Is there anything worse than being disappointed by a movie? Think of the ones you waited patiently and eagerly for, only to discover that everything you imagined in your head hadn't made it up onto the screen. Like, at all. There are certain movies that had the odds weighed against them from the very start, and we're not going to be dealing with those here: think George Lucas territory, what with The Phantom Menace and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. You willed them to be amazing, of course, but you knew the chances of success were on the lower end of the spectrum: in those cases, George Lucas is a generally lousy filmmaker, and the hype machine was in maximum overdrive.
Looking back across the cinematic pasture that was last year with the precision of a hawk-man hybrid, it's apparent that where 2012 is concerned, we have a lot to be thankful for. Here emerged, after all, some genuinely spellbinding films which deserve to be embraced and celebrated and watched over and over again until, hey, why did I like this again? But mostly embraced and celebrated.
For some bizarre reason that we can't bear to think about, movie studios are obsessed with bringing back old cartoon franchises and turning them into CG animations, perhaps because they hate the world and they hate you, but probably because using "stuff that exists already" means that everybody gets to go home a little earlier. That's presumably how the original The Smurfs movie came to be, a rollicking failure of a comedy that was just about the worst movie to emerge in theatres last year. And Adam Sandler made four movies in 2011, which tells you a whole lot about the level of quality we're dealing with here.
Anybody who saw the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predator sequel Predators a few years ago will recognize it as a return to form for the franchise, albiet one that brought together a team of cultural stereotypes, gave them weapons, and killed them off one by one until only the good-looking characters remained.
With exactly 1 week to go until Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz ride out to meet you for Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, the soundtrack has been unveiled a little earlier then expected, meaning that you can brush up on all of the director's anachronistic musical choices and more Ennio Morricone than you can shake a Sergio Leone move at. Check it out in all its glory below.
Now that Jamie Foxx is pretty much definitely (probably) Electro in Marc Webb's upcoming sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the Django Unchained star recently opened up to discuss a couple of things about the iconic villain. Out doing the press for Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Foxx was quick to rebute suggestions that Electro's ol' classic green and yellow number would make an appearance:
Whereas most actors would be quietly annoyed about the fact that a younger, arguably hotter and more culturally relevant star was, like, taking on their most iconic role, Kirsten Dunst - who played supportive redhead Mary-Jane Watson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy - has admitted she's pleased that Shailene Woodley is getting to grips with the character for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Here's what Dunst had to say:
With Christopher Waltz having dropped out of playing an Interpol agent for the upcoming sequel to Disney's The Muppets, the movie is still looking to add a star for Jim Henson's furry friends to banter with: could Ricky Gervais be right man for the job? Yes, recent reports have slated that The Office creator and three-time Golden Globes host is in talks to lead proceedings for James Bobin and Nicolas Stoller's follow-up, tentatively titled The Muppets 2.
Apparently because the Wachowski siblings adaptation of Japanese anime Speed Racer wasn't enough of a warning about attempting things like that, Snakes on a Plane director David R. Ellis is mounting an adaptation of Japanese anime Kite, one which Samuel L. Jackson has now reportedly signed on to star in. "After [RoboCop], I'm going to do this live-action version of Kite, the Japanese anime," he said during a recent Django Unchained interview. "I'll be doing a live-action version of that in Johannesburg."
Presumably because Vin Diesel springs to mind when somebody says "bald actors," Vin Diesel has signed on to star as lollipop-suckling retro detective Lt. Theo Kojak in an upcoming feature film adaptation, one that'll have Bruce Willis on the phone to his agents wondering why they didn't get there first. What might have once appeared to be some sort of weird joke - to, you know, mess with Kojak fans - is apparently a super-serious venture for Universal, who've just hired Skyfall writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to pen the screenplay.
