HEADLINES

DISNEY BUYS MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT FOR 4 BILLION DOLLARS
Disney now owns the rights to over 5,000 Marvel Characters. This could be a really good thing or a really bad thing. What is the most interesting to me is that apparently Marvel and Pixar met up and got "really excited, really fast over a lot of things". So does that mean we could see a Marvel Pixar movie? That could be cool right?

WRITER HIRED FOR BAD BOYS 3
I don't care what anyone says, the Bad Boy movies are awesome, especially the second one. I haven't been to crazy about Michael Bay lately so I'm not sure if I would want him back or not, I'm just glad this is moving forward.

RAMBO 5 MOVING FORWARD
Rambo is coming back for a fifth time with Stallone directing again. This time Rambo will fight his way through human traffickers and drug lords to rescue a girl kidnapped on the U.S./Mexico border.

NICHOLAS CAGE TO STAR IN 3D FILM DRIVE ANGRY
This is what America needs right here, a horrible Cage movie, IN 3D!!!!!! The story is a revenge flick about Cage going after people who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. Can't wait for this one.

HALLOWEEN 3D
The third installment of the Halloween reboot will be in 3D and released in the summer of 2010, Rob Zombie will not be back to direct. So why do movies suck so bad these days? Because of crap like this where sequels get rushed out in under a year. I'm sorry but no movie that starts shooting and is released in under a year will be good. Take time on films!!!!

SUMMER IN REVIEW

It's finally the end of a not so awesome summer for the movies. There has been some hits and some misses and of course some disagreements, but overall it was not a thrilling summer. So lets talk about the worst of the summer first.

TOP 5 WORST FILMS OF THE SUMMER


Honorable Mention: Bruno
I loved Borat, but Bruno was in my opinion horrible. Yes, it had a few laughs here and there, but I found myself not believing a lot of what was in the film.



5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
I'm sorry but people want to see the robots. Nobody cares about Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox running around in the desert. More importantly, nobody wants to see two robots acting like a bunch of fifth graders and that are borderline unbearable. The story was horrible, the script was horrible and the Megan Fox scenes were horrible.



4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
I really like the first film, but this was stupid. It was like they said "Ok, lets see if we can think up a story in 5 minutes" and they did. It wasn't fun, it just seemed like a rushed mess to me.



3. Land of the Lost
I use to be a huge Ferrell fan, but with every new film he makes, it makes me get out of denial more and more. Will Ferrell is no longer funny. It's the same thing every movie and if you don't switch it up it gets old quick. Adam Sandler did the same thing. All of his movies were getting to be the same so he switched his style up. Ferrell might want to think about this.



2. G Force
I don't know what I was expecting, a lot of times I like kids movies especially from Disney, but this was horrible. It was just stupid writing, stupid story, stupid moves for Will Arnett and Zack Galafanakis to be in this.



1. Year One
What happened during the process of making this film? This was by far the worst of the summer. Did these guys honestly think that this slapstick comedy crap was going to be a hit. This movie was on the same level as Disaster Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans. You would think with the cast it had it could have been a lot better.

TOP 5 BEST FILMS OF THE SUMMER



Honorable Mention: The Proposal
I really liked this movie. It was funny, had a good story, and the cast was great. It was your typical chick flick, but I really enjoyed this one.



5. District 9
I loved this film, not only because it was a sci-fi film involving aliens, but because it was so original. Hollywood is getting so repetitive in their film making it was nice to see a new spin on a genre. I thought that it was such a great film for a first time director and a first time actor to be apart of. I only wish they would have centered on the aliens a little more because during the middle of the film I got a little tired of Wikus's character.



4. The Hurt Locker
This wasn't a blockbuster with an all-star cast, but this was a well done, excellent, edge of your seat film. I'm a huge fan of military films and this is one of my favorites now. The film was very accurate of what really goes on with the bomb squads of Iraq.



3. Up
Pixar films will probably always be in my top 5 favorite summer films lists. They take the time and put so much detail and care into the story and graphics. You can tell that the people care about how their films turn out and I love it. Pixar films get better with just about every release they have. I loved this film, because even though its a fun kid movie about a flying house and talking animals, in the end it makes you appreciate life and the loved ones around you.



2. The Hangover
We have been really hurting in the comedy section for a while now, but as soon as I saw the trailer for this film I knew it was going to be good. I've been on the Zack Galafanakis bandwagon for almost ten years now, so it's nice to see him finally getting some bigger roles. The movie was fun and hilarious, which is all you need from a comedy.



1. Star Trek
I have never been a Star Trek fan and said I would never get into it, but as soon as I found out J.J. was doing it, I knew I would be hooked. This film has everything you want a summer film to have in it. It's fun, good story, good actors and plenty of action.

So what is there to look forward to next summer? Besides Iron Man 2, apparently not a lot. Here are some of the titles for next summer: Robin Hood, Shrek 4, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Sex and the City 2, Jonah Hex, Toy Story 3, Eclipse, and Predators.

HEADLINES

DIRECTOR FOUND FOR XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE
Ericson Core will be directing the third film of the XXX franchise. His only other film is Invincible which was pretty good, but I don't see this film having much potential, I mean do we really need another XXX? What's funny is when Vin Diesel's career was first taking off, he said he wouldn't do sequels. Well I guess since his career isn't what he was hoping for that's all he has to fall back on now.



SOUL TRAIN TO THE BIG SCREEN
Here is movie news that goes straight to my "who really cares" bin. Warner Brothers are putting together a story set in the 80's about a guy who comes from an L.A. hood and introduces "popping" to the show as his ticket out. This has crap written all over it. Watch out Knoxville Center 10.



GREEN LANTERN TROUBLE ALREADY SURFACES
Production on Green Lantern has currently been put on hold due to the rising Australian dollar blowing out production costs. Warner Brothers really needs this movie to get rolling and more importantly needs it to be good. The budget is 150 million which should be pretty good for a first go around then if its a hit I'm sure they'll bump the budget up some. With Superman looking like a franchise that will never be good, it would be nice for this to turn out to be a great film.



BATMAN TO BE SHOT COMPLETELY IN IMAX
Not really exciting news, but any Batman news is good news. Rumor has it, that the next Batman film will be shot completely in IMAX like some of the film was for The Dark Knight.



JOLIE "WANTED" BACK (see what I did there)
The director of the first film has been trying to figure out a way to incorporate Angelina Jolie's character Fox into the sequel. He says that he is thinking of using the healing room's wax baths as a way to bring her back. He says that they aren't just bringing her back to have her back, but that there is a good reason they want her back. Unlike most people, I really like this film, but what is up with Common getting the shaft in every movie he is in? I think he does a pretty good job and they hardly used him in Wanted, Terminator: Salvation which he could have been awesome in, and was also shafted in American Gangster and Smokin Aces. Give the guy a chance.



HANCOCK 2 IS A GO
Last week Peter Berg said he eventually wanted to do a sequel to the film, but it wasn't a priority right now. Well apparently it's a priority to Columbia because they hired writers for the film just a few days after Berg's comments. Adam Fierro and Glen Mazzara have been hired to write the sequel. Their credits are 24, Dexter, and The Shield so it has potential to be a lot better than the first.

ENOUGH ZOMBIE MOVIES

I like a good zombie movie just like the next guy from time to time, but lately it seems like zombie movies have just been coming out left and right. Here are just some of the movies that have been released in the past few years.

28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Resident Evil
Resident Evil: Apocolypse
Resident Evil: Extinction
Dawn of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead
Zombieland
Planet Terror
House of the Dead
I Am Legend
Quarantine
Slither
Diary of the Dead

As I have said before, Hollywood is running out of ideas for movies and the zombie genre is about to be used up.

AVATAR SCREENING RECAP

I went to the Avatar Day screening yesterday that FOX put on for Avatar. It showed roughly twenty minutes of different clips from the earlier parts of the movie. Thursday the trailer came out and many people have slammed it saying it's less than what they expected, and to an extent I agree. It looks like a mix between Delgo and Starship Troopers. The film is supposed to have the best graphics and 3D any film has ever had and from the trailer it looked good but not mind blowing.




