The parade of the shirtless teenage werewolves continues. MTV, taking a break from their daily contribution towards the retardation of tomorrow, has released a trailer for their upcoming TV series – Teen Wolf. They claim this is somehow a reboot of the classic Michael J. Fox movie of the same title, but I don’t see it. More on that later. Let’s first focus on how stupid this idea is to begin with. You’re gonna take a movie that is over 25 years old, staring an actor that has been, for the most part, retired from movies for the better part of 15 years, and you’re gonna make it into a show on MTV. That means, the people who are old enough to remember and love the movie are mostly those who are too old to still watch MTV. And those young enough to still like MTV are too young to remember the movie or even recognize Michael J. Fox for the icon he is. So this results in severely agitating the first crowd, while having to explain to the latter that werewolves did in fact exist in media prior to Twilight.
If you want to cash in on the Twilight fanatics, call the show Shirtless Wolf or Teen Angst Filled Dogs. But do not tarnish the name of one of my childhood favorites while marketing to an audience whose never ever seen it.
Anyhow, before moving further, lets check out the trailer…
I apologize for the shitty quality of the video, but it’s gonna be a shitty show, so I thought it fitting.
Now those of you that remember the movie, you might notice somethings are a little different here:
– He doesn’t come from a long line of wolves who can control themselves socially, but instead is viciously attacked in the woods and turned into one who can’t attend parties. You know, like in every Werewolf movie ever…EXCEPT Teen Wolf.
– I saw in the trailer exactly ZERO scenes where he dunks a basketball. He instead plays Lacrosse, a sport reserved almost exclusively for Douchebags.
– A very serious lack of ‘Van Surfing’.
– At no point in this trailer do an entire group of kids chant “Wolf. Wolf. Wolf.”
– It’s also not very believable; though they do show a high school party, they do not show anyone biting through a can of beer. I mean seriously, come on.
– And as far as I can tell, there isn’t a single character named “Boof”.
To see what I’m talking about, here is the trailer for the REAL Teen Wolf.
So welcome to 2011. Where we ruin everything, thus damning tomorrow’s generation to a bitter life filled with a terrible view of how cool Vampires and Werewolves were when we were young.
As the fall TV shows are coming up on the end of their seasons, many new shows are getting ready to premier. We’ve already told you about Terra Nova, A Game of Thrones, and Camelot, which we’re predicting will all be good. Now we’ve got another prediction of quality: The Killing.
AMC has begun production on the network’s next original series, The Killing. From writer, executive producer and series showrunner Veena Sud (Cold Case), The Killing is based on the wildly successful Danish television series Forbrydelsen and tells the story of the murder of a young girl in Seattle and the subsequent police investigation. Season one will consist of thirteen one-hour episodes and will debut with a 2 hour premiere on Sun., Apr. 3 at 9PM | 8C.
Now, it might not sound like much…unless you were a big TV fan in the early 90’s. Then it might sound like Twin Peaks.
Most Cop/Crime dramas take a week-to-week look at the job, and typically wrap up a case an episode, but with both this and the aforementioned Twin Peaks, you have an entire season devoted to one case, the murder of a young girl. Now that might seem dull to all you Law & Order fans who are used to everything being wrapped up with a bow at the end of the hour, but I can tell you, this has potential to be one of the best shows on TV this year.
Below is the trailer, and for those familiar with Twin Peaks, tell me that it doesn’t seem similar…
So, as there were no midgets in red tuxedos, speaking backwards, it’s obviously not going to be as weird as Twin Peaks, but I’m sure can see the parallels.
Our missing girl is Rosie Larsen. In the trailer, if you’re a True Blood fan, you may have recognized Rosie’s mother as ‘Maryann Forrester’ (Michelle Forbes), but this time with no claws. And Justified fans may know Rosie’s father (played by Brent Sexton) as ‘Sheriff Hunter Mosley’ from Season 1.
The show is set to premier with a 2-Hour first episode this Sunday. I know I’ll be watching, and I have high hopes.
