Trust Me, It's A Geek Thing!

Hitler's learns the truth about Avatar Trailer

2009-08-28T19:17:00.001-07:00

This week

2009-07-21T17:35:00.001-07:00

Updates will be sparse. I'm on the home stretch with my current script. On a deadline too, so I'll be around, but only as a phantom.

Till then...

Iron Man 2 Completes Filming

2009-07-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Source: Marvel.

The cameras started rolling on April 6 and filming ended today, July 18. After 71 days of shooting, “Iron Man 2” wrapped principal photography—right on schedule!

So how did it go? Was it tougher getting “Iron Man 2” shot than it was “Iron Man?” To find out, we went directly to one of the key players in the Marvel movie world, Kevin Feige, Producer of "Iron Man 2" and President of Marvel Studios!

"Shooting 'Iron Man 2' was a fantastic experience and we couldn't be happier. Although there were many challenges in making this film, having Jon Favreau, Robert Downey, Gwyneth Paltrow and almost the entire crew from the first film back on board, allowed us to hit the ground running as everyone was instantly familiar with each other from day one,” Feige told Marvel.com. “This dynamic allowed us to get done what we needed on a day to day basis and was a big factor in why we finished slightly ahead of schedule.”

"That's right, baby, I'm so fucking money right now."

Of course, we all know by now there’s also a bunch of new A-List actors interacting with the crew from the first film to make “Iron Man 2,” but according to Feige, it never became a concern.

“Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and especially Don Cheadle all stepped right in and meshed well with our returning cast,” he said.

Additionally, the first time around on “Iron Man” afforded them keen knowledge when it came to producing key aspects of “Iron Man 2.”

”From our experience on the first film, we learned what works and doesn't work in terms of shooting practical versus CGI especially with the Iron Man suit,” Feige explained. “This enabled us to be much more efficient in many departments, making it a much smoother experience.”

But if you think making a film of this magnitude isn’t without its own particular obstacles, guess again.

"What’s more difficult in shooting a sequel is that expectations are much higher for this film and we really want to top what we did on the first film,” he said. “Every day involved working extremely hard in order to improve upon what we did on the first film."

So now with “Iron Man 2” in the can, what happens before we all get to see “Iron Man 2” on May 7, 2010?

"The next step for us is beginning the post production process which is extensive and filled with its own set of challenges,” Feige said. “It is also a very exciting time because you get to see all the hard work from the hundreds of cast and crew members begin to come to life."

Morgan Freeman Joins Warren Ellis' Comic Book Movie 'Red'

2009-07-20T05:20:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing

He's back again for another comic book movie. Morgan Freeman is in talks to star alongside Bruce Willis in Summit Entertainment's espionage thriller Red, based on the WildStorm/DC Comic written by Warren Ellis. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian are producing along with DC Comics' Gregory Noveck overseeing.

"Get busy living, or get busy dying... Hang on, wrong 'Red'."

The screenplay was written by brothers Erich and Jon Hoeber, who also adapted Whiteout. No director has been hired (or announced yet), although I expect we'll be hearing about one fairly soon. We first wrote about this movie a year ago, so it's good to hear that it's finally moving along smoothly.

"Ellis may look like the bastard son of Ivan the Terrible, but he's arguably the best writer in comics today."

The three-issue comic series, first published in 2003, tells the story of a former black-ops CIA agent now living a quiet life in retirement until the day a high-tech assassin shows up to kill him. With his secret identity compromised and his love interest in danger, the man must reassemble his old team to figure out who is out to get them.

"Another comic book adaptation? Show me the money."

The Hoebers' take involves the idea of an older operative set in his ways having to contend with younger agents as well as modern technology. We're not sure what character Freeman will play, but after Wanted, I just hope he's playing another villain, because I loved seeing him kick ass in that.

Voltron comes together again

2009-07-20T05:06:00.000-07:00

Source: RiskyBiz

Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven, Richard Suckle and Steve Alexander are ready to form "Voltron."

The producers behind "Get Smart" and "The International" (and Roven of course also produced "The Dark Knight) have acquired the rights to make a live-action feature based on the robot-lion property, pushing the project forward after several years in development with the Mark Gordon Company.

Roven and his partners acquired rights to the Japanese title from World Events Prods., a St. Louis-based company that has held those rights for more than two decades. “Wanted” producer Jason Netter of Kickstart Entertainment and World Events’ Ted Koplar are joining the Atlas trio in producing.

"Have Michael Bay's people call my people."

"Voltron," a television hit in the 1980’s that has retained a loyal fan following, features a “Transformers"-like conceit, in which a band of five robot-lions combine to form one super lion. A group of five pilots control the lions, which are charged with defending the planet Arus from villain King Zarkon, who dispatches evil creatures called Robobeats to fight the Voltron robots.

Based on Japanese anime properties Beast King GoLion and Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV, "Voltron” aired only for two years on U.S. television, in 1984 and 1985, when Japanese pop-culture had not yet penetrated the American mainstream.

But the title caught the same wave of interest that carried “Transformers," "Gobots" and other mythic stories about shape-shifting robots, and also prompted a popular line of toys.

In the nearly 25 years since it went off the air, the property has remained a favorite in diverse communities, from the fanboy to the hip-hop worlds. “It’s undeniably impressive that Voltron has sustained itself globally for a quarter of a century,” Roven said.

The family-owned television outfit World Events became involved with Voltron when it acquired rights to distribute the 80's program to U.S. television stations. The company has never made a feature from the title but did reboot an animated series in the 1990’s. New editions of the comic were also
published several years ago by the indie label Devil’s Due.

Mark Gordon, the producer of action-drama hits such as “The Patriot” and “Saving Private Ryan,” had been developing the project with indie producers James Young, Mark Costa and Ford Oelman. The group had made a number of inroads in the past few years, hiring writer wunderkind Justin Marks to pen a script (his draft centered on an alien invasion in an apocalyptic North America) and ensuring that a chain of title was clear. The group had also set up the project at New Regency.

"Tell Optimus he can grease my rod."

Last year, the Fox-based banner put “Voltron” into turnaround, and Relativity Media came on to finance the film as part of its single-picture business. But with the option from World Events set to expire, Atlas had the opportunity to step in and acquire rights.

Atlas' “Voltron” has not yet been set up at a studio. The company has an overall deal with Warners, which has been seeking an action tentpole to rival Paramount’s “Transformers” mega-franchise. Warners is already moving forward on “Robotech,” another robot-and-alien tale based on a 1980’s television series.

The success of “Transformers” has revived interest around Hollywood in similar projects (it’s likely that “Voltron” would blend in CG robots with live action in the manner of the Michael Bay hits).

In describing the property, Koplar compared it favorably to “Transformers, saying that “unlike other robotic action movies, 'Voltron’ is the personification of the human spirit, a quality that will set this movie apart."

DiCaprio Hires a Screenwriter for His Twilight Zone Movie

2009-07-20T04:57:00.000-07:00

Source: Variety

Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way are moving ahead on a "Twilight Zone" movie, hiring Rand Ravich to pen a script based on the iconic TV series, which melded fantasy, science-fiction and horror elements. Studio first set up the project with the Warner-based shingle a year ago.

Ravich's feature credits include directing "The Astronaut's Wife" and exec producing "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind." He also created NBC's detective series "Life."

"Hey, wanna see something really scary?"

The original "Twilight Zone" series ran for five seasons starting in 1959 on CBS, with Rod Serling creating the skein and writing more than half of the 156 episodes.

Warners released the previous bigscreen incarnation of the property, 1983's "Twilight Zone: The Movie," with Steven Spielberg and John Landis producing and directing segments.

More DC Comics Movies on the Horizon: Flash, Bizarro, Aquaman

2009-07-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing + Hollywood Reporter.

In the comics universe, where characters are endlessly reborn and reoutfitted, a motto from the 1980s -- "DC Comics is on the move" -- could just as well apply to the current, hyperactive state of the publisher as it relates to Hollywood.

A year after "The Dark Knight" became a worldwide phenomenon, there are more DC Comics adaptations in the works than at any other point since the company was acquired by Warner Bros. in 1969.

Among the projects on front burners:

"The Losers," an action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, begins principal photography this week in Puerto Rico.

"Jonah Hex," a supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

"The Green Lantern," Warners' next big superhero tentpole, is set to star Ryan Reynolds after a long search.

-- Fox has picked up the TV series "Human Target," starring Mark Valley, for the fall.

-- And, in a rare example of a film project that has ventured off the Warners reservation, DC has set up "Red," a spy thriller to star Bruce Willis, at Summit.

"One of the things that has differentiated us for most of the last 20 years is the depth of our library and the depth of the creative material that we've put out and the opportunities that creates for other media," DC Comics president Paul Levitz said.Still, when "Dark Knight" invaded theaters last summer, critics of DC and Warners complained there didn't appear to be a grand strategy in place to exploit DC properties.

In contrast, DC arch-rival Marvel moved quickly in the wake of its successful "Iron Man" to stake out a series of release dates for a slew of movies, branding them as part of one big Marvel universe leading to "The Avengers," which arrives in 2012.

But DC and Warners have taken a different approach, arguing that DC has a wider breadth of books than other comics companies. They insist their situation isn't comparable to Marvel, which already has licensed out to other studios a number of its biggest titles: Spider-Man is housed at Sony, and X-Men and Fantastic Four are at Fox.

"What do you recommend for thigh chafing?"

With fewer marquee superheroes, Marvel works like an animation studio: It only develops select projects and makes most of what it develops, while DC is managing a much larger portfolio.

Still, in the wake of "Dark Knight," DC and Warners have made strategic moves in the superhero realm, including centralizing the way DC's titles and characters are developed. In the past, Warners optioned a property, paying DC a fee comparable to what a property could command on the open market. But while the projects ostensibly were being developed under one roof, many were spread out over a host of producers, each with different visions for how to approach each adaptation.

To bring competing approaches into sync, Levitz and DC's Los Angeles-based film exec Gregory Noveck have overseen a reorganization of the development slate. While Warners execs still drive the creative side, DC now has more input, making it an actual participant in the shaping of material.

"The creative process is by and large a true partnership," Noveck said. "They'll ask us a ton of questions, and we'll give a ton of answers. We will talk back and forth. We'll discuss writers and talent, but ultimately it's their decision."

This past fall, Warners quietly hired three of DC's biggest writers -- Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison and Marv Wolfman -- to act as consultants and writers for its superhero line of movies. The move involved taking back the reins on projects being handled by such producers as Charles Roven ("The Flash") and Akiva Goldsman ("Teen Titans").

Some agents and scribes grumbled about being forced to work with the consultants, never mind that Johns started his career as a assistant to "Superman" director Richard Donner or that Wolfman has worked in animation since the 1980s

The moves have begun to pay off. Johns worked up a new treatment for a "Flash" script, being written by Dan Mazeau; Johns will act in a producer capacity on the project, which has not attached a director.

The projects Morrison and Wolfman are working on are in the early stages at Warners, whose execs declined to comment.

The process involves one writer taking point, though the trio do collaborate on projects, reading one another's materials while hashing out a story that will be at once accessible to nonfans yet still adhere to each character's long history. The writers also work in tandem with producers, writers and the Warners execs overseeing the projects, showing them treatments and providing notes on scripts.

Meanwhile, other superhero projects are moving forward at Warners.

The studio is taking pitches on sci-fi hero Adam Strange and the underwater-breathing hero "Aquaman," to be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and his Appian Way shingle.

Also in the pipeline: "Bizarro Superman" being written by "Galaxy Quest" scribes David Howard and Robert Gordon; a sequel to "Constantine," with Goldsman and Erwin Stoff producing; two concurrent Green Arrow projects, an origin story and a prison-set one titled "Super Max"; and "Shazam," which was set up at New Line but has moved to Warners, with Pete Segal attached to direct.

Unsung in the lineup is Warners' line of straight-to-DVD animated movies released via Warner Premiere. "Green Lantern: First Flight," the latest entry, will premiere at this week's Comic-Con and has a July 28 street date.

These movies, produced on budgets in the $3.5 million range, apparently overperformed their targets. "First Flight" is the fifth straight-to-DVD title, with "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies" in production for a Sept. 29 release.

In the home entertainmentarena, DC has overshadowed Marvel, with 2007's "Superman-Doomsday" generating $9.4 million in revenue and last year's "Batman: Gotham Knight," taking advantage of the tidal wave of support for the Christopher Nolan movie, generating $8 million, according to tracking site The-Numbers.com. "Wonder Woman," released in March, already has chalked up $4.4 million. Marvel's top seller, "Ultimate Avengers 2," has pulled in $7.7 million.

Not that all the stars in the DC firmament are aligned yet.

Warners and DC still haven't figured out how to translate "Wonder Woman" to the big screen. In part, that failure reflects the difficulties DC has had turning out a popular Wonder Women comic. Morrison, during a recent Q&A with Clive Barker at Los Angeles' Meltdown Comics, admitted he didn't have a complete handle on the character when he was writing the comic "Final Crisis."

Also, ever since Bryan Singer's 2006's "Superman Returns," a new Superman has been in limbo.

"Our hope is to develop a Superman property and to try again," Warner Bros. Entertainment president Alan Horn said in April. "What hurt us is that the reviews and so on for the Superman movie did not get the kind of critical acclaim that Batman got, and we have other issues with Superman that concern us."

"Ever had sex with a blue-ringed Octopus?"

On the Batman front, a sequel to "Dark Knight" also is quite a way off. Nolan is open to doing a third installment, but his next movie is "Inception," an original script he penned and is shooting for Warners.

All that has put a damper on any movie about the Justice League, whose roster includes the above-mentioned heroes as well as myriad others including Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter. DC would like to present some of the main heroes in their own movies before they are brought together for one big outing, so "League" currently is inactive.

On top of that, there could be another change in how Warners approaches the DC characters, with studio chiefs debating whether to put the operation under one super-exec.

To bring the next generation of superheroes to the screen, DC and Warners might yet have to unleash their own super powers.

Today's Awesome One-Sheets!

2009-07-19T20:16:00.001-07:00

Behold, Tarsonites, I give you...

Producer Joel Silver talks Shane Black, Wachowski Brothers, SGT. ROCK, DIRTY DOZEN, THE LOSERS and GREYSKULL

2009-07-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

Source: Collider.

Anytime you sit down with producer Joel Silver you’re going to learn about a lot of upcoming films. That’s because as the producer of over 90 movies, the guys is always making them and he has his hand in many projects fandom cares about. So when I got the chance to speak with him at yesterday’s “Orphan” junket, towards the end of the interview I asked about many of his upcoming projects.

"If I were a Billionaire, I wouldn't care what I wore either."

After the jump you can either read or watch Joel talk about what’s up with Shane Black, The Wachowski Brothers, “Sgt. Rock”, “The Dirty Dozen” and “Greyskull”.

Since many of you like watching video interviews and others like reading transcripts, I’m offering what Joel said both ways. Up first is the video of Joel talking future projects and further down is the transcript.

"I wrote Lethal Weapon. The fuck you ever do?"

The big news for Wachowski fans is he says “Plastic Man” is just a rumor. He goes on to say he doesn’t know what they’re doing next. He also explains what happened to “Dirty Dozen”, “Sgt. Rock” and what’s up with Shane Black. Finally, look for what Joel and Susan Downey said about “Orphan” in the coming days.

"Peter Berg's no loser, but he should direct The Losers."

Interview Snippets:

Collider: Shane Black-what’s going on? Is there another project on the horizon?

Joel Silver: He’s working for us on a project called “The Nice Guys” which is kind of the next version of what “Kiss Kiss [Bang Bang]” was; a more advanced version. We love Shane very much and “Kiss Kiss” didn’t really do what we wanted it to do but it did help in that it’s the movie that Jon Favreau told was the movie that convinced him that Robert could in fact do “Iron Man” so it had a great effect on all our lives. But I love Shane and I promise it will happen soon.

One of my favorite films of last year was “Speed Racer”.

Joel Silver: I feel sorry for you. [laughs] I’m kidding.

I love that film and I have to ask you because I can never talk to Larry and Andy [Wachowski], is “Plastic Man” really happening? Is that a rumor?

Joel Silver: I think it’s a rumor. I don’t know what they’re going to do. We had “Ninja Assassin” which we did together which is really, really strong. Really, really good. I mean it’s a complete, full-on martial arts movie which is really a hard-edged, fun picture. I don’t know what they’re going to do next. Look, “Speed Racer” kind of made us all crazy-

It’s fantastic.

