If you had to ask me about my most anticipated ape related movie of the year, the answer by far would be Dawn Of The Planet of the Apes. My follow-up would be how many ape related films are they releasing this year, and if you had a list of titles I’d probably shut up and stand there bewildered. The thing about these Apes movies is, damn are they intriguing. Something about the combination of weird talking apes, time travel, social commentary and horrific dystopian ape societies really seems to resonate with audiences at large. Why shouldn’t it? What’s not there to love? To make it better, the cast for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, is a growing list of names that is spelling out another great Apes film in the long line of Non-Tim Burton related Apes films. Recently cast [Via THR] is beloved character actor Gary Oldman, who all should know by now as Commissioner Gordon from the Nolan Batman trilogy.
This is Grizzly Bomb’s Trailer Round for March the 5th in the year of 2013…
[tabgroup][tab title=”The Company You Keep”]
This new film centers around Jim Grant (Robert Redford), a former member of a radical anti Vietnam War group known as the Weather Underground. Though he has successfully remained off the FBI grid for thirty years as an Albany attorney, Ben Shepard (Shia LaBeouf) aggressively pursues answers from Grant and ultimately stirs up a giant mess involving several members of the WU. The only way for Grant to keep everything he loves is to clear his name.
Both produced and directed by Robert Redford, this thriller is based upon the 2003 novel of the same title written by Neil Gordon.
Director: Robert Redford
Stars: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Sam Elliott, Jackie Evancho, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard, Richard Jenkins, Susan Sarandon, and Anna Kendrick.
Release Date: Limited U.S. release April 2013
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We have already seen the first trailer for Danny Boyles new film Trance, but with the release of its red band counter part we are exposed to a deeper grit. Simon (James McAvoy) partners up with the wrong crowd to steal a piece of precious art. Sure enough, the plan goes awry, and Simon gets knicked only to have forgotten everything. Insert the attractive hypnotherapist to find out where the painting went, and you’ve got yourself a nice little action film filled with deception and intrigue.
The new red band trailer shows the psychological affects that this venture will have on Simon. There will be a dance between reality and fiction. That is, unless people can really talk with only half of their head left. Call me presumptuous, but I assumed this is a dream sequence of sorts.
Scarlett Johansson, Melanie Thierry, Eva Green and Zoe Saldana were considered for the role of Elizabeth which ultimately went to Rosario Dawson.
Director: Danny Boyle
Stars: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel, Tuppence Middleton, Wehab Sheikh, Danny Sapani, and Lee Nicholas Harris.
Release Date: March 27, 2013 UK
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All you have to say is Twilight’s Stephanie Meyer and you have got yourself a box office success. The name alone will lead to some kind of financial prosperity. So, of course, this movie had to be made. It doesn’t look all that terrible, but it certainly hasn’t wowed me with some kind of new concept.
In this typical science fiction action film, a parasitic alien race has attached itself to the human race. A resistance has been established and is linked to the aliens by Melanie, an individual who has partnered with her host (Wanda) rather than succumb to it.
Director: Andrew Niccol
Stars: Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, Max Irons, Jake Abel, Marcus Lyle Brown, William Hurt, Frances Fisher, Boyd Holbrook, and Chandler Canterbury.
Release Date: March 29, 2013
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I love it when the same movie is repackaged and sold as if it is something new. I am, of course, referring to the comedy duo of Wilson and Vaughn. It’s not like this isn’t an acceptable practice in Hollywood. We have seen it time and time again, and the audience is truly okay with it. Consider it a wonderful chemistry that can be enjoyed in countless scenarios even though plot points rarely deviate.
The trailer itself points out that this is the mental Hunger Games against a bunch of genius kids for a hand full of jobs. So let’s just call it that. This is NOT Wedding Crashers II: Crashing Harder!
Director: Shawn Levy
Stars: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, John Goodman, Rose Byrne, Dylan O’Brien, Chuti Tiu, JoAnna Garcia, Swisher, Jessica Szohr, Josh Gad, and B.J. Novak.
