Even though production on the upcoming Total Recall remake is just about to start, we are still getting little pieces of casting news. The latest report tells us that John Cho (Star Trek, Harold and Kumar) has been cast with his role being described as "McClane, the smooth-talking rep for the mind-messing company that tempts Colin Farrell’s Douglas Quaid to implant fantastic memories into his brain."
Merely two years ago, The Hangover was released to both critical and financial success. Now, as expected, we are faced with the sequel which puts most of the characters back into a very similar situation that they found themselves in in Las Vegas. Admittedly, I didn’t find the first film all that funny. It had its moments, but didn’t really deliver any of the big laughs that I’d heard reports of. Because of this, I was a bit hesitant for Part II because sequels are usually not as good as the originals that spawned them, but this film was a special case. It turns out the filmmakers didn’t have to worry about it being better or worse because they basically just made the first film over again.
It's being reported that Benedict Cumberbatch, who has acted in such films as Atonement and Amazing Grace, as well as the TV series Sherlock, has been cast in Peter Jackson's upcoming adaptation of Tolkien's The Hobbit. His casting was supposedly supposed to be a secret, but he let it slip a little early saying "I knew I was a big mouth, I didn’t know how much of a big mouth, and I’ve ruined everything. And now I might not have a job to go back to!”
With all that director Martin Scorsese already has on his plate, it's possible that he may be adding yet another with The Comedian. It's been written by producer Art Linson (Fight Club), who wants Scorsese to direct and Robert De Niro to play an "insult comic described as Don Rickles meets Joan Rivers." This wouldn't be the first time that De Niro took on such a role. You may remember that Scorsese also directed The King of Comedy that had De Niro starring as a comedian.
After the amazing success of his previous film, Black Swan, writer/director Darren Aronofsky is in quite a good position to choose what his next project will be. After departing from The Wolverine, people have been wondering what he could possibly want to do instead. Well, it turns out that both Disney and Warner Bros. would like to get him involved with films of theirs.
Disney would like him to direct Maleficent, a film that would tell the story of Sleeping Beauty from the villain's point of view. Linda Woolverton (Alice in Wonderland) has been hired to write it while Angelina Jolie apparently has an interest in the lead. Tim Burton was originally supposed to direct, but ended up leaving the project.
Here's a wacky idea. Let's take one of America's most beloved presidents and say he was something completely preposterous. That wouldn't work, would it? Before beginning this script, I was curious, but a little skeptical. However, by the end, I found myself caught up in this interesting blend of action, history, drama, and even a little romance. It seems like we've been getting a lot of news about the upcoming adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's book including lots of casting and even a couple of pictures, so let's explore Hollywood's choices and take a deeper look into this fascinating story.
It’s been four years since we last saw Captain Jack Sparrow and his mates sail the seas, but they’re finally back for this fourth outing, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The main worry I had before this entry began was whether or not the franchise had enough steam left to still be entertaining after three highly successful films. What we end up with for this entry is a film that shows that perhaps this series has passed its prime.
Terry Gilliam is one of those directors who is fascinating to watch. He's had an interesting array of films that range from his early days with Monty Python and the Holy Grail to strange films such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and 12 Monkeys.
You may recall how troubled his production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was, as documented in the excellent film Lost in La Mancha, and continues to be, so while waiting on that, he has decided to resurrect another older project that he has had trouble trying to make. Here's what Gilliam had to say in a recent interview: "I’m just dredging up an old script – the one Richard LaGravenese and I wrote years ago after The Fisher King – The Defective Detective. And we are just snooping around to see if there is any way we can move that one forward…”
Priest is one of those films you will forget about approximately five minutes after it’s over. There is absolutely nothing memorable or noteworthy about it. In a sense, it reminded me a lot of another recent disaster, Jonah Hex, mainly because of the tone and completely disjointed feel of the story, as though it had been thrown together from bits and pieces of a larger plot. But while Hex had been pretty bad, it at least didn’t get particularly boring. Priest achieves this while managing to astound us with many more problems.
Two new stills from the upcoming remake of the 1985 horror-comedy Fright Night have been released. The film, which is being directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) from a screenplay by Marti Noxon (I Am Number Four), has an interesting mix of cast members that includes Anton Yelchin (Star Trek), Colin Farrell, Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine), Imogen Poots (28 Weeks Later), David Tennant (Doctor Who) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Kick-Ass).
