New full length Superman Returns trailer

From IWatchStuff: With just under two months until the film's release, the trailer for Superman Returns has hit the Internet. Director Bryan Singer really pulls the stops on this one, giving us all the big, iconic shots you'd hope for in a Superman movie. We're talking the majestic Fortress of Solitude, Superman jumping amazing heights, drifitng above the great glowing globe of the Daily Planet, floating through space, bullets ricocheting off his chest, throwing animals at targets, rolling around in pushpins, yelling at statues, kissing makeup ads, bashfully hiding erections with his cape, twisting the heads off infants, and even flying! If you don't believe me, you'll just have to watch it yourself.

French trailer for Casino Royale

My job has developed a major snag in terms of my ability to post pictures and generally blog. But I caught this earlier.

The IWatchStuff guy has a lot of mean stuff to say, but I thought it all looked pretty damn good. That free-runner chase scene looks particularly appealing. The only problem: while I'm not saying the new Bond is completely devoid of sexiness per se, in that glam shot of him at the end his face looks like a butcher's fist with eyes.

Friday the 13th Remake in Limbo

From Moviesonline, "Reports from the cool cats at B.D. are suggesting that the "Friday the 13th" remake that was being slated for an October release has been halted and is still up in the air on whether or not it will start production. Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls) was signed on to direct the script written by Mark Wheaton. A few cast members have also already been cast in various roles, including Gary and Jake Busey. Corey Feldman has also signed on for a cameo which would make this the 3rd Friday the 13th film he has been in.

Not much is known about the movie except that the movie will focus on hockey mask killer Jason Vorhees doing his usual thing. Which actually has already put an interesting twist on this "re-make" as the original movie had Jason's mother as the suprise killer. Whether or not they intend to go with the supernatural origins of Jason has not been confirmed.

The reason for production being stopped is reportedly an issue with obtaining the rights to the series. It makes me wonder exactly what kind of creative liberties they are planning to go with in this movie if the folks who own the rights aren't willing to sell out. They already have on numerous occasions already."

What's this? What's this?

From Aintitcoolnews, "a pretty neat bit 'o news for us Jack Skellington fans. Looks like the Pumpkin King will be blazing on the silver screens once again this Halloween, in 3-D no less, which will use the same process as CHICKEN LITTLE did last year (great 3-D, shitty movie for any audience member out of diapers).
Any excuse to put NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS on the big screen again is good for me and the CHICKEN LITTLE digital 3-D was fanastic.
Speaking of 3-D, those lucky folks in LA will get a chance to attend the World of 3-D Festival II and see some of the most famous and rare 3-D films ever made. You'll also get a chance to see the very first polarized projection of that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3-D remake thing. Check out the below release for more info!!
Hollywood -- SabuCat Productions will try to top their highly successful "World 3-D Film Expo" of 2003 with "World 3-D Film Expo II", this coming September 8 through September 17, 2006, at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. The 10 day festival will not only be highlighting the sold out shows of 2003 (such as "House of Wax", Creature From the Black Lagoon", "Robot Monster", "The Glass Web" and "Dial M For Murder"), but will also be showing EIGHT new "Golden Era" titles, most of which have never been seen in over 50 years in 3-D. In fact, two of the titles have never been shown in 3-D even in the 1950's! The Expo will be having the World 3-D premieres of "Diamond Wizard" (1954) and "Jivaro" (1954). Most of the other six new titles, "Sangaree", "Those Redheads From Seattle", "Taza, Son of Cochise", "Devil's Canyon", "Wings of the Hawk", and "Cease Fire" have not been seen in 3-D since their original release dates.
NONE of the films will be shown in the anaglyphic (red/blue) system; like Expo I,, all of the "Golden Age" features and shorts will be shown in 35mm and in "double interlock" Polaroid System, the original method (and still the very best method) for showing these films.
All told, 35 features and over 20 short subjects will unspool at the Expo. In addition to the various feature films, we will be premiering several 3-D short subjects, including the long lost cartoon, "Popeye, Ace of Space", as well as "Hawaiian Nights", Carnival in April", "Owl and the Pussycat", and many others.
Other highlights of Expo II include:
Opening night Gala, with food and wine, and showing TWO 3-D premieres: "Those Redheads From Seattle" and "Taza, Son of Cochise".
The World Polaroid projection premiere of "Night of the Living Dead 3D" (2006), with the director, Jeff Broadstreet, in attendance, as well as the stars of the film!
World premiere of the fully restored, uncut, "The Stewardesses" (1971) will be shown on Saturday, September 9th, as a midnight screening. The star of the film, Christina Hart, will be making her first personal appearance for the film in 35 years!
A special "All Animation" show, highlighting a dozen animated films from the Golden era of 3-D (and earlier!).
Shows highlighting Russian and British 3-D short films, most of which have never been seen in the United States.
Rarities, Part II: One of the key highlights of Expo I was "Rarities"; we've now discovered some more, amazing and historic stereoscopic imagery!
"Cease Fire" is the only film (let alone a film in 3-D) ever shot at an actual war: The Korean War, in this case, using actual soldiers as actors. Some of those soldiers (and their families) are planning to attend; it will be the first time the film has been screened in 3-D in over 50 years.
Paul Morrissey's "Frankenstein" (1974) will be screened in a brand new restored print!
Even in the case of films that were run at Expo I, we will have a few "new" surprises. For example, "Kiss Me Kate" will be screened using the only surviving original dye-transfer ("3-strip") Technicolor print still in existence. "Charge at Feather River" is a brand new restored print. And for the first time in over 50 years, many of the Golden Age films will screen in WIDE SCREEN, as they were meant to be seen.
Festival organizer Jeff Joseph says, "Although Expo I was wildly successful, we swore we would never do one again... but then, some film elements were discovered, some studios started to be very helpful, one thing led to another...and here we are."
Detailed information about the festival, film schedule, and tickets can be found here.