Joel Silver: We thought it was going to be a big, Earth-shattering picture and it was Earth-shattering but the other way. I don’t know. It’s disturbing, actually. But, you know, I liked it too.

I love it. I know we have to wrap up but I have to ask the two of you: “Dirty Dozen”, “Sgt. Rock”-what’s the status?

Joel: We were very committed to making “Dirty Dozen” for a while. We were close…We essentially shifted gears to “The Losers” which is why-we start shooting the movie on Thursday in Pureto Rico, it’s a famous DC comic, and it’s a similar idea to “Dirty Dozen”; it’s a more contemporary story but I hope one day to do “Dirty Dozen”. I hope one day to do “Sgt. Rock”. We were getting close on that and then Quentin [Tarantino] went off and did “Inglourious Basterds” so I mean we kind of put it aside but they’re properties that we own and we hope to make them someday.

Okay, one more question-”Greyskull”-what’s going on?

Joel: We’re developing it. We have a good idea for the script and if it works, we’ll make it.

"He loved Speed Racer? Yeah, right."

Which “Big Director” Was Interested In Directing Mark Millar’s Superman?

2009-07-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Source: /Film.

You might remember that comic book writer Mark Millar had been talking about his pitch for an 8-hour Lord of the Rings-style epic trilogy of Superman films. He even claimed that he was working with an unnamed big director on a pitch for the studio. But a couple months ago, Millar gave up on the pursuit, at least for the moment. Mark is always one to tell big stories and make big claims, sometimes larger than reality. And I’ve always wondered if there really was a big name director working with him on the Superman pitch, and who it could have been. And now we know…

"Clooney contemplates giving up his costume fetish. Particularly the Superman one."

Millar finally reveals the name to the TimesOnline, and its a lot more obvious then you would think — Matthew Vaughn, director of Layer Cake, Stardust and the big screen adaptation of Millar’s Kick-Ass comic book. The comic book writer tells the Times, “They spoke to me and Matthew last year and we were obviously very interested as the love is there and the potential is enormous. But we’re not involved in Superman at this stage.” The plan was “to do a Superman movie unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Matthew wanted to cast someone who looked nothing like Christopher Reeve and create a new Superman for this generation. But Superman is still in stasis at the moment because the last one lost so much money and [Warners] are scared to do anything with the character right now. I’m not holding my breath.”

Millar had originally revealed his idea to Empire Magazine, stating that his pitch is for an 8-hour saga told over the course of three films, each which he hopes would be released one year apart.

"Arnold dug the new outfit."

"It’s gonna be like Michael Corleone in the Godfather films, the entire story from beginning to end, you see where he starts, how he becomes who he becomes, and where that takes him. The Dark Knight showed you can take a comic book property and make a serious film, and I think the studios are ready to listen to bigger ideas now."

But Millar’s ideas were great in concept but unrealistic from a studio standpoint.

"I want to start on Krypton, a thousand years ago, and end with Superman alone on Planet Earth, the last being left on the planet, as the yellow sun turns red and starts to supernova, and he loses his powers."

Warner Bros cares about the character as a franchise, and a franchise can’t exist if it has a finite conclusion. In May Millar revealed that talk of the movie had slowed down, and that he had moved on to another project.

"Believe me, this is heavier than it looks."

"Warner’s talked to us and a few other writer/ director teams, but things seem to be in stasis right now. As far as I understand, nothing is happening with Superman at the moment and so the director and I are just working on another project. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, no biggie. Kick-Ass taught me that creating your own stuff can be at least as much fun and you don’t have to answer to anyone. It’s the future, baby."

That new project will re-team Millar with Vaughn on another live-action big screen adaptation — Millar’s American Jesus comic book. You can read a lot more about that project in our previous news report. Thanks to /Film reader KaMeek for the tip.

Carriers Trailer

2009-07-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

Check out the official website.

Stuart Beattie talks up 'Halo' movie

2009-07-18T21:29:00.000-07:00

Source: Sci-Fi Wire + First Showing

Apart from also being a fellow Aussie, Stuart Beattie is a personal hero of mine. He's written some fantastic scripts over the years, and he's had an amazing career - a career, a scribe like me could only dream of. He's also a genuine, all-round nice guy - a rarity in the film biz, I can assure you.

"Fosters thanks, mate. Make it two."

Beattie has gladly confessed on numerous occasions, that after a hard days work, he often enjoys relaxing over an online bout of Halo. He's been trying to stir up some excitement for a Halo feature film, particularly one that follows 'The Fall of Reach' arc, for over a year now. He adapted the books, based on the hit video game franchise, and even went so far as to hire a concept artist to produce artwork, which would accompany him while he pitched his take to studios. So far, no one's bitten.

SciFi Wire caught up with Beattie recently and talked with him about Fall of Reach and the latest developments. "I really believe a Halo movie would just be awesome, especially this Halo movie." Maybe there is hope?

"I just think it's an amazing story about this child that no one cares about and who cares for no one else, who kind of ends up saving all of humanity," Beattie starts out saying. Anyone and everyone who has ever played Halo I'm sure would love to see a movie as well, but we all know the original project got scrapped when Microsoft couldn't agree with Fox and Universal on the budget. "I firmly believe that the first Halo movie needs to be the Fall of Reach story, because it sets up all the characters, the world, the Covenant, the big struggle between mankind and the aliens, all that stuff," he explains. "So that's where my money is."

As for the kind of budget necessary to make Halo: Fall of Reach, Beattie mentions that "it's a big $100 million-plus film." However, as we know all too well, video game movies usually aren't that great and do too well. Hopefully that will change with Prince of Persia, but until then, we'll just have to wait patiently.

"Once my generation of filmmakers start to get to that position where they allow us to make these big-budget films based on these video games, then we'll start to get some really great movies based on video games," Beattie said. "I think it's the same as books, [and] it's the same as comic books. I think not every video game should be made into a movie, just like not every book should be made into a movie. Not every comic book should, but certain ones definitely should, because they're so visual, the characters are so rich and the mythology is so vast that they should. Halo is definitely one of the shoulds."

I agree with Beattie there, but who knows if we'll ever see a Halo movie. If things go very well over the next few years, it could just happen, but that's the problem. It's my belief that Peter Jackson is using District 9 as a way of proving that Neill Blomkamp can direct a big feature and can bring audiences in. So not only does that movie need to do gangbusters at the box office in August, but Prince of Persia needs to be a worldwide hit as well. If all of that works out, I could see a Halo movie moving forward once again, hopefully with Neill Blomkamp at the helm and Peter Jackson producing, the same as before. But alas I can't predict the future.

"I would just love to see a Halo movie up there on screen. It's magnificent," Beattie says. "As always, the moment we bring up the Halo movie, there's always a discussion surrounding it."

Today's Random (Star Wars) Pics

2009-07-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

A LOL a day keeps the nasties away. Enjoy.

Howl at the Moon! Tarson's Top 10 Werewolf movies!

2009-07-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

It's a full moon, and the time is upon us once again.

Slow day today, so I'm going to subject you to another one of my Top 10 Lists. That's right, this time it's those mangy fuckers we love to call - Werewolves. This list was compiled with the help of Movie Moron.

While the comics industry are still publishing a healthy stream of werewolf stories (see Astounding Wolf-Man and Werewolves On the Moon) Hollywood have done very little to credibly push the genre in a long time. We've got The Wolfman remake on the way, which does look very promising, but apart from Underworld, there hasn't been a great deal over the years. Not entirely sure why either. Maybe Wes Craven's woeful 'Cursed' scared studio execs off with their tails between their legs?

If you frequently visit horror movie boards like I do, you'll see that a lot of fans still love a good Werewolf yarn. It's still a hot topic on many the horror forums. Sure, we all love our Vampires, Ghosts, Demons, Zombies and Aliens, but many fans still talk about how they're waiting for a director to come along and do justice to the Werewolf genre, like what John Landis did with American Werewolf in London, and more recently, Neil Marshall with Dog Soldiers.

So until then, here's what I think are the best Top 10 Werewolf pics out there, so far.

10. Underworld

This recent addition to the werewolf genre is somewhat intriguing. Len Wiseman crafts a solid action flick, heavy on talky-talky and exposition. It is a great concept though - pitting modern day vampires against their archenemies, werewolves.

"The bouncers down at the local pub were getting more and more aggressive each year."

The movie delivers a fast paced (if a little confusing) story, and the action sequences are well designed. It also doesn't hurt that we get to feast our eyes on Kate Beckinsale, wrapped in skin-tight leather and latex (in a kind of 14-year old fanboy, BDSM wet dream).

"Don't believe me? Here, feel my palm, it's hairy."

The film did boffo at the box office, and with two more Underworld films now out on DVD/BluRay, I'd say we'll see a lot more of the franchise over the next few years.

9. Silver Bullet

Based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf, Silver Bullet was helmed by Daniel Attias. Odd choice, as he was best known at the time for directing Miami Vice.

Silver Bullet focuses on the relationship between ordinary siblings Marty and Jane, rather than the struggle of duality plaguing the film’s villainous werewolf. Who is the werewolf? Well that’s part of the mystery, as this is a big whodunit.

"The moral of the picture: don't drive Taxis on a full moon."

With a standout performance by Gary Busey as Uncle Red, Silver Bullet should be high on any list of guilty pleasures. And Cycle of The Werewolf should be in any Stephen King fan's collection. Hunt it down, it's still in print, you can find it on Amazon.

8. The Company of Wolves

This 1984 gothic-horror film was directed by Academy Award winner Neil Jordan, only his second feature.

It concerns a young girl, Rosaleen, and the tales her Nan (Angela Lansbury) recites to her. The movie switches to and fro between Rosaleen’s dreams and her ‘real’ world, never staying in one place long enough for you to be able to fully decide which her actual reality is.

"You said this was going to be a fancy dress party."

With its roots firmly in the realm of the fairy tale, this is a worthy, if not remarkable, entry into werewolf canon.

7. The Curse of the Werewolf

Good old Hammer Horror had to feature. Surprisingly, this was their only foray into the world of the Wolf Man. But it’s a cracker.

Starring the ubiquitous Oliver Reed in his first lead role, and directed by genre stalwart Terence Fisher (The Curse of Frankenstein, The Mummy (1959)), this tale adds an interesting twist - the birth of an unwanted child on Christmas Day curses it to turned into a werewolf. One that can only be cured by love…

"After a six day binge, Oliver Reed contemplated shaving."

The bell tower finale is truly gripping, and Reed really injects pain into the part - showing just what a waste of talent it was when he croaked early.

6. Wolfen

Wolfen was released in 1981, at the height of the werewolf revival. It follows a detective (Albert Finney) investigating a series of murders in which the victims have been seemingly killed by an animal (have a wild guess what happened).

It’s most notable for its POV perspective through the werewolf’s eyes, a technique later used for the creature in Predator. The movie is a bit disjointed, but uses the Native American legend of wolf spirits to good effect.

5. Ginger Snaps

Directed by John Fawcett, Ginger Snaps focuses on two sisters who have a deep routed fascination with the macabre. Soon one of them is nibbled by a you-know-what and issues of extreme sibling rivalry and unquestionable love come to the fore.

"I've got to neuter this mutt."

It’s unusual for having two girls in the lead roles, and uses lycanthropy as a metaphor for teen angst and puberty.

A clever, thematic indie that deserves a place in any collection, not just horror.

4. Dog Soldiers

Neil Marshall’s directorial debut was just what the genre needed. A team of six British soldiers on a routine training exercise discover the remains of a Special Forces squad in the Scottish Highlands and are forced to retreat to a secluded house, where they are laid siege by a pack of werewolves.

The quality of the cast, the spot-on army slang humour and the quick paced directing style created a werewolf tale that kept its tongue firmly in its cheek, but also delivered enough scares and gore to satisfy the most hardened of horror fans.

3. The Howling

Another 1981 release, The Howling took the ‘pack of wolves’ approach, as opposed to the popular singular lycanthrope protagonist.

"Fuck this hurts."

After a traumatic experience, Karen White (Dee Wallace-Stone) relocates to a group therapy camp called ‘The Colony’. The Colony, though, turns out to be a collection of werewolves. Cue another traumatic experience. The make-up effects were done by Rob Bottin, who at the time was the protégé of one Rick Baker (see further up this list).

"I'm sorry, Ted, there's someone else... Another Lycan."

Joe Dante’s film centered on the theme of trust in those close to you and those who, by job definition, you should be able to trust, such as Doctor George Waggner (Patrick Macnee).

2. The Wolf Man (1941)

The Wolf Man is remembered for Lon Chaney Jr.’s striking depiction of inner struggle against flesh eating desires and for its cast of genre favourites including Claude Raines (The Invisible Man) and Bela Lugosi (Dracula). It was also the first lycanthrope film to introduce the concept of forced changing under a full moon, vulnerability to silver and being marked with a pentagram.

"Wolf! I said wolf, not lion, you moron."

It wasn’t Universal’s first werewolf flick, that honour goes to the disappointing Werewolf of London (1935). Which sounds a bit like…

1. An American Werewolf in London

This is the ultimate werewolf movie. It’s also the ultimate fish-out-of-water movie, and the ultimate special-practical-effects movie. It’s genuinely scary, and you feel for the characters, especially Jack Goodman who’s in a permanent state of limbo until someone kills his best friend.

To this day the transformation scene by FX genius Rick Baker has never been bettered; you almost experience the pain that Kessler is going through as his skin stretches and his jaw cracks.

"David swore he'd never do mushrooms again."

The triple bluff dream sequence stills gets me, as does the ‘Slaughtered Lamb’ and that rampage through a packed central London is incredible in the way it shifts your emotions until the final inevitable conclusion.

And to close out this snaggle-toothed list, here's The Wolfman trailer from last years Comic-Con. It's a CAM copy, but it's watchable.

Enjoy.

Entertainment Weekly's Comic-Con Sneak Peek

2009-07-17T04:59:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing + EW

In addition to that badass new cover photo featuring Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Entertainment Weekly's latest issue includes a brief Comic-Con Sneak Peek with a few more new photos from some movies that will be present at the Con. Obviously all the studios are keeping their big reveals a secret until they can debut them next week in San Diego, but the magazine does have a few cool new photos from movies like Iron Man 2, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Zombieland, Kick-Ass, Shane Acker's 9, and Pandorum.

"Ryan Reynolds? John, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"We're in the middle of a Zombie epidemic, this is hardly the time to be digging up your ex-wife's grave."

"Someone forgot their flu shot this morning."

"This is an interstellar spaceship, what do you mean you don't have a pilot's license?"

"Ever since Daniel had to wear a burn-suit, his brother took the whole superhero thing, a little too seriously."

Even if you're not going to be at the San Diego Comic-Con in person, there will still be a lot of exciting announcements and great coverage from everyone all around the web (including FS). You can find the complete line-up of movie presentations right here or head over to Entertainment Weekly for more photos or visit the official Comic-Con website. I'm personally the most excited for the line-up on Thursday, which includes presentations on Tron 2, James Cameron's Avatar, Kick-Ass, and a screening of District 9 at night. That will definitely be a great day! Our coverage kicks off on Wednesday night next week, so stay tuned!

Why MAFIA II may end up being the GTA IV killer

2009-07-16T19:36:00.001-07:00

As a fan of the GTA series, I love the idea of free-roaming games where you can basically do whatever the hell you want. GTA IV was, and still is, the best free-roaming game out there. Liberty City is just massive. To walk it would take hours - just as it would in real life. There's just so many hours of crazy fun, with so much to do.

But there's a new contender on the block... Mafia II.

Now the first Mafia game was quite good, and was very well received critically, but the sequel is about to drop, and Gamespot have just posted an amazing 15 minute walkthrough for one of the critical missions. This just blew me away (pun intended as you'll see).

There's a reason why these types of video games get Hollywood execs nervous. Why go out and deal with crowds, ticket prices, parking, etc, when you can be in your own movie at home - and believe me when I say - games are becoming more and more like interactive movies, where you are the main protagonist. It's an industry that turns over billions more annually than Hollywood - and it's games like this, that are the reason why.

Now some parts of this video have been censored, and for the purpose of time, the walkthrough has been clipped in some scenes, but if you're debating whether or not to buy an X-Box 360 or a PS3 console, then this should close the deal. And I suggest you watch it in HD.

Enjoy.

