Among the major movies coming out this summer and next summer are The Dark Knight and Speed Racer. While you can watch the trailers for them now and check out various news items about the flicks, we know what many readers care about:
Toys!
Thanks to ComingSoon.net, here’s a look at a couple of toys from these upcoming blockbusters:
While only a dozen or so people actually saw The Hottie and the Nottie, the turnout was enough for readers of imdb.com to rank the Paris Hilton vehicle as the worst movie of all-time. Quite the dishonor.
When asked about the flick’s flameout, co-star Christine Lakin said:
“With any project you take, you can’t think about reviews and you can’t think about the way a studio is going to market a film. I have no control over that. At the end of the day, people either love or hate Paris Hilton, and they will either want to go see the movie or they don’t.”
But did Paris’ high profile - and less than stellar reputation - doom the film?
“I don’t know if it necessarily hurt the movie for what this movie is. I think it actually could have helped for the genre. I think it was the way that maybe the whole movie was marketed,” Lakin said. “It’s an ensemble romantic comedy, and I think everyone who has seen the movie actually finds it to be really charming and really funny and very sweet in the end.
“But when it’s marketed as a vanity piece that’s not what you think it is, you think it’s going to be one big music video, and it’s not at all. The thing that’s hard about it is I think she actually does a really nice job. She’s much more relaxed and real then you have ever seen her onscreen. It’s very endearing. It’s kinda how she is in real life behind the scenes.”
We haven’t seen The Hottie and the Nottie, of course. Have you? Or anyone you know? What did they think of it?
While Live Schrieber was originally slated to play the younger William Stryker in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it’s now known that this actor will portray the character of Sabretooth instead.
So, who will be filling Stryker’s evil shoes? Danny Huston.
The role was originated by Bryan Cox in X2: X-Men United.
Moreover, IESB.net, is reporting that Lynn Collins has been cast as Silver Fox, Wolverine’s love interest and fellow member of the Team X project. Collins beat out Maggie Q and Michelle Monaghan for the role.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine explores Wolverine’s early days. The movie will cover Logan’s early life, including his involvement with the mysterious Weapon X program. It comes out in 2009.
Doug Liman is the director of Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson’s latest film, Jumper. He recently talked to Movie Web about making the flick:
Q: Your past films have been grounded in a recognizable reality. Why did you choose to take on something that has such a fantastical premise this time out?
Doug Liman: I fell in love with the character of David Rice. I fell in love with someone discovering they can teleport, and the first thing they do with it is rob a bank. I loved him for that. In the hands of another filmmaker, that would have been an act that ultimately required some sort of retribution. He is doing unlikable things. In the end, they would have him redeemed.
They would turn him into a hero. I actually didn’t want him to change. And I loved him for robbing that bank. The same way I loved Vince Vaughn’s character in Swingers, for saying those things about women. For me, there is an honesty. It is very human, and I am not going to get ripped apart for being cynical.
What message is this giving the youth of America? I didn’t want this to be a mirror back into society. I didn’t want to tell people this is what you should do.
Obviously, Spider-Man is a better message for the youth of America. That you should save the world versus Jumper, which says, “With great power comes whatever you want.” There is something very honest and lovable about David Rice.
It was one of the reasons why I knew I should make this movie and not someone else. Because I knew if I made this film, I would not feel the compulsion to make him a hero. The generic Hollywood version of this film writes itself. It is screenwriting 101. A selfish hero comes across a destructive villain and then changes in order to save the world.
We’ve seen that a thousand times before. I thought, “What if we had a selfish superhero that doesn’t care about anyone else and he wants to save his own ass. He uses his power for himself.” And we love that. He only reluctantly does something heroic because he has no other choice. He hasn’t really changed. He is still the same guy at the end as he is in the beginning.
That, to me, is a much more interesting story. And it keeps in line with the more character driven stories that I have been doing. It is like the movies I have made in the past.
Read the complete interview now.
Following in the tradition of other dance-off movies such as You Got Served, Stomp the Yard and, well, Step Up, we present Step Up 2 the Streets.
As films that focus more on dancing ability than acting chops, these movies are typically entertaining if you just take them for what they are. Did critics feel that way about Step Up 2 the Streets? Here’s your answer…
- The story may be old, but these kids act - and dance - as though they are telling it for the first time. – Chicago Sun-Times
- The dance has to be good because the rest of the movie is one long cliche. — Orlando Sentinel
- Why quibble? Anyone who goes to this movie for the plot is insane. It’s all about the moves and the bodies putting them on. — Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Step Up 2 features nearly as much dancing as it does dialogue, and that’s a good thing, considering the after-school special quality of its obligatory emotional scenes. — Variety
Ellen Page is taking advantage of every opportunity Juno has opened up for her.
Having already signed up to star in Whip It and Drag Me to Hell, the Oscar nominee will also co-star with Cillian Murphy in the psychological thriller Peacock.
The title is derived from tiny Peacock, Nebraska, where Murphy’s character, a split personality, fools the town into believing his two alter egos are man and wife. Page plays a struggling young mother who holds the key to his past and sparks a battle between the personalities.
Shooting begins in May, according to Variety.
“Peacock stunned me as a script from start to finish,” Murphy, who will reprise his role in The Dark Knight this summer, said. “It offers an incredible challenge to an actor - one I couldn’t turn down.”
We already know There Will Be Blood.
But, according to the following video, there will also be bell…
Movie fans will have to wait a few extra months to be taken back to the final frontier.
Paramount Pictures has shifted the release date of its upcoming Star Trek movie from Christmas 2008 to May 8, 2009. The J.J. Abrams-directed film is still in production.
Variety reports that the film’s release date shift “was part of a major reshuffling to the studio’s release calendar, as well as DreamWorks’ release calendar. Studio insiders said Star Trek has the potential to gross more in May than in December.”
The publication points out that, as of right now, only two other films are slated for release in May 2009: X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Shutter Island.
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, look for the title character to get truly angry.
“I know it seems odd given, you know, the guy is already half animal,” Hugh Jackman said to USA Today. “But with all the success of the X-Men, you feel the pressure to keep pushing it further.”
This film will serve as a prequel to the X-Men movies, showing a more vulnerable side to the superhero.
“I think one of the reasons the X-Men took off is that it connected in a way nobody saw,” the actor said. “They’re mutants with powers. But they’re also outcasts for being, and everyone connects with that on some level. And who wouldn’t want the power to get back at the people who ostracized you?”
As Wolverine’s nemesis, Sabretooth (rumored to be played by Liev Schreiber), Jackman said he “is going to play a big part in it. And there will be a good bit of cameos [of new and familiar mutants]. But you can’t give too much away, because fans are pretty hard-core. Their expectations go up a level every time you come out with a new film.”
Wolverine slashes its way into theaters on May 1, 2009.
It’s finally here!
No, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull doesn’t open in theaters until May 22. But the preview for this blockbuster premiered this morning on Good Morning America. Check it out: