Smallville Season 9 Trailer

Michael Ausiello over at the Ausiello Files hosted by Entertainment Weekly has revealed the trailer for the upcoming season 9 of "Smallville".

Trailer Trifecta! - August 22, 2009

 This month's edition of 'Trailer Trifecta!' brings us a triple threat of quirkiness in the form of the latest comedic offerings from The Coen Brothers, Napoleon Dynamite’s Director Jared Hess, and the ever so zany Hugh Grant……That’s right, I said it!

First up:

‘A Serious Man’

Release Date: October 2^nd, 2009

Written & Directed by: Ethan & Joel Coen.

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Adam Arkin, Sari Lennick, and Simon Helberg

Plot: A black comedy set in 1967 and centered  on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him because his inept brother won't move out of the house. (Comedy. Rated R)

‘Gentlemen Broncos’

Release Date: Expected for October, 2009

Written by: Jared & Jerusha Hess

Directed by: Jared Hess

Starring: Michael Angarano, Jermaine Clement, Jennifer Coolidge, and Sam Rockwell

Plot: A teenager attends a fantasy writers' convention where he discovers his idea has been stolen by a legendary fantasy novelist. (Comedy. Rated PG-13)

‘Did You Hear About The Morgans?’

Release Date: December 11th, 2009

Written & Directed by: Marc Lawrence

Starring: Hugh Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary Steenburgen, and Sam Elliott

Plot: In New York City, an estranged couple who witness a murder are relocated to small-town Wyoming as part of a witness-protection program. (Romantic-Comedy. Not Yet Rated)　                                                                                                                                                

Phil Gee Has Been to Pandora Tonight

Hey folks, I just got back from the 15 minute IMAX 3D preview of Thunderca.....I mean Avatar and I thought I’d share my thoughts having entered the world of Pandora with completely fresh eyes tonight.

Avatar already represents something quite unique for me in its marketing in that it is virtually impossible these days to keep a big budget blockbuster, something that is meant to be a feast for the eyes and experienced on the big screen, from being experienced first on a dinky little computer monitor. I’d love to see, crazy thought it sounds, a sure fire hit that everyone is going to see like a Harry Potter have zero marketing before release. For them to release no footage, no trailers, just the posters and the release date. The idea of going into a film like that having absolutely no concept of what it’s going to look like even as you are waiting in line on opening weekend would jazz the hell out of me. Avatar’s marketing, critical though we have been of it from a business and audience awareness standpoint, has come as close to that feeling for me as I think anything could today.

I did not watch the trailer yesterday. Despite plenty of descriptions and one or two still images, I had no concept of what this film was going to look like. The first time I would see any footage from Avatar was on a giant IMAX screen in 3D. I think that’s how James Cameron would have wanted it for us all.

And until you put on those 3D glasses I really don’t think you can appreciate what Cameron is trying to achieve here. Until I saw the preview, neither did I. But after I walked out of the screening, I said to myself “I get it”. Avatar has been meticulously designed, shot and edited to create the most immersive film experience you have ever seen. Is it a film based around a gimmick rather than a great story? Almost certainly but that didn’t stop me from being extremely impressed with what I saw, with some reservations.

The scenes contained in the preview were:

1. Some kind of briefing scene by a military hard-ass preparing the soldier arrivals to planet Pandora on the incredibly hostile and deadly environment which awaits them. He assures that plenty of them will die. This was a simple dialogue piece which demonstrated the 3D effect in the simplest of scenes. It works very nicely though the dialogue is a little cheesy.

2. Our main character Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) being placed into a pod where upon his mind his placed into the avatar that will allow this former paraplegic to walk around Pandora as a 10 foot tall alien with legs very much active. Once inside the new body, Jake gets so excited the scientists try to tranquilise him but to no avail. First of all, I love the production design of the science base. It’s quite minimalist which gives it a grounding in reality. You do get a flashback to ‘Total Recall’ as Jake gets put inside the Avatar pod but there is some nice dialogue between Sigourney Weaver and Worthington.

