Tag Archives: J.J. Abrams

J.J. Abrams’ Mysterious New Project Is Revealed

As you may know, last month, J.J. Abrams teased a trailer for a mysterious new project he was working on that wasn’t Star Wars Episode VII. In true Abrams form, he didn’t let on as to what the project was and the internet dissolved into a rumor frenzy. One popular theory was that this was  a promo for Believe, an  upcoming TV project from Abrams and Children of Men director  Alfonso Cuaron.

Earlier this week, J.J. Abrams not only revealed to EW the second half of the trailer, but the usually tight lipped Abrams revealed the mystery behind the project itself.

The project is a book called S. based on an idea by Abrams and written by Doug Dorst, an American novelist and short story writer who is the author of the award winning novel, Alive in Necropolis.

J.J. Abrams

S. is described as being “about the relationship between a grad student named Eric and a college senior named Jennifer. They trade notes in the margins of a (fictional) 1949 novel by a mysterious author named V.M. Straka.

In typical Abrams tradition, S. will go beyond the ordinary and contains the novel within the novel as well as plenty of handwritten notes between Jennifer and Eric “a conversation that plunges them into the unknown,”. S. will also expand the reading experience, with extra details such as newspaper clippings and a napkin with a map drawn on it.

Abrams told EW “I could not be more excited for people to get their hands on this book. It is difficult to describe because while it is a compelling mystery and love story, it is also much more than that. The work that everyone has done on S. is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Frankly, I’m amazed it was even possible to do this project at all.

S. is to be published by Little, Brown on Oct. 29.

SDCC 2013 Rumor Mill: J.J. Abrams May Quit Star Wars?

Here’s some news that may cause massive system shock to Star Wars fans everywhere: Rumors that J.J. Abrams may be contemplating dropping out of Star Wars Episode 7! Dun Dun Dun! It’s pretty much just a rumor floating around the San Diego Comic Con, but still that would be dreadful news from the viewpoint of a geek like me, who thought there would never be another Star Wars movie ever! Then to find out that not only were there more coming, but they weren’t being directed by George Lucas! I love the J.J. Abrams choice for the man in charge simply based off the success of the Star Trek franchise these past 4 years. If he could turn a Star Wars fan like me (who hated Star Trek since first seeing it as a child) into a believer then just imagine what he can do with the galaxy far far away! Check out the rumor from over at IGN below:

 

J.J. Abrams[box_dark]Badass Digest‘s Devin Faraci claims that while at this past weekend’s San Diego Comic-Con, he kept “hearing tons of rumors that JJ Abrams is on the verge of dropping out of Star Wars”.

Faraci added, “This has been something I’ve heard for a while now, and from multiple insiders. I know that he didn’t want to shoot the movie in England and was overruled, but that happened a while ago. This weekend at Comic Con I continued to hear these whispers. No director for [Star] Trek 3 has been found yet – might Abrams end up coming back after all, leaving Star Wars to someone else? I’m expecting Star Wars news out of the German Star Wars Celebration at the end of the month – if there is some sort of announcement of a title or casting and Abrams isn’t there, start wondering.”[/box_dark]

 

To sort of calm the nerves of Jed-Heads everywhere, Lucasfilm has denied any of these rumors thus far. However much comfort that provides everyone I’m not so sure, because of course they’re not going to admit to any problems with Disney’s newest milking of one of the most profitable franchises ever. Would Abrams departing be the end of Star Wars? No, of course not. Although, they would have been off to a great start to only settle for something mediocre with some of the talent out there nowadays. Here are my three worst case scenarios if J.J. Abrams jets from the project:

1.)    Star Wars, Directed by Brett Ratner

2.)    Star Wars, Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

3.)    Star Wars, Directed by Stephen Sommers

Please, Disney (and essentially Lucasfilm), spare me any of the above heartbreak or I just may explode into oblivion. I suppose we’ll see in the coming months after the D23 Expo from Disney and the German Star Wars: Celebration if these rumors bear any fruit. Fans are expecting some sort of casting news by the time these geek gatherings occur…. me included.

