Posted Nov 20th 2009 10:31AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Casting, Paramount, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Asgard has just added another brilliant actor to their semi-immortal ranks. According to T
he Hollywood Reporter,
Idris Elba has joined the cast of
Thor as Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost Bridge. He's the man you have to pass if you hope to start some stuff in Asgard, and as he's all-seeing and all-knowing, good luck trying to kick his butt.
Elba's casting is undoubtedly going to cause a bit of a stir, as the
Heimdall of the Marvel comics
is a redhaired Caucasian. In the original Nordic myths, he was even called "the whitest of the gods" which seems like a thousand tasteless jokes in the making. (For the record, "whitest" refers to the light he emanated, not his skin color.) I imagine a lot of people are going to make those jokes, complain about things being PC, and just be very unpleasant.
But you know what? The Asgardians are gods. They can be any color they want, and should be. Marvel's Thor is also distinctly different than the original Norse myths, and I think a diverse cast is a fantastic and appropriate idea. Plus, this is
Idris Elba. He's the kind of badass you
want on that Bifrost Bridge, guarding the city gates, and having throwdowns with Thor. (He's
always trying to prevent everyone's favorite blonde from going in or out of Asgard.) Kudos to Kenneth Branagh for recognizing that, and for creating an Ultimate Heimdall in the course of pre-production.
Posted Nov 19th 2009 3:50PM by William Goss
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Paramount, RumorMonger
Back in 2007, our own Christopher Campbell (who's back on staff, baby!) told us that, back in 2006,
a third Jackass film seemed like a sure thing in the wake of
Jackass: Number Two. Steve-O told Howard Stern then that they'd begin shooting at the start of 2008...
Cut to 2009, and the Paramount slate for 2010 in our inbox happens to list a
Jackass 3-D, with a release date to be determined. Johnny Knoxville and company don't seem too busy of late, and even with the eye-popping added dimension, this sounds like a relatively cheap production to give the go-ahead to. If Wikipedia is to be believed (I know),
Bam Margera confirmed in a much more recent interview for a Finnish newspaper that filming would begin this January around the world.
Since there's really not all that much else to report on this yet, let me just assure you that my pals in the Twittersphere are a bit more psyched to have their gag reflexes back in working order than I might be:
"
please be true, please be true, please be true" ... "
Party boy's testicles bouncing off our foreheads." ... "
there is a God in heaven, and he LOVES me!" ... "
Ohpleaseohpleasepohpleaseohplease..." ... "
This would make up for anything that goes wrong in the next 10 years."
Yep, there's still an audience.
[Thanks to
Brian O. for helping round things out.]
Posted Nov 17th 2009 9:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Casting, Paramount, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
The ranks of Asgard are just about full!
Marvel Studios reports that the Warriors Three will be joining
Thor in all of his frosty battles, and as usual, Kenneth Branagh has done a bang up job with the casting.
Stuart Townsend,
Tadanobu Asano, and
Ray Stevenson have joined the cast as Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg, respectively.
The official announcement comes on the heels of
Zachary Levi revealing to
USA Weekend that he had been cast as Fandral, but was forced to drop out due to an extended
Chuck workload. While I feel for Levi, I'm actually very pleased that Townsend has stepped in, as I find him to be a bit more Errol Flynnish than Levi. (Though pulling up his Google Images reveals a guy who looks a
lot more dashing than Chuck Bartowski. Wow. I might have to eat my words on that.) I'm anxious to see the once-and-never Aragorn get another shot at the fantasy genre, and prove himself to be dashing.
I'm not familiar with Asano's work beyond
Mongol, but he turned in a very charismatic performance, and I'm always thrilled to see casting directors look to countries other than Northern Europe. But my heart really couldn't beat any faster than it is at Stevenson's casting. He'll be perfect, and it's awesome to see him get another shot at the Marvel Universe since it doesn't look like we'll ever see him return as Frank Castle. Filming begins in January 2010, and from there it'll just be one big geeky countdown.
Posted Nov 16th 2009 9:45PM by Todd Gilchrist
Filed under: Paramount, Fandom, Home Entertainment
The franchise comeback story of the year, if not the decade, is
Star Trek, which arrived in theaters with an amount of buzz that could only be matched by a metric ton of tribbles, and eventually grossed almost $400 million worldwide. This week
Trek debuts on Blu-ray in a 3-Disc Special Edition, and the set includes enough extras and special features that one can expect the series to continue on successfully for the foreseeable future – even if it's only because you can't get it out of your head.
