Spider-Man 4 and 5 are on, Tobey Maguire has Signed
This is some of the best news I’ve heard in some time. Tobey Maguire has officially signed on to reprise the role of Peter Parker in Spider-Man 4 and Spider-Man 5.
You see, when Spider-Man came out in 2002, I wasn’t a fan of it. I thought that Green Goblin was too much of a Power Ranger, and including Macy Gray dated the film to a certain era (something I think some films should do their best to avoid). Not only that, but when it came out, I was anxiously awaiting the release of Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.
When it came down to it, I thought that some of the effects in Spider-Man were really cheesy. Peter Parker’s leap from rooftop to rooftop looked pretty bad from time to time, and next to the effects in Star Wars, was pretty lacking. Yoda looked more alive.
Spider-Man 2 came out a couple of years later, in 2004, and blew my mind. Not only was Goblin out of the picture, but we had a villain that was both charismatic, and a story that not only topped the original, but made me a fan. The fight scenes were all incredible and fun.
After that, it took the creative team an extra year of work to create Spider-Man 3. Now, here’s a movie that split the audience. Everyone seems to agree that it’s not a great film, and that tends to be a general concensus. It’s not something that I agree with. At all.
I think it’s a phenomenal film. While it falls short of the second film, it does have a lot to love. The main problems with Spider-Man 3, I think, are the following:
- John Jameson should have been the reason the symbiote came to earth. He was introduced in the second film, and it should have been used. Instead, the symbiote randomly crashed to earth.
- Gwen Stacy should have been the one in peril at the end. Instead, Mary Jane Watson was once again captured. The film would have been much more effective if Gwen was the one in trouble. Instead, it was more of a paint-by-the-numbers routine.
- Emo Peter Parker should have been better explained. The symbiote had started to control Parker, and was beginning to control him. It was also alien, so it wasn’t really aware of it’s surroundings, and started to make Parker do things that were way out of character. That’s simply because it wasn’t Parker that we were seeing. It was a symbiote-possessed Parker, exploring the world for the first time.
- Venom should have been reduced to a minor character until the very end. How cool would that have been? Rearrange the story of Spider-Man 3 a bit, remove the venom bits from most of the story, and you’ve got a great Spider-Man 3 that is as good as Spider-Man 2.
Here’s how I would have done Spider-Man 3:
- Start it out with Jameson returning from a mission to space, and J. Jonah Jameson has Parker cover the story, acquiring the symbiote at that point. Sandman (perfectly executed in the film) has center stage for the entirety of the film, as prime villain, although he’s doing this with a noble end in mind: helping his daughter. Contrasted with that is Parker with the black costume, making our hero into a vigilante. In a way, this would swap the roles of hero and villain. Sure, Brock would be a part of the story, but he’d only become Venom for the last moment. We’d have a final battle with Parker fighting Sandman. Hobgoblin (New Goblin) would come into it a little bit as well, but after the rescue of Gwen Stacy, there’d be an epilogue. Brock will have witnessed the battle, and Gwen’s rescue, and gotten jealous of Spider-Man, and found his way to the church, where the symbiote would claim him, and the film would end with Venom leaping at the camera.
This would have led right into Spider-Man 4, with Parker going up against Venom, 1 on 1. However, now that they already went down the road that they had, Spider-Man 4 and 5 are going to be vastly different from the original plan. You see, Venom was kind of crow-barred into the story of Spider-Man 3. Producer Avi Arad was listening to us, the fans. We were clamoring for Venom to appear in Spider-Man 3, so he forced the character into the third film. Director Sam Raimi did as he was asked, against better judgement. Bad move, and proof positive that fan feedback should not be listened to all the time. We sabotaged Spider-Man 3. Let’s leave them alone for the next ones. Deal?
There’s no word yet on what’s going to happen in 4 and 5, or who the villains will be. Let’s hope that Sam Raimi comes back and is able to redeem himself in the eyes of most of the fans, and makes a pair of awesome films. Although I think Spider-Man 3 could have been better, I still think it was great. Sandman made an excellent villain, and Harry Osborne’s storyline was suitably tragic.
I’m looking forward to seeing what they have in store for us next.
Read more at: L.A. Times, Fancast
The Shawshank Redemption on Blu-ray: Dec. 2
One of my top 5 favorite films of all time, The Shawshank Redemption, is coming to Blu-ray Disc on December 2, 2008. It’s one of those films that you can watch over and over, and it’s still as great as the last time you saw it.