As I saw the avatar Na’vi for the first time though I got a much worse flashback, to ‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’. I remember being so impressed with the initial images of the characters in that film, their skin, eyes, hair, movement........and then I watched them talk and realised they had spent $200 million for nothing because it was so awfully jarring that it destroyed any performance those character could give. The same thing happens in this early scene. The skin texture, the movement and the way the Na’vi are integrated into the scene with real sets and actors is superb but as Jake stumbles around in his new body with a goofy expression on his face before exclaiming “this is great”, it looked dumb. I really did not like the faces on these particular Na’vi. They really did look gormless and I began to get worried.

3. An expedition party of avatars including Jake and Sigourney Weaver’s character encounter a pissed off multi-coloured Rhino type creature in the forests of Pandora which gets scared off, not by Jake as he assumes, but by an even larger nastier cat like creature which chases him into the jungle. Oh boy, we’ve seen this scene a billion times before and to make it worse, Jake insists on taunting the rhino creature he thinks is scared of him with “yeah, that’s what I’m talking about, you don’t wanna mess with me........bitch”. If I wanted to hear that sort of dialogue I’d watch Transformers 2 thank you very much.

On the positives, Sigourney Weaver’s avatar looked really great; spookily like her. Also, the chase through the jungle has put my fears to rest about a particular part of the 3D process that I have been concerned about ever since I saw Henry Selick’s ‘Coraline’. In that film, there were plenty of instances where the images were moving so quickly that the 3D just became an annoying blurred effect. I wondered whether this was simply because the human eye cannot process the image fast enough for it to become clear and since so many of these upcoming 3D movies will involve fast paced action and quick moving things, if the whole process was flawed. Cameron has convinced me with this scene that it is not. Either the technology has improved or he directs the scene at exactly the right pace but the chase is clear as crystal at all times and pretty exhilarating to boot as we wizz through the thick jungle in a single long shot following Jake.

4. Jake’s life is saved from the animals by Zoe Saldana’s character (who I will just call Cheetara for the benefit of this article). Now here’s where something interesting happened and I started to get comfortable with the look of the Na’vi. Jake suddenly doesn’t look as goofy anymore though I’m still not crazy about his appearance and Saldana looks fantastic, a totally convincing character. She has an electric presence to her from the moment she appears and commands the screen. I’m pretty sure she’s going to be the star of this show folks.

5. Cheetara walks off back into the jungle, now bathed in a beautiful multi-coloured twilight, and Jake follows to try and thank her for saving his life. She proceeds to lambaste him, comparing him to a baby trouncing around in his ignorance having no clue what to do or where to go and that the animals she killed need not have died were it not for his actions. Did I mention Saldana fucking rocks as this character? I’m sure I must have. My only concern about the scenes between these two is whether she’ll start singing ‘colours of the wind’ from Pocahontas at some point in the film. It sure looks like it’s going that way.

6. In the final scene, Jake and Cheetara are accompanied by a pack of other Na’vi as they traverse a cliff face to round up some bird like species to ride out on. The other aliens watch with glee as Jake tries to tame this one particular animal which he finally does while he’s in mid flight. A pretty cliché scene from a story perspective but a stunning one technically. The cliff, waterfall and the valley beyond look stunning and the 3D works best here out of all the scenes. You are on that cliff with them. In fact, one of the biggest compliments I can give to the footage is that I already have a real grasp of Pandora as a full realised world. I have a sense of the geography and from just 15 minutes footage, that is impressive.

7. There was a final montage of scenes, most of which focus on the gigantic battle between the Na’vi and the human soldiers in their exo-suits.

8. This was followed by a subliminal message which flashed across the screen saying “praise be to Cameron”.......

.....ok, I made that last part up. So having seen the preview, I’ve come away extremely excited to experience the film the way it is meant to be seen. I have no problem with the aliens not looking ‘photo-realistic’. In fact, I wish studios (and us) would stop using the term to describe computer generated characters. I simply do not think it is possible to create an other-worldly creature that can fool us into thinking it’s real. What makes computer generated characters real is what makes live action characters real, the performance of the actor and the writing. If you watch Lord of the Rings now, the character of Gollum does not seamlessly integrate with the sets and actors. He is real because is a wonderful character and that’s what we will need to see from the Na’vi.