With all the comic book related movies coming up, there is a lot to keep track of. So periodically we figure it’s a good idea to check in on some of them and see what’s new…
Our first dose of Marvel Comics movie starts with the God of Thunder and his sweet look hammer Mjolnir. The cast includes veteran actor Sir Anthony Hopkins as Thor’s father Odin, the excellent and now Academy Award winning Natalie Portman, relative newcomer Chris Hemsworth as Thor himself, and Tom Hiddelston as the villainous brother Loki.
After numerous trailers, it keeps looking better and better. It almost looks like Masters of the Universe, but not total crap. My optimism is of course guarded because I hate disappointing myself. Here is the (still) most recent trailer:
The X-men have a slew of updates flooding the web. In case you’re not familiar with the story, the movie is about a young Professor Xavier and Magneto starting a school for gifted youngsters (Muties!) together.
X-Men: First Class will delve into their beginning friendship and perhaps its eventual implosion. Let’s start with some pictures that were recently released at SuperHeroHype:
The movie will star James McAvoy as Professor Xavier, Michael Fassbender as Magneto, January Jones as Emma Frost, and Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the Hellfire Club.
We’ll also get a look at characters such as Havok, Mystique, Azazel, and The Beast.
If one X-men movie wasn’t enough, FSR reports that two more and a spin are still to come in the form of X-men 4, X-men 5 and Deadpool.
X4 and X5 will be direct sequels to X-Men 3: The Piece of Shit, because lord knows they need two movies to bury that monstrosity.
Deadpool on the other hand will completely ignore any connection to the Deadpool character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is a fantastic move on their part. Though I do worry about Baraka not having a job.
I wasn’t very pumped for Green Lantern in the beginning because of the studio’s choice to cast Ryan Reynolds, but my interest is in high gear ever since I read Blackest Night and became a Green Lantern faithful.
I’ll give Reynolds and the movie a chance. The trailer actually looked pretty good, particularly the shots of Oa, Sinestro, Kilowog, and Abin Sur. The film will of course star Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. But we will also see Blake Lively as love interest Carol Ferris, Mark Strong as Sinestro, Temuera Morrison as Abin Sur, and just recently announced Michael Clarke Duncan as the voice of Kilowog. Playing big-headed villain Hector Hammond is Peter Sarsgaard.
Also The Daily BLAM just posted new pics released by Warner Brothers…
This has been all over the internet for the past few days, so you might’ve already seen it, but there is the new trailer for Captain America: First Avenger:
Is it a reboot or a sequel? Like The Incredible Hulk (and, by the sound of things, the next Daredevil movie) it seems to be kind of both. “We’re just looking at it as an evolution,” explains Taylor. “The movie takes place years later. We’re not disowning the first movie but this Ghost Rider is an evolved form of the previous Ghost Rider. We basically completely re-envisioned the whole start of the character. The whole mythology behind the Ghost Rider that existed in the comic books never really made sense to me, so we sort of had to re-engineer the entire back-story into something new. That mythology never got delved into in the first movie, anyway, [but] we really get into that.”That enhanced focus on the demon Zarathos has involved a whole different approach to playing the character for returning star Nicolas Cage, who’s now playing Blaze and the Ghost Rider, instead of leaving the Flaming Skull up to the FX guys and the stuntmen. “Shooting action and car crashes and all that stuff is boring,” says Taylor, “but shooting a Nic Cage performance is a total adrenaline rush.”
The Avengers cast is all but assembled! Iron Man will of course be played Robert Downey Jr., while Chris Hemsworth fills the thunder god Thor‘s boots, and Chris Evans is our shield wielding patriot Captain America. The supporting Avengers are as follows: Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Scarlett Johansson reprising her role as the Black Widow, Mark Ruffalo filling in as Bruce Banner with Lou Ferrigno doing the Hulk voice. Finally Sam Jackson will once again be our eye-patched Nick Fury. Recently it has been confirmed at DisFanReview that the villains of the Avengers film will be comprised of two alien races; the Kree and the Skrulls. Also joining the fray from Thor will be Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston.
After so much speculation on which pretty boy would be the new Peter Parker, the powers that be selected Andrew Garfield of recent The Social Network fame. The villain he will face off against played by Rhys Ifans, has recently been announced to be none other than Curt Conners; The Lizard. I would say this film has inspired the Man of Steel to cast the hero’s parental figures with veteran actors, because Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben will be played by Martin Sheen, and Aunt May by Sally Field. Emma Stone will play Peter Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy, as her father Captain Stacy is played by Dennis Leary.
