"Simply" To Be Screened In Boston

This sounds like an amazing film, I'll be sure to attend the screening and pass on a review.

An Iranian film 'Simply' directed by Reza Mirkarimi will be screened in the 24th Boston Film Festival from November 14-30 in Boston, US.The films will also be screened in Hamburg, Bulgaria, Yari (Sweden) and Antalya (Turkey) film festivals.The film already won the 'White Elephant Award' by Russian critics in the Moscow International Film Festival.The film 'Simply', a joint production of Mirkarimi and Iran's Cinema Development Organization, was warmly received by the audience and critics in the festival.The film depicts a day in the life of a woman from a middle class family.The film won the Best Film and Best Screenplay Awards and Hengameh Qaziani received the Best Actress award in February 2008 at Iran's Fajr International Film Festival. --IRNA

http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=600010

Scream...Again?

I really enjoyed Scream, but the sequels left something to be desired in my opinon. That being said, the Weinsteins feel that the franchise still has some "Screams" yet to be belted out.

CBS-owned Showtime already had an output deal with Weinstein imprint Dimension Films, which forms part of the new exclusive agreement. Other releases from TWC that will be in the deal include All Good Things, a modern remake of Seventh Samurai, The Alchemist and Panic. Dimension films in the deal mix include a remake of Scanners and Scream 4, the latest in that slasher-film series.

Sydney Pollack

Sydney Pollack 1934-2008

Jeepers Creepers...Another Sequel?

Blood Disgusting is reporting that a third Jeepers Creepers is in the works...I didn't even know there was a second one.

Phillips breaks the new exclusively to Bloody-Disgusting that she is in facts in talks to play a role in Victor Salva's third film. "I will say that, I can’t talk about it, but I can say we are in talks, she explains. "There is a script and there is work being done on it. Here’s the thing, I also produce films, when I have my producer hat on …that’s my job, and when I have my actor hat on, then that’s my job, I try not to intervene unless you have a director who wants your opinion. The great thing about Victor is that he is very collaborative. He not only wanted my input, he almost demanded it, It was always like what do you think what do you think. I trust him and I think he is a very talented writer. If things are to come together, and he wants my input… I have a lot to say!"

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/11630

Don't Move Creep...Robocop Reboot?

Moviehole is reporting on news from AICN that MGM is tossing around the idea of rebooting the Robocop franchise. I have to agree with Clint here, not only am I tired of all of the reboots, I am even more tired of bad reboots.

AintItCoolNews pointed out a press release from MGM that lists a new "RoboCop" movie alongside upcoming franchise films already in development like "Quantum of Solace," "The Thomas Crown Affair 2" (with "RoboCop" director Paul Verhoeven on board) and for some reason, "The Pink Panther 2" and 3. Unfortunately, it looks like MGM would rather reboot the "Robocop" franchise rather than give us an easily forgettable sequel. Great - I'm sure this new remake will totally miss the point with the shocking violence, sick humor and sharp satire of the original.

While we're at it, maybe we can put some bling and spinning rims on Robocop as he chases generic hoodlums all around Detroit.The thing is, the original couldn't get any darker or more relevant - it still holds up and is an amazing piece of societal satire. Why would someone want to ruin that and tarnish the name of "Robocop" for good?

http://www.moviehole.net/news/20080317_is_robocop_back_on_duty_1.html

JL(M) Is A Go For 2009

According to the juggernaut that is Variety "Justice League Mortal", which is the rumored new title, is fast tracked to drop in 2009. This is a almost a complete 180 to recent news floating around the internet the last couple days speculating that JLM might be pushed back to 2010 and moved to Canada. Even George Miller, the JLM director, called the movie's status "precarious". Exerpts from the Variety article below:

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981504.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Now that the writers strike has been resolved, Warner Bros. is pushing ahead with its plans to make "Justice League" in time for a 2009 debut. Warners tried to get "Justice League" into production earlier, but put it on indefinite hold in January, allowing the cast options to expire. At the time, the studio said it didn't want to move ahead until the scribes had another shot at the script.

Scribes Kieran and Michele Mulroney are busy polishing up the script, which is expected back at the studio in several weeks, and the cast has been advised to keep training for their superhero roles. Director George Miller is in pre-production in Australia.

Now from all reports Adam Brody is playing The Flash, Common is playing Green Lantern, Megan Gale has won the role of Wonder Woman, and Arnie Hammer may or may not be playing Batman. What about Superman? As of now the actor who is supposed to strap on the cape as Superman seems to be shrouded in mystery. DJ Controna and Scott Porter seem to be the front runners to pull on the tights but I can already hear the Welling Rumors being whispered in my ear again.