Fan Art: Ryan Reynolds as The Green Lantern

2009-07-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

Source: /Film

Last week it was confirmed that Ryan Reynolds had been cast as the title character in Martin Campbell’s big screen adaptation of The Green Lantern. /Film reader movie boy sent over this FAN MADE PHOTO, which was created by Josh MC, showing what Reynolds could look like in the black and green tights. I repeat, this is NOT real. The movie has not yet started production. Check out the full photo after the jump.

"The Dark who?"

Star-Studded Line-Up for Rodriguez's 'Machete'!

2009-07-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

Source: Bloody-Disgusting

"I guess it's painful having a face that's half human, half beef jerky."

We just got a monster tip that comes from one of regular scoopers who enjoys remaining anonymous. While we was dead-on with his insider info on Alien and Predators, he was off on announcing that Neil Marshall would direct Predators (although it's a known fact that he was in close negotiations). This afternoon I got a phone call from our good pal who tells us he has the names of the first four individuals cast in Robert Rodriguez's Machete feature film! Read on for the skinny.

What we learned is the following:

Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis are teaming up to begin filming Machete on July 29th. They are co-directors.

-DANNY TREJO is returning (obviously) as "Machete", the madman bent on revenge.

-MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ ("Lost", Fast & Furious, Avatar) is said to be playing "Luz".

-JONAH HILL, the comedian who has starred in such films as Superbad and the forthcoming Adam Sandler comedy Funny People, will play "Julio".

-Lastly, a legend of our time, ROBERT DE NIRO, will take on the role of "Senator McLaughlin".

Machete (Trejo) is a Mexican ex-Federale with a gift for wielding a blade, who hides out as a day laborer, who is double-crossed by a corrupt state senator (De Niro). The film was teased as a faux trailer that was directed by Robert Rodriguez in Dimension Films' Grindhouse, which featured a full-length film from both Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.

Obviously, keep this sucker filed under rumor until confirmed.

New Screenwriter Hired for 'World War Z'

2009-07-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing + Fangoria

Not sure how many of you have read Max Brooks' 'The Zombie Survival Guide', and 'World War Z', but if you are a Zombie fan, and haven't read them yet, do yourself a favor and grab them. They won't disappoint.

"Max Brooks says: Autograph? Do I look like a Zombie, motherfucker?"

Now this is a bit strange. Fangoria reports today that the World War Z adaptation in the works over at Paramount is being revised by a different screenwriter. Originally, it was J. Michael Straczynski who had been adapting Max Brooks' book, but now it's Matthew Michael Carnahan, a "specialist in political thrillers" whose past credits include State of Play and The Kingdom. “He’s one of Hollywood's hot A-list writers, so if they went after him and paid him a mountain of gold, it definitely shows their confidence in this project,” Brooks said. We know Marc Forster is directing, but we didn't know there were problems with the script?

"Available from all good 'Undead' booksellers."

Brooks adds: “They say it’s a positive move because they’re very excited, but the truth is, it’s also positive because they just paid him a buttload of money, and [with] the money they paid him, the money they paid Straczynski and they money they’ve paid me, they’ve really dug themselves a deep hole, so they better make this thing!" I'm right there with him - they better make this thing! There seems to be something going on behind-the-scenes here - because when we reported that Forster was attached to direct last year, they were preparing to start production this year. So what happened? Why do they need an entirely new writer?

"Concept art for the film. Massive Zombie hordes... oh, my."

Straczynski has openly talked about his script quite a bit, with this update in December being the most recent. From the way he describes his version of Max Brooks' book, it sounds like it will be a very political movie that involves the government, which might explain why Matthew Michael Carnahan is actually good fit for this. I'm still curious to see if there is more to this story than we're hearing. We'll keep you updated on the development of World War Z, a project I am still very much looking forward to one day seeing.

From Fangoria: On FANGORIA RADIO last week, guest Max Brooks dropped a scoop about a new writer taking on the film version of his best-selling undead-epic novel WORLD WAR Z. The movie is being developed by Paramount and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Production, and was previously being scripted by CHANGELING and BABYLON 5’s J. Michael Straczynski.

Now taking on the adaptation reins is Matthew Michael Carnahan, a specialist in political thrillers whose credits include STATE OF PLAY and THE KINGDOM. “He’s one of Hollywood’s hot A-list writers, so if they went after him and paid him a mountain of gold, it definitely shows their confidence in this project,” Brooks said on the show. “They say it’s a positive move because they’re very excited, but the truth is, it’s also positive because they just paid him a buttload of money, and [with] the money they paid him, the money they paid Straczynski and they money they’ve paid me, they’ve really dug themselves a deep hole, so they better make this thing!” We’ll keep you posted on any further WORLD WAR Z news we hear.

First 'Official' Look at Iron Man 2

2009-07-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Source: EW

Entertainment Weekly's second annual Comic-Con preview issue features Iron Man 2 on the cover, and inside it’s packed with exclusive first looks at highly anticipated TV shows, comic books, and movies.

The first Iron Man blasted Robert Downey Jr. back to stardom, and the superhero franchise is readying to return to the big screen on May 7, 2010. Iron Man will battle new villain Mickey Rourke, size up Scarlett Johansson (exclusive photo of ScarJo as Black Widow, after the jump!), and, hopefully, prove that the success of the first movie wasn’t a fluke. Downey knows the movie isn't an underdog this time around. "There are a lot more invisible eyes on us now," he says.

When Marvel Studios first announced the sequel, no one was sure what the movie would be about. Downey, director Jon Favreau, screenwriter Justin Theroux, and the rest of the creative team struck upon the idea of introducing two very different foes for Stark. On one side is Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), a fast-talking weapons manufacturer who fancies himself the next Tony Stark; on the other, Vanko, who, while incarcerated in a Russian prison, creates his own battle-suit, which shoots devastating, whip-like beams. Hammer and Whiplash join forces to take down Downey’s character, Tony Stark. Rourke, for his part, wanted to instill some lightness into the role of the heavy. "I told Favreau, 'I don't want to just play him as a one-dimensional p----,'" he says. "He let me have a cockatoo, who I talk to and get drunk with while I’m making my suit."

Just as the deals were being hammered out, Terrence Howard -- who had played Stark’s best friend -- fell out of the sequel in a public salary dispute. The role was re-cast, with Don Cheadle stepping in. "We had to make some tough deals," says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. "When they got public, you go, 'That sucks. Okay, you want a peek behind the curtain? Here you are!'" Says Cheadle, "Terrence and I couldn’t be more different. We address it head-on in the movie in one exchange. We're not trying to fool people." (Cheadle admits he didn’t know much about Marvel’s superhero before the first movie came out: "I always thought Iron Man was a robot.")

"Since when did A-Listers have to crawl on their hands and knees?"

Adding more flesh and blood to the new movie, Scarlett Johansson joined the cast as Stark’s mysterious new assistant, Natasha, who has an alter ego of her own, Black Widow. That introduction inevitably sparks romantic tension between Stark and former assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who’s been promoted to CEO of Stark Industries. "The men want it to be, like, 'Ooh, the girls are fighting over Tony,' but it's not as standard as that," says Paltrow. "There's a weird male catfight fantasy. Downey agrees. He believes what differentiates the franchise from other superhero series can be summarized as follows: "We're horny. Not, like, can't-bring-your-kids horny, but just…horny."

The question remains whether Iron Man 2 will soar like the first film or show signs of rust when it hits theaters. "People are going to be more critical," says Downey. "That’s their prerogative….In a way, there's no way to win, except to win. Big."

For more on Iron Man, as well as a first look at the hottest movies and TV shows heading to Comic-Con, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands Friday July 17.

Watchmen Director's Cut Theatrical Re-Release Theater List

2009-07-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

Source: Official Watchmen Site + First Showing

"Yeah, baby, Ackerman in BluRay."

Back in June it was confirmed that the extended Director's Cut of Zack Snyder's Watchmen would still be hitting movie theaters starting on Friday, July 17th, which is tomorrow. Unfortunately, it would only show in four theaters located in Los Angeles, Dallas, Minneapolis, and New York City. For anyone living in those cities, great news, for everyone else, well, the Blu-Ray hits shelves next Tuesday.

Here are the theaters (and links to buy tickets) for this weekend:

Mann Chinese 6 in Los Angeles
Landmark Sunshine 5 in New York
Carmike Apple Valley 15 in Minneapolis
Rave Hickory Creek 16 in Dallas

"Are you kidding? These guys haven't seen a woman in years, of course they enjoy your foot in their asses."

I hope you take this opportunity to see Watchmen one more time in theaters, especially since word is the Director's Cut is actually a huge improvement over the original cut. I've been dying to see this one more time and I'm quite excited. Plus it's the best way to honor Zack and everything he was able to pull off with this. Otherwise, at least pick up the Blu-Ray on Tuesday!

Aussie Revenge Thriller 'The Horseman ' is a Winner

2009-07-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

As some of you may or may not know - I'm Australian, so I'm always going to be partial to any new Aussie horror films that come out. We have a small industry in comparison to the States, and unfortunately we have a habit of churning out a lot of uninteresting crap every year, but occasionally, we hit the mark, especially with horror films. Australia does do good genre films, and there's such a great wealth of untapped talent over there, it's always wonderful to see a newcomer break through.

David Harley from Bloody-Disgusting recently got a hold of Writer/Director - Steven Kastrissios' new revenge thriller,'The Horseman' - and he bloody loved it. Read on, Tarsonites.

Is it mere coincidence that I just watched Paul Schrader’s Hardcore? The story, which has George C. Scott running all over L.A. with a private detective (Peter Boyle) and porn “actress” looking for his missing daughter who got lost on a trip to California and is later found in a porno, seems to have influenced the setup of Steven Kastrissios’ The Horseman, a gritty Australian revenge film that knocked me flat on my ass this year at SXSW.

However, instead of a man looking for his daughter, The Horseman has Christian (Peter Marshall) looking for his daughter’s killers. While grieving her death, Christian receives a porn video in the mail, showing his daughter being gang-banged while appearing to be drugged out of her mind. He finds the address for the distributor, gathers his tools – he’s an exterminator – and hits the road to maim and murder everyone that had anything to do with her death and seedy lifestyle.

This guy doesn’t take revenge the typical way, though; shootings aren’t elaborate enough for Christian. Instead, he opts for penis torture. We’re talking fishing hooks, drill bits, bicycle pumps, the works. It makes Hostel II’s infamous scene seem G-rated in comparison – and that one had me holding onto my manhood the first time I saw it – without ever really showing anything. The act of implying these cringe-and-shriek-worthy acts is a testament to the film’s power over its audience and the physically draining journey it takes them on.

"Masturbating in front of tool-sets. It's a male thing."

While he’s on his travels, he picks up Alice (Caroline Marohasy), a young hitchhiker who he develops a father-daughter relationship with. This never bogs down the story or brings it to a total standstill like a lesser film would. What’s most intriguing about the interaction between the two characters can be summed up in this moment that takes place in a motel, where Christian shoots her this look that makes one think he might be having some “impure” thoughts about Alice and you’re left wondering during the rest of the film if he’ll eventually cross the line or stay focused on his revenge scheme. It doesn’t end up rearing its head again but Kastrissios commented that the original cut was an hour longer during his Q&A. It featured some more character development and exposition, and I wonder if this was a subplot that was explored more there.

"Safe to assume this year's family BBQ was a disaster."

In an age of over-choreographed fight sequences, The Horseman’s realistic, but sloppy, fights are like a breath of fresh air. Christian is new at this whole revenge thing and instead of having him be well-versed in kung-fu or the art of street fighting, he’s out there throwing his fists around fairly amateurishly in the beginning and just generally making a mess of things. This is the first film in a really long time that warrants the raw and gritty feel it’s going for and the nature of these fight scenes really solidify the film as a great throwback to the grimy revenge films of the 70s, more so than either of the Grindhouse full-length features.

Peter Marshall’s performance as Christian also deserves a lot of praise. His character does a lot of depraved things over the course of the film and even as he spirals out of control, he never makes you turn on him. You’re there with him the whole way as he searches for answers, crosses the line more than a few times and searches for redemption. His whole character arc is laid out for you, which is impressive considering how little exposition is actually given, and almost everything he does seems plausible and real. This isn’t a character with healing powers (superhuman strength during a few parts perhaps); he’s just a normal, everyday guy that’s maybe in over his head. He struggles towards the third act, cuts and bruises in tow, and by the end of the film, he makes Paul Kersey look like Adam West’s Batman.

"Spot of fishing, anyone?"

The Horseman is an exceptional entry in the revenge genre, filled with seat-squirming scenes and an identifiable anti-hero that never delves into self-parody or comic book character status. Between this and Greg McLean’s work, Australia seems to have made quite a mark this decade with their inspired genre films.

Check out the official website for lots more info.

'The Gate: Monstrous Special Edition' Coming to DVD!

2009-07-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

Source: Lionsgate Home Entertainment

If only Lionsgate could bring us Blu-rays, they'd be on my best friend list. Today Lionsgate Home Entertainment hit us up with the breaking news that The Gate debuts in a Special Edition DVD on October 6 from Lionsgate. Starring Stephen Dorff (Public Enemies), Kelly Rowan (TV's "The O.C.") and Jennifer Irwin (HBO's "Eastbound & Down"), the film is a terrifying tale about three children who accidently open a gate to hell which releases demons from an ancient civilization. The Gate: Monstrous Special Edition is loaded with new special features, including audio commentary with the director, interviews with the cast and crew, a stills gallery and the original theatrical trailer.

They are here and they want to meet the neighbors. After an old tree is removed from the ground, three teenagers come across a special rock with a beautiful crystalline center in their backyard. The rock enthralls them and they dig up the family's lawn in a search for more of the precious stones. However, instead of stones, they find the Gate: a hidden underground chamber that holds the secret of centuries and the vengeance of eternity. Their actions inadvertently liberate a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from the hole and what follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth. Pricing: DVD $19.98

'Trick 'r Treat' DVD/Blu-ray Art Revealed, Special Screening!

2009-07-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

Source: Ain't It Cool

A word of advice to all Comic Con attendees regarding Thursday: pace yourself. For reasons that have nothing to do with the fans and everything to do with taking advantage of the Friday news cycle, most of the big ticket presentations at this year's soiree have been crammed into Day One. So do whatever you've got to do to make sure you've still got something left in the tank for 10:00 PM, because you cannot afford to miss the big screening/panel for one of the best horror films in recent memory.

Michael Dougherty's supremely entertaining TRICK 'R TREAT may seem like a throwback to the anthology horror style of classics like CREEPSHOW and the Amicus TALES FROM THE CRYPT, but it's a little more cohesive than those films. I love it. And I'm really excited for the film to screen in the convention center's massive Ballroom 20 late at night with the lights out and the volume jacked up, because I can pretty much guarantee that everyone in that room is going to walk out with a new holiday classic to place alongside Carpenter's HALLOWEEN and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

The Comic Con schedule has the presentation/screening listed for 9:30 PM, so while I'm being told it definitely starts at 10 PM, you might want to get there on the early side just in case. The post-film panel, which is being moderated by Gunnery Sergeant Harry Knowles (one of five AICN-ers who'll be at Comic Con this year - collect them all!!!), will include Dougherty, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox and Tahmoh Pinikett. Paquin will certainly attract the TRUE BLOOD horde, so, again, GET THERE EARLY!

Also on Thursday, from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM, there will be an autograph signing at the WB booth.

The DVD/BD will hit stores this October (exact street date TBD). The first image above will be on the cardboard cover, while the spooky second pic will be on the actual case.

New Director For 'Hack/Slash', Shooting This Winter?!

2009-07-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

Source: Bloody Disgusting

Commercial director Fredrik Bond has come aboard to direct Hack/Slash, Rogue's long-delayed adaptation of a cult horror comic book that previously had Todd Lincoln attached at the helm. If you haven't read this comic yet, it has some serious franchise potential and brings something fresh to the big screen (it's what you've all been begging for). Read on for more on the comic and the forthcoming adaptation!

"You know exactly what I'm thinking."

Hack/Slash, the must-read horror-themed comic series created by Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli, centers on Cassie Hack, a woman who symbolizes the lone girl who survives at the end of every horror movie. Hack not only survived, she has become a killer of killers and travels to small towns across the country hunting slashers in the vein of "Halloween's" Michael Myers, "Friday the 13th's" Jason Voorhees and "A Nightmare on Elm Street's" Freddy Krueger. She is partnered on her journey with Vlad, a hulking companion who serves as her protector.

