The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008)

Why on "Earth" was this huge Christmas blockbuster so bloody awful? I haven't felt so angry after watching a film in ages (well... not since the new Indiana Jones movie)! Avoid at all costs, just watch the 1951 original.

Oh yeah, I just read this on IMDb;

In an old-fashioned publicity stunt, 20th Century Fox plans to beam The Day the Earth Stood Still to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star, via a satellite communications network in Cape Canaveral, Fl. Daily Variety commented today that the stunt will result in "the widest release ever -- if you count outer space." (It noted that by the time the signal reaches the star, it will be 2012, not exactly an Earth/Alpha Centauri simultaneous premiere.)

That's not really the smartest of ideas. Its an open invitation to alien invaders to come to Earth for a free lunch!

The Dark Knight - my review

OK, first things first... I have a confession to make. It was me who scored The Dark Knight a 9 out of 10, I'm very very sorry! After a second viewing this afternoon I have now retracted my 9 to be replaced with a 10 as it rightfully deserves.

I think the reason I gave it a 9 originally was because its quite different to Batman Begins. That to me was my perfect Batman movie and the fact that it was almost entirely shot in Britain gave me a sense of patriotism when watching it.

I loved the mythology behind 'Begins', it was so well done. This made the Batman character (Christian Bale) seem believable, a step away from most comic book adaptations. Director Christopher Nolan did such a fantastic job that Batman's past no longer needs to be covered, a refreshing step away from the films of the 80's & 90's.

The Dark Knight continues very close to where it left off, with Batman doing his usual unorthodox heroics. Saying that however, Batman isn't really the main character in The Dark Knight. Don't get me wrong, he's there doing his stuff but the focus seems to be on the other characters through the majority of the story like detective Gordon, the Joker & Harvey Dent/Two Face. This works well and on my second viewing I really appreciated it.

Dark Knight is a lot "darker" than Begins. For example the interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker is really brutal.

The late Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker is absolutely brilliant. He's totally crazy and psychotic! All the reports of praise are true, he does deserve that Oscar nomination.

Harvey Dent (played by the excellent Aaron Eckhart) is again a different portrayal of the character I was expecting to see. Throughout the film he is seen as the main hero. His transformation into Two Face is brilliant and the FX on his half mangled face looks incredible.

The rest of the cast are great, featuring many recognisable faces just as simple extras. I guess since the Batman re-imagination lots of actors now want work in a Batman movie as its more than just a crappy kids action film, it has credibility!

The end of the film is not at all what I was expecting. Original in every way, what happens next I haven't got a clue but I'll be looking forward to it. In the meantime I'm sure the internet will be rife with rumours/suggestions!

***RUMOUR ALERT*** Johnny Depp as the Ridler, I heard that today (01/08/08). Hmm...?

1st Quantum of Solace trailer

If Casino Royale was anything to go by, this will kick ass!

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk is back on screen for its second attempt at starting a celluloid franchise after the failure of the 2003 Hulk movie.

Edward Norton has taken over the lead and seems to have used Bill Bixby interpretation of Bruce Banner (from the seventies TV series) for his inspiration, the quiet loner!

*** SPOILERS ***

The story starts pretty much where the first Hulk movie finished (although this isn't an official sequel!) in Brazil with Bruce Banner hiding from the US military, trying his best to avoid turning green whilst trying to find the antidote to turn him back into a normal person.

Inevitably he gets tracked down and is pursued by soldier Tim Roth who's working for the US military, they want to use Banner's DNA to perfect super-soldier's. Banner, now the Hulk smashes his way out of Brazil to mainland US. His main objective to find the scientist that has been helping him find the cure.

Its all pretty standard stuff. The whole film itself is pretty mediocre, keeping firmly within the boundaries of the comic book adaptation code. Its fairly enjoyable but nothing spectacular. I guess after Ang Lee's version Marvel wanted to keep the film fairly safe from any experimental techniques.

This to me is what made the 2003 Hulk so special. Lee had the guts to try some truly interesting direction and editing techniques. I loved the transitional effects from scene to scene and the comic style windows. It made the film feel like a comic book. I know I'm in the minority here, most people hated it.

...anyway, back to the 2008 version.

Roth's character volunteers to restart the military's experiments in DNA and gamma technologies so he can fulfill his vendetta with the Hulk and gain some sort of common ground with the green dude.



As we've all come to expect from watching super hero movies, if a bad guy gains super powers its not usually a good thing. The addictive nature of the new powers mutate Roth into a Hulk-like monster (named 'The Abomination'), uncontrollable by the military and hellbent on causing mayhem.

The film ends with a massive punch-up between the two, with the Hulk now fighting on behalf of the military.

Now, its the very last scene of the film that caused me to pay attention with the appearance of Tony Stark (Iron Man's alter ego, played by the awesome Robert Downey Jr.). Speaking on behalf of the agency S.H.I.E.L.D he wants to recruit Hulk to join his task force of super heroes.

This will eventually lead to what will be a totally awesome comic book crossover - possibly in the form of the Avengers. Marvel will probably need to establish all the other members in their own films first so it will probably take a good 5-7 years to come around but when it does its going to be pretty special!

Punisher: War Zone (2008)

Its nice to see Marvel haven't given up on previous comic-to-movie failures. As well as the new Incredible Hulk film a second Punisher film will also be released later this year.

Tom Jane has stepped down from the lead to be replaced by the relatively unknown Ray Stevenson in Punisher: War Zone.

Lets wait and see if this'll be a 'hit' or a 'miss'.

Max Payne (2008)

Remember the Max Payne video game from Rockstar Games studio? Well, its going to become a movie at last.

Its probably a bit too late if you ask me, while the games are really good they've kinda been left behind now with endless other video game series out there emulating a similar formula.

The last game Max Payne game; The Fall of Max Payne came out five years ago. There are rumors bouncing around the internet of a third game currently in development. That would certainly warrant a movie title if successful.



Anyway, IMDb have a page for the Max Payne movie with (Marky) Mark Wahlberg down for playing the lead so thats a good sign things are moving forward.

Thanks to my good friend Hempknight for telling me about this.

Grand Theft Auto IV

Only 23 days left until the long awaited Grand Theft Auto IV finally gets released on the next generation games consoles. This is sure to get the 'Game of the Year' award.

Lucas says his new 'Indiana Jones' is 'just a movie'

"To hear him talk, you'd think George Lucas would have preferred to call his movie 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Don't Get Your Hopes Up'." www.usatoday.com


To read the full story click here.

What a miserable git although I understand where he's coming from, it'll be incredibly hard for the new film to live up to the hype. Don't worry George, I'm sure it'll be great but if its not blame Spielberg!

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Oh wow, the Hulk is back on the big screen this year with 'The Incredible Hulk'!

Edward Norton's playing the big green dude, the film also stars Liv Tyler and Tim Roth and looks to be a great blockbuster for the summer and another worthy addition to Marvel's already well established comic-to-film adaptions (with Iron Man also out this year). Speaking of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. will be appearing in the new Hulk movie as Tony Stark (Iron Man's alter-ego), that's pretty awesome and a step forward to having film crossovers.


I'm not a huge Hulk fan but did really enjoy the Ang Lee 'Hulk' film of 2003. I'm not sure if this is actually a sequel or just a re-telling of the story. Judging from what I've seen, 'The Incredible Hulk' follows a similar story seen in the brilliant 'Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' video game of 2005.

Check out the official movie site, www.incrediblehulk.com for the trailer and further information.

'Carry On' script gets green light

The long-awaited 32nd Carry On film (Carry On London) is one step closer to being filmed and could be in cinemas by the end of the year, the BBC has learned.
To read the full story click here.

Since most of the original cast are now dead I shudder to think how awful this will be with new actors. I'll use the word 'actors' lightly - Vinnie Jones is apparently on board to star!

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Tropic Thunder, directed and staring Ben Stiller (amongst loads of other famous actors) is apparently the biggest budget comedy ever made according to my friend Bazza.

This looks like it has all the ingredients to become a winner!

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Be Kind Rewind is an original comedy about an old run down video (yes, VHS) rental shop on the brink of closure.

Whilst the manager (Danny Glover) takes a short break he leaves the shop in the capable hands of Jerry (Mos Def). Jerry is pestered constantly by his conspiracy theorist friend Mike (Jack Black) who owns the local scrap yard. Through some idiotic scheme (you'll have to watch it to see, its very funny!) Mike gets magnetized and accidentally erases the entire VHS collection in the shop.

In a desperate attempt to keep the shop running and to fool the customers Mike & Jerry re-shoot the films with the aid of a really old video camera, toys, tin foil, scrap metal and tonnes of enthusiasm! The re-made films (or 'sweded' films as the story refers to) become surprisingly popular with the customers in the neighbourhood, often running at a fraction of the time as the original but so much funnier. Business soon picks up after the public find out about the homemade movies.