THE BIG ONE. This is my (Doc.) most anticipated movie on the list. By far. That may be why this is the movie on the list that we have done the most coverage on thus far. This is the 5th article to at least partially cover the movie (Jan. 19th, Feb. 2nd, Feb. 14th, March 22nd).
Well since that last update we have 2 more casting bits. First, actress Juno Temple has been confirmed as “street-smart Gotham girl”. Wtf that is I don’t know, but maybe she’s a budding Harleen Quinzel or a young Barbara Gordon, or maybe shes just a nobody. Who knows…
Secondly when have ‘Used to be Relevant’ actor Treat Williams, who is best known (at least to me) for Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, and probably – more famously, for replacing Tom Berenger (Inception) in The Substitute sequels. Is that weird that he followed Berenger in those movies, and now he’s been offered a role in Nolan’s follow-up to Berenger’s last major role? Any way, this is news to…well, everyone. But Williams claims to have been offered a role in TDKR, as well as Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming western (more on that later), but will apparently turn down both films to do a TV show called Against the Wall. So this guy is choosing to do a Chicago set TV cop drama (because we don’t have enough of those), instead of what figures to be the last Nolan Bat-Movie and the next Tarantino flick. Good career move. This better be the best f–king show of all time…
ALSO – It would appear that Nolan is keeping the end of the movie SO closely guarded that he didn’t even put it in that script. He is instead verbally conveying it to the cast in hopes of keeping it secret. What it could be I don’t know, but it he kills off Batman…
There is also talk of rebooting the whole series after this installment to make a version of Batman who can better interact with the other superheroes. More on that at Moviephone.
For more on Batman, well…you can stay here. Batman is our territory.
Superman: Man of Steel – Opens December 2012
The newest incarnation of Superman directed by Zac Snyder is moving right along with almost the entire main cast selected. Newcomer Henry Cavill will play Clark Kent/Superman, with his Daily Planet partner Lois Lane just being announced to be played by The Fighter‘s Amy Adams. Ma and Pa Kent will be played by veterans Diane Lane and Kevin Costner respectively.
Now all that is left is the casting of a villain, which is still currently up in the air. Rumors right now are pointing furiously at Viggo Mortensen playing the villain Zod. EW is reporting that he has withdrawn from Snow White and The Huntsman to possibly star in the Man of Steel. This is undoubtedly the best decision he could have made in that regard.
Time will tell which Superman villain we shall see onscreen next and who will play them. We will of course keep a very close eye on any developments.
According to IGN, there has been word from Warner Bros. that they are set on re-inventing the Batman franchise after Nolan completes The Dark Knight Rises, and to also have a Justice League movie released by 2013. Let the speculation begin about how many JLAers will be in the movie!
I would expect to see an onslaught of DC movies coming out before 2013.
Iron Man 3 – With John Favreau leaving the Iron Man franchise, who knows if it will suffer greatly from the loss. They still have leading man Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man and the new director Shane Black has been announced as Favreau’s replacement [Ed. – A move I love]. This won’t be the first time Downey Jr. and Black have worked together, Black directed the 2005 cult classic Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangwhich Downey starred in.
Not much else has been revealed about Iron Man 3 except that it will not have any superhero crossovers, as Iron Man 2 did with War Machine and Nick Fury. The film will also thankfully take a different direction than the second film, so hopefully we won’t see Iron Downey Jr. drinking and laughing it up in his Iron Man suit at his party mansion.
Please give us the Mandarin in this one Marvel, his time has come.
WINNING!!!
The Wolverine – Oh what could have been Mr. Aronofsky. After the Black Swan director just recently bailed on the sequel to Wolverine: Origins, the obvious question is who shall replace him? Recent rumors say it could be David Slade, who is also reportedly attached to direct the Daredevil reboot. So will he ditch the ‘Man Without Fear’ for Wolvie, or can he do both?