The project, with a current script by Justin Marks, has seen several directors come and go, but looks to be finally ready to bust out of the gate. Relativity needs to get its Rogue apparatus in motion and "Hack/Slash" fits the bill of the kind of fare it's looking for. A winter start is finally being eyed.

Bond is attached to direct The Host, a remake of the South Korean monster movie. Alexandra Milchan, Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter are producing.

TRON on Motherfucker!

2009-07-14T22:32:00.000-07:00

As part of Mean Magazine’s eye-catching video project CineMash, Cheech & Chong enter the computer world of Tron to settle a heated debate about the price of cannabis. Watch this 4-minute short directed by Kashy Khaledi, after the jump.

A psychedelic, economic melt down remake of the 1982 sci-fi groundbreaker "Tron." Starring Cheech and Chong.

"I don't think you should watch anything like that straight. It'll have lasting, traumatic effects on you." - Tommy Chong

"When I first saw it, I was shocked because I thought we were doing soft porn. And then, 'Oh, it's about finances; that's kind of hard-core porn,' " - Cheech Marin

This is the real original, unedited version of the Cinemash mashup with six minutes of additional behind the scenes and special effects breakdown footage.

Tron starring Cheech and Chong is part of the Cinemash digital series. The version distributed by Microsoft is an edit of the original engineered from a few green screen shots. The video here is the creation of the fine folks at Color Stampede.

The Beat boxing on the sound track was created using the forth coming BFD Beatbox expansion pack from FXpansion.

The edited version will appear on the Microsoft Zune network and xbox live.

Aronofsky fills his dance card

2009-07-14T22:27:00.000-07:00

Source: RiskyBizBlog

Darren Aronofsky likely will dance with swans — but what will it mean for his grappling with cyborgs?

The director is on the verge of a deal that would have him helming passion project “Black Swan” later this year, likely with Fox Searchlight. While a few budget and financing issues on the Natalie Portman-toplined supernatural drama still have be to ironed out, people familiar with the situation say Aronofksy and the Fox specialty unit, which released his film “The Wrestler,” are near a deal to collaborate on the film.

But a fall start for that project throws into question Aronofsky’s involvement on “Robocop,” the MGM reboot of the 1987 hit that has been a highly anticipated project for both MGM and the fanboy universe.

"Your move, studio creep."

Aronfosky and writer David Self have been working closely to hone ideas on the action reboot. Though it would be a tight fit, MGM could essentially hit the pause button until early-mid 2010, when Aronofsky is finished with “Swan,” and still make its 2011 release-date target. But insiders in the rep community say the studio has also quietly put out feelers for other directors who could come on to “Robocop” in case the timing doesn't work out.

MGM declined comment on the story.

MGM has been cautious about the number of movies it's releasing, and is concentrating at the moment on projects such as the 80's reboot "Red Dawn," the male-centric comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine,” and a “Poltergeist” reboot.

That could mean the Mary Parent-run studio could afford to wait on “Robocop” -- but it would mean putting on hold a potential tentpole for a slate that isn’t currently stacked with them. Other projects, like "Bond 23" and the Robert Ludlum property "The Matarese Circle," are still a few years away.

Aronofsky, known for working slowly as he carefully hones projects in development, has not signed on to any other pictures post-"Wrestler," a fall breakout that grossed $26 million domestically and picked up multiple Oscar noms.

He and his Protozoa Picture have, however, been shopping "Black Swan," about a woman in the New York City ballet who may or may not be imagining things about an apparent rival. The director would work off a script written by Mark Heyman, a development exec with Protozoa. (In an interesting side note, Mike Medavoy's Phoenix Pictures is involved with "Robcop" and also is producing "Swan.")

The dance project has attracted the interest of a number of studios and specialty divisions, though some were also concerned about the budget for a project with prestige elements. Searchlight has been in the pole position to land the project and has been attempting to work out budget issues in recent months.

Paul Verhoeven's "Robocop," in which a murdered Detroit cop comes back re-engineered as a cyborg, stood as a symbol of 1980's action when Orion released the film. There were several sequels over the years, but a reboot has never gotten off the ground.

Fear Agent Feature Film?

2009-07-14T22:16:00.000-07:00

Source: IGN

Planet-hopping astronaut could be heading for big-screen.

Cult comic book property Fear Agent could be heading to cinema screens courtesy of Universal Pictures and Dark Horse Entertainment.

According to RiskyBizBlog, the picture is in the early stages of development, with the project currently out to writers, although a spec script owned by Air Force One producer Jonathan Shestack could result in his being brought on-board to oversee production.

"Up yours, alien scumbag!"

Story concerns a hard-drinking Texan astronaut - or fear agent - who travels the galaxy fighting alien threats to the planet earth. Rick Remender wrote the original comic book, which started out at Image Comics in 2005 before moving to Dark Horse the following year.

Dark Horse has previously been responsible for comic book adaptations Hellboy and 30 Days of Night, although the epic scope of Fear Agent could make this their most ambitious production yet.

Here's hoping.

Hi-Res Poster Debut For 'Zombieland'

2009-07-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

Today's Awesome One-sheet.

Today...

2009-07-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

I think I'll lay off any long-winded posts. If any news swings past me, I'll be sure to post it, but today I need to just chill and take a break from blogging.

Besides, I should probably let you digest the previous posts, before moving onto dessert.

Tomorrow - I might do another Top Ten list - and I'll see if I can dig up some more gaming and comic news/reviews. Oh, and I still haven't forgotten about the Retro Review. I'm thinking maybe 'Motel Hell' but I'll see how I feel in the morning.

So much to do, so little time...

Till then.

Let Me In 'concept' one-sheets

2009-07-14T02:54:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing

Just when we thought that director Matt Reeves hadn't even finished casting his in-the-works Let the Right One In remake, we already have three awesome posters? SlashFilm has dug up these poster designs for Let Me In, the Colorado-set US remake of the beloved Swedish vampire film, which are all actually very cool. As far as I know, these are no 'official' posters (since it hasn't even started shooting), but rather early sales posters created to help sell the film in markets and get funding. So they don't feature the actual cast or anything like that - but they're the same kind of posters I saw up all over Cannes. Anyway, check 'em out!

"I was so taken with the story and I had a very personal reaction. It reminded me a lot of my childhood, with the metaphor that the hard times of your pre-adolescent, early adolescent moment, that painful experience is a horror," Reeves recently explained about his connection to the original Let the Right One In directed by Tomas Alfredson. Reeves also vows that the characters in this "will not be aged-up to make the film more of a smoldering Twilight-style romance."

TARSON'S SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER WRAP UP!

2009-07-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Tarsonites prepare!

Sit down, buckle in, and get ready for the ultimate movie review on films you've already seen a dozen times.

Okay seriously, I thought I would add a little boffo magic to this blog thing of mine, and give you my take on this years big summer tentpoles. So in the words of one, Michael Sebastian Bay - "This is going to be fucking awesome!"

Enjoy.

"See the guy in red? He just farted."

1. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

A lot of industry insiders and critics were under the impression that the leaked workprint, which spread throughout Bit-Torrent sites and Peer 2 Peer networks, were going to cause the financial death of this film. They may have been right. Despite the leak, fandom still got behind this and contributed to average ticket sales. With a production budget of $150 million, the film raked in $178,841,391 domestically. Hardly enough to set the Box office on fire. It took $363,597,899 worldwide - a moderate success.

If 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' suggests anything, it's that living, breathing people in big-budget mainstream movies are rapidly becoming obsolete >Cue Avatar footage< Hugh Jackman may be the contractual star of this Marvel juggernaut, which explores the history of one of Marvel's most popular and conflicted heroes, but technology is what makes the movie what it is, a film with the personality of a $150 million video game.

Is that a bad thing?

Depends how you look at it.

Your enjoyment of Wolverine will be dictated by three things:

1. How much you enjoy Hugh Jackman as an actor.
2. Whether or not you follow the Wolverine character
3. Whether or not you enjoy superhero movies

The story starts in 1845, in darkest Canada, where young brothers James and Victor see the man they think is their father gunned down. Before the intruder can spit out what he has come to tell them, he gets skewered on the irate James's nascent bone claws.

"Logan's lack of fibre was becoming a real problem."

Wolverine is full of angst, and yet it has virtually all the humanity wrung out of it in an effort to create a live-action cartoon. Cartoons, however, are rarely so unwieldy or force a director (in this case, Gavin Hood) to juggle so much impossible plotline. It all comes out eventually. But a character's motivation is a lot less effective dramatically when it's delivered at the tail end of the movie. In fact, you could end up feel a little cheated. I know I did.

Granted, I'm not the biggest Wolverine fan - but this was an above average romp through Wolverine's stomping grounds. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend a few hours in a cinema, but just don't go into this with any high expectations. I do however hope they keep the ball rolling on X-Men Origins: Magneto. I've read the Sheldon Turner draft of that script, and it was really, really good.

Rated: 5/10

2. Star Trek

Now, as much as I love Science Fiction, I must admit, I'm not a huge Trekkie. I can certainly appreciate it, and I do enjoy the original TV series - and yes, I've watched most of the films, but you won't catch me at a Star Trek Convention, wearing Spock ears, barking, "set phasers on stun", anytime soon. Of course, I'm always open for bribes, so if you're willing to pay me an appearance fee, I'll come dressed as a Quad-nippled Orion Hooker, if that's what you want. You have my email address.

Anyway... Star Trek was J.J. Abrams' big Blockbuster entry for 2009. There's no denying, J.J., along with screenwriters, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, certainly know how to craft compelling, mainstream fare. For the most part, I was impressed. Very much so. This has all the trappings and trimmings of the quintessential summer tentpole: shiny things that fly through outer space and make big booms. Plus plenty of merch potential: Mommy, can I have a phaser?

"Kirk's mid-battle Twitter updates were starting to annoy Spock."

Star Trek was also Paramount's latest effort to jump-start and reboot a profitable but long-stalled franchise, to do for James Kirk what MGM did for James Bond. Studio execs know that just enough time has elapsed since the original to engender just enough nostalgia for characters named Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Not only does this Star Trek proffer smart thrills and slick kicks, but it builds upon the originals history–from its very first pilot episode to Robert Wise's 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture and beyond–while creating an entirely new future.

"Kirk's elf joke left them both red-faced."

The crew is a bunch of untested Starfleet cadets: Kirk is a know-it-all horndog with a penchant for green-skinned boobies; Pine plays him like he's starring in an episode of Dawson's Kirk. McCoy is, well, a simple country doctor who abhors space travel; some things never change, as Urban, among all the cast members, comes closest to spot-on imitation. As for the rest: Sulu is a guy who likes swords and steers the ship; Chekov is a wunderkind who speaks with a Russian drawl; Scotty is working miracles in the engine room; and Uhura is still trying to hail Starfleet on all frequencies to no avail.

"When bucks nights go bad: Nero realizes it's permanent marker on his forehead and chin."

Spock however, is the centerpiece–not only as played by Quinto as the tormented youth in revolt raised by the Vulcan Sarek and human Amanda (Winona Ryder, almost unrecognizable), but also in the form of Leonard Nimoy, the once-dead first officer who's lived long enough to travel back in time to offer sage advice to old friends in need of–dare one say it–the human touch. Nimoy's scenes elicit genuine emotion, not just the nostalgist's thrill of familiarity or the newcomer's delight at discovery.

When Spock tells a young Jim Kirk, "I have been and always shall be your friend," or when he realizes a "Live long and prosper" salutation simply will not do, it's enough to move even a Star Wars fan to tears.

Rated: 9/10

3. Terminator: Salvation

Love him or hate him, McG proved at least one thing with Salvation: that he can craft a decent action movie.

The problem with Salvation, and this is why I suspect a lot of fans hated it, is that it does little to reflect on previous films. If you were to take away the machines, this would be a completely different movie. Now I for one can understand what McG's intentions were, and to be fair, he made no qualms about what was on offer. We knew what we were in for, months before the films release. Salvation's purpose was to not only reboot the franchise, but steer it in a completely new and fresh direction. This was 'not' going to be another road movie, or another James Cameron-esque style romp. It was the future war with Skynet. In that respect, Salvation succeeded. But, that's easier said than done. Why? Because people generally hate change. And this film was a major change - both in tone and from a visual perspective.

"Don't test me bucko'. You should see what I did to the lighting guy,"

This was all-out war, right? So was Terminator: Salvation epic enough? I don't think it was, even with an estimated budget of $200 million. But regardless, McG gave it a solid shot. This was never going to be a perfect film, so I think many of the fanboys rants and raves missed the mark on this one. Whether or not the bulk of the hatred spawned from a built-in disposition about McG as a credible talent, remains to be seen, but Box Office wise, it certainly was a disappointment on the US domestic front. However the film did perform much better with international audiences. Why? I'm not exactly sure, but the current worldwide Box Office gross rests at: $355,856,879. Enough Benjamins to greenlight another film? Remains to be seen. IMDB already has Terminator 5 listed as being in development. But as anyone who's reading this, and works in the film biz knows, the gap between development and an actual film, is a very wide abyss.

"Insert 'Kawasaki' product placement here."

McG drops us in 2018, with the machines of the malevolent Skynet well into their barrage against mankind. Leader-to-be of the human rebellion John Connor is an insubordinate lieutenant but has been prophesied to be the savior of humankind. One of the things I found refreshing with this take, was that Connor wasn't automatically hailed as the 'savior of mankind.' He still had to earn the right to become the fully-fledged leader of the human Resistance. I would have liked to have seen this played on a little more than it was. I never felt Connor was in that much conflict with his colleagues. Conflict in action movies is what keeps the film afloat. You can have all the explosions in the world, but it will have little impact if the characters are not conflicting over the films ultimate goal. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of conflict in this film, just not enough. And not enough depth either. The characters, apart from Marcus, came off as being wafer thin.

Which leads me to Marcus.

This is not really John Connor's film. We know Connor, and we know what he becomes. This film, essentially is about the wild card, Marcus Wright, a Death Row inmate-turned-cyborg. "You think you're human," Connor tells him, and indeed he does. The rub here is that Marcus, the machine, is a far more interesting character than Connor.

"Bale just spotted that lighting guy again."

The world McG presents to us is scorched and hostile, and the action is startling and visceral. The machines are grimy, covered in soot, and look fantastic. Once again, a testement to the late Stan Winston's talent, and a hat tip to the effects giant, ILM. The color grade of the film is washed in a grainy haze, almost like post-nuke fallout. I personally loved the look of the film. Significantly, Terminator Salvation takes itself far more seriously than its predecessors. That might have come off as pretentious but instead seems believable -- as believable as a movie can be, anyway, when it's about besieged humanity, occupational forces, rebel insurgencies, torture, lawlessness and warfare by remote control. When all is said and done, Terminator Salvation was a good action movie, but could have been much, much more.

Rated: 6/10

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

Michael Fucking Bay! Everything about him oozes excess. He thrives on it, demands it, lives by it. Notoriously noted for harboring an inflated ego, and driving both a Porsche GT3, and a Ferrari 430 Spider to match it, you can't deny - when it comes to cash generating blockbusters - Bay delivers in spades. There's plenty of people who hate him, but there's millions more who love him. Why? Because he's the textbook example of a 'Hollywood Action Director.' A true Maverick. I for one admire the man, because he's livin' the life. Fast cars, fast movies, fast cash, and fast woman. And on a professional level, he's one of the most technically proficient directors working today. Some of those camera angles he implements simply make you go: oh snap!

"I don't give a shit if it's an IED. Drive over it."

It's been reported that on the first Transformers film, Bay wavered his traditional directors fee in order to grab a percentage of Box Office and merchandising profits. Smart move. Bay's estimated residuals tally up to be a whopping $73 million. Naturally, the film got canned by critics, but the kids never batted an eyelid. The first film clocked in $708 million in worldwide takings. More than enough to get studio execs excited. So they gave Bay the greenlight, and he went straight to work on a sequel.

I have a problem with film critics who slag off Bay's Transformer films. To be honest, it really fucking annoys me, because they just don't get it. Most of them never will. These are not films which are meant to appeal to intellectual, chin stroking audiences, they're action films based off a toy franchise. Argue all you want, the key word here is 'entertainment.' Kids entertainment. It's designed to be big dumb fun for kids, and it's designed to appeal to global mainstream audiences. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Transformers is what it is: an action movie about robots kicking the grease out of each other. Why and how is this such a bad thing? All you hear about online, is people complaining that Bay just wants to blow shit up, that Bay sucks, and Bay is a hack, and these films lack character development, and oh, I feel like my body has been violated, blah, blah, fucking blah.

