Here's your chance, Octo!

From shocktillyoudrop, Some time ago there was a screening of Steve Miner's Friday the 13th: Part III at the NuArt here in L.A. It was an event I totally missed and was kicking myself after the fact because the presentation was in 3-D - an experience I could never partake in when the film was originally released in '82. I was a bit young and my virgin eyes apparently couldn't take the violence, or so my parents say.

The opportunity to see it on the big screen and in "Super 3-D" is presenting itself yet again.

Shock has been informed the film is celebrating its 25th anniversary with two showings at the Chinese 6 in Hollywood on Saturday, October 13th as part of Screamfest. The projection will be personally overseen by Martin Jay Sadoff and Gale Weaver, the 3-D supervisors on the sequel.

Cast members Tracie Savage, Paul Kratka, Richard Brooker, David Katims, Larry Zerner and composer Harry Manfredini are expected to drop in for a Q&A moderated by Daniel Farrands.

The first screening begins at 9:30pm, the second begins at 11:30pm. Click on the Screamfest link above for future ticketing info and schedule.

Wonder Woman script review

From collider, So here’s my review…

Ehhhh,

It’s okay.


Not good, not even interesting, just okay…

When you’ve read enough of these big-budget scripts, you learn not to really expect much. Character work is always really slim, the action beats are relentless and written essentially to give CGI artists something to do and to fill seats with an audience.

The writer decisions are pretty clean. Set the piece in the 40’s. The villains are Nazis but the kind you find in a badly written comic book, rather than an interesting story. They deal with the Steve Trevor problem by making him subsidiary heroic. In other words, even though he can’t save the day ‘cause he’s not the lead, he gets in enough good licks so you don’t think him a total pussy. As for the lead, their decision is to base their character on the George Perez/Greg Potter take from the late 80’s. For the record, this particular run of the character is the best run ever. If you’re interested you can pick up the trade paperback of the first six issues of the comic. They’re spectacular, but their version, even though based on this ground-breaking revision fall flat in that it doesn’t seem to have any real depth. Just surface…

Like I said, the script isn’t complete crap, but it isn’t good either, just okay.

Amazons, Greek mythology, Nazi villains, Invisible plane, magic lasso, bullet repelling bracelets: you’d think it would be pretty straight forward; but I’m telling you from experience, trying to write a straight forward serial based action script is hard. When you try, you truly appreciate what an incredible job that Lawrence Kasdan did when he wrote the first Indiana Jones film. People have tried to repeat that formula for decades and I can’t think of another film that’s been able to do it. And this script is yet another failure.

Another problem is pretty boiler-plate and one that most writers run into when they try to translate any character that has a several decade long publishing history. It takes a steady hand to pull out the bare essential of a character and translate it into motion picture form. There are so many little neat bits and you don’t want to forget any and so you stuff in as much as possible; and then you discover that you put in too much…

All their mistakes are pretty basic.

Like I said, “Ehhhh.”

Watchmen begins shooting!

Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are over, but geeks have a new movie project to unite in getting hyper about: Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the amazing comic book Watchmen.

This week was Watchmen’s first week of shooting in Canada which means that yes, this time the Watchmen movie is happening. There have been so many failed attempts to get Alan Moore’s classic superhero comic to screen that frankly, for anyone whose been following along, it’s a little hard to believe someone is finally getting it done . But after the success of 300, Snyder has the clout to do just about anything he wants, and he’s using it to push through Watchmen.

Snyder has just sent out a video in which he talks about his first week shooting one of the most eagerly anticipated movies of the decade. He’s tired, but sounds just as geeked out to finally be making Watchmen a movie reality as the property’s fans are.

See video here, http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Zack-Snyder-Intros-Watchmen-6445.html

Bionic Woman no good?

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY
Some sow's ears just don't want to be silk purses.
You can see why David Eick, the producer of NBC's heavily promoted Bionic Woman redo, might think otherwise. Having helped turn Battlestar Galactica into a well-respected cable hit by stripping the original of its silliness, it was almost inevitable he would try a similar trick on another camp relic — in this case, ABC's short-lived Six Million Dollar Man spinoff Bionic Woman.

Lightning did not strike twice. The original Battlestar always had a potent myth at its center; the problem with the show was execution, not conception. Bionic was and is just a fun, mechanical twist on Supergirl. Loading it down with pain, regret, conspiracies and Freudian father issues may produce a more serious show, but it doesn't produce a better one. In this case, camp will out.