What does this mean for Man of Steel, the sequel to Superman Returns? I assumed this might mean that a sequel to Superman Returns is completely dead. From what I am hearing that might not be so. There are now rumblings that Man of Steel may have finally found their writer(s). Interesting.

"On Broadway" March 12th in Boston

As you know I love when local talent takes a shot at the film industry and this is no exception. I received the below email this afternoon and wanted to pass the word around. Please check out the On Broadway official site and myspace page along with Dave McLaughlin's myspace page and the IMDB page. All links and synopsis in blue below. I hope to see you there on March 12th.



On Broadway tells the story of Jack O'Toole, a 30-something Boston everyman, who writes a play about his dead uncle as a way to reconnect with his hard-nosed dad. With no money and just his gut to guide him, Jack quits his job as a carpenter so that he can mount a production of his play on the only stage he can afford: in the back room of his neighborhood pub, on a little street called Broadway.

Hello all,

How would you like to help support a couple of local guys with their Boston-based film? The movie is called “On Broadway”. My friend Lance Greene (Cambridge) is an actor/producer starring in this movie. And Dave McLaughlin (Boston) is the writer and director. I was out with Lance and Dave over the weekend and we were chatting about the future of the film. It turns out the movie will be back in circulation for a few weeks in and around Boston.

On Wednesday March 12th On Broadway will have its Theatrical release at either the AMC Regal Fenway or the AMC Loews Boston Common. The movie will also be running at 5 other local theaters, including the Somerville Theater located in Davis Square starting on Friday March 14th (check theaters for listings & times).

Lance and Dave are very talented, hard working, family guys who sacrificed so much of themselves to make this thing happen. Please help move this film to the next level. The best way to do this is to sell out the theaters. Go see the movie and spread the word to EVERYBODY. Check out the links below for more info on the movie.

Thanks much!
DT

http://www.onbroadwaythemovie.com/boston/

http://www.myspace.com/onbroadwaythemovie

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796339/

http://www.myspace.com/davemacboston

The Signal

At last year's Sundance Film Festival, "The Signal" was hailed as sure to end up a cult classic. The picture is the latest in a growing subgenre of horror movies that use the media as their source of fear and loathing. The film is about an electronic transmission that, for unexplained reasons, changes people into deranged murderers. The signal might come from your TV, your cell phone, or any medium. But the result is always bloody mayhem.

"The Signal" is also unusual in that it was written and directed by three young filmmakers, each of whom handled one of the film's three segments. The sections differ in tone and are meant to highlight various aspects of the story.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/17/PKCGUVQB0.DTL&feed=rss.entertainment

Selma Blair Revolted By Movie

http://www.wazthemovie.com/

Selma Blair was so revolted by the gore in new movie WAZ, the director was forced to cut her facial expressions out of the horrific scenes. The actress admits she's unlikely to appear in another horror movie again after her recent role as Jean Lerner in the scary film left her feeling sick. She says, "They kept having to cut away from my face. I couldn't be disgusted in the movie. This was a difficult movie to shoot. You're talking to someone who couldn't even dissect a little pig in seventh grade, and that was after all the blood had been drained out of it. "I just need to appear in a period piece really soon. A lavish, beautiful non-gory period piece."

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/blair%20sickened%20by%20movie%20role_1059811

Rhode Island's Animated Horror

This seems like a very interesting project. I am always proud to see film news originating from the Northeast.

Rhode Island firm, students to create animated horror movie.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) --

http://www.wpri.com/global/story.asp?s=7886620

A local animation studio is teaming with students from the Rhode Island School of Design to create a first-of-its-kind computer-animated horror movie. The Providence-based studio, The Story Hat, is planning to begin preproduction this week on the movie called Bloodline, according to the Providence Journal.

The movie tells the story of tattoos that grow and change, wreaking havoc on the people who bear them. Director Michael Corrente says he hopes the movie puts Rhode Island on the map as an animation headquarters. The studio estimates that the film could give jobs to as many as 200 people at peak production.

Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.projo.com/

The Story Hat: http://www.thestoryhat.com/tsh-home.html

Friday the 13th Shooting This Spring

Friday the 13th Films is reporting that the the reboot of the slasher franchise will launch this Spring deep in the heart of Texas.

With the writer's strike now over (yay, more Lost!), it's time to get on with the New Friday.

"We received word that Platinum Dunes' remake of Friday the 13th will now shoot on April 21 in Austin, Texas. No casting has been announced thus far, but expect some updates once the untitled David Goyer projects gets rolling. This shouldn't effect the planned February 13, 2009 release date by New Line Cinema."

http://www.fridaythe13thfilms.com/

Cloverfield Review

Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Cloverfield - or how I wasted an hour and a half of my life

By Brad L.

I'll be upfront with you. No mincing words in this blog. I didn't like Cloverfield. It was overhyped and underwhelming. And this is coming from someone who didn't even follow the hype. I saw that teaser in front of Transformers and I was instantly hooked. Too bad the movie couldn't live up to that short teaser.So let's get this bad boy under way.