Ebert even went so far as to note on his blog - "Those who think "Transformers" is a great or even a good film are, may I tactfully suggest, not sufficiently evolved."

Give me a break.

Okay, granted, Ebert's pushing 100, and is clearly way out of touch with anything remotely youth orientated, but come on, by now we should all know what we're in for. Bay's made eight feature films to date - we know what the guy is about, so when people jump online and act all shocked because their eardrums were nearly perforated, it just makes me mad. For me, going to the movies is all about having fun, and with the exception of Pearl Harbor, Bay has delivered for me, every single time. Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen was no different. Bigger, louder, bolder, it's the mother of all robot action movies. Sure, there's not a plot in sight, the characters are one-dimensional and the visuals are so intense, my eyes nearly orgasmed, but you know what? I had a blast watching this.

"I know, $708 million from toy robots. It's awesome. Blow me Ebert."

The battle for Earth has ended but the battle for the universe has just begun. After returning to Cybertron, Starscream assumes command of the Decepticons, and has decided to return to Earth with force. The Autobots believing that peace was possible finds out that Megatron's dead body has been stolen from the US Military by Skorpinox and revives him using his own spark. Now Megatron is back seeking revenge and with Starscream and more Decepticon reinforcements on the way, the Autobots with reinforcements of their own, may have more to deal with then meets the eye.

The ingredients to make a Transformer movie appear simple: epic mythology, mad machines, more mayhem and Megan Fox. Lots of Megan Fox. Slo-mo boobies Megan Fox. While Bay has certainly stuck with those core elements, he has delivered a balls-to-the-wall action flick, designed to give the fanboys what they want and then some. It's an exremely well crafted film. Everything from the sound design to the color grading is exquisite - in a glossy, sci-fi kind of way. Apart from the long running time, I did have some problems with the film - mostly Fox. I mean, even the most hormone enriched 14-year-old might get sick of the breathless sexy look Fox gives constantly from the first moment where we see her when she is – you guessed it – bent over in a very suggestive pose as she plays with a high-powered machine.

"When first dates go bad: LaBeouf tries to outrun cops on another DUI charge."

After a back story showing what happens when you match prehistoric man against metallic aliens, the story continues with two familiar soldiers, Josh 'Fergie's Toy-Boy' Duhamel and Tyrese 'Left Cheek, Left Cheek' Gibson, now part of an elite squad of soldiers and Autobots who track down Decepticons and destroy them in enormous battles that nobody is supposed to notice. Meanwhile our everyday hero Sam Witwicky is heading off to college, in order to indulge in copious amounts of sex and drugs, leaving behind the mechanically minded Mikaela and his transforming car Bumblebee.

But before he's even out the door, shit hits the fan.

Eventually, it turns out there is a secret power source that could either end the world or jump start Optimus Prime, and the fate of the world is in the hands of Sam, his room mate, the sultry Mikaela and disgraced government agent Simmons, again played by John Turturro who this time is in a G-string. The scenes of giant machines going toe to toe (assuming they have toes) are visually spectacular and once again, shows off what's capable within the realm of believable CGI these days.

With a movie like this, there's too much noise and too many explosions to worry about a plot, you just need to sit back and let Bay violate your senses. If you can bring yourself to do that, you may actually enjoy what Bay's trying to accomplish. It ain't Oscar bait, it's 40-something minutes too long, and it's far from being a masterpeice, but if you just want to get away from the day-to-day crap, sit in a dark cinema for a few hours, and be blown away, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen is the film to watch.

Rated: 6/10

Coming Soon --

Drag me to Hell
Moon
Bruno
Public Enemies
Jennifer's Body

Plus a whole bunch of Retro Reviews. Stay tuned....

American Werewolf in London Blu-ray / DVD News

2009-07-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

Source: Dread Central

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE

Available for the First Time on Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def An American Werewolf in London – Full Moon Edition

SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 OWN IT ON BLU-RAY(TM) HI-DEF AND 2-DISC DVD FROM UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Universal Studios Home Entertainment
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., July 13 /PRNewswire/ –

Overview:
One of the most gripping horror films of all-time is now available in perfect picture and purest digital sound on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD – An American Werewolf in London – Full Moon Edition! When two American students touring London are attacked by a vicious wolf during a full moon, their lives are suddenly transformed forever. Featuring ground-breaking Academy Award(R)-winning make-up by Rick Baker (Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” How The Grinch Stole Christmas), this cult favorite is directed by John Landis (Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” National Lampoon’s Animal House) and perfectly blends the macabre with a touch of humor. Digitally remastered for optimum picture quality and loaded with bonus features including an all-new 100-minute retrospective documentary, An American Werewolf in London – Full Moon Edition is a timeless story that has never looked better!

"Swine flu was the least of his problems."

EXCLUSIVE TO Blu-ray(TM) Hi-Def:

•BD-LIVE(TM): Access the BD-Live(TM) Center through your
Internet-connected player to get even more content, watch the latest
trailers, and more!

BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY(TM) HI-DEF and DVD):

•NEW! – Beware the Moon: In this feature-length documentary, filmmaker Paul Davis guides us through a never-before-seen, in-depth look at the Making of An American Werewolf in London, with the help of director John Landis and make-up artist Rick Baker.

•NEW! – I Walked with a Werewolf (in hi-def): Make-up effects artist Rick Baker tells of his life-long love of the Wolfman, how he would go on to create the creature in An American Werewolf in London, and how he was able to pour his passion into the upcoming Wolfman feature.

•Making An American Werewolf in London, An Original Featurette
•An Interview with John Landis
•Make-up Artist Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London
•Casting of the Hand
•Outtakes
•Storyboards
•Photograph Montage
•Feature Commentary with Cast Members David Naughton and Griffin Dunne

"If you buy a dog, for Christ's sake, make sure you feed it."

SYNOPSIS:
It’s a rainy night on the Welsh moors. Two American students on a walking tour of Europe trudge on to the next town, when suddenly the air is pierced by an unearthly howl…Three weeks later, one is dead, the other is in the hospital and the nightmare begins for An American Werewolf in London. David Naughton, Griffin Dunne and Jenny Agutter star in this contemporary story of the macabre which takes you from the Welsh moors to Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and the grounds of Windsor Castle. It is written and directed by John Landis, the man who brought you National Lampoon’s Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Trading Places, and Coming to America. To add to the chill, there is art direction by Academy Award(R)-winner Les Dilley of Star Wars and Alien fame and special makeup effects by six-time Academy Award (R)-winner Rick Baker, whose work includes Star Wars, The Nutty Professor, Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Men in Black.

Jason Eisener's 'Treevenge' Short Film

2009-07-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing

"Bark: You better believe, it's a killer."

From Alex Billington.

"This is the short film you've all been waiting to see (or I hope)! I first saw Treevenge at Sundance earlier this year in front of the Nazi zombie movie Dead Snow. In retrospect, Treevenge was far superior to Dead Snow, as you're about to see, and is quite possibly one of the greatest horror short films ever made. So what the heck is Treevenge about? Essentially it's about what if all the tress we cut down every year for Christmas finally got revenge on us. Director Jason Eisener deserves some major props for making such an awesome short film and thanks to Twitch you can finally watch the full thing online. Definitely check this short out!"

Treevenge details the experiences and horrifying reality of the lives of Christmas trees. Clearly, for trees, Christmas isn’t the exciting “peace on earth” that is experienced by most. After being hacked down, and shipped away from their homes, they quickly become strung up, screwed into an upright position for all to see, exposed in a humiliation of garish decorations. But this Christmas will be different, this Christmas the trees have had enough, this Christmas the trees will fight back. Treevenge could be a short film about the end of days for Christmas trees, or perhaps, the end of humanity?

You can find more details, contact, t-shirts, and more over on the official website

'Rogue Star' Script Review

2009-07-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

Tarsonites - before we begin, just a quick reminder, you can check out my 'Uprising' script review over at the Script Shadow. If you're into writing and reading screenplays, and you haven't already checked out his site, make sure you do. It's pretty much the 'only' site on the web that reviews the hottest Hollywood screenplays out there. Even Hollywood executives are taking notice. This guy knows what he's talking about.

"The Man. The Legend. The Enigma. The Shadow. Bookmark him"

Anyway...

"Rogue Star"

Genre: Sci-Fi/Horror

Premise: Set in the distant future. The crew of a mining ship decide to investigate a derelict alien spacecraft. When they try to salvage the vessel, they discover something that will put Earth in grave danger.

About: This spec had some heat attached to it when it did the rounds back in April of this year. Apparently, an A-list director was circling the project, but since then the project has gone cold, at least for the time being.

Writer: Jeff Black

When it comes to movie genres, contained horror is my thing, especially contained horror that revolves around one core element: survival. And when you throw in a spooky spaceship and a couple of alien bad guys - I’m so there. I really love this kind of stuff. Now, as some of you may or may not know, I’m a huge video game geek, and last year Electronic Arts released this great Xbox 360 title called “Dead Space.” If you were to pitch it to a studio, it would simply be “Pandorum” meets “Alien.” Or even “Event Horizon” meets “The Thing.” Rogue Star had a similar vibe, and I love nothing more than a dark, sci-fi/horror script. I still hold Ridley Scott’s Alien as one of the all-time greatest horror movies, ever made. Plus being a genre writer myself, I have a few similar ideas bouncing around, so it’s always good to see what the competition is doing. Fortunately, with Rogue Star, I have nothing to worry about.

This script was terrible.

Before we begin, the writer has to explain all this “futuristic tech stuff”, which I find, more often than not, comes off as annoying and cheap. In Rogue Star, characters wear “Mods” which are hair-thin fibres that run throughout the body, designed to enhance certain characteristics. The characters also wear “Vizion”, which are contact lens computer screens attached to the eye. You can receive data feeds and all kinds of kinky stuff via your Vizion.

"Yarrrggh! There's gold in dem hills."

Now, the problem with Rogue Star is not the writer’s ideas – fact is, he has some very cool ideas - it’s the execution of them. I don’t care what anyone says, you can have the most original hook for a movie ever conceived, but if you execute it badly, you’re screwed. Simple as that. By page 60 I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Our main characters had boarded this alien vessel, which was built into a huge asteroid, and were still roaming its corridors. Nobody knew what was going on, me or the characters. I don’t think the writer did either. It was a just huge, boring mess, hurdling towards earth at a speed that was, quite frankly, not fast enough. The dialogue primarily consisted of characters bickering and joking with each other, and to top things off, once the big secret was out, they somehow managed to navigate the alien vessel, even though the aerodynamics and flight control system was totally alien. And when I say alien, I mean alien as in, WTF does this button do, kinda’ alien. How they figured all this out and managed to fly an alien ships back home, beats me. To be perfectly honest, by that stage, I was light years away from even giving a shit.

Look, I’ll leave the rest up to you guys. I just didn’t get this script. Maybe you will. I get what the writer was trying to do, but I think he flat out failed. I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece by any means, but I certainly wasn’t expecting something this boring either. I know there’s quite a few of you who will agree with me when I say – Rogue Star was a really great idea, poorly executed. Read it and be the judge.

Script Link: Rogue Star

[x] trash
[ ] barely kept my interest
[ ] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius

What I Learned: If you’re going to do something, do it properly. Know your genre. Know it well. If you write horror, then make it horrific and scary, because if you don’t, potential buyers will only see right through you.

Twitter Trend: #firstdraftmovies

2009-07-12T20:41:00.000-07:00

Source: Slash Film

"Twitter: preferred time waster for millions of people around the globe."

This week on twitter a new internet meme has popped up called the First Draft Movies game. Basically everyone and anyone contributes by tweeting a famous or iconic movie line, as it could have appeared in the first draft of a screenplay (before a clever rewrite transformed it into the awesome line we know and love). Everyone tags their contributions with the hashtag #1stdraftmovies (or #firstdraftmovies), which has now become a trending topic on the microblogging service.

"God bless the little vixen."

I’m unable to trace the roots back to the person who started this as the twitter search only allows 100 pages of results, all of which are full of 1stdraftmovielines. I can tell you that over 1,500 lines have been contributed to the meme in the last 13 hours alone. (Update: William Goss informs me that it began as #1stdraftmovielines, which also has over 1,500 contributions in the last 14 hours)

Here are some examples from some people you know:

diablocody “What you just overheard was a total misunderstanding. Allow me to explain myself immediately.”

MiramaxFilms: “Tahoe, Baby. Tahoe” :-)

slashfilm “Next Saturday night, we’re sending you back to the 1985!”

So jump in, Tarsonites, and join the global conversation.

Tomorrow...

2009-07-12T20:23:00.001-07:00

I'm going to do a 'Tarson's Summer Wrap Up' - doing mini-reviews of this summers boffo magnets.

Stay tuned...

"Don't ask me what it all means, I only work here."

Gearbox and Sega both reconfirm sci-fi-inspired shooter is still in development; handheld edition confirmed as well.

2009-07-12T19:57:00.000-07:00

Source: Gamespot

'Aliens: Colonial Marines' has been a 'most wanted' title for gamers all over the world, ever since it was announced by Sega in 2006. We've been drip-fed a couple of screen shots, but nothing significant. Then - following the February announcement of Aliens vs. Predator and the apparent indefinite suspension of Obsidian Entertainment's Aliens RPG project, doubts have surrounded Aliens: Colonial Marines. The game was being developed by Gearbox Software, the Texan studio behind this year's highly anticipated postapocalyptic action role-playing game, Borderlands. For the past several months, though, both developer and publisher have been mum on the status of the project, based on James Cameron's classic, 1986 film.

"Hey Sarge, ya get eye cancer smokin' those."

Last week, gaming fans of the 1986 film Aliens got some welcome news when Gearbox Software confirmed it is still developing Aliens: Colonial Marines. The game, which has been back-burnered so the Texas developer can focus on its original October release Borderlands, had been rumored to be canceled following the surprise announcement of Aliens vs. Predator.

Another game that was rumored to be canceled was the unnamed Aliens role-playing game being developed by Obsidian Entertainment. Though the independent shop, formed in 2003 by former Fallout 2 developer Black Isle Studios, remained officially mum on the matter, GameSpot learned that work on the title had been indefinitely suspended in February. Though the game's forums remained active on the Obsidian site, subsequent reports from former staffers said the game had been canceled outright.

This afternoon, Obsidian made it official with a brief post from an administrator on the Aliens RPG forums. "Rumors have circled around a bit regarding the fate of the Aliens role playing game that Obsidian and Sega had been working on," read the post. "Unfortunately, it is true that we are no longer working on the game, and we wanted to finally announce that officially to everyone who has been following its development." The Aliens RPG forums will continue to operate another week before being dismantled entirely.

After weeks of promising that information would be forthcoming, Sega was quick to confirm the project's demise. "At this point, Sega has no plans to move forward with the Aliens RPG," a rep told GameSpot. "The Aliens franchise offers us so much content to choose from that we feel it important to take a step back and carefully consider the type of game we want to release. We plan to continue working with the Aliens franchise and ask fans to be patient and stay tuned for more information about what Sega has coming out for the Aliens series of games, starting with the upcoming Alien vs. Predator game."

Sega will still publish Obsidian's Bourne Identity-like espionage RPG Alpha Protocol, due out this fall on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The Irvine, California-based shop is also hard at work on Fallout: New Vegas, which will be published by Bethesda Softworks next year.

"Insert 'Game Over' joke here."

Here's the E3 09 Teaser for the upcoming AVP game.

MEANWHILE - there's also the highly anticipated 'Interstellar Marines' -

"You sure this is the right BDSM club?"

Another Marine-style shooter. This does look very good though - despite being another title that's been in development hell, for what feels like a century. Apart from the terrible voice-over, what I love about this trailer is the fact that the bulk of it is in first person POV.

No blogging for me...at least for today

2009-07-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

My girlfriend kicked down the door to my Man Cave this morning, apprehended me, and demanded I do something called 'real work.' I'm yet to figure out exactly what she meant by that, but now I'm being held to ransom, so I need to find out. Besides, I'm hungry.

The only way she can manipulate me is through food - so she's gone ahead and set about a deal: Work and I'll make you some lunch. It's an offer I can't refuse, and considering I'm so hungry I could suck the paint off a Fire Hydrant, I better do what she says.

I'll be back, probably later tonight, once she's passed out from watching 'Nurse Jackie' catch-ups.