So I entered the theatre and they gave me my 3D glasses which are new, I don't know if its a prototype, but they were yellow and not framed like the current ones in use. The screen comes on and James Cameron introduces the segment and of course is in 3D. Then the footage begins. It starts out with a drill sergeant talking then cuts to a scene with the camera following a pair of boots walking. Then it switches over to the sergeant talking to the men about their trip to Pandora. He tells them about the natives called the Na'vi and how they were a threat and that they like to use arrows dipped in toxins that will kill you in under one minute. As soon as this scene came up, I was blown away. Everything was in 3D. It was all very clean and smooth.






The next scene is Sam Worthington's character, Jake Scully, and Sigourney Weaver's character, Dr. Grace Augustine, talking about the procedure of connecting him to his Avatar. Once again, I was blown away by the effects in this scene. The digital computer screens the characters use come right out at you better than anything I have seen. The footage then changes to Jake being in his Avatar and waking up from the connect. The avatar looks good really good as far as CGI goes, probably the best I've seen, but it is not mind blowing. I think there might be only so far a CGI character can go, it will probably never look real. The avatars are about two or three feet taller than humans. But the scene was fun, Scully's character is paralyzed so he has to get use to walking again and the doctors are trying to calm him down but he insists on getting out of the room. There is another character in the room who seems like is probably Scully's best friend who has a funny line during the scene. The scene ends with Scully's avatar breaking out of the room and walking off.



Then we finally get to see Pandora. In the scene it has Scully, his friend, and Dr. Augustine's characters on the planet in avatar form. They are being threatened by a huge rhino creature and Scully is asking what to do. Dr. Augustine tells him to hold his ground, he does and the creature walks away. As the creature is leaving Scully goes on calling it names talking about how great he is while the whole time a more dangerous creature is creeping up behind him. He turns and sees it and the creature jumps over him. He then asks Dr. Scully what to do hold his ground or run and she replies, "Run! Defiantly run!" and then the creature chases them through the jungle end of scene. Let me say that this planet Cameron and his team has created is absolutely stunning. It is full of color and everything comes out right at you. When the scene opened, the camera was panning through the forest and a big vine literally comes right down in front of you from behind, you don't even see it coming on screen. Amazing.



The next scene shows Scully again in trouble with a bunch of creatures and Zoe Saldana's character, Neytiri, comes and rescues him. Neytiri is a native Na'vi and not an avatar. After she fights them off they begin to argue saying they did not deserve to die and that it was his fault.







The final scene shows Scully and Neytiri coming around a waterfall and up on a bunch of dragon creatures. He asks her how he will know which one is the right one and she replies, "It will want to fight you". So he starts walking around all these dragon creatures and eventually one tries to fight him and he wrestles with it. After a couple of go arounds with it he finally pins it and connects his hair into one of his antlar like things. I then realized that this is how he finds I guess what you would call his own personal dragon. Once the hair is placed in the antlar thing Neytiri tells him to tell the creature what he wants it to do and that is important to establish flight quickly because it's vital to help them bond. This was another beautiful scene.







After that it just shows a bunch of quick shots here and there that has already been seen in trailer. There was one part that wasn't and it looked like the sky was falling down around them, I'm not sure what it was, but it was absolutly beautiful. Overall, I was blown away. I don't think this will beat Titanic because it isn't geared toward everyone like Titanic was. You know grandma is going to go see Avatar at noon on a tuesday like she would have for Titanic so I don't see it surpassing that. The fact that Cameron and his crew have created this entire planet and put so much amazing detail is remarkable. The only problem I had with the footage was the script. There was a lot of cheesy dialouge especially with Scully's character, who sounded a little thugish. This is something you really need to experience, you can't go from the trailer but this should be a very good and very fun film.

HEADLINES

POSSIBLE HANCOCK SEQUEL
Director Peter Berg recently mentioned in an interview that a sequel to Hancock could be in the works. In the movie Will Smith plays a god, Berg said there could be some other gods still left on earth. I didn't love Hancock, but when I went back and watched it again I liked it better. This has the potential to be a good franchise it just needs a few adjustments.



