[Trailer 2] Ender's Game
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The final trailer for Ender's Game was just revealed today, drawing importance (and mankind's future) on young Ender's (Asa Butterfield) shoulders. The film adaptation of the sci-fi epic is causing waves, both amongst fans of the novel and detractors of author Orson Scott Card's personal political ponderings. Despite the controversy, however, the story can stand on its own, with this new trailer illustrating the action-heavy tone that is shaping the film.
Considering there are over a dozen novels within the Ender's Game universe, the franchise is already prepped to be exploited and cashed in on... as long as this first film performs well. With an insanely loyal community of Ender's Game, again in spite of Card's bigotry, I'm predicting the film will make a good amount of money when it hits theaters November 1st.
Imagi's The Legend of Zelda film pitch
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In 2007, Imagi Animation Studios created a sizzle reel for Nintendo to pitch a CGI The Legend of Zelda film adaptation. As history dictates, nothing came of the film, but the footage was recently released for the public to see. The "trailer" of sorts feature Zelda hero Link, antagonist Ganondorf, and the titular Zelda herself. Imagi's typical style of long, non-proportional bodies used in the TMNT film were used for the Zelda pitch. However, the character designs themselves were mature and definitely fitting of the contemporary Zelda game of the time, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
I can understand Nintendo's hesitance to return to Hollywood considering their first foray into films, the Super Mario Bros. adaptation, had as little to do with the popular video game franchise as much as it had any resemblance of a good film. Still, if any Nintendo franchise were to deserve a film adaptation, the Zelda IP would be the most likely to receive a good treatment. Will we ever see a Legend of Zelda film? Probably not, but at least there's some interest in the property in Hollywood.
[via Destructoid]
[RH Review] The Spectacular Now
I'll admit something: When I saw the first trailer for The Spectacular Now, I said, "The Spectacular Now is indie film bait with the common trope of self-discovery, coming of age themes, but that’s exactly what I’m attracted to." After watching the film, I can confirm that I was only half-right. Spoiler alert: The Spectacular Now wowed me in a way I haven't been wowed in a very long time. Allow me to try to find the words to convey exactly why.
http://youtu.be/0dCfbBwFI2Y
The Spectacular Now
Director: James Ponsoldt
Rating: R
Release Date: August 2nd, 2013 [NY and LA]
Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) is the popular class clown that everybody can't help but like. He's the life of the party, has an equally popular and awesome girlfriend, Cassidy (Brie Larson), and truly embraces living for the now. However, when Cassidy breaks up with him, Sutter's life begins to change, although not in the way you'd expect. After a long night of drinking, a girl from his class, Aimee (Shailene Woodley), finds him sprawled across a yard on her newspaper route. What began as a budding friendship becomes something more as Sutter's attempts to essentially mentor and guide Aimee transition into a deeper connection that Sutter might not be able to comprehend.
Behind the jokes and public facade, Sutter has a dark side to his life that can serve as a bit of a warning to audiences. Despite being only 17, Sutter is a budding alcoholic always seen with a flask full of whiskey. The characteristic defines his actions, sure, but the point doesn't come heavy-handed by director James Ponsoldt (Shamed) or screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber ([500] Days of Summer). The Spectacular Now can be seen as a warning against underage drinking or alcohol dependency, but it never feels like an outright propaganda-filled activist statement. Rather, it's understated and subtle, or as subtle as it can be every time Sutter takes a drink out of his super-sized "big gulp" or flask.
When Sutter and Aimee get together, and she begins to pick up on his habit, I kept worrying about where it would lead. The tension was never overbearing, but I had the chilling feeling that something would happen, and it wouldn't be good. It wasn't too dissimilar from the suspense in horror films, but at least in those films, you know for a fact something's coming; in an independent drama, you don't know when, if, or how that "something" would come. This foreboding notion not only helped humanize Sutter and Aimee, but it also makes you actually care for these characters, and what's more important for a film than an audience empathizing and connecting with them?
There are some common tropes in the film, such as father-son dynamics, popular boy falling for a not-so-popular girl, relationship drama as a narrative crux, and the obvious "coming-of-age" epiphany that characterizes the genre. However, such tropes and cliches are tropes and cliches because they're taken from real life, and sometimes I forget that. The Spectacular Now featured real characters who, for better or worse, find themselves in these situations because they're real situations that we have or will find ourselves in.