The sweded version of Ghost Busters is simply fantastic, trailers for all the sweded films can be found here or the official (sweded) site - www.bekindmovie.com/youtube.

Theres more to the story than just sweded films but I don't want to spoil things any further.

The film itself has a nice low budget indie look to it, directed by Michel Gondry who's previous films include The Science of Sleep and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Knight Rider (2008)

The Knight Rider T.V movie was aired on Sunday in the U.S and thanks to the many people that have uploaded the video I managed to download a decent copy by the Monday night. Isn't the internet wonderful!

I'm pleased to say it was an enjoyable experience watching this official 'sequel' (not a remake) to the original classic 80's series.

Although this pilot isn't as 'perfect' as some of the die-hard Knight Rider fans wanted I found it was straight forward good fun. The new KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer) looks and sounds great with some cool new functions. The car (a Shelby GT500KR Mustang) can now colour change and transform its shape. I'm sure as the series develops we'll see other new abilities.

The new lead, Justin Bruening who plays the character Mike Tracer seems to have enough attitude and charisma suitable for the role. In his first scene he's already in bed with two stunning women, thats a pretty good start if you ask me!

David Hasselhoff makes a guest appearance (as Michael Knight) in one of the final scenes and if things take off will hopefully return in later episodes.

By the very end of the episode the basic team had been assembled with characters mirroring those from the original team, Mike and KITT ready to take on the baddies as part of the Foundation of Law & Government.

Anyone familiar with the Knight Rider spin-off series, Team Knight Rider will recognise the replacement for the Foundation's juggernaut, not the most subtle forms of transport!

I'm really exited about this show and can't wait to see more.

Knight Rider Movie - on NBC tonight!

The brand new pilot movie for Knight Rider is finally here. Hopefully this will be streamed onto Stage6 in the next few days, it looks pretty good from the clip although Will Arnett's voice is still featured as KITT (now known as the Knight Industries Three Thousand), Val Kilmer has now replaced him.

Some photos of the new Knight Rider

Here's some photos from the forthcoming Knight Rider TV movie (due to be aired in the US on the 17th of February).


The new version of K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Three Thousand), now a Shelby GT500KR Mustang.


The new guy (Justin Bruening) & K.I.T.T.


An interior shot, looks pretty awesome!

Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield is a really interesting alternative to the giant monster movies made popular by the Japanese film studio Toho.

The film takes a totally different approach to story telling from the usual action films. It adopts a documentary home-movie narrative that stays throughout the film, following the survival of a group of friends through New York during a terrifying monster attack.

The scenes of New York, devastated by the attack are spookily similar to those from the terrorist attacks of 9/11. That with the false reality the shaky video camera provides almost makes the film feel authentic. The director Matt Reeves has really used this footage well in creating a convincing scenario.

This is very different to your usual Hollywood blockbuster and although I enjoyed it, its probably not to everyones taste. Its basically The Blair Witch Project crossed with Godzilla, if you liked elements of either go check it out.

New Bond film title confirmed

The next James Bond film is to be called Quantum of Solace, producers have confirmed.

The title is taken from one of a collection of short stories published by 007 creator Ian Fleming in 1960.






Find below the ITN report about about the new film featuring some brief behind the scenes shots.

Cloverfield (2008)

www.cloverfieldmovie.com

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

I am really looking forward to watching this.

For Christmas I got the original Indiana Jones trilogy on dvd for the first time ever, on any format! I've no idea why its taken me so long to have these fantastic films in my ever growing movie collection but I'm glad they've arrived.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set in 1957, a good idea since it keeps Harrison Fords age in check with the storyline. Russians have taken over from the Nazi's with Cate Blanchett playing one of them.

I haven't been looking too deep into the story but from the rumours going around the internet at the moment Indiana's new sidekick, Shia LaBeouf could be Marion (Karen Allen - from Raiders of the Lost Ark) & Indiana's lovechild.

Extra rumours are going around mentioning LaBeouf will take over the lead for a new generation of Indiana Jones movies although this is just speculation at the moment, Spielberg's yet to mention anything although he hasn't flatly denied the idea.



Another rumour suggests the trailer for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull may be attached to the start of the J.J. Abrams monster flick Cloverfield (previously known as just 'J.J. Abrams Untitled Project'). I hope its true, Cloverfield gets released in under a month!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens in the UK and worldwide on the 22nd of May, I can't wait!!!

Check out the official Indiana Jones website for exclusive behind the scenes videos, photos and gossip.

Hellboy II (2008) - First Trailer