Wolverine will be spending some time in Japan for this one although there are some delays at the moment due to the Earthquakes and Tsunamis that recently occurred there. If my expectations have dropped a little, they are still kept afloat by Hugh Jackman’s dedication to the character and the franchise. EW had a chance to catch up with the Wolvie actor who had this to say:
“So now we’re out looking for a director, We were pretty much ready to go. The script is fantastic — the best we’ve ever had, which is why it attracted Darren in the first place. His personal situation precludes him from doing it now, and I feel for him. But now we need to find a director.” Jackman wouldn’t cite any preference, but said the team is aiming for another prestige filmmaker, not just someone to yell “action” and “cut.” “We’re not going to settle. We’re going to find a director as good as Darren, if not better. Well, as good, Everyone is still pushing forward to getting it done.”
Wolverine audition reject
Daredevil – If there is any Marvel movie franchise besides Ghost Rider that is in desperate need of a reboot it’s ‘the Man Without Fear’. According to Screen Rant newly appointed director David Slade claims that the reboot will not have any connection to the Affleck Daredevil movie, and will be a “very strong character driven take” on the hero.
I suppose that’s better than an Evanescence driven take. Thankfully the rumors of possible Robert Pattinson casting interest was debunked by Slade, who explained that the DD reboot is only in its early development stages so at this point the possibilities of cast members and villains are wide open.
So there we have it for now. Was that enough for one post?
Last night was the season 1 finale of Showtime’s newest hit – Shameless. Now this show is based of a British program by the same name, which has been running since January 2004 and just wrapped its 8th season. I’ve never watched the original, but I love this American version. To preface my next statement, let me qualify something – I own over a 1000 DVDs, so what I’m about to say should bear weight.
A couple of years ago a friend was over and we trying to decide what movie to watch. I was told: “I want to watch something without any guns in it, and where no one is killed.”.
I thought that should be a pretty easy thing to work around, but was amazed how many of my DVDs were eliminated right away. It took me a bit of scouring the DVD racks to find something that both met the aforementioned criteria, and wasn’t a Christmas movie. Finally however, we settled on Heavy Weights, but I tell this story to make a point. My taste in films and television shows obviously lean a certain way. With that in mind, I can tell you the Shameless is without a doubt, currently my favorite show on TV that does not revolve around regular gunplay. That’s not to say Shameless is violence-free or anything, but unlike my favorite show overall right now, Justified, our principal character doesn’t shoot someone every week.
Now, I’ll be honest, a big reason I like this show so much is our lead character Fiona Gallagher, who is charged with taking care of her numerous younger siblings since their mother walked out. She is now the pseudo-patriarch of the family, and with a little help from her friends, takes care of her 4 brothers, as well as her sister.
Fiona is played by the gorgeous Emmy Rossum, who aside from being smoking hot, is also an ultra talented actress. I think she proved that in 2004 when she was the lead in The Phantom of the Opera.
And while her body has helped draw attention to the sultry side of the show, it’s her acting that makes it all believable.
The next oldest of the kids, also my next favorite character is ‘Lip’. At 17 he is really the person in the family Fiona most leans on. Lip is ever the smart-ass, an attitude which comes from knowing that he is in fact, almost always the smartest person in the room. While not a main focus early on, Lip’s story arcs are some of the most interesting towards the later end of the season.
As you may have noticed in the picture above there appears to be a father. That would be Frank Gallagher (William H. Macy), who is, in name, the father of the Gallagher clan. However, in name is about as far as it goes. As the season progresses it amazing to imagine how such a man could’ve even fathered 6 children, let alone stayed out of prison long enough to be their legal guardians.
Frank is the town drunk, the town being the south-side of Chicago, and everyone in the neighborhood knows him. Drunk pretty much 24/7 he offers no real help at all to Fiona in raising his own kids.
Those are the 3 characters who really make the show work for me. They are not however, the only characters. This show has an incredibly rich cast of characters. The other kids; Ian, who is almost always at Lip’s side is the ROTC kid who is secretly gay. Debbie is the entrepreneur of the group, always making sure that Fiona can put food on the table. Carl is the simple Gallagher, he likes to blow things up. And finally baby Liam, at 2 years old he was a parting gift from their mother just before she took off. There’s the neighbors Kev and Veronica, Kev also tends bar at Frank’s regular drinking hole. We also get a great comedic performance from Joan Cusack, who is Frank’s agoraphobic girlfriend.
