Category Archives: Movie News & Opinions

Sylvester Stallone Wants $400 for His Autograph at NYCC

September 26, 2013 Adam Parker-Edmondston Leave a comment

Now this is an interesting piece of information. A bit ago Grizzly Bomb reported how Bruce Willis was doing action jobs just for cash. Fair enough there, it would be nice if he put some passion in his work but that’s just a personal request. Sylvester Stallone however was not too fond of his sparring partner’s love for cash and in another article when we talked how mad he got while casting for Expendables 3 recently.

This is where the tale takes a turn for the worst because it has been confirmed recently that Stallone will be appearing at the New York Comic Con this year. Which has to be great news for fans, if it was not for the fact he wants them to pay up their hard earned money for the privilege and it is not cheap. It is $400 in fact, or $450 if you want a photo with the super star. The website Celebrity Authentics confirmed this with the statement featured below.

[box_light]Thank you for your interest in Celebrity Authentics and the talent we are bringing to the NYCC! Stallone with be at the show on Sunday only and doing autographs and photo ops that day. Autograph tickets are $395.00 and photo op tickets are $450.00. Tickets are limited to approximately 300 autographs and 150 photo ops. Chloe Mortez’s autograph tickets will cost $75.00 and photo ops will cost $95.00 each. We are unsure at this point if she will be there Saturday or Sunday. That will be confirmed soon and tickets will go on sale September 5th at 11:00am EST at http://www.celebrityauthenticstickets.com. Let us know if you have any other questions we can assist you with and we hope to see you in New York!”[/box_light]

Now there are numerous things you can say about this, but the main thing is the fact that it is a tad hypocritical to denounce Willis for money grabbing then charge so much yourself at a Comic Con. We are in a recession at the moment and many are suffering from financial difficulties, but even if times were better $400 smackers is a little bit too much to ask for a pose down with Rambo. Asking for money at conventions is not an uncommon practice, but it is normally for stars from a bygone era trying to make a bit of money for themselves, or retiring stars wanting to add to their pension. These people normally charge $30-$40 for this service, and you normally get a photo and a signature for that. Sure Sylvester Stallone is one of the biggest stars on the planet, and popularity wise outshines most of these other people, but also its not like he needs the money. He could make up to $186,000 from this if people pay.

With other conventions you get a nice and intimate meeting with the stars, sometimes rushed along if queues are long, but you feel like it was money well spent. For this amount of money fans are going to want a lot more and I doubt they are going to get it. There is a slim chance that Stallone knows nothing about this but I highly doubt it. He is a clever man and must see this as a possible cash cow situation. But who knows? It will be interesting to see how the session goes when he arrives at the NYCC this year.

Sylvester Stallone — Stallone, made famous for playing the ‘everyman’ underdog…

Movie News & Opinions

Abrams Not Directing Star Trek 3, Details a Hidden Into Darkness Cameo

September 26, 2013 Adam Parker-Edmondston Leave a comment

News has hit the web of J.J.Abrams confirming he won’t be directing the next installment of Star Trek; it is hardly surprising, considering he now has the chance to play in a whole other universe with Star Wars Episode VII. And now that Star Trek‘s characters have been well-established it will be nice to see how someone else runs the rebooted franchise. In an interview with Collider, Abrams had this to say about the direction the Star Trek franchise would be heading without him:

[quote]”It’s a little bittersweet. But, I will say that I’m going to be producing the movie. Whomever it is that directs the film will be someone we all know is going to keep the cast and crew in good hands. I feel very lucky to have been part of it, and it definitely feels like the right time to let someone come in and do their own thing. I certainly don’t want someone to come in and try to do what I would have done. We want to hire someone who’s gonna come in and bring their own sensibility. I’m very excited to see what comes next, despite feeling jealous of whomever that person is.”[/quote]

Moving onto news from Yahoo Movies, it is no secret that fans love finding Easter eggs in their beloved movies. Apparently J.J.Abrams does too: He let slip that Star Trek Into Darkness featured a cameo that may have passed the audience by:

[quote]”R2’s really been in all of the movies I’ve done, really for no other reason than I’m a huge fan, and when I was a kid I realized that R2 was also in ‘Close Encounters. Actually, I’m putting a ‘Star Wars’ character into ‘Star Trek’ as an homage to ‘Close Encounters.’ So there you go.”[/quote]

Below is the scene in question and it’s a doozy [Second image below]. Just for fun there is also a cameo by R2 from the first Star Trek movie [Pictured first below].

