could make their way into the lineup: The Vision and Ant-Man.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

First, the Vision stuff. There’s been a lot of chatter about the Vision and who should be cast. Vin Diesel has been the one major actor that wants to throw his hat in the ring. According to GammaSquad, the Diesel himself posted a profile pic on his Facebook of the Vision before taking it down.

Obviously if we got our news from Facebook pages, all I would gather is people like to shove political views down my throat, claiming their intelligent views are supreme despite the fact they can’t tell the difference between the words “your” and “you’re”. Basically we’re going to take this with a grain of salt. While I have no doubt that Vin is lobbying heavily for this role, we are going to take the ‘wait and see’ approach. After all, he’s not even the popular choice to take on the role. That would be…

Agent Coulson himself, Clark Gregg. Despite the creepiness of seeing someone take the initiative to plant the seed in our heads with the image above (courtesy of Comics Alliance), you have to admit it would be cool despite the fact that it would go against the extremely convoluted comic canon, which frankly there is no way they’ll adhere to anyhow.

Of course, we all know what happened to Agent Coulson in The Avengers, and if you don’t, stop reading right now and go watch the damn movie. Regardless, Nerd Reactor asked Clark Gregg about the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show. For spoiler reasons, I’ll let you know that the link throws out Agent Coulson’s status in the Avengers movie in the first sentence so *SPOILER ALERT* I guess.

Now let’s  explore what Gregg had to say about the Vision:

“You know the Vision is synthetic with a soul, sort of, and he’s an amazing character who I loved when I used to read those comics. I love the idea of Coulson as that guy, but I don’t know if that’s in the cards.”

I love Agent Coulson. He felt like part of the team, having brought them together for the finale, and being in all the films because Samuel L. Jackson can’t be the only one building his IMDB resume by the minute. Again, this would defy the comic continuity, but who knows, I think we can trust Joss Whedon to make the right decision on this one, right?

As for that next character, Ant-Man. We know that Edgar Wright is doing At World’s End with his boys, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost right now. Where does that land the Ant-Man movie? SlashFilm is saying that we could see it in two different scenarios: After The Avengers 2 movie, or perhaps even in the middle of Phase 2. The biggest indicator is that they are citing sources stating that after Thor 2 is done filming, that Ant-Man will occupy the same lot immediately afterwards. Of course, he’d also be into post-production on At World’s End so this could prove to just be wishful thinking. Marvel also seems to want to keep to the schedule of two Marvel movies each year, and with Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 occupying 2013, and Captain America 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy taking on 2014, there might not be enough room for Ant-Man.

However, if we stick to the Vision showing up in the Avengers sequel, we NEED Hank Pym to show up and set the stage – so stay tuned. I’m sure we will have more news as it comes because it seems to be coming out at a good pace now with the hype slowing building.

Movie News & Opinions

‘The Hobbit’ Pictures (Including Elvish Fabulousness)

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I’m sort of looking forwards to The Hobbit films – I’m not quite sure how it’s going to cope with being three films, but I liked The Lord of The Ring enough (and Peter Jacksons other stuff) to hold off on judgement until they are released.

And now we have some pictures! These are going to be published in a 2013 annual for the first film but they’ve already leaked out (messy) via Uproxx.

First up we have a great looking group shot of Bilbo (Martin Freeman), Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellen) and all the dwarves – all looking moody as they tramp off on their quest.

There are 13 dwarves in all and I’ve no idea what most of them are called. I do know that the lead dwarf is Thorin Oakenshield – played by Richard Armitage – seen her with Aidan Turner as Kili (the pretty dwarf) and…some other dwarf.

Here is Aidan Turner again looking all mean, moody and, dare I say, sexy. Surely dwarves should not look this hot.

Two more dwarves. I’m pretty sure the one on the right is Scottish actor Ken Stott, so that would make it Balin.

And here are three more battle ready dwarves (Happy, Bashful and Doc…maybe?)

They all look great but what we all want to see is Lee Pace as Elvenking Thranduil ( Legolas’ Dad). And here he is in all his camp, elvish glory.

Is that not the most fabulous crown you ever did? Coupled with the finest eyebrows in all of Middle Earth. No wonder he’s king.

So, anywho, the first film The Unexpected Journey is out in early December.

Movie News & Opinions

James Bond Will Return in “Daniel Craig is Swimming in Money”

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It looks like we’ll have to get used to a blond Bond for a little while longer. According to EmpireOnline and Deadline, Daniel Craig will be donning the tux and Walther PPK for the foreseeable future. Craig, James Bond since the fantastic 2006 Casino Royale, has signed on to be in at least two more 007 movies. This will take him into the 25th (official) film of the Ian Fleming character franchise. He will have done five Bond films by the end of his contract.

Sony Pictures also is involved in the deal with making the deal with the newly restructured MGM to co-produce the next couple of films. This is of no shock to no one because they definitely made a lot of money backing Daniel Craig as the spy since Casino Royale. Their plan is still to get a Bond film out every two years to capitalize on the money train they have been riding on since they had to wait for the new 007 film Skyfall for the last four years because Quantum of Solace arrived in theaters in late 2008.

This is a great decision of course. As much as Quantum of Solace blew open ass (Dr. Kronner and our group of friends almost got into a fight with a punk teen wearing a skullcap…probably would’ve been more entertaining in hindsight), Craig definitely offered a newer insight as the “blunt instrument” Bond, ready to take on all comers and still inhabit a dark side and brooding that would make Timothy Dalton jealous. Casino Royale remains a great “reboot” of the franchise and by the looks of it, Skyfall looks AMAZING. I am actually glad they took their time with this flick because Quantum felt rushed and lacked purpose. I hope the filmmakers took note of this. Of course, the cinematography in the trailer is just gorgeous and while that should be an obvious statement in a big budget flick, there seems to be a higher focus on the imagery that surrounds our favorite MI6 agent. Basically, I’m saying I’m geeked and Daniel Craig is able to jump back into the role and happy to see what other layers he can bring to James Bond. now that’s out-of-the-way, cue the Bond girls (including Eva Green for the Doc)!