Early reviews mixed for HD DVD

By Thomas K. Arnold, Special for USA TODAY
Chris Searight rushed out to his local Best Buy the night before Toshiba's new HD DVD players officially went on sale April 18 and bought the $500 model.
"I wanted it for the clean, high-definition image and uncompressed sound," says Searight, 31, of Dallas.

His verdict was mixed: "The image quality is fantastic." But the player "takes way too long to boot, to sync with the projector and finally load and play a movie," he says. "There's a lot of work to be done on the connecting and the consistency of the audio."

Searight also was disappointed that only two movies were available the night he bought his player. "If the HD DVD guys had wanted to make an impact, they should have released better, and more, titles."

Jim Keenan, 50, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was more enthusiastic. "I'm very impressed with the player, even though it's the first one of its kind and does have a few quirky issues," he says.

HD DVD and Blu-ray formats are vying to replace DVD once high definition becomes standard. Sixteen million U.S. households have HDTV, and by year's end, that number is expected to reach 25 million, according to research by Warner Bros.

At 1,080 lines of resolution vs. 480 for DVD, both formats offer a clearer picture and hold three to five times the data of DVD.

HD DVD, developed by Toshiba, arrived first. The cheapest of the two Toshiba players ($500 and $799) out now costs half what the cheapest Blu-ray Disc player will cost when it arrives in June.

Toshiba's Jodi Sally says initial sales were good, and "to keep up with demand, we will be receiving product from overseas."

Robert Zohn, owner of Value Electronics in Scarsdale, N.Y., says he took advance orders for 316 Toshiba players and sold out his initial allotment the first day.

"We will carry Blu-ray, but our full support and dedication is to the HD DVD format," says Zohn, who does most of his sales online. "However, if sales stay as brisk as they have been, and if Toshiba can deliver enough players, I believe the format war will end before Blu-ray ships its first player."

Despite its head start and cheaper price, HD DVD is considered the underdog. Only Toshiba makes HD DVD players, and LG is expected to enter the market shortly. Dozens of manufacturers will make the Blu-ray Disc player.

On the software side, only three of the six major studios — Paramount, Universal and Warner — support HD DVD.

Paramount and Warner say they also will support Blu-ray, as will the three other majors — Disney, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures — along with Lionsgate.

Will consumers replace all their DVDs with high-definition upgrades?

Chris Haire, 27, of Orlando will. After watching Serenity and The Last Samurai on his HD DVD player, he says: "It's awesome. I'm going to be replacing all these old DVDs as soon as they come out with more movies."

Vatican Calls for Boycott of DaVinci Code Movie (which means I really want to see it now)

From Yahoo, "ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican stepped up its offensive against "The Da Vinci Code" on Friday when a top official close to Pope Benedict blasted the book as full of anti-Christian lies and urged Catholics to boycott the film.

The latest broadside came from Archbishop Angelo Amato, the number two official in the Vatican doctrinal office which was headed by Pope Benedict until his election last year.

Amato, addressing a Catholic conference in Rome, called the book "stridently anti-Christian .. full of calumnies, offences and historical and theological errors regarding Jesus, the Gospels and the Church."

