Tag: Joss Whedon (Page 3 of 10)

Midweek movie news, the Lamont Cranston and Kent Allard memorial edition

August 5, 2010 / Bob Westal

Comic-Con’s been over for a week and a half and the geek news is flying.

* Mike Fleming is claiming a Finke “Toldja!” for the news that Disney and “Tron: Legacy” director Joseph Kosinski are going ahead with a film version of the comic book, “Oblivion.” I’m not familiar with the book so, should I be more excited about this than I am? Of course, having recently rewatched the original “Tron” I’m even less excited about his other movie. I’m sorry, but it’s got to be one of the thinnest excuses for a piece of entertainment I’ve ever seen. A few interesting visuals aside, it’s easily one of the weakest efforts Disney has ever been associated with as far as I can see. It’s lingering appeal is a complete mystery to me.

* As rumors of the day go, I find this one even less believable than most. That idea is that Quentin Tarantino may be “attached” to what had previously been Sam Raimi’s new version of William Gibson’s influential pulp character, the Shadow — who became best known via a popular thirties radio show starring a very young Orson Welles. I’m a fan of the character and of Tarantino, so I certainly wouldn’t mind this being true. It just feels significantly off from Mr. Tarantino’s many obsessions, though considering his delving into thirties and forties cinema for “Inglourious Basterds,” you never know.

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Comic-Con, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

3-D Alec Baldwin Amy Adams Barry Diller Bill Gates Blade Runner David Koepp David Webb Peoples Devil Drew Goddard Francis Coppola George Lucas Headlines Inglourious Basterds J.J. Abrams Jack Kerouac Joe Haldeman Joseph Kosinki Joss Whedon M. Night Shymalan Oblivion On the Road Orson Welles Paul Rudd Quentin Tarantino Russell Mulcahy Sam Raimi Samuel L. Jackson Star Wars Ted Turner The Avengers The Cabin in the Woods The Forever War The Jewish Daily Forward The Night Chronicles The Shadow Tron Tron Legacy Viggo Mortenson Walter Salles Warren Buffett

Comic-con — notes written with tired feet

July 24, 2010 / Bob Westal

Comic-Con has gotten so enormous and so unfriendly to writers (and, in different ways, other folks I’m sure also) that it even nearly did in a high end reporter with gazillions of studio contacts like Anne Thompson. I’ll save my no doubt semi-cynical reflections on the thing for later, but here are just a few movie stories from the con that I have time to write about it in a very brief window.

* You might consider going from Tolkien to a ride at Disneyland a major artistic comedown, but Guillermo del Toro obviously thinks otherwise and is a huge fan of what I admit is also my favorite ride at the park. The Wrap has more, oddly enough with no mention of the mansion. Was this another event? Still nice to see that the monster-loving del Toro’s uncensored speaking style hasn’t been cleaned up by PR standards and practices.

Also from “The Wrap”: Dominic Patten writes that Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch” lived up to its name.

* I can’t watch the video here, but you can apparently see a now-bearded Joss Whedon personally confirm that Jeremy Renner will, indeed, play Hawkeye in “The Avengers.” Oh, and I guess that means that Whedon really is directing it, after all, official like.

* “The Green Hornet” is sounding a bit more fun to me.

* The perceptive and usually geek friendly Ms. Thompson was not personally wowed by “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” but she reports the audience at the screening she attended was. She does however have a video interview with writer-director Edgar Wright, which I haven’t had time to watch yet.

* I just had a bit of snafu/disappointment in terms of getting some good stuff for later on “Green Lantern” but the folks in Hall H had their geek buttons well pushed, it appears. (Not among them, a friend of mine here, who waited 2.5 hours in line and didn’t make it in, six people from the front of the line. He should have made it three hours.)

* An item having nothing to do with Comic-Con. According to a sexual harrassment suit, Casey Affleck appears to have a problem. I hope it’s only a legal one.

