Now we're talking synergy! It's been the holy grail of comic-based movies, having characters from one movie appear in another character's tale. While it may only be a cameo, Robert Downey reprises his role as Tony Stark for a brief scene in the forthcoming Hulk, further extending the reality of the Marvel universe. You'll find evidence of Stark's appearance in the clip below. If we can somehow get Iron Man and Spider-Man joining forces in the future, well, there will be a ton of happy fans.
The Coen Brothers haven't been sitting around looking longingly at their new collection of Oscars. Instead, they've been making a film called Burn After Reading, which tells the tale of a couple of gym employees who find a CD belonging to a CIA agent and make the unwise decision to blackmail him.
The newly released trailer shows the Coens returning to comfortable territory, in essence making a screwball comedy along the lines of Fargo, something I welcome with open arms. Unfortunately, you're going to need iTunes in order to view the preview.
Warner Brothers has announced that shooting of Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, better known as Terminator 4, has begun. With the announcement came a few nuggets as to what we can expect from the story.
From Warner PR:
"In the highly anticipated new installment of "The Terminator" film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind."
Neil Gaiman's next book is called The Graveyard Book and will feature extensive illustrations by Dave McKean. It's scheduled to release late in 2008. If, like me, you're impatient, hit up the newly launched website where you can find several illustrations by the great McKean, as well as a character breakdown and plot synopsis.
M. Night Shyamalan's next movie is called The Happening, which arrives on June 13th. It stars Mark Wahlberg as a golly-gee-wizz guy, reminiscent of his character Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights. M. Night is still trying to salvage his credibility as a filmmaker, especially in light of a string of bombs. Will The Happening be a hit like Sixth Sense or a disaster, ala Lady in the Water?
Here's a red-band trailer (Rated R) for your enjoyment (or critique).
Joss Whedon, the man responsible for everything from Buffy to Firefly, has a new show coming out in January called Dollhouse. It's all about people who have their memories erased and are outfitted with new personalities, working at a mysterious facility known as The Dollhouse. What's really important is that the show is centered around hot chicks kicking ass, which should be all you need to know. Here's a trailer for the new show:
Marvel's next animated movie will be Wolverine and the X-Men, featuring all of your favorite characters like Professor X, Beast, Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Wolverine in the starring role.
They discover the world has spiraled out of control because the X-Men have given up. So now the most legendary of all X-Men, Wolverine, must take the lead on the ultimate mission—to prevent the world's destruction—while fending off enemies Magneto and The Brotherhood.
Game Almighty posted their impressions of the newly launched closed beta of Battlefield: Bad Company and I think it's safe to say they aren't impressed. After trying throughout the day to find a server, I was finally able to enter a few games and I must say, I agree. After Call of Duty 4, Bad Company feels like a dated, half-assed mess.
After playing Battlefield: Bad Company for a little over an hour, it shows promise, but it definitely needs a lot of work. The visuals aren’t amazing, but I don’t think that a beta’s graphics are worth scrutinizing. With only 3 months to go before it hits shelves, one has to believe that the beta is primarily to work out technical issues, but I hope that they’ll deal with some of the game’s balance problems as well. Otherwise, gamers won’t be left with many compelling reasons to put down Call of Duty 4, or prevent them from snagging Battlefield: Modern Combat out of the bargain bin. Let’s pray that EA puts their remaining development time to good use as Battlefield: Bad Company shows a lot of interesting ideas, but seems to fall flat on the execution.
It always seems to take a year or more for developers to realize the bar has been raised.
There are several clues I've devised over the years to aid me in detecting a horrible movie based on nothing more than the trailer. Eddie Murphy's latest movie, Meet Dave, has several of those warning signs.
#1. If you hear the song I've Got the Power by Snap, you know you're in serious trouble.
#2. If you hear the song Staying Alive by the Bee Gees, run for the friggin' hills.
Put both of those songs in a single trailer and you have a movie that may actually be worse than Norbit.
Add to this recipe that Meet Dave is actually directed by the same wunderkind that helmed Norbit, and well, there are no words disparaging enough that properly convey the lameness of this movie, except maybe, "It makes Pluto Nash look like No Country For Old Men."
Below you'll find a video released by Sony that offers some behind-the-scenes footage of the next James Bond movie, the horribly titled Quantum of Solace. It plays like a travelogue of sorts, showing off a wide-variety of locations the film is using. You'll get to see things you've never seen before, like Bond wearing a tuxedo while holding a champagne flute! While you won't find much action here, save for a large plane buzzing low over the ground, you will see the new Bond girls, Gemme Arterton (ehh) and Olga Kurylenko (growl).
Film director John Woo is best known for his Hong Kong action films, which includes such action classics as Hard-Boiled and The Killer, yet when he was lured by Hollywood to churn out movies, the results weren't so hot. With U.S. films like Windtalkers, Paycheck, Hostage and Mission: Impossible II safely behind him, Mr. Woo has returned to China where he can once again perform his art without restraint. His next feature is The Battle of Red Cliff, a massive epic about the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China and is the most expensive movie ever filmed in that region of the world.
Enjoy this Japanese teaser-trailer that offers a brief glimpse of what looks to be a treat for the eyes.