Though it's unnecessary to revisit the merits of the movie itself – by now you're either with
J.J. Abrams' reinvention of the series mythology or you aren't – it looks absolutely wonderful in high definition, emphasizing every last lens flare and visual flourish injected into its agile, lyrical cinematography. The color quality itself is just positively luminous, but augmented by the sound design, which offers a muscular 5.1 TrueHD mix, you're completely immersed in the film; in fact, so great is the sound on Disc One that even the menu screens rumble with house-shaking bass.
As for the encyclopedia of bonus materials.....
Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Star Trek (3-Disc Special Edition)
Posted Nov 15th 2009 7:03PM by Peter Hall
Filed under: Horror, Paramount, Box Office
Oren Peli is having the greatest Friday the 13th of his life. We all love the shifting Holiday, but none of us can be as happy to greet today as the director of
Paranormal Activity, whose film will be hurtling over the
$100 million threshold at some point today, which, like his film, is simultaneously believable and unbelievable. I can clearly see why it has dominated at the box office, but I don't think anyone involved with the film (either before or after it was bought) prophesied how monumentally successful it would become.
But I'm not here to tell you once again that you should go see
Paranormal Activity, you've already heard that a thousand times over. I would, however, like to use this time to give Oren Peli a standing ovation by putting things a little further into perspective. Within another week, PA will have grossed more money than the cumulative totals of
Halloween II,
The Uninvited,
The Stepfather, and
Saw VI. Their combined budgets? Approximately $60 million. If that doesn't show a little innovation goes a long way, I don't know what does.
More at
HorrorSquad!
Posted Nov 14th 2009 11:03AM by Todd Gilchrist
Filed under: Paramount, Fandom, Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment has employed an interesting tactic in 2009 releasing certain films on standard-definition months ahead of their debut on Blu-ray. This was the case with the first three
Friday the 13th films, and now it's the case with
Galaxy Quest; I don't have the numbers in terms of either awareness or sales, but I wonder how many dutiful consumers pay attention to both editions and choose to wait, as opposed to buying one only to see it become obsolete just a few short months later. In any case, what's most important is that most of all of the films released this way thus far are fan favorites, and especially
Galaxy Quest is a classic in its own right, all of which is why the new Blu-ray release is the subject of this week's "Making The (Up) Grade."
What's Already Available: Paramount originally released
Galaxy Quest on DVD in May of 2000, and in addition to the film, the single-disc release featured deleted scenes, an "On Location in Space" feature, a Thermian-language audio track, cast and crew bios, and production notes.
Paramount's Deluxe Edition was released on May 12, 2009, and featured a new transfer as well as several new bonus features, including "Historical Documents: The Story of Galaxy Quest," "Never Give Up. Never Surrender: The Intrepid Crew of the NSEA Protector," "By Grabthar's Hammer, What Amazing Effects," "Alien School - Creating the Thermian Race," "Actors in Space," "Sigourney Weaver Raps" (yes, you read that right), deleted scenes, the Thermian audio track, and the theatrical trailer.
What's In The New Set: Continue reading Making The (Up) Grade: Galaxy Quest
Posted Nov 12th 2009 10:15PM by William Goss
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, New Line, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Cinematical Seven, Lists
We both know that I could probably fill all seven slots of this list with just scenes from Roland Emmerich's disaster-tastic
2012, but in the interests of letting everyone else get a chance to see it, let's stick with films that have already come and gone. Some of these titles qualify because of the uniquely ridiculous nature of their disasters, while others count for what ridiculous plots unfold amidst otherwise ordinarily perilous acts of nature.
There will be a couple of spoilers to go along with our picks, but since most of these have been out for a couple of years, it's not like it's the end of the world...
Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Silliest Disaster Scenarios
Posted Nov 11th 2009 6:35PM by Jenni Miller
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, New Releases, Paramount, Fandom, Movie Marketing, George Clooney, Images
Jason Reitman, whose next film
Up in the Air comes out on December 4th, posted a very funny image on
Twitter recently – a pie chart detailing the different things that people have asked him in recent interviews. The top three were about George Clooney (111 people), the economy (96 people), and his next project (78 people). The fourth is a little more confusing, as it just reads "Real People," so apparently 77 people asked him about real people. Maybe they wanted to know if the people being laid off in the movie were real people? Who's to say what goes through the murky depths of the mind of a journalist?
I humbly ask Jason Reitman to make a pie chart of his answers. Here's what I picture it to look like.
111 people: "Clooney is such a prankster! But he's also a great serious actor. He's the Cary Grant of our times. Sometimes we have moustache contests."
96 people: "The economy sucks. Seriously though, I've never been laid off, but if I had to be laid off, I'd hope George Clooney would do it."
78 people: "My next project will be with George Clooney. Actually, it will be catching up on all the sleep I lost talking to you people and answering the same damn questions over and over again."
