Category Archives: Movie News & Opinions

Movie News & Opinions

‘Thor: The Dark World’ Set Photos & Rumor Report

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With the announcement from CCI about Marvel’s Phase 2 of movies, the Thor sequel was kind of left in the dust behind some of the more enticing movies Marvel was planning. Captain America dropped the Winter Soldier bomb, along with the announcements of Ant Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, so it’s pretty easy for Thor to get left behind.

But out of all the announcements, Thor: The Dark World is still left with the most mystery. We know which characters are coming back (pretty much all of them), and we know a villain will be Malekith the Accursed, played by Christopher Eccleston. What we don’t know is what the title references, general story ideas, or anything else really. Sure there is a lot of speculation out there, but the only concrete thing we know right now is that they are currently filming in Bourne Wood, England and have started constructing some sets.

Continue reading ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Set Photos & Rumor Report →

Movie Trailers

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hun-Oh, You Must Be Joking

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When I first heard that Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was actually, like, a thing, I wasn’t as angered as I could have been because I heard that Adam McKay and Will Ferrell were producing. Awesome, a satire using classic fairytale characters as the protagonists, I’m in. Now, after seeing the trailer…I’m not sure.

The first thing that struck me as odd was the fact that the name Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, or Gary Sanchez Productions was nowhere near this thing, leading me to believe it’s a bit of a marketing ploy to get the asses in the seats. Something similar to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Second, despite Jeremy Renner’s participation in this film, this really does look like the worst thing ever put to film, and I’m not even joking. Every moment this went on was a moment I wanted to die. Seeing Famke Janssen shooting a giant machine gun as a vampire; cool in theory, not so much in practice.

According to the Wikipedia synopsis:

Catching up with Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) 15 years after the traumatic incident involving a gingerbread house, the siblings have evolved into vengeful bounty hunters dedicated to exterminating witches. Over the years, the siblings became expert hunters, famous for their proficiency at tracking and taking down their prey. Although still recovering from their ordeal, their work is relatively easy as for an unknown reason harmful spells and curses do not work well against them.

The Mayor of Augsburg recruits them to rid the town and nearby forests of an evil sorceress (Janssen) who is planning to sacrifice many local children at the witches’ gathering during the upcoming ‘Blood Moon’ night in two days time. To make things worse, the duo also has to deal with the brutal Sheriff Berringer (Stormare) who has taken power in Augsburg and conducts a very indiscriminate witch-hunt of his own.

Well..that just sounds awful, now doesn’t it?

Seriously, though, my advice? Watch a good movie. Any other good movie will do.

Check out the trailer below, I guess…

Movie Trailers

‘The To-Do List’ Red Band Trailer: Aubrey Plaza Stars, Rachel Bilson Dances in Her Bra

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Yes, I led with a pic of Donald Glover in a flat top doing the running man and the promise of Rachel Bilson in her bra. That, my friends, is called a proper tease. Anyways, a red band trailer for The To-Do List has come out and holy crap, that’s a great cast. Obviously you have Aubrey Plaza playing the lead. The film also features Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Donald Glover, Connie Britton, Johnny Simmons, Maeby Fünke, Agent Coulson…there’s just a lot of talent in there. It’s written and directed by Maggie Carey, who has done some stuff on Funny or Die and also happens to be Hader’s wife so I’ll assume she’s funny based off of that.

Admittedly, the red band trailer is…okay. But it gets the point across. If not, I’ll just fill in the essential plot points: Aubrey Plaza is going to college and feels she needs to get some more experience some more sex before she gets on with the next phase of her life. Solution? The To-Do List. Boom. It’s like the bucket list for virginal girls I guess. I’ll embed the trailer and then we’ll go over my thoughts:

Like I said, the trailer is basically there to show off the who’s who of all the awesome people starring in it. I didn’t find it exceptionally funny but again, I’d watch it when it comes out on Valentine’s Day. Granted, probably not over A Good Day to Die Hard but still. I like Aubrey Plaza more and more and dug her in Safety Not Guaranteed. Plus it takes place in the ’80s (I assume from all the wardrobe and hair choices, if not…uhh…wow) so I’m game. Of course, it also has this Rachel Bilson moment courtesy of FilmDrunk:

God have mercy. I love you Summer Roberts.