J.J. Abrams

More of FOX’s Upcoming ‘Almost Human’

As the summer drags on and we slowly melt to death (oh, that’s just me? okay then), the networks are kind enough to give us little pieces here and there of their upcoming new shows. One such show is Fox’s Almost Human.

http://youtu.be/ykwxg534yAw

While the trailer is nice, FOX has released a ‘behind the scenes’ video which gives us a better look at the show and it’s characters.

http://youtu.be/HJ4CfSjcyvw

Starring Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, Minka Kelly, and Lili Taylor, Almost Human is a show set as producer JJ Abrams says “in the near future.” So we aren’t quite to Star Trek level tech, but we’ve made huge advances from modern times. Before we can even address the whole ‘synthetic’ thing it’s got going, I’m stuck on this picture.

Almost Human FOX

How is the rookie cop standing at the side of the crime scene going to get the okay from the grizzled vet, who’s two years away from retirement, to let the distraught best friend into the crime scene to identify the woman murdered by a carjacker? Can you lift up a hologram? Can you? Of all the stupid things to get hung up on, I’ve chosen this one.

Moving on… Almost Human is pretty much a mix of RoboCop, iRobot, and Inspector Gadget. The first time Karl Urban tells his leg to make him taller, I’m going to start a petition that it never be canceled, ever. I do actually really like the aspect of the man who is reluctant to accept ‘synthetics’ in the first place and now he is part synthetic. As long as they are able to keep that ‘ying-yang-‘ relationship going between John Kennex (Urban) and Dorian (Ealey) fresh, then Almost Human should have a pretty good run. Only time will tell if they are able to pull that off though.

Almost Human will premiere on Monday, November 4th at 8pm.

2013 Pilot Watch: Fox and The CW

To round out the network portion of our look at upcoming pilots, it’s the “little guys” themselves, Fox and The CW. I don’t suppose they really are the little guys anymore but even though they have highly rated shows and have outperformed some of the “Big 3” in recent years (looking at you NBC), they still have that “sitting at the kid’s table” air about them. Give them another five-ten years and if things keep going down the same path, we’ll laugh at the days we thought The CW was just home to teen angst.

As for their pilots, it’s a little strange. The CW doesn’t have that many at all, and almost every one looks interesting whereas Fox has quite a few and almost none of them appeal to me in the least bit. Could this be the year I become a CW (I think they need to drop the awkward ‘the’) fan beyond one show? Oooh, mystery!

Let’s get on to these pilots shall we?

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Because of Star Trek, Fringe, and Alias, I can forgive Alex Kurtzman for Hawaii Five-0. He will go further in that forgiveness if his project with Phillip Iscove and Roberto Orci proves to be worth anything.

Orlando Jones

Orlando Jones is one of those guys that you see and you can’t quite place him but you know you’ve seen him everywhere. His biggest project was probably MadTV back in the late 90’s and he’s taken a tour around Hollywood since then. Now he’s signed on as a detective in this modern day version of the classic story. Joining him are Dexter actress Katia Winter and as Ichabod Crane, Tom Mison.

As we’ve seen with Grimm and Once Upon a Time, modern day versions of “children’s” stories are doing pretty well so hopefully the Headless Horseman can join the ranks this year on Fox.

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Speaking of Star Trek, Bones (Karl Urban) has himself a new role in another J.J. Abrams project. This time however, it’s a Fox drama/buddy-cop show about members of the LAPD teaming up with androids. The premise seems a little old but if it gets picked up to series, I’ll withhold judgement for at least two or three episodes. It’s one of those things that could be really good, or incredibly lame.

However, one good reason to check it out if it does make it to series? Lili Taylor.

Lili Taylor

I really enjoyed her performance in Hemlock Grove and look forward to her returning to my TV full time since Six Feet Under.

[/tab][tab title = “Untitled Mike Schur”]

I think we all know there was no way I was going to leave out Andy Samberg’s comedy pilot for Fox. So far it’s just known as “Untitled Mike Schur/Dan Goor Project” but with the name power that Samberg would bring in, one has to imagine this will easily make it to series and get a proper title along the way.

It isn’t just Samberg that makes this pilot look interesting. For me, the most intriguing name would be Chelsea Peretti. A comedian who has been a part of some of my favorite shows (Parks and Rec, Louie, Portlandia…) as well as a hugely popular podcast, it really was only a matter of time until Peretti showed up a bit more full time.