The Woman is still Jaime Sommers (EastEnders import Michelle Ryan), but now she's a bartender raising a teenage sister (Lucy Kate Hale) and dating a super-smart professor, Will (Chris Bowers). Good thing, too, because after a near-fatal accident, he saves her life by turning her bionic.

You'd think that once the initial shock passed, she'd be grateful. In this show, not so much. Instead, Ryan delivers almost every line with the same, steady whine, squeezing whatever energy there might have been out of an already tiresome premise.

Thrown on top of the story like a smothering blanket are a host of uninvolving characters: the coldly cynical official in charge of the project (Miguel Ferrer); the second-in-command who stakes out the middle ground (Molly Price); the trainer who hates Will (Will Yun Lee); and Will's crazy, imprisoned father (Battlestar's Mark Sheppard), who's in league with the show's shadowy bad guys.

Oh, and there's the hour's one bright spot — Katee Sackhoff, another Battlestar transfer, as a bionic woman gone bad. Alas, while it's fine to have a villain who is more colorful than your hero, it's not so fine to have a supporting actor who makes your star vanish whenever they're on screen together. It makes you think that what this remake of a spinoff really needs is a spinoff of its own.

None of this means the show won't draw a crowd, at least initially. The ads are terrific (far better than the show they're promoting), and there is a fan base that likes its fantasies somber and its heroines pouty. Which may be why Bionic plays like it was created, not so much to run on TV, but to provide panels for comic book conventions.

At least here, you can see the cast for free — though perhaps not for long.

Man, Harry's getting homely!

From worstpreviews, Daniel Radcliffe spoke to MTV News about a scene that he is looking forward to in the upcoming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

"I'm really looking forward to filming the cave and all the stuff in there with the lake and the Inferi," Radcliffe enthused. "Me and [Michael] Gambon in a row boat for a few days. It's gonna be amazing."

SPOILERS AHEAD

The cave scene centers on Harry and Dumbledore as they search for one of Voldemort's horcruxes, believed to be magically concealed deep within a cliff young Tom Riddle stole away to while at an orphanage. The pair find the horcrux, but not before passing the Dark Lord's many booby traps - the most terrifying of which is a potion designed to make the drinker relive his very worst memories. It's here that Harry is able to save Dumbledore, who has tasted the brew and fallen into a screaming hysteria.

According to Radcliffe, the cave scene will not be digital at all. "I thought it was all gonna be largely visual effects, but they have built the cave," he revealed, confirming that the shoot will be all practical. "So it's gonna be very interesting to film."

Alone in the Dark 2 wrapped

From cinemablend, Brace yourselves. Determined to prove that you really can make a sequel to just about anything, directors Peter Scheerer and Michael Roesch have just finished principle photography on Alone in the Dark 2. Yeah, they made a sequel to that awful Uwe Boll movie.

Luckily… I guess… Uwe was involved only as a producer for this one. Presumably his role mainly involved beating up film critics who thought a sequel to one of the shittiest, least successful movies ever made was a bad idea. But, for those of you inexplicably interested in Alone in the Dark 2, here’s what Roesch and Sheerer had to say in the movie’s just sent out post-production press release:

Director Michael Roesch tells: "When we were hired to write and direct Alone in the Dark 2, we asked ourselves: What villain would we really like to see on the screen? And a mighty, dangerous witch was definitely on the top of our list. We cannot wait to show the movie to the audiences."

Director Peter Scheerer continues: "We were really lucky with our cast. Fortunately many actors and agents liked the script, and we were able to get so many great actors. We are great horror fans, and it´s really awesome to work with our favorite actors on the movie."

You can’t fake quotes like that. The sequel continues to follow the story of Edward Carnby, who joins forces with a team of witch hunters to track down the mighty and dangerous witch Elisabeth Dexter. Christian Slater is not back as Carnby, and with the state his career is in he’ll normally do anything. Hell, he did the first movie. How much worse could the sequel be? We’ll find out when Alone in the Dark 2 is released some time in 2008.

Ang Lee thinks Americans are dumb

Ang Lee has been talking about his new film Lust, Caution with young directors in Hong Kong and has said that he is unsure of it's suitability for the U.S. market.

In fact Ang Lee's gone so far as to say that it isn't really the subject matter for that audience, and it is very Chinese in origin. That in itself is quite strange considering that the film couldn't be released in China without heavy editing from the Director.