Movie News & Opinions

Heart Attack Claims Michael Clarke Duncan at Age 54

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I cannot think of anything to begin this with other than this is sad news. Michael Clarke Duncan passed away Monday at the young age of 54. Duncan suffered a heart attack seven weeks ago, and never recovered. The actor was dating reality TV star Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, who according to TMZ, provided life-saving efforts when Duncan had his heart attack.

The actor had a short, but impactful career. Duncan’s first big role was in Armageddon in 1998, where he played Bear. Following that, in 1999, he played my favorite role of his, John Coffey in The Green Mile – the film adaptation of the Stephen King book. Coffey is a man accused of killing and raping two young Louisiana girls, but is innocent of the crime. While on death row, knowledge of his magic comes to light. He can literally heal with his hands. His 6’5″, 300+ pound muscular stature was perfect for the role. This movie was one of my favorites because it is one of the only book-to-film adaptations that I ever liked. I read the Green Mile books (there were 6 in the set), and the film was just as great in my opinion. As you know, that is not usual. I believe that the success of the film was a direct result of Michael Clarke Duncan’s Oscar-Nominated performance.

Michael Clarke Duncan’s talents will be greatly missed. Rest in peace.

Movie News & Opinions

Another Take on the Robocop Updates…

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It’s no secret here at GB we’re fans of RoboCop. Something about the combination of humanity, steel, justice, and violence [in Detroit] that’s perfectly captured by RoboCop speaks to our heart of hearts. Which is what makes the following news pretty surprising, that unlike previously reported, Hugh Laurie will NOT be playing the villain of the remake. Taking his place is Michael Keaton, who I’m positive is a familiar name to all of you out there.

via [Deadline]

“Michael is the final addition to the amazing cast we have assembled for this film and it is so great to have the last puzzle piece in place. It is thrilling that everything has come together to bring this innovative new vision of RoboCop to life. We’ve got a great script, a great cast, some killer ED-209’s and I can’t wait to get Alex Murphy back on the streets,” said Padilha.

Now, I love Michael Keaton, and I’m positive he’ll do a great job, but the fact Hugh Laurie left before he even started isn’t a good sign. Actors leaving projects before they begin is almost never a good thing for pre-production. Along with that slightly disheartening blow, is a much greater one, hearing that apparently the studio behind Robocop is making things “Hell” for director Jose Padilha. According to his close friend and Director of City Of God, Fernando Meirelles, Padilha is having the stereotypical, Studio-Makes-Things-Impossibly-Difficult-For-Director woes.

via [Screenrant]

Here’s Meirelles’ quote, translated from his native Portuguese:

“I talked to José Padilha for a week by phone. He will begin filming Robocop. He is saying that it is the worst experience. For every 10 ideas he has, 9 are cut. Whatever he wants, he has to fight. ‘This is hell here,’ he told me. ‘The film will be good, but I never suffered so much and do not want to do it again.’ He is bitter, but it’s a fighter.”

Out of every 10 ideas, 9 are cut? Ouch. That really sounds rough. To make things worse, the script was reviewed recently, and Drew McWeeny of Ain’t It Cool News posted a series of tweets describing some of the plot points and ideas behind the film, including the idea of “re-vamped” Robocop suits.

via [Screenrant]

I’ll share this one detail. In the film, when Murphy is turned into Robocop 1.0, it’s described “a high-tech version of the ’80s suit.”

Then they show a focus group scene where criminals laugh at the design. “He looks like a toy from the ’80s!”

So they redesign him to look “meaner” as Robocop 2.0, who passes focus group approval.

So they not only make sure to include the original design, they also point out it’s dated and stupid. *facepalm*

Hold onto your sides for more hilarious “Robocop” details. They outsource his construction to China. #seriously

And we meet the ED-209s in the field in Iran, where they’re used to subdue suicide bombers. #ineedallthedrinksnow

Ahhh… now they just dropped Robocop 3.0 onto an Al Queda training camp to see what he does.

“He should be programmed to incapacitate in all scenarios.” “Agreed. Let’s keep him PG-13, Dr. Norton.” No. No. No. No.

By page 54, they are already onto Robocop 4.0, who looks like a “cop on steroids painted metallic blue.”