Release Date: June 7, 2013
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I was surprised when the word “Byzantium” did not come up as requiring spell check. It turns out that it is an ancient Greek city.
Byzantium is the name of the guesthouse in which the mother, daughter vampire duo portrayed by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan take refuge. The story unfolds when Eleanor (Ronan) reveals her secret to Frank (Caleb Landry Jones).
Director: Neil Jordan
Stars: Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Jonny Lee Miller, Caleb Landry Jones, Same Riley, Tom Hollander, Thure Lindhardt, Christine Marzano, and Daniel Mays.
There will no doubt be mixed views about the THR news that Daniel Radcliffe is in final negotiations to play Igor, the famous hunchbacked assistant of Doctor Frankenstein. This is a tale that has gone through countless cinematic retreads and revamps since its inception by Mary Shelly all those years ago, and has even had successful theater runs, the most recent starring UK Sherlock star Bennedict Cumberbatch, and US Elementary star Jonny Lee Miller. But Igor himself was actually a cinematic creation and became immortalized in our minds because of great performances from the likes of Dwight Frye, Bela Lugosi and many more that all helped to create this hunchbacked helper.
1931’s FRANKENSTEIN – Dwight Frye as ‘Fritz ‘aka the first Igor…
Max Landis (Chronicle) is on writing duties, while Paul McGuigan (director of Lucky Number Slevin and Push) is at the helm to direct. Max’s own father John Landis (Blues Brothers, Thriller) is on hand in a producing role. So if nothing else this new version has some pretty good talent behind the camera. Max Brooks version of this tale is told from Igors perspective. Aint It Cool News has a great interview with Max about his plans. One of the more interesting things said was his plan to make the film a version we have never seen before.
[quote] “That’s when the idea came to me: instead of trying to do some high minded ‘revisionist’ Frankenstein, why not try to stay true to a version that only lives in the zeitgeist, and has NEVER REALLY EXISTED.
And why not do it in an intelligent, hopefully, thoughtful way, about friendship and science, genius and madness, love and ambition, life and death?
Why not use that imaginary, fairy dust framework of ‘guy with hunchbacked assistant makes monster’ and make it fun, sad, scary and hopefully, I really hope this, moving.” [/quote]
This seems like a really fun and maybe even more heartwarming version of the story than we have seen before. I doubt it will go as funny as Young Frankenstein, but this will certainly be an exciting version of the tale and this will make a change from the more downbeat versions we have seen in recent years.
On Igor’s appearance:
[quote]He is described as pathologically dirty, with long hair and wearing old clown clothes. (A circus tone permeates much of the project, according to sources.)[/quote]
So quite a departure from the clean cut Mr Potter, but still a great piece of casting if it all goes through. Ratcliffe has also pushed the envelope in the past, most famously on stage in Equus where he performed a nude scene. It is not uncommon for actors to want to break type (Jim Carrey and Elijah Wood have done it countless times) and it normally harbors interesting results. It should be fun to see how Daniel gets to grips with a more horrific, tormented character and how he interprets the circus feel this new Igor is alluding to. When you read about Max’s thoughts on Frankenstein you cannot help but feel his energy for the project. To see if it lives up to his plans we will have to wait, but a more refreshing approach to the tale could be just what movie fans are looking for.
Once upon a time, you could turn on the History Channel and be relatively sure that you’d find a show on World War II, Nostradamus, the Civil War, or Hitler. Now? Well it’s either Swamp People (a favorite in this house), Pawn Stars, or the incredibly stupid Big Rig Bounty Hunters. Do not even try to tell me how awesome Big Rig Bounty Hunters is because you would be wrong, show is as dumb as dumb gets. Either way, there is nothing remotely related history about Big Rig Bounty Hunters no matter
No ma’am.
how much History Channel touts that “History is made everyday”. That’s a cop out of epic proportions.
Thankfully they seem to realize that they are full of crap right now and look to return to something closer to their roots with two new shows premiering tonight, The Bible and Vikings. Granted both these shows will be taking liberal artistic license but still they have some basis in history unlike the station’s current line-up. While The Bible looks interesting, it’s a story most everyone has heard and seen before so I can’t say I’m all that excited to see it again. However, Vikings is one I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced.
