Entertainment Today and Beyond

Never Met a Zombi I Didn’t Like…

Fringe’s ANNA TORV on the verge of becoming a STAR

anna-torvAfter watching every episode of Fox’s highly entertaining and fascinating new program Fringe this season, I’d have to say lead character, Anna Torv, is the most interesting actress working in television right now. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is a major talent who will eventually find her way to the big screen. Born and raised in Melbourne Australia, Torv speaks with a thick Australian accent off-camera, but is every bit the American when she steps into her character of FBI agent Olivia Dunham.

If you haven’t seen Fringe yet, this JJ Abrams produced series plays like a cross between House and The X-Files. Torv, a talent I never heard of before she was cast on Fringe, does a great job playing the character with a powerful combination of self confidence and a vulnerability that makes her extremely appealing. In many ways she reminds me of Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs. High praise indeed but Torv in my mind is something special. With a solid 11 million viewers a week it appears to be a given that Fringe will be back for a second season and I have no doubt she will continue to be the engine behind of the shows success, although the supporting cast (Joshua Jackson, John Noble) are also terrific. Here’s a clip of her first ever TV interview on David Letterman, showing her promoting Fringe. Take a LOOK

April 23, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | | Leave a Comment

ROBIN HOOD and TWILIGHT NEW MOON in production and STAR TREK reviews keep getting better and better

crowehoodUniversal has released the first still of Ridley Scott’s currently filming Robin Hood, starring Russell Crowe. He looks pretty good in his Maximus style haircut. Producers of this new incarnation promise a Robin Hood for our times and a character that will be more relevant than ever. Hopefully Crow’s Robin Hood can take a trip over to Wall Street and shoot Jim Cramer and the rest of the CNBC cronies in the ass with his bow and arrow. For me that would be worth the price of admission and certainly relevant. I couldn’t be more serious.

twilight-cast_lSummit Entertainment has officially begun production on Twilight New Moon the sequel to last year’s hit film Twilight. With reaction to the first film pretty much split right down the middle, there’s a lot riding on this follow-up, especially since director Catherine Hardwicke will not be back to helm this new installment. With  Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) and Dakota Fanning added to the cast (as villainous vampires) it appears that Summit will shell out a lot more money as they try and turn out a higher quality product. While Twilight was far from perfect, it did work on a few different levels – mostly the interesting chemistry of its two leads, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison. With Chris Weitz (American Pie) now taking over the directorial reigns my gut feeling is that this second film in this franchise will have a very different feel from the first. That may or may not be a good thing for its very strong fan base. I don’t know what went wrong between Summit and director Hardwicke but, after listening to her commentary along side Stewart and Pattison on the DVD, it appeared that they all got along great and she was very committed to the material. It looks like Summit wanted a director who was more comfortable handling special effects for the second go and to not have to deal with the headaches Hardwicke caused Summit executives. Twilight New Moon will hit theaters November 20, 2009.

Reviews are still coming in very strong on Paramount’s new Star Trek re-boot so I expect it to be a major player at the box-office when it hits theaters May 8. With X-Men Origins Wolverine coming out a week before, and Ron Howard’s Angels and Demons a week after, it will have a lot of competition, but my gut feeling is it will be a really big event movie. It was interesting this week when actor Matt Damon admitted that he turned down the role of Capt Kirk, a role which went to the relatively unknown Chris Pine.

April 22, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , , , | Leave a Comment

ZOMBIELAND wraps principal photography

zombieland1According to director Ruben Fleischer, filming has now wrapped up on his post apocalyptic action comedy Zombieland which stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland). While I generally like zombie films to be straight
forward drama, humor has certainly been
effective in this genre. Films like 2004’s Shaun of the Dead and 1985’s Return of the Living Dead are two terrific examples of that. Here are a couple of stills from the film’s last day of zombieland2shooting. One is of Grauman’s Chinese theater and the other is Beverly drive, both landmarks in Los Angeles. Look for Zombieland to hit theaters Oct 9, 2009.

April 21, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , , , , | Leave a Comment

What HOLLYWOOD could learn from the SUSAN BOYLE phenomenon

With roughly 30 million people watching Susan Boyle’s wildly moving appearance on You Tube in just the last few days, I would hope Hollywood takes notice why her appearance on the popular UK show Britain’s Got Talent has emotionally touched so many. The one basic component for any successful Movie or TV show is concept followed by execution followed by a strong payoff. Sadly the majority of movies and television programs fail to achieve creative success from simply following this very effective formula. The 7 minute and 34 second Susan Boyle video appearing on You Tube was all three of those components perfectly packaged as well as anything could be. It’s like absorbing Rocky, The Karate Kid, Rudy and every other great feel good story in the span of 7 minutes.

After its concept is introduced, and its execution takes place, its payoff is as powerful as anything I’ve ever seen. I almost can’t believe I’m saying that but I am -  seven minutes of the best drug one could take. It’s called the beauty of life and the power of pure emotion. Now whether Simon Cowell and the other two judges knew this plain looking forty-seven year old woman had this type of talent before she walked on the stage is irrelevant (I’m sure they had some idea if not fully aware of it) because the audience did not. Their emotion and pure celebration was real and that’s why word of mouth on this You Tube clip is through the roof. I hope screenwriters study this video as a tool for the way a story should be presented. Concept, execution and payoff are laid out in full force here and, after watching this video over 20 times, I still find it elating. I can’t think of any higher compliment. If for some reason you haven’t seen it you will not be disappointed and if you want to feel good – at least only for a few minutes – I recommend it. Take a LOOK 

