We're down to the last few days before the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, and Warner Bros has released this terrific new featurette about Hogwarts' most enigmatic teacher, Professor Severus Snape.
Is Snape truly evil? Listen to the cast and crew - including Alan Rickman and JK Rowling herself - discuss Snape's motives and where this character might be going (and for those of us who've read the books, we know just how great this part of the story really is). The feature also shows off some great new footage between Snape and Harry:
Can't wait to see this. Tonight was the NY premiere for the film, and to thank fans who started camping out last night in the sweltering heat in front of Lincoln Center, actor Tom Felton showed up early this afternoon to treat everyone to pizza. I knew that Draco Malfoy wasn't such a bad guy after all.
Will people pay money to see an Arnold Schwarzenegger starring feature?
That question was worth asking upon the closing months of his gubernatorial reign in California. We all knew by then he was readying himself for a return to onscreen skull-thumping. But the concern was would movie-goers these days accept him, now in his early 60s, getting a bit pudgier and a tad slower, as an ass-kicker still. There's only so much nostalgia people can have for the mid 80s-to-early 90s action genre and there's a feeling maybe The Expendables fished that lake dry last August.
But that question took on a whole new meaning once the public scandal broke of affairs, love-children with nannies and his subsequent separation, now divorce in-the-works, from wife Maria Shriver. With this new, and unflattering, view of him, would the general public, especially the female quads give him and any new movie of his the time of day? Remember how men and women turned on Tom Cruise after he made a jackass outta himself back in 2005/2006, and that was nowhere near as bad as this!
Well, now that some time has passed, Arnold and his representation are hoping (praying!) that perhaps our current attention on the Casey Anthony verdict and the twelve dumbfucks who let her walk scot-free out of a murder conviction will have deviated enough so he get back to making big action movies and, more importantly, selling movie-tickets.
"TOLDJA" says The Last Stand, the action-thriller (now it's being called a full-on western, did I miss something?) that was planned to be his first starring role since leaving office as first reports by Movie Web, is back on with filming looking to start as early as this September. As first reported, Schwarzenegger will play "a sheriff with an inexperienced staff who becomes involved with trying to stop the cartel leader from entering Mexico after the two parties inadvertently cross paths."
It's a role that with the right amount work put into it by him and director Jee-woon Kim could give us a fresh glimpse of the action icon. Show the audience that he's human, older, flawed, etc. Now more than ever, he needs to acknowledge onscreen just as much as off.
But again whether the public is willing to give Arnold their hard-earned money again after all this remains to be seen.
Not suprisingly, it was no contest at the box office as Transformers: Dark of the Moon easily took the weekend over new releases Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper with $47.1 million. More surprisingly, the film dropped a mere 52% from last weekend - a good sign that unlike the last Transformers film, fewer people think the movie sucked. How it holds up against Harry Potter next weekend has yet to be seen, but for now, Transformers sits pretty as 2011's highest-grossing film with $261 million. Worldwide, the movie has made $645 million. People do seem to like their ass-kicking robots.
As far as the new releases, Horrible Bosses continued the R-rated comedy hit streak this summer, opening with $28.3 million. That's right in between the opening weekends for Bridesmaids (which finally dropped out of the top ten this weekend) and Bad Teacher. Meanwhile, Kevin James' family comedy Zookeeper did not have that Paul Blart-mojo, opening with just $20 million. Apparently it was not such a hit amongst the talking-gorilla-goes-to-TGI Fridays-crowd. Then again, what is?
Cars 2 is proving to be somewhat disappointing by Pixar standards, finishing the weekend with $15.2 million. At $148 million, it's falling behind where the original Cars was at this same point in 2006, although that franchise makes it's real money at the toy stores.
Otherwise, a fairly quiet weekend at the box office. Consider it the calm before the battle for Hogwarts begins, as the final Harry Potter film starts rolling out at midnight on Friday.
And, lest we forget: next weekend also marks the big-screen return of Winnie the Pooh. Since Pooh and friends obviously have some big competition next weekend, it's nice to see they're taking the whole thing in stride:
Oh hell, I totally want to see that. After Harry Potter, of course.
Not the best idea in the world, but certainly not one of the worst either. It feels like a "One for them" type of project (as extreme as that material is) that earns Spike a couple of bucks in his pocket which he can take to pay the bills and, more importantly, put into a project closer to his heart that might be on the more troubled end of getting funding. Which, in around about way, leads up to the crux of this post.
Blackfilm has the scoop that unbeknownst to everyone Lee has quietly mounted his latest and cameras began rolling today (as per his Twitter): Red Hook Summer. Details are being kept on the down-low besides a bare-bones plot description involving an "adult from Atlanta who comes and spends the summer in Red Hook section of Brooklyn, NY."
Here's where things get interesting. According to their source(s), Lee will reprise his character Mookie, the lead from Do the Right Thing, the film that put his name on the map and is, with due respect to the excellent, but bloated, Malcolm X, the defining film of his career. Upon the day he passes, the headlines will read "'Do the Right Thing' Helmer Spike Lee." How much of a factor he plans on using Mookie is the question. For all we know, Spike could pull a Michael Keaton and appear briefly. But that would be awfully random, not to mention, gimmicky if that were the plan.
There's gotta be more to it than just that. Whatever it is, you have my attention, Spike.