He added: "I hope that you all will boycott the film."

The movie, which is being released by Sony Pictures division Columbia Pictures, stars Tom Hanks and premieres next month at the Cannes film festival in France. Sony Pictures is the media wing of Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news).

Amato said the book, written by Dan Brown, had been hugely successful around the world thanks in part to what he called "the extreme cultural poverty on the part of a good number of the Christian faithful."

The book has sold over 40 million copies.

The novel is an international murder mystery centered on attempts to uncover a secret about the life of Christ that a clandestine society has tried to protect for centuries.

The central tenet of the book is that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children.

In his address to the group, Amato said Christians should be more willing "to reject lies and gratuitous defamation."

He said that if "such lies and errors had been directed at the Koran or the Holocaust they would have justly provoked a world uprising."

He added: "Instead, if they are directed against the Church and Christians, they remain unpunished."

Amato suggested that Catholics around the world should launch organized protests against the "The Da Vinci Code" film just as some had done in 1988 to protest against Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ."

LATEST BROADSIDE

Amato's broadside was just the latest blast against the book and the film.

Just before Easter, another Vatican official railed against it at an event attended by Pope Benedict, branding the book and its film version as just more examples of Jesus being sold out by a wave of what he called "pseudo-historic" art.

Catholic group Opus Dei has told Sony Pictures that putting a disclaimer on the movie stressing it is a work of fiction would be a welcome show of respect toward the Church.

In the novel and film, Opus Dei is characterized as the latest in a series of secretive groups that worked over the centuries to obscure truths about Jesus Christ.

Opus Dei is a controversial conservative Church group whose members are mostly non-clerics and are urged to seek holiness in their everyday professional jobs and lives. It has rejected criticisms that it is secretive and elitist.

With the movie's opening less than a month away, Opus Dei and other Christian groups have been sponsoring Web sites and events telling people the novel should not be believed.

The book is a thriller in which the main characters must uncover clues they hope will lead them to an important religious relic. Their adversary is an Opus Dei member."

Now I have that annoying theme stuck in my head

From Dark horizons, 'Eddie Murphy is tipped to be reprising his famous role of Axel Foley in a fourth "Beverly Hills Cop" movie reports The Sun.

The original three movies, which began back in 1984, starred Murphy as a cheeky Detroit detective who tracks down the killer of a friend who is operating an arts dealership as a cover in Beverly Hills. His different approach to tackling the situations upsets the local police force.

The last BHC film opened 12 years ago in 1994 to disappointing box-office and reviews. Murphy recently said "The new script is looking good".'

Those Titans will clash once again

Oddly enough I watched the original over the weekend and was struck by how crappy it was.

From Aintitcoolnews, "Quint here with the geekiest news to hit the trades today. In another round of remake mania at Warner Bros. they've taken the next step in their redux of CLASH OF THE TITANS. They announced a while ago they wanted to remake the flick and now they've hired Travis Beacham to script the thing. Beacham's an up and comer whose original script KILLING ON CARNIVAL ROAD is in the works with Guillermo del Toro directing.

My thoughts... I love the original, one of the last films Ray Harryhausen worked his magic on. I still think his Medusa is one of the most well executed creatures in movie history and I love the cast, which are all badasses... okay, except for Harry Hamlin. But everybody else rocks in that flick. Burgess Meredith especially. One of the things I love the most about CLASH OF THE TITANS is it was one of the last fantasy films to actually feel truly fantastic. There was an awe to Harryhausen's work in the film that I don't think was rivalled until LOTR.

Beacham's got a tough road in front of him. On one hand I'd love to see an epic Greek Mythology flick, on the other there's a possibility of tarnishing CLASH OF THE TITAN's good name with some winky-wink at the audience imposter. Gonna be interesting to see who is picked to direct and see how the cast shapes up after that. What do you folks think?"

X3 kind of looks crappy

From Iwatchstuff, "It's been long rumored that X-Men: The Last Stand would finally include the famous X-men villain, the giant, mutant-hunting robot Sentinels. Now, after months of anticipation, a clip shown by Hugh Jackman on the Tonight Show finally has our answer: yes, X-men 3 does have awful dialogue and effects."

Go here and decide for yourselves.