Vikings will tell the story of Ragnor Lothbrok, a man who actually did exist, but the historical accuracy will likely stop at that. Played by Travis Fimmel, Lothbrok is a character that is filled with what can only be described as Norse wonderlust. While the leader of his village, Earl Haraldson, played by the always incredible Gabriel Byrne, prefers to do their raiding in the safe and always reliable east, Lothbrok longs to head west.
Look deep into my brooding eyes…
As is typically the case, the older Haraldson bristles as the young buck’s audacity to defy him, and therein lies our tension. When Lothbrok decides to leave the village, he takes with him a monk, Athelstan (George Blagden in his third credited role), who he makes his slave. While I love Gabriel Byrne and have for as long as I can remember, it’s actually the relationship between Athelstan and Lothbrok that I’m looking forward to most because being a monk, Athelstan believes in one god while Lothrok is firmly entrenched in his belief of the many Norse gods.
Add in Lothbrok’s ex-warrior wife, Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick)and his family and friends, headed up by brother Rollo played by Clive Standen (who was great as Robin’s brother in Robin Hood), and Vikings look sure to be an entertaining ride.
IGN‘s YouTube channel posted up a short film version of the comic sensation Y: The Last Man written by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra for Vertigo Comics comics. The series lasted for sixty issues and was a huge hit with fans, mostly because of its well written description of a dystopian future where all the men have died and women run the dying planet. Watch the short movie below.
If you did not grasp all the plot points in this short then here is a very brief description of the series. Much like he is here, Yorick is the only survivor of a man killing virus that destroys anything that has the Y chromosome, aside from Yorick and his pet monkey Ampersand. Agent 355 is given the task of keeping Yorick out of trouble and getting him to Doctor Allison Mann, a cloning expert in the hope he holds the key to rebuilding the male population, and thus saving human kind from extinction.
What I liked most about this short was the way it showed the panic and tension of all the males dying at once in quite a brutal manner. It really added some gravitas to the piece and made the reality of this situation very bleak and shocking. What was entertaining about the piece was the character interactions. Yorick acts like he does in the comic, leaping into situations without thinking of the consequences of his actions, while 355 is then forced to help him out.
Commenting on negative parts of the film, I don’t think we needed the film device of making every guy look a jerk just so Yorick looks better by comparison (and even he comes off slightly jerky). It made it seem like men died out because they were sexist pigs or insensitive screwballs. That’s probably the case with some males of the species, but not all of us!
I am a relative newcomer to this world of Y TheLast Man, but the characters seemed faithful enough to me. All the people you see in this short appear in the comic (The Daughters of the Amazons, Yorick’s sister Hero, 355 and Ampersand the monkey). I did not hear of any mention of Beth, Yorick’s girlfriend who is a big driving force behind his actions in the comic. It seemed his sister Hero took the role of keeping Yorick moving in this short.
This plays out more like a teaser to a possible series, it’d be interesting to see if this ever gets extended into its own series as there is great potential for it to. There has been talk over the years of this comic series becoming a television show, but it has so far never come to fruition. There have also been rumors of a feature film trilogy for quite some time now. This is a fine example of how it could be done and done right.
If you keep up with TV news, this time of year is the ultimate mind-f#ck. Every day news comes out about yet another awesome sounding pilot that you just can’t help but get your hopes up over and then come to realize it’ll never get past the pilot stage. It’s a lot like getting a puppy, realizing it has parvo, and trying not to get attached in case it dies. Hmmm… I think I just won an award for worst analogy ever.
Awful, but that’s pretty much how it works out. Because this is an ever changing world, we here at Grizzly Bomb decided to do everyone a great service and round up the best looking puppies, I mean pilots, so you can be on the lookout for them. This has been a banner year for pilot orders (around 100 so far, up from last year) so we are going to break it down by network. Might as well start off with the basement dwellers… NBC.
Grizzly Bomb 