Incidentally this is not R2D2’s only appearance in other movies. Take a look at the images below to see the little guy popping up in other great films:

Photo from www.movie-club.net — Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Photo from http://www.movie-club.net

Photo from www.planetadeaficiones.com — More from Indy. Photo from http://www.planetadeaficiones.com

So good news is mixed with bad but the suggestion that a Star Trek character could turn up in the Star Wars universe is certainly intriguing. Jabba’s palace and Mos Eisley cantina seem the most likely of places from the old movies for said character to turn up but who knows? Keep reading Grizzly Bomb for more up to date Star Wars news. Before you go check out Geek Exchange website showing even more of Abrams’s Easter eggs.

Movie News & Opinions

Ender’s Game: New Posters and Official Images – Are You Ready to Join the International Fleet?

September 21, 2013 James Henshaw Leave a comment

Gavin Hood’s (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) has not been without its media attention, and not always for the best reasons, but following on from the promotion we saw at SDCC, there has been a new set of poster released ahead of the November 1st opening. These new promotional posters use the tried and tested propaganda style that the likes of X-MEN: Days of Future Past have also adopted.

There have also been some new stills released from the movie detailing what looks to be some great visual effects. The posters and the stills do not reveal much that we don’t already know about the movie, which has been adapted from the award winning novel by Orson Scott Card.

Ender’s Game, starring Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford, is set in the near future when a hostile alien race called the Formics have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young minds to find the future Mazer.

With the central characters of the movie being young heroes, distributors Lionsgate will be hoping to build another successful tween franchise to rival the likes of Twilight and Harry Potter, much like they did with the successful Hunger Games. Hopefully Hood will keep some of the tone and focus of the novel to keep adults on board and get them buying tickets too. The novel has also become suggested reading for many military organizations, including the United States Marine Corps.

[box_dark]Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy but strategically brilliant boy, is recruited to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult challenges and simulations, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military’s next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he’s trained by Mazer Rackham himself to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race.[/box_dark]

Enders Game opens nationwide on November 1, 2013.

Movie Trailers

Escape From Tomorrow Trailer Shows Us The Dark Side of Disney

September 20, 2013 Adam Parker-Edmondston Leave a comment

I think we can all agree that in a certain light Disney can seem like a dark universe to immerse yourself into. If it’s not Buzz Lightyear losing his arm in a botched flight, then it’s Bambi’s mum getting blown away by hunters. Disney mixes a bit of the mildly macabre into their movies for the obvious dramatic effects. So it is interesting to see this new film trailer come out that focuses on this very aspect. Escape From Tomorrow is directed by Randy Moore, who filmed inside Disney theme parks secretly, without Disney’s knowledge or approval. It got some much deserved attention at Sundance, as well as some noted buzz for the unusual filming method, which is never a bad thing.

escape from tomorrow trailer poster

Before you watch here is a brief synopsis of the movie from Slash Film

[box_dark]In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed fathers sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.[/box_dark]

Well, that sounds freaky enough for this reviewer as it is, but here is the trailer if you have the bottle to watch it. [Ed. Note: Apparently ‘having the bottle’ is British slang for ‘having guts’, or ‘cojones’. We think. Knowledge is Power.]

http://youtu.be/1nfU_5NWBoE

Now it is really difficult from the random images that assault our senses to know what the hell is going on but what you do get is a very unnerving feeling of unease. The black and white photography gives it a stark and disturbing look and gives the place a very disconnecting feel. Also certain creepy images stand out that all combine to make quite the powerful piece of entertainment. The setting is a key factor as well, taking this recognized area where we assume children are meant to be safe and twisting it on its head. this alone puts the viewer off kilter, which continues throughout the trailer.

Much like Eraserhead (the classic David Lynch movie) it seems to be able to plunge us into this fathers mind and makes you think about whether what you are watching is real or the ramblings of a mad man. Looks like a very small cast to so it should be easier for the audience to get emotionally connected to the characters. It is always great to see surrealist concepts put onto screen and it looks like this film will be full of them.