The Plot:

Rob Hawkins is moving to Japan. His brother and a bunch of his friends throw him a going away party. He's in love with this girl Beth but is acting all non-chalant since he's leaving anyway and despite the fact that she loves him too, but God knows why. A monster attacks New York and madness ensues. People die. Jokes are told at inopportune times (for the characters but opportune times for the audience). Let's get this straight. THERE IS NOTHING REVOLUTIONARY ABOUT THIS MOVIE. It's Godzilla meets The Blair Witch Project. It's the Godzilla Witch Project. Period. Full Stop.

The Good:

1. The movie was meant to look like it was shot on a camcorder and Matt Reeves was successful in this. I applaud the filmmakers for taking so many long single takes and the actors for managing to get it right. It all looks very cohesive.

2. The special effects are top notch. From the destruction to the monster itself, all the effects are well integrated into the final product. It definitely does a good job of making you feel like you are in the middle of an actual monster invasion. Very visceral.

3. Hud. Get it? The guy behind the camera is named Hud. You know, like your Heads Up Display in a first person shooter. How clever. Seriously though. The guy is funny and his comic relief is much needed and appreciated.

The Bad:

1. The actors. Besides Hud and Marlena, everyone was superficial. It did not cease to amaze me that the crappiest of the actors was also the lead role. Bad decision making.

2. The characters. Not only were the actors bad but the characters were written poorly. I never got a chance to actually develop any feelings towards Rob and Beth nor cared if they ended up together. And sure, Beth might have been easy on the eyes but she was not established enough that I would believe someone as weak willed as Rob would actually grow balls and traverse a monster infested Manhattan for her. And I think there were other characters too but they were equally forgettable.

3. No resolution. First of all, I don't want to hear that it was so gutsy for the filmmakers to leave the movie so open ended, not explaining anything about the monster and having the main characters die. It's not cool or "indie" of them. It's been done many times over in film history. Just look to Romero's original Night of the Living Dead and you'll see no explanations for the zombies or where they came from. And the major characters die. The difference? Night of the Living Dead actually has a resolution, even if it is cynical. Cloverfield does not.

Overall, the movie feels cheap. It feels like a cheap thrill. It feels like the camcorder look was used to avoid having to light the project well and worry about cinematography. The ending felt like a cheap cop out and a way to get audiences hooked into a possible sequel. It felt like the writers Googled "monster movie" and just copied and pasted clichés and plot threads. The characters were poorly developed and on top of that, the actors did a piss-poor job portraying them.

What a waste, really.The filmmakers said that their inspiration for the teaser trailer and resulting hype was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That trailer teased you with the different kinds of Encounters but really gave you nothing of the movie itself. It put audiences into a frenzy with excitement for the project. Spielberg knew this and actually made a satisfying film. Matt Reeves certainly captured the teaser correctly. He should have taken another page out of Spielberg's book and created a film to match expectation.

Moviehole talked to ''Sweeney Todd'''s Timothy Spall who confirmed he'll be back as Peter Pettigrew in another ''Harry Potter''.

“Well I'm actually.... yes... I'm in the next one”, reveals the British actor. ''And I'm also in the one at the end – I have a very big scene in that. I think they might be shooting two of them back-to-back – hard to know though, what with this writer's strike and all. They're shooting the penultimate one at the moment – which I have a brief appearance in it. I should be doing that soon.''

Spall appeared as Peter Pettigrew in ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' and ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban''.

http://www.moviehole.net/news/20080118_spall_talks_his_harry_potter_f_1.html

The Cloverfield Monster Revealed!

Cloverfield is dropping this coming Friday and I am extremely excited for this film. I think they did a fantastic job with the marketing campaign especially in regards to keeping the look of the monster a mystery...up until now.

Hollywood Kryptonite Foils Man of Steel?

The build up toward Superman Returns was a fantastic experience for me. I was found myself scouring the internet for news throughout casting, pre-production, production, and I am still discussing this movie on forums across the internet even now. Fortunately, I was able to get close to some of the people involved in production of Superman Returns on both sides of the fence along with others in the industry who had first hand knowledge of production. Naturally said industry insiders were also able to give me some information on a possible sequel, which now seems to be in jeopardy. Below is a message I received on August 26th of 2007 from a internet message board I frequent. I have blocked out some of the message as well as the identity of the poster in order to protect their identity.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i267/IronGiant29/ManofSteel.jpg

The next day Film Ick ran the same story which you read if you click the link below. Either Film Ick had the same source on this one, or they ran with my story.

http://www.filmick.co.uk/2007/08/whats-gonna-come-of-man-of-steel.html

What really surprised me looking back at the message, is the information on Tom Welling and JLA. The source introduces the idea of Welling being cast in JLA after season 8 is completed. Obviously the strike has changed things and Welling might be free to sign on sooner than that. We'll all find out where this project is going by tomorrow.