Add in Terry Crews, Joe Lo Truglio, and Andre Braugher as the Captain of the group of NYPD detectives and this sitcom looks to be rather appealing.

[/tab][tab title = “The Tomorrow People”]

Robbie Amell“So there was this British series back in the 70’s and it was about this group of kids who had different superpowers and they fight evil.”
“Oh so like X-Men?”

I can’t imagine the people behind the The Tomorrow People pilot for CW haven’t had that exact conversation. That being said, I’d still watch it. Executive Producers on this one are all from shows that I have watched and really enjoyed including Greg Berlanti from Arrow and Phil Klemmer from Chuck.

Oh and speaking of Arrow, if you thought that dashing young man to the left there looked familiar, it’s because he bears a striking resemblance to his cousin, Arrow star, Stephen Amell. Robbie Amell is the lead role in The Tomorrow People and as usual with CW, is surrounded by plenty of other young and pretty people.

Forget young and pretty though, I’m looking most forward to Mark Pellegrino. Yes, that Mark Pellegrino.

[/tab][tab title = “Oxygen”]

[quote]About an epic romance between a human girl and an alien boy when he and eight others of his kind are integrated into a suburban high school 10 years after they landed on Earth and were consigned to an internment camp.[/quote]

That’s the logline. No, really, that’s it. How anyone could read that and immediately not want to see how on Earth that ends up, well I don’t know that anyone could. Seems a bit Kyle XY with a little historical injustice mixed in for good measure. That’s just enough weird for me to be intrigued. Plus it’s got Matt Lanter, voice of Anakin Skywalker in The Clone Wars as well as Harry Osborne on Ultimate Spider-Man and that’s a good thing.

Matt Lanter

[/tab][tab title = “The Selection”]

Anthony Head

It’s Anthony Head! Giles! Anthony Head!

Need I say more?

Oh, well in that case… Anthony Head is set to play King Clarkson, a man who is just trying to find his son a queen by holding a lottery. Because we all know – true love is found most often when your number is called.

Okay so it isn’t the greatest sounding premise if you aren’t a girl of the teenage variety, but come on, it’s Anthony Head! As a king just like in Merlin. You best believe, I will watch this.

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So there you have it, the pilots from Fox and The CW that I think look promising and you should keep an eye out for! Now that we’ve finished up the networks, next up we’ll take a tour around cable and see what’s in store.

Did you miss the rest of the networks? Well catch up right here – NBC Comedy, NBC Drama, CBS, ABC

New Trailer & Sneak Peek & Pics From ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

Shocker of shockers, it’s still a month away from the release of Star Trek Into Darkness, but those bastards out there responsible for hyping the film still find it necessary to ceaselessly tantalize any and every Trekkie out there by releasing little clips or new stills. In particular a new trailer has been released, and this time it gives us a bit more of a confirmation of the growing themes for these Star Trek movies. It’s almost definitely revenge and the pursuit of it destroying you. This trailer paints a clear picture of Kirk becoming his own personal Ahab, with Cumberbatch painted as his white whale. I’m looking forward to the movie obviously, but I’m more looking forward to seeing how the film will stand up as the ever so important “middle” entry in the series, if it is indeed a thematic trilogy we’re getting with these new Star Trek films. Sure there could and probably will be more, but in the same way Wrath Of Khan, Search For Spock and Voyage Home were all linked around the character for Spock, this first three can be around the idea of revenge. I’m just looking to see how it’s all going to play out in the grand spectrum of things, because this trailer certainly makes the film look to be very, very revenge-centric. Overcome personal demons and all that. It’s literally titled INTO DARKNESS, so I suppose that’s the first clue anyway.