Under the thumb? Me? Bah!

Ricky Gervais' Cemetery Junction Teaser Trailer

2009-07-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Ricky Gervais is a fucking comic genius.

I know some of you don't get his humor, and to a degree, I can understand, it is an acquired taste. But ever since I caught the UK version of the Office back home in Australia, I've been a huge fan of his work. I grabbed a couple of his stand-up gigs on DVD last month, which I'm yet to find the time to watch. His comedy really appeals to me - I just love how he's always so...awkward. Also, gotta give props to Stephen Merchant, he's a fantastic comedy writer. The guy co-wrote the UK Office, and I believe had a large role in fine-tuning the US version. He was also hilarious in "Extras."

Cemetery Junction, set in 1970s England, follows three blue-collar friends who spend their days joking, drinking and chasing girls. Freddie (Christian Cooke) wants to leave their working-class world but cool, charismatic Bruce (Tom Hughes) and lovable loser Snork (Jack Doolan) are happy with life the way it is.

Cemetery Junction is co-written and co-directed by British comedians Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the two geniuses behind the original "Office" and "Extras" on HBO. This is their first feature film together. Cemetery Junction started shooting in June and is due for release from Sony Pictures sometime in 2010.

Tarson's Guide to French Horror

2009-07-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

There's no denying - France is a wonderful country. It's fascinating, beautiful, romantic, and filled with a rich culture. But there's more to France than meets the eye - a darker side, and I don't mean Frogs Legs Provencale. It's their film industry - particularly their horror film industry. It's literally booming. Not only domestically, but internationally. Why? Because simply put: the French know how to make a damn good horror film.

There's a lot of horror fans out there, including myself, who now believe that countries like France and Spain are making far better horror films than North America. Sure, every summer we pump out the usual PG-13 fodder, and the big franchise remakes, which is fine, but the real stuff - the kind that makes you scream "WTF?!", is not really being produced here on a studio level. Granted, the American indie horror scene is still going strong, and no doubt, there's some great talent coming out - but the difference is that countries like France embrace their horror on a more mainstream level. In other words, they're not afraid to show it like it is. We can't do that here. Not with our hypocritical censorship laws and the myriad of conservative lobbyists and rights groups. Don't get me wrong, we show violent films here, but there's something more primally inherent in French horror films. They hit a nerve. It's more visceral. Not watered down. It's raw, more real, more horrific. The way it should be.

So here's my best French horror films - and why I think you should watch them. Please note: The bulk of these can be found via NetFlix or Amazon, etc.

Bon Appétit.

1. À l'intérieur (Inside)

Premise: Four months after the death of her husband, a woman on the brink of motherhood is tormented in her home by a strange woman who wants her unborn baby.

"Sarah's new roommate obviously took offense to the bad hair joke."

Scott Weinberg from Cinematical summed up an anology regarding Inside, quite nicely -You know how certain amusement park rides (usually the really scary or herky-jerky ones) have warning signs that say "Look, if you're pregnant enough that you can rest a mug of coffee on top of your belly, then you're definitely not allowed to get on this ride"? I'm paraphrasing there, but already you get my point: Certain rides are too physically strenuous for pregnant women to deal with. Well, I'd like to propose that the ferocious French horror flick À l'intérieur (aka Inside) get one of those signs. Bottom Line: Not since Rosemary's Baby has there been a film to freak out the preggos. I think my water broke three times during À l'intérieur.

There are two wonderful things about this film; the first being that the movie features two strong women as leads; the second is that both of these women have motives that are so focused and believable that you almost don’t know whose side to take. The screenplay for Inside is solid, grounded, believable and most of all captivating. Our two main characters are developed beautifully into women that we both care about and can sympathize with, making every moment that much more suspenseful.

Besides the gore, the centerpiece of this masterpiece is the directing by Maury and Bustillo and breathtaking cinematography by Laurent Bares. The entire film is an emotional ride built simply on the structures and aesthetics of the environment. The rooms are low-lit with an odd haze and a soft yellow look, only something about it is unsettling… maybe it hits almost too close to home? Sarah lives in a typical suburban that many viewers will feel like they can relate to. The way its shot makes the film feel ultra dense; every scene, every moment, every single second is claustrophobic making it hard to breathe.

The Woman (we never do find out her name) is determined to get her hands on Sarah’s baby and will no anything to get it. Once she gets into the house the level of chaos unloads so quickly that there’s not a second to digest. She slashes Sarah across the face and then chases her to the bathroom where she locks herself in. Throughout the film, various people stop by to check on Sarah, which results in a bloodbath of epic proportions. This is quite possibly the most violent, realistic and bloody slasher film ever assembled, ending on such a gut-wrenching note that I'm 100% positive, there’s not a single person who could have walked out of a theater feeling normal.

Why you should watch it: This is one horror film, that only a hardcore fan would appreciate. It makes those Saw films look like The Waltons. While certainly not the most gory film out there, there's never been a movie as graphically distressing as À l'intérieur. It's unrelenting, brutal and stunningly violent. It's also very well-crafted, powerful, creepy and scary on a murky primal level. Essentially the film is about a woman, going through hell to save her unborn child. Watch it if you dare.

2. Frontière(s)

Premise: A gang of young thieves flee Paris during the violent aftermath of a political election, only to hide out at a Hostel run by neo-Nazis.

"Claude's tryout for the Basterds was a hit."

Originally slated to be a part of Lionsgate's 2007 Horrorfest, it managed to get its own separate release, because it was simply so good. And like "Inside" and "Them," it's a horror movie that pulls no punches. Interestingly, it's also set in the midst of the French riots, something that provided a backdrop to "Inside."

The film opens on a crew of armed robbers, who are taking advantage of political riots around the city. When their escape plan turns to shit, they split up and make a break for the country. Keeping in touch via cell, they plan to meet at a hostel later that night.

When two of the robbers arrive at the hostel, it soon becomes apparent that all is not right with the owners. It's run by by two strangely sexy women and their weird brothers. We soon find out that they are indeed, Neo Nazis, and by the time the rest of the gang arrive, it's balls-to-the-wall mayhem. The Nazi family who run the hostel make Leatherface and his family look Amish.

Why you should watch it: Frontier(s) has obvious similarities to "Hostel," but it's much more inspired by "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," with a family of lunatics killing off a bunch of young folks, then having the surviving female over for a psychotic dinner. The film's last third climaxes in the most gut-wrenching gun battle I've ever seen. If you consider The Texas Chainsaw Massacre to be a horror classic, then you should really give this a watch. It's a white-knuckle horror film. I also recommend the Unrated Directors Cut.

3. Calvaire (The Ordeal)

Premise: A few days before Christmas, a traveling entertainer breaks down in the remote woods of Liège. He is lead to an old, shuttered inn, where the lonely innkeeper has some serious psychological problems.

"Drinking before skiing. Not a good idea."

Calvaire is a great little horror film. While not as hyped or well known as the films mentioned above, it's strengths lie in it's creepy, dark atmosphere and slow-burn type tension. Calvaire originally premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where it was immediately a horror favorite.

Basically this is the French/Belgian take on the "crazed hillbilly" sub-genre of The Last House on the Left or Deliverance, but in it's mixture of horror and surreal humor, this is closer to something like Roman Polanski's The Tenant. The portrait of an isolated society who lives without women is taken to its logical and often shocking extremes. There's a scene at the local bar which must rank among the strangest and most memorable set pieces in recent years.

The Ordeal works almost too well. With the darkness unrelenting, the fate of our main protaganist is much worse than that of the men of “Deliverance”, in that they have a chance to escape their wilderness, whereas in “Calvaire”, the woods hold a menace in their feeling of isolation and endlessness though the cinematography of Benoit Debie (Irreversible”), who manages to create a terrible beauty in all the outdoor scenes; it’s as if you’re seeing the woods through the eyes of an artist like Francis Bacon! It's very atmospheric and you can almost feel the winter chill and the murky forest this takes place in.

Why you should watch it: This is one of those dark, demented Euro films that evokes a feeling of dread right from the beginning, drawing you in completely, up until an ending that leaves you wondering what previously transpired in that village, and why did Bartel’s wife leave – or did she? And be sure to stick around to the end of the credits – with one final touch, “Calvaire” evokes questions from its audience, with potential nightmarish answers.

4. Ils (Them)

Premise: A young couple, staying in a remote vacation home, are awoken in the middle of the night, to become relentlessly terrorized and stalked, by THEM.

Don't let the premise fool you - this is not the French version of Funny Games. There may be some similarities, but this is more about dread and atmosphere, than blatant torture and violence. Them has no interest in slowing down or wandering around. It offers only the barest hints of character development and it doesn't have time to bother with subplots, red herrings or extraneous characters. It's just a stripped-to-the-bone stalker thriller in which two unfortunate souls spend one hellacious night trying to evade something extraordinarily murderous.

"Dianne embraced the hot new craze of Termite staring."

The co-directors are clearly talented behind the lens. Their "based on actual events" movie delivers a cold, stark and isolated feel that permeates the early horrors and really settles in with some high-end claustrophobia by Act III. The leads are quite strong throughout, even though they're not required to do much more than run around, slam doors and flee for their freakin' lives every 93 seconds. And here's the best part: Them doesn't overstay its welcome. It breezes by and slaps you with some ice water and then scurries right out of the room. And that's a very good thing indeed. Even the quietly chilling finale is handled with creepy restraint.

Why you should watch it: Putting aside the first fifteen minutes or so, the 77-minute Them is basically just one long sequence of stalk, hide chase, stalk, hide, chase. (And I mean that in a good way.) That co-directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud are able to mount so much tension in so little time (while always keeping their antagonist(s) hidden from view) is pretty damn impressive. That they're able to keep that tension running for about 55 consecutive minutes is even more invigorating. Poor Clementine (Olivia Bonamy) and Lucas (Michael Cohen) scurry through sewers, barricade in bathrooms, race over rooftops and barely stay one step ahead of their vicious pursuers. Even for a seasoned genre nerd like me, Them delivers quite a caffeinated jolt of intensity for an appreciably lengthy period of time.

5. Haute tension

Premise: Two college friends must defend themselves when a mysterious killer invades their quiet getaway home.

"When Acne face-peels go bad."

This is the French horror film that started it all. It announced to the rest of the world that France was here, and they can belt out a damn good horror flick. Naturally, America and the rest of the world stood up and took notice.

High Tension is not exactly a slasher movie in the mold of the Friday the 13th movies. When a kill is made in those films, it is typically done with a stab at creativity and a dose of bad humor. This film belongs to a somewhat older tradition of what I guess you could call ‘torture movies’ like Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left. The goal of the torture movie is to bring the audience to its knees with depicted sexual battery or emergency-room gore, or both. The first time we see the killer in this movie, he’s receiving oral sex in the cab of his truck from a severed head. To each his own.

There’s hardly any story to speak of. A college girl, Alex, arrives at her country house with a friend, Marie, in tow, and the two have hardly set down bags in the house before a fat trucker barges in and begins killing the occupants, including a toddler. Alex is then kidnapped by the killer, and it’s up to Marie to free her.

Why you should watch it: Whether or not you enjoy the French slasher film “High Tension” will be dictated by exactly 2 things: your ability to withstand copious, relentless doses of brutal violence, and your willingness to ignore the lumbering pink elephant of a final plot twist. Regardless, it's still a credible entry, and should be watched by horror fans who are seeking something beyond the usual "slasher" type fare.

6. Maléfique

Premise: Four prisoners who share a single cell discover the hidden journal of a 'Fountain of Youth'-obsessed serial killer who occupied the cell in the 1920s. Is this journal the secret to their escape? Or is there something much more sinister behind it?

"Not the most ideal place to serve time."

If you're one of those who recognise with pleasure such arcane titles as 'Book of the Dead', 'Book of Eibon' or 'Necronomicon', then you should feel right at home with Malefique, a film which also features an occult tome, one with the power to change the destinies of all involved.

Staged for the most part within a prison cell, and between four or five characters, Malefique has a claustrophobic air entirely suited to its subject matter (as well as the limited budget of the filmmakers). Only at the start and then at the conclusion do we get to leave the confines of the cell, a necessary opening out which only serves to emphasise the doomed, closed-in nature of proceedings elsewhere. More than anything, this is a film about being trapped, either as a victim of your criminal past or of occult events now unfolding. "I'm going to escape," says Carrère at the start of the film, wishing more than anything to be able to rejoin his wife and son. Whether or not he does it will be at a terrible price, and the great irony of the film is that the ultimate form of an 'escape' may not be one a man might imagine.

Why you should watch it: The movie is terrific, but it is not without its share of flaws. Of course, the most notorious one is its the low-budget. Some of the CGI-effects are a bit poor compared to the effective make-up and prosthetics used in other scenes, however, it is never too bad for it. Probably the bad thing about "Maléfique" is that it seems to lose some steam by the end when it focuses on the supernatural black magic rather than in the characters, not too much of a bad thing but the ending may seem weak from that point of view. However, "Maléfique" is another one of those great horror films coming from France, and one that deserves to have more recognition. Valette is definitely a talent to follow as this modest (albeit complex) tale of the supernatural is prove enough of his abilities.

7. Martyrs

Premise: A young woman's quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child, leads her and a friend, who is also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into depravity.

"Music execs worried if The Veronicas new album cover was a little too dark for kids."

France. 1970. A little girl named Lucie, who's been missing for over a year, is discovered wandering by the side of a country road. Near catatonic, she can say nothing about what has happened to her. The police soon discover the place in which she's been incarcerated - a disused slaughterhouse. Every indication is that she never once left the empty, freezing room in which she was imprisoned. Filthy, starving, dehydrated, the child's body nonetheless bears no traces of sexual abuse - this was no pedophile abduction, but something far stranger. What happened in that icy room? And how did Lucie escape?

Pascal Laugier brings us a blood-soaked chiller, but it's not quite as over-the-top as Inside. Most of the gore is organic to the development of the story and not placed in there for mere shock value. Laugier, who also wrote the screenplay, seems to have been heavily inspired by Clive Barker. To go into depth would ruin the outcome of the film, but what can be said is that the conventional twists are used as plot points and not meant to be the saving grace of the film.

Why you should watch it: What makes Martyrs work is Laugier's methodical unfolding of the story. What he does is give us a "glimpse" into the world of the torturer(s) so when the protagonist returns to the scene of the crimes, the viewer knows what to expect, which makes them have to endure it with the lead character. Sometimes knowing what's coming is more difficult than watching it unfold. By the end of the film Martyrs becomes immensely uncomfortable, and making it through the final 30 minutes is a tough task. For horror fans, that's good news.

Quotes and sources:
E-Splatter.
Bloody-Disgusting.
Cinematical.
Imdb.

Ryan Reynolds is the "Green Lantern"

2009-07-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

Source: Variety

"Ladies, meet Hal Jordan."

Ryan Reynolds has landed the coveted role of “Green Lantern,” getting the starring role in Warner Bros.' live-action film based on the DC Comics hero.

Martin Campbell will direct. The studio is still working on the picture’s budget, but production is expected to begin in January.

The news caps off a memorable summer for Reynolds, who played Deadpool in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” a performance that prompted Fox to begin development on a spinoff film. Reynolds followed that by starring opposite Sandra Bullock in the romantic comedy “The Proposal,” which crossed the $100 million mark this week.

Warners and Campbell chose Reynolds, who vied for the superhero role along with “The Hangover” star Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto. The momentum built for Reynolds in the last week, as he was the only actor whose option was extended.

Greg Berlanti wrote the script with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green. Donald DeLine will produce with Berlanti. Reynolds’ reps at UTA are working out his deal.

The actor will next star in “Buried,” a dark indie drama that will begin filming shortly in Barcelona with Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes. Reynolds will play a civilian contractor who is kidnapped in Iraq and awakes in a coffin, struggling against time to coordinate a rescue even though he doesn’t know where he’s buried in the desert.

I think Fillion would have been fine, but Reynolds certainly has more of a "superhero polish" - meaning he's more of a ladies man. You could totally see him in this role - which I guess, is why he got the part. This film is going to be huge. Ryan, don't fuck this up. Good luck.

Production on 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Wraps

2009-07-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Source: Bloody Disgusting

"After two bottles of Scotch, Freddy's aim was a little off."