Associated Press through Yahoo News has the comments from the Director who says:

"Its pace, its film language - it's all very Chinese. I also used Western film noir. It's a new start for me. It's not very audience-friendly for a market like the U.S. It's not their subject matter…"
He's also highlighting that the NC-17 rating Lust, Caution received will also do the film great harm, since it bans people from under seventeen from seeing the film. Thank the lord the MPAA are there to protect young American's from sex.

Perhaps the heavily edited Chinese version would be better suited for America?

Sarah Jessica Parker is just plain ugly (not a SITC post!)

From thesuperficial, Mother of God, is it possible for someone to be less attractive? I don’t get how any man could find her the least bit arousing. Even if solid gold coins shot out of her ears during sex, there’s no way I’d go near Sarah Jessica Parker. Sure I’d be filthy rich, but my wang would never talk to me again. And it’s important for the two of us to maintain open lines of communication. I need to know when he’s got to pee, and he needs to know when I’m drunk. So he’s ready for some mystery spelunking. Will he be in a woman tonight or a bagel? Therein lies the mystery.

'INDIANA' BLABBER FACES DOOM

September 25, 2007 -- A BIG-mouthed extra working on the new "Indiana Jones" flick has blown his fledgling movie career to smithereens by spilling the film's major plot points.

Director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas made the entire cast and crew of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" sign nondisclosure agreements. But Tyler Nelson - cast as a "dancing Russian soldier" - gave an interview to his hometown newspaper, the Edmond Sun in Oklahoma, in which he revealed that:

* Indy, played once again by Harrison Ford, and the Soviet army are both searching for a priceless skull made of crystal in the jungles of South America.

* The Russians take Indy hostage and then blackmail him by threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend and mother of his son, Marion Ravenwood, portrayed by Karen Allen. Cast as the son is Shia LaBeouf.

* Cate Blanchett plays an evil Russian who grills Indy. "I saw Harrison Ford strapped to a chair and being interrogated," Nelson told the paper.

Nelson's own big scene comes when he celebrates Indy's capture by dancing to balalaika folk music. But it's doubtful the footage of the 24-year-old actor - a professionally trained ballet dancer who studied at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow - will make it into the final cut. Spielberg, furious Nelson blabbed, has reportedly snipped his scene.

Spielberg's spokesman, Marvin Levy, wouldn't say whether any of Nelson's spoilers are accurate, but noted: "Who knows whether that particular person will ever work in this town again?"

Reached by Page Six yesterday, Nelson told us, "No comment. I'm not supposed to talk about it." But his rep at the Thomas Talent Agency said, "He's in trouble. He's got to know that he can't do that."

Meanwhile, there have been behind-the-scenes machinations to get the story squashed. Nelson got the Edmond Sun to yank the story from its Web site, with an employee there telling us: "We removed it out of respect to a hometown boy." And plot-spoilers posted on Harry Knowles' influential Ain't It Cool News site also vanished. Knowles didn't return our call.

The movie, fourth in the "Indiana Jones" series, is set to hit theaters in May.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

From tiff07, This scabrous, provocative work of film noir comes from one of cinema’s more intriguing masters. Sidney Lumet’s extraordinary career has delighted in unsavoury, complex characters that question the fundamentals of America’s self-image. He is also a gifted director of actors, helping many of the world’s greatest earn countless awards and nominations.

These elements fuse again in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. Essentially a botched-heist thriller.

The performances are simply outstanding. Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman play the brothers. Hank (Hawke) is a loser way behind on his child support, while Andy (Hoffman) is a smug and thieving drug addict whose high-powered corporate career is about to crumble around him. Marisa Tomei [in her first nude scene] plays Andy’s wife and Hank’s lover – oops! – with great moxie, while the distinguished Albert Finney electrifies the screen as the boys’ mean-spirited father out for revenge.

The film employs an overlapping time structure, revealing information by retelling the central elements of the story from different characters’ points of view over different days. This allows Lumet to present broader refractions of these easily condemned sleazebags, never justifying their actions but making their all-too-human desperation uncomfortably familiar and conceptually possible.

Lumet’s impressive return to form could not have come at a better time. The tough, angry spirit of seventies cinema embodied in his classic films like Serpico, The Anderson Tapes and Dog Day Afternoon suffuses much of American filmmaking today. This newest film shows that Lumet the guru still has a few surprising tricks up his sleeve.

I'm just sayin'