As was predicted in our previous update on this story, Deadline reports that Michael Fassbender will indeed take the starring role of Ridley Scott’s next film, The Counselor. There’s not a lot of major information regarding the film yet, seeing as production hasn’t even started (That’ll begin this May), but we do know that Fassbender will play a lawyer who misguidedly takes a stab at the drug business and suffers the consequences.
So far The Counselor is knocking it out of the park. A script written by the original author of No Country for Old Men, directed by the man behind the camera for Blade Runner, and starring one of this generations fastest rising talents. I can’t wait to see who’s next to jump aboard this awesome project and you can bet I’ll be paying close attention to all future developments.
So I am pretty sure that everyone has heard about Prometheus, the next Ridley Scott joint, which was supposed to be the prequel to Alien, but ended up being branched off into a separate story. That alone makes me excited just because Ridley Scott has always been a great director, and if anyone can actually bring a good story together and make it visually appealing without having to Michael Bay the crap out of it, I’m game.It’s never good when nowadays, you have Spielberg trying to out-Spielberg himself constantly.
I am really excited for this movie because I think if Alien was the most underrated sci-fi flick of all time (mostly due to the superior ‘Aliens’ from Mr. Titanic/Avatar himself). Plus the cast is not one to sneeze at with Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Guy Pearce, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Wilson, Logan Marshall-Green, and Noomi Rapace. So yeah, seeing the teaser, it looked awesome. Plus co-written by one of the creators of Lost (Damon Lindelof and John Spaihts being the other co-writer) it promises to be good times. Below is actually the new international trailer and I have not watched it yet. Shall we do that right now after the break?
So that was a subtle trailer. Just let you know that stuff is about to go down, maybe a face hugger or two, maybe some psychological issues, and some giant ass monumental about to wreck your crap. I’m sold. Even if I can’t tell if it comes off more Alien than Event Horizon…which isn’t a bad thing because Event Horizon still creeps me out. Just sayin’. I just expect raptors to show up and clever girl people when Sam Neill is on the screen.
A new I Am Legend movie is currently in the works. Produced by Warner Brothers, and with a screenplay penned by Arash Amel, the reported follow up to the 2007 film has little else as of now. Writer Amel’s only other writing credits are two films that are currently in production, including a CIA thriller starring Aaron Eckhart called The Expatriate.
There’s little news as to what direction the film might go in, but since Will Smith’s character died at the end of I Am Legend, it’s unlikely that a sequel would be the right way to go if Warner Bros. wants to cast Smith in the lead, which they do. Then again, a prequel wouldn’t be much better, would it? It’d essentially be two hours of Will Smith watching everyone in New York die before his eyes while him and his dog just chill out and watch.
Thus far, the film, whose original is based off the novel of the same name by Richard Matheson, has neither a director nor a star. Warner Bros. are shooting to get the original film’s director, Francis Lawrence, back behind the camera. They’re also shooting to get Smith back in the lead, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes.
To be perfectly frank, the 2007 I Am Legend was a great Will Smith action flick that worked extremely well as a standalone film. Making $585 million dollars worldwide on a $150 million dollar budget, as well as earning a positive 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film was both a critical and commercial success backed by a great performance by Will Smith.
Matheson’s novel has been adapted into films two times. The first being The Last Man on Earth in 1964, and a second time in 1971 with the name, The Omega Man. The fact that Hollywood execs are trying to squeeze out a sequel for a movie that was obviously meant to be stand-alone isn’t surprising, but it’s definitely disappointing. Personally, I hope that Will Smith denies it, but he’s got to put food on the table, right?
We’ve seen quite a few franchises rip through social media these days, and they all have the same things in common. One, they come from popular books series. IE: Harry Potter and Twilight. The Hunger Games is no different. Two, they all have gigantic budgets with big studios backing them. They can boast the latest in CGI, costume design, even scores by some of the top composers. And three, they can take many liberties and let the foot off the gas creatively (and they often do) because they all have multitudes of preteen fans ready to spend their lunch money on a movie ticket, even before the film is released. The result is generally poor writing and even worse acting.
Matt Damon gives up the ghost and new blood moves in to take over. Treadstone is back and they are offering the role of Jason Bourne to Aaron Cross, another assassin with baggage. Not much is known about the plot of the film, but I would wager it doesn’t follow the book at all, much like its predecessors…
Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Joan Allen, Albert Finney
In 2010, critics and audiences alike ooh’d and aah’d at Machete, a character Danny Trejo had been playing since 2001’s Spy Kids. Finally garnering his own movie, Machete was a definite success for writer/director Robert Rodriguez, who shot the film in the neo-grindhouse format that was made popular (again) by 2007’s Grindhouse, a collaborative double feature by Robert Rodriguez, who did the first film, Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino, who did the second film, Death Proof.
In between the movies were fake, or supposedly fake, previews of upcoming films, one of the films being Machete. Others included Hobo with a Shotgun, which has since been made into a film, as well as Don’t, Thanksgiving, and Werewolf Women of the SS. Reports of production for Thanksgiving, which is being directed by Hostel creator Eli Roth, were recently confirmed and is set to release sometime in either 2012 or 2013. The first spawn of the original Grindhouse, though, was Machete, and the sleeper hit of Spring 2010 is getting a sequel entitled Machete Kills.
Rodriguez is working with producer Alexander Rodnyansky from AR films, and the sequel is the first in a planned trilogy, with the hopes that Trejo will reprise his role for the upcoming two films. Rodriguez says, “The fan response to the Machete character has been fanatical since his first appearance…Machete is truly a super hero and Machete Kills will be bigger and more ambitious than the first time.” He also has hopes that the surviving characters of the first film will make the decision to return again for the next two sequels.
Kyle Ward has written the first draft of the script, which is set to be developed by Robert and Marcel Rodriguez. The film is a Quick Draw Production with production by Aaron Kaufman and Iliana Nikolic, and Sergei Bespalov and Rick Schwartz. Production is slated to begin in April of this year.
Not much is known about the plot thus far, but Deadline.com released a report stating: “The new film finds Machete recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy.”
If Machete Kills is anything like the original, count me in.
Grizzly Bomb 