As I walked out of the theater and reflected over the film, all I could think about was just how right it felt. Sure, I'm biased, because it truly played to my film interests, but it did everything right and what I love in independent dramas. Ponsoldt, Neustadter, and Weber wanted to create a high school film that was devoid of everything that "high school films" have become, reintroducing a level of reality to a film that isn't reliant on an overbearingly dark drama or sophomoric shenanigans. Honestly, Films like The Spectacular Now truly affirm why I've dedicated an extensive period of my life towards covering films.
Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin on rumored shortlist to play Batman in Batman vs. Superman
Pre-production on the unofficially titled Batman vs. Superman film hasn't even begun yet (pre-pre-production?), yet rumors are flying out over which actors Warner Bros. want to portray Batman in the upcoming film. Earlier in the weekend, a report came out that WB was looking for an older actor to portray the Dark Knight, preferably somebody in their 30s or 40s. A day later, a shortlist of actors has popped up including a few interesting names.
Josh Brolin (Oldboy) and Ryan Gosling (Only God Forgives) are the two biggest names on the list, which also includes Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike), Richard Armitage (The Hobbit), Matthew Goode (Watchmen), and Max Martini (Pacific Rim). Obviously, with such a high-calibre film as Batman vs. Superman, Warner Bros. will want to grab an equally attractive actor to fill theaters. However, they'll also want a young enough actor who could possibly be willing to portray the superhero in future films, as well. Brolin could make for an interesting Batman, but I don't really think he'd be interested in the role. Gosling, meanwhile, doesn't fit the Bruce Wayne/Batman archetype, either; the same goes for Goode. Armitage could be a good fit, though. Martini and Manganiello, I'm not too familiar with.
Personally, I think Jon Hamm (Mad Men) would be the greatest Batman of all time. Granted, I don't really care much for Batman as a character, but Hamm is one of my favorite actors, and his Don Draper character basically is Bruce Wayne minus the mass wealth and superhero persona. Original reports had him on the shortlist, as well, but his name mysteriously dropped from the updated version. If WB and DC seriously want to get to the same level Marvel's on, they're going to have to nab a big name actor, and Hamm would be the perfect first step for that plan.
[via Collider]
[Trailer] A Single Shot
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Sam Rockwell (Moon) stars in the upcoming drama/thriller A Single Shot, directed by David M. Rosenthal. Rockwell stars as a hunter who accidentally shoots a woman in the woods. However, when he checks on her, he finds a box filled with money. He then uses the money for selfish reasons, such as hiring a crooked lawyer to help with a divorce suit against his wife. Of course, it turns out the money's dirty as a group of criminals come after him for the stash of cash.
The mood is tense, which should be a good return to his Moon form. A Single Shot will be in theaters September 20th, but preceded by a VOD release on August 20th.
David M. Rosenthal’s neo-noir thriller starts with a bang: a single shot, aimed at a lone deer, that hits and kills a young woman. The hunter, John Moon (Sam Rockwell, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS), watches her die before discovering a box of money near her body. In a desperate panic, he takes the cash — hiring a low-rent lawyer (William H. Macy, FARGO) to fight his wife’s (Kelly Reilly, FLIGHT) divorce suit — and attempts to cover up the killing. But when he discovers that the money belonged to a group of hardened criminals, the hunter becomes the hunted in this tense cat-and-mouse struggle in the backwoods of West Virginia.
The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition revealed
While Christian Bale won't be coming back as Batman anytime soon (if at all), DC and Warner Bros. have a special little sump'm sump'm to make sure his legacy as The Dark Knight won't be forgotten any time soon (as if that would happen in the first place). This fall, the "The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition" blu-ray boxset will be released, collecting the entire Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale Batman trilogy on blu-ray. The collection will also include two exclusive featurettes, "The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy" and Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation, as an incentive for those who may already own the films on blu-ray. Also included are a 48-page hardcover book featuring art from the films, collectable Hot Wheels toys of the vehicles seen in each film, and art cards created by Mondo. The full list of features is included at the botom of this post. The Dark Knight Trilogy: Ultimate Collector's Edition will retail for $100.
Are any of you interested in buying the set, or are the added features and memorabilia not enough to supplant the copies you may already own?