Movie News & Opinions

Star Trek 2 Gets New Title: Into Darkness.

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Star Trek is a thing that is near and dear to my heart. Granted, there was a time, when I was young and foolish, and didn’t get it. I remember seeing my Mom watch the movies, liking the ships, but not understanding the story and thinking it was boring, especially compared to Star Wars. Only as I got older, and found myself appreciating the original series, did I REALLY start getting into it. I even started catching episodes of The Next Generation from time to time, following the story when I could, in between bouts of Goldeneye 64 matches, or Wrestlemania 2000. I even got into the movies, and, found that the original series movies were way more awesome than I remembered, and First Contact was probably the best space/cyborg/zombie film of all time. So unlike a lot of people, I wasn’t born a Trekkie, I slowly became one. Bit by bit, won over by its charm, writing, characterization, and social commentary.

Jonathan Frakes’ gorgeous beard helped as well.

I have a feeling that that’s how a lot of the populace felt in 2009, after JJ.Abrams took the concepts and characters of Star Trek, and made them accessible to a new audience, not pre-conditioned to Sci-Fi fandom. Despite the film having some plot holes, inconsistencies, and weird “What’s canon? What’s a reboot? What’s ret-conned?” issues, managed to be massively entertaining to an entire new generation of fans, who might have never given Star Trek a chance otherwise. Factor in the advent of Netflix bringing all 5 live action series being readily available, and it seemed like the dawn of a new era of fandom for Star Trek. I personally know several people who only are fans of the movies, or are fans of the shows, or both, or one particular show and not another, and multiple combinations of all. Star Trek is unique in that it really does have something for everybody, and the newer fans from 2009 have been waiting for a sequel pretty patiently for 3 years now, along with all the other die-hard Trekkies.

So after 3 years, with only set photos, and the occasionally purposely leaked screenshot, we’ve gotten yet another tasty morsel of information from the project, and this time, it’s the alleged  confirmed title of the film:

Star Trek Into Darkness

My first thoughts on the title? I’m not really impressed. It’s actually kind of corny, and borders on almost being a pun. But, I suppose the attempt to make a title that’s memorable has succeeded, because everyone expected the typical STAR TREK 2 COLON SUBTITLE style of title instead. In that way, it goes along with the previous movie’s intentions to subvert our expectations and help keep things new and fresh. Will the second sequel continue in this fashion? Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before? Actually, holy shit, they could totally use that for the next movie if they wanted. This whole title sets up a precedent. Here, I’ll come up with some more for them.

Potential future Star Trek Titles:

Star Trek Where No Man Has Gone Before

Star Trek Across The Universe

Star Trek Back Home

Star Trekkin’

Star Trekkin’ AGAIN

Star Trek to Electric Boogaloo

Star Trek Over To Bennigans, I Hear Their Broccoli Bites Are Amazing

All jokes aside, the actual movie does sound pretty awesome. What little we know of its plot, is mostly due to Karl Urban, who plays Doc McCoy. During an interview, he made one revealing comment about Benedict Cumberbatch’s role in the film.

via [SFX]

At a promotional junket for Dredd, Karl Urban looks to have let slip to SFX who Benedict Cumberbatch is playing in the forthcoming Star Trek sequel. When asked what it was like having the Sherlock actor on set, Urban said:

“He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Gary Mitchell was a pretty big deal back in The Original Series. Basically he was an officer who came into contact with an energy barrier, and it gave him godlike psionic abilities.

Bad ass silver eyes too!

He started using them in increasingly dangerous ways, until he was stopped by Kirk and Company, as is to be expected. What was fascinating about the episode, was seeing an everyday man, transcend past humanity, into figurative Godhood, into believing he was actually above all of humanity entirely. It’s one of the best episodes from the original series, and I always thought that his character was intriguing. Hopefully, we’ll get to see an interpretation of his character, now with a much larger budget, and modern special effects crew to really demonstrate what a powerful, godlike being he is/became. I know a lot of fans were a bit disappointed we won’t get to see the new continuity’s version of Khan in this movie, but he’s coming. We all know he is, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear a few mentions of the “Eugenics Wars”, or whatnot, in the background of this film. Khan is a role that was pretty solidly Ricardo Montalban’s, and casting that role is just as hard, if not harder than casting the entire crew of the Enterprise. Factor in that Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan is by far the most popular Original Trek film, and I really don’t blame JJ for trying to hold off on that for a while. If I had to cast Khan right now? Benicio Del Toro. The guy has the unique look, voice, and acting skills to make you forget all about Ricardo Montalban’s Khan, and would work tremendously. I have a feeling he’d be a bit too old for the role though, and my back up would be Jason Momoa, known most widely as Khal Drogo, from Game Of Thrones fame.

It goes without saying that I’m stoked for the film to come out already, and I’m really looking forward to seeing JJ Abrams’ new interpretation of all the original series concepts that were so wildly imaginative, but limited 47 years ago by technological and budgetary restraints of the time. Hopefully, we’ll get to see more and more of those ideas re-imagined for the big screen, where they can be appreciated by a wider audience. I’m always supportive of Science Fiction being more readily accepted and viewed by the mainstream public, because in my opinion, it’s the best genre out there, and Star Trek, is, has been, and always will be the best example of it around.

…Except for this news that Worf is getting his own series. Worf was the worst Lieutenant ever.

Ever.