And then there’s Steve. Steve is Fiona’s boyfriend, and represents the ‘chaos factor’ for her. While to use, her life appears to already be rather chaotic, she have been able to cope and adjust to it. Steve brings in a whole new set of circumstances which, while foreign to her, seem logical to us. Steve is the audience’s bridge into the world of the Gallaghers.
As the first season ended, I realized how attached I’ve become to the characters. Through 12 episodes I’ve really made a connection with this fictional family of degenerates, and that’s not something I can say about most shows. Also I love the opening song…
Without wanting to give away any major plot points, I will avoid telling you specific events, but I can tell you that this show is definitely worth your time. So if you’re time is valuable, and that puts restraints on the amount you watch, push this show to the top of you list.
If you’d like to check it out, you can see the first 20 minutes of the Pilot and judge for yourself at MOVIE WEB.
You may have noticed an increase in the amount of reviews we’ve been doing lately. Be it our ‘Grizzly Reviews’ of the most current stuff at the theater, ‘Random-Ass Reviews’ which are focused around totally random viewings of movies, new or something less recent on Netflix. We also have the increasingly popular ‘Craptastic Reviews’ where we take a look at B-Movies in hope of finding a rare, entertaining gem. That quest continues still. But now we are throwing something new in the pot: the ‘Vintage Review’.
These will focus on movies from 1979 or earlier, some to be considered classics, some considerably less prestigious than classic. These will focus not only on the movie itself, but factors such as cultural relevance, how well the movie has stood the test of time, and how it was received originally. For the first movie in our new series of ‘Vintage Reviews’, I’ve chosen Marathon Man.
Marathon Man is a story about Babe (Dustin Hoffman), a grad student living in NYC. He is a History Major whose father committed suicide years earlier as a result of accusations made against him during the rampant McCarthyism of the 1950s. Babe has an older brother, Doc (Roy Scheider), who Babe thinks sells oil, but who is in fact a covert operative for the CIA. Doc is brought to town to meet with wanted Nazi War Criminal Szell. Played by film legend Laurence Olivier, Szell is in New York to claim millions of dollars worth of diamonds he has hidden in a safe deposit box.
Szell is convinced that he is going to be robbed of said diamonds as soon as he claims them from the bank. In fact he is convinced that not only will he be robbed, but that Doc will be the one to rob him. Believing his fortune in danger, Szell has Babe kidnapped and then proceeds to torture him in the famous “Dentist Scene”.
Now that is obviously a broad stroke, and describes only part of the movie as I don’t wish to ruin anything for those who haven’t seen it.
Upon it’s release in 1976, the movie was both a financial and critical success. Olivier’s performance was particularly praised and he would be nominated at the Oscars for ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’.
His character, ‘Dr. Szell’ (based on Dr. Josef Mengele, head SS Doctor of Auschwitz) was ranked as villain #34 on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Heroes and Villains” list. The film itself was ranked #50 on the “100 Years…100 Thrills” list.
Personally I felt the film holds up very well, and not all films from that period do. A lot of the thrillers from the late 70’s have become a bit dull in retrospect, but this one holds up nicely. The pacing has a good flow to it, which is no surprise with John Schlesinger(one of the most respected directors of the era) at the helm. It’s also always helpful when the writer of the novel adapts it himself for screen as William Goldman did here. It helps keep the themes of the story in check.
Though we are now a bit removed from hunting Nazi War criminals, as most are dead, the characters are still relevant and identifiable. We are again reminded, as in most films from this time, how New York really seemed to be the center of the world then. Now with the Internet and other technological advancements of the past 30 years, thing don’t seem so centralized anymore, but it gives a real presence here.
The cast is obviously phenomenal, Oliver being one of the most respected actors in the history of film, and Dustin Hoffman is always excellent. Plus you add Roy Scheider, who most of you will know as Sheriff Brody from Jaws, and you’ve got a real powerhouse trio up front.
A special treat for me was seeing a young William Devane, who I will always remember as ‘Secretary of Defense James Heller’ on 24.
Again, I highly recommend this movie, that is why I have tried not to spoil more than is necessary, but I can tell you there is much more to it, so it’s for sure worth a watch.
