Movies

Last week, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story on the upcoming DC Comics movie adaptations that are coming to theaters, as well as television shows and other media projects in development. Though Warner Brothers and DC lay claim to the highly successful Batman series, the company appears to be floundering with a lot of its properties while rival Marvel has established a very strong lineup (you can view upcoming Marvel comic book movie release dates here) and their own studio.

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The casting news never stops! Here are some of the big announcements of the week:

In a rather surprise announcement, there are rumors that there’s going to be a sequel to Master and Commander, the excellent adventure-drama that starred Russell Crowe. While good, the movie didn’t make a ton of money if memory serves me right. Regardless, talks are that Crowe may reprise his role as Captain Jack Aubrey in The Reverse of the Medal. Of course, all of these developments are in rumor stages at this point.

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Several big casting announcements were made today, the most notable being that Natalie Portman will play Jane Foster in the upcoming comic book adaptation Thor. Foster will play the main love interest in the film. While I’m not excited about the project, at least it now has some female eye candy.

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Ryan Reynolds, who has had roles in Blade: Trinity and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will play the title character in the upcoming Green Lantern movie, DC Comics’ latest attempt to cash in on one of its superhero franchises.

The casting comes as a bit of a surprise, as momentum – at least in the rumor mill – seemed to be leaning toward Bradley Cooper. Reynolds, Cooper, Jared Leto and Justin Timberlake all had been in contention, but Reynolds, who will be the first person to play a major character for both a Marvel and DC movie, will play the ring-wielding superhero.

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Somewhere I sense that George W. Bush is giggling somewhere, because while we have to pay for his sins, we also have to pay for Hollywood’s unoriginality. Word has it that Donnie Darko 3 may be in the works, and that puts the “franchise” now at two unnecessary sequels.

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Summer hasn’t even officially started yet, but it feels like we’re in the heart of it. The third blockbuster arrives this weekend, but other than that, there aren’t many options for those of you already caught up.

In theaters, there’s Angels & Demons, the sequel/prequel to The Da Vinci Code. To call it anticipated may be a bit of an overstatement, as the first one – also directed by Ron Howard – was just not good. I really liked the book, but the movie was slow, plodding and, worst of all, uninteresting. However, early interviews with Howard and producers indicated that they are aware of what went wrong and have promised to rectify things; while you can never trust these people when in marketing mode, their acknowledgment of the problem is a good sign.

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With Star Trek coming to theaters this week, it only seemed fitting – at least according to Paramount – to re-release Galaxy Quest in an all-new Deluxe Edition format (on May 12, 2009). This sci-fi spoof, which can only be described as a direct yet intelligent spoof of Star Trek and its fans, is a well-made and funny comedy starring Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Signourey Weaver and Sam Rockwell, among others.

You don’t have to be a fan of Star Trek to enjoy the film, and in fact it’s fun going back after ten years and watching things all over again. For instance, at the time, Rickman was mainly known as that guy from Die Hard, whereas now he’s that guy from Harry Potter. No one knew who Rockwell was at the time, and if you look closely, Dwight from “The Office” even makes an appearance.

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For those of you who don’t know, I write a weekly article at newslite.tv that showcases the major movies opening over the weekend. If you can’t get enough of my opinions, head on over to my latest article, Marvel at Wolverine.

Check out some of the other articles at newslite.tv as well; there are some pretty good ones for anyone who likes the slightly offbeat.

Oh, and my weekend assessment was wrong. Wolverine was terrible.

Ah, there’s nothing like week-old news. It’s sort of the reason I don’t read newspapers anymore; by the time I read them, I’ve usually already read the stories somewhere else online.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to report on every movie announcement that comes out in a week like some blogs do; a full-time job and personal life have that effect. But I do have an opinion, and sometimes I just have to share…

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I was born in the 80′s and grew up watching cartoons into the early nineties. One of my staples on Saturday morning was the X-Men animated series.

Despite being a DC Comics fan and not a Marvel one as much, there was something about the show that had me waiting with bated breath for every episode. Compared to some of the other cartoons going on those days – such as the Batman animated series – the artistry was more in tune with the comic book art, the stories grittier and more realistic. In reality, the Batman series – which I also watched – was all-around better, but the X-Men series was the one to watch.

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Disheartening news… first Harry Potter was pushed back from fall of 2008 to the summer of 2009, and now the highly anticipated sequel to the hit blockbuster Cats and Dogs has been bumped to the summer of 2010. What is the world coming to when a film like Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore sees a year delay?

I don’t know if I can go on living in this world, people. That movie was going to be awesome. It was going to be the best. It was going to be like Star Trek and Terminator and Wolverine and Up and Schindler’s List all rolled into one.

The original Death at a Funeral was pretty good. Not great, but good. It was also made in 2007, with English-speaking actors, many of whom are recognizable. It was directed by Frank Oz. And they’re remaking it. Remaking a two-year old movie that already received a U.S. release. What the hell?

This remake, of all remakes that have come before it, crosses the line of artistic integrity. Sure, there have been perfectly good films that were remade only a few years later in the form of Vanilla Sky and The Ring and several others. Those remakes are annoying enough, because if you watch the originals they are just as good or better, and not at all dated. They just don’t star as marketable actors as Hollywood can bring to the table. And they’re in a different language, made in another country, and there are a lot of people who don’t like subtitles for some sad, misguided reason (you’re exempt if you are visually impaired, of course).

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There’s not much to say here: MTV Movie Blogs held an interview with actor Terry Crews who confirmed that the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger will indeed have a cameo in the upcoming action flick Terminator Salvation. Rumors had all but confirmed this already, but this is the surest sign so far.

Arnold will also cameo in The Expendables, the Sylvestor Stallone-directed movie that also involves Crews.

I don’t care about that movie as much, but let me say this: Terminator Salvation looks badass. Absolutely badass. From the previews, it makes Transformers look like a walk in the park. I just watched the latest preview again during my viewing of the Rescue Me season premiere… I could watch it a dozen more times. The music is pitch perfect. The movie itself looks depressing: just the way I like ‘em.

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly star in the French Riviera thriller To Catch a Thief, an Alfred Hitchcock classic. The movie is being released by Paramount in an all-new DVD Centennial Collection on March 24, 2009.

To Catch a Thief is about a retired jewel thief named John Robie who was once known as “The Cat.” When a new rash of gem thefts occur at some nearby luxury hotels, however, the police immediately suspect Robie, forcing him to go undercover and determine the truth himself. He soon hooks up with the beautiful heiress Frances Stevens and as their relationship develops, loyalties and honesty are questioned. Is Robie truly innocent, or is he just using Frances to get to her mother’s riches?

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As expected, Watchmen took a nosedive in its second weekend – taking in an estimated $18 million, 67% than last week. After ten days, it has made $85 million against a budget of $130-150 million, which means that it isn’t going to make back its production budget in theaters. Considering all the money that went into marketing and its so-so worldwide grosses thus far – and the profit-sharing deal Warner Brothers was forced to work out with 20th Century Fox – Watchmen is not going to be a box office success.

2009 has been a strong year at the box office thus far, with lots of films that weren’t expected to do much raking in major dough (Paul Blart, Taken and the expansion of Slumdog Millionaire to name a few). This weekend sort of brought things done to earth, as the first big blockbuster of the year crashed and burned in its second weekend and the potential Disney franchise-starter Race to Witch Mountain, starring The Rock, only took in $25 million. While this isn’t a horrible amount, Disney, who has been struggling throughout the year, had to have been expecting more. It might have strong legs, but the upcoming Monsters vs. Aliens will demolish it in a couple weeks.

Miss March failed to perform with a tenth place finish.