This release will have all of the same features as the Special Edition DVD set that was released previously: an audio commentary by director Frank Darabont, a pair of documentaries, a stills gallery, additional storyboards, a “Charlie Rose Show” interview with Darabont and star Morgan Freeman, and the theatrical trailer.
The Blu-ray, however, is going to come in “Digi-Book” packaging. It includes a collectible booklet with rare photos, production notes and other archival materials.
It’s going to be presented on a BD-50 dual-layer disc at 1080p with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Surround Sound.
See the Cover Art after the break.
Read the rest of this entry »
Live-Action Ninja Turtles Hybrid Movie Planned
It turns out that Kevin Eastman’s post that I wrote about just before turned out to be a lot of hot air. All told, had I continued reading, I might have found out, but that was a story I’d had in my RSS reader and really wanted to comment on.
I’m really happy with what I’ve found, though, as it seems I was on the right track with my own ideas for the film. As I said in the last post, the CGI film captured the Turtles like never before, and it would have been a shame to lose that ability by moving back to the costumed variety. But, according to an interview with the other Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creator, Peter Laird, there is a live-action and CGI Hybrid idea on the table that I think has great potential, as long as the turtles are designed well enough to fit in the real world.
As it stands now, there is no intention of doing another live-action film like the first three, with actors and stuntmen in actual Turtle suits, contrary to what was said by Kevin. We have pretty much decided that the next “TMNT” movie should be what we’ve been calling a “hybrid” — that is to say, live-action humans and sets combined with very realistic CGI Turtles (and possibly some other CGI characters).
Now, when it comes to the storyline for the film, it appears that they have yet to decide where to take the story. This is another good thing, as a re-imagining is something that I think would be regrettable. That being said, they’ve yet to decide, so it still might happen.
The storyline for this new “hybrid” movie has not been settled on yet. We’re still batting some different ideas around. The sky’s the limit. My preference would be a story which fits into TMNT movie continuity in some way. But nothing has been decided.
Something else that he brought up, which I had not considered, until I learned about the hybrid style of the film, are the characters of Casey and April, portrayed by Elias Koteas and Judith Hoag in the first live-action film. Laird believes they might be too old to return to those roles, even if they wanted to.
However, I think Chris Evans and Sarah Michelle Gellar did wonderful work voicing the Casey and April characters in the recent CGI “TMNT” movie, and I think it would be really cool if we could get them to reprise those roles, but this time “in the flesh.” I think that might be the first time something like that has happened.
Laird goes on to say that he is 95% happy with the CGI TMNT film. There are things he would have changed, and things he would have put into it, but other than a few minor details, it might just be what has convinced him to look into the hybrid idea if he had not been thinking about that before:
As much as I loved what Jim Henson and his crew accomplished with those rubber suits in the first “TMNT” live-action movie, I believe that CGI — especially now that it has reached the incredible level it has these days — is the way to go to realize fantastic creatures like the Turtles. The expressions the animators were able to get on the Turtles in this last movie were simply amazing.
This just gets better and better!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles returns to Live Action?
In 1993, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III was released, closing out the trilogy of Ninja Turtles films with a film that is decidedly sub-par. Especially when you compare it to the first two in the trilogy, the third just doesn’t measure up. 2007 brought us redemption in the form of TMNT, a CGI-driven Ninja Turtles film that captured the feel of the first two films in the series, while giving the Turtles more emotion and fighting style than they ever had before. It was exhilarating to finally see the Turtles as we’ve always imagined them to be. Not only that, but they had a lot of depth as well. In that world, they lived and breathed. I wasn’t too keen on the so-called ‘progression’ of April O’Niel and Casey Jones’ relationship, but I was still thrilled by the film, and was looking forward to a sequel.
Now it looks like that particular sequel will never happen. This effectively puts TMNT as the close of the original movies (as you might understand when you see the end of it). Kevin Eastman, one of the creators of the Ninja Turtles, has commented about the future of the franchise. And the future, it seems, is going back to the past.
“Although the CGI film did well enough to warrant a sequel, there has been much talk between Imagi and Warners to do a better “re-invention” of the TMNT’s, in a live action film–like what was done with Batman. Back to basics, back to the origin and the intro of the Shredder, etc…there have been talks, trips to Northampton to talk to Mr Laird, and discussions with the original “first” TMNT film director Steve Barron to come back and do it right–but no official
word yet…will keep you posted.”
So, essentially, the TMNT film did make enough to warrant a sequel, but the excellence of that film wasn’t enough for Warner Brothers and Imagi. Go figure, though. Warner’s had so much success since re-imagining Batman with both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, they are going to play up the origin stories. That’s alright, I suppose, but not really what I wanted to see.