Truth, Justice, and the Hollywood Way?

Superman! Batman! Wonder Woman! All of them together on the big screen? Sounds like a fanboy dream but it seems that it might be a nightmare for Warner Bros. George Miller's Justice League of America has yet to be "officially" announced but comic book fans all over the country have sure had a lot to talk about in relation to the project. The biggest discussions and debates swirling around on forums across the internet has involved casting, the biggest question, who is going to be playing the Man of Steel?

The first bomb was dropped by Rob over at IESB on G4's Attack of the Show, where he announced that Tom Welling "most likely" will be Superman and was "pretty confident" in his sources. Click the first link below for video the announcement and the 2nd link for the article at IESB.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cZvKOZaXg
http://www.iesb.net/index.php?option=com_ezine&task=read&page=1&category=1&article=3138

What happened next can only be described as "Kingdom Come" as fans of Tom Welling rejoiced while fans of Brandon Routh were feeling the disappointment of their Superman being passed up for the role. Rob's announcement instigated some heated debates among fans as well as an explosion of rumors debunking the Welling announcement and rumors that further supported Rob's information.

Although the first most of us heard about Welling being up for Superman was from Rob's announcement there were those claiming that a poster from Countingdown had beat Rob to the punch long before his announcement on G4. The poster, known as Emijayne or Jayne, made her appearance on IESB to contribute what she knew about Welling and Superman and her following from Countingdown multiplied. You can check out her blog below, some believe she is a fraud, some swear by her information, but one thing is for sure she has turned herself into an internet celebrity by no fault of her own. I have given Jayne a little bit of heat from time to time indirectly on some of the forums, but she is definitely tied into the movie industry. Judge for yourself.

http://theinfamousemijayne.blogspot.com/

Some of the more recent news out of Hollywood is now pointing to Justice League being delayed or even canceled with a report today suggesting if the movie is not greenlit by Jan 15th, then it will be revisited after the strike.

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/01/and-justice-for.html

If this movie doesn't end up happening or if Tom Welling is not cast as Superman, it is not because of lack of support from the fans of Smallville and Tom Welling. They have stormed every major website and every major poll showing their support for "their" Superman. Check out the poll below for a sample of this devotion to their hero.



Special Thanks to Mike22 & OobeDoobBenubi of The Hype for the above manip.
http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=13217106&postcount=217

A New Nightmare?

Speculation has been circulating around the boiler rooms of Hollywood for quite awhile now in regards to the future of horror's favorite slasher icon, Freddy Kreuger. In 2003 Jason vs Freddy was a hit at the box office for New Line and there has been a debate on whether to go with a sequel to that movie, another sequel in the Nightmare franchise, or a prequel showing the origins of Freddy Kreuger.

Clint at Moviehole has posted a new article about the franchise including an interview from Fear.net with none other than Robert England himself. It seems that there are reports that New Line is looking to reboot the series similar to what Rob Zombie did with Halloween. Check out the links below.

http://www.moviehole.net/news/20080110_caffeinated_clint_10108.html
http://www.fearnet.com/MCNewsDetailPage.aspx?catid=30&mid=12389

I'll throw more logs on the fire, sources are telling me that New Line is very strong on a sequel to the Nightmare series rather than rebooting the franchise. Stay tuned




Thanks to Mac for the above rendering.

http://graphicboredom.blogspot.com/

Return to Krypton

Believe it or not Superman Returns is still being discussed on http://www.superherohype.com/ & http://www.bluetights.net/. The colors of the suit, Superman's curl, Bryan Singer's directing choices, and Lex Luthor's plot points are all being debated back and forth by fans even now.





One of the debates revolves around the Return To Krypton scene or RTK as it has been dubbed by the fans. Above is some amazing artwork done by Ben Proctor who not only worked on the RTK scene but also some Smallville scenes and the FOS (Fotress of Solitude). Ben's work is truly amazing and you can check out what he did with Superman Returns and other movies such as Transformers by clicking the link below.

http://www.benprocter.com/SITEv2/HTML/HOME.html

While on the subject of Superman Returns, as above one of the hot topics before, during, and after production was the suit. Thanks to Steve Younis at Supermanhomepage and concept designer Eddie Yang, we can compare Bryan Singer's version of the suit to the concepts below before Bryan was brought on board to direct Superman Returns. I would advise if you're a Superman fan that you check out Eddie's page, you will also find concept designs for Tyzor, a villian from JJ Abram's Flyby script. Enjoy.

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/news.php

http://www.eddieyang.com/portfolio/costume.html