BoxOffice Report: April 30th, 2006

From Moviesonline, "It's a weekend of the newcomers. Three of this week's new releases have taken the top spots on the chart today. Robin William's road trip comedy "RV" came in at #1 showing that William's still has what it takes to steal the show. Second on the list is the 9/11 tragic drama "United 93" proving that despite it's controversial topic, there were a great number of people ready to see a film about one of this decade's greatest tragedies. But there were also a great number of people ready to see a movie about bouncing gymnast girls with "Stick It" coming in at a close third. Last week's "Silent Hill" remains on the chart, but moved down 3 spots since last weekend when it debuted at #1. "Scary Movie 4" is still tickling funny bones at #5 and "Ice Age" remains on the chart even after it's 5th week with a total box-office gross of $177,708,000.

RV $16,400,000
United 93 $11,605,000
Stick It $11,255,000
Silent Hill $9,300,000
Scary Movie 4 $7,808,000
The Sentinel $7,600,000
Ice Age $7,050,000
Akeelah/Bee $6,250,000
The Wild $4,719,000
Benchwarmers $4,400,000

Next week promises to be a Tom Cruise weekend as "Mission Impossible 3" hits the big screen. If audiences are still in the mood for horror they will have "American Haunting" to scream about. And Disney's "Hoot" may attract younger audiences but I will be staying clear. If this week is any indication, I would suspect that it's possible that more people will warm up to seeing "United 93" by next weekend, keeping it somewhere high on the charts. And while "Mission Impossible" will surely dethrown RV I'm sure Robin Williams will continue to rake in quite a bit in the box-office come next weekend as well."

Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof script reviewed

From scriptzone. forumculture.net,

"Draft: Final, Valentine's Day 2006.

Quentin Tarantino, America’s variation of French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard, has begun production on his sixth production (not including his contributions to the horrendously uneven Four Rooms and directorial cameo for Sin City) Death Proof, his half of a double-billed drive-in homage picture entitled Grind House, which Tarantino is co-directing with Robert Rodriguez.

The script, like all of Tarantino’s work, is seeping with intertextuality and a strong thrust towards turning genre conventions on their head. Moving away from his three favorite genres (noir, revenge, and kung-fu), Tarantino takes on a variation of the road/horror film a la The Hitcher or Duel. However, the results, on paper, are mixed.

The basic plot follows a trio of young girls (Jungle Julia, Arlene, and Shanna) as they spend their night bar hopping, going after and teasing boys, and getting trashed. Meanwhile, a muscle car driving stuntman named Mike (Mickey Rouke is rumored to be in the role) with a unique sexual fetish stalks the girls and, ultimately, uses his car to terrorize them.

The problem with Tarantino’s script is his manipulation of genre conventions could very well backfire this time around simply because of the fact that Tarantino does not really supply the audience with a firm sense of one character. Granted, the audience is given a sense of the Stuntman Mike character and Tarantino’s manipulation of the audience regarding his character is wonderfully done. However, Stuntman Mike is the villain and, for the most part, is vaguely drawn for us.

Quite simply, what the audience lacks is a textual surrogate, a portal into the film’s narrative. ::SPOILERS AHEAD:: Well, Tarantino does supply the audience with one, but then he kills her off at the half way point. However, not only does he kill her, he kills off nearly all of his cast 70 pages into his 130 page screenplay, favoring a Kubrickian break in narrative which completely fractures the film into two parts, almost the same way Hitchcock did when he killed off Marion Crane in the first half of Psycho. However, whereas Hitchcock had Norman Bates to force the audience to relate to, Tarantino has Mike who, while not an un-interesting character, is close but ultimately not on par with Norman Bates.

Now, one can be relatively sure that Tarantino is aware of the limitations he has set for himself when he chose to structure his film in such a way and he could very well pull it off when the film hits the big screen. He specialties are dialogue and his playfulness with genre conventions and Death Proof, like Kill Bill is basically a genre exercise. Furthermore, his Kill Bill, which was a rather shallow read on paper, turned out nearly flawless on film.

Unlike Kill Bill however, the problem Tarantino is facing with Death Proof is that of length. As previously noted, the script is 130 pages and his segment of Grind House is only around 75 minutes. In order to accommodate the length of overall picture he would have to cut one-half of his screenplay and while the result would be entertaining genre picture, it would not be nearly as interesting due to the fact that it would pretty much have to abandon all of its playfulness. He may still be able to keep his intertextual nods to Kill Bill (one of the later characters, Zoe Bell, a stunt woman from the film, is rumored to be playing herself) and supply his horror film with a commentary on Hollywood and fame the film, by and large, would be completely without a focal point.

While any informed cinephile will be correct in his or her assumption that Death Proof will be death proof at the box office, Tarantino’s epic will not transfer to a smaller canvas without massive revising and it could cost him both some admirers and some clout."