In one jpeg, Reitman manages to sum up the exhausting paces that filmmakers, actors, musicians, et al are put through to get their names and faces and projects out there, the laziness of some journalists, and the terror that faces every journalist that wants to be good at what they do and engender an interesting discussion that is hopefully pleasant and/or illuminating (but at the very least not boring) for everyone involved, including the reader.
If you could ask Jason Reitman anything, what would it be?
Posted Nov 9th 2009 8:45PM by William Goss
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Awards, Paramount, RumorMonger, Oscar Watch
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Well, it's November, which means the awards contenders are steadily coming out of the woodwork, and just as we have the Academy Awards to look forward to, we also have their fine print to tolerate. The first of this year's disqualifications naturally come from the music end of things, the same category that didn't see fit to honor the tremendous original scores composed for
The Dark Knight last year and
There Will Be Blood the year before that.
According to Kris Tapley over at
In Contention, both "Up in the Air" and "Help Yourself" from Jason Reitman's
Up in the Air have been pulled out of the Best Original Song race. The former was written by Kevin Renick before he met Reitman (the song is presented in the film as it was presented to the filmmaker, with homemade introduction and all), not to mention that it comes halfway into the credits when only the first song over them can qualify. (Really, AMPAS?)
And a portion of the latter had existed earlier in Sad Brad Smith's career and thus means the song itself was not created in full for the film. It's
an earnest and catchy tune, used prominently in the trailers and well in the film (and now available on iTunes,
cough), but it now looks like those are two more slots left to be dominated by
Disney's latest...
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 9:02PM by William Goss
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Mystery & Suspense, Paramount, Focus Features, George Clooney, Trailers and Clips
I'm grateful for this Friday, because that's the day that
The Men Who Stare at Goats comes out and I can stop seeing
its trailer relentlessly attached to anything and everything I see (and given that I try to see most anything and everything out there, it's really only a 'me' problem, I suppose). One night, I had myself a triple feature and saw the preview not one, not two, but three times; as a pal put it, he had "more than a feeling" that I was getting sick of it.
Before that, it was a summer of
Taking Woodstock time and time again, and it would already seem that
Shutter Island's move to February will insure that I'll be sitting there, trying to piece the thing together for the next three months when not perfecting my New England Leo impersonation.
So, whether currently or in your own formative years, what trailers have you been just absolutely burnt out on? Did you and your friends quote along with them as they played? Were you actually ever turned off from seeing a film because you had it advertised to you too much? Come on, let it all out...
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 9:03AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, RumorMonger, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Home Entertainment, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
I didn't think it was possible for any movie to be too big for
Michael Bay, especially not a Transformers movie. But judging from this candid DVD extra, even Bay thinks
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen veered on excessive, and he's promising to scale back when he tackles #3. As we speak, Bay is combing through the Transformers lore that Hasbro has sent him and pondering who or what will be smashing crap up in another installment. Just the way he says "Transformers lore" makes me want a story centered on Bay exploring ancient catacombs to uncover the missing Transformers arcana with
Megan Fox as his sidekick. (She'll be packing a Ph.D in Hasbro lore because she's not afraid to be smart
and sexy.)
As Bay ponders how to go sideways from
Revenge (his words, not mine), he does have a few ideas in mind. He wants more Bumblebee, and to explore the powerful relationship he has with Sam. He wants more characters, and more emotion. He wants it to be "more undercover" and "less exposed" which might be difficult for our transforming pals when they destroyed the Great Pyramid of Giza.
At the end of the video, Bay decides to abandon plot ideas and offer a cash reward. Then he says "Just joking!" because come on, the man has to eat, and
Fallen didn't make a kajillion dollars, just a few hundred million. However, maybe a few of you more skilled in Transformers lore than he is can make use of the address, and write him with what
you want to see in #3.
Check out the video of slippery promises below the jump.
Continue reading Michael Bay on 'Transformers 3': Less Action, More Emotion
Posted Oct 29th 2009 8:45PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Paramount, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
There's big news from Asgard tonight! According to
The Hollywood Reporter, the legendary
Sir Anthony Hopkins has joined the cast of
Thor. This isn't one of these tightly kept casting announcements either, as
THR reports that he and no one else is playing Odin. (Incidentally, there's no mention of Robert DeNiro and Jude Law among the confirmed cast members, so I'm guessing that was just a fever dream of a rumor.)
If you're not up on your Thor or Nordic mythology, Odin is the father of Thor and the ruler of Asgard. He's your typical white-bearded god sort, fond of wine, women, and wisdom. He's not immortal (none of the gods of Asgard are), but ages slowly, and possesses amazing powers of strength and wisdom. He famously sacrifices his eye for the foresight to prevent Ragnarok, a sadly futile act, but you can't blame a god for trying.