But there is still hope. They’ve approached the director of the first TMNT film, Steve Barron, to offer him the chance to “do it right.” Whatever that means. I was very pleased with his first Turtles film, and still watch it often to this day. To have him back in the driver’s seat would ensure the film has the same feel as the original, while taking the Turtles into this century.
Either way, I’m looking forward to more new Turtles adventures. This is going to be fun!
-via Cinemablend
What Ghostbusters 3 Needs to Work
In hearing about the new hope for seeing Ghostbusters 3 on screen, there have been articles that bring particular people into the mix, or ideas, that don’t necessarily jive with the spirit of the original two films.
I’d like to address one article in particular, before going into my own thoughts of what the film needs in order to succeed both in terms of success and carrying on the torch to a potential new series of films.
The article that I’d like to address is Cinematical’s Friday Five: Ways to Make a Cool ‘Ghostbusters’ Sequel.
1. ‘Get the Apatow crew involved’
Sure, that’d be alright, but let’s not do this if it won’t make sense for a story worth telling. They’ve gotta capture what the original crew got right. People that were real, they weren’t too over the top, and they were able to pull off jokes that have remained timeless, that are still funny to this day. And they were believable in the roles that they were in. So long as the Apatow crew can manage that, it’ll work.
2. ‘Get a director who understands the franchise (ie: Harold Ramis or Ivan Reitman)’
This is a fantastic idea, and would be perfect for the film. They’d be able to keep things going with the right look and feel that captures the originals very well. I have hope with the Apatow name, as his Freaks and Geeks work was terrific.
3. ‘Aim for a HARD PG-13′
Look, when you involve the Apatow crew, it’s always best to let them go off, uncensored.
This is one of the worst ideas on the list, and pretty much assures that the film will not capture the creativity, synergy or spirit of the originals. Ghostbusters, for whatever reason, struck a chord with kids. So much so that the Ghostbusters, seen smoking in the first film, didn’t have a single cigarette in the second. Taking a PG series into the realm of ‘Hard PG-13′ or ‘Nearly R’ would be a nail in the coffin of what could otherwise be a great start to a renewed franchise. Letting the ‘Apatow crew’ go off uncensored isn’t going to make the movie better. The original crew never went off uncensored. Sure, let them have fun on the set, that’s great. But there’s no room for terribly vulgar scenes in a film series that kids everywhere are going to want to see. Keep it clean, and a great mix of fun and serious.
4. ‘Don’t go absolutely nuts with the CGI’
Here’s another one that I agree with. Let’s not go overboard, but keep it to the amount that’s found in the originals, if not just a little bit more. There doesn’t have to be constant CG anything. Remember, the villain in the first film was mostly unseen, save for the terror dogs, up until the end. The second film had the ghost of an evil tyrant stuck in a painting. Ghosts can feature throughout the film, but only to keep the impending threat present. The rest of the time, what makes it most interesting, is the use of whole sequences with nothing but the Ghostbusters and other people interacting among day-to-day settings.
5. ‘Limit the involvement of the original cast’
I can see this approach working, and I can see it the other way. Having the film start out like the other two would be a good way to introduce the fact that there is a new resurgence of ghosts appearing, followed by scenes that set up the new crew. Let’s put it in the fire house, with Ray talking to one of the new guys, Egon talking to another, and Peter and Winston talking to the other two. Something simple that shows that, perhaps, they actually hired some new people in the interim between Ghostbusters 2 and 3, and that not all of them are actually ‘new’ to the idea of busting ghosts.
I would like to see the movie retain some of the formula of the original two films, but perhaps start with some kind of threat, and perhaps we see some of the original Ghostbusters finishing up the catch of a ghost, and returning to the firehouse.
Ecto-1 is an icon, instantly recognizable. Let’s not ruin it by making it into something else, but be sure it appears in the film, and if a new version has to be made, do it with something similar at least.
The proton packs and the trap should be relatively similar, if not a bit lighter than the originals. Technology has progressed so much that perhaps Egon eventually figured out a way to make them lighter. The sounds and the proton beams should be familiar, though.
The PKE Meter should also make an appearance.
One of the charms of the original Ghostbusters is the non-love story. It had a love-story that wasn’t. If there is to be some form of a love story in this new film, try to emulate that without copying it directly.
A montage of ghostbusting is really good as well, and that could be the introduction of the new team to the world.
All in all, I’m looking forward to this movie with trepidation and am hoping that the writers can pull it off, hopefully making the third one a film worth waiting for.
