If you’re going to create a teaser trailer for the upcoming conceptual reboot of TERMINATOR that nobody really asked for, and few seem excited about, wouldn’t it be wise amidst the grainy, staticty, jolty images that amount to little (and make even less of an impression), to – you know – actually show a Terminator? This trailer (and projects) elicits a big resounding “Meh.” They’re going to have to do a lot better than this to get me excited for this.
What about your thoughts? Am I being too harsh, and you’re actually stoked to have your Terminator desiring heart flamed with these teasing, tantalizing images? Or is it all frustratingly elusive and dull?
More robots in TRANSFORMERS 2 …
One complaint – and some people had many – about the first TRANSFORMERS was that there weren’t enough robots, especially robots fighting. Well, those people can rest easy, as over at Don Murphy’s site screenwriter Roberto Orci revealed that there may be almost 20 transformers in the sequel, ten fighting on each side. That’s a lot of metal flying around should good old fashioned fisticuffs ensue. Which they will. Except I think when robots fight you can’t really call it fisticuffs anymore. But I just like that word. Unless I could replace it with a new word called roboticuffs. Except I’m not sure robots have cuffs. Damn it. Anyway, the only issue that will emerge then is if the human characters seemed to overshadow the robots in the first film, doesn’t this news mean they’ll over shadow the human character? Actually, why am I even saying that’s an issue? That’d be awesome. Who the heck watches a TRANSFORMERS movie for humans? That was a momentary lapse of reason on my part. Clearly.
More people in Roland Emmerich’s 2012…
Despite the fact that Roland Emmerich hasn’t made a decent film in a while (if ever, one could argue, but I maintain INDEPENDENCE DAY is a silly hoot), and his last film 10,000 B.C. holds the distinction of being his worst outing yet, he’s still somehow drawing some impressive actors for his next film, 2012. In addition to John Cusack already being on board, word now comes that Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Oliver Platt are in negotiations to join up as well. Given some of these actors it makes me wonder whether this project might actually be good, or if it’s another case of actors wanting to “have fun” in a sillier project, or slum it, or just make money to put food on the table.
As a border-line obsessive nerd when it comes to all things time-traveling , alternate-realities, and apocalypses, I’m certainly intrigued by the premise that Cusack’s character “opens a portal into a parallel universe and makes contact with his double in order to prevent an apocalypse predicted by the ancient Mayans.” It does fly in the face of something I can’t get my head around, specifically how a universe containing two versions of the same person doesn’t just completely implode. Either way, given that this is Emmerich we’re dealing with, it’s pretty much guaranteed we’ll see plenty of footage of the world exploding.
Source: Cinematical
Modern Technology versus Ancient Artifacts Well, ladies and gentleman, we have ourselves a blockbuster race for Memorial Day Weekend 2009. It looks like next year’s big show off will be TERMINATOR SALVATION: THE FUTURE BEGINS against NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM II: ESCAPE FROM THE SMITHSONIAN. I’d be pretty curious to see how movie theatres are going to manage to squeeze those two titles on their marquees while still leaving room to indicate what else they’ll be showing that day. I imagine they’ll probably have to order more letters for the marquee to being with, so they can actually spell it all out. I’m also a bit surprised Warner Brother wants to take on NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM in the first place. TERMINATOR 3 grossed $150.4 million domestically, and was largely considered a financial disappointment. NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM grossed $250.9 million. Memorial Day weekend traditionally tends to be a family oriented affair, meaning more people will gravitate toward MUSEUM. Then again the new “Sarah Connor Chronicles” television show – which is apparently quite good – might be enough to rekindle some interest in the previously presumed run-into-the-ground franchise. Personally, I say they should just make peace and combine forces, and have the Terminator run amok inside the Smithsonian. Imagine it! Cyborg versus skeletal T-Rex! Sigh. I guess this is why I’m not a studio executive. Source: Variety
Star Trek gets beamed away to May 2009
The upcoming re-tooling of Star Trek by wunderkind J.J. Abrams (I love the guy, but is it just me, or does it seem like he’s veering on overexposure and overhype?) has been officially pushed back from a December 25th, 2008, release date, to May 8th of the following year. Though officially the reason for the push is schedule re-shifting now that the writer’s strike is over, frankly it seems more likely that it was pushed because – unless you’re Lord of the Rings – Christmas time is not nearly as good of a time to make money as May (the beginning of the summer blockbuster season) is. Besides, Star Trek doesn’t really scream Christmas. An unemotional, overly rational stick-in-the-mud like Spock would just go around explaining to kids why it’s not logically possible for Santa Clause to exist, and Kirk would in the mean time try and seduce the children’s mothers.
Source: Variety
If Catholics were mad about The Golden Compass, wait till they get wind of this …
What pops out at me with this bit of news is not so much the casting of Paul Bettany, but the premise of the movie Legion he’s signed on for. The basic synopsis according to Variety is as follows: “[The] Story follows what happens when God loses faith in humanity and sends his legion of angels to wipe out the human race for the second time. Mankind’s only hope lies in a group of misfits holed up in a diner in the desert who are aided by the archangel Michael (Bettany).” I’m not sure what’s crazier here. That God thinks we’re so bad that we’re better off just dead? That instead of just ending all of our existences in an instant, he’s going to call down his army of angels to painfully slaughter us all (incidentally, I am going to presume his reason for losing faith in us is because of all our warring, so then how is declaring war on us really any better?) What about the notion that somehow a few people in a diner can not only take on that army, but basically God himself? Actually, that’s the craziest part of this film: it makes God the cliché Hollywood blockbuster villain. If anyone involved in this project is Catholic, they should probably prepare to be excommunicated (does the Catholic Church still do that?)
Source: Variety
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