[via Collider]
About the Ultimate Collector’s Edition (UCE):
*Disc 1 – Batman Begins Feature and Special Features
*Disc 2 – The Dark Knight Feature
*Disc 3 – The Dark Knight Special Features
*Disc 4 – The Dark Knight Rises Feature
*Disc 5 – The Dark Knight Rises Special Features
*Disc 6 – Bonus Disc of New Special Features (details follow)
NEW Special Features:
- The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy - The inside perspective on the fascinating story behind the creation of one of the most celebrated franchises and how it changed the scope of movie making….forever. Full of never-before-seen footage, rare moments, and exclusive interviews with Guillermo Del Toro, Damon Lindelof, Michael Mann, Richard Roeper, Zack Snyder and others.
· Christopher Nolan & Richard Donner: A Conversation - For the first time, Directors Christopher Nolan (The Dark KnightTrilogy) and Richard Donner (Superman) sit down to discuss the trials and triumphs involved in bringing the two most iconic superheroes of all time to the big screen, and how Superman influenced Nolan when developing Batman Begins.
· IMAX® Sequences: The Dark Knight; The Dark Knight Rises - See your favorite scenes as they were intended in the original IMAX© aspect ratio
Exclusive NEW Memorabilia:
· Premium Mattel Hot Wheels Vehicles: Batmobile, Batpod and Tumbler
· Newly commissioned collectible art cards by Mondo featuring Scarecrow, Joker, Bane, Harvey Dent, and Ra’s al Ghul
· 48-page hardcover book featuring production stills and behind the scenes images from all three movies
Christian Bale is done with Batman
While Christian Bale (The Dark Knight Rises) and Christopher Nolan (Inception) have previously said they wouldn't return to the Batman universe, many people still held out hope that Bale would take up the cowl in the proposed Justice League film DC and Warner Bros. have tried to get off the ground for awhile now. However, Bale recently refuted the notion that he would put on the Batman suit in the superhero ensemble, stating:
”I have no information, no knowledge about anything. I’ve literally not had a conversation with a living soul. I understand that they may be making a Justice League movie, that’s it. It’s a torch that should be handed from one actor to another. So I enjoy looking forward to what somebody else will come up with.”
Of course, with the way The Dark Knight Rises ended, it would be easy to conclude that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would become the next Batman. After all, The Dark Knight Rises was really a film made to pass the torch to the next generation. Of course, there's been no word about another Batman film, let alone one set in the same universe that Nolan and Bale populated for the Dark Knight trilogy. With rumors that the universe seen in Man of Steel is separate from that of the Dark Knight universe and the Justice League portrayal won't be the same Batman character we have grown to love over the past decade, this news comes as a pretty obvious statement. Still, with the way WB has handled the DC film properties lately (Man of Steel only barely serving as an exception to this), it just seems like Bale was necessitated to clear the air to at least help make sense of their attempt to create a unified universe the way Marvel has done with their film properties.
[via Collider]
New images from Darren Aronofsky's Biblical epic, Noah
Following Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky's next film was going to be his big-budget Hollywood debut with The Wolverine. However, with disputes over shooting and production between the director and the film's studio, Aronofsky bowed out, choosing to focus on developing a passion project of his based off of the Biblical figure, Noah. With Aronofsky's distinct artistic touch, Noah will analyze the character's psyche as he builds the Ark meant to ensure humanity survives a large flood... or so the story goes. Aronofsky and co-writer John Logan attempted to stay as true to the story as possible, but took some liberties, including rumored six-armed angels.
The first promotional images of the film were recently released that feature Russell Crowe (Gladiator) as the titular Noah, Jennifer Connelly (Requiem for a Dream) as his wife, Naameh, Anthony Hopkins (Beowulf) as Noah's grandfather, Methuselah, Emma Watson (Harry Potter) as Noah's adopted daughter, Ila, Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as Ham, Noah's son, and Ray Winstone (The Departed) as Tubal-cain, Noah's rival.
I'm actually looking really forward to Noah. As a huge fan of Aronofsky (even The Fountain), I can't wait to see his spin on Noah's story. The film won't be released until March 2014 at the earliest, so it'll be awhile before any footage arises. In Aronofsky We Trust.
[via Collider]