Ghostbusters 3 - Wow, it’s Really Happening!
This will be the first in a series of articles about Ghostbusters. You’ll soon see why.
I grew up with Ghostbusters. The first film was released in theatres when I was 3 years old. I saw Ghostbusters II in theatres and have been looking forward to the possibility of a third film ever since.
In recent years, there have been rumors of a third film, but it would continuously fall apart.
Then the video game was announced, and Dan Ackroyd got involved. The game company handed him a 300 page script, and he worked in parts of the script he had written for what was supposed to be the third film in the series.
Not only that, but all of the original Ghostbusters cast (save for Rick Moranis) came back to supply voices to their characters in the game. Talk about a dream come true. Although it’s not the movie that I wanted, it’s the video game that I had always dreamed of.
Over the course of the last week, there have been glimmers of hope, as writers were rumored to be attached to the project. Not only that, but it’s a couple of very good writers that I think could do a pretty fair job of it.
This morning, the Chicago Tribune posted an e-mail from Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler in the films), and here’s what it says:
“yes, columbia is developing a script for GB3 with my year one writing partners, gene stupnitsky and lee eisenberg. judd apatow is co-producing year one and has made several other films for sony, so of course the studio is hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent. aykroyd, ivan reitman and i are consulting at this point, and according to dan, bill murray is willing to be involved on some level. he did record his dialogue for the new ghostbusters video game, as did danny and i, and ernie hudson. the concept is that the old ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity. not much else to say at this point. everyone is confident a decent script can be written and i guess we’ll take it from there.
best,
harold
Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky are now confirmed as writers on Ghostbusters III. They’ve also been writers on The Office over the last few years.
Hopefully they don’t take things out of the feel of the original films. But that’s what my next Ghostbusters related entry will be all about.
New Purpose for This Blog
As you can probably tell, this blog hadn’t been updated in well over a year. That is about to change.
I’ve decided to start writing about entertainment.
I will inject a few personal things from time to time. Perhaps some religion, perhaps some politics, but for the most part it’ll be all video games, movies, tv, DVD and the like.
I’ve been wanting a place like this to have as an outlet for writing about my interests for some time now, and I’m looking forward to sharing that with people in the months to come. A lot of things have happened in the last year or so, and I’m hoping to write about some stories that have, perhaps, been written about to death, but simply because I am interested in those topics.
Look for new topics on Star Wars, Ghostbusters and more very shortly.
Prince Caspian Cast: Ben Barnes in Title Role?
“Ben told everyone that he had been offered a three-film deal to play Caspian. It’s the chance of a lifetime, but the National are furious at him for leaving them in the lurch and are thinking of suing him for breach of contract.”
Narnia, More to Release on Blu-ray Disc
The Chronicles of Narnia, Superman Returns, Fantasia and more to release on Sony’s Blu-Ray Disc format
GK Chesterton Quote Day!
I don’t know if very many of you know who GK Chesterton is, but please read these quotes. They are very true and/or very funny.
- Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.
- “My country, right or wrong,” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, “My mother, drunk or sober.”
- A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.
- A room without books is like a body without a soul.
- An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.
- Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.
- By a curious confusion, many modern critics have passed from the proposition that a masterpiece may be unpopular to the other proposition that unless it is unpopular it cannot be a masterpiece.
- Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason it was put up.
- Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.
- I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean.
- I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- I say that a man must be certain of his morality for the simple reason that he has to suffer for it.
- If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.
- It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.
- Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is Dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.
- Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
- The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.
- The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion.
- There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to read.
- To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.
- There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential points, exactly like a small mob. -G. K. Chesterton, “Heretics”, 1905
- All slang is a metaphor, and all metaphor is poetry. -G. K. Chesterton, Defendant (1901)
- Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity. -G. K. Chesterton, Defendant (1901)
- The rich are the scum of the earth in every country. -G. K. Chesterton, Flying Inn (1914)
- There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. -G. K. Chesterton, Heretics (1905)
- Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. -G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
- The men who really believe in themselves are all in lunatic asylums. -G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy; p. 14
- It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem. -G. K. Chesterton, Scandal of Father Brown (1935)
- He may be mad, but there’s method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It’s what drives men mad, being methodical. -G. K. Chesterton, The Fad of the Fisherman (1922)
- But a somewhat more liberal and sympathetic examination of mankind will convince us that the cross is even older than the gibbet, that voluntary suffering was before and independent of compulsory; and in short that in most important matters a man has always been free to ruin himself if he chose. -G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong With the World; p. 118
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