If I don’t believe in their cause and care about those aliens when they start battling for their lives against the humans, 3D or not, it will mean nothing. Cameron and Fox also need to realise that eventually, I’m going to watch this film on my inky dinky DVD player, without 3D, without the immersion and it will have to rely totally on its story. Otherwise, it’s just another Beowulf. I do hope the film can make up for its apparent lack of originality with great characters that we can get involved with.

Nevertheless, I am no cynic after tonight. £12 British pounds right here Mr Cameron, I’m sold.

Ps. Having watched the regular teaser trailer afterwards, I think it's fantastic. I think it really sells the tone and the concept of the film. By all means disagree with me folks. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Shutter Island Pushed Back to 2010

Talk about a surprise move that nobody saw coming! Paramount has decided to move Shutter Island (the fourth collaboration between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio) away from its prime October 2009 release to February 19th of next year.

The exclusive news comes way of Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. So there's no two-ways around it. This is legit. Of course, the next logical question to ask is, "Does that mean the movie sucks?" Citing very high test scores and Scorsese's ability to get the film down to a more commerical-friendly two-hour running length, Finke's source(s) reveals that it's not an issue of the film's quality.

A combination of lack of an advertising budget to push Island for awards-considerations as well as DiCaprio being unavailable (currently filming Inception with Christopher Nolan) to promote the film are said to be the culprits.

The Screenwriter's Ultimatum

For awhile there, it looked like we wouldn't be getting Bourne 4 despite the popularity and success (both critically and commercially) of the trilogy. The studio had hired George Nolfi for scripting duties with the plan to hand in his first draft by June. Director Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon agreed to return and a Summer 2011 release date was set.

Well, June came and went, and Damon revealed he never got a script nor did he know where things stood on the film. As per THR, Universal has now gone ahead and hired Josh Zetumer to write his own script separate from what Nolfi had been working up.

So what happened to the guy? He's been knee-deep working on The Adjustment Bureau (interestingly enough also with Damon attached to star) with little-to-no time to finish up his draft. Fair enough.

I'm pretty apprehensive about Bourne 4 to be honest. They've got come up with the right motivation towards bringing Jason Bourne back into the world. He knows who he is and the world believes he's dead. And there's just no way one can top that perfect closing shot of Ultimatum with Bourne swimming towards the dark abyss - effectively leaving him where we were first introduced to the character in 2002's Identity.

A Reboot Is Out There

Last summer's X-Files sequel I Want to Believe served as nothing more than a sacrificial lamb to the box-office monster that was The Dark Knight. Hell, the fact that another film was made to begin with was a miracle in its own right. Nobody fucking cares about the X-Files anymore. Sorry if that comes off as too harsh. But the truth (while also being out there) hurts, folks.

Now comes word from X-Files News (via Dnevnik) that another feature-film is in the works. That is according to Agent Scully herself Gillian Anderson who reveals that another installment is being discussed and targeting a 2012 release. Normally, I'd disregard such news-items because it's coming 100% outta the mouth of someone who needs it and thus would openly talk it up. See also: Tom Arnold on True Lies 2, Vin Diesel on another Riddick film, etc.

But Bloody-Disgusting confirms (via their sources) that Scully speaks the truth. But the catch is the rumblings in question don't involve a sequel to the first two-films and cult television series. Nope, Fox is talking about rebooting the damn thing altogether. I get that hitting the reboot button is "the thing to do" right now. But the answer is fixing every troubled-franchise doesn't involve just starting over from scratch. Of course, a property like X-Files would be better left where it is at the moment - dead.

We can thank Star Trek for Fox headed in this direction.

Superman, Transformers Concept Art Online

 

Most of the TMT readers that I’ve encountered on the numerous forums not only share an interest in movie/ TV news, but also in art. For those readers, I’d like to draw your attention to the online portfolio of conceptual illustrator and visual effects designer Ben Procter.

Procter has worked as both a 2D & 3D conceptual artist on such films as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Superman Returns, and The Matrix films. He also served as Lead Robot Illustrator on Transformers.

His website not only gives us an insider’s look behind the scenes, but also glimpses of scrapped ideas that were to be included on these well known projects like the designs for the female Autobot Arcee and the infamous ‘Return to Krypton’ sequence.