While a lot of people were hoping that the Brian Blessed would be Odin (and my own money was on the recently signed Stellan Skarsgard), you can't really get much better than Sir Hopkins. He'll add just the right amount of gravitas, but he's an actor who can still have fun in a role. I can't wait to see him go up against Loki, and watching him smack down Thor for his arrogance is going to be pure theater. Cheers,
Kenneth Branagh! Posted Oct 28th 2009 12:45PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Classics, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, RumorMonger, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Last March,
the trades confirmed that
Peter Berg was the latest director brave enough (or foolish enough) to tackle a new adaptation of Frank Herbert's legendary
Dune. News has been scarce since, though just last month Berg was assuring
MTV that he was still involved, and that he was trying to crunch
Josh Zetumer's 200-page script into something manageable "without offending the purists." Other than some intriguing Robert Pattinson
casting rumors, there hasn't been much for fans to really discuss or rant about. But an intriguing story has popped up on
Pajiba. Their inside source claims that Berg has dropped out of the
Dune remake, and that Paramount is scrambling for a new director.
The search is fraught with difficulty for Paramount, according to Pajiba's source. "The search, however, has run into two issues: 1) they're looking for a director who can put the movie together for under $175 million, which sounds manageable, but they don't want anything resembling the crap effects of the '84 film, and 2) they want a director who already has a preexisting passion for the novel and is enthusiastic about the project." But the search has allegedly landed on two splashy newcomers:
Neil Marshall and and
Neill Blomkamp. Marshall is said to be the frontrunner, championed by producer Kevin Misher. But the studio lukewarm on Marshall's resume and likes Blomkamp, who they feel has the "vision" for the film.
This is all rumor and speculation at this point, and nowhere is it stated why Berg dropped out of the remake. (A schedule conflict would be likely. Berg has one heck of a full plate.) There's also something a little too dreamy about those mentions of Blomkamp and Marshall. I'm very, very curious to see how this little rumor is played out, and if it could lead to a
Dune adaptation that's palatable and faithful to Herbert.
Posted Oct 28th 2009 12:03PM by Peter Hall
Filed under: Horror, Independent, Mystery & Suspense, Paramount
I know, you might be bordering on a
Paranormal Activity overdose at this point. It's been slowly rolling out for weeks, every person in America is talking about it, and it so totally scared your best friend, but certainly not
you. Well, as you likely know, what is currently playing in theaters is not the original ending to Oren Peli's haunted house triumph. In fact, the new theatrical cut features an ending suggested by Steven Spielberg.
The original ending, as
detailed here by our own William Goss, hasn't played in theaters for over a year and a half, but now that the film is king of the demonic world, someone has provided the service of actually putting the alternate ending online. This is actually just one of several endings, as explained in our
interview with the director, but until the far-off DVD of the film is released, this is the only way you're going to see it. And I kind of have a feeling that may not be the case for long, so catch it while you can over
at Horror Squad!
Posted Oct 26th 2009 10:32AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Music & Musicals, Romance, Paramount, Celebrities and Controversy, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
The biggest enemy of the
Footloose remake isn't a music-hating preacher, but its own Creative Differences. After it finally recovered from
the loss of Zac Efron by recruiting
Chace Crawford and
Julianne Hough,
Variety reports that Footloose has now lost its captain. Director
Kenny Oretega has left the project due to "differences over tone and budget."
Reportedly, Ortega's vision included elaborate dance sequences and a budget of $30 million or more. But Paramount's Adam Goodwin had something different in mind. He saw
Footloose with a little less dancing, a little less music, and a lot more edge. He was also hoping the budget would come in around $25 million. Who is right? I don't know. If you want something closer to the original, I'd say Goodwin is spot on. Kevin Bacon did his lithe dance moves in barns and car washes. It was on the cheap. It was also pretty edgy (relatively speaking) in its handling of teenage sexuality. Is any remake going to feature its heroine yelling "I'm not even a virgin!" in the middle of a church? Nah. They'll just dress her sexy.
Paramount is now on the hunt for a new director in order to kick off its Sunday shoes and begin filming by 2010. I was going to say "Maybe this'll be the end of this silly remake" but there's no way that'll happen. Instead, I vote that this
Footloose be made with two simultaneous storylines. As they tell the story of the repressive Midwest, we'll also learn about the behind the scenes drama that mirrors the onstage action. Will Ortega's lush vision of music and dance win out? Or will the repressive Goodman crush his freedom of expression? It would be like
The French Lieutenant's Woman for high schoolers.
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