ROSARIO DAWSON JOINS UNSTOPPABLE
Denzel Washington and Chris Pine have found their leading lady for the film Unstoppable. The movie is about a runaway train containing toxic chemicals that is headed for a nearby town.



REDFORD TO DIRECT LINCOLN FILM
Robert Redford is set to direct The Conspirator, which is about Marry Surratt who was an alleged conspirator of the Lincoln assassination. Spielberg has also thrown around a Lincoln movie for a few years now and Liam Neeson was set to play Lincoln.



WHITE CHICKS 2?
Apparently and unfortunately it is happening. Horrible idea, moving on.



IS EXPENDABLES GOING TO BE GREAT OR HORRIBLE?
Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables has just about every action star of the past twenty years either starring or making cameos in it. Bruce Willis is the latest to join the film as a cameo. The premise of the film is that a mercenary team heads to South America to overthrow a dictator. The cast so far includes Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, and my main man Arnold Shwarzenneger along with many others. This has potential to be one of the greatest action films of all time, or be a star studded mess.



SPIDER-MAN 5 AND 6 WRITER HIRED
James Vanderbilt has been hired to do the fifth and sixth Spider-Man films. These films will be a continuation story. This is when Venom should have come in at because you could have put the Sandman in there with Venom slowly building and we could have seen more Sembiote Spider-Man and then in the sixth movie could have been all about Venom. However, what worries me is that Vanerbilt was hired to write the fourth one and Sam Raimi wasn't happy with it and has had the script rewritten twice since Vanderbilt's draft.



WHIPLASH CONCEPT ART
We have seen the picture of Whiplash at the racetrack which seems to be his prototype and now some concept art has been released of what the full suit might look like.











DIRTY DANCING REMAKE
I believe that in the next ten years almost all of the 70's and 80's films will have been remade. I know that Dirty Dancing has a huge fan base with women, but the sequel sucked and bombed, so why even bother. Hollywood please bring original ideas back to the big screen.

IT'S TUESDAY WHAT DVD SHOULD I BUY?

THE SIMPSONS: SEASON 12
If your a Simpsons fan, this is a must buy. The Simpsons will have been on for twenty-one years now starting this fall and isn't quite as good as it once was, but after 440 episodes what would you expect. One of the more famous episodes from this season is Hom'r, where they discover Homer has a crayon lodged in his brain and once it is removed he becomes an intelligent person.



The Last Starfighter
This is a cult film from he 80's that is getting a 25th anniversary re-release. I haven't seen this film in many years, but I remember it being pretty awesome when I was a kid, it might be different now that I'm older. Either way, you should check it out.



Dexter Season: Three
This is a show that I have recently started watching, and it is a very good, different and dark show. Dexter is a Miami forensics expert during the day, and a serial killer killer by night. Yes, he kills serial killers. Good show.



Hannah Montana: The Movie
If your a girl you will love this. Every girl I know who saw this loved it, and I myself didn't think it was as near as bad as I thought it was going to be. If your a girl go for it.



Last House on the Left
This is a remake of the 70's film by the same time. It is a very dark and graphic movie about two girls who are brutally raped and beaten by a gang. When the gang takes refuge in a vacation house owned by one of the girls parents, they come up with a bunch of brutal plans for revenge. Not a great film, but a pretty graphic film. Go with your preference on this one.

MOVIE REVIEW: DISTRICT 9

As a huge fan of sci-fi movies, I was so excited to watch a new angle on the genre. District 9 gives a fresh, unique story of what happens when an alien ship gets stranded on earth. In the film an alien ship arrives in South Africa and causes a national phenomenon over the planet. Once the ship is boarded by humans they find over a million aliens on board who are frightened and malnourished. With the whole world watching, it is decided that instead of destroying them, they will bring them down and set up a shelter for the aliens, known as District 9. Twenty years later, an organization known as MNU (Multi-National United) is formed to not only keep a close eye on the camp, but to also make sure somewhat moral values are kept when it comes to dealing with the aliens. After years of the locals rioting and protesting, it is decided to move the camp to a safer, more secluded location which means the eviction of all aliens in District 9. During the eviction process the head field operative, Wikus van der Merwe, comes in contact with a vial that discharges on him changing his DNA. Wikus quickly becomes the main focus of MNU becuase he is now the key to unlocking the secrets of the alien technology. Wikus escapes MNU headquarters and becomes the most wanted man on the planet, and with nowhere left to run he turns to District 9 for shelter. There he uncovers the key his cure as well as the aliens key to return to their home planet.