To see more of his stunning artwork, head over here.

Aquaman: King of Atlantis...and the Box Office

Well, he's no Box Office king, at least not yet. Aquaman, King of the Seas, and much maligned member of the Justice League. Perhaps best known as 'That guy who talks to fish'. Admittedly, at first glance, I admit, it does seem a rather stupid power. However, come with me a moment and imagine:

"The Black Manta, Aquaman's most famous villain, and sort of an underwater Iron Man with evil intentions, discovers Atlantis location. His mind fills with thoughts of the treasure and riches he can now lay claim to. SUDDENLY, his suits sensors pick up a faint sonar transmissions, as he looks up from the sensors on his arm, he finds himself surrounded by a dozen great whites, a giant octopus, and a few prehistoric sea creatures long thought extinct.

As he's scared still, a VOICE calls from behind. Manta's heart JUMPS! 'They won't attack you, but you should leave this place now.' The voice is calm yet authoritative. Black manta turns to face a man, unaided, blond, handsome, with a golden shirt the appeared to have a scale like surface, emerald and gold gauntlets on each wrist, green pants, and a belt connected with some type of crest best described as an "A".

This is our first glimpse of Aquaman! the King of the Seas. Once the shock of a man unaided speaking to him as if they were standing next to one another in an elevator wears off, Manta looks once more at the sea creatures, then again at Aquaman before taking off back to the surface at an incredible speed.  He is equally fascinated and frightened.

Black Manta

Now, I'm no screenwriter, but I think that would be a pretty cool cinematic first meeting. There's drama, conflict, intensity and sets the stage for what is to become a legendary rivalry.

Aquaman is a film that would combine the best elements of sword and sandals features with Arthurian legend and Shakespeare. Think of him not as a superhero, but as an underwater guardian protecting a vast kingdom from surface dwellers who intend on stealing Atlantis secrets and treasures.  Or protecting his throne from those who seek to usurp him.

Now, you might be thinking what's up with this Aquaman article, and why is it in the Movie&TV News section of TMT? Well, a few weeks ago, Hollywood Reorter reported that Leonardo DiCaprio's production company Appian Way. Could Leo himself take the lead role? Well, one could only hope. I mean that's INSTANT credibility, for a charcater known as nothing more than a lame joke to the general public. His presence would curb that immediately.

My thinking is this, even if Leo doesn't take the lead, and he probably won't, I don't think he'll produce something that is shit, as I'm sure he won't want his name attached. You can bet your ass, lead role or not if, and when Aquaman gets made, you'll be seeing "From producer Leonardo DiCaprio" all over the ads.  He could use his sway to land a top tier director. That Cameron guy, might be ideally suited to the whole underwater adventure thing ;).

When I saw GI Joe with my brother, and a couple of friends about a week or so ago (we all enjoyed it, on a basic check your brain at the door level), what we all loved most and chatted most about afterward was the underwater scene(s). That was actually what inspired me to write this article. We just kept going on and on about how cool those underwater scenes were. Let's imagine again. What could a creative person do witht the idea of Atlantis? It could be a magnificent sprawling palace hidden from the human eye and technology by ancient sorcery, or it could be a palace made of coral designed to be wholly uninteresting to any outsider who happens to pass by unintentionally or otherwise. Those are just two ideas the came to my mind.  I'm certain there are a plethora of other options. The possibilites nearly endless.

I've come to think of Aquaman as sort of a Holy Grail of comic movies. He's known, but not so known that you can't tinker with his origins without legions of fanboys complaining. Can you imagine if Krypton didn't explode or the Wayne's lived? The fanboy bitchfest would reach epic levels, and damn near break the net! Well shut down a few sites anyway.

Iron Man, Marvel's hottest franchise at the moment, was basically a completely unknown entity until Favreau's kick ass film. I love it, watched my DVD I'd say about 30x, and am eagerly anticipating the sequel. Yet, Iron Man was one of those comics I could just never get into. As a movie, though, it knocked my socks off.  Aquaman can be to others what Iron Man was to me. A character you're not particularly fond of, at least until a quality movie comes out. Aquaman just may be more suited to the silver screen than the printed page. I showed a few (non-comic fan) friends the Aquaman appearances on Smallville, and hile the Aquadude personality was unversally hated, when he wa sin the water using his powers and swimming at incredible speeds the reactio "Damn that's cool!" and everyone wanted to see more of that.