That… That whole thing sounds pretty awful, and really seems to be “borrowing” the idea of the Iron Man Mark 1/2/etc armor pretty heavily. I know the whole movie is supposed to be contemporary, and that’s not really the issue I have, but the thought of watching a scene of people in a focus group, talking shit about the classic, totally awesome ’80s RoboCop suit, seems really disingenuous and insulting to the RoboCop franchise in totality. Part of his appeal is his unique look, and to strip it down, or make it more streamlined or modern, would really leave a sour taste in fans’ mouths.

Plus, there’s this concept art floating around the web, which in all likely hood is fake…

It makes me cringe to look at, because it’s SO generic and boring. This is what the nameless villains in any random dystopian movie should be wearing, NOT RoboCop. I know it’s just a concept art, but if this is the direction the studio is steering Padilha towards, I wouldn’t be surprised to have to be writing a report about his leaving the project in a month or two. Hopefully all of this negativity is for naught, and we’ll end up with a great movie out of it, but so far, things aren’t spelling out an easy beginning.

Movie News & Opinions

‘Metal Gear Solid’ Movie Announced!

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Out of the thousands of Metal Gear fans in the world, I’m probably one of the few hundred or so that thinks the entire series is a brilliant masterpiece. The series, while popular, has gained notoriety and fame for being infamously convoluted, while still having gripping set pieces, unique characters, and of course, lengthy cut scenes. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots, was probably 2/3 cut scenes in its entirety, and is probably one of the few games where the cut scenes out number the length of all the game play by that 2 to 1 ratio. However, having played the Metal Gear series since I was a youngster, I’ve always been fond of Snake and his adventures, and the universe of  intrigue, paranoia, espionage, and occasional batshit insanity that makes up the Metal Gear Solid franchise.

One of my favorite past times for the last 12 years has been playing “Cast the Metal Gear Movie” with my friends, but it was always in vain, because for the longest time Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear’s creator, never seemed interested in a movie, or at the very least, was wary of making one, or letting one be made. Well no longer! At the 25th Anniversary Metal Gear Solid Event, plans were announced for a movie to be made.

Believe it or not, Hideo Kojima is nearly 50 years old. There must be something in the water in Japan.

While there is no direct quote from Kojima himself, Avi Arad, CEO of Marvel Comics, looks to be included in the project, possibly in a producer role.  Avi Arad is behind a multitude of comics movies that you’re no doubt familiar with, and one look at his body of work goes to show the guy knows how to get projects off the ground and running. He even had this to say about the Metal Gear movie:

“For many years I fought to bring comics to theaters. Comic books are now the biggest genre in cinema. Videogames are the comic books of today…We will take our time and tell the story with all the nuances, ideology, cautionary tales needed.”

Via [Examiner]

I appreciate the guy’s enthusiasm, I really do, but when you’re responsible for turds like Man-Thing, or the more recent, The Amazing Spider-Man, it makes me worry. However, his work on the very successful and well made Marvel Avengers franchise lays some of that worry to bed. Mostly, I’m just excited to see some of my favorite video games characters finally realized on-screen. Way back when, I remember sitting through the very cinematic end credits of Metal Gear Solid, for the PS1, and thinking about how great a movie it would make. Now that there’s at least 4 games that tell the main story, not counting any of the spinoffs or side stories, it’s a story so epically long in length and depth, you’d need at least 3 movies to accurately adapt the entire series. What with every movie now being legally required to be three movies long, there’s a possibility somebody could actually adapt a story that suits the format of being made into a superfluous trilogy. Either way, unless you focused on one particular game, you’d end up with a really confusing film on your hands.

Metal Gear? Confusing? Never!

My suggestion, if I was producing, would be to plan for one movie, and a prequel. You adapt Metal Gear Solid, try to keep it as faithful as possible, because that story is near perfect. Perhaps you add in a subplot and role that plays up Big Boss’ part, (Played by Sean Connery, of course), and then make a prequel movie, that’s an adaptation of the truly perfect Metal Gear Solid 3. While MGS4 has the best action set pieces that would actually adapt into a movie perfectly, it’s almost completely made of up plot threads and characters who were previously introduced, and it’s story would be so lost and muddled by trying to be condensed, with its 9+ hour running time of cut scenes.

Well, no matter what, I’ll be looking forward to hearing more about the project, and I’ll finally get back to realistically speculating who would play Snake in a movie.

Michael Fassbender perhaps?