District 9 is half documentary style, half action which is kind of what I was hoping Cloverfield 2 would look like if it gets made. It is a smart, well written, and well directed story. What I really enjoyed about the film was the amount of detail that was in every shot, whether it was the garbage and ran down huts in District 9, or the main headquarters of MNU. The ending was great because they left it open for a sequel if they choose to do so, but at the same time it is a great ending all by itself. I personally hope they do not make a sequel because I think part of the fun is wondering about the ending. District 9 comes off as a sci-fi film, but when you peel the hollywood effects and story off of it, you see that the real world is not far away from the made up world of District 9. I loved this film and had no problems with it so I'm giving it a 5 out of 5.

MOVIE REVIEW: THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE

The premise for The Time Traveler's Wife is a unique story that steps away from your typical chick flick stories. The movie revolves around the journeys of Henry DeTamble through time. At the age of five Henry time travels during a traffic accident where he witnesses his mother's death. He is immediately met by his future self to inform him of his disease later diagnosed as chrono-displacement. Henry works as a librarian in Chicago where he runs into Claire for the first time at age eighteen. Upon their meeting, Claire informs Henry that she has met him before and that she has actually known him most of her life. Claire first meets Henry at age six in a field and tells Claire when she can expect him to be at the library. From here the movie goes into several different story lines dealing with Henry and Claires relationship through the different timelines Henry has.

For the most part, I enjoyed this movie for the fact that it did bring something new to the table as far as chick flicks are concerned. I haven't read the book, but I feel a lot of the movie was rushed as most movies made from books are. My main problem with the film is that the movie rushed the relationship between Claire and Henry so I really didn't care about the characters I was watching. A lot of the film deals with their relationship problems due to the loneliness Claire has due to Henry's disappearances and with several miscarriages Claire has due to Henry passing the gene along to the the children, so it kinda seemed like they just fought most of the movie since they never built a relationship between them the audience could care about. Also, there were some events in the movie that were touched very quickly and then abandoned as if they were trying to fit a lot of pieces in the movie from the book without spending too much time on them. In the end it was a pretty decent movie that I would recommend. It gets a 3 out 5.

HEADLINES

PREDATORS TO START FILMING SEPTEMBER 28
I really hope this movie doesn't suck. Robert Rodriguez is producing which doesn't mean crap and Nimrod Antal who's only credits are Vacancy which sucked and Armored which is going to suck. FOX is unfortunately doing the movie so that doesn't help
it much.











FIRST GOOD AVATAR PIC
The first actual screen cap of Avatar was released with Sam Worthington and what seems to be his avatar. I'm not thrilled about how the avatars look in the pictures I have seen but I'm not really going to judge till I see the actual footage.




BRYAN SINGER TO DIRECT BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MOVIE
Bryan Singer is bring Battlestar Galactica to the big screen, but the question is whether it will be it's own movie or tie into the Ronald Moore series that just ended a few months ago. If it does tie into Moore's series then I'm all for it, as long as they bring back everyone. If it is going off the 70's series, then I'm probably not going to be as interested.



WOLVERINE 2 GETS A WRITER
Christopher McQuarrie has signed on to write the next Wolverine movie. This is a step in the right direction because he was also the guy who wrote The Usual Suspects. Hugh Jackman recently said that they were taking this story to Japan which is a fan favorite storyline. Although this is good news, Fox is doing this one also, so they will find a way to ruin it like everything else.



INTEREST IN GODZILLA RESURFACES
Legendary Pictures has recently said that they are interested in bringing Godzilla back to the big screen. Thankfully Roland Emerich has said he is not interested in revisiting this franchise since his 98' version was horrible. Even as a kid I realized that movie sucked. This really shouldn't be a hard movie to get right. Godzilla is pretty cool character and I mean I guess the 98' version was on the right track in some ways but if there is a good cast and story it could work.