That feeling of an old-school 70s/80s era Spielberg is rekindled with the new International trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. This second pass (read: trailer) on winning people over on both motion-capture (Because we apparently didn't speak loudly enough with our wallets on the Robert Zemeckis efforts for the past, oh, decade!) and the original Belgian comic-books amplifies on what Spielberg and Peter Jackson promised from the teaser trailer with its mix of mystery, adventure and exotic locations!
I watch this trailer, and as much as it's winning me over, I still wonder why this wasn't done as a live-action feature from the start.
One thing that really loved about the production during "Superman Returns" was Bryan Singer's video blogs. I think they really helped increase but satisfy the appetite of the fans. Peter Jackson, who actually appeared in one of Singer's blogs while filming "King Kong", is doing the same thing with "Hobbit".
Considering all the pains that The Nolan Machine takes to keep whatever is going on during his Batman productions within the inner circle, it is interesting to see the powers that be at Carnegie Mellon spill such a big amount of beans.
I know this is just an innocent warning to the faculty and students but I was waiting for the school blog to be taken offline and a giant picture of Nolan wearing a Riddler mask to be strewn across the page. Check out the description of some possible meaty scenes. For those who don't want to be spoiled don't look down. Spoilers begin after the Nolan pose.
Carnegie Mellon will once again play host to Hollywood, when several scenes for a major motion picture by Warner Bros., currently using the working title “Magnus Rex,” are filmed outside of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in late July, and inside and outside of the Mellon Institute in early August. Carnegie Mellon is working closely with the production company to ensure that the university and its students, faculty and staff will benefit from the movie-making experience with minimal disruption to normal operations. Here's the skinny on the filming dates, the scenes and parking and traffic restrictions.
Where and When
Scenes will be filmed outside the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at the intersection of Dithridge and Henry streets from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31. Scenes will be filmed outside of the Mellon Institute on the Fifth Ave. side from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday, July 31, and inside of the Mellon Institute's fourth-floor entrance lobby on Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 3-4.
Prep work for the filming will be taking place in both locations beginning July 11.
Scenes outside the SEI, which will be portrayed as a prison, will include an explosion, a prison break, precision stunt driving, gunfire, atmospheric smoke, and controlled pyrotechnic explosions.
Scenes outside the Fifth Ave. entrance of Mellon Institute include a standoff between two rivals that escalates into a riot. One character drives a motorcycle through the fourth floor lobby, out the front doors and down the steps onto Fifth Ave. Special effects include precision stunt driving, gunfire and atmospheric smoke.
I didn't realize how excited I was for this sequel until I just saw these two posters courtesy of Yahoo Movies. The Brothers Warner has provided fandom with two posters from "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" proudly displaying Downey in character as Holmes and Law in character as Watson.
Dare I say it? I liked Downey in the role of Sherlock Holmes better than his turn as Iron Man. I can't wait to see where they take the sequel. Check out the colorful and in your face posters below.
Let me make myself clear, I like Sylvester Stallone. I respect both what's he's achieved as a actor/writer/director but also what he has stood for as a person.
With that said, I think maybe it's time he takes a long look in the mirror. He just turned 65-years old last week and yet he still wants to see a man who's 40. He still wears lift shoes, still gets plastic surgery on his face, still dyes his hair jet black. Most of all, still wants to have that amazing physique, yet aids himself with injections of HGH (Human Growth Hormone).
I understand no one likes getting old, and it's always admirable when you feel you can do anything no matter what the date is on your birth certificate, however, sometimes you just gotta be honest with yourself.
As much as Stallone always talks about "moving forward in life," he seems to be living backwards by still trying to be something he once was.
Anyway, enough of my odd rant for the day. Let me get to this bit of news.
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Christian Slater, and Holt McCallany (who was great on FX's now canceled Lights Out) have joined Stallone in director Walter Hill's untitled action thriller (previously titled Headshot) over at Warner Bros. and Dark Castle (Joel Silver's production company).
In the film, Stallone will play a New Orleans hitman who teams with a New York City detective (played by Sung Kang) in a high-stakes investigation that leads from the dingy back alleys of New Orleans all the way to the power corridors of Washington, D.C. The unlikely duo, brought together by two vicious murders, take on all who stand in their way, and are willing to sacrifice everything to exact revenge.
Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play the film's main villian, a powerful attorney who's trying to cover up his scam to exploit poor neighborhoods that have been ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Slater, meanwhile, will play a local handler who acts as a middle man (kind of fitting for his career), while McCallany will play a cop who partner's with Sung Kang's character.
The film is a adaptation of the graphic novel, Bullet to the Head, from screenwriter Alessandro Camon (The Messengers) with Walter Hill doing re-writes to the script as well.
The film started shooting in Louisiana last month as is expected to be released sometime next year.
Yesterday, Facebook got Dori, Nori and Ori and today Yahoo! Movies has two more prominent dwarves in The Hobbit: Gloin and Oin, played by Peter Hambleton and John Callen. Remember, Gloid (on the right) is the father of Gimli from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Notice the resemblance?
Just as yesterday, this first look also features an accompanying character description:
"Distant cousins of Thorin Oakenshield, these two doughty Northern Dwarves join the Company out of a sense of loyalty to their kin, and also because they have a substantial sum of money invested in the venture. Along with Bombur, Gloin is the only other married Dwarf in the Company (there being a shortage of female dwarves in general). His wife is an acclaimed beauty with a particularly fine beard. Gloin is the proud father of a young son, Gimli, who will go on to become part of the famous Fellowship of the Ring."
By simple process of elimination, we assume another crop of new characters will be introduced by either tomorrow or Sunday.
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Mon, July 11, 2011 