Platinum Dunes producer Brad Fuller just updated his Twitter announcing that production has officially wrapped on A Nightmare on Elm Street, their reboot of the New Line Cinema franchise that centers on Freddy Krueger, a serial child molester murdered by angry parents, who returns with a burnt face and a razor glove to terrorize teens in their dreams. "Just wrapped- sad. This was a fun movie to make," writes Fuller, who has been adding behind-the-scenes photos of the cast and crew all night.

Freddy returns to theaters April 16, 2010.

Tarson's Top Ten 80's Horror Move Trailers!

2009-07-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

Here's ten trailers of gob-smacking genre goodness. I've compiled a list of what I believe, are the best horror trailers from the 1980's. Of course, I could add another 30 or so, but in the interest of time - mainly yours - here's the condensed version.

Enjoy.

1. John Carpenter's: The Thing.

2. The Evil Dead

3. The Stuff

4. Basket Case

5. Day of the Dead

6. Creepshow

7. House

8. Zombie 2

9. Fright Night

10. A Nightmare on Elm St

TRON 2 Plot Confirmed

2009-07-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

Source: Slash Film

Walt Disney Studios has finally revealed a short plot synopsis for Joseph Kosinski’s sequel to Tron, a film almost 30 years in the making.

TRON is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

"Gates and Jobs' rivalry simply got way out of hand."

I’m still not digging the super confusing title “TRON”. They really need to do something to distinguish it from the first film somehow. I’m still a fan of TRON 2.0 but I know some people think that sounds dated in the web 1.0 world. And still no announced release date, although IMDb lists 2011.

I still wonder about product placement. Disney could charge millions to have Apple and Microsoft products in the film - which also leads me to wonder if the computers used in the film will be PC or Mac. Being sucked into PC would be the equivalent of digital hell for Kevin Flynn. Battling and competing against Trojans, 404 errors, pop-ups and the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.

Today's Awesome Movie Onesheets!

2009-07-09T19:17:00.001-07:00

Hell yes!

2009 Comic-Con Wednesday/Thursday Schedule Announced

2009-07-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

Source: Comic-Con

San Diego Comic-Con International has announced the programing line-up for Wednesday (preview night) and Thursday for the 2009 convention. You can check out the full schedule on comic-con.org

"Ah, how enticing, a sea of sweaty fanboys."

Rainn Wilson & Nathan Fillion's Twitter conversation

2009-07-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

Source: Slash Film

Here's something only a geek would find remotely interesting.

Rainn Wilson and Nathan Fillion had a meeting at DC Comics. Wilson tweeted “Could be some good shit percolating…” Fillion wrote a similar tweet: “Some great shit percolated at a meeting today with @rainnwilson and @nathanfillion. And, I grabbed me a sweet DC Encyclopedia.”

"Nathan Fillion or Justin Timberlake?"

I have no idea what project they might be meeting about, but I would guess that it was probably comic book related and not a superhero movie, considering the meeting was with DC Comics and not Warner Bros. But it should be noted that many fans have been saying that Fillion would make an great Hal Jordon. There was even that awesome fan made Green Lantern movie trailer a couple months back. It’s also possible that they are meeting to discuss voicing one of DC Comic’s upcoming animated home movies. Fillion had previously voiced the character of Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman movie.

Whatever this project might be, be it movie, television, comics or whatever, ow could you go wrong with Rainn Wilson, Nathon Fillion and potentially DC Comics?

Certainly sounds interesting. We all know DC have had a Green Lantern feature in the development pipeline for some time now, and cameras are supposedly due to start rolling in Sydney in or around September, with Martin Campbell helming. Once scheduled for December of 2010, the film is now slated for June 17, 2011. We don’t know any casting at this point, and only the thinnest story details. Perhaps Comic Con will bring more news. I personally think if done right, AKA The Dark Knight, there's no reason why this couldn't be the next big Superhero franchise to storm the Box Office. Until then, there's always the Animated Movie Version.

UPDATE: The rumor mill has begun to churn. AICN have posted an article on the Green Lantern screen test of Justin Timberlake. Bare in mind, this is all unconfirmed atm.

The many faces of Arnold

2009-07-09T18:22:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something I forgot to post yesterday. Slash Film added this really cool illustration, highlighting the many faces of Arnie.

Owen Gatley’s “The Many Faces of Arnold” [Schwarzenegger] is all kinds of awesome. Download the desktop or iphone wallpaper here.

"Ever heard of Rekall? They sell those fake memories."

Warner Bros. wins 'Superman' case

2009-07-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Source: Variety + SlashFilm

Superman Returning Soon? In Green Lantern Movie, As Well As His Own?

It’s a red letter day for Superman, pun intended. Not only is there some discussion about his potential appearance in the Green Lantern film, a crucially important law suit has been settled. Variety have reported that Warner Bros. and DC have been granted a favorable ruling in their case with the heirs of Jerry Siegel. This suit was first filed on April 16, 1999 so the decision has been a long time coming, and it is only an interim decision too, with more to come on other matters.

To cut this story down to the bits and pieces that really impact upon /Film business, I’ll quote the key lines from the Variety report after the break.

Here’s the first juicy nugget:

"The judge, who conducted a 10-day bench trial, also noted that Warner Bros. chairman Alan Horn had testified that he hopes to make another “Superman” movie but added that the property wasn’t under development at the studio, that no script had been written and that the earliest another “Superman” pic could be released would be in 2012."

Read the full Variety article here.

Third Screenwriter Hired for Spider-Man 4

2009-07-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing

Sony is really going all out on this one. They've hired a third screenwriter to rewrite Spider-Man 4 once again. Back in 2007 it was announced that James Vanderbilt (The Rundown, Zodiac) was the very first writer to work on this script. Then it was announced last year that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (Robots, Inkheart) would work on it. Now it's Oscar nominated screenwriter Gary Ross responsible for Big, Pleasantville, Seabiscuit, and The Tale of Despereaux. He's a good writer and has a long-standing relationship with Tobey Maguire, which is a good thing, but will that work wonders here?

"Get your fucking hands off me, Spidey Schmidey."

Full article here

149 minutes of Tarantino Foot Fetish Confirmed!

2009-07-08T22:29:00.000-07:00

"Atten Hut! Anyone seen my left pinky toe?"

Source: Variety

Ok, maybe not 149 minutes, but I bet there's a least one shot of someone's pinky toe in there. I'm ok with that, as long as it's not Pitt's, or even worse, Roth's. Tarantino has just confirmed that the official running time for Inglourious Basterds will be 149 minutes.

"We don't have any hair clippers, so we need to improvise."

Here's from the man himself - where he confirms an extra 1 minute of footage. That's right, 1 full minute. I know, amazing, huh.

Tarantino: I’ve heard these rumors that the studios told me to cut out 40 minutes. These are complete lies. The movie is actually a minute longer, in running time, than it was in Cannes. It was 2:28, without end credits, and now it’s 2:29, or 2:32 with end credits.

I added a sequence between where Mike Myers and Michael Fassbender discuss Operation Kino [the plot to blow up a theater as Joseph Goebbels and other Nazi brass watch a film], and the shootout scene in the basement tavern La Louisiane. In Cannes, we went from one to the other. I’d shot another scene, right before that, where Fassbender meets The Basterds, before they go to La Louisiane. That’s back.

Follow the link for the full article.

More on QT's foot fetish.

"The Exorcist" Set for Blu-Ray Appearance

2009-07-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

"Swine Flu 2.0"

Source: The Digital Bits

The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen Before on Blu-Ray later this year. The disc will hit shops on September 8th, but there is no news yet on what special features it will have, what the artwork will look like, or whether the original version will also get a high-definition makeover.

More news as it hits.

Today's Awesome Onesheets!

2009-07-08T21:10:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmmm.

Top 20 Foreign Horror Films

2009-07-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

"Lighting farts = Not a good idea."

Source: The Vault of Horror

The CHE (including HFM) have put together their list for the Top 20 Foreign Horror Films of All Time, over at The Vault of Horror.

Here are HFM’s list of nominees:

1. Let the Right One In

2. The Haunting

3. Suspiria

4. Shutter

5. House at the Edge of the Park

6. Demons

7. Twitch of the Death Nerve

8. Zombi 2

9. Wizard of Darkness

10. Guinea Pig 2

Runner-ups: Ju-on, Ringu

List of Participants:

Brian Solomon of The Vault of Horror
Wes Fierce of Horror Film Magazine
The Lightning Bug of The Lightning Bug’s Lair
Sean T. Collins of Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat, Marvel.com and Maxim
CRwM of And Now the Screaming Starts
Justin of Send More Cops
Peter Hall of Horror’s Not Dead
John Kenneth Muir, horror critic (Booklist Editor’s Choice)
Pax Romano of Billy Loves Stu
Scott Weinberg of FEARnet, Cinematical, Horror.com and Rotten Tomatoes
Brian Matus of FangoriaOnline
Nate Yapp of Classic-Horror.com
Carnacki of The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire
Corey of Evil on Two Legs

They came here 28 years ago...

2009-07-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

"Gitmo for alien scum."

Check out this amazing new theatrical trailer for District-9. I feel this is gearing up to be something special. I love Blomkamp's documentary style, it just adds that extra layer of realism.

Watch it here in glorious HD

Hot New Horror Script just landed in my Inbox

2009-07-08T02:07:00.000-07:00

My Hollywood insiders have slipped me a new Horror script, which has just been optioned by none other Mr John Landis. Variety have described it as a "Chinese Zombie Western."

Nice.

Now, if that don't get the blood coursing, get this, Landis is also attached to helm the project.

Script review up soon, so stay tuned...

More To Come...

2009-07-08T02:00:00.000-07:00

Instead of the usual stuff I've been posting - I'm going to be adding a lot more content, and when I say content, I mean "cool stuff." There'll be Tarson's Top Ten Trailers, Full Movie reviews, DVD reviews, exclusive script reviews, polls, most wanted, most hated, even some interviews with industry big wigs. Yes, all in good time.

Till then, keep the flesh cold.

How Scott Weinberg Escaped 'Zombieland!'

2009-07-08T01:43:00.000-07:00

Source: Horror Squad

I always seem to start these pieces the same way: "I don't normally do set visits," given my general distaste for air travel and a frequent disinterest for movie sets, but once in a while ... something fun and easy comes along, and I go for the ride. The friendly folks at Sony invited me to visit the set of a flick called (wait for it) Zombieland! Come on! If you know anything about me, then you know "Zombieland" is a place I want to visit, even if it is just a movie set! (Oh, and the flight was from Philadelphia to Atlanta, and that really helped to seal the deal.)

So I arrive in the surprisingly quiet but very charming section of Atlanta (a city I'd love to revisit soon) and am greeted by several gracious colleagues -- and ... what's this? Mr. James Rocchi, an old friend to Cinematical and one of my very best buddies? He was here for the Zombieland set visit too? Toss in a quick beer with some of my Signal pals ... and this turned out to be a smart trip.

"Whaaa...? Zombies? Nobody said anything about Zombies."

But here's where I'll let you in on a little secret. Gather 'round, movie geeks. Ready? Here it is: movie sets are really boring! No, it's true! It's like wandering through a stunningly orchestrated construction site that also has a tiny little stage play taking place in a corner somewhere. If you're interested in the crafts of photography, fashion, carpentry, or electrical engineering, then a movie set could be pretty fascinating. (But you'd keep getting bumped into, believe me.) Luckily for us, "set visits" are just a bit more elaborate than a normal day on the set...

First of all, we're offered chances to chat with some very talented folks. Below you'll find some of the best snippets from our conversations, as I find that the long and drawn-out Q&A transcriptions can get a little tedious. But back to the story: Producers, production designers, cinematographers, FX masters, and (of course) the actors stop by to share a few words ... and here's a key point: You must have smart journalists at this sort of "impromptu round table," or all you're left with is a bunch of flaccid pap. And that's never a good thing.

Zombieland, as you probably know by now, is a post-apocalyptic horror / comedy in which Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin do all they can to stay outside the food chain. Comparisons to the already-classic Shaun of the Dead are, of course, inevitable -- but I doubt that Edgar Wright would claim to have invented the zom-com, after all. Based only on the set conversations and the scant footage I saw, I'd say that Zombieland seems to have a tone that's both ironically bright, but happily splatty. Have a second look at the trailer to see what I mean.

Luckily for me, one of the coolest things we saw on the set is something that also made it into the trailer ... which makes it fair game to talk about. Back in the trailer you'll see a bit where Woody rings the bell, a zombie comes lurching out of the door, and blammo -- no more zombie. Now ... we must have seen that bit staged, rehearsed, and shot at least a dozen times, and I knew it'd be a great "bit" in the movie if they timed it just right -- and then it pops up in the trailer and proves me right. It also proves why "one more take" can be pretty damn important, especially when you're trying to orchestrate humor, stunts, and exploding zombie brains at the same time.

But enough from me. Here are a few thoughts from the cast and crew:

From the gorgeous Emma Stone, regarding the Zombieland screenplay: "The script is just completely different from anything I've ever read. I mean, the zombie element, but it's not a satire at all. This is just a real reaction in a comedy sense of what these people would do if zombies took over the world, so that was a new take on a million genres, and that was exciting."

From the ever-cool Woody Harrelson, regarding his character's sawed-off shotgun: "It just jumps up the testosterone level the moment I put it on. It's a bad-ass feeling, yeah."

Woody talking about his character, Tallahassee: "For me, I really loved my character, Tallahassee. I loved the script – just generally, such a beautiful, well-written script, so funny – and Tallahassee's a lot of fun. He's just this shit-kickin' kind of guy who's really got this broken side to him."

From the laid-back and amusing Jesse Eisenberg, regarding his character's neuroses: "I have a list of 47 rules on how to survive Zombieland, and towards the end of the movie, I start either crossing them off or modifying them because they just make my life a nightmare, because I'm so stringent, whereas Woody's character is such a fun character and he has zero rules to survive Zombieland, so it starts to rub off a little bit. "

"How many times have I told you, this is not a baseball stadium."

Writer/producer Rhett Reese, on the dangers of making a horror-comedy combo: "There's an inherent tension with all genre movies that we've gotta appeal to the nerds and then appeal to everybody else... Ultimately, you should just be thinking about how to make an entertaining movie, forget for who, and... there is a question when you're making a movie like this about, how do you market it? What would you guys do with this, would you market it as horror or would you market it as a comedy? ... It's just an interesting situation, because horror movies do great – The Haunting in Connecticut or whatever it's called just made $24 million – and then you have comedies like Superbad and Pineapple Express that does well as a comedy, so where does this fall?"

And some choice passages from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer...

"The movie is basically kind of the hybrid of 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead, I guess. It's a comedic look at the post apocalyptic zombie world and it's a band of survivors that kind of met along the way. There's two sisters: Columbus who is our main hero and then Tallahassee who's Woody and at first Columbus and Tallahassee meet up and then they meet the girls and then they sort of all band together on this journey towards Los Angeles to go to an amusement park called Pacific Playland."

"Woody's definitely created a larger than life movie character with this Tallahassee character. He's like a real, weird cowboy kind of post-apocalyptic zombie bad-ass. He's great. And it was cool to give him the space to find it and now everyday he just lights up the screen."

"[Jesse's character] is just kind of the classic, video-game nerd just kind of a guy who has a little bit of phobias. He's OCD. His fears in the old world are what allow him to live in this new world because it's the true flight or fight and Woody's definitely the fight and Jesse's the flight. Like the reason he's alive is because he's just a giant coward. And at the earliest sign of trouble, he just runs. And he's really quick. And he's managed to survive the zombies just by avoiding them and just by running at all times. And so it's really two opposites that come together and go on this journey."

"Mom, why are you foaming and dilated?"

And then we ate, we watched a bank of video monitors for a few hours, and we poked our heads into the gore trailer for some Fx lessons. And as always, while I'm still not a huge "set visit" aficionado, I will say this: You don't have to be a movie geek to appreciate the monumental effort that goes into making a movie. (Any movie!) But once you see all that organized chaos shaped into an actual movie, you begin to appreciate the little stuff: The detail in the set design, the timing of a good joke, the application of a latex zombie bite ... and the simple common desire to make a really fun movie.

You can check out Zombieland for yourself on October 9.

McG's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Remake Gets a Rewrite

2009-07-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

Love him or hate him, McG's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea remake looks like it's going ahead. The development gears are churning. It's Disney, so if they want this movie made, it will get made one way or another. According to First Showing, Disney has brought in Braveheart scribe, Randall Wallace to give the script a polish. Most likely a "family friendly" polish.

"McG's next (much needed) blockbuster?"