Also there was a new teaser that was shown on the MTV Movie Awards, which I would have never seen if not for Internet. I think the only reason I ever even put on MTV anymore is to watch that Catfish show. I have this fantasy about someone really beautiful pretending to be a total uggo, starting an online relationship with that person, and revealing that they’re actually totally gorgeous after all. Surprise! You got reverse-Catfished! I mean, that’d be a much more interesting show than one about a bunch of weird broken people pretending to be people they’re not right? How does this relate to Star Trek? It doesn’t. At all. And I’ll tell you why; It’s because there’s only so many ways you can possibly look at what generally adds up to the same series of clips, trailers, previews with a new little scene added in to make it technically new, and not just immediately groan in impatience and frustration. I’m not necessarily a child of instant gratification, but let’s just say I tend to like things as a sudden surprise than a long, excruciatingly dragged out wait. When it comes to film or TV, the journey is never the point, it’s always the destination. Unlike life, which is almost always the opposite.

Well regardless of my elaborate and terrible bitching, (because I’m a huge bitchy little emo man-baby), the clip does look goddamned neat, and the myriad pictures collected spell an interesting story. One I’m still not sure about, but why would I want to be? I’m one of those people who enjoys being surprised by a movie, and often films I’ve loved the most are the ones I knew nothing about beforehand at all. Take a look at them for yourself, and you be the judge of whether you find yourself wanting to know more about the scenes they’re from.

http://youtu.be/G36yAb0pDT8

See like I said, that teaser was interesting, but mainly composed of things we’ve seen before, with little barely perceptible snippets of new stuff. I get it though, it’s a teaser. You’re supposed to watch it over and over to try to guess. I suppose I’m just so tired from being teased all the time. It’s a love/hate relationship with film and television. It teases you relentlessly, but you always come back for more. It’s probably the most abusive relationship there is. Aside from any of those on Catfish though. Man have you SEEN that show! Goddamn!

Oh yeah. Pictures. Woo!

Last but not least, there’s also some actually pretty well designed movie posters. They’re still basically floating heads, but at least they’re good floating heads.

And last but not least, I certainly won’t add in that picture of Alice Eve in her underwear like last time, because I am a man of class and taste. However, I can’t be held responsible for whatever my editor decides to add here at the last-minute. Ahem.
Star Trek Into Darkness-International Trailer-Blonde Girl

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Gets New International Trailer!

It’s about that time; that time being just long enough in between Star Trek teasers and trailers that people started to get ready to actually see the movie to have its secrets revealed to them, which means it’s also time for them to release a big, “show-everything-basically” trailer internationally that more or less spells out the plot of the film. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great trailer and all, but it’s had sort of a reverse effect of making me less excited. Now Benedict Cumberbatch is so clearly just an original new villain for the series, rather than some updated or remade villain like we were all thinking a while ago. On top of the basic plot being revealed, (Cumberbatch is mad at the Federation while destroying things and getting revenge; Kirk & Co are the only ones to help), it’s also more or less telling us that we’re not getting interesting reinterpretations of older characters rather it will continue it’s own new path. Which I have mixed feelings on, but here, judge for yourself first:

While I like the idea of the Star Trek franchise moving forward and creating all new everything to complement and refresh the franchise for new and old fans alike, a part of me still wishes to see everything old, but new again. We’ve been teased with Klingons and Kahn and whatnot for so long, just little hints at these things make us salivate. It raises the question, is it bad that they’re seemingly not going this way? At this point I can’t really decide one way or the other, I’m just glad the movie still looks good. I’m also glad that apparently Peter Weller is in the film, which was a shock to me, but a happy one because I f***ing love Robocop. I’m also glad that cute blond girl they’ve been showing in the trailers up until now definitely gets in her skivvies, because I’m a disgusting man-pig.

star trek
What?! SHE HAS GREAT… ABS!

I’m sure there’s probably a bit more that the more hardcore Trekkie could get into, but more or less, this trailer was full of a lot of repeated footage, with some new stuff added in between. It’s nice to get a thematic preview of what the movie will be, and if it still turns out somehow that Cumberbatch actually IS a new version of an old character, it’ll still be surprising reveal. Maybe they  are playing some double-negative-mega-reverse-double-bluff with us about his character all along? OH GOD I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE! Let’s just have the movie come out already okay? I don’t think my heart can take this much more. Especially if it includes cute blonde girls half-naked in their underwear.

{Amanda- while the guys have their moment with the cute blonde, excuse me as I geek out over a new poster, ooooohhhh Benedict Cumberbatch!}

Star Trek

And because once is never enough… in German!

Star Trek