In my circle everyone was and is thrilled with the underwater locations , bases, and seeing a version of Aquaman do his thing.

All it would take is one solid movie for Aquaman to go from lame joke in the general audience eyes , toa franchise people would beg to see more of. Aquaman battling a villain head on, while commanding some megalodons to tear apart the villains ship or face off an army the villain may have. Who wouldn't want to see that?

Even if DiCaprio's involvement is in name only, I'm hoping that's enough to get this franchise started. I think season two of Enterouge had it right. Aquaman CAN be the hugest grossing comic book movie given the respect it deserves, and not be turned into some lame comedy that weaker unoriginal writers might try. There's a uniqueness here that has yet to be seen on screen.

A plea to the comic film gods, please do yourselves, the character, and the general audience a favor and treat the property with respect and give us the amazing film that I, and many other fans of the character know it can be.

James McTeigue Talks Superman Reboot

The word from our spies has been that Warner Brothers was looking for a certain "type" of filmmaker to relaunch the Superman film franchise. Someone who was obviously talented and worked well with the material, but more importantly took orders from the studio like casting and what not. They've handed to the keys to Metropolis over to a number of "big-name" directors over the years in an attempt to get the franchise back up and running to mixed results.

Thus when reports hit a few weeks back that Wachowski alum James McTeigue was a candidate, it made a lot of sense. However, mum's been the word from the V For Vendetta director ever since the rumors first hit. He gave a non-answer to /film a week or so back. But he's surprisingly more forthcoming with MTV on the matter - albeit still in a "I won't confirm or deny" mode:

"I think if I was ever going to go near Superman, I would do a complete reboot—take it in a direction that you would absolutely not expect, actually. So, that would be my thinking on it, if I was ever going to go near Superman. I think it's good that they just had a court case where, basically, if you make another Superman movie, you can't touch Superman growing up—that's part of the story that you can't touch any more. That wouldn't be a bad thing. I think everybody's a bit sick of seeing the origin story."

Here's the thing though, folks. McTeigue wouldn't be so open about talking Superman if he was actually involved in the next film. "How so?" you ask. He's not officially (and to our knowledge "un-officially") on-board. If he was, then the studio themselves would want to make a big announcement of it first-hand and tell the director to keep his mouth shut towards all Supes-related questions.

Hell, we've still yet to hear a word from Martin Campbell on Green Lantern and he's been on that since the start of the year.

Bryan Singer Returns to Genre Fare Full Time

Sure, he's done solid work with thrillers like The Usual Suspects and Valkyrie (that's putting it lightly). But Bryan Singer always seemed like he was more at home working in the sci-fi/fantasy genre with his X-Men films and Superman Returns.

Last week plans were announced that he would produce/direct his own big-screen reboot of Battlestar Galactica for Universal. Presumably it's to be his next directorial project. However that might not be the case.

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Singer has two other projects set up at Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures to produce and possibly direct. Sounds like the studios have finally worked around the expensive "Pay or Play" deal they inked with Singer for the planned Superman sequel that never came to be.

The first is a remake of Excalibur, the life-story of King Arthur & his Knights of the Round Table. The original 1981 John Boorman-directed film remains one of my all-time favorites. If you'll remember, plans for a remake were first revealed by comic-book writer Warren Ellis who was working up his own story treatment. However, his name doesn't appear anywhere in the trades. So one can only assume he's no longer involved.

Singer's also said to hovering around Jack the Giant Killer. According to reports, it's this project (which D.J. Caruso was previously attached to) that might be his return to the director's chair after Valkyrie.

Something I've always liked about Singer is that he's clearly one of us. That is he too is a nerd who gets excited about stuff like J.J. Abrams' Star Trek reboot or the Avatar trailer being officially released. It's nice that he's finally getting to play with his toys again in the genre he so clearly loves.