In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every seven days I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. I will only be reporting on things that interest me – fans of Twilight will have to go elsewhere. In fact, if you want comprehensive or unbiased news coverage you’re probably looking in the wrong place. But if you can stand my poor grammar and nerdish rants about whatever it is that Hollywood is screwing up this week then by all means read on. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.
San Diego Comic Con was this week, also known as Reason No. 485 why it sucks living in Australia. Sure, the universal health insurance and low gun-murder rate is great, but I really want to dress up like Chewbacca and wait in line for hours and hours to see small snippets of footage for the new sequel that will probably end up sucking anyway.
I’m not being sarcastic.
However if I ever do get to Comic Con, I’ll be sure to watch out for crazy pen wielding lunatics who like want to stab me in the eye. That’s right. In what is believed to be a dispute over seat saving, a man was stabbed in the side of his eye during the panel for John Favreau’s new film Cowboys and Aliens. The victim was taken to hospital while the perpetrator was apprehended by police officers on scene. He was reportedly wearing a Harry Potter T-Shirt – perhaps he though his pen was a magic wand and he was trying to do a spell.
Stabbings aside, the most talked about thing of the convention was probably the surprise appearance of the entire cast of the upcoming Marvel Superhero film The Avengers. The movie promises to unite the studios biggest stars, including Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Eric Bana Edward Norton Mark Ruffalo as The Incredible Hulk. Oh, and did I mention it’s being directed by Joss Whedon? You can watch video of the Marvel Panel here, although I’d recommend you view it sitting down.
Not wanting to be outdone by Marvel, Warner Brothers released four teaser posters for The Green Lantern, the movie about the superhero who fights his enemies by conjuring up gigantic green cartoon fist with a magic ring. On second thoughts, Warner Brothers were totally outdone. That being said, this footage of the film’s star Ryan Reynolds reciting the Green Lantern oath for an adorable young fan is probably the most heartwarming thing you’ll see all year. The posters show Reynolds as Hal Jordan (aka The Green Lantern), as well as Blake Lively as Carol Ferris (aka Love Interest), Mark Strong as Sinestro (aka Bad Guy) and Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond (aka second Bad Guy).
With Predators making plenty money as the box office, producer Robert Rodriguez has been talking up the possibility of a sequel, stating that 20th Century Fox are eager to move forward. I loved Predators (check out my review here) and thought it was one of the few sequels to live up to the original. With that in mind, it seems to me like another sequel would just be tempting fate. It’s almost enough to make you think that the studio doesn’t care about artistic integrity and is really only interested in making money.
Yes, I just used the phrase artistic integrity in relation to the Predator franchise. I really loved that new film.
Michael Parks (above) – the actor best known for playing Texas Ranger Earl McGraw in several Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez films including Kill Bill, From Dusk Till Dawn and Grindhouse – has been cast as the lead of Kevin Smith’s upcoming political horror film Red State. Parks is set to play an ultra-conservative minister based on Fred Phelps, the real life head of the Westboro Baptist Church. If you don’t know Fred Phelps is, check out his Wikipedia entry. It’s a pretty fascinating read, sort of similar to how a car-wreck or genocide can be fascinating. Having written & directed Dogma, Smith is certainly capable of lampooning religion; whether he can direct a horror movie remains to be seen.
It was announced this week that Len Wiseman, the director of Die Hard 4 and the Underworld films, has signed on to direct a remake of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall. I’m not sure how long this project has been in the pipeline, but it seems as though this announcement might have something to do with the overwhelming success of Inception, a film that certainly shares some similarities to the original Total Recall.
Finally, this week saw a little bit more news on the Ridley Scott directed Alien prequel: it’s going to be written by Lost co-producer Damon Lindelof (above, centre). I don't know about anyone else, but I can’t wait to find out that the entire crew of the Nostromo actually time travelled to a parallel universe where they all turned out to be fucking dead! AND WHO THE HELL ARRANGED THE SUPPLY DROP IN SEASON 2! Ok, so I’m still a little bitter about how that show ended. Where was I? Oh yeah, Alien prequel. Whatever. Personally I don’t think Ridley Scott has made a great film since the early eighties with his back to back science fiction masterpieces (the original Alien and Blade Runner), but it shouldn’t be too hard for him to top Alien vs. Predator 2.
Sources: /Film, UGO, Cinema Blend, Hey U Guys
San Diego Comic Con was this week, also known as Reason No. 485 why it sucks living in Australia. Sure, the universal health insurance and low gun-murder rate is great, but I really want to dress up like Chewbacca and wait in line for hours and hours to see small snippets of footage for the new 