April 19, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | | Leave a Comment

WOLVERINE potential BOX-OFFICE plus GREEN HORNET gets sizable budget

wolverine-movie-poster_404x606Fox is reportedly predicting an opening weekend in the $80 million dollar range for its upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie. Despite the fact that the unfinished stolen print of the movie was downloaded over a million times in the last few weeks, the studio expects moviegoers to line up at least for its opening weekend. I guess if Fast and Furious can open to $73 million in business this prediction is not that far fetched. The big question at this point is – what can moviegoers expect? I think most people going into this hope for some solid entertainment but I doubt many expect anything that will really blow them away. A standalone film featuring a guy who has claws coming out of his hands just won’t be as thought provoking as anything in The Dark Knight. I think that goes without saying. With the studio already contemplating a sequel I would assume Wolverine at worst has some value, although this film will have a hard time attracting many moviegoers outside the core X-Men fan-base which, by the box-office of the first three X-Men, is fairly sizable. Let’s just hope it’s not the second coming of Elektra. To this day I can’t comprehend how much potential that film had and how bad it turned out to be. For the record I’m a big Jennifer Garner fan and couldn’t believe she agreed to do the Daredevil spin-off film after reading that dreadful script. As for Wolverine, I hope it’s a good movie but I must admit my expectations will be tempered going in.

green-lanternWarner Bros announcement that its Green Hornet movie will shoot at Fox studios in Sydney, Australia, with a budget of $150 million dollars is a little surprising. Not the location… but the budget. While the film will be directed by the very competent Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), the studio is giving a big boost of confidence to the characters potential appeal sinking in that kind of coin. With the average marketing cost of these types of film close to $50 million WB will be in for $200 million before the first ticket is bought. While superheros are still Hollywood’s hottest genre, the Green Hornet is not a surefire thing and this kind of budget makes it a sizeable gamble. Still, it’s nice to see that director Campbell will have maximum resources as he begins filming in November. Expect casting announcements to be made shortly.

April 19, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , , | Leave a Comment

Exclusive Footage of TRANSFORMERS 2: RISE OF THE FALLEN released by Michael Bay

Michael Bay’s website has released an exclusive scene and some other additional footage of the highly anticipated sequel to his smash hit Transformers. It looks fantastic! The humor is pitch perfect and the effects are as good as any in movie history. A bold statement perhaps, but I believe it to be fact. I don’t get some of the ‘Bay hate’ circulating in some fan circles as I think the guy has a ton of talent as a filmmaker. When I see the interaction between Shia LaBeauf and Megan Fox with Bumblebee I can’t help but think of the feeling I had watching Gremlins in 1984. The tone and spirit of these two different films feels very much the same to me. I would be very surprised if this isn’t summer’s biggest blockbuster.

April 19, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | , | Leave a Comment

ARMORED Trailer

Sony has released the trailer to its heist thriller ARMORED which stars Matt Dillon, Laurence Fishburne, Jean Reno and Skeet Ulrich. While films like this rarely do big business anymore, they can be a fun watch. The Assault on Precinct 13 remake is an example of this type of middle of the rung, modestly budgeted movie, that was a blast. While these types of films usually don’t have a long shelf life in theaters they typically find an audience on DVD and cable. Armored is directed by Nimrod Antel who helmed the nifty horror thriller Vacancy. Take a LOOK at the trailer. lt hits theaters Sept 18, 2009.

April 17, 2009 Posted by | Reviews | , , , , , | Leave a Comment

SEAGAL AND VAN DAMME to team up for new movie

jean-claude_van_damme_june_22c_2007According to Entertainment Weekly, Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme will team up for an independent action film titled WEAPON. This would be the two aging action stars first pairing on screen. They will play “the world’s best assassins” with Seagal as a sharp shooter and Van Damme a knife expert who take down a drug cartel supported by the DEA. While it will be fun to see the two on screen together, it really comes at least a decade too late. If anyone has watched one of the many direct to DVD movies Seagal has made in the last ten years you will notice that time hasn’t been overly kind. At age 57 he looks very bloated and a shadow of his former self. Van Damme has certainly had his share of personal demons but at 47 he’s still fairly fit. Like Segal his career has been reduced to direct DVD films although the quality of his has been superior steven_seagalto what Seagal has churned out.

Looking back, both of these guys who were riding pretty high in the 1990’s and it’s amazing how badly they crashed and burned career wise. After hitting his peak in 1992 with the big hit studio action film, Under Siege, Seagal never was able to star in anything quite as respected, although I certainly like the film’s sequel, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory. After the box-office failure of Fire Down Below in 1997, Seagal lost favor with the Hollywood studio system and was reduced mostly to the direct to DVD world. Although he did try for a comeback with Exit Wounds in 2001 and Half Past Dead a year later, both films were sub par at best and Seagal was never really taken seriously as an A-list action star anymore.
 
As for VanDamme, it appeared he was on a roll creatively with two very good action films, Time Cop and Sudden Death (My all time favorite Van Damm film) in 1994 and 1995, both directed by Peter Hyams. While Time Cop was a hit, Sudden Death (Die Hard in a hockey arena) was not and his big screen career never recovered. His personal demons (drug use) didn’t help matters either. I also really liked his 1993 film Nowhere to Run, a movie dismissed by critics but a favorite of mine for showing how likeable he could be on screen. While it’s most likely Weapon will also go straight to DVD, the pairing should be interesting, at least as a reflection of two guys who were on top at one time.

April 16, 2009 Posted by | And Beyond - Trailers & News | | Leave a Comment

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