Take the setting of One Flew Over the Coocoo’s Nest, add the underlying theme of Inception, and a bit of style from The Watchmen. Then combine with a cast that looks like that of Coyote Ugly and a Kill Bill level of female sword play, you should have a movie that any dude will love.
Now on the flip side for the ladies. Imagine a Moulin Rouge type of setting, a Buffy-like level of girl power, and wardrobe department that could make any girl look good. Sounds sweet right?
It had all the above elements, but was missing a key component. The story is what makes the movie. Director Zack Snyder nailed all the visuals, his pacing was good, and he inserted a really good soundtrack. Hell, even the story in its primal stages is promising, we just don’t see it develop fully.
Some Minor Spoilers Ahead, Tried Not to Ruin It…
We open the movie strong. The music is good, the slow motion is fitting, and despite the film speed the pacing is fast. Our principal character, Baby Doll is like the subject of a Fairy Tale – dead mother, evil Step-Father, tragedy strikes, and she is thrown into an extraordinary situation and forced to inspire others.
We are introduced to her new home, an asylum with the aesthetics obviously influenced by Arkham…
The cause of her incarceration there being the accidental killing of her sister, and we see the gears in her head start to turn. As soon as she enters the place she begins to plot her escape. We see clues about how she’ll make her eventual break, and we are hurriedly introduced to the rest of the cast. Her escape has a timer on it as her evil step-father plots to have her silenced. Then – Boom. Our setting changes. Now inside her head, the asylum has become a Nightclub/Brothel, and infinitely less interesting a setting than the actual one we just left.
This is the 2nd level of her mind and this setting gives Snyder excuse to dress all the girls as scantily as he wants, and this is also the point where the Inception comparisons start to pass through the heads of the audience, or at least those who can follow what’s happening. In this setting the girls are no longer inmates at the asylum, but instead sex slaves, forced to dance on stage and pull in cash for the boss, who in reality is the crooked orderly at the hospital who is conspiring with the step-dad.
Baby Doll, going deeper into her own mind, enters another plane of existence. This is the whole Inception ‘dream inside a dream’ scenario. In this plane she is a great warrior. She meets a totally unexplained Wise Man(who I assume is maybe her real father) and he tells her what to do. It was like that scene in Final Destination where the Candyman shows up, has no reason to know whats happening, and then proceeds to explain the entire plot of the movie to the main characters. So now, armed with a sword, a pistol, and an incredibly short skirt, we are given maybe the best action sequence of the film as Baby Doll fights 3 giant robot Samurai. This is all happening to her as she dances in the Nightclub level of her mind. Throughout the movie, each major action sequence in the 3rd level is triggered by her dancing in the 2nd level.
After returning from this fight with the Samurai, the 2nd level dance studio is amazed at her ability to move, but all she cares about is the escape plan she brought back from the deeper dream state. This plan however looked to me less like a plan, and more like a list. It was reminiscent of the Underpants Gnomes on South Park. She convinces 4 of the other girls to help her with her escape, and from there on, each time she dances, and enters that 3rd level in her mind, they are there with her. As the movie progresses we get several more action sequences as the girls try to accomplish the tasks that will make their escape possible.
From here, after the first sequence with all 5 girls fighting, it starts to get repetitive. The mysterious Wise Man is present in all of these delusions, but not in any of the other levels of her mind. In the end however, once Snyder has brought us back to reality (Oh there goes gravity…Sorry) and the movie is about to end, we meet the Wise Man. He is completely out-of-place and seems to somehow be in on all that was transpired earlier…which makes no sense whatsoever.
The we close the movie out with a voice over. Now I know some people don’t like voice overs, and it’s considered lazy storytelling and all, but I’m a sucker for them. Think The Sandlot, where Smalls tells us what happened to all the guys with a voice over at the end, gives me chills. When done right, it can really make for a strong ending. But the voice over writing here was atrocious. It ended the movie with a bad taste in your mouth.
Don’t get me wrong here though, I didn’t hate this movie (even if the people I saw it with did), I felt I got what I expected, and I was entertained. Overall it was actually really cool, but cool doesn’t always mean good. My biggest problem was really just the wasted potential here. They took would could’ve been a great movie, and gave us a mediocre one.
Grizzly Bomb 