This will be an interesting development. IMDB trolls and rabid fanboys have developed an almost feverish hatred for Mr McGinty. Why? I'm not exactly sure. I mean, Charlies Angels is what it is: an action movie, mainly geared towards chicks, who can drag their boyfriends and husbands along, or vice-versa. It's certainly not Oscar bait, but with Terminator Salvation, McG did prove he has the minerals to shoot a decent action flick. The problem with Salvation is that it relied too much on action - which in turn, made the film come off as being shallow. Anyway, that's another argument for another day.

Here's the full article -

Today's Awesome Movie Onesheets!

2009-07-07T21:45:00.001-07:00

Behold!

Horror Script Dump

2009-07-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

I'm going to occasionally dump scripts for you to download and read.

Some of these are a few months, to a few years old, and they usually fall under the horror/sci-fi/thriller category. I do get sent the latest scripts, but due to legal reasons I can't always post them straight away. However, if I can, I will, but for now these will have to do. Enjoy.

1. Creature Feature
2. Creepers
3. Dark Games
4. Endangered
5. Hybrid
6. It Came From The Drive-In
7. Legion
8. Ritual
9. Sherlock Holmes and the Vengeance of Dracula
10. The Cabin in the Woods
11. The Crazies (2009)
12. The Phantom Limb
13. World War Z
14. Doomsday
15. Drag Me To Hell
16. Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Michael Jackson's Neverland "Ghost" Mystery Solved By CNN

2009-07-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Shadow of CNN lighting guy? You be the judge.

Why Left 4 Dead 2 may end up being the Best Zombie Shooter ever!

2009-07-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure about you, but when I'm not writing or working my minotinous day job, I love nothing more than grabbing a 12-gauge and blowing the brains out of a few hundred Zombies. Left 4 Dead allows me that pleasure. Pitted against countless hordes of flesh-eating stinkers, you must band together online with three other members and fight for survival. The idea is that you work as a team, and teamwork is the only way you can survive. The overall objective of the game is to make it to the end of each map, where with a little luck, you'll survive long enough to be rescued. It's a great game which offers up some awesome action and some truly terrifying moments. There's nothing more horrific (and funny) than watching a team mate stray too far, and just get overwhelmed by dozens of rabid Zombies.

While it's certainly an enjoyable online experience for horror freaks and gamers, there are some problems, mainly the ability for team members to vote-kick you off a server. You'll often find that upon joining a server, you'll be kicked off for no apparant reason. Or if you disagree with another team mate, they'll kick you off. It's a power thing. Plus, server mods who suffer from a God-complex can kick you if they don't think you're a good enough player. However, the good outweighs the bad, and it is a game worth looking at, especially if you're into Zombie movies, in which the developers borrorwed certain nuances and scenes from all the classics.

The sequel to the game, Left 4 Dead 2, which takes place in New Orleans after a Zombie outbreak, is about to drop soon, so I thought I'd show you one of my favorite scenes from the game. The "Axe Ownage" video. Enjoy.

More Left 4 Dead 2 News & Previews

You can check out more of L4D2 over at the official site.

First Trailer for The Collector

2009-07-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

Source: IGN

Don't know a great deal about this one, but it is starting to generate some buzz. Dunstan is definiately a talent within the horror film making community. The bad-ass looking one-sheet was released a few days back, now they've dropped the Red Band Trailer.

The Collector, directed by Feast, Saw IV and Saw V writer Marcus Dunstan, follows the story of handyman and ex-con Arkin (Josh Stewart), who aims to repay a debt to his ex-wife (Daniella Alonso) by robbing his new employer's country home. Unfortunately for Arkin, a far worse enemy has already laid claim to the property – and the family. As the seconds tick down to midnight, Arkin becomes a reluctant hero trapped by a masked "Collector" in a maze of lethal invention – the Spanish Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg – while trying to rescue the very family he came to rob. The Collector hits limited theaters on July 31st.

Rupert Sanders Making His Debut with The Low Dweller

2009-07-07T05:31:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing

You probably don't know who Rupert Sanders is yet, but you will very soon. The up-and-coming British director is in negotiations (via THR) to direct the dark ex-con drama The Low Dweller being produced by Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way and Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions. The script, which was sold to Relativity and MGM for seven-figures last year, centers on a Midwestern man who gets out of prison only to be haunted and pursued by a figure from his past. In addition to Low Dweller, Sanders is also attached to an action epic from producer Gianni Nunnari called The Wild Geese, though I expect he'll direct Dweller first.

While Sanders hasn't directed any feature films just yet, he does have a few short films and an incredibly impressive selection of commercials to his name, including the point-of-view escape commercial for the Wolverine video game and the bullet-time football tackling commercial for Nike. I can't wait to see what he can do with a feature film - as all of his commercials are fantastic. A lot of other great directors like Zack Snyder and David Fincher got their start in commercials as well. I'm sure that DiCaprio and Scott were completely confident in choosing Sanders to direct this very high profile project.

The Low Dweller, written by fellow up-and-comer Brad Ingelsby, also ended up in the #5 spot on the 2008 Black List. For the longest time, it was thought that Ridley Scott himself would be directing, but obviously not anymore. We'll be keeping a close eye on Rupert Sanders and The Low Dweller as this project develops.

Check out Sanders' talent here. Dude's got some serious skills.

Read The Low Dweller script here.

That Facebook Movie.

2009-07-07T04:03:00.000-07:00

Want to know the skinny on that Facebook project David Fincher is allegedly circling? My good pal, Carson (no relation), just dropped what I'd say, is the first Internet review of the script. This is literally hot off the press.

Check out his review here.

Greatest Zombie Movie Ever?

2009-07-07T02:10:00.000-07:00

Maybe not, but it's pretty damn close.

Here's a trailer for the classic 1985 Zombie romp, brought to us by none other than Dan O'Bannon, one of the creators behind Alien. It's a great mix of comedy and horror with some truly, WTF? moments.

Red Band Trailer for Jennifer's Body!

2009-07-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

Fox and Diablo go all demonic on us. Damn! Sparking a Zippo on the tip of your tongue never looked so sexy. I need a cigarette.

More at ShockTillYouDrop.

Michael Jackson's Final Footage?

2009-07-06T23:32:00.000-07:00

Cinematical have upped a poll regarding Michael Jackson's final footage.

Now that the initial shock over the untimely death of Michael Jackson has passed, his concert promoter is making it known that he has "more than 100 hours of footage that could be turned into live albums, a movie and a pay-per-view special." Randy Phillips, president and CEO of AEG Live, told The Associated Press (via The Hollywood Reporter): "He was our partner in life and now he's our partner in death."

R.I.P.

Do you have any desire to see the final footage? What form should it take? A film? TV special? DVD? Online for free? Take our poll and let us know. And feel free to express yourself in the comments section. Will it be celebratory to watch the final footage of the "King of Pop"? Or poignant and sad to see MJ just days before his death?

See the Poll results

Meanwhile, check out the Indian version of Thriller.

Where ye dwells

2009-07-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

No, not under a bridge as some of you may think. Here's my den of iniquity, where the horror happens and innocent Woman beg for their lives. And yes, I do own a cave Troll. See if you can spot him.

I give fandom a very bad name. Oh, and fuck Harry Knowles.

I am Not Carson Reeves! I am Tarson Meads!

2009-07-06T22:43:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, Tarson, Carson, etc. But seriously, someone made the comment on Script Shadow's site, under my Nightfall review, that Carson's alter-ego is Tarson. Not true. Not by a gazillion miles.

I AM TARSON MEADS!

For starters, Carson is a nice guy. I'm not. Secondly, he knows what he's talking about. I don't. And thirdly, his Blog is geared around script reviews. Mine is anything but.

Just keepin' it real, folks. And no, Tarson is not my real name.

Look! More Movie Posters!

2009-07-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today's Awesome Movie Posters!

My Top 10 Screenplays.

2009-07-06T22:20:00.001-07:00

These are the most enjoyable scripts I've read this year, so far. Not nessecarily the best scripts, but the most enjoyable. Remember, eveything is subjective. I personally can't believe people are still talking about that fucking "Butter" script.

Fuck Butter!

1. Kristy
2. Nightfall
3. Galahad
4. The Brigands Of Rattleborge
5. Sunflower
6. Grand Theft Auto
7. Untitled Channing Tatum Project
8. Dubai
9. The Days Before
10. Source Code

Another day, another fucking remake!

2009-07-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Source: First Showing

The Gate Remake Secures German Funding.

The Gate, directed by Hungarian filmmaker Tibor Takács and starring Stephen Dorff, was about three kids who accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from a hole in their backyard. I guess you could say it's kind of a cult classic now, but apparently it was pretty scary when it came out in 1987. After starring in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Winter directed Freaked and the indie thriller Fever. Shooting on this remake will start this summer at a studio in Cologne, Germany. The visual effects will be handled by Pixomondo, whose recent work includes Roland Emmerich's 2012 and James McTeigue’s Ninja Assassin.

It is, it is too late.

Check out this new District 9 poster

2009-07-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

I'm hoping this film does boffo at the Box Office. I think Blomkamp is not only extremely talented, but visually, one of the most unique directors to come up over the past decade. Who knows, if D-9 does the biz, those studio number crunchers may be willing to write that $150 million production check for a Halo feature.

Here's hoping.

Empire's Top 100 Video Games

2009-07-06T20:12:00.001-07:00

Bet you can guess what number one is going to be. Either Halo or Gears of War. Fuck, please not The Sims.

http://www.empireonline.com/100greatestgames/

WTF Maximus?!

2009-07-06T20:05:00.001-07:00

Source: ScreenCrave.

Hearing that there's a Gladiator II script out there, penned by Austrlian muso' Nick Cave. Nawww, seriously?

Apparently, Scott had personally requested that Nick Cave write a sequel script in which Maximus rises from the dead… and travels into the future. And now that script, although it was rejected by producers, has surfaced in its entirety on the Internet. Intrigued?

Someone even posted a review of the script - http://goneelsewhere.wordpress.com/2008/04/15/gladiator-2-script-review/

READ IT FOR YOURSELF HERE

Daybreakers!

2009-07-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Not another Vampire movie you say. I know, I know 'ol Tarson here can hear your yawns. But my fellow horror aficionados, you must have some faith. Daybreakers is a great new take on a well worn genre. I think this movie is going to rock for a number of reasons.

1. Ethan Hawke is such a talented actor.
2. This was shot in my hometown of Brisbane, Australia.
3. It was written and directed by the Spierig brothers. Two Aussies who have a very bright career ahead of them.
4. William Defoe & Sam Neil.
5. Claudia Karvan & Vince Colosimo.

'Nuff said.

Here's the fantastic trailer. You can also view this in all it's HD glory over at Apple.

Daybreakers
Uploaded by moviestune. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Random Pic of the Day!

2009-07-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

Fucking Pirate Scum! Yaarrgghhh!

NIGHTFALL Script Review.

2009-07-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

From time to time I will drop a script review, as well as the odd nugget of screenwriting wisdom (usually something that I've borrowed from a professional writer) - My reviews are aimed to be spoiler free as possible. You get the basic facts, and whether or not I liked it. That's it. The scripts will always be available to download and read, unless it's something that's too hot for public consumption.

"Nightfall"

Genre: Action/Horror

Premise: Two US mercenaries become involved in a brazen plot to kidnap a beautiful and seductive socialite. However, they soon realize the girl they've snatched is an ancient Vampire queen, and her legion is out to get her back.

About: A vampire spec penned by upcoming writer/director Michael Stokes. His indie film “The Beacon” won first prize in a series of horror festivals and comps. Nightfall is currently in development with legendary horror producer Frank Mancuso Jr.

Writer: Michael Stokes

Nightfall has been on my Top 10 for a while now over at Script Shadow, but I never had the chance to review it, until now.

They say don’t ever write a Vampire spec, right? Thankfully, Stokes ignored that advice and wrote one of the most enjoyable Vampire scripts I’ve read in years. I had a lot of fun with Nightfall, there’s a ton of stuff to compliment here, but the real highlight was Stokes' writing style. I loved it. It’s the kind of style I try to emulate. Snappy dialogue, vivid action, words that pack a punch. The way a great action spec should be.

Stokes doesn’t waste any time at getting to the meat of the concept either. The story begins with the intro of our two protags - Rainford and Denton, two bad- ass, mercs for hire. Rainford is actually on a job to kill Denton when we first meet them inside an Albanian tavern. Rainford's job has been set up by a couple of local mobsters. The pay is good, but at the last minute, Rainford decides against killing Denton, and all hell breaks loose. This opening grabbed me from page one with strong visuals, and some really cool action sequences.

After the opening bang, the two men decide to work together and soon become involved in a shady scheme to kidnap an exotic socialite from a packed nightclub. They don't know much about the target - except her name is Aurora, she's drop dead gorgeous, and their employer is a very rich man by the name of Peter Foxe. Unfortunately his hot-headed and inexperienced son is leading the gig. Apart from our two heroes, there's a crew of freelance mercs tagging along, who seem to know a lot more about the job than they're letting on. Things are not adding up. Sparks soon begin to fly. There also seems to be an awful lot of heavy handed hardware and tech in place, just for one woman. Hmmm. You see where this is headed, don’t you.

Another highlight for Nightfall was Stokes’ clever usage of Vampire mythology, as well as his own unique touches that he skilfully adds, here and there. The action is top-notch, and when the shit hits the fan, its balls-to-the-wall mayhem. It’s just a great combination of action and horror, with lots of twists and turns. Overall this was just a really fun read, highly recommended for any scribes who are into this kind of thing.

Script link: Nightfall

More script reviews

T.J's Back!

2009-07-06T08:43:00.000-07:00

Source: Variety

"T.J. Hooker" is headed for the bigscreen as an action comedy with David Foster, Ryan Heppe and series creator Rick Husky producing.
Chuck Russell ("The Scorpion King," "The Mask") is in talks to direct. The writing team of Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson will script the story, which focuses on the relationship between the title character and his father.

No actors have been cast yet for the feature.

The TV series, produced by Aaron Spelling, debuted in 1982 on ABC and ran for five seasons, the last on CBS. William Shatner starred as a no-nonsense patrol sergeant, with Adrian Zmed, Heather Locklear, Richard Herd and James Darren as co-stars.

Husky has long retained the feature rights to the project, according to Heppe.

"The series was the poster child for cop TV shows in the 1980s with great stunts, so we think there's a fun movie to be made from it," Heppe said.

Foster and Heppe are producing a remake of "Short Circuit" with Maddock and Wilson having written the first version of the script. The scribes have also teamed on "Wild Wild West" and several "Tremors" pics.

Teaser Trailer for 'The Horde' is Finally Here!

2009-07-06T08:23:00.000-07:00

Ever since Alex Aja's High Tension broke onto the scene back in 2003, it seems that every year there is that one French horror film that is almost guaranteed to blow us out of the water. With word that Humains (Humans) and Mutants are quite the disappointment, there's a lot riding on The Horde, the zombie film being produced by Xavier Gens (Frontier(s)). Today Bloody Disgusting got their hands on the first teaser trailer that looks quite promising. The film follows an end of the world battle between gangsters, cops and zombies.

One-Sheet A Day

2009-07-06T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'm going to post a couple of movie posters a day.

I've always had a deep love of film posters, specifically 1980 genre movies. They're tragically good. Anyway, here's a few that have recently caught my eye.

Finally, I caved in...

2009-07-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

...to all this Blogging nonsense. All my Cyber-friends are running Blogs and Sites, so why not me? Huh! It's been a longtime coming, let me tell you. It's been a dull little throb at the back of my skull for many months now "Start a blog you fat fuck." So, like millions of people around the world, I can now focus my mediocrity in one place, and waste a shit-load of time while doing it.

Awesome!

So what will you find here? Well, for starters, I'm a screenwriter... actually, let me rephrase that, I'm an aspiring screenwriter. Big difference. However, from a social aspect, I do like to tell people I'm a screenwriter. It's great watching the smile on their faces quickly seep away when I tell people I want to write horror movies for a living. But there's movies, and there's tons of other stuff I'll talk about here. I'm into all kinds of geeky shit. Comics, video games, you name it. So I'll do my best to keep you up to date on the latest and greatest.

I'll also review the odd genre screenplay and keep you posted on my latest projects, which mainly fall into the realm of sci-fi, horror and action. My script reviews can also be read every week on the Script Shadow's fantastic blog. If you want the skinny of the hottest screenplays circulating around Hollywood, then visit that site.

Till next time.