In order to lend Plus Trailers some much needed credibility, every Friday I am going to be writing a little about the week’s film news. 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.
The big news this week is of course the release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, the third film in the ongoing story of one girl’s quest to find self-esteem. The film took approximately US$30 million in midnight showings, breaking the record of US$26.3 million set by its predecessor New Moon. I have to admit that I was a little surprised by the movies success given that I hadn’t heard that much buzz. Then I remembered that I mostly talk to people who are a) intelligent and b) have penises. Suddenly it all made sense*.*I don’t mean to suggest that having a penis automatically makes you intelligent. After all, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was the second highest grossing film of last year. Clearly the lesson here is that human men and human women are the two most moronic genders in existence. I’m applying to become a cat.
In non-sparkly news, the directors of the amazing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (my number three film of last year) have signed on to direct the Lego movie. There is little word as to what the Lego movie will be about…aside from Lego, I guess. I’d suggest making a movie out of Star Wars Lego or Indiana Jones Lego, but on further reflection that’d probably just be Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
There’s been a bunch of casting news/rumours this week for the upcoming X-Men prequel entitled X-Men: First Class. Set in the early days of the Xavier Institute, the movie will be directed by Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass) and is set to star James McAvoy as a young Professor X, Michael Fassbender as a young Magneto, Alice Eve as Emma Frost and Benjamin Walker as Beast.Furthermore, there are rumours that the studio is interested in casting Amber Heard, Rosamund Pike and Caleb Landry Johns as Mystique, Moira McTaggert and Banshee, respectively. A lot of these actors are largely untested, but just the fact that there’s a new X-Men movie being directed by someone who isn’t completely incompetent is enough to get me excited. Looking at you Ratner.
Meryl Streep has been cast in the upcoming biopic based on the life of Margaret Thatcher, entitled Thatcher. All you need to know is that it’s Meryl Streep, so therefore she’s guaranteed to be amazing, even if the movie sucks. This is true for literally any movie: I could tell you that Meryl Streep has been cast in the upcoming biopic of Michael Jackson, entitled Jackson, and I would still be right. Meryl Streep is god.The fifth movie in the Final Destination has just received its title: 5NAL DESTINATION. I…I have no words. No sarcastic remark. Nothing. This is the stupidest piece of titling in the history of movies. If you can think of a title for another movie that was worse than this one, please let me know. Otherwise, I’m making it official.
This Week in Trailers
After this week, I'm going to start up a separate post dedicated to This Week in Trailers, which I'm will hopefully be posting every Thursday. Until then however...
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (first theatrical trailer)
At the risk of seriously upsetting about seventy-five percent of people I know, I wasn't a huge fan of this trailer. I think the movie itself looks pretty good- good special effects, etc, but the trailer itself is just a whole bunch of overly-dramatic music, slow motion and hyperbolic text (this isn't even the motion picture event of the year, let alone an entire generation).
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 will be in theatres from November 18th 2010.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 will be in theatres from July 15th 2011.
RED (first theatrical trailer)
An action movie that stars Bruce Willis is nothing new. An action movie that stars Morgan Freeman or John Malkovich is a little more out of the ordinary. An action movie that stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich and Helen Mirren (wielding a machine gun) as a bunch of ex-CIA operatives called out of retirement is a very rare thing, and a flat out brilliant idea.
Red will be in theatres in the US from October 15th; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 (teaser trailer)
One of the only original movies of last year gets a sequel. It would have to be a surprise before it could qualify as an unpleasant surprise. So really, it's just unpleasant news.
Paranormal Activity 2 will be in theatres in the US from October 22nd; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (teaser trailer)
As excited as I am for this movie about the founding of facebook, directed by David Fincher, this first trailer is pretty useless. There's a lot of quotes taken out of context that don't really make much sense, and when it finally ends all we get is the poster we saw last week. I do like the films title design (inspired by the facebook logo), but I really need to see some actual footage before I can properly begin my over-hyping campaign.
The Social Network will be in theatres in the US from October 1st; an Australian release date has yet to be announced.
Sources: /Film, Quickflix, Mendelson's Memos