So far Disney has not taken any legal action against the film, which does seem a bit of a shock as they are very protective of their faimly freindly name. It has been touring the festivals and has a release date in October, so it won’ be long before we see just what the heck is going on with this movie. Check out this interview with the cast and crew, which goes into more detail on their reasons for making the movie and the problems they had while making it.

Movie News & Opinions

Ben Affleck Responds to his Batman Casting Internet Backlash

September 18, 2013 James Henshaw 2 Comments

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will be aware that Phantoms star Ben Affleck has been cast as Batman in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel follow-up, currently titled Batman Vs. Superman. The internet has been up in arms about the casting, and so far the man himself has remained relatively tight-lipped. However, Ben Affleck appeared last night on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to promote his upcoming movie Runner Runner, co-starring Justin Timberlake, and the subject of Affleck playing Batman inevitably came up:

Affleck talks about how he was warned about the internet backlash following previous casting choices. “They said, ‘Just don’t use the Internet for a couple of days,'” the actor told Fallon. “And I said … ‘I handle shit!'” Ben fAffleck’s curiosity couldn’t prevent him from having a little peek when the news was made official. “I saw the announcement, I look down the thing. The first comment? … ‘Nooooooooooooo. And I was done! We’re going to be Luddites for a while.'”

Affleck still seems very pleased with his casting and told Fallon:

[quote]It’s so awesome, man. I’m so excited. They called me up and asked me if I wanted to do this. And I said, ‘I’m not 25, man, are you sure about this?’ And they said, ‘Come down, we wanna show you what we’re doing.’ Zack Snyder’s directing it and he has this amazing take on it. Obviously you can’t do what Christian [Bale] did, those movies were amazing. But Zack wants to something different but still in keeping with that.[/quote]

There is mixed feeling over here at Grizzly Bomb over Affleck’s casting, I for one am on team Affleck. He is a solid actor and in recent years has proved his salt both in front of and behind the camera. At least the rumor that pop star Justin Bieber being in the running to play Robin in the movie has now been quashed. The Wrap reported on Sunday that the whole thing was potentially set up for an upcoming Funny or Die sketch.

Affleck will next be seen on the big screen alongside of Justin Timberlake in gambling thriller Runner Runner on September 27. Batman Vs. Superman is aiming for a July 15, 2015 release.

Movie News & Opinions

Star Wars: Rumors Swirl Around Stand-Alone Movies for Han, Yoda, & Boba Fett…

September 16, 2013 James Henshaw Leave a comment

We have known for a while that starting in 2015 Disney plans to release a new Star Wars movie each year, alternating between the new series and stand alone character based movies. We now have confirmation that these movies will be origin stories. Disney’s chief financial officer Jay Rasulo announced during a presentation to financial investors that the intermittent installments would play host to the origins of some of the best-loved characters from the franchise.

Variety broke the story yesterday afternoon stating that Rasulo sees it as “the sky’s the limit” for the for the sci-fi franchise, including expanding its presence in the company’s theme parks. “There’s incredible flexibility. It’s an unbelievable palette to create from.”

Rasulo also confirmed that from 2015 one Star Wars trilogy film or origin story film would also appear on the release schedule, starting with the seventh installment in the Star Wars saga directed by J.J. Abrams. Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg were previously rumored to have been hired to write the second and third installments, with Michael Arndt already scripting Star Wars Episode VII, however it is now confirmed the Kasdan and Kinberg will be writing the stand-alone origin movies.

Any Star Wars fan that knows his salt is aware that Kasdan is no new-comer to the saga, having written, in my opinion the best installment, Empire Strikes Back and having an eye in on Return of The Jedi. Aint It Cool News reported a little while back that one of the stand alone films would focus on Yoda, and Bleeding Cool recently reported that there was also talks of Han Solo and Boba Fett movies with a casting call already out for a young Han. It remains to be seen if Han Solo and Boba Fett would get separate movies or have share the screen. We already know that Harrison Ford and the rest of the central Star Wars cast will be reprising their roles, but this would be the first sign that Disney is looking to recast characters from the original trilogy for the new movies. Granted Harrison Ford is too old to play a young, agile Solo, but this is certainly a piece of casting Disney will need to get right.

It would be great to see two of the best characters from the saga face off against each other. I fear for fanboys the world over whose heads would explode in excitement!

Conveyors of Common Sense…