* Meanwhile, back in the real world where people pay to see movies, “Inception” is ruling the roost but sharing some of the wealth with the Angelina Jolie action vehicle, “Salt.”

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, Comic-Con, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Angelina Jolie Disneyland Green Lantern Guillermo del Toro Hawkeye Headlines Inception Jeremy Renner Joss Whedon Salt Sucker Punch The Avengers The Green Hornet The Haunted Mansion Tolkien Zack Snyder

First non-teaser trailer for “The Social Network”

July 15, 2010 / Bob Westal

I didn’t want to waste any time getting this posted as I have a strong feeling that “the Facebook movie,” directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, is going to be one of the big films this year, quite possibly at awards time. It certainly looks better than “Benjamin Button.”

Definitely more Fincher than Sorkin, which will relieve the Sorkin-dislikers — and they are perhaps even more legion than Joss Whedon-skeptics, perhaps not too coincidentally. (Excess cleverness annoys people if they don’t find it clever.) The first part of this reminded me more of a traditional high-end corporate commercial than a typical trailer. The tagline is memorable, but I have a feeling it will get very old, very fast.

One thing, this looks like a possible breakthrough role for Jessie Eisenberg while future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield seems to be in more of a supporting role, at least in this trailer. I do have to say that, by using that choral rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” and some of those deliberate Fincher camera moves, they get a very somber tone. I guess that’s okay, but it’s not like anyone was killed in the founding of Facebook…or were they?

Also, note how they throw in what looks like a totally random shot of an attractive young lady walking away from us in rather minimal panties. It’s important that we know there is a hot girl in panties walking away from us somewhere in this movie.

But seriously folks, I’m delaying tonight’s box office preview slightly, but it should be up VERY early tomorrow.

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Aaron Sorkin Andrew Garfield Benjamin Button Creep David Fincher Facebook Headlines Jessie Eisenberg Joss Whedon Radiohead Spiderman The Social Network The Social Network trailer

I’ve joked about “gender wars” at the box office, but this is ridiculous.

July 13, 2010 / Bob Westal

This is, of course, a highly unofficial trailer via /Film’s Russ Fischer for ‘The Expendables.” And I’m pretty sure guerrilla editor Garrison Dean is kidding.

(He also did some funny — if you’re a Firefly fan — eighties style fake openings for the canceled but never quite dead Joss Whedon series.)

Anyhow, for the sake of equal time, here’s the “Eat, Pray, Love” trailer.

Action Movies, External Entertainment, External Movies, External TV, Humor, Movies, TV, TV Action, TV Sci-Fi

Eat Pray Love Firefly Garrison Dean Joss Whedon The Expendables

Monday night movie news: filmmakers gone wild, again

July 13, 2010 / Bob Westal

It’s crazy-time in Tinseltown.

* I’ll get to some actual criminal matters below, but to me Kevin Feige of Marvel Productions is being criminally weird and unintelligent in how he’s handled the issue of the re-casting of the Hulk for “The Avengers” superhero-team flick being written and directed by Joss Whedon. Whether or not the issue that led to the parting of the ways was strictly the failure of financial negotiations or some kind of fight between Feige and Edward Norton, there was simply no earthly logical reason for Feige to allude to that in a statement given to Hitfix with some rather nasty coded language, to wit:

We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H., Chris E., Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.

Given the fact that writer-director Whedon has a famously strong creative vision and is not known for loving it when his stuff gets rewritten, and Norton’s status as a strong-willed actor who often rewrites his films (and is pretty good at it), it would be easy to imagine that there was some kind of creative tussle predating this. However, that only creative conflicts appear to be mishegas that happened on Norton’s Hulk movie. According to an understandably angry response from Norton’s agent, the meeting between him and Whedon was a success and, as far as I know, no one has contested that point.

Regardless, even if the meeting had gone very badly indeed and even if Norton had made unreasonable demands, you still don’t talk about that stuff in a public statement. You simply say that an agreement was not in the offing, but that Norton is a fine actor and film-maker and you’re